I’ve been playing Dungeons and Dragons since the early 90s. I started with 2nd Edition AD&D. I migrated from 2E through 5E every step of the way, yes even investing in the dreaded 4th Edition. I always got excited for a new ruleset. Why? Because the rules were constantly evolving. The game was constantly improving to meet the needs of the players. But that changed with One D&D. Let me explain.
Going all the way back to the earliest days of D&D the original pamphlets were a continuation of existing miniature war games that already had an established player base. The concept of what we call a role playing game today didn’t exist yet. It was a table top miniature war game, shrunken down to one-on-one scale where a player would control a single solider rather than entire armies. But the core mechanics were largely the same. D&D was born out of table top war gaming. The thing is, it has evolved to the point where it no longer bears any resemblance to those early days. Why? Because it’s no longer an extension, or expansion, of a war game, it’s evolved into it’s own beast, a role playing game. The first of its kind.
TSR spent every updated edition shedding the vestiges of the war gaming origins as time went on. Then they went bankrupt. Wizards of the Coats bought up the rights and published 3rd Edition, the first using the now standard d20 system. WOTC made sure 3rd edition still felt like D&D but continued to shed more of the war gaming origins left over from the old days.
Fast forward to One D&D. Fifth Edition was literally conceived and marketed as “the last edition” of the game. A culmination of everything that came before. All remaining elements from its war gaming days were long gone. The game was designed, from the ground up, to be the perfect RPG experience. It was expandable to allow for growth and accommodate new players through the use of rule supplements and modules. The game was supposed to be the final version hence why it is just called Dungeons and Dragons, not technically 5th edition. We the fans gave it that moniker. So what about One D&D?
Hasbro bought Wizards of the Coast. While D&D was always a business product Hasbro has been itching to monetize the game in new ways ever since they took over. For them it isn’t about developing the perfect gaming system. It’s about selling more product. They don’t wanna thrive on just modules and expansions alone, they wanna re-sell the three core rule books again with fresh, new modules, new expansions and new digital features to bring in new revenue. It’s that virtual table top that has me the most skeptical of One D&D.
Let me explain. There already exist virtual table tops that players can customize for their game depending on the ruleset they desire to use. These, of course, are third party apps that Hasbro cannot make money off. So greed has taken over and they are trying to develop a game with digital first as it’s selling point. They promised there will still be physical books to purchase but they are really pushing digital. Why? Because of microtransactions. See Hasbro does not manufacture miniature figures or dungeon sets to bring scale to your D&D campaign. Third parties do and Hasbro licenses them the right to brand such products as compatible with D&D but they don’t make a lot of money off those products. However if Hasbro can sell you virtual miniatures, a virtual table top, digital books, virtual skins for your virtual minis and virtual set pieces for your dungeons then they stand to make a whole hell of a lot more money. By integrating the virtual table top into the core game they are effectively trying to force gamers to buy into the new digital eco system. This would render existing minis obsolete and put 3rd party virtual table tops out of business as the core players would flock to the “official” product to support the game.
The thing is we don’t need new core rule books nor do we need an updated ruleset to launch a virtual marketplace, they can launce One D&D as-is completely compatible with existing modules and expansions, effectively keeping their promise of making 5th Edition the “last” rule set they ever publish. Now they claim, haphazardly, that One D&D will technically be “backwards compatible” with existing 5E products. If that is the case then why do we even need One D&D in the first place? Why not just launch the damn digital marketplace for those who want it, integrating it with the existing products as promised and let the established player base continue to purchase products in the edition that was promised to be the last. We don’t need a new edition. We need continued support from a company that is itching to break its promises in the name of microtransactions.
Stephanie Bri 