D&D (2024) What will the impact of 1D&D be on 3PP material?

[FitzTheRuke]

It's not like you can't still play D&D like you always have. No one's forcing you to give up analog. You just now also have a digital option.

Digital is already here, and has been for ages. You can completely play D&D through DDB. Or you you can play it through Roll20. Or you can keep playing at home with pencil and paper. Or a combination of things, like we do.

I don't understand this idea that it has to be all or nothing, that by adding digital options WotC is abandoning traditional ways to play the game. They patently are not. You can buy their books from a zillion sources.

To the contrary, 3PP will probably only survive if they too develop digital options. Which is the whole point of Demiplane: a digital alternative to DDB for 3PP.

I think you may have entirely misunderstood what I posted (either that or your just riffing off of it and then posting your own thoughts, which is fine). I'm certain that no one is suggesting that adding digital options is a bad thing. Nor does anyone suggest that it 'has to be all or nothing'.

There IS a concern (not MY concern), but for Morrus and, IIRC Slyflourish, is that WotC WILL abandon "traditional ways" to SELL their game (not play it; that would be up to the players). The idea is that they would move to Beyond (or something like it) only. I think it's unlikely to happen any time soon, but modern CEOs can be short-sighted sometimes, to say the least.

I admit, as a FLGS-owner, I'd be pretty upset if they abandoned print altogether, but I don't think they'll do that any time in the near future. It would be foolish. Possibly even suicide if they were to jump to it too early, or not in the right way. The move might be inevitable, but it has to be done at the right time (and rolled toward slowly and carefully). But I could be wrong. They could be willing to upend the applecart. We'll have to see.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

For those who have been keeping up with the playtest materials - what will the impact of 1D&D be on 3PP material?

I know WotC has promised to make 1D&D backwards compatible with their own stuff; but they can't ensure it's compatible with the loads of Third Party Publisher (3PP) material that's out there (and probably don't even want to). Or am I looking at this wrong? Should I be thinking instead: If it's compatible with O5e (original 5e), then it'll automagically be compatible with 3PP stuff?

So - what's the skinny here? Is there already a thread on this?

We need to see the 1D&D SRD first to know, will Goliaths be in the SRD, and how will they deal with "subraces" like Drow, Abyssal Tieflings, Storm Goliaths, etc...

 

[zedturtle]

We need to see the 1D&D SRD first to know, will Goliaths be in the SRD, and how will they deal with "subraces" like Drow, Abyssal Tieflings, Storm Goliaths, etc...

As a reminder, we did not see the 2014 SRD until 2016. Now, a lot of that was (presumably) hesitation on the part of the executives to "give away the game", but after they did so, the game exploded in popularity (for lots of reasons, but the OGL was a big part). Then they got greedy and forgot the lessons last year, but got a spanking from the community. So it is a good assumption that we will get a generous SRD into OGL, CC-BY, or ORC, or some variation. But it might take time, and I don't think we will get it as a Day 0 drop.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

As a reminder, we did not see the 2014 SRD until 2016. Now, a lot of that was (presumably) hesitation on the part of the executives to "give away the game", but after they did so, the game exploded in popularity (for lots of reasons, but the OGL was a big part). Then they got greedy and forgot the lessons last year, but got a spanking from the community. So it is a good assumption that we will get a generous SRD into OGL, CC-BY, or ORC, or some variation. But it might take time, and I don't think we will get it as a Day 0 drop.

Maybe not,bur I don't think we will have to wait 2 years.

 

[Blue]

People talk about running 2014 and 2024 content side-by-side. That is nice, meaning that the math ends up in a somewhat similar place, but isn't quite the question when asking about 3pp stuff. Because it won't be "Running 2014 + 3pp stuff designed for 2014 vs. 2024 with no 3pp stuff".

The question for 3pp and 2024 is simply "can I unfettered mix 3pp designed around 2014 material with 2024 material?". Feats without level prerequisites. Spells. Subclasses. From 2014-compatible 3pp but mixed freely with 2024 characters otherwise.

If people have run 2014+2024 fully integrated material, such as 2024 characters with 2014 feats without levels so you can take any of them at 1st, does that still balance against 2014 only or 2024 only characters? If so, there's a decent chance existing 3pp will also work though there may be specifics that need to be updated. If not, then 3pp will likely need to be (officially or fan) updated to work well with 2024 5eR.

(5eR pronounced "Fiver" - R for either Revamped or Revised, WotC has used both words about the 2024-2025 core books. Plus it's easy to say, and distinct from "Fifth" even when spoken. That's my vote for what to call it.)

 

[teitan]

My hope is, 5e players incorporate indy material as frequently as 1e players homebrewed houserules.

Whether earlier indy content remains viable in 2024 depends on how closely it adheres to the 2014 game engine. The more liberties an indy product took, the greater the chance of needing to update the indy rules to remain compatible with 2024.

My hope is people homebrew as much as we did in 1e!

 

[teitan]

As a reminder, we did not see the 2014 SRD until 2016. Now, a lot of that was (presumably) hesitation on the part of the executives to "give away the game", but after they did so, the game exploded in popularity (for lots of reasons, but the OGL was a big part). Then they got greedy and forgot the lessons last year, but got a spanking from the community. So it is a good assumption that we will get a generous SRD into OGL, CC-BY, or ORC, or some variation. But it might take time, and I don't think we will get it as a Day 0 drop.

According to the developers the changes will be minimal and indy publishers will be compatible with D&Done without a lot of ballyhoo.

 

[zedturtle]

According to the developers the changes will be minimal and indy publishers will be compatible with D&Done without a lot of ballyhoo.

Oh yes, that's what has been said, and I tend to believe that's what the design team wants ("another shot at it with 10 years experience, but don't rock the boat too much because 5e was the first D&D for lots of people") but the C-suite got greedy and tried to wreck the OGL.

So, if the C-suite doesn't want an OGL/CC-BY game, radical changes would be the marching orders given to the design team. But I would expect that to leak, just like the OGL stuff did.

So chances are the 202? books will be able to be supported via the current SRD. But a new SRD would be a show of good faith and a "we did really learn our lesson". But getting it on Day 1 might not happen. I doubt it will take as long as last time, and the smart money would be on ASAP. But we will see.

 

[teitan]

Oh yes, that's what has been said, and I tend to believe that's what the design team wants ("another shot at it with 10 years experience, but don't rock the boat too much because 5e was the first D&D for lots of people") but the C-suite got greedy and tried to wreck the OGL.

So, if the C-suite doesn't want an OGL/CC-BY game, radical changes would be the marching orders given to the design team. But I would expect that to leak, just like the OGL stuff did.

So chances are the 202? books will be able to be supported via the current SRD. But a new SRD would be a show of good faith and a "we did really learn our lesson". But getting it on Day 1 might not happen. I doubt it will take as long as last time, and the smart money would be on ASAP. But we will see.

And yet we aren’t getting radical changes as seen by the playtest.

 

[zedturtle]

And yet we aren’t getting radical changes as seen by the playtest.

I think we are very strongly agreeing. I am not sure if there is a point of confusion?