Xaeyruudh's Index

Perspective

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This is one of several thoughts/suggestions regarding the upcoming fifth edition of Dungeons & Dragons (5e). Relevant news items: nytimes and wizards.

Those of us who are still around from the early days (1982 for me) are not here out of loyalty to the company… some of us might be fans of particular designers, but you’ve fired or lost most of the old guard (and the next guard, and the one after that) so the customers you still have are those who are still stubbornly finding ways to eke out some enjoyment from playing D&D.

We’re still here because we enjoy playing with our friends. We’re here because we love sitting around a table talking and eating and drinking and laughing and maybe even crying, rolling dice and feeling like kids going into Narnia. You, as the heads of WotC/Hasbro, have about as much significance in that picture as that bag of Doritos that refuses to open until someone yanks just hard enough and then the bag explodes everywhere. You annoy the piss out of us periodically, and then, as quickly as possible, we get back to having fun.

We’re here because we enjoy the game, the way we play it. Which, in case it isn’t obvious, may or may not be according to the published rules. The more wildly varying rulesets you give us, the more diluted the game gets with house rules and halfway points. I don’t have statistics, but I’m guessing the only time people play straight-up 4e rules is when they’re participating in Encounters sessions. At home, I bet the rules are different.

And it’s not even that 4e is a bad rules system… I haven’t invested in it because I’m currently unemployed, and I sank more into the previous rulesets than some people earn in a year. 4e isn’t necessarily a bad ruleset. We now have 5 rulesets, though, and everybody seems to love one and hate the rest. So when we’re looking for local gamers, not only do we have to find people who aren’t going to scream and brandish Bibles at us (thank you, by the way, Biblethumpers… it’s nice to have a foolproof way to identify raving idiots) but we’re also limited to people who are on the same page as far as their ruleset-of-choice.

The point is… you (Wizards of the Coast) are expendable. It’s actually been that way since Day One, but it’s more pronounced now than it used to be. We play, the way we want to play. Rulebooks are a convenient starting point, and a way to keep things organized, but that’s it. And some of us have a whole lot of rulebooks at this point. The real essence of the game —the enjoyment— comes from the setting, and what the minds of the DM and players do with that setting. And we’re already getting a bunch of that from Candlekeep and other free sources.

So, here’s some perspective.

If WotC kicks the bucket, D&D will live on, and so will gaming.

When we gripe, we’re doing you a favor, though some of us may not realize it at the time. We’re giving you an opportunity to fix things… before we stop buying from you, you go the way of the dodo, and we start getting our role-playing fixes from other companies, or *le gasp* making it up ourselves.

So it’s great that you’re listening now, but don’t miss the message underlying this whole situation:

WotC needs players a hell of a lot more than players need WotC.

Don’t bother with any sort of “we’re the good guys here, we’re giving you guys the game you love playing.” No, you’re here to make a buck, and everybody knows it. You make decisions based on money first and public perceptions second, and the question of what makes a good product may or may not appear somewhere further down the priority list.

Authors who play and DM care about what makes a great gaming product, and that’s why we like authors. Suits don’t care about the game, and that’s why suits can never be good guys.

I get that money matters. Makes the world go around, and all that. I get it; I have to put spaghetti on the table too. The difference is that I’m content with spaghetti; I don’t have any desire for caviar, or a Rolls in the driveway. Having a bunch of fans glom me at a con would be much tastier than any slimy, salty, stinking fish eggs anyway. Balancing quality and profitability is good, but I don’t believe for a second that that’s what’s been going on. What’s going on is too much partying in the temple of Abbathor, and as long as he’s in charge WotC will ultimately fail all of its saving throws.

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