The 50th Anniversary of the Original Dungeons & Dragons is coming in 2024. Since WotC is giving every indication of ignoring OD&D, ignoring the anniversary and focusing on virtual "D&D", it remains for fans to remember and to celebrate. I plan on Gaming in January 2024 and throughout the year. But January is the anniversary month and I want to have reunion games in January for as many of my players as possible. Do you have any plans? Have you thought about it? I know it is a year in advance, but depending on what you want to do, it may not be too early to start planning for it.
Some people might think I am being unfair to WotC; however, IMO I am not being unfair at all. If I were the IP holder, I would be using this once in a lifetime opportunity to promote D&D, to acknowledge OD&D and acknowledge the people who created the whole genre of gaming. You want to launch new products, that is fine, but you might gain more ground, celebrating and doing some events for the old and then once you have done that and been really active raising your whole profile and making it clear that you support all your fans, old and new, then launch your new products. After you celebrate the anniversary in January 2024, then you have another 11 months to focus on your new products, building off the old and relating it back to the old. Don't burn the tabletop gaming bridge, in your attempt to launch the virtual gaming bridge. IMO your plan should be to find a synergy between the two.
But, that word, but both TSR and WotC have never been much about synergy, they have always been more about burning bridges. WotC it is not to late, you don't have to burn this bridge, you still have time to do this the right way and win goodwill with all segments of the fan base, the customer base.
I think you're being fair. They don't have to publish some sort of new product to commemorate the 50th anniversary. Of course, if they did it wouldn't have to be anything too elaborate. Maybe they could give a sneak peek at One D&D with a few items - NPCs, magic item, monster, location, etc.- from Greyhawk and Blackmoor updated to the new rules.
ReplyDeleteI think a reunion game is a great idea! Maybe I can get one together myself?