It depends on the changes, but in general I do find I prefer to try a new game than a new edition of the old one. I only tend to get into a game if I like it, and then often I find the edition changes either change the whole set up to basically be a different game, or are so minor as not to really matter. In which case I don't care.
TBH, I always will prefer a game if its backwards compatible - the way the Swashbuckling Adventure books included 7th Sea rules, for example - but that's more because if I'm interested enough in a game to know that there's a new edition, I'm probably interested *because* I liked the original gameplay. There are very few games which I like enough to want to play where I want the system to be majorly different.
RPG editions change for one reason only; the publisher is at or approaching the point where they no longer make any money on supplements. A new edition brings in the punters (corebooks sell lots better than supps, which is why certain games feature corebook creep) and makes the following supp sales leap up. They'll immediately start falling again, requiring a new edition eventually.
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TBH, I always will prefer a game if its backwards compatible - the way the Swashbuckling Adventure books included 7th Sea rules, for example - but that's more because if I'm interested enough in a game to know that there's a new edition, I'm probably interested *because* I liked the original gameplay. There are very few games which I like enough to want to play where I want the system to be majorly different.
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Such are the perils of the trad publishing model.
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