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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mercurius" data-source="post: 6213323" data-attributes="member: 59082">Lots of interesting ruminations in this thread, and a a special thanks to  @<a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/member.php?u=5590" target="_blank">jodyjohnson</a>  for putting that together - very informative and well thought out.After thinking all of this over, I'm seeing the following as likely possibilities:<ol> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">WotC needs to release something in 2014 to take advantage of the exposure from 40th anniversary press, and it can't be at the end of the year.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Something will be released at GenCon. Whether that is the full game, a beta game, or a starter box, we just don't know - but there will be something. GenCon + 40th Anniversary of D&D = A Major D&D Product.</li> </ol>If neither of the above two happen, D&D will suffer as a franchise. Horribly. Imagine this scenario:Lapsed D&D Player from the 80s: "Hey look, D&D is having its 40th anniversary - man, remember playing that back in the day? That was fun." ....a few days later, browsing in Barnes & Noble... Lapsed D&D Player/Customer to Clerk: "Hey, what do you have for D&D?" Snarky Clerk: "They haven't published anything in a couple years. There is a new edition coming out at some point, but who knows when? We have the last edition, which kinda sucked, on the sales table. I've also heard there's some beta test PDF out there." Customer: "Frak that!" I can imagine any number of such scenarios. Now instead imagine that same customer being greeted by a snazzy new box set that evokes memories from his youth, but in a state of the art design. You get the picture.So with that in mind, I think we'll see some kind of commemorative 40th anniversary box labeled "Dungeons & Dragons" that will be the simple core game and include everything needed to play. This will (hopefully) whet the appetites of many a lapsed player. The Holy Trinity will come later - maybe a few months later at most. The other thing to remember, and this addresses  @<a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/member.php?u=6677017" target="_blank">Sword of Spirit</a> 's design perspective, is that they could be putting together the box set right now - the art, the design, even much of the writing - without having fine-tuned the math of the game. The box set could be ready to go with final stat edits to make. In other words, its not like the final product (box, or even trinity) has to be developed in a linear manner; the game designers can be working on the rules and playtesting while the artists are doing their thing, the layout folks are envisioning the product itself, etc.As for the announcement itself, I'm guessing they'll make it as early as January, which is the actual 40th anniversary. From that point on there will be a roll-out of some kind - preview material, hype, etc. Then the box will come out sometime around May or June, and the three books at GenCon. It might also be that the box comes out at GenCon and the books come out in November for the holiday season, but I'm guessing the former as it would better take advantage of the anniversary year.</blockquote>

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