June 1, 2023: Munchkin Second Edition ? NOT!

[RoboAdmin]

June 1, 2023: Munchkin Second Edition ? NOT!

Read this article on the Illuminator.

[Mister Ed]

I love to hear this stance. I REALLY hate it when games (especially games that have many expansions, and plan to have more) make new editions just to update the aesthetic, thereby making all the people who have invested in their game over the years choose between rebuying everything or just dropping the idea of continuing to expand it.

Both Pandemic and Seven Wonders have lost any chance of me expanding their games by this method. Castle Panic looks to be headed the same direction (though I was assured that the next expansion, at least, will be able to integrate with older versions, even if the card art is a different style, since nothing has to shuffle in with older cards).

It seems like a simple enough concept, that if your game has expansion plans, you should never change the card size or card backs. Update the art on the face of the cards all you want, so long as any symbology remains compatible, but don't deliberately obsolete all previous offerings for purely aesthetic reasons.

[andreww]

There are valid reasons for second editions. I don't think any apply. You do need to fix things, but Munchkin has been fixed - what were once the Quick Start rules became the standard, for example. It's hard to fix games "along the way" without the fresh start that a new edition gives you, but Munchkin got lucky.

What I found really encouraging about this post is that it is treating Munchkin like a creative work, not a grift. It's fine, and that's being treated as valuable. They're not going to change something because they can. They certainly could.

"When Hell freezes over" - reading that was a good start to my day.

[Phil Masters]

It’s a basic problem with published creative works. However good and popular they are, you can really only sell as many as they have fans. How do you continue making money from their popularity after that?

And it’s not just distributors who have to think about that; they’re just the most hard-nosed, business-oriented link in this particular chain. The creators face the same problem. They have to eat.

With books, one answer is to publish sequels. Another is to pitch the “By the same author as X!” line hard. But neither answer works quite so well with games. There, one answer is to create lots of extensions and expansions, and funnily enough — well, look at the Munchkin catalogue some time. Another is new editions.

(Let us not discuss which recent big-franchise SF movie were actually new editions of their ever-popular ur-texts.)

[pmpappas]

Recently a very popular long lived game, one I'm very deep into, changed some things only to imho resale what has already been sold before in serious quantity. This is the not the first time and yes I'm freaking frustrated and probably done with it.

The sad part is there's a high probablility that other gamers will think I'm talking about game "A" when I'm talking about game "B". Why? Because it happens again and again and again, while typically adding very little to the game but taking a lot of money out of your pocket. I've given up on quite a few games over the years for just that reason and I know I'm not the only one.

Munchkin is also a long lived game I'm very deep into and I have long feared the day when the so called "update" wheel would come round for it. Thank you so much for shoving a stick in the spokes of that wheel!