What do you want? (Forked Thread: When did I stop being WotC's target audience?)

[The Ghost]

In the end, I think all fans want from D&D is something that can in most ways represent the game that they want to play. As long as the rules don't get in the way of that, people seem to be happy (or not happy if they do).

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Best Regards
Herremann the Wise

I would like WotC to pack up Herremann the Wise and sell him as DnD because everything he wrote is exactly what I want.

 

[Thasmodious]

What have you wanted from D&D, that has never seemed to happen yet, or you have had to add to the game to not be missing that part of the fun for you?

D&D's always given me what I wanted, including new editions every 3/4s a decade or so that build on and improve the game. I can add and subtract the nitpicky things from any edition. As long as the current edition is built by gamers, I think the game will be in good hands.

 

[dm4hire]

What do I want? I would love to see every edition done like the D&D Rules Cyclopedia where everything is compiled (core books anyway) into one compedium and made available. This is something they could do just before going to a new edition. The Rules Compendium kind of does this with 3.5, consolidating all the rules and expanding on them in detail, but not enough that it would be the only book you needed. It can be done and in todays market you could even turn it over to a print on demand and set up a website to compile the portions you want in the final copy then pay for just that stuff, choosing paperback or hardbound. Each edition available with all errata up to the final date incorporated and availabe for print on demand (or PDF) so it would never go out of date. That would be a good start.

 

[Lanefan]

As for myself, the following is my personal opinion of what I would like to see in D&D. It is the charter I described for the group I started (see sig. for further details). Put this altogether and it is the ideal D&D for me:

• Magic is mysterious and dark once more; rather than the safe hum-drum technology of the fantasy world.
• The days of characters being defined by their suite of magical items instead of their skills and heroics are gone.
• Rules and flavour should be in symbiosis with one another, rather than in competition or strained accord.
• Streamline for elegance, not to bash complexity into vague simplicity.
• Adventuring is inherently not safe; combat encounters should present danger to the characters – the safety net must go.
• The assumption of miniatures and a battlemap should not be implicit in the ruleset; the rules must also be able to reasonably support those groups who prefer the landscape of the mind.
• While no specific world is given or assumed, the rules should allow for one that sits between Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, Vance’s Lyonesse series, Howard’s Conan Stories, Martin’s Game of Thrones series, Williams’ Memory, Sorrow and Thorn, Erikson’s Malazan series and Fritz Leiber’s Stories of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser; and be able to stretch to any of these fabulous fantasy pillars.
• Verisimilitude is not a dirty word; a logic to the fantasy world should be upheld.
• Character creations must be flexible; the ability to meld different but viable character ideas should be equally encouraged, rather than feeling pressured to focus on a couple of optimised builds
• Players should feel that they can develop a character that is both effective in combat and interesting out of combat – rather than either/or.
• The game economy must make sense and feel real; rather than being a calculated spoon-fed wealth lacking in true achievement.
• The game cannot afford for some classes to dominate at the expense of others at more powerful levels; and nor should the answer be compressing the classes into homogenized lumps of roughly equal measure.
• The game also cannot afford for rules to unmanageably bloat at higher levels with the time taken to resolve this vast array bloating as well.
• And most of all and above all else, the game must be fun! 

Best Regards
Herremann the Wise

ExP for you, sir; for the typing and thinking you just saved me. I agree with the above, about 99%.

Lanefan

 

[Nagol]

Forked from: When did I stop being WotC's target audience?

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What have you wanted from D&D, that has never seemed to happen yet, or you have had to add to the game to not be missing that part of the fun for you?

<snip>

So as bolded above....

For my group, D&D has never been a be-all and end-all for roleplaying. We agreed early on that the game system has a tremendous impact on game experience and different game systems offer advantages for genre simulation, in-game challenge focus, and theme exploration.

We play D&D when we want a D&D-type experience including quick character generation, strategic resource planning (including Vancian magic and item choice), heavy focus on tactical exploration, and growing into power theme.

If we want a different play experience, we choose a different system for the campaign.

 

[ExploderWizard]

I would like WotC to pack up Herremann the Wise and sell him as DnD because everything he wrote is exactly what I want.

Seconded I will also add that enough material has been produced to date to give me exactly that. Every edition has ingredients to contribute to a truly great D&D stew. The problem is that the exact recipe for that perfect flavor varies from person to person.

 

[Starbuck_II]

I have what I want from Necromancer Games - support for "old school" style sandbox gaming.

WoTC started out being what I wanted with 3.0. Splat books were nice, and I like having options, so long as they are sane and reasonable. Then WoTC started putting out things like Warlocks, Battle Sorcerers, Book of Nine Swords, and Magic Incarnum and WoTC and I started to part ways BIG time.

I must ask what is aboyut Warlocks and Incarnum that's too much?

Flavor, mechanics, or is it the names?

 

[Tetsubo]

I want what I will never get: continued support for 3.5.

 

[justanobody]

I see a reoccurring theme in several posts so far, so will call that #1 that most agree on.

Support for each version in some form.

While I think 3rd is dead in the water from support form WotC point of view, at least it has the OGL going for it.

 

[JeffB]

What have you wanted from D&D, that has never seemed to happen yet

For *me* that would be quality adventures. While WOTC seems to have a good grasp of rules and making games, since the late 2E days, they have not been able to turn out much if anything in the realm of quality adventure material, IMO. Perhaps because they feel the need to go with "generic, cliche, ho hum" plots because thats what the masses of gamers (i.e. not your typical WWW D&D fan) want?

IDK why it is- but there are several 3PP who kick the crap out of WOTC day in and day out when it comes to writing adventure material.