D&D General WotC Has Owned D&D Longer Than TSR Did

As Matt Forbeck pointed out on Twitter, WotC has owned D&D for 24 years since it purchased TSR in 1997. TSR created D&D in 1974, 23 years before WotC bought it.

 

[werecorpse]

Evil "bean counters" always wanting to do what actually works best. What a bunch of jerks.

Your words not mine

 

[Parmandur]

Your words not mine

Accurate, though.

 

[billd91]

Not so sure on this. Seems for the current state someone managed to get crunch and fluff smooshed together into one book as the standard way of releasing non adventure stuff a la Volos or Mordenkainens and also Xanathars and Tashas. I suspect the beancounters had significant input in that decision.

Maybe? Depends on if they had the same mindset as SKR was lambasting. It could be that the talent decided to at least partially ignore the bean counters on their strategy and actually found one that works better.

 

[werecorpse]

Accurate, though.

Yes because no business ever, when guided by beancounters, has failed

 

[Parmandur]

Yes because no business ever, when guided by beancounters, has failed

Fairly few companies not guided by fiduciary wisdom have succeeded for long, though nothing is guaranteed.

 

[werecorpse]

Maybe? Depends on if they had the same mindset as SKR was lambasting. It could be that the talent decided to at least partially ignore the bean counters on their strategy and actually found one that works better.

Agreed

Edit: I’m only saying ....
Not so sure on this. (That the current state has no relevance to the SKR lambasted state) Seems for the current state someone managed to get crunch and fluff smooshed together into one book as the standard way of releasing non adventure stuff a la Volos or Mordenkainens and also Xanathars and Tashas. I suspect the beancounters had significant input in that decision.

Not that it’s bad, or that beancounters are always bad, or that they have complete control. Only that the story may have some continuing relevance (Albeit not be an identical situation).

 

[MNblockhead]

For you perhaps. Though I image, the quality of the writing is not what made that a 'quality' book for those that do enjoy it. Different strokes for different folks.

Different strokes, indeed...

 

[Garmorn]

Players of the 70s-90s had children. They most assuredly played D&D Basic and AD&D with them. It was probably their first D&D game ever. Do these children, now old enough to have their own children, play TSR editions with them? Unlikely. Well, maybe an occasional game to please grandpa.

You are probably right for most of them. They like their parents moved on to the newer versions just like my daughter who is playing 5e. She started in the 80s and has played 2nd and 3rd editions.

 

[Ace of Shadows]

As Matt Forbeck pointed out on Twitter, WotC has owned D&D for 24 years since it purchased TSR in 1997. TSR created D&D in 1974, 23 years before WotC bought it.

The true owner(s) of that trademark and the associated copyrights are the human beneficial owners of the majority shareholdings of whichever parent company controls WotC from time to time - not some company where the asset is notionally parked in a corporate veil from time to time.

Of course. when it comes to chest-beating, how long you have possessed such assets is only relevant to count the years you have spent successfully selling individual copyright materials associated with the brand to successive generations of mankind.

The real measure of a successful book of any stripe, is your ability to keep selling the same publication and any associated library of publications to successive generations, without needing to completely re-write the entire book or its associated library every 6 years - because its been decided by the owner that that version of the game is now junk.

Clearly, success is not measured by how much time you have wasted on producing unreliable experimental books that become redundant and disposable every 6 years whilst you try to find such a reliable and successful publication, whose usefulness to consumers survives from one generation to the next - like any fine book or fine library of books should.

The more time you have wasted on this search and the more disposable versions you produced trying to find such a winning antiquarian formulae, the more embarrassing your failure to produce such a collection of publications must be ... surely?

I know I would be very embarrassed if I was coming up to to a 6th offering of experimental books in the lifetime of just 1 generation of consumers.

I certainly wouldn't be trumpeting how long I have been at it producing disposable experimental rule systems for a kind of game whose main selling point is that it is capable of being played for whole lifetimes and from one family generation to the next .... as it turns out.

WotC I think has the ignominious distinction of distributing the highest number of different versions of the main game, each for the shortest periods of time. Gygax and even Williams only ever distributed 1 version a piece, as I recall and they were at least largely compatible with each other - whatever the relative merits of their distinctions. I'm not sure that is something to be proud of but then all of the generations of my family in living memory bought and still buy Original Coke, so what do I know. Maybe its just an unusual family oddity.

Is that the anniversary clarion call to announce a 6th 'version' of 'the game' I hear rumblings of? You know calling it an 'edition' when its a complete re-write is not really correct English but ah well back to 'editing', eh.

 

[Enevhar Aldarion]

hater radar activated