D&D (2024) Does anyone else think that 1D&D will create a significant divide in the community?

[Frozen_Heart]

That system could already be here thanks to En Publishing's Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition. Like One D&D, it has moved the ASIs that normally would have gone to a particular race/heritage, and placed them into the various backgrounds. And each heritage in A5e has something of a 1st-level feat (their Gifts). Then there is A5e's Marshall class which could be the equivalent of the Warlord class that some of the 5e fans on this forum have mentioned in a couple of past forum threads.

A5e could be the alternative for those 5e players who have wanted more crunch in 5e.

Will A5e cause a divide in 5e D&D community? It's hard to say.

I'll admit that I've not actually looked at advanced 5e. I know nothing about it.

 

[Frozen_Heart]

?? As near as I can tell, PF2 and Call of Cthulhu are the two biggest games after D&D 5e. In terms of amazon sale rankings, in terms of games at conventions or availabilty on digital platforms, in terms of other media like video games. Pathfinder is proving to be quite popular on its own.

And neither have come close to what pathfinder 1e did to dnd 4e. They're still a very minor chunk of the market next to dnd 5e.

 

[Corinnguard]

I'll admit that I've not actually looked at advanced 5e. I know nothing about it.

Home | Level Up Level Up is a deeper, more flexible version of the 5E ruleset which you know and love. If you love 5E but would like a little more depth to the ruleset, Level Up is the game for you! Developed by a diverse team of 5th Edition experts, and a two-year public playtest of thousands of people, this is the ultimate expression of the 5E ruleset.

I hope this helps.

 

[DEFCON 1]

No, there won't be a divide, because I suspect the new books will be just like Xanathar's and Tasha's-- you'll be able to pull the bits and pieces out of the 2024 books and use them with a 2014 game with very little issue.

I mean really... all we need is for diehard 2014 players who don't want to "switch" to look and see what the 2024 Ranger or 4 Elements Monk look like and decide "You know what? I like that design. I'll let players use it in my 2014 5E game." And then voila! The 2024 update will have done its job.

I personally think this "devotion" to certain parts or editions of D&D is really overblown. There's never been any reason for anyone to make grand declarations of what they are or are not going to play, whether they are or are not going to "switch" games, whether they are or are not going to move on from D&D. No one else ever cares what your feelings are about the game(s)... just like no one cares if you go back on your pronouncements and decide to actually buy new books or not switch editions or not change games.

Every single person will see these new books, see what has been added / removed / changed, and then decide "Do I want to drop $40 on this?" And if you do or if you don't... it doesn't matter. The only "divide" will be those folks who come onto the EN World boards all bent out of shape over whatever ridiculous thing has got that bee in their bonnet and they badmouth X thing repeatedly. And the rest of us will spend the next several years rebutting or rolling our eyes at their constant caterwauling.

 

[Mephista]

And neither have come close to what pathfinder 1e did to dnd 4e. They're still a very minor chunk of the market next to dnd 5e.

No one did anything to 4e except what 4e did to itself. Pathfinder was created as a reaction to 4e's departure from the D&D norms and filled a need of the market. In fact, they still are filling a need that 5e isn't, which is where their game is thriving enough to expand into other media and niches.

As for their marketshare? We don't have exact figures, no one does. But its undeniable that they do have a presence and your most likely option for a game outside of D&D.

 

[DEFCON 1]

No one did anything to 4e except what 4e did to itself. Pathfinder was created as a reaction to 4e's departure from the D&D norms and filled a need of the market. In fact, they still are filling a need that 5e isn't, which is where their game is thriving enough to expand into other media and niches.

As for their marketshare? We don't have exact figures, no one does. But its undeniable that they do have a presence and your most likely option for a game outside of D&D.

Yup. And at the end of the day, who really cares that Pathfinder exists or that Pathfinder has players? Do some people play that instead of D&D? Of course. Does that matter in any meaningful way? Not one iota. Every game hopefully is serving somebody, and none of this is a zero-sum game. A person that prefers playing Pathfinder (or Vampire, or Shadowrun, or West End Star Wars) is not crapping on D&D just by virtue of them playing that game... so no one should spend one second of their life irritated that those people or those games exist.

If you enjoy the game you are playing (whatever it is)... just be concerned about that. And don't waste your time or energy being concerned what other people are enjoying.

 

[Benjamin Olson]

5e is not a perfect system, but the more questionable aspects generally seem to serve the causes of accessibility, bounded accuracy, or evoking (if not quite honoring) D&D traditions, all goals I believe in to various degrees, so even a lot of dumb rules are dumb rules I can at least respect the goals behind. 5.5 has yet to find a coherent goal that I can see, certainly none I support, and hence I just have very little respect for the efforts I've seen.

I don't see clear goals with OneD&D beyond change for the sake of making people buy new books. I think 5e D&D is currently in a messy, unsettled state so there is a legitimate basis for a revised PHB to codify the existing tweaks of Tasha's, etc. into the core rulebook, and I wholeheartedly support that (even if I don't love every tweak). But WotC's playtest ideas beyond the changes already semi-implemented to 5e seem aimless and random. All they add up to is "minimum amount of change to make playing at a 5.5 table with a 5e PHB unteniable."

I'm not setting out to be upset. I want to support WotC. But they've given me no reason to. So far they have just asked me to try new things with no convincing explanation of why they are better. I am not so set in my ways as to be opposed to new things because they are new. But so far the pitch I have felt (fairly or otherwise) for supporting OneD&D is "here's a bunch of stuff we're changing for no particular reason; accept it or struggle to find new D&D groups come 2024." That's a threat, not a sale's pitch.

Also, while I appreciate that they have to shill for the brand, WotC's absolute conviction that an edition they haven't figured out the actual rules of yet is definitely going to be better than the wildly popular current edition that it is based on, (which is nonetheless perfectly good enough until 2024) just makes them seem more untrustworthy to me. 5.5 seems like a New Coke debacle in the offing.

So yeah, at the moment, this is probably the edition change where I get off the bandwagon. There's still plenty of time to convince me otherwise, but it will require a serious righting of course to... well... have an actual course I understand and support.

 

[BookTenTiger]

Anyone who switches to 1D&D is crazy, anyone who stays with 5e is stuck in the mud, and anyone who plays a different system is a real wackadoo.

 

[Mephista]

5.5 has yet to find a coherent goal that I can see, certainly none I support, and hence I just have very little respect for the efforts I've seen.

the point of 1dnd so far is to throw stuff at the wall and see what sticks. Right now, we're in the information gathering stages to confirm how fixing some things will test with the public.

Ultimately, new editions come out when the game has grown through supplements and really needs to reconsolidate itself and fix the problems that are growing into glaring flaws.

Its like... are you familiar with operating system development by any chance? They make one edition that's full of new features and new ideas, but they're all new and buggy as hell. Then the developers spend the entire lifecycle of that edition fixing and tweaking those ideas into a stable version, that's then released as a new edition. Then the devs go back to breaking things and making new features and implementing new ideas, which eventually leads to another another buggy but filled with shiny new stuff edition, which is followed by the stable edition, etc.

1dnd is building the stable version right now, and not the shiny new buttons stuff. If that doesn't earn your respect, well, everyone's different. But its part of the cycle of development.

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

Divide is such a strong word.

Live and let live. If everybody would just let people play the game they wanna play, there would be no divide. I dont have to convince you that 1D&D is soooo much better than regular 5e. You dont have to insist every time how you think the new playtest is only a crash grab.

There's no right or wrong, just preferences. So there's no need for a split. When I ask my friends what game they play, they answer: ''I play D&D'', I dont really care to know in ''which D&D team'' they are. I think there's a tendency to see the ''divides'' as way larger than they are in reality: its still one big team of D&D players.