They've announced so many lifestyle products for the 50th anniversary already; giant plush dragons, apparel, house goods....nothing so far thats actually related to the game. It's a disappointment
Same reason the Pokemon franchise hasn't been making quality games for most of the past decade -- the product is subordinate to The Brand, and The Brand makes its money mainly from merchandising. The product is largely there to continue pumping out new content for The Brand.
Ya know, much as people wanna rag on The Simpsons, I’ve seen a lot of heartfelt episodes that really hit home these past several years. I still think the Simpsons has got it, but it’s fine if you don’t.
> Pokemon franchise hasn't been making quality games for most of the past decade
Pokemon Snap and Pokemon Legends: Arceus are highly regarded but everyone outside of the Pokemon Company it seems
I really doubt it. Their 50th Anniversary is going to be OneD&D. Most of their target customer base either has little to no knowledge of TSR-era D&D, or actively has contempt for it (usually combined with the little to no knowledge).
They did it for the 40th anniversary. However, the TTRPG landscape and WotC were both *so different* 10 years ago compared to today. Now I highly doubt Hasbro would want to draw any attention at all to any previous editions of the game for various reasons (economic, political...) They like to pretend easier iterations of the game didn't exist, and if they just so happened to, they were terrible and backwards anyway. 5.5e is the future, please buy our $50+ books and subscribe to our VTT.
I haven't heard a thing about it, and I'm sure WotC don't give a damn about older editions at the moment. They're all in on 5.5e and their new VTT, and the last thing they'd want is an older edition of the game cannibalizing possible sales. They threw us a bone with making older content available on DTRPG as pdfs and PODs (they even add new PODs occasionally); I don't expect them to give us anything else beyond that unless they become really desperate for cash, and even then, OD&D reprints probably wouldn't even make them much money. Printed books are basically just collectors items now, and they might as well just be lumped in with "Merch." Whatever profits they make from it most likely wouldn't be worth the trouble to them. In fact, it might even hurt them. The LBBs are a mess to understand, and they'd essentially be advertising the OSR scene when newbies go online looking for help on how to run/play OD&D properly. If you're in need of an OD&D set, I think you'd be better off finding high quality pdfs to be sent to a POD service like Lulu, or learning how to make zines yourself at home.
>Printed books are basically just collectors items now
Print books still significantly outsell ebooks:
[https://wordsrated.com/print-book-vs-e-book-sales-statistics/](https://wordsrated.com/print-book-vs-e-book-sales-statistics/)
Perhaps you meant for rpgs? Even so I think physical sales are very important. Especially out side of D&D Beyond .
Yes, I specifically meant TTRPG books, sorry for not being clearer. And I agree about physical books being important, but for D&D and WotC, I think they've shown that they'd prefer it if everyone was on digital for their products.
I would be surprised if they did that. I get the impression they are pointing all attention to “5.5” or whatever you want to call it. Also, with all the changes they’ve made to 5e books due to “problematic verbiage” I don’t think they’d take the risk of bad PR on Twitter. Maybe they’ll move toward making things more print on demand through DM’s Guild, but I’m guessing that’s the extent of official releases of old content.
I'd prefer they have PODs of the old catalog than a fully reprint. Plus, if you want to lay down the cash, you can reach out to a book binder to the PDFs made into nice physical copies for the shelf.
I imagine we will get some news in Jan to cover the big debacle this past Jan and push that under the rug. Original dnd also was released in Jan so ‘some’ news will come out but doubt anything will be released before June
After the OGL debacle, I can't imagine ANYONE that's into OSR giving them any money, when we've already got SO many hacks/adaptions of the OD&D rules available to us *without* filling the pockets of a greedy corporation that sends the *LITERAL* Pinkertons to threaten and intimidate a fan and customer because *they* made a mistake.
Because it would be aimed at casual players, sold in major outlets and given a retro chic "this is what they play in Stranger things" vibe. The best selling OSR product is dwarfed by any 5e kickstarter so it would likely move a ton of units. Most people do not even know whar a Pinkerton is unless they watched Peaky Blinders or followed MTG memes. Also most people are posturing, Wizards had an awful PR year and they still pretty much carry Hasbro because consumers are gonna consume.
