I received the last issue of Dragon Magazine yesterday. I should be happy that they are moving on and going digital, but mostly I feel like someone died. I have been reading it for most of my life. As if to help underline the end of the world, Wizards of the Coast announced the 4th Edition of Dungeons and Dragons yesterday.
: Zubon
D&D is dead, long live D&D?
@ bob: D&D is far from dead. Online gaming will die and a new medium will replace it long before people stop playing PnP DnD.
Zubon, you sir are correct. Those changes make me feel ancient. I got all ornery when my 2nd edition became obsolete and it took me months to get into AD&D when it was released. I am a product of the old school and though 3.5 had some nice changes, all in all I felt like it was unnessesarily obstructive. All it served to do is mandate what was basically the common ‘house rulesets’ that varied from table to table.
god… 4.0…
Are my kids going to play AD&D 12.5?
How old are your kids? D&D averages a new edition every 8-10 years, with a revision halfway through. So this was expected.
Probably not, but 6-8 isn’t unreasonable. TSR is dead. WotC is applying the TCG model of constant revisions and obsolescence to D&D to keep their cash cow running. I will not be buying it.
Wikipedia helped me with a timeline:
D&D original boxed set: 1974
D&D basic set: 1977
D&D revised basic set and Expert Set: 1981
Advanced D&D (1.0): 1977-1979
Unearthed Arcana (1.5): 1985
AD&D 2nd Edition (2.0): 1989
2nd Edition revised books (2.5): 1995
D&D 3rd Edition (3.0): 2000
D&D 3.5: 2003
4th Edition: 2008
Of course, Unearthed Arcana was not a huge revision from the original, nor was 2nd Edition’s revision all that big, and you could continue with mostly 1st Edition rules in a 2nd Edition universe. 2.5 did include all the Player’s Option books. So TSR at least tried to sell you a new set of books every 4-5 years. We shall see if Wizards of the Coast can pull it off.