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

Is that a reason for a perceived need to radically change the game between editions (2e-3e, 3.5e-4e, 4e-5e)?
By the late 1990s, I was sick of AD&D 2nd edition and sold my entire collection which was a significant number of books and boxed sets. Without a radical change I wouldn't have come back to D&D in 2000. I went into 4th edition with open arms, but it didn't take me long to realize the game wasn't for me, and once again, without a radical change I wouldn't have come back in 2014.
 

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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 think it would have looked a lot like the Options rulebooks, given they were sort of a testing ground for evolving the rules.
 

By the late 1990s, I was sick of AD&D 2nd edition and sold my entire collection which was a significant number of books and boxed sets. Without a radical change I wouldn't have come back to D&D in 2000. I went into 4th edition with open arms, but it didn't take me long to realize the game wasn't for me, and once again, without a radical change I wouldn't have come back in 2014.
Exactly the same here for me. I did keep running AD&D 2E until 3E came out, but 3E was a major breath of fresh air, a sort of house cleaning, and was great until around 2006 when it became clear the splatbooks were overwhelming and min/maxing was the default play style for everyone. I still remember 2000-2003 with vanilla 3E very fondly.
 

By the late 1990s, I was sick of AD&D 2nd edition and sold my entire collection which was a significant number of books and boxed sets. Without a radical change I wouldn't have come back to D&D in 2000. I went into 4th edition with open arms, but it didn't take me long to realize the game wasn't for me, and once again, without a radical change I wouldn't have come back in 2014.
For my part, I loved 2e and kept as much if it as my circumstances allowed, and got almost all if it via pdf as an adult. Never got sick of it.
 

For my part, I loved 2e and kept as much if it as my circumstances allowed, and got almost all if it via pdf as an adult. Never got sick of it.

I made the switch, somewhat reluctantly at first, but willingly once I played it a few times, to 3E. But I switched back to 2e during 4E and it has been great being able to use all the old books without doing any conversions. AD&D is much more to my taste I think than WOTC's vision of D&D
 

I made the switch, somewhat reluctantly at first, but willingly once I played it a few times, to 3E. But I switched back to 2e during 4E and it has been great being able to use all the old books without doing any conversions. AD&D is much more to my taste I think than WOTC's vision of D&D
Agreed. More than any WotC version really, though I like a lot of 3e's creativity and it's 3pp community, and the 5e rules are a good base for my homebrew.
 




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

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