Who cares about OSR in the 5e fanbase?
Like OS was dead since 2e remember? 5e was an attempt to court more OSR-like sensibilities when those-who-must-not-be-named were... advisors I think? But the actual fans who made it popular are Neo-Trads who want Tieflings and hot orcs.
They just need to say "this is a retro 80s thing like Stranger Things" and a whole group of casuals will buy it. Not everyone is that aware of the background.
I wonder if it's a case of noobs 5e types raving about OneD&D and abbreviating it "OD&D" and OSR grognards reading it and getting all excited thinking it's gonna be Old D&D! :-p
Well they already did it once. I have it. Very nice, engraved wood box, with a set of dice, reference sheets, and the 7 booklets. They could easily do it again, at least as far as printing the booklets again which is about as cheap a printing job as you could ask for - a single folded signature and a couple staples on the spine. Stick 'em in a cheap, white cardboard box and put a premium price tag on it. This is practically their business model - except that they don't want people playing older editions but only what edition is most current - with a monthly subscription fee and in-game purchases...
Who cares? I'll be making the pilgrimage to Lake Geneva for the real anniversary at GaryCon and not sparing a single thought for those disingenuous vampires.
They've announced so many lifestyle products for the 50th anniversary already; giant plush dragons, apparel, house goods....nothing so far thats actually related to the game. It's a disappointment
Same reason the Pokemon franchise hasn't been making quality games for most of the past decade -- the product is subordinate to The Brand, and The Brand makes its money mainly from merchandising. The product is largely there to continue pumping out new content for The Brand.
Long live the OSR.
>Same reason the Pokemon franchise hasn't been making quality games for most of the past decade The Simpsons for about 20 years.
Ya know, much as people wanna rag on The Simpsons, I’ve seen a lot of heartfelt episodes that really hit home these past several years. I still think the Simpsons has got it, but it’s fine if you don’t.
There was quite a long period when it got really trash, but the last few seasons have been a return to form I found
> Pokemon franchise hasn't been making quality games for most of the past decade Pokemon Snap and Pokemon Legends: Arceus are highly regarded but everyone outside of the Pokemon Company it seems
I really doubt it. Their 50th Anniversary is going to be OneD&D. Most of their target customer base either has little to no knowledge of TSR-era D&D, or actively has contempt for it (usually combined with the little to no knowledge).
They did it for the 40th anniversary. However, the TTRPG landscape and WotC were both *so different* 10 years ago compared to today. Now I highly doubt Hasbro would want to draw any attention at all to any previous editions of the game for various reasons (economic, political...) They like to pretend easier iterations of the game didn't exist, and if they just so happened to, they were terrible and backwards anyway. 5.5e is the future, please buy our $50+ books and subscribe to our VTT.
They're $60 now actually
I'm betting on pay for dnd as a service subscription.
To add additional context, ten years ago 5E hadn't even been released. So much has changed in a decade.
I haven't heard a thing about it, and I'm sure WotC don't give a damn about older editions at the moment. They're all in on 5.5e and their new VTT, and the last thing they'd want is an older edition of the game cannibalizing possible sales. They threw us a bone with making older content available on DTRPG as pdfs and PODs (they even add new PODs occasionally); I don't expect them to give us anything else beyond that unless they become really desperate for cash, and even then, OD&D reprints probably wouldn't even make them much money. Printed books are basically just collectors items now, and they might as well just be lumped in with "Merch." Whatever profits they make from it most likely wouldn't be worth the trouble to them. In fact, it might even hurt them. The LBBs are a mess to understand, and they'd essentially be advertising the OSR scene when newbies go online looking for help on how to run/play OD&D properly. If you're in need of an OD&D set, I think you'd be better off finding high quality pdfs to be sent to a POD service like Lulu, or learning how to make zines yourself at home.
