On the subject of maladies, it's a credible argument that something bad might happen to a character at any time, regardless of the character's carefulness or the player's game play. For example, Wednesday morning I was doing the dishes when the bottom of the glass I was washing fell off, causing the exposed glass edge to do this:
Because that's how it goes. Was nice though; with our new car, we were able to pop over to my doctor right away and get it stitched up within the hour. Today it's come a long way, so that typing this is less of a strain, though the progressive key strokes are moderately unpleasant micro-pangs.
Somehow, I feel encouraged by yesterday's announcement of "One D&D", once again expressing the company's wish-fulfillment regarding its naming of things. As a product-maker of old style D&D, for a while now I've been made uncomfortable by the success of 5e and it's propagandistic, soulless destruction of actual D&D game play, by insidiously teaching young children that it doesn't exist. Much as I hate to admit it, 5e came in with a depressingly good marketing strategy. Pretend that "real" game players designed the game, then pump it full of hot garbage spewed by gaming "journalists" ... and cementing the whole with game-store policed adventure clubs. The combination of these has made a shitty version of a great game extremely popular.
It's enough to make me slash my hands ... er, wrists.
However, with the inevitable sorry release of the WOTC's most recent splatbook, Tasha's Cauldron of the Same Old Crap, the company has decided to piss on it's own marketing by announcing that yes, they really are going forward with dndnext, announcing that they're "dropping editions" and moving forward with the badly named 6th edition ... which makes the game's rules even MORE player friendly.
One nice thing about being a games "journalist" is the happy willingness of merely repeating the company's talking points as "reporting," while I assume getting paid for doing so. Although the company are a bunch of lying liars, and games are "only games," it's perfectly safe to pretend that the new rules are variously awesome, amazing, terrific, a bold step forward and additional boilerplate-type rhetoric that makes sure the writer keeps his or her job while the online magazine retains it's adbuy from the company being reviewed. It's all quite incestuous.
"6th" edition will succeed in bursting the bubble of approximately 8 million 5e game players ... which for me, is good news. By continuously undermining its credibility, the company usefully spreads discontent and yes, anger, with company products, since a new ruleset is always a part of every change. Such poorly considered amateurish marketing desperation is a sure sign that at least 5-10% of 5e players will be pushed towards adopting earlier game versions, which don't change. As of today, I have potentially four to eight hundred thousand new customers.
Awesome.
Oh, you and your Canadian optimism...always looking on the bright side. Maybe it's something in your jovial Russian ancestry?
ReplyDelete; )
I have no excuse for being shocked that The Company would dump 5th edition. I am sure the spin will be something like "We're taking the best parts of 5th edition and adding some interesting new twists." The reality will be different, as they do need you to buy the 6th, but I envision that they will say something to mollify those whom would instead seek an earlier version.
ReplyDeleteYes, but for quite a large number of people, it won't work. Because they've heard it before ... and the company didn't make good on those promises. The company talks a good game, like TFG, but they don't play one.
ReplyDeleteSadly I was caught up in the marketing campaign back in the day(was it really more than 8years ago?) But quickly realized the company didn't intend on keeping any of their promises. It's a company, what else should be expected? It's easy to make promises during "playtest" hut once it comes to actually publishing something, the only thing that matters is the bottom line.
ReplyDeleteThough yeah it's been great for recruiting new players into old school play. Lots of people have been exposed to the game through marketing but haven't had a chance to play because no one wants to dm for free anymore(gawd I should write a post about how much I Har the term forever-dm), and most of these newbies just want a chance to play dnd, they don't care what edition it is
While I have seen evidence of what you speak, Lance, there's a few things I feel I must address.
ReplyDeleteI live in Canada, not America ... a country that still enforces laws on companies that don't keep their promises. Did you know that Canada's labour bureau keeps an office INSIDE an Amazon warehouse? So that if you have a problem with the way Amazon treats you as an employee, you can walk to the place in the building where you can complain DIRECTLY to the government. In person. And get results, THAT DAY.
So ... as I live in this world, I don't throw my hands up in the air much and exclaim, "Corruption, what can you do?" There are other things that matter apart from the bottom line.
Though lots of people are incapable of change (90-95% by my reckoning, in the post above), I don't need to sell to everyone. Those newbies who are ready to drink the sand, unaware that it's not water, must make their own way. What they do, what they think, what they want, doesn't really matter.
What matters is the company HAS lied. And now a whole generation has, again, been made aware of it. And those pundits, bloggers and "journalists" who have hitched their carts to the 5e train must either adjust to the whims of a company WHO DOESN'T PAY THEM, or suck it up and admit, finally, that the company sucks. It's a lose-lose situation for them, and I AM LAUGHING.
Optimism, yes...
ReplyDeleteI am afraid that disappointed 5E players will just continue using their perfectly serviceable 5E manuals and keep gobbling up the railroading 'story-driven' crap that third parties will happily serve them, just like 3E players effortlessly switched to Paizo's Adventure Paths. What it would take would be some 'celeb' like Mangianello to come out and say 'people, Hasbro's D&D is for pussies, Castle&Crusades or wtvr is the real deal and you don't need no DM Manual if you've got How to Run'. Slim chance. Most of theses guys and gals are actors, who have zero interest in actual world-playing, and anyway they have a financial interest in Hasbro's success.
Btw, did your read the detailed account of Gygax' downfall in Jon Peterson's 'Game Wizards'?
No, I didn't read that. Do you have a link?
ReplyDeleteDoesn't look like any free versions of 'Game Wizards' are available online, though it can be purchased through several sites as far as I can tell. This isn't Jon Peterson's first release either, apparently - a 2012 book 'Playing at the World', titled the same as his blog: http://playingattheworld.blogspot.com/
ReplyDeleteNot read any of this before now myself, but might be worth checking out.
Hm.
ReplyDeleteI'm not dissuaded from my previous belief that Gygax & Co. were a bunch of rank amateurs who stumbled upon a concept that was rooted in much social experimentation at the time, and would surely have been discovered by someone else. It's clear that while the group certainly had some creative genius, where it came to acting in the real world, they were not only ignorant but even stubbornly resistant to educating themselves, even regarding the business they'd started.
Not at all surprising that a few dragons swooped in and took it all away from them.
I bought the softcover, but a little Russian (or is it Serbian ?) piggy told me you can find it and many more in ePub at Libgen.rs... [http://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=D3B0994281A413C9BCCBF4CCCA41C843 , click on the title]
ReplyDeletePeterson is touted as the best (or only serious) academic delving into the history of D&D and early RPGs. I cannot attest to that, but the depth of his research clearly puts him miles ahead of anything else I've read on these matters.
'Playing at the World' explored the birth and first developments of RPGs. Its research was spectacular, but it was drowning in academic minutiae and its relentless (immature?) use of passive voice, and contorted sentences almost discouraged me.
'The Elusive Shift' tries to explain more precisely how wargames became RPGs - or, in short, how Gygax's D&D became Tao's D&D. There again, the theorical analysis relies entirely on a wide array of contemporary sources. I would be curious to one day read your opinion on Jon's conclusions.
'Game Wizards' is the latest and my favourite of the three, probably because its subject is closer to my area of expertise : a very detailed retelling, from a legal and financial perspective, of TSR's creation, rise and sudden fall, ending with Gygax's ousting in 85. The focus is narrower, the pace is good, and the style much improved. The end reads like a Basic D&D version of 'Barbarians At The Gates'.