When the New Edition Doesn't Cut It

[Micah Sweet]

The whole idea of excitement for (and automatic acceptance of) edition changes is baffling to me. Like, here's this thing that I enjoy. I can't wait for some random new designers and artists who work for the existing or new IP holder to make a completely different version of it.

There are a lot of games where the original is simply the best but they seem to just get memory holed for whatever is currently in print.

Sadly, many gamers have to pay attention to edition changes, because everyone else does and if you want to engage with more than the smallest fraction of the community for any given game, you need to be familiar with the so-called "new hotness". What happens when you like what you've got but the rest of your group wants to try out edition X, for example?

 

[Thomas Shey]

The whole idea of excitement for (and automatic acceptance of) edition changes is baffling to me. Like, here's this thing that I enjoy. I can't wait for some random new designers and artists who work for the existing or new IP holder to make a completely different version of it.

There are a lot of games where the original is simply the best but they seem to just get memory holed for whatever is currently in print.

I think you're missing that to a lot of people, even their favorite games are less-than-perfect, so there's always a hope that a new edition will keep the parts you like and fix the parts they don't.

In regard to your last sentence--again, never underestimate the network effect. People aren't in most cases wanting to learn a game long out of print, and finding players for many people is the hardest thing about gaming, especially outside the D&D sphere.

 

[soviet]

Edit: never mind, deleted

 

[MGibster]

Sadly, many gamers have to pay attention to edition changes, because everyone else does and if you want to engage with more than the smallest fraction of the community for any given game, you need to be familiar with the so-called "new hotness". What happens when you like what you've got but the rest of your group wants to try out edition X, for example?

When it comes to D&D, I'd rather shave my eyebrows off with a cheese grater than go back and play any edition with THAC0. And I'm saying that as someone who has very, very fond memories of AD&D 1st and 2nd edition. But I'm not the same gamer that I was thirty years ago. If I see a newer version of a game that's been around for 30+ years, I'm probably going to go with that under the assumption that it's changed a little bit to be more palatable to a modern audience. An assumption that might get me in trouble with a game like Call of Cthulhu.

But then your point out another good reason why I'd generally go with the more recent edition. It isn't just that it's the new hotness, but because it's going to be more widely available than the older version. At least that's how it used to be, right now if you want Cyberpunk 2020 books you can find them on Drive Thru RPG in the form of PDF or books. I'm fortunate in that my regular group is generally willing to try different types of games, but the D&D effect is real, and it can be hard to find people interested in other games. If I want to play a game of Shadowrun it's probably easier to find someone for 6th edition than it is for 1st edition.

 

[Micah Sweet]

When it comes to D&D, I'd rather shave my eyebrows off with a cheese grater than go back and play any edition with THAC0. And I'm saying that as someone who has very, very fond memories of AD&D 1st and 2nd edition. But I'm not the same gamer that I was thirty years ago. If I see a newer version of a game that's been around for 30+ years, I'm probably going to go with that under the assumption that it's changed a little bit to be more palatable to a modern audience. An assumption that might get me in trouble with a game like Call of Cthulhu.

But then your point out another good reason why I'd generally go with the more recent edition. It isn't just that it's the new hotness, but because it's going to be more widely available than the older version. At least that's how it used to be, right now if you want Cyberpunk 2020 books you can find them on Drive Thru RPG in the form of PDF or books. I'm fortunate in that my regular group is generally willing to try different types of games, but the D&D effect is real, and it can be hard to find people interested in other games. If I want to play a game of Shadowrun it's probably easier to find someone for 6th edition than it is for 1st edition.

I feel you, but I'm not a modern audience, and editions claiming that they're designed for today's gamer are not going to sway me. I would play any of my old games from the 90s in a heartbeat.

 

[eyeheartawk]

7th Sea's 2e was the hardest bounce I ever made off an edition change. I don't even know what John Wick was thinking there.

We would need a thread where I can write my cabin manifesto about how much I hate the second edition.