Frostmarrow
First Post
Recently I've begun reading rumors and speculations about a new edition of D&D. It seems to me that Wizards are not completely happy with their current product and that is of course due to Paizo almost outselling them. While it wouldn't be surprising if Wizards announced a 5E maybe they are restrained by the idea that the market for D&D is so fractioned these days that a new edition only would serve to make things worse.
The market for D&D is indeed fractioned. It has gotten to the point where even gaming groups can't agree on what to play. However, somehow, we all like to play D&D. It's just that we have different ideas of what D&D really is.
Enough with the recap. Here is what I suggest:
Wizards can set up a print on demand service and make a template book that features the D&D logo on the cover. Anyone could print a book with the template and Wizards should charge a small fee for the use of this service and the brand name. The books created in this way should be made available on the the D&D homepage, where you'd also find a chart of the best books and professional as well as amateur reviews of the lot.
Complete insanity? I realize that there is a lot to work out.
I think D&D lives in the hearts and minds of the people playing D&D. D&D isn't merely UNO or Monopoly, it something more. The creativity associated with D&D is vast and sometimes, pretty often in fact, out of the hands of Wizards to control. Wizards can't charge me for thinking about D&D and Wizards can't stop me from playing D&D with my friends. On the other hand there is also lots of D&D stories lodged in my mind and the minds of millions of D&D players around the world. Stories that Wizards is missing out on.
D&D is a cottage industry dressed up as a publishing act. Wizards hire some pretty amazing game designers, artists and authors and together they make the best D&D they can possibly imagine. But it's hard for them to tell what the best D&D I can imagine is, or the best D&D any of the other D&D gamers in this community can imagine.
So why not let the hobby sprawl and take a cut of the proceeds. They could allow D&D to reach singularity and publish every conceivable variant of D&D, catering to the finest niche persuasions of the D&D fanbase, and ultimately we'd find out what D&D really is. There is no need for editions when D&D has become a flexible ever-shifting stream of ideas.
Sure as death and taxes a set up like this would be detrimental to the overall production quality of books with the D&D name but this is where Wizards come in. Wizards could act as shepherds and spotlight the books that are of great value and ignore those not in the spirit of the game. Former employees of WoTC could author books and even you could author your own D&D and have it published in five copies enough for your gaming group's needs. It would still be D&D because D&D is not an edition. It's a way of life. And a brand name.
The market for D&D is indeed fractioned. It has gotten to the point where even gaming groups can't agree on what to play. However, somehow, we all like to play D&D. It's just that we have different ideas of what D&D really is.
Enough with the recap. Here is what I suggest:
Wizards can set up a print on demand service and make a template book that features the D&D logo on the cover. Anyone could print a book with the template and Wizards should charge a small fee for the use of this service and the brand name. The books created in this way should be made available on the the D&D homepage, where you'd also find a chart of the best books and professional as well as amateur reviews of the lot.
Complete insanity? I realize that there is a lot to work out.
I think D&D lives in the hearts and minds of the people playing D&D. D&D isn't merely UNO or Monopoly, it something more. The creativity associated with D&D is vast and sometimes, pretty often in fact, out of the hands of Wizards to control. Wizards can't charge me for thinking about D&D and Wizards can't stop me from playing D&D with my friends. On the other hand there is also lots of D&D stories lodged in my mind and the minds of millions of D&D players around the world. Stories that Wizards is missing out on.
D&D is a cottage industry dressed up as a publishing act. Wizards hire some pretty amazing game designers, artists and authors and together they make the best D&D they can possibly imagine. But it's hard for them to tell what the best D&D I can imagine is, or the best D&D any of the other D&D gamers in this community can imagine.
So why not let the hobby sprawl and take a cut of the proceeds. They could allow D&D to reach singularity and publish every conceivable variant of D&D, catering to the finest niche persuasions of the D&D fanbase, and ultimately we'd find out what D&D really is. There is no need for editions when D&D has become a flexible ever-shifting stream of ideas.
Sure as death and taxes a set up like this would be detrimental to the overall production quality of books with the D&D name but this is where Wizards come in. Wizards could act as shepherds and spotlight the books that are of great value and ignore those not in the spirit of the game. Former employees of WoTC could author books and even you could author your own D&D and have it published in five copies enough for your gaming group's needs. It would still be D&D because D&D is not an edition. It's a way of life. And a brand name.
