WotC Which releases do you own?

[ZeshinX]

I do agree with you. Unfortunately, some features of the adventures and world books are not reprinted in the splat books. A lot the new backgrounds were not. The haunted background we had in CoS was a beauty that many of my players loved and some of them use it even if CoS is long gone behind us. Just the treatment the guilds of Ravnica gave to (well...) guilds could be applied to factions and I used them to adjust what the factions were giving to their members in the FR and they became a feature that the players were now longing to belong to and not just some RP shenanigan that would only give something at the DM whims. The codified version that Ravnica brought was a spring board that made factions quite appealing.

I really think that each book can bring unique things to a DM's campaign. Whatever their experiences and tastes. But sticking to the splat books is not a bad idea either.

Well I know my players (and myself) pretty well, since we've been playing together a loooong time. Guilds/factions just don't do it for us. Oh don't get me wrong, running afoul (or with) a Thieves' Guild or being part of a family/clan when we're adventuring in Kara-Tur, etc. has its place...but it's typically dressing more than a front-and-center active element. It winds its way in and out of the narrative but it rarely becomes a major factor for any length of time (moments of decision/action, absolutely)...but it rarely stays in any truly focal element (we simply find them far too all-consuming beyond those moments). The game and narrative becomes "The Guild" instead of about the characters. We still include them, and they have their place in the character's lives and the narrative, but they aren't of particular importance to us. There have been moments and characters where membership in X was significant and played an important role in how that person RP'ed their character (especially in our Kara Tur games), but it's ultimately about the character, not the membership.

Backgrounds have never been an issue for us either. We just called them "backstories" before they were codified. So if none of the PHB or splat backgrounds fits the bill for a particular character, we just make one that fits by cherry picking elements from the others, or making entirