Twilight of the Grognards

[Murat, Esq.]

Even though I may choose not to buy into 4th Ed myself, I feel a lot fo sympathy for the designers at WotC. What happened on this blog is a microcosmic example of the problem they face.

Yesterday Berin posted that he was apathetic to the whole 4th Ed thing. Why? Because he was over D&D's default playstyle in general and didn't expect 4th Ed to provide anything new. Its like "I won't buy it cuz its the same old thing I've been doing for thirty years."

Then he finds his favorite race, gnomes, haven't made the starting lineup, and he feels outraged and disrespected. Its like "I won't buy it cuz I can't do the same thing I've been doing for thirty years."

Yes, I know ... the complaint is that the parts of the game Bear doesn't care for appear to be emphasized while the parts he still holds fondness for are being taken away. But, really, so what? WotC already lost Bear's patronage some time ago. They haven't lost a customer.

By the time 2d Ed first came out, I had already burned out on D&D style play from 1st Ed. I ignored the 2d Ed years because, streamlined mechanics or no, it was still the same old same old. I viewed D&D as a gateway game that was okay for gaming noobs, but once you had the basics down, if you didn't move on to a "more sophisticated" game like GURPS, Champions, World of Darkness or some such -- well, you were a little sad in my eyes.

3rd Ed roped me back in. Not immediately, but gradually. There were times, as in 2d Ed, that I couldn't find a game to my liking, and "settled" for one of the omnipresent D&D groups. And, you know what... I started to get a taste for D&D again, much to my chagrin.

What brought me back? The differences, not the similarities. Yeah, there is something comforting about dropping Mordenkainen's name or wasting someone with my crossbow like when I was twelve, but it was the explosion of innovative new character options and radically different combat rules that caused me to dust off my d20s.

So, while I have my own ambivalence to 4th Ed ition, its not because they are putting bards and gnomes on the bench and sending warlocks and tieflings onto the field, or because they are introducing options that may have been influenced by World of Warcraft. There is an excellent chance that I might like those changes.

[matholwch]

What worries me is that many of the changes seem to be for the sake of change, rather than as an evolutionary step in the game's history.

3.0 and the OGL was just the kick in the pants and decent upgrade that D&D needed. I didn't like all the changes, but hey on balance it was pretty good. What is being leaked out of WotC though doesn't thrill me one bit. D&D ain't broke no more so there isn't any real need to fix it. After all it is not like there isn't a plethora of alternatives out there if you tire of it, from D20 clones to dozens of completely new concepts.

The sheer scale of the changes proposed, as well as the subscription template they proposing to place on players and DM's, smell more like a chance for Hasbro to divorce themselves from some inconvenient agreements that they feel restricts their profits. They obviously think that if World of Warbadger can get away with it then so can they...

[Berin Kinsman]

Yeah, don't see my stance as contradictory. It's more like I was neutral, and then they actively pushed me away. I've gone from not caring to not liking. And it's not that they took away a big part of why I liked the game, it's that they mocked me for liking those elements of the game.

[Sir Golgotha, KEoPS]

D&D: Gateway Game

"Come on, man. Just roll one twenty-sider. Just one. You want to be like the cool kids, don't you? Come on. You know you want to."

First it was first edition, then second. Next thing you know I'm trolling the 'net for indy games. I've shot up Glitter Boys in Rifts, sailed the Matrix in Shadowrun. God help me. I've even played Midian... Now here I am, out on the streets, selling my blood plasma for experience points. I just can't kick my three-dungeons-per-day habit.

~~~

As for the subscription model, does anyone remember when White Wolf decided you weren't allowed to play any their Mind's Eye (live-action) rules unless you paid your proper dues to their organisation? I seem to recall someone posting dire messages that it was a matter of when--not if--WotC would go for the monthly payment scheme that MorPorks use...

Not that I'm a bitter old curmudgeon or anything.

[Lon Sarver]

Personally, I'm more turned off by WotC's business strategy than anything else. Yeah, D&D lost me before the advent of 3.X, and I have no intention of going back. Especially not at that price tag.

With each new edition, D&D gets better at doing the things I don't like about the game, and moves farther from what I did like. I'm at peace with that. There are plenty of other games out there that do what I want, I don't need D&D to be my game. Let it be what the folks who like it want it to be.

No, what concerns me is that WotC sets (or at least helps set) the bar for the RPG industry. I fear that, if their strategy is monetarily successful, other companies may adopt it, and further move tabletop RPGs towards the realm of the MMORPG. Which means taking it farther from the places where folks like me want to go.

This won't prevent small press/indie companies from publishing, or from putting up websites, and so on. But there is only so much room in the market, and the more that is taken up by games built around market strategies, the less room there is for games built around, well, gaming.

[Charlie]

Sounds almost like there's a generational strategy here... Like... "We've bled the over 30 crowd for all the cash they'll part with... Time to go for the younger crowd... exclusively."

Put yer kids on their guard... Teach your children well and all that.

:-)

[Charlie]

Not at all... more along the lines of making sure they're all wearing their tin foil hats... ;-)

[Sir Golgotha, KEoPS]

I think what really annoys me is that I was wanting to do the pay-to-play model for Midian: Beyond (the modern/sci-fi version), and use a horribly restrictive licensing agreement as a running gag. It's no longer funny if that's the way the most successful game is actually going--it loses humour as a dire warning if it becomes the default way that everyone else will try...

[Lon Sarver]

That's the problem with ironic commentary. There's always some idiot who takes it seriously...

[Murat, Esq.]

GARL GLlTTERGOLD DIED FOR OUR SlNS

from Bart Carol's column on D&D Insider:

Ah, our good friend the gnome. Since his cartoon debut, he's become something of a -- well, I don't know if celebrity is the right word, but he's certainly enjoying 15 minutes of fame.

Ryan Miller provided the voice of the gnome, and if you attended Gen Con 2007, that was Ryan as the voice of Gleemax as well. In addition, Ryan serves as principal script writer for the D&D cartoons (so perhaps it's no surprise that he's also a member of the Jet City Improv comedy troupe). I mention this because the next cartoon might have a cameo appearance from the world's happiest gnome, excited as ever to both be a monster and have a lair (only now, he needs a job).

So what better Dungeon Tiles set could we release for the gnome and his minion than VI: Mysterious Lairs, where he's now able to build the perfect home with an assortment of passageways and chambers marked with hieroglyphs, strange runes, abandoned thrones, and strange, forgotten wells. Plus, there's always plenty of dungeon dressing, with tiles for broken tablets, sarcophagi, and even a sacrificial altar complete with blood gutters. Granted, I'm not sure this is the gnome's preferred style exactly, but for the other monsters in your life, Mysterious Lairs provides a wealth of decorating options.

[Sir Golgotha, KEoPS]

So, since the gnome can't earn money by adventuring he is forced to become a corporate shill? It's that or back to porn, I guess.

[Berin Kinsman]

Oh, the voice of the gnome was also the voice of the ever-popular Gleemax? All falls into place now.

Dungeons & Dragons: 1974 - 2008. We hardly knew ye.

[Kenneth Newquist]

I've posted my thoughts about this to Nuketown:

Why WotC is Slash-and-Burning Dungeons & Dragons
http://www.nuketown.com/node/2489