What if WotC just said "That's it."

[The Shaman]

I haven't purchased anything from Whizbros in years, and I play D&D of any sort very rarely, so I doubt it would have any impact on me at all.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I'd definitely keep gaming: currently, I'm in a 4Ed game, a 3.5Ed game, and a game in 3.5Ed that has been active & updated since 1985.



And I've got another 60+ games on my shelf, some still in current production.


And if all of the entire hobby's companies closed shop, I'd still keep playing.

 

[Edgewood]

It wouldn't phase me in the slightest. I think that I would keep plugging along as I always have.

 

[Aus_Snow]

What if WotC just said "That's it."

I'd be all, like, "Did someone say something?" *shrug* (keeps playing)

 

[Jan van Leyden]

But I differ fundamentally from you, delver, in the sense that the D&D that I played back then wore out on me. I had stopped playing D&D for the better part of a decade before 3e came out. I think any edition would wear out on me without new COMPELLING material, with the emphasis on compelling.

That's a fundamental point, IMHO. I expect each and every game we play to show signs of wear and tear over the years. Without editions changes - and I don't talk about funny stuff like Essentials - D&D will become less attractive.

We would probably branch out and start playing different games, returning to D&D after 1-2 years, repeating the process ad nauseam.

The greatest advantage of D&D over its competitors is the well-known baseline. Even with the changes wrought over the years, D&D still feels like D&D, tastes like D&D, and sounds like D&D. If we will have had enough of whatever other game gets played and want to return to elves & dwarves, mages & priests, we'll pull D&D out of the closet and start slinging the old polyhedrals.

But which edition would we use? I don't know, it doesn't really matter.

 

[Argyle King]

I don't think it would really have that big of an impact on me. A few years ago it may have, but right now I play D&D far less than I once did. I suppose, if D&D were to be frozen, I'd play the other rpgs I like.

 

[mattcolville]

What if WotC, tomorrow, just up and said "That's it. We're freezing the D&D codebase. No new versions, no new editions. It's what we want, it sells, we'll write adventures and sell rulebooks. Enjoy!"

I don't mean the financial or business "what if" for them. That speculation is beyond me.

I mean you guys, the people who play WotC D&D - or we can expand it out and say "What if TSR were still around and they'd said 'that's it' at AD&D."

I would ask folks to keep EW stuff out of this - I'm not asking for "Why didn't they stop when xyz edition was obviously perfect and all others are just pale imitations" type answers.

Just wanna know if you'd keep on going with D&D hereafter. Or thereafter in the alternate futures.

(Me? yes on the would keep playing in the alternate future; I don't play the current ruleset.)

I already think there are more options that any group of players could exhaust in a lifetime. I don't need more rules for killing monsters. Well, perhaps a bunch more Themes, those are good.

What I want is some of the "everything else." Rules for everything outside of fighting monsters.

 

[Coldwyn]

My guess is that we´ll have a situation like back in the 90s. Most gamers I knew back then thought AD&D got stale and were looking for a new system, always trying to find players for a new rpg they wanted to testdrive.
We were still playing AD&D because we knew the rules and still had fun, but it was like, well, having continous one-night-stands with your ex-girlfriend while you´re out looking for a new one.

 

[delericho]

Be careful what you wish for...

By the time 4e was announced, there were a lot of people who were ready for a new edition. I suspect in five or so years, a similar number of people will find they're likewise ready for 5e. This may well include a number of people who are complaining about the 5e threads right now! (Tastes change with time, and also talking about 5e in 2016 is a rather different matter from talking about it in 2011.)

I suspect therefore that if WotC announced there would be no more editions, a fair number of people would be delighted... for a while.

As for me: from a buying/DMing perspective, it would suit me quite well. I don't buy/run 4e, and that won't change, but I do keep one eye on what WotC are doing, with some consideration to how that might affect 5e. Obviously, if you remove 5e from the frame, I can basically ignore WotC going forward. (It would also encourage me to finally go ahead and put together my homebrew 'golden' edition, knowing I won't want to later abandon it in favour of 5e.)

However, that would suit me rather less than had WotC stopped at 3.5e (my preferred edition), or if they went ahead with a 'good' 5e. (Where good is as defined by me at the time of release, of course! )

It also wouldn't suit me all that well from a playing perspective. The other DM in one of my groups is something of a neo-phile (such that he has moved us on to the new Character Builder despite its flaws, and is planning to adopt the Fortune Cards). If and when 5e comes out, he'll no doubt switch over to that. However, if there is no 5e then we'd continue playing 4e... which, although a game I enjoy, is definitely not my preferred option.

 

[UngainlyTitan]

In the short to medium term I would kkp playing my current campaigns in the longer term I would probably try other systems.