D&D General Why TSR-era D&D Will Always Be D&D

[Lanefan]

We should really be thanking Stranger Things, Critical Role, the Big Bang Theory, Marvel Studios and roughly the years 2005 to 2015 for the general slide toward making geek culture socially chic and the 80's and 90's for making D&D the single most iconic symbol of being a geek to the point that every celebration of geek culture has to mention it that contributed to the confluence of events that made D&D, not just 5e specifically popular.

Agreed; and don't forget the Lord of the Rings (movies) ==> Harry Potter ==> Game of Thrones progression which served to bring fantasy* in general into the 'socially chic' club.

* - as opposed to sci-fi, which had the same thing happen a few decades earlier.

 

[Hex08]

Why are we edition eating again?

Because with a little salt and pepper every edition is tasty

 

[Azzy]

Isn't that sort of the antithesis of the OP's point, though?

He's saying it will always be TSR D&D, even if incidental things change. You seem to be saying, "Eh, it doesn't matter if it changes completely, it's still D&D regardless."

Nah, because it never (like in the Billy Joel song) actually changes completely. Give it a new spin and some new slogan, but the song remains the same... Dammit, now I'm getting my song metaphors mixed.

 

[James Gasik]

Nah, because it never (like in the Billy Joel song) actually changes completely. Give it a new spin and some new slogan, but the song remains the same... Dammit, now I'm getting my song metaphors mixed.

Meet the new game, same as the old game? Pick up my dice and play, just like yesterday?

 

[Yora]

What 5e has proved is that you can change all the guts and internals of the sacred cows. As long as the cow is still a cow, the specifics wont offend the majority and you can present the most popular version of a cow.

What matters is that you have the 6 abilities and fighters are STR based, rogues are DEX based, wizards are INT based, and clerics are WIS based, What the abilities do has a lot of leeway. This allow the community to refine the sacred cows to their wishes. I would not be shocked to see major changes in DEX, INT, and CHA in 6e or 7e.

If I'd think long and hard enough about it, I could probably make some intelligent sounding cargo cult reference regarding this.

Also brand recognition.

 

[payn]

What 5e has proved is that you can change all the guts and internals of the sacred cows. As long as the cow is still a cow, the specifics wont offend the majority and you can present the most popular version of a cow.

What matters is that you have the 6 abilities and fighters are STR based, rogues are DEX based, wizards are INT based, and clerics are WIS based, What the abilities do has a lot of leeway. This allow the community to refine the sacred cows to their wishes. I would not be shocked to see major changes in DEX, INT, and CHA in 6e or 7e.

Paizo learned a thing or two about sacred cows themselves. When they dove into PF2 design they still have the ability scores, however, the game runs entirely on the mods. People just think a Str 5 is too puny and want a Str 20! So, it stays in the game. Though, when it came time to post monster stat blocks, they would just use mods. This again, sent some GMs into complaint mode because a monster just doesn't sound scary with a 5 Str!

So, sometimes even the changes need to be considered carefully.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

I'm not going to argue about this any more, 5E exceeded all expectations from it's release, nobody could have predicted double digit growth every year since.

did you miss the part that for the sake of argument i gave you all those points that i normally discredit...

 

[Vaalingrade]

The key, as we can now clearly observe is to apply enough camouflage that the existing fanbase won't actively try to sabotage everything you need to do to appeal to new players.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

Huh? A statement was made that D&D has always been #1. I was merely stating the facts.

not even close, I asked even if you believed the worst (having nothing to do with the best) what would they need said hail marry for... you then went to bash 4e with the axe you have to grind about a game you don't like

 

[GMforPowergamers]

The key, as we can now clearly observe is to apply enough camouflage that the existing fanbase won't actively try to sabotage everything you need to do to appeal to new players.

we just have to hope