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Friday, January 25, 2013

Friday Question

With the release of the backlog of D&D products and the apparent softening of WotC stance towards...well, us gamers, does this change your view of the upcoming release of their latest version of D&D?  Are you more likely to buy it now since they seem to be gearing their recent efforts towards people who play older versions of D&D?

I'm looking forward to the release of the hardcover  releases of the S and A series.  I am definitely down for those.  I have them all in the original version, even the monochrome version, but I would like to have fresh copies in hardback.

As for the new D&D version.  Yeah, I will probably get it.  I was going back and forth about.  I'm not a fan of edition wars because I just like to play.  System is secondary.  The original reason why I was going to pass was because WotC were just being assholes towards is customers.  Especially long in the tooth dudes like me.  I shall not suffer an asshole nor give him thine money.  But maybe with this shift of perspective with the release of all the old stuff, the almost endless playtesting, maybe WotC got a clue.

Right now I'm on the side of buying the newest edition.  But only if I get a good deal on it.


15 comments:

  1. Right now I'm on the side of buying the newest edition. But only if I get a good deal on it.Same here.

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  2. Nope, we finally gave up 3e for Pathfinder. And I'd probably try ACKS or Labyrinth Lord first.

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  3. I will give it a go.

    I like what I have seen and played so far. It does feel more like old D&D than 4e did.

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  4. As long as it's less than 40, I'm definatley getting one. I'll probably wait to get one used and as cheap as possible, though.

    If it turns out more old-schooly, though, I may buy higher and sooner. I suppose the inverse holds as well.

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  5. And don't forget to hug a Fir today :-)

    As for the question, I am interested in D&D Next the same way I was interested in D&D 4e. I will learn it for the odd convention or game-store session. And I will use it if I can publish for it.

    Otherwise I just use my house-ruled S&W system or GURPS.

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  6. I've given up on D&D5 as the playtest has gone on. It had a lot of potential at first and while I don't dislike it as such now, it's not looking like it will be my kind of game.

    The release of the pdfs doesn't change that, nor am I that interested in the pdfs. I'm more interested in what the gaming community produces and my big fear is that now the old stuff is available again, we're going to see less of the new material produced.

    To be honest, I was rather surprised by the reaction the pdfs got, as I'd assumed most OSRers already had all this stuff.

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  7. My thinking is close to Kelvin's. I'm not sure it's possible to go back. How much can we need from the old centre these days if we're building our own network of new centres?

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  8. I don't need any more rules. I might grab the odd module (I still call them modules!) to pillage for ideas. I will only grab whatever free content is posted on the WotC website--or, now, on dndclassics.com--mostly out of curiousity.

    I've got what I need in terms of rulesets. Give me other material to plunder instead.

    And truthfully, the stuff from RPG bloggers and G+-ers is much better in terms of pure creativity. The production quality (art, layout, etc.) of WotC stuff is nice and all, but player produced stuff is catching up. Some of the One Page Dungeon Contest entries are just beautiful, and the 2011 Secret Santicore PDF is a thing of beauty. And don't get me started on the fantastic quality of stuff like Weird Adventures, Vornheim, and Theorems & Thamaturgy, Hartwell's LL modules, Sholtis' Zogorion & Secret Party House, and the cool zines from Christian Walker, Tim Short, and Rev. Dak.

    So, who needs WotC for DnD? I got you guys instead. Much, much, much more fun.

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  9. Making the PDF's available again is not enough to win me back-- not even to classic D&D products, much less the new edition.

    Those guys have plenty more fence to mend as far as I'm concerned. They took so long, I already moved on.

    (And while people that bought PDF's through OneBookShelf got updates... I had bought most of mine through Paizo. I am in no mood to start over again.)

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  10. I do not believe they are "gearing efforts towards people who play older versions," so much as they just want lost customer revenue.

    4E - "The Red Box is back!"

    5E - "The editions wars are over!"


    This is not about edition wars. I do not care what people are playing to have fun. They are having fun!

    Whether WotC is selling excellent old products they now own the rights to or the new crap they are vomiting, I will not hand over any money to WotC.

    "I shall not suffer an asshole nor give him thine money." In short, THIS.

    If you want to give your "cheating wife" another chance, I can't stop you. ;]

    To be clear, I am NOT insulting your wife.

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  11. I'll end up grabbing copies of the core rulebooks (PHB, DMG & MM) just to continue my collection of core rulebooks from each version (despite my lack of interest in WotC D&D so far). But whether I buy them new or wait for cheap secondhand copies depends on their release price and if I can get them at a decent sale price at some stage.

    As for my hopes for 5e D&D as an old school gamer, I'm cautiously optimistic. It seems to me there finally has been a change of culture at WotC with the commonsense strategy of targeting fans of every version of the game, rather than just the current one. They may just get it right this time.

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  12. @Kevin, Actually the fact people are interested in getting the old material is a good thing. It shows that the OSR has attracted newer gamers rather than being a bunch of folks who are players from "back in the day".

    The downloads of the free Blackmarsh PDF have increased three fold and sales of my $$ products have slightly increased.

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  13. Not at all. They didn't release what I'm looking for anyway: The three supplements to the original LBBs!

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  14. No interest in 5e, but I will buy a ton of classic PDFs. :)

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  15. I've lost interest in 5E as the "playtest" has gone on and on. I didn't purchase anything from 4E, although I picked up a few free "modules" here and there to pillage maps and ideas. I'll probably do the same with 5E. I have enough rulesets right now. You can never have enough maps.

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