D&D General What Does New Coke Tell Us About Designing for D&D

[Voadam]

I wonder what a 3e+ AD&D would have looked like. Would we still have downward AC, saves vs dragon breath, or race/class restrictions?

I would hope they would have at least adopted the ascending AC adopted in late 2e Dragon Fist. A simple change that makes the same system run easier for a lot of people. As seen in a lot of OSR stuff.

Race class and level restrictions would be another easy small adjustment in keeping the same mechanical core.

Max hp at 1st level would easily fit in for AD&D to make slightly less fragile low level characters who can be easily one shotted.

Even adopting the 3e-5e stat ability score bonuses would work fairly well in AD&D to remove the stat reverse bell curve rich get richer issue of characters requiring really high stats for any bonuses as well as more powerful class prereqs.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

Of course not. My issue is always how much are you willing to sacrifice to maximize profit?

And further: What are you willing to do that makes a quick buck now, even if it dies five, eight, ten years from now?

 

[Distracted DM]

there are not all that many products without a profit motive

People do like to get paid for working. People that fund them like to get money back from their investments as well.

Wanting to make a profit on a luxury item like a game is not inherently a bad thing.

And further: What are you willing to do that makes a quick buck now, even if it dies five, eight, ten years from now?

Yup.
You can have a business without making "Maximizing Profit" the highest priority; it depends on what the end goal is- sustainable business, making a quick buck, getting rich quick, etc. All different. When you open your company to public trading, that's when you're trading away (some) control of your business, and that will (likely) include shifting priorities further towards maximizing profit.

A goal can be "make a living doing something I'm passionate about."

 

[Oofta]

Of course not. My issue is always how much are you willing to sacrifice to maximize profit?

How much profit, and what changes are allowed, before people claim a company is sacrificing to maximize profit? Because it seems like every time WotC does something some people don't personally care for the accusations of MAXIMUM PROFIT start getting thrown around.

There are a lot of ways companies maximize profits in ways I don't care for (monopolistic practices, anti-competitive measures, shifting resources overseas to countries that have questionable labor practices to name a few) that I just don't see WotC doing. Do they sometimes put out product that doesn't appeal to me? Sure. All the time. But overall WotC/D&D (I can't really talk about MtG and this forum isn't about that game anyway) is pretty middle of the road as far as a corporate practices go.

 

[Oofta]

...
A goal can be "make a living doing something I'm passionate about."

Yet it rarely is, especially once a business grows past a certain size. Besides, people can be passionate about something and still want to get paid.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

On the scale of corporate evilness, WotC barely registers at 0.5 out of 10.

 

[Mannahnin]

I wonder what a 3e+ AD&D would have looked like. Would we still have downward AC, saves vs dragon breath, or race/class restrictions? How much would the needle have moved if all 3rd and later did was ".5" levels of change?

I always marvel a bit at how long descending AC held on. Gary mentions in the 1979 DMG that it was retained for backwards compatibility and due to players already all being used to it. And then 2E held onto it, again, just for compatibility!

We should have had ascending in the late 70s, though I understand that logistically it was tough to do on their limited budget, because they needed existing OD&D players to buy the new books.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Yup.
You can have a business without making "Maximizing Profit" the highest priority; it depends on what the end goal is- sustainable business, making a quick buck, getting rich quick, etc. All different. When you open your company to public trading, that's when you're trading away (some) control of your business, and that will (likely) include shifting priorities further towards maximizing profit.

A goal can be "make a living doing something I'm passionate about."

That part often seems forgotten in these discussions. It always comes down to maximum profit or you want creatives to work for free.

 

[Micah Sweet]

How much profit, and what changes are allowed, before people claim a company is sacrificing to maximize profit? Because it seems like every time WotC does something some people don't personally care for the accusations of MAXIMUM PROFIT start getting thrown around.

There are a lot of ways companies maximize profits in ways I don't care for (monopolistic practices, anti-competitive measures, shifting resources overseas to countries that have questionable labor practices to name a few) that I just don't see WotC doing. Do they sometimes put out product that doesn't appeal to me? Sure. All the time. But overall WotC/D&D (I can't really talk about MtG and this forum isn't about that game anyway) is pretty middle of the road as far as a corporate practices go.

They're the ones who said D&D was "under-monetized". To me that shows where their priorities are.

 

[Bedrockgames]

They're the ones who said D&D was "under-monetized". To me that shows where their priorities are.

I think the OGL thing hurt them way more than people realize