The future of D&D

[darkling]

Jul 22, 2011 3:36:46 GMT -6 rabindranath72 said:

I totally agree. In fact, the original 4e rules were quite succinct in many respects; but the errata is changing those rules to reflect an higher degree of pedantry, probably to address all corner cases, which is quite self-defeating considering the initial hype w.r.t. 3e was "less rules." Personally, I simply add errata which is true; things which are meant to clarify or simply nitpick, I leave out.

Nitpickyness has really been, in my opinion, the major flaw that has sent me scurrying back to OD&D. Whatever direction the game heads, I really hope to see less of it in the future. To some extent I even get why it is there, but it...mmm...it's like drawing in all corners of the map. Once there is a firm rule there becomes the player expectation that you should use that and the idea that that particular situation works in a particular fashion in every single incidence, which stretches my credulity.

I was reading Gygax' 1975 "How to set up your D&D Campaign" column the other day and marveled at his example of how utterly simple it would be to toss a gold dragon player character into the game, and by making a set few common sense assumptions about advancement, keep it from overshadowing other players. A process that he seemed to think was so intuitive that it wasn't given more than a sentence in the LBB. It feels like that sort of versatility and freedom is the first thing to go once you lay down nitpicky rules for everything and it is my hope that the future of D&D will be a good kind of step backwards towards a more open and flexible game.

[Deleted]

I don't normally post on here (too many forums to keep track of!) but every time I see the Rules Cyclopedia pop up on ebay there's a frenzy like piranha around them, usually with the book going from £20+p&p for a tatty thing to £40+ if there hasn't been any on for a while. Now the only problem is for WOTC is that it's all small change - selling a book here and there, but it makes perfect sense for the print on demand market. If WOTC said they were running a print of 10,000 RCs worldwide, and a bundle of gazetteers/modules in a large fat pack, would they sell, and in what quantity/timescale? If they disappeared in weeks (or days, even?) clearly there'd still be a market for the rest of the stuff us old farts pine over. It's money waiting to be made, where at the moment there's only a second hand market and they aren't seeing a dime.

d**n. I'm drooling over the thought of a complete print run of BECMI or even just a fresh, nice smelling RC that hasn't turned an odd colour.

WOTC has thrown most of its eggs (in the RPG sense) into the basket that is 4e, and whilst it has been successful (number 1 I assume, for all this time until - possibly - recently with Pathfinder catching up) they could be making so much more money simply by admitting to themselves that they aren't going to make all of the people happy all of the time with their latest game, and their back catalogue is ready to make them some money. The only people who'd be pissed off are the collectors/hoarders who sell stuff on to make money.

Heck, the silly money 3.5 books go for is another case in point. All they have to do is run it as some kind of 'anniversary' line and ditch the typos, jazz up the cover with a sticker and hey presto, profits up.

Unless of course, I'm missing something obvious...