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<blockquote data-quote="fanboy2000" data-source="post: 5373871" data-attributes="member: 19998">I agree with your general premise: that RPGs don't need new editions all the time.It might help to analyze what went into each D&amp;D edition change.The split of D&amp;D into AD&amp;D and BD&amp;D was driven by differences between it's creators, Arneson wanted a rules set closer to his game (what became Basic D&amp;D), and Gygax wanted wanted a game closer to AD&amp;D, which is what he intended to be D&amp;D Second edition. IIRC Arneson got few royalties for AD&amp;D than he did for D&amp;D. AD&amp;D 2e was driven by a desire to clean up AD&amp;D. Gygax had been ousted by then.D&amp;D 3e was driven by a desire to make the brand profitable to it's new owners. The idea was to 1) include races, classes, and other elements that 2e had left out. Half-Orcs and Monks returned to the PHB. Wizards cleaned-up any legal problems there might have been using D&amp;D instead of AD&amp;D with Arneson.I'm not going to speculate on what drove 4e. You can find lots of that online.Board games have been around for literally thousands of years. For whatever it's worth, Monopoly has been around in different forms for over a hundred years. It seems a little unfair to compare a game invented in 1904 to one developed 70 years later. And say that, today, the older one has more stable rules than the younger one. Particularly when that's kind of what we might expect from new games.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="fanboy2000, post: 5373871, member: 19998"] I agree with your general premise: that RPGs don't need new editions all the time. It might help to analyze what went into each D&D edition change. The split of D&D into AD&D and BD&D was driven by differences between it's creators, Arneson wanted a rules set closer to his game (what became Basic D&D), and Gygax wanted wanted a game closer to AD&D, which is what he intended to be D&D Second edition. IIRC Arneson got few royalties for AD&D than he did for D&D. AD&D 2e was driven by a desire to clean up AD&D. Gygax had been ousted by then. D&D 3e was driven by a desire to make the brand profitable to it's new owners. The idea was to 1) include races, classes, and other elements that 2e had left out. Half-Orcs and Monks returned to the PHB. Wizards cleaned-up any legal problems there might have been using D&D instead of AD&D with Arneson. I'm not going to speculate on what drove 4e. You can find lots of that online. Board games have been around for literally thousands of years. For whatever it's worth, Monopoly has been around in different forms for over a hundred years. It seems a little unfair to compare a game invented in 1904 to one developed 70 years later. And say that, today, the older one has more stable rules than the younger one. Particularly when that's kind of what we might expect from new games. [/QUOTE]

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