D&D 5E Reasons Why My Interest in 5e is Waning

[Henry]

Speaking of which, is there a link to their product catalog for 2015? All I've seen so far is the DM Screen and Princes of the Apocalypse, with no info on anything else this year.

EDIT: Nevermind, found it at http://dnd.wizards.com/products/catalog
And it has as much as I've heard. They really are keeping the releases past April close to the chest.

 

[Warmaster Horus]

OP, you would of really not of liked AD&D when it first came out.

 

[Mistwell]

I think it is somewhat puzzling yet admirable at the same time how so many of you hold on to this Zen-like belief that the less D&D products we get, the better the game is.

Why is it Zen-like? The less Indiana Jones we got, the better the movies were. The less Star Wars movies we got, the better the movies were. Sometimes spamming sequels makes the originals feel less desirable

On a more serious note, I can honestly say the amount of Pathfinder material out there makes all of Pathfinder less desirable to me. Because I know each release has it's fans, some of my players may like this or that or buy various things, I know I will have to negotiate about it, I will have to account for it when I create adventures, and constantly tweak things to continue to keep up, and it just seems like a total turn-off to me. If it was just the core books and a few other books, that would not be happening. But sometimes you cross a line from helpful to hindrance with increased amounts of materials. Right now, I am quite satisfied with just the core books. In fact, the number of variants in the DMG is a bit overwhelming still. I need a lot more time to work with all of what I already have.

 

[Fildrigar]

Actually, they haven't (at least not that I have seen) since its release. We do have several designers who said that they would like 5e to be OGL. To me, this sounds like several people that work there attempting to influence the internal struggles at WotC, internal struggles similar to those before 4e's launch that ultimately lead to the GSL, a license no one was happy with and was barely used. To say I am skeptical that there will be a license is an understatement.

So the cat is out of the bag huh? Yea, a couple of high level meetings I had at GenCon last year got me the same information several times from different people about 5e being OGL. I didn't believe how committed they were at first until I heard it a second time. The biggest thing I don't know about the moment is when the books will be released and when I can start publishing for it. But I can't wait for the day that it happens. The whole JBE crew is really excited about 5e. We're really looking forward to showing off what we have been working on for a while now.

Dude. We get it. You're impatient. You've been banging this drum for two years now. You want an OGL, and you want in now. Wizards has said that they'll have some more information in "early 2015." Patience, please.

 

[BryonD]

Not a single one of those things impacts my enjoyment of 5th edition. Not even, like, remotely. Lucky me, I guess.

If waiting for adventures is particularly troubling you, then use some from the past 40 years of D&D. They're still perfectly acceptable.

I agree that none of these things are an issue. At least, to me, they are not issues alone. None of them are remotely something that can't not be worked around. Adapting, as you point out, is easy enough.

But the thing is, it is a great time to be a gamer. There are a ton of great options out there. And 5E is great to be right there as a top tier choice.
But there are other top tier choices and the net total of the things listed in the OP contribute to a lack of 5E being the game of choice for the long haul for me.
I'm not saying I'm ready to bail on it. My current game is going strong.
But if these things don't change, I'll probably be using my old adventures and adapting them to something with a richer more broadly established foundation.

5E will still be a great game. But it isn't *THE* great game, it is *A* great game. It will take more to keep me choosing it against all other options over and over.

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

The more books I added to 3e didn't save that system for me, I just found I was spending more money and getting less use out of the stuff. Then I realized I was spending a lot of cash to try and fix a system I thought sucked from the start. With 5e its more my style and I can't say I'm finding myself bothered that we don't have a complete book of dwarfs scheduled.

 

[Warmaster Horus]

More does not mean better. I had several storage tubs full of 3.5 stuff that proves that point. And if you want, nothing stops you from using decades of previous versions' adventures in 5e.

 

[Sailor Moon]

The more books I added to 3e didn't save that system for me, I just found I was spending more money and getting less use out of the stuff. Then I realized I was spending a lot of cash to try and fix a system I thought sucked from the start. With 5e its more my style and I can't say I'm finding myself bothered that we don't have a complete book of dwarfs scheduled.

Why did you keep buying the books then?

That's like walking into a room full of food, eating until you get sick, and then blame the people who gave you the food.

It's your fault for eating so much.

Why didn't you pick and choose what you wanted to buy and what you wanted to allow in your games?

4th edition was the only edition that considered everything to be core, and yet you could still say no.

 

[Paraxis]

I would like to see more products, I want some form of an OGL so fan created and 3rd party published stuff is clear cut OK or not, but these desires not being met doesn't make my interest in 5e wane.

If a 3rd party published is chomping at the bit to publish material, I would direct you towards 13th Age a great OGL system that could use more support and product with an active fan base. I would say put out system neutral fluff books on worlds, kingdoms, and cities. Make a systemless core product for an adventure, with downloadable web enhancements for various game systems (pathfinder/OSR/13thAge/savage worlds), when/if the legality of 5e compatible material is cleared up add another web enhancement pdf for that.

 

[Nebulous]

5E will still be a great game. But it isn't *THE* great game, it is *A* great game. It will take more to keep me choosing it against all other options over and over.

Yeah, true that there's a ton of great games out and more on the horizon. I could never play them all. Hell, I can't even sample them all, we sorta got to stick with something we know works and maybe, rarely, touch a toe into something else.