Will there ever be new editions of the major systems?

[billd91]

That's Traveller: The New Era, which uses the same system as 2nd edition Twilight 2000. I believe there was a brief period when GDW was looking to use it as a house system for various games.

I can understand the design and maintenance incentives they might have had by using a unified house system, but this was an extremely disappointing decision by GDW in my opinion. Moreover, Traveller had always gotten criticism for militarism since most adventurer characters are ex-military/ex-paramilitary and TNE took that militarism to 11.

TNE was a pretty good example of taking a relatively mature, evolving rule set (Traveller > Classic Traveller > MegaTraveller) and replacing it with something very different while simultaneously radically redoing the setting. There didn't feel like a lot tying either MegaTraveller or Classic Traveller fans to the new product.

 

[Parmandur]

WOW! that is what I call a Wisdom 3 moment.

Eh, it's a pretty obscure flash in the pan, to be honest...but interesting.

In addition to the rules controversy. Which seems to have been intense, GDW made some metaplot Setting decisions that were extremely unpopular, to the point that subsequent Traveller iterations reset the Setting to the OG setup, ignoring even Megatraveller developments.

 

[djotaku]

I hope not because 2024 is s real downgrade and generally speaking 10 years with any edition is too much for me.

I don't know if it came across well, but I was thinking in terms of marketing/maintaining player base - not that this is the perfect D&D. "5e compatible" seems an important "trademark"-like thing going on. I would expect it to be more like the programming languages I mentioned. Python 3.14 is way different than Python 3.1, but they're still Python 3. So I would expect modern Tasha, Mordenkeinen, etc to keep patching 5e vs a move to 6e (especially given the fact they just made 5.5e and created a Wii->Wii U kind of problem with the player base)

 

[Argyle King]

...but Vecna never dies.

Right. That's how they can get away with using the same transition that was used for 2E to 3E for 5E to 6E.

 

[dragoner]

I can understand the design and maintenance incentives they might have had by using a unified house system, but this was an extremely disappointing decision by GDW in my opinion. Moreover, Traveller had always gotten criticism for militarism since most adventurer characters are ex-military/ex-paramilitary and TNE took that militarism to 11.

TNE was a pretty good example of taking a relatively mature, evolving rule set (Traveller > Classic Traveller > MegaTraveller) and replacing it with something very different while simultaneously radically redoing the setting. There didn't feel like a lot tying either MegaTraveller or Classic Traveller fans to the new product.

TNE you also became weird robbers/looters eg "space vikings" something which was criticized in the discord just the other day. Too much back then, it was best left alone, otherwise people flip on you.

 

[Gradine]

To those of us who come of age in the TTRPG market of the '90s, it's pretty wild that White Wolf went from one of the two main branches of RPGs to an afterthought in less than a decade, but that's exactly what happened.

They aren't part of the Big Two anymore, but World of Darkness hasn't gone anywhere; they just released a new Vampire: The Masquerade video game less than two months ago. For a long period Fate was basically the non-D&D/D20 system. Maybe the lack of a built-in setting hurt its staying power...


Edit: I like the Sword Worlds

 

[TwoSix]

They aren't part of the Big Two anymore, but World of Darkness hasn't gone anywhere; they just released a new Vampire: The Masquerade video game less than two months ago. For a long period Fate was basically the non-D&D/D20 system. Maybe the lack of a built-in setting hurt its staying power...


Edit: I like the Sword Worlds

Yea, I know it hasn't gone anywhere; I actually prefer a lot of the CoD lines to the original WoD.

90's era White Wolf is the only other time I remember D&D having a competitor that was a real challenger to the throne. (I don't count PF1 in the late 00s-early 10s because it's just D&D competing against D&D.)

I do remember Fate being the recommendation du jour for a "non-D&D" in the early-mid 10s, when the Dresden Files books and the Fate Core kickstarter happened. I'm fairly mid on Fate as a whole, so I can't say I'm shocked it didn't end up holding on to its #2 position.

 

[mamba]

I don't know if it came across well, but I was thinking in terms of marketing/maintaining player base - not that this is the perfect D&D. "5e compatible" seems an important "trademark"-like thing going on.

it is important as long as 5e keeps selling well, it has no intrinsic value

I would expect it to be more like the programming languages I mentioned. Python 3.14 is way different than Python 3.1, but they're still Python 3. So I would expect modern Tasha, Mordenkeinen, etc to keep patching 5e vs a move to 6e (especially given the fact they just made 5.5e and created a Wii->Wii U kind of problem with the player base)

yes, that will undoubtedly happen. Is it enough to keep people from getting bored with 5e after 10 years, probably not, but then people constantly leave for all kinds of reasons. As long as D&D brings enough new people in, they can afford to lose existing players (arguably new players are better even as they need all the books).

They will work on a new 6e once sales drop enough, just like we got all new editions since 1e that way

 

[Aldarc]

They aren't part of the Big Two anymore, but World of Darkness hasn't gone anywhere; they just released a new Vampire: The Masquerade video game less than two months ago. For a long period Fate was basically the non-D&D/D20 system. Maybe the lack of a built-in setting hurt its staying power...

I do remember Fate being the recommendation du jour for a "non-D&D" in the early-mid 10s, when the Dresden Files books and the Fate Core kickstarter happened. I'm fairly mid on Fate as a whole, so I can't say I'm shocked it didn't end up holding on to its #2 position.

Fate is still a good and fun TTRPG to run, even Fate Accelerated IMHO. I like to run it for people who are new to TTRPGs.

I don't really think that the issue is the lack of a built-in setting. There are a number of generic TTRPGs out there without the built-in setting, though some may have started with one. You mention Savage Worlds for starters. Though I will say that when it comes to TTRPGs, there is pretty much fantasy and then everything else is niche. So there is that.

I think that the primary issue rests in how Fate's primary piece of "tech" - i.e., Aspects - got borrowed and incorporated into a lot of other games, though mostly as character descriptors. I don't think that Fate is dead. But Fate is run by Evil Hat Productions, which is relatively small, and they are also publishing other games: FitD (Blades in the Dark, Scum & Villainy), PbtA (Thirsty Sword Lesbians, Monster of the Week, Girl By Moonlight), Apocalypse Keys, Agon/Deathmatch Island, etc.

You can also see all the other plates they are spinning right now here: Project Status.

 

[Gradine]

No, I think the built-in setting thing is a thing. Even at the height of Fate's popularity, you weren't hearing about Fate Core as much as you were hearing about some of the licensed games based off of it, like Dresden Files or Leverage.