D&D 5E 5E without WotC [+]

[Reynard]

That depends upon why/what about Planescape is attractive to them.
If, for example, the city of Sigil and its specific lore is what is attractive to them, that'll be hard to handle without WotC.

I gather the player likes Planescape but would be happy with similarly gonzo PlaneJamming a la 4E Astral Sea adventures.

 

[Quickleaf]

Yes, but isn’t more a Manual of the Planes type setting rather than Planescape alternate? I mean it doesn’t have anything like Sigil and the Outlands more most of the actual planes from Planescape does it?

I never got the book, so going off of memory / reviews, but there was a campaign base city called Timeborne that was compared to Sigil in reviews.

 

[Quickleaf]

I gather the player likes Planescape but would be happy with similarly gonzo PlaneJamming a la 4E Astral Sea adventures.

Oh! In that case you should check out the Aetherial Expanse 5e stuff from Ghostfire Gaming - it's very much astral sea planejamming. The setting guide is in kickstarter (Aug 2024), buuuuut there is an adventure available for it already: Fables: Pirates of the Aetherial Expanse – Episode 1: Treasure of Shipgrave Reef | Ghostfire Gaming

 

[Reynard]

Oh! In that case you should check out the Aetherial Expanse 5e stuff from Ghostfire Gaming - it's very much astral sea planejamming. The setting guide is in kickstarter (Aug 2024), buuuuut there is an adventure available for it already: Fables: Pirates of the Aetherial Expanse – Episode 1: Treasure of Shipgrave Reef | Ghostfire Gaming

That looks very cool. I will examine. Thanks for posting!

 

[dave2008]

Yes. Dead simple. You use it as a virtual tabletop instead of a computer that runs the mechanics for you. As long as it has a dice roller and you can drop maps and tokens in, you’re set. Run the game like you normally would around a real table.

Thanks for the input. Probably don't even need a dice roller actually.

 

[overgeeked]

Thanks for the input. Probably don't even need a dice roller actually.

Sure. Whatever works for you. I have a lot of players who fudge their rolls in various ways, pick up their dice and read the number instead of letting anyone see what they rolled, etc...so I need a roller.

 

[Tony Vargas]

That is a spartan way to play dnd 5e.

Sounds awesome!

 

[Lanefan]

There will be 5e clones and 5e-based heartbreakers aplenty. I think that there are many talented designers who could make much better materials and a tighter game with the OGL/CC materials than what we have. But the issue is that many of those talented designers are designing for the masses who are or choose to play WotC's curated version of D&D.

I am definitely curious how ENWorld posters' 5e-based "heartbreaker" game would look like. Maybe for another thread.

@Faolyn has been posting a string of polls over the last few weeks in an attempt to set the foundations for building exactly this. So far it's been a very interesting process.

 

[bedir than]

That depends upon why/what about Planescape is attractive to them.
If, for example, the city of Sigil and its specific lore is what is attractive to them, that'll be hard to handle without WotC.

If I wanted non WotC Sigil I might go for Mine Shea's City of Arches

 

[Voadam]

I have only used one 5e WotC published adventure in the last decade (White Plume Mountain out of Tales of the Yawning Portal) and that was with a borrowed book. I am in the middle of my second 5e conversion of a Pathfinder 1e adventure path, with the first one incorporating two 5e modules support modules for the path by Legendary Games.

If you already have the 5e rules that you want from WotC then continuing on buying nothing more from them is dead easy. There are lots of 5e OGL monster books and OGL adventures.

When 2024 updates roll around I think it would be easy enough to find players using 2014 rules.

Alternatively you could go off the Black Flag SRD which they recently released under their Alpha Black Flag rules. Or the SRD for the Level Up rules if you are worried about players paying extra for stuff.

I worked off the free online 3.5 and Pathfinder SRDs for rules when they came out and pretty much adopting the game systems immediately. I bought adventures and sourcebooks and setting books as my main purchases at the time. It can work.