| Kerion |
SO, I have played Dungeons and Dragons for *30 years* of my life. Through it all, at least I had Dragon magazine as a constant. Despite the Gygax divorce, through the change from 1st to 2nd to 3rd to 3.5, through the basically complete lack of any module support for 5 years, Dragon was at least a constant. More recently (for a decade or so) so was Dungeon. And now a decision is made to go to the web?
Not everyone goes to the web for content. I *like* having tangible product on my shelves. I have recently run my 10-year old son through "Temple of Poseidon" because we ran across it in my collection as we were organizing. Could that happen with digital download? No.
I have been loyal to D&D through every trial and tribulation. I have spent literally tens of thousands on product. I own every printing of things clear back to "Palace of the Vampire Queen". By making this a web download, Wotc is both ruining any collectible value for folks like myself, and they are destroying the possibility of the generational carryover of the product line. This is a short sighted tactical decision rather than a long term strategic direction.
I have gone through Chill, Earthdawn, Shadowrun, Paranoia, et, etc, etc. but have *ALWAYS* retained a focus on D&D, both for playing and collecting. To me, this decision is an abandonment of support for AD&D that started with the drastic module reduction and now terminates in this. A word of advice: The d20 system as an "operating system" model does not make you the "WIndows" of the gaming world. Other systems have already begun a re-emergence. By terminating valuable marketing capital that took decades to build, you will just drive another nail into the RPG coffin.
I am very sad that my son will not have D&D to play at my age unless he borrows material from my collection because the publishers did not think long-term.