D&D 5E Living Rules System?

[shadow]

I see that Mike Mearls is already talking about D&D as a "living rules system".

"The process will begin with playtest surveys much like the ones we did for the core game, to allow us to see if the game has issues and if so where."

I'm not sure how I feel about this. Although in an article earlier this year on the Wizards website, Mike Mearls assured people that there wouldn't be a new PHB every year, I would rather not see any major updates even if they are available as a free pdf download. This is largely a resistance to the idea that the books that I spent $50 each on are suddenly 'out of date'. Even though no one forces you to use the updated rules, many gamers that I know can be extremely insistent on playing 'the most current version of the game'. (I still remember the amount of crap I received from players when I announced that I would be sticking with 3.0 and not switching to 3.5.) Also, it seems like the number of minor revisions and rule updates never end; when a problem is 'fixed' in one area some people will complain about something else, then when that problem is 'fixed' others will complain about yet another area. I would rather play a system that isn't completely balanced than have to regularly make a number of adjustments to the rules.

Your thoughts on the idea of a 'living rules system'?

 

[Wrathamon]

They said this system is for you to make your own. If you dont want to add stuff to the game. Dont.

They are being upfront about it. That is pretty refreshing if you ask me.

You just have to get players that understand that or be more flexible with adding new rules when you feel it's necessary.

Mearl's mentions that they think that you should use the core + one add on and that's it. That's how they are looking at the game.

Any update is optional

edit
btw I was a 3.5 pusher ... I felt 3.0 was the paid beta and 3.5 was the actually final release.

I've gotten older and wiser and feel that if you were happy with 3.0 then pick the stuff from 3.5 that you want or stick with the older system and make no changes.

It's up to you, the only thing it impacts really is public play or friends that you play with that always want something new and shiny.

 

[SilverfireSage]

I would have to see the full quote in context to decide, but I think they did enough playtesting already that all issues will be negligible. It isn't as if this game is broken and requires a lot of errata like some Fantasy Flight games that I've bought, but there are a couple things here or there that could benefit from slight tweaks. If that's all there is, I'll make note of them, see if my players want to use them, and continue on. But I sincerely doubt there will be anything on the scale of a 3.5 or Essentials in this edition.

 

[GMMichael]

Mike Mearls assured people that there wouldn't be a new PHB every year, I would rather not see any major updates even if they are available as a free pdf download. This is largely a resistance to the idea that the books that I spent $50 each on are suddenly 'out of date'.

Now that I think about it, this sort of points at a different approach than the one used on 3.0. (Sorry, I didn't pay any attention to 4.0 so I can't include references to the Essentials/pocket guides.) With 3.5, the team picked out a suite of problem areas and fixed them up relatively quickly, and printed the book to patch the wound. This resulted in needing new books in relatively short order - the dreaded "buy new books if you want to keep playing" problem.

My guess for 5e is that they'll use the Basic Rules avenue to provide updates, or the "modularity" aspect to make updates optional, and wait on the new PH. They'll print another PH in time, but it will take longer than 3.5, and hopefully take the guise of "optional rules" so that books released AFTER the new PH don't require ownership of the book.

 

[Boarstorm]

They've said in the past that the fixes will be less "Here's the fixed Ranger" and more "Here's an optional Ranger for those who want it."

/shrug

Take that for what it's worth.

 

[Evenglare]

They've said in the past that the fixes will be less "Here's the fixed Ranger" and more "Here's an optional Ranger for those who want it."

/shrug

Take that for what it's worth.

That sounds like prime opportunity for power creep. It happened in 4e, where some builds eventually made others obsolete. At the end no one even wanted the players handbook because everything in there was so worthless or retconned to a point where it literally became another book with the amounts of eratta.

 

[Plaguescarred]

I really like the idea of a Living Rules where the system evolve and the ruleset is polished. And being surved about it means our opinions will be sollicitated and we will participate to it which is good news!

 

[Li Shenron]

I don't know, but so far for me the consequence has been that I am not yet buying any books before I know whether there will be a 2015 version of them.

For example, among the latest news, one of my most-wanted rules module is not in the DMG as previously supposed. The reason is that it's not ready, it needs more testing. When ready it will be available for free in Basic.

While the reason is VERY good (better late than bad), and you can't complain about a free lunch, really I don't know... there aren't many other things in the DMG that I really want to have (I'll make up my own magic items, and I can still use the playtest version of the Exploration rules module), so maybe if I wait long enough there will be a new 350-pages version of the DMG with those rules plus something more. The fact that they've already extended one of the books (MM) from 320 to 350 pages really made me think this could be a possibility for the PHB and DMG too.

If they really don't want to publish updated versions of the PHB/DMG/MM they should boldly state so, but IMHO they won't because they can't promise that...

 

[bleezy]

I don't see any cons to the living rules idea. I DM with a small group of close friends so I find it very easy to say "let's just stick to the PHB" if I need to.

But like any game we need some house rules, errata and clarifications. So it is nice to be able to go online and find those things on a case by case basis.

 

[mcbobbo]

Since they have also stated that they hope to get at least a decade of mileage out of this edition, I'd assume that reprints are inevitable.