D&D 5E Anyone else feeling "meh" about recent 5e releases?

[ccs]

People were clamoring for Magic the Gathering in D&D for decades.

Yeah, ever since Wizards bought TSR. When that happened we assumed it'd (eventually) be like Reeses's Peanut Butter Cups. Two great things finally together.
Though most of the clamoring I ever saw/heard was for D&D stuff to be made into MTG cards. Afterall, anything MTG has? You can replicate that anytime you want in D&D of any edition. You don't need the company to do it for you.
But to this day I've yet to pull a Beholder card....

Flash forward to 2018 & we get some 5e Ravnica D&D books/PDFs.
Well. Better late than never & I suppose they had to start somewhere. Still hoping for my pure D&D set of MTG though.

 

[ccs]

Hiya!


Yes. Not any 5e ones all the way through (skimmed over Storm Kings Thunder as a player bought it thinking it might be fun to play through). I have played through almost all of The Shackled City, and about 70% of Savage Tide (Piazo, for 3.x though). I also DM'ed and also played, through about half of Council of Theives

So you are familiar with the idea that virtually all modules/APs present some degree of story.

 

[ccs]

They were a new concept once upon a time now there have been around 30 odd?

Try 40+
Remember those 1e classics like the G series (giants), D series (Drow), A series (Slavers), I3-I5 (Desert of Desolation), U1-U3 (Saltmarsh), & of course the original Dragon Lance series?

There's only a few actual great ones maybe even 1. A few are great for the first half.

And what's on your version of that short list?

 

[ccs]

4) The combat and tactics book. The transition from 4e to 5e. The crunch to expand tactical play options. I'm regularly asked by my groups to beef up the tactical play in 5e. I'm nervous to do so as the game might shatter.

So you've got XP with previous editions, you know what you want, & you know what your players want.
Whip something up (or steal it from another system/edition), put it into the game, see how it works.
If it works great? Keep it.
If it kinda works? Refine it.
If it doesn't work? Yank it back out, send it back to the drawing board, & re-introduce it later.
You won't break anything.
Oh, and include your players in the process because it's all of your game. Eventually you'll have something that suits the only people who really matter in this - you & your group.

The alternative is pining for Wizards to get around to making this for you. Wich might never happen. And if it does? It still might not be what you & yours want. Then what'll you do?

Also something to add extra personalization to the monsters would be great. (Adding auras, legendary actions, "controller" abilities, etc.)

We've had this since 1974. It's called the DM.
If you're the DM, get to work.

 

[Zardnaar]

Try 40+
Remember those 1e classics like the G series (giants), D series (Drow), A series (Slavers), I3-I5 (Desert of Desolation), U1-U3 (Saltmarsh), & of course the original Dragon Lance series?



And what's on your version of that short list?

Paizo did 3 in a row, Age of Wrymd, Savage Tide, Rise of the Runelords.

Early Kingmaker, Skull and Shackles had their charms.
WotC don't quite get there with any 4.5/5 type ones but they get close with CoS, PotA, ToA. They're better than most of Paizos efforts.

I wasn't counting the older adventures s because they're not in the modern format although The Night Below would count.

They would be new I suppose if you didn't have Dungeon Magazine or play Pathfinder.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

What I have noticed...

1) Adventures. I don't know if I'm in a "supergroup," but trying to find an adventure that someone in our group hasn't already played is a real challenge. One player has done Princes of the Apocalypse, another Curse of Strahd, a third has done Out of the Abyss, etc. Having more than 2 or so adventures published a year would help alleviate this as well as giving the DM actual choices. (For example, if I don't want to run something set in hell because of someone's religious perspectives.)

I think there needs to be some kind of co-ordination within your group. I make a point of not reading any of the WotC adventures unless I think there is a high probability I will use them in the near future.

But if those adventures where at all bad, I don't think people having already played them would be a problem...

2) High level content. Most adventures stop at 11-13th level, and the bulk of content seems to focus on 1-5th level. I know you'll say that surveys indicate most people only play to 11th level, but having more content would help. Not only adventures, but also sourcebooks, crunch, and DM tips for running high level play.

Eh? Apart from Dragonheist and the starter sets, most of the content seems to go up to at least level 11. I've just run The Styles from GoS with a level 9/10 party.

3) Psionics. An actual real print book about psionics - and maybe other alternate magic systems to pad the book?

4) The combat and tactics book. The transition from 4e to 5e. The crunch to expand tactical play options. I'm regularly asked by my groups to beef up the tactical play in 5e. I'm nervous to do so as the game might shatter. Also something to add extra personalization to the monsters would be great. (Adding auras, legendary actions, "controller" abilities, etc.)

5) Mass combat. (I know Matt Colville is addressing this in an upcoming Kickstarter, but WotC should have been leading the pack on this.)

All three of these are pretty niche. Psionics will probably come eventually, but I can't see much chance of WotC ever doing mass combat, or adding complexity to a system that's main USP is it's simplicity.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

It might be worth pointing out that WotC has just released three adventure "modules" on D&D Beyond to tie in with the release of the expert set.

They seem to be an old school trilogy, level 7, 9, and 11.

 

[robus]

It might be worth pointing out that WotC has just released three adventure "modules" on D&D Beyond to tie in with the release of the expert set.

Expert set?

 

[ArwensDaughter]

Expert set?

They meant the Essentials kit.

 

[Warpiglet]

Why do people have to ask for something to receive it? I didn't ask for Mordekainen's. I didn't ask for Volo's. I didn't ask for Ghosts of Saltmarsh, or Tomb of Annihilation, or Descent into Avernus. Yet, all of these products I find interest in.

Maybe the reason so many of you are having issues with these releases is because you have a particular image in your mind of what D&D is and what it should be as a product line. You should let go of that image. WotC is very meticulous in their marketing data, has figured out a lot about their audience, and is releasing products that sell better then literally any other RPG book, sometimes by an order of magnitude.

Imagine: d&d has been selling like hot cakes for years. And just when demand dips a bit comes a dark sun, realms, planescape or other long awaited book.

I suspect they have something figured out here and have learned lessons from the past.

For many, the slower release means more excitement and immersion and I suspect, keeps interest and sales higher for longer.

We shall see. But so far so good imho. We are playing more now than when we have since we were teens in the 80s and 90s!