Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Would a OneDND closed/restricted license be good, actually?
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 8875103" data-attributes="member: 42582"><p>I don't think the sentiments underlying these two posts can both be true: that is, I don't see how it can be true <em>both</em> that there is demand for RPGs that is independent of what WotC decides to do (which can result, for instance, in WotC making poor business decisions by misjudging what RPG consumers want), <em>and</em> that WotC exercises overbearing influence on RPGing.</p><p></p><p>For what it's worth, to me there seems to be a fairly consistent demand from the "mainstream" RPGing population. It falls into the genre/mode of RPGing often called <em>neo-trad</em>. (<a href="https://retiredadventurer.blogspot.com/2021/04/six-cultures-of-play.html" target="_blank">Here's a description.</a>) The core features of neo-trad RPGing, as I understand it, are (i) players coming up with vibrant conceptions of their PCs, expressed through a mixture of backstory, performance and PC build; (ii) the GM presenting a vibrant fictional world that those PCs can inhabit; (iii) the actual process of play involves the GM heavily curating the fiction - which includes introduction of both their own and the players' backstory, plus framing, plus consequences - in such a way that the players' conceptions of their vibrant PCs can easily and clearly emerge.</p><p></p><p>I would expect WotC, in its ongoing development of 5e D&D, to try to further strengthen the support for neo-trad RPGing while also maintaining the technical aspects of the game - which manifest primarily in PC and monster build and in the combat rules (and include the resource management aspects of the game) - which are perhaps less important to neo-trad play but are core elements of the D&D tradition and clearly remain important to many D&D players.</p><p></p><p>I would expect this to be combined with "monetisation" options, both connected to play and selling D&D-branded stuff more generally.</p><p></p><p>WotC's approach to licensing will (presumably) be based around both concerns. Keeping Critical Role in the tent seems pretty crucial. Preventing some competitor from establishing a break-out digital platform disconnected from WotC seems pretty important to. (This is a point that I've seen [USER=22779]@Hussar[/USER] mention.)</p><p></p><p>It seems to me that many of those posters really want WotC to turn the clock back, from its support for neo-trad to something closer to late 80s or early 90s AD&D (which were pretty similar in style despite the updated rulebooks part way through that period).</p><p></p><p>There's an apparent belief that if WotC changed its approach, the market would follow and hence there would be heaps of players available for those AD&D-style trad D&D games.</p><p></p><p>My own view is that that belief is false, and that WotC is following the market more than shaping its preferences. The shaping of the preferences is coming from other and more diffuse places - Critical Role, the way protagonist-based action films have developed over the past 40-ish years (Arnie's films being early examples, and MCU showing how it can be done in an ensemble fashion), the sort of RPGing that 3E and then PF encouraged, etc.</p><p></p><p>The dogs bark and the caravan moves on.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="pemerton, post: 8875103, member: 42582"] I don't think the sentiments underlying these two posts can both be true: that is, I don't see how it can be true [i]both[/i] that there is demand for RPGs that is independent of what WotC decides to do (which can result, for instance, in WotC making poor business decisions by misjudging what RPG consumers want), [i]and[/i] that WotC exercises overbearing influence on RPGing. For what it's worth, to me there seems to be a fairly consistent demand from the "mainstream" RPGing population. It falls into the genre/mode of RPGing often called [i]neo-trad[/i]. ([url=https://retiredadventurer.blogspot.com/2021/04/six-cultures-of-play.html]Here's a description.[/url]) The core features of neo-trad RPGing, as I understand it, are (i) players coming up with vibrant conceptions of their PCs, expressed through a mixture of backstory, performance and PC build; (ii) the GM presenting a vibrant fictional world that those PCs can inhabit; (iii) the actual process of play involves the GM heavily curating the fiction - which includes introduction of both their own and the players' backstory, plus framing, plus consequences - in such a way that the players' conceptions of their vibrant PCs can easily and clearly emerge. I would expect WotC, in its ongoing development of 5e D&D, to try to further strengthen the support for neo-trad RPGing while also maintaining the technical aspects of the game - which manifest primarily in PC and monster build and in the combat rules (and include the resource management aspects of the game) - which are perhaps less important to neo-trad play but are core elements of the D&D tradition and clearly remain important to many D&D players. I would expect this to be combined with "monetisation" options, both connected to play and selling D&D-branded stuff more generally. WotC's approach to licensing will (presumably) be based around both concerns. Keeping Critical Role in the tent seems pretty crucial. Preventing some competitor from establishing a break-out digital platform disconnected from WotC seems pretty important to. (This is a point that I've seen [USER=22779]@Hussar[/USER] mention.) It seems to me that many of those posters really want WotC to turn the clock back, from its support for neo-trad to something closer to late 80s or early 90s AD&D (which were pretty similar in style despite the updated rulebooks part way through that period). There's an apparent belief that if WotC changed its approach, the market would follow and hence there would be heaps of players available for those AD&D-style trad D&D games. My own view is that that belief is false, and that WotC is following the market more than shaping its preferences. The shaping of the preferences is coming from other and more diffuse places - Critical Role, the way protagonist-based action films have developed over the past 40-ish years (Arnie's films being early examples, and MCU showing how it can be done in an ensemble fashion), the sort of RPGing that 3E and then PF encouraged, etc. The dogs bark and the caravan moves on. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Would a OneDND closed/restricted license be good, actually?
Top