Just the other day I realized that the current Dungeons & Dragons core rulebooks don’t actually say “4th Edition” on the cover. It’s just “Dungeons & Dragons”, the only edition in print so obviously the only edition you need to worry about. In the circles that I run in, however, no one refers to it as just plain D&D. If they’re talking about any other edition, they’ll say “hey, I’m playing D&D”, and if you ask they’ll clarify what edition. Sure, if we’re talking about rules we’ll always state things like “in 2nd edition blah blah blah” or “in three-five yadda yadda yadda”. But to run a game in another edition, it’s simply “hey, wanna play D&D?”.
But 4th Edition is always called “4th Edition” by nearly everyone I know. As in “hey, I’m working on a 4th Edition campaign” or “my buddy’s playing in a 4th Edition game”. Most folks don’t even say “4th Edition D&D”, just “4th Edition” or even “4e”. But 4e always makes me think of the dearly departed Forrest J. Ackerman, and what kind of roleplaying game could be made out of him.
No deeper analysis here, it’s just one of those odd things. Maybe it’s because it’s still new, maybe it’s because it’s such a different animal. It’s just weird that there’s a very clear mental division, at least in peoples’ use of language, between “D&D” and “4th Edition”.
You may erupt into flames now.
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