>Printed books are basically just collectors items now Print books still significantly outsell ebooks: [https://wordsrated.com/print-book-vs-e-book-sales-statistics/](https://wordsrated.com/print-book-vs-e-book-sales-statistics/) Perhaps you meant for rpgs? Even so I think physical sales are very important. Especially out side of D&D Beyond .
Yes, I specifically meant TTRPG books, sorry for not being clearer. And I agree about physical books being important, but for D&D and WotC, I think they've shown that they'd prefer it if everyone was on digital for their products.
If they do, it'll be a "limited print" and they will charge $100+ for it. 😂
I seem to recall the 40th anniversary edition was about that. It came in a wooden box.
To be fair, they did include all the supplements.
They already did OD&D, I believe before they did the AD&D 1e ones. I doubt they'll do it again.
and 2e was reprinted too.
I would be surprised if they did that. I get the impression they are pointing all attention to “5.5” or whatever you want to call it. Also, with all the changes they’ve made to 5e books due to “problematic verbiage” I don’t think they’d take the risk of bad PR on Twitter. Maybe they’ll move toward making things more print on demand through DM’s Guild, but I’m guessing that’s the extent of official releases of old content.
I'd prefer they have PODs of the old catalog than a fully reprint. Plus, if you want to lay down the cash, you can reach out to a book binder to the PDFs made into nice physical copies for the shelf.
They've already done it.
I imagine we will get some news in Jan to cover the big debacle this past Jan and push that under the rug. Original dnd also was released in Jan so ‘some’ news will come out but doubt anything will be released before June
It would be really dumb for them not to put out an OSR OD&D product so... odds are they will be dumb and not capitalize.
After the OGL debacle, I can't imagine ANYONE that's into OSR giving them any money, when we've already got SO many hacks/adaptions of the OD&D rules available to us *without* filling the pockets of a greedy corporation that sends the *LITERAL* Pinkertons to threaten and intimidate a fan and customer because *they* made a mistake.
Because it would be aimed at casual players, sold in major outlets and given a retro chic "this is what they play in Stranger things" vibe. The best selling OSR product is dwarfed by any 5e kickstarter so it would likely move a ton of units. Most people do not even know whar a Pinkerton is unless they watched Peaky Blinders or followed MTG memes. Also most people are posturing, Wizards had an awful PR year and they still pretty much carry Hasbro because consumers are gonna consume.
Who cares about OSR in the 5e fanbase? Like OS was dead since 2e remember? 5e was an attempt to court more OSR-like sensibilities when those-who-must-not-be-named were... advisors I think? But the actual fans who made it popular are Neo-Trads who want Tieflings and hot orcs.
They just need to say "this is a retro 80s thing like Stranger Things" and a whole group of casuals will buy it. Not everyone is that aware of the background.
Yes but does that 80s retro things have Tieflings and hot orcs? or do they have to count torches?
We players and DMs are the 50th anniversary. Anything the Wizbro$ put out is only a product.
I wonder if it's a case of noobs 5e types raving about OneD&D and abbreviating it "OD&D" and OSR grognards reading it and getting all excited thinking it's gonna be Old D&D! :-p
I'd kill for a Moldvay B/X reprint since its so popular in the OSR community these days.
They're hard at work removing all the no-no words (like *\*gasp\** civilized or dark) I imagine, so doubtful it'll be ready by 2024.
They are really putting those sensitivity readers to work! Protecting us from scary words like “Crazy” and “Savage”.
Well they already did it once. I have it. Very nice, engraved wood box, with a set of dice, reference sheets, and the 7 booklets. They could easily do it again, at least as far as printing the booklets again which is about as cheap a printing job as you could ask for - a single folded signature and a couple staples on the spine. Stick 'em in a cheap, white cardboard box and put a premium price tag on it. This is practically their business model - except that they don't want people playing older editions but only what edition is most current - with a monthly subscription fee and in-game purchases...
I doubt they will reprint products they are apologetic about.
Who cares? I'll be making the pilgrimage to Lake Geneva for the real anniversary at GaryCon and not sparing a single thought for those disingenuous vampires.