D&D (2024) Do you plan to adopt D&D5.5One2024Redux?

[FitzTheRuke]

I guess I just think the risk of "Mother may I" DMs is overblown. There are bad DMs out there of course, but this issue? Doesn't really hit my top 5 of bad DM experiences. Not sure it even hits the top 10.

Does the DM decide what is possible at any given moment? Of course, all the time. It's part of the DNA of D&D. I don't see that as a liability even if it can theoretically be abused.

Yeah, the DM has to "Play Nice With Others" too! It goes both ways.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

In any case, is there a release date and is there some summary somewhere what the new books will include and what the changes will be?

There's an "Upcoming Releases" side-bar on the right side of this page (scroll down if you don't see it) that has each book. If you click on them, they have "What we know so far" in a nice article. And release dates!

 

[Uni-the-Unicorn!]

There's an "Upcoming Releases" side-bar on the right side of this page (scroll down if you don't see it) that has each book. If you click on them, they have "What we know so far" in a nice article. And release dates!

Fritz, you seem like a good, kind, and considerate person. I would love to come to your store sometime and check it out. IIRC, your are in Canada. Is that correct?

 

[FitzTheRuke]

Fritz, you seem like a good, kind, and considerate person. I would love to come to your store sometime and check it out. IIRC, your are in Canada. Is that correct?

Yes, just outside Vancouver.

 

[Hriston]

I understand it's not extra work - for you. That is my point. You can insist someone DM just like you, so they don't have this issue. But the reality is there are many DM styles, and for some, it might prove extra work.

I think you're missing my point. The kind of mundane details that support the use of background features don't need to be prepped by DMs. If I'm playing a sailor, and it's established the party's in a port and needs to get somewhere by boat, I ought to be able to say, "I spend some time on the docks asking around for Moss, my former crewmate, whom I've heard now captains the Comox which frequently lies at anchor in this harbor, so I can secure free passage to our destination aboard that ship for me and the rest of the party."

What extra work would a DM have to do in response to such an action declaration?

 

[UngeheuerLich]

Yeah, the DM has to "Play Nice With Others" too! It goes both ways.

Yes. But he also has the right to have fun himself and not do extra work all the time.

 

[soviet]

Yes. But he also has the right to have fun himself and not do extra work all the time.

What extra work does he have to do?

 

[Scott Christian]

I think you're missing my point. The kind of mundane details that support the use of background features don't need to be prepped by DMs. If I'm playing a sailor, and it's established the party's in a port and needs to get somewhere by boat, I ought to be able to say, "I spend some time on the docks asking around for Moss, my former crewmate, whom I've heard now captains the Comox which frequently lies at anchor in this harbor, so I can secure free passage to our destination aboard that ship for me and the rest of the party."

What extra work would a DM have to do in response to such an action declaration?

Very little, if you accept the premise that the DM might say no. The port they might be in is very small, one boat a week. The last twenty ships that docked there might be nothing but lizard folk sailors peddling their swamp jewelry. That is what the others are saying. The world and the place the PCs are exploring might have other considerations only thought about by the DM. In your case, there can be many reasons the DM says no. Maybe the port has been blocked for a month due to political tension. Maybe the port had a natural catastrophe, so the sailors you often associate that make the long journey over here, have not come for years. because it wasn't profitable. Maybe in this port, the navy has considered your native port vessels as pirates. The list goes on and on. That is my point.
I am fine with the DM saying sure, we can make room for your background feature. But it is a two-way street, the player needs to make room for the DM's knowledge, which they might not be privy to.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

Yes. But he also has the right to have fun himself and not do extra work all the time.

Sure. No one likes extra work. It doesn't have to be work, though. It can be play.

 

[Oofta]

Very little, if you accept the premise that the DM might say no. The port they might be in is very small, one boat a week. The last twenty ships that docked there might be nothing but lizard folk sailors peddling their swamp jewelry. That is what the others are saying. The world and the place the PCs are exploring might have other considerations only thought about by the DM. In your case, there can be many reasons the DM says no. Maybe the port has been blocked for a month due to political tension. Maybe the port had a natural catastrophe, so the sailors you often associate that make the long journey over here, have not come for years. because it wasn't profitable. Maybe in this port, the navy has considered your native port vessels as pirates. The list goes on and on. That is my point.
I am fine with the DM saying sure, we can make room for your background feature. But it is a two-way street, the player needs to make room for the DM's knowledge, which they might not be privy to.

Even if there is nothing unusual going on in port, where is it? Within a hundred miles of the PCs home port? On the other side of the world? The PC has a background as a sailor, but how many people do they really know? If they know 50 people by name from their sailing days, and there are a thousand ports, the odds of running into someone they know is slim.

Besides, how would the PC know that Moss just happens to be in this port at this moment on a ship that just so happens to be going where the group needs to be going? It's one thing if it's a regular trade route, one that the PC used to work on with ships doing the rounds between a handful of ports. But the further away from home you get, the more precise the target location, the less likely it is to happen.

in my game it might happen. But the players don't have narrative control over things like that, it's just not how D&D is designed to run, even if you can do it that way if you want. I just wouldn't want it as DM or player. I want the world to be consistent and logical.