D&D General What if Critical Role had stuck with Pathfinder? Or 4E?

[Retreater]

Neither 4e nor PF1 (or 2) would have the success that D&D 5e currently enjoys. I don't think anything with more complexity than 5e would be a hit to a mass audience not already predisposed to tabletop games. No genre would take off like fantasy. No game that doesn't have the brand recognition of "D&D" could get to that level either.
We'll be seeing an even more "streamlined, easier-to-play" D&D in the near future ... likely resembling more of a mobile game.
Until the fad of the game's mass appeal ends, we won't be seeing a D&D that rewards system mastery.

 

[Oofta]

Neither 4e nor PF1 (or 2) would have the success that D&D 5e currently enjoys. I don't think anything with more complexity than 5e would be a hit to a mass audience not already predisposed to tabletop games. No genre would take off like fantasy. No game that doesn't have the brand recognition of "D&D" could get to that level either.
We'll be seeing an even more "streamlined, easier-to-play" D&D in the near future ... likely resembling more of a mobile game.

Maybe. You largely have that option now, use sidekick rules for PCs, don't use feats or multi-classing. Probably don't bother going over 10th level or so.

Until the fad of the game's mass appeal ends, we won't be seeing a D&D that rewards system mastery.

I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing though, it depends on what your goals are and what you get out of the game. If you want a more complex system, I suspect you'd either need to go to a different system or check out things like Level Up.

 

[Vaalingrade]

We'll be seeing an even more "streamlined, easier-to-play"

NO!

Please god, no!

 

[BookTenTiger]

My suspicion is that 5e is what made Critical Role so popular. Switching over to a new edition was a smart move, and it really paid off for them. At the same time, though I do not watch Critical Roll, I think the group is a good ambassador for 5e and gets viewers excited to play.

I played for a long time with a group that was the first streaming game on Twitch (called Justin TV at the time). The DM knew someone who worked at Justin TV and we would often be featured on the landing page. As we played 4e, we would get hundreds of viewers and we grew a very loyal fanbase.

Then we got tired of 4e, finished the campaign, and switched to other games like FATE. Our viewership plummeted to literally single digits.

Being part of the zeitgeist is an important factor for streaming games! I think, even now with all its popularity, if Critical Role switched to a non-D&D system, they would lose half their viewers (or more).

 

[Weiley31]

Maybe/Perhaps 4E would have gotten a resurgence in people wanting to play it/somehow it got more popular.

 

[HammerMan]

Maybe/Perhaps 4E would have gotten a resurgence in people wanting to play it/somehow it got more popular.

maybe... but again I think that it was too much perfect storm... 4e may have increased, and CR may have been okay... but we can't be sure either would bloom like 5e did. (Having said that I still think another push for 4e would have been better, or atleast would have been better if 5e was more like 4e with updates.)

 

[Retreater]

Maybe/Perhaps 4E would have gotten a resurgence in people wanting to play it/somehow it got more popular.

I don't know. (I'm a 4E apologist, BTW.) But playing a dead system, OOP, which was already one of the least popular editions of a niche hobby, I don't think it would've gotten much (if any) traction.
If anything, fans would go to the store and purchase 5e just because of the name recognition, but it wouldn't be playing the same game.

 

[darjr]

MCDM is playing 4e now and there is a bit of a resurgence. That’s as close to CR if anything else is. And while there IS a resurgence, at least for now, it’s tiny.

Though it may have a larger impact via new 5e design.

 

[HammerMan]

MCDM is playing 4e now and there is a bit of a resurgence. That’s as close to CR if anything else is. And while there IS a resurgence, at least for now, it’s tiny.

Though it may have a larger impact via new 5e design.

Do you have a link?

I am a HUGE 4e fan, and keep hoping 2024 brings bits of it back for 6e/5.5/anniversary edition... I tried to make my own retro clone but I am not so great at balanceing things.

 

[Lyxen]

Honestly, without any slander about the inherent qualities of PF, 4e and 5e, it's obvious why CR and 5e have the popularity that they have today, it's because they are not addressing the same market. There was very limited growth in the geeky hardcore games like PF and 4e, both 5e and CR succeeded because they have an appeal to a much wider audience, one that does not want to read hundred of pages of complicated rules to play, and who just want to tell a story, not play a technical "simulationist" game.

D&D would have died without 5e (PF had already overtaken it), and CR would never have even have grown beyond a very limited audience, because people would have become bored watching long technical fights, if nothing else.

Again, this does not make 5e a "better" game, just one suited to different (but way more numerous people).