"D&D 5E Marketing: Genius, or ___?..." Topic

WotC is marketing D&D 5E as being compatible with all previous editions of the game. They are even demonstrating the new rules using 1st Ed. adventure modules, at convention games (I think…), to demonstrate its versatility. They claim that it can be used with adventure modules from all editions, and they are providing PDF copies of adventure modules for sale from the Basic, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and even 4th Edition rules, offered up by the D&D Classics web site. To my mind, this is brilliant marketing! It attracts players from all editions of the rules, and it implies that all 5th Ed. adventure modules will be easily backwards compatible with earlier rules editions as well. I also suspect that they hope any 5th Ed. adventure modules will tease the curiosity of players who are still using older rules sets into possibly checking out the new rules, and hopefully purchasing a copy… Crafty, very crafty, in my opinion.

The older editions' adventure modules being offered as download'able PDF files, appeals not only to 5E players looking for pre-written adventures to play, but they also appeal to older players, who might have lost, or never had the chance to purchase, older modules. The PDF's cost minimal labor to scan, and create PDF files from. Offering them on an automated server, with a shopping cart, is also a minimal expense. The profit made from these download purchases is almost pure profit, as they have minimal overhead costs associated with them.

What are your thoughts on this new marketing approach? Is it a good idea, crass, greedy, or ________? Cheers!

Excellent, inclusive strategy, and it's paid off so far – the initial reaction on the interwebs has been overwhelmingly positive. You forgot to mention that Basic D&D (stripped down version of the full game, but eventually including everything you need such as beasiary etc., and up to 20th level) is *free* as a downloadable pdf from their website.

4e was the first edition I skipped (and I go back to the LBB), but I'm buying into 5e. The Starter Box has been a hot with my kids and their friends so far.

It's an excellent idea; it would make all of the old adventures I have useful again with some (not zero, but not a lot) of work, and for that I can only be happy.

Plus the rules themselves seem to take the best aspects of the last few editions and sew them up into a neat package. I like what I've seen in the basic rules and I will probably take the dive into 5th, since there's a new group interested in starting up locally. Like CATenWolde I skipped on 4th Edition and stuck with 3.5 (or Pathfinder) but I think 5th Edition looks like a winner.

Cheers to WOTC for their work on this and actually taking feedback to heart!

-Will

Is it a good idea to make it enough backwards compatible so that they can sell, and people use, most of their 40 years back catalogue?

Must be a stupid idea. :-D

Is it crass and greedy? Well, they are making stuff to sell. They have a lot of very good stuff to sell.
Like reprinting books people love.

And reprinting the old rulebooks? The same thing.

I'd say it is brilliant, and a true win-win.

I am definitely in the "win-win" category. If the company does not sell product, they go out of business. I think it is brilliant, all the way around.

I noticed that when they started the beta-testing of the "Next" edition rules, they revamped the prices on their PDF downloads -- they increased nearly all prices, across the board. I did not have an issue with this, even though I am paying more, as I understand they realized they had value which they were giving away at bargain-basement prices. It showed me they actually cared about their old products, realizing that they were, in fact, valid, profitable products, even after 30+ years. I really hope they continue to add the rest of the old products to the PDF line-up. Cheers!

Win-mostly win, and smart for them. One thing 5e does is very much funnel the D&D experience into the WotC-owned campaign environments, specifically Greyhawk, Forgotten Realms, and (to a lesser extent) Mystara (AKA "The D&D Known World" of the classic Gazetteers). This is very smart for WotC/Hasbro as it does draw people towards purchasing their line of campaign products, and allows them (as the OP notes) to easily sell "retro/nostalgia" products to both new and old players.

I call this a mostly-win for players, because the new edition loses some of the classic "generic" feel of the original games. Yes, Greyhawk and the Known World were always there (even if but vaguely), but there was very much a feeling and encouragement that you could play in any setting you imagined, with very little tweaking. Heck, the Deities and Demigods book pretty much invited you to try whatever setting you liked, and to some extent Greyhawk and the Known World were divided into a lot of very disparate cultures running the gamut from Ancient Egypt to American Indians. The newer editions of the game have stepped away from that approach with more limited cultural realms and character abilities more closely tied to specific settings. Good marketing for WotC, yes, and understandable. But in some ways a little confining for DMs and players in terms of what they imagine.
Not that you can't easily change it up and play what you like— you still can. But the house rule aspect will have to rise up a bit for that.

(On a side note, the free intro PDF is gold for WotC. I've approached the YA library department I work for about offering an "intro to roleplaying" event, and the fact that kids could easily get the starting rules for free, even using our department computers, is a big plus. As we serve kids of all income levels, it allows us to know that we're not saddling anybody with something they can't afford to continue. And the flexible nature of the rules will let me use some of my old "quick fix" adventures for the event, with very little updating.)

My group seems to like the new rules. With a few differences, these are the rules most of us remember.

Greyhawk is one of my favorite settings, but I also really enjoy the Ebberon setting.

After years of WOtC thumbing their nose at players who have been with them since the TSR days they're finally get it. Nah, I'm going to stick with my Rules Cyclopedia. Although I'm interested in a demo of how compatible it is.

ruins my ability to sell old modules at insane prices so I hate it

But in some ways a little confining for DMs and players in terms of what they imagine.

I'm not so sure 5th edition adheres to this model TOO closely; the Basic Rules use Apollo as the detailed example of a god with the Life Domain, instead of a more 'famous' deity from one of D&D's traditional settings. From thumbing through the PHB at the FLGS it appears they stuck with the fairly traditional races as well; no Warforged or other setting specific stuff in there, unless I skipped over it.

I'm sure we WILL see Greyhawk and Forgotten Realms and Eberron and what have you books coming out, and the 5th edition adventures released so far seem to be geared towards those settings we well. But even older D&D modules tended to take place in one of the known 'settings', even though the adventure could be easily adapted.

-Will

Parzival, how do you mean the 5e rules funnel the game to just the Wizards owned worlds?

Apart from examples and such I can't see that.

The rules don't, the settings and adventures do. And the move to make all of the old stock available via PDF is winning the more recent converts

Agree it's a win-win for 5E to be backwards compatible and for WotC to resell their old properties.

I'm going to miss some aspects of 4E but I agree several of the better aspects of it are included in 5E. In fact the complex parts of each of the last several editions have been kept in spirit but simplified in a playable way.

We're only looking at the basic rules so far so it's possible this complexity will creep back in with later releases, but I am catiously optimistic.

We're only looking at the basic rules so far so it's possible this complexity will creep back in with later releases, but I am catiously optimistic.

I think 'feature creep' will be inevitable to a certain extent, players almost always like more neat 'stuff' for their characters to do. I already see where they could slot in lots of new Archetypes, Divine Domains, Arcane Traditions, and so on, and I think it will happen over the long run as more material gets released.

-Will

Parzival, how do you mean the 5e rules funnel the game to just the Wizards owned worlds?

I see this arise in the areas of subraces and racial clans, as well as to some extent in character archetypes/traditions. It's not a forced thing; more of just that these areas of character depth are clearly developed around the established D&D settings, and thus favor those products. I'm not opposed to the approach, and consider that it's smart marketing on their part, and actually a service to the players in the sense that they can "leap fully clothed" into a world and campaign right from the start. It certainly is a great service to novice DMs, who may not be prepared to delve into intensive world-building. But it does slip away from a generic fantasy environment. Minor, but there.

It certainly is a great service to novice DMs, who may not be prepared to delve into intensive world-building. But it does slip away from a generic fantasy environment. Minor, but there.

I agree with that statement.

There definitely is a noticeable push to put things into pre made DnD Worlds. I like world building as a DM but I can see why many would not. I have a few old 2nd Ed games I'd like to try with 5E, so I'll post something once I do. As long as the mods they release are all top notch I won't mind this.

Like many people said I like the 5E rules. That's what we play now, we all love it. As far as pre run campaigns go I ran the "Lost Mines of Phandelver" campaign that came with the starter box for my step siblings and they loved it. They keep asking when we're going to play again! It was extremely easy to run. Everything was extremely well laid out and very clear. Anybody could have DMd it with little effort. I think it's a cool way to get new people involved.