Recent content by Burnside

I would also add that I think in addition to the monk, 5.5 absolutely improves the Thief, Berzerker, and Circle of the Land subclasses imo. Also I don't have the issues with the new Ranger that some folks seem to have with it.

There are free 5.5 Basic Rules available for use on DNDBeyond, but not as a PDF or anything. There is also the 5.1.2 SRD, which is suspect is what's meant by "basic rules" in this case. They are not identical to the free rules you get to use on DNDBeyond.

Do you think D&D sells better than Shadowdark more because of how the actual games play, or might it have slightly more to do with awareness/name recognition/huge marketing budget/being a 50+ year old national institution brand name owned by a publicly traded company? All I'm saying is that...

It's just more of a mixed bag for me: Weapon Masteries - net negative, don't feel they're needed and they slow down combat Starter Feats - net negative, weren't needed and add complexity/character sheet bloat Adjustments to spells - like Counterspell and sleep - some good and some bad in the...

Nah. The Basic Rules for 5.5 are still 5.5. Weapon Masteries, Starter Feats, etc - it's all still there. Just fewer subclasses. Heroes of the Borderlands isn't at all what I want in a D&D experience, although Welcome to the Hellfire Club is closer. But regardless, Starter Sets are aimed at new...

FWIW, If I was WotC, I would strongly consider testing the market for a streamlined/less mechanically complex variant of D&D covering levels 1-10. Doesn't need to be a huge product; maybe even digital-only at first. But it could be a profitable small product line alongside the main one.

Yeah fair enough - the monk is inarguably improved and I haven't played the new one yet. Maybe the monk is the killer app of 5.5.

I 100% agree that "modern" design tends towards simplicity and I think Shadowdark punching so far above its weight class is clear evidence of what a lot of folks actually want in their TTRPG experience. I am not prepared to predict that 5.5 won't last, but I DO think that 5.0's relative...

I think the main questions are: Does your group want more crunch/mechanical complexity? Are you okay with combat being a little slower because, again, more options/complexity? There are legit reasons for your answers to be yes or no. If both are "yes", 5.5 is probably good for your group...

Is 16 hours on levels 1-2 "quickly"? At some tables, that would be slow. In recent years, the official WotC campaigns generally get the party to level 3 after ~8 hours. I think people don't realize how much pacing varies from table to table.

It's always hard to gauge what people mean on things like this if you don't know how frequent their sessions are, and how long they are.

I generally start at level 1, but the progression to level 3 is pretty rapid. I will generally get a group to level 2 after ~4 hours of play, and level 3 after an additional ~8 hours. Thereafter, levels every 12-18 hours of play. I have never run a campaign that started at level 1 that ended...

In fact, Critical Role are themselves performing at the 02 Arena in October 2026.

I've been following Moldvay on Mike Mearls' Patreon and it's very interesting. There's a lot to like about it. Of course there are some things that make me say "Wait- why are you doing that?" but it's an evolving system and he's experimenting. Shadowdark was the first thing I thought of, but I...

Native New Yorker here; have never heard of this and it's appalling. Mongo is appalled.