In the wake of a recent press release from Wizards about the new Neverwinter "Campaign Setting," for 4th edition D&D, it seems many in the old school blog world are outraged. After all, Wizards blatantly proclaims it as "the first-ever RPG book focused solely on one city." I can see how many of my fellow grognards could be outraged over this gaffe. Despite the fact that not only is Neverwinter not the first city focused RPG supplement, it's not even the second, third, or probably even the 100th RPG book focused on urban sprawls. This was obviously some sort of ad-copy oversight, and many are dismissing it, but should they?
I think at the heart of the matter, folks like Rob Conley, and others who have expressed outrage, understand that this was simply a bad marketing press release, but the bigger issue I think is one that has been brewing for a long time. That is, the continuing and growing sentiment from old school gamers that Wizards is completely abandoning the roots of the hobby for the sake of making a few bucks, all the while dismissing the foundation of the hobby's history. Is that an overreaction to what is obviously some sort of marketing stumble? Perhaps, but there is a bigger picture, and this is simply a small stroke on a much larger painting.
That said, I can't say I share the same sentiment as many of my fellow old schoolers. I have said multiple times that I'm not an edition wars guy. I don't care for anything beyond 2e, and to me, these later incarnations do not seem like D&D to me, but some other game, with different mechanics and a different rule base. D&D in name only. But if that's what people enjoy playing, I certainly would never begrudge them that. Point being, I personally am not outraged over the marketing mistake, but I can understand why many in our niche hobby would be. D&D, it seems, only exists in its current version, and everything before it doesn't matter. That's the sentiment many feel, and even the smallest of mistakes in a press release only seeks to reinforce this idea throughout our small community.
I would just add that this isn't just the old schoolers who have problems with this mistake.
ReplyDeleteThis reflects WotC's culture of deliberate ignorance towards the current hobby just as much as it reflects its desire to erase its past.
Also, clever title for the blog post! :)
ReplyDeleteThis whole snafu could have been avoided had they just said "first 4E D&D product focused on a single city"
ReplyDeleteI think the marketing and press releases are coming from idiots at Hasbro more than anyone at WotC, really. From what I've gathered around the webs, there's a lot of old-school, B/X and AD&D being played at WotC these days. The guys making 4E know the history of the game and a lot of them have been playing it for as long as the rest of the grognards out there.
Sully, I would venture to guess you're right on that. I am certain that quite a few of the designers and people behind 4e are from the old guard. And this certainly seems like a molehill, and truly this one individual event, on its own, should certainly not cause such a kneejerk reaction, but the issue, I believe, is in the fact that this isn't really an isolated type event. That said, i doubt the guys in Hasbros marketing could tell you what a d20 looks like, and I'd venture to guess this was merely some ignorant ad copy error rather than some piece of an ingenius attempt to destroy DnD.
ReplyDelete