Recent content by Micah Sweet

What other games do you think these new players are familiar with? TTRPG examples, please.

For official D&D? Probably 1e for play, personally. I would take the 2e catalog all day long for reading and inspiration, but for play 1e is the best official version for me, with 5e or BECMI tied for second. And yes, 1e and the "B" in BECMI were my first introduction to D&D, so evidence for...

You can't have a preference unless you have something to compare that preference to. There are a huge number of new players who have only played 5e. That doesn't mean 5e is bad, but it does mean 5e can't really be their preference, because one point of data isn't conclusive.

Fair. Not an issue for me and mine.

So you really think there's no validity to the idea that a lot of 5e fans just aren't familiar with other systems, and might prefer them if they did? Seems pretty possible to me.

Is this a problem?

My point is, why aren't those companies dedicating all their resources to the most popular product they can make? I've been told that popular and good are the same thing here.

If that were true, we simply wouldn't have nearly the variety of products (all kinds of products) that we have.

Me too. I've got all I could want in people making stuff for other editions, but the 4e people deserve some love.

Do you really think virtually all the current D&D fanbase is planning on replacing their corebooks at the end of the year? How many of them even know or care a new not-edition is coming? How many of those are aware of what changes are and aren't expected to be in those new books?

Well, why do we have more than one kind of any given thing then? Commercially speaking, shouldn't every company just make the most popular thing?

Every publically traded corporation thing. The problem is, as always, being beholden to shareholders.

I would say won't rather than can't.

They have enough designers for the 5e work they actually want to do. You're quite right though; they will never do this, because it wouldn't make them enough money for it to worth it to them.

In principle I agree with everything you said here, but you realize that the implication of your claim is that popular = good design, right? Don't know if I can get behind that as a general rule.