D&D (2024) 6E When?

[Parmandur]

He also reversed himself, saying that his main issue with bonus actions is he doesn't like how it works with dual-wielding. This is a more limited patch/errata, but even this proud nail will probably survive until a theoretical 6e.

He finally concluded that the change he would want to see would be in the Equipment feature description, not the action economy.

 

[darjr]

So here's the deal. Xanathar's is 266 in all books at Amazon.

If they can do that with a supplement, say every couple of years, 5e will probably never go away. It'd probably take a HUGE misstep at Hasbro or WotC.

 

[Nebulous]

Yeah, I had started a thread about 6e a while back. I was predicting 5 years, so 2024 or 2025. I'm personally a little burned out from the game and want something crunchier, and I had hoped PF2 scratched that, but it didn't work for me. I think before an actual reboot we will see a repackaged core book set with some tweaked rules maybe. I would personally love to see a 5.5 edition.

 

[MoonSong]

A few mentions of 6E have been made with some posters stating that 5E is an evergreen edition etc.

If you believe that I have a bridge to sell you in Brooklyn. I woudnt take the designers quotes to literally but it does indicate that they want a long run for 5E.

Eventually 5E will hit saturation point. What I mean by that is they will hit a point if declining sales. Broadly speaking everyone who wants a phb has one. After that you will have a decking amount of sales.
Now the first time this happens on eBay I bet people will be chicken little in the forums.

I wouldn't worry unless it happens two years in a row or three.

Eventually this will happen or the new shiny feeling wears off or whatever. Might take 8, 10 or 13 years.

Another hint is splat books with all sorts if experimental, odd and new subsystems.

Anyway expect 6E about 2 years after they get 2 or 3 years of declining sales.

We're not there yet, even if 2019 is less than 2018 well probably know next year.

Sometime in the next 2-3 years I would not be surprised if that happens. 5E will be 10 years old in 2014.

So the absolute earliest would be 2022 or 2023 assuming 2019 and 2020 have decking sales. I don't think we're there yet so would put 2022/23 into the I would be surprised basket.

2024 would be the earliest I would expect to see 6E give or take a year. I don't expect 2013 but it's not to far out there.

2024/25 is roughly my expectation. Would not be overly surprised 2026/2027.

Anything past that date would I would be surprised. Note that would be a 13 year cycle. No D&D has lasted that long with the exception of BECMI and that wasn't in continuous production and had very limited support.

The only thing we can really predict IMHO is the next few years. People move on, CEOs change, recessions happen.

I think we need to separate two ideas of what an edition is. If we go by an edition as understood in books in general, I would give it or take a couple of years -5/7 at most -. Now, if we think of edition as a ruleset, my prediction is not in a long, long time.

Revolution.....

Reality looks more and more like the plot of "Shattered Union", it's scary.

 

[Parmandur]

So, here's the thing: WotC Target audience is not veteran players who've played the game for 20+ years: most of the people playing 5E now, per WotC statements, were in Middle School and younger when 3E rolled out. They are selling to Middle Schoolers, High Schoolers, and College students. Older players are a nice-to-gave, frosting on the cake deal at best.

Ten Speed Press is paying Wizards good money to put out D&D propaganda to kids. Watching my toddler delight in seeing an Oelvear in the children's monster book they put out while holding an Oelvear toy is pretty great. Give it ten years, she'll be playing the game with other kids. Those kids will have no reason to be bored with an "old edition."

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

The TTRPGs have got two parts, the crunch and the fluff. I think the goal for 5th Ed to sell more wasn't to publish more titles but get a higher number of players, and then the rules had to be easy to understand. It has been designed for parents playing with their children, the next generation of fans.

The fluff, lore or background of the D&D worlds have got future. Do remember Transformers were forgotten until Michael Bay's movies. My little pony was past until the reboot on television. But they have to learn to create the right blockbuster in the main media. Warner is a big fish and DC, maybe its best IP, isn't so popular as Marvel cinematic universe. And this failed in the past until the first Blade movie.... and the teleserie was only a season, ended with a cliffhanger.

They aren't going to start to build a new tower when they are still in the first one. Now it is the time to publish remake of old D&d worlds (Dark Sun, Spelljammer, Kara-Tur, al-Quadim, Mystara, Ravenloft). Later they will publish new base classes.

* My suggestion is to recover the chronomancers and the time spheres from AD&D for a new transition setting about uchronies and parallel earths.

 

[darjr]

Good point, there is a ton of content they can still explore. Shoot only now are they really getting to the outer planes.

 

[Matrix Sorcica]

I am more interested in creating a 6-action economy for my next game, not limiting actions to move and standard.

This really has my interest. Maybe show your design and ideas and get input in another thread?

 

[Tony Vargas]

So, here's the thing: WotC Target audience is not veteran players who've played the game for 20+ years:

Not their only audience, no, but a critical one. It's their reaction to a new edition that can encourage people to try it - or turn the environment around it toxic.
5e made a lot if compromises to keep that segment happy, and rolling rev, again - especially, with any changes, let alone improvements, risks that accomplishment.
At some point enough of them will stop paying attention or just die - but, by then, the current crop will have likely been winnowed of any not equally insistent on the status quo.

So my prediction - and, I hasten to admit, I have never been right with one of these before - is that we will most likely see no substantive changes to the game for the foreseeable future, any new editions will be mainly cosmetic or y'know "re-arranging deck chairs." The analogy to 2e Revised was a good one.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

When your game is in decline, then anything to boost the businsss around it is a sound business decision.

Definitely not true for a large corporation with valuable IPs, and WotC is owned by Hasbro, and D&D and its settings are (interestingly) increasingly valuable IPs.

There are situations where it would be much smarter to let D&D decline somewhat (even severely) in the shorter-term in order to retain IP value and potential revival in the longer-term. There are plenty of moves which my boost business in the short-term but have bad consequences in the longer-term.

Let me clarify what I meant. First I haven't given this much thought, but that idea is that bonus actions would still "exist," you don't change any of that. However, you create a whole new set of classes that don't use them. These new classes would be balanced with 5e classes and can be played right along side of them, but they don't use bonus actions. Remember, you don't get a bonus action unless a feature says you do. The only thing you would need to change is to errata two-weapon fighting and you should be good to go ( I think, like I said I haven't given it much thought).

Finally, this is not something I am personally interested in so I am not really going to think about it any more. I am more interested in creating a 6-action economy for my next game, not limiting actions to move and standard.

Fair enough, and I'd be interested to read about your 6-action economy, but you're grossly underestimating the number of places bonus actions are used (they permeate virtually every aspect of the game), and creating bonus-action-less versions of the classes would be a huge task and create a lot of similar-but-different classes which I don't think would go down well. It seems like a huge amount of work for virtually no gain.