I was giving this some thinking after watching the D&D Keynote Presentation last night. I have to say, as much as D&D Next, at least the parts I've seen, are certainly not for me, I truly do wish it success. Heck, I wish it is extremely successful, because success for D&D Next will be a success for the hobby as a whole.
Am I taking anything away from Pathfinder? No. But D&D is still the marque name for the hobby. Even if you play Pathfinder, the act of roleplaying is often referred to as "playing D&D".
Sure, if there was never another single item released for RPGs, there is still enough out there to last me several life times. So if D&D crashed and burned, and the hobby went to ashes with it, I'd still have more than I'll ever need. But that's being selfish.
For a hobby to live and breath and God forbid, actually grow, it needs fresh blood. If D&D Next is done right, it will bring in fresh blood to the hobby.
One thing D&D Next HAS done right is dial back the 3x / Pathfinder complexity level. A simpler core game with hopefully an inexpensive buy in should lower the entry bar to the hobby, and that is a good thing. D&D has been in the past, and should be in the future, the "Gateway Game" to the hobby.
If they are wise, they will publish the core rules as a boxed set. The Pathfinder Beginner Box is by far the best introduction to the hobby currently in print. WotC should do whatever it takes to do it one better with D&D Next.
I doubt I will ever play it (again - I did an early beta) but I will buy the first rules release when it comes out.
I'm not going to invest in the 6 book series that will reset the Forgotten Realms YET AGAIN! I'll wait for someone to give the plot summaries in a blogpost somewhere when they are published. That's just too much of a money sink for something I'll never read.
"New" Projects
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I have had a burst of creativity over the last couple of months, and my
desire to get things off my WIP plate has been strong.
You all may have noticed ...
15 hours ago
Well I've always thought the initial release (Core Set) should be called Basic D&D, and the rest Advanced D&D.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if your title premise is accurate. I think the OSR/Pathfinder/whatever migration has shown D&D to be more than just D&D. I don't know if WOTC has the reigns anymore. A lot of people seem to have switched horses. What will it be like in two years when it finally comes out? I think a lot of people will buy the initial release(s), maybe play a few games and then continue on with what they were playing up to that point.
I agree with you, Erik, in that D&D leads in new players then directs them; it is synonymous with the wider hobby to outsiders and always will be. I still find myself explaining roleplaying as "Dungeons & Dragons" to help let people know what I'm talking about.
ReplyDeleteSAROE, I think you might have a point too, saying the established playerbase is unlikely to be heavily swayed. But given that the people in the hobby are always changing -- perhaps not much, but a little -- with new players coming in and old players lapsing, I think we have to accept that the playerbase will come to be composed of at least some element of people who cut their teeth on D&D Next. And that will influence things for all of us, as time goes on.
At least, that's the way I see it. :)