D&D 5E 5e 10/10 Products

[Enrico Poli1]

I don't think that this is the best audience to ask.

Most of the products that people now view as great are those that have become sanctified by the passage of time, and hallowed by the excitement of first play filtered through nostalgia.

I am assuming that you would likely get a much more positive reaction if you were asking gamers who started playing with 5e, and that people looking back twenty years from now will have much fonder memories of those products that, to us grizzled veterans, seem merely "meh."

Nostalgia can obscure judgement, but not necessarily

 

[Enrico Poli1]

I don't know any game that has been known for a preponderance of "10/10 material". The enjoyment of RPGs is so idiosyncratic that getting a hit across many people is a rare, unpredictable thing.

In my opinion BECMI, AD&D1e, AD&D2e, D&D3.5 had an higher number of 10/10 products

 

[aco175]

The percentage of WotC work I've been buying and using for 5E games has been decreasing over time, as I find much of it doesn't speak to me or feels kind of rushed. For instance, I have a lot of fondness for many of the original adventures in Tales from the Yawning Portal, but I find the extremely bare bones approach of just updating the stats and calling it a day to be really uninspiring. I could have done that, for a lot less money. If I'm dropping real money on a book, I'd like to have more meat on the bones, even if that meant cutting an adventure or two. And the tie to the Yawning Portal is extremely weird and forced.

I agree with Yawning Portal. I finished the Against the Giants series based from 1e and found them a lot like 1e and not updated to 5e or what I think modern expectations are. The three main locations were each 50 rooms of meh when 12 good encounters would have been enough. I ended up chopping off some of the last dungeon with the fire giants to get to the end.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I agree with Yawning Portal. I finished the Against the Giants series based from 1e and found them a lot like 1e and not updated to 5e or what I think modern expectations are. The three main locations were each 50 rooms of meh when 12 good encounters would have been enough. I ended up chopping off some of the last dungeon with the fire giants to get to the end.

Yeah, I cannot imagine slogging through some of the big 1E adventures in 5E. Shrine of the Kuo-Toa would be brutal nowadays.

 

[TwoSix]

In my opinion BECMI, AD&D1e, AD&D2e, D&D3.5 had an higher number of 10/10 products

I mean, listing out the 10/10 products across the entire 50 years of D&D probably isn't an incredibly long list unless one has a very low bar for what 10/10 means.

I mean, some people use "10/10" for anything that's around "Fresh" on Rotten Tomatoes, other people are more sticklers and want to see Famitsu 40/40 quality.

 

[Gradine]

10/10 is a lofty goal, and one I think is only really achieved by LMoP, Eberron, and Tasha's. And even that last is a stretch.

There are plenty of highlights for sure, but even something like Curse of Strahd has some pretty glaring flaws that keep it from top marks. I have a higher opinion of some of the adventure/setting books than most around here, but even I wouldn't rate my other favorites above an 8, maybe 8.5.

 

[Clint_L]

10/10 is too demanding. I am switching to letter grades!

My "A" tier publications are:

Explorer's Guide to Wildemount - actually, this I would give 10/10
Lost Mine of Phandelver (starter set) - another 10/10
Player's Handbook
Monster Manual
Tales from the Lost Portal
Basic Rules
Tasha's Cauldron of Everything
Keys from the Golden Vault
Curse of Strahd
Dragon of Icespire Peak
Critical Role: Call of the Netherdeep

Overall, I think most of the adventures and settings are really good, and I like the direction WotC is heading, so I have a different perspective than the OP. I don't think there has been a "bad" version of D&D, though some (2e, especially 4e) were less to my personal taste. But that's more about me than them!

 

[Micah Sweet]

Hi there! We're at the end of the first 5e cycle (2014-2023) and before the 2024 rulebooks are published, we can reflect on various aspects in the history of the edition. In retrospect, I still believe that the 5e ruleset is the best ever produced, but I'm really disappointed at the overall quality of the published material. There are in my opinion really few gems, ten-out-of-ten products for 5e.

The excellent products are the three core rulebooks (yes even the DMG is outstanding), the original Starter Set with Lost Mines of Phandelver, Curse of Strahd and Tomb of Annihilation.

Most of the Adventures and of the Settings were really disappointing.
I don't like the direction WotC are going.

Any opinions?

When you say 5e, do you actually mean the version of 5e made by Wizards of the Coast and considered "official" (whatever that means) by a disturbingly large portion of the gaming community? Because while historically they've made some good stuff, I'm not sure I'd rate any of it 10 out of 10.

 

[overgeeked]

Famitsu 40/40

They really have a thing for Zelda games. I mean, they're mostly great, but that perfect score list is kinda ridiculous.

 

[Stormonu]

In my opinion BECMI, AD&D1e, AD&D2e, D&D3.5 had an higher number of 10/10 products

Only because they put out a god-awful ton of books. The ratio of bad to good, at least in 2E & 3E is pretty high.

Personally over the whole of D&D, these would be my "10/10" books -

B4 - The Lost City
S2 - White Plume Mountain
I3 - Pharaoh
I6 - Ravenloft
5E Starter set (as a whole)
Curse of Strahd

There's a lot more that'd rank 8+, but for 30+ years, that's the only ones I'd put forward as "knocked it out of the park".