Levistus's_Leviathan
5e Freelancer
So, you want the game to go bankrupt and then to be bought out again. That will not work out in the long run.
WotC WotC needs an Elon Musk
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Jacob Lewis
Ye Olde GM
No one and nothing in the history of this world, this timeline, or any other conceivable dimension, has ever needed an "Elon Musk" for anything, ever. Except maybe Elon Musk, and I can't even vouche that is true for any and all possible instances.
Bolares
Hero
wasn't the leadership that decided to:
1 - publish those books.
2 - put those people in charge of the books.
If you want to appear objective you have to recognize the things they got right to, even if it hurts your point.
Henadic Theologian
Hero
Fair enough, even a broken clock is right twice a day. The question is why did they stop doing what worked?
Oofta
Legend
Last time I checked, managers very rarely actually produce product directly. They review, greenlight, possibly give suggestions and may have input into general direction.
Oofta
Legend
The game is still selling well. The PHB is #15* in sales on Amazon of all books. Not RPG books, not game books, all books sold. It's been working for nearly a decade, it continues to work for the company and overall sales. It may not work for you personally, but them's the breaks.
*At least it was the last time I glanced at Darjr's thread.
Bolares
Hero
Sorry, but I disagree with your premise here. You not liking other setting books doesn't make them bad. Most of the MTG settings are great, I loved ravenloft, most of the setting material in the adventures is really good. Spelljammer was a big blunder, sure, but that does not rewrite history and make all the other books retroactvelly bad.
AdmundfortGeographer
Getting lost in fantasy maps
It is curious how the Great Man Theory of leadership finds new ways to be reasserted.
FrozenNorth
Hero
I mean, from your posts, you seem to want D&D to return to something more like it was in 2e or before. Meanwhile, Musk himself would probably describe himself as a disrupter.
A Muskhelmed D&D would probably have no print products at all, and possibly no products from WotC.
Oofta
Legend
Most great leaders know how to inspire and support great people at all levels of the organization while providing high level direction, with a great deal of input from the people they lead. This all-too frequent idolization of the person that happens to be the figurehead has always bothered me as well.
AdmundfortGeographer
Getting lost in fantasy maps
And only things that reward shareholders by being obviously profitable, not marginally hopefully profitable despite a history otherwise.
Sorcerers Apprentice
Hero
If Magic is failing, then that probably means that WotC management will look to D&D to make up for the lost revenue. Prepare for monetization!
Cordwainer Fish
Imp. Int. Scout Svc. (Dishon. Ret.)
They could get bought by an heir to the Smith Literary Trust [1] and start pushing Gray Lensman products on the market. I would honestly very much like for that to happen.
[1] an organization that I have no reason to think actually exists
Aldarc
Legend
Maybe they were encouraged to cater to the hardcore fans who wanted older Gen X settings rather than the settings the current casual audience would actually find interesting.
Quoted for E E Doc Smith, Lensman reference.
Micah Sweet
Level Up & OSR Enthusiast
I want a lot of content for D&D.
MoonSong
Rules-lawyering drama queen but not a munchkin
The damage has been visible in the recent years, but it has been brewing over time. Again, not questioning the need for something like the RL, but the RL itself wasn't the best of options. Just a 10-15 moratorium on reprints would have done the trick without hurting the playability too much. That is more or less the time it took for type 1 to get unreachable and forced modern to be a thing, and ten years after that, we have now pioneer because modern itself has gotten unreachable. Just five years would have done the trick.
MoonSong
Rules-lawyering drama queen but not a munchkin
Now that I think of it, I also forgot about stickers...
Only for the hardcore fans to be like, "no, not like that"Maybe they were encouraged to cater to the hardcore fans who wanted older Gen X settings rather than the settings the current casual audience would actually find interesting.
Clint_L
Hero
WotC's leadership "failed" their way to 5e exponentially enlarging D&D's player base and cultural footprint. But those levels of growth were always unsustainable, so now they are trying to engineer a soft landing, unlike the crashes that have plagued D&D in the past.
Previously, this is when TSR/WotC would have announced a whole new edition to try to get the hardcore base to replace all their books and thus infuse some fast cash into sales. But they are trying something new, now, which is to engineer a shift to a D&D culture that is perennial, where they can put out, say, a new PHB without it signalling that everyone needs to replace all their stuff...or maybe quit the game (or just stick with the old version, which from a WotC perspective is more or less like quitting the game).
All of which is to say that I think it's a little early to argue that WotC's leadership has failed.
Previously, this is when TSR/WotC would have announced a whole new edition to try to get the hardcore base to replace all their books and thus infuse some fast cash into sales. But they are trying something new, now, which is to engineer a shift to a D&D culture that is perennial, where they can put out, say, a new PHB without it signalling that everyone needs to replace all their stuff...or maybe quit the game (or just stick with the old version, which from a WotC perspective is more or less like quitting the game).
All of which is to say that I think it's a little early to argue that WotC's leadership has failed.
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