5e catching up with Castles and Crusades?

If you care to read further, I want to make the following things clear;

1. I do not have any inside information on WoTC and their game development

2. I do not know anyone with inside information. I do not even know anyone who knows anyone with inside information.

3. The following is pure conjecture. Pure conjecture.

4. I do not intend imply anything about anyone or anything or anybody or any organization.

Pure conjecture and thinking out loud.

I do not know if WoTC is developing 5e for DnD. I would assume that they are doing so. At the very, they are likely considering another edition. This would fall in line with their development and marketing history. By this I mean a move from 2e to 3.0 to 3.5 to 4.0. There also appears to be a shelf life of 3 years or so for the editions (by choice or accident I do not know). By the shelf life, I mean that the sales of the core or follow-on products drop off enough that management of the line becomes economically questionable. Considering those two things, I think it likely another edition is being envisioned.

Before I go any further, I want to say something about company profits and margins and investments. When a company invests money,,they generally desire to maximize the investment dollar and profit. They do not just want to just see profits, they want to maximize that profit. So, if there are two product lines, both of which return a profit but one returns more profit per dollar spent, guess which line is going to be called into question?

I am guessing that the Hasbro execs are looking into that profit per dollar spent and comparing it to other product lines and finding it wanting. I do not know that that is the case. I simply suspect it to be the case. So what is Hasbro to do?

I think this is what they have done (again, I have no inside information). They went to WoTC, looked at the dollar in dollar out and came to the conclusion that the rpg line was not producing as much as the game line (I am thinking of Ravenloft). I think a normal course of action is for Hasbro to tell WoTC to come up with a better plan than has heretofore been the case for the rpg line or it will be truncated. Now, herein lies a problem. Hasbro has a valuable IP that they do not want to see die. This makes truncating or ending the rpg line all together rather risky as doing so may kill the brand's market power. So, they keep the brand alive and demand something else. At the same time, they probably also suggested more money and effort go into boardgames. The latter, I think, is being done for two reasons. First, the profitability on a board game is potentially much higher than an rpg and, I think they are hoping to leap the brand name over to boardgames such that it is not first and foremost connected with rgs but rather, boardgames. Doing so will allow them to slowly divest themselves of the rpg market while keeping the brand alive.  

To wit, in this article, Mike Mearls makes reference to ability claiming that if one were to "look at the basic rules of D&D at that time {1974}, all of the basic, administrative stuff in the game had been solved via ability scores." This is something with which I very much agree. Having played since 1976, it seemed rather obvious but, for those who started later (even a little later) the ability scores slowly and incrementally lost their place in the game and their role may be less clear. Then he asks, "What if you applied the same thinking to remove the skill system entirely and instead just used an ability check"

What if indeed?

For those of you who have played or are familiar with Castles and Crusades, you should be able to see how WoTC is catching up with C&C. For those of you who are not, let me offer a small bit of explanation.

When we set about designing C&C, we really wanted to get back to the basic driving force behind the game. Tear down all the rules and look to see where the core of the game lies was sorta of a mantra. What we found (and all the bells went off at once as something lost was rediscovered) was that the attributes were at the core of the game (well, that and the class archetypes).

Hence C&C with no skill system but with an attribute check system- The SIEGE Engine.This runs the game. Its the core of the game. Its sets the pace. Its also the base of the entire game we are so familiar with which is why it is fairly easy to port material over from other editions into C&C without unduly affecting play.

Now, why the collision. This is my guess. There is to be an effort to go back to a basic, more streamlined, simple system without all the bells and whistles.

So I ask myself, if this were to happen, would I play that game or the game I developed?

I do wish WoTC and Mearls the best.whichever direction they are going.