5E Friday

- A couple of weeks ago Stan! wrote a few articles about his exiting WotC (again). While the posts were insightful into the process that runs WotC and Hasbro, I took several things from it about the upcoming 5E that were uplifting. The articles can be found here, here and here.

Stan! made mention that 5E was not something he was himself working on, though he did get to participate in some playtests. However, he did mention that he had a lot of respect for the designers...

"There isn’t anyone I worked with over the past twelve months that I don’t respect and that I wouldn’t work with again if the opportunity arises."

To me, to have someone of Stan!'s history in the rpg community show such enthusiasm for the designers speaks well of the potential for 5E. One of the fears some people have expressed about 5E is a trust factor. Will WotC mess up D&D yet again? While it could still end badly, I am slightly reassured that at least the design of 5E is in competent hands.

- And taking another look at Stan!'s articles I am even more nervous about Hasbro and their tightfistedness as it pertains to open creativity. I have long stated that for 5E to succeed and rival the rpg explosion of the the launch of 3E, they will need an OGL similar to the one that came with 3E. I fear that in their desire to control 5E, they will not release a robust OGL and thus they will kill any momentum 5E may be able to build upon release.