The 5 Stages of New Edition Grief

[DarkCrisis]

The 5 stages of New Edition Grief.

• Denial - I don't have to switch. My old books still work just fine. I bet a lot people won't change editions anyways. I'll have no trouble finding a game of my preferred edition
• Anger - How could TSR/WotC/etc do this to me!? Look at all the money I spent on these books that are near worthless now! They aren't getting a dime out of me!
• Bargaining - If I buy more of the current edition books TSR/WotC/etc has to see how popular it is and they will make more books for it! I'll just gift the spare Old Ed book sets to my friends...
• Depression - I can't believe how much I spent on these old books that just collect dust. And everyone is trying to dump their old books so I'll be lucky to get a 4th of their cover price. Why does TSR/WotC/etc hate me?
• Acceptance - I'll keep a few favorites and use the money to buy the new edition core set. But JUST the core, I'm not going to have this happen to me again! Besides maybe the new Ed is fun. Besides, if I don't like it I can also find a group for my preferred edition, right? And I bet I can get some of the old books cheap off Ebay...

 

[Thomas Shey]

Or occasionally, step four being "Well, don't really like much of what I see in this new edition, guess its good I have other games I like."

 

[payn]

Or occasionally, step four being "Well, don't really like much of what I see in this new edition, guess its good I have other games I like."

No kidding. It must be hell being chained to WotC products.

 

[Smackpixi]

That’s great, love it. It’s weird here on the internet where what other people are doing in their game matters, and where I meet people who must suffer what the official rules are.

 

[Sacrosanct]

There are some truths we all should remember, but too many people seem to forget

1. The corporation will do what it thinks will result in increased profit. This has been true of every previous edition since 1e. It doesn't matter what I think, or you think, or what anyone else thinks. Presumably, they are looking at survey data, sales data, and other marketing indicators to come to this decision. They aren't catering to any one demographic, and they aren't out to screw you.
2. The price we spent on those books vs the hours of entertainment we got out of them is still exponentially better than any other form of entertainment, so it always strikes me as a bit odd when someone complains about wasting money on books that we've been using for almost 10 years.

 

[JThursby]

I have to be honest, I like most of the changes in the playtest. The two I really do not like are the crit changes and the name of the game; One D&D is a dumb weasel term for a harebrained marketing campaing trying to tell us the game is "beyond editions", whatever that means. Everyone knows this is a new edition, selling it as anything else is only going to upset more people in the long term. As for crits, it looks like they're overly concerned with low level PCs getting splatted by an unlucky monster crit. Just tune the monster damage down at low levels or give level 1 PCs a bigger HP boost, removing most crits will just make combat more of a predictable slog than it already is.

 

[Sacrosanct]

Re: removing monster crit. They inferred it was because no first level PC wants to be one-shotted from a crit. But if you recall, it was an intentional design choice to make level 1 and 2 be more fragile so those who want zero to hero (like me) had that option, and those who wanted heroic out of the gate should start at level 3.

So this is a solution in search of a problem.

 

[payn]

Re: removing monster crit. They inferred it was because no first level PC wants to be one-shotted from a crit. But if you recall, it was an intentional design choice to make level 1 and 2 be more fragile so those who want zero to hero (like me) had that option, and those who wanted heroic out of the gate should start at level 3.

So this is a solution in search of a problem.

I wouldnt be surprised if they already tested some of these recharge mechanics they talked about. Probably wiped out a few groups with these whammies combined with crits. So, they are just wiping out crits to prevent this so they can keep these new recharge deals alive.

 

[innerdude]

It truly is amazing how much of a difference it makes when you consider "D&D the Product" to be somewhere between 9th and 12th in line of systems you would choose to run or play.

I expend more mental energy choosing which cereal I eat in the morning than worrying about what will or will not happen with D&D 5.5e or 6e.

If I'm the GM, any of the following would hit the table long before D&D:

Ironsworn
Ironsworn: Starforged
Savage Worlds
One Ring 1e or 2e
Genesys/ FFG Star Wars
Swords of the Serpentine
Blades in the Dark
Spellbound Kingdoms
Burning Wheel
Pendragon
Mythras

 

[GMMichael]

• Denial - I don't have to switch. My old books still work just fine. I bet a lot people won't change editions anyways. I'll have no trouble finding a game of my preferred edition
• Anger - How could TSR/WotC/etc do this to me!? Look at all the money I spent on these books that are near worthless now! They aren't getting a dime out of me!

Anger, in my case, led to writing my own game. It's worked out well, except for the people who refuse to play anything other than D&D.

 

[John Dallman]

2. The price we spent on those books vs the hours of entertainment we got out of them is still exponentially better than any other form of entertainment, so it always strikes me as a bit odd when someone complains about wasting money on books that we've been using for almost 10 years.

Bought 4e 3-volume set. Stopped reading in horror after about 20 pages. Eventually gave it away, never having played it, nor wanted to. Bought 5e PHB, found it uncompelling reading, played a couple of sessions which were somewhat fun, but the DM is now busy having children. None of my regular groups have any interest in new D&D editions. Would you buy a new edition in my position?

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Gotta say, I’ve never felt all that compelled to switch editions, regardless of game. If I don‘t like a system, I don’t buy the books.

Some games/editions DO fall into a middle ground where I know I’ll be playing it enough to buy some product for my own convenience, like GURPS or D&D 4Ed. I only bought what I considered essential for playing, not running, the game.

 

[TerraDave]

You left out that other denial: New edition, there is no new edition, just new books with substantially revised content after the circulation of several rounds of playtest material. You can’t call that a new edition!

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

The 5 stages of New Edition Grief

• Denial - New Edition is the greatest! Roxbury 4EVA! They grew up together, and will never break apart.
• Anger - Who does that Bobby Brown think he is? He isn't bigger than the group!
• Bargaining - Look, maybe if I support Bobby Brown AND Bell Biv DeVoe, they will get back together?
• Depression - It's over. It's really over.
• Acceptance - Hey, at least they all need the money. So that means I'll get the occasional reunion tour!

 

[Sacrosanct]

Bought 4e 3-volume set. Stopped reading in horror after about 20 pages. Eventually gave it away, never having played it, nor wanted to. Bought 5e PHB, found it uncompelling reading, played a couple of sessions which were somewhat fun, but the DM is now busy having children. None of my regular groups have any interest in new D&D editions. Would you buy a new edition in my position?

Honestly, I don't think I'd be in your position, because I don't buy anything (books or otherwise) until I have thoroughly checked it out first. As for the second part, if I liked the game but didn't have local players, I probably would. Not just because I enjoy the material (treating it like any other book I'd read), but I'd find a VTT group if I couldn't find a local one.

 

[Mezuka]

I gladly switch to each edition of D&D from B/X to 5e. No grief for me. I view each edition as a game on my shelf I may or may not play again. Just like any other game be it a board game or a war game. In the end, I have memories of the sessions we played. It's all that matters to me.

For One D&D I'm on the fence for the first time in 41 years. I haven't GMed a game of D&D in 2 years. We played other fantasy games instead. It has been refreshing to learn how other game systems do fantasy. There will be no grief for me if I don't buy ONE D&D.

Having a group explode, implode and disband has been far more damaging to me. There has been anger, grief and depression because of that.

 

[Nikosandros]

No kidding. It must be hell being chained to WotC products.

Indeed. I still remember clearly the summer of 1989. 2e had just come out and I foolishly decided to continue my 1e campaign. After a visit and a "talk" with a Black-Ops team from Lake Geneva, I quickly saw the error of my ways...

 

[Joshua Randall]

Indeed. I still remember clearly the summer of 1989. 2e had just come out and I foolishly decided to continue my 1e campaign. After a visit and a "talk" with a Black-Ops team from Lake Geneva, I quickly saw the error of my ways...

One of my friends had a similar visit. Last time we ever saw him.

 

[Umbran]

The "stages of grief" are themselves nonsense in terms of modern psychology. They are possible states of grief, but they are not exhaustive, there is no particular order to them, or set path to navigate them. Grief is an individual process.

While I suspect the intent is more about humor, I think framing our collective reactions as grief tends to hide and excuse some pretty terrible behaviors that have other proximate causes.

 

[ReshiIRE]

Denial - I don't have to switch. My old books still work just fine. I bet a lot people won't change editions anyways. I'll have no trouble finding a game of my preferred edition

This seems to be true for online based games that you CAN find a game. Obviously harder for old editions, but if we're talking about D&D in particular - which I would assume that this post is made in response to, considering recent events - it seems Roll 20 and other VTTs have a lot of random games.

Getting your own personal group to play a game specifically might be quite difficult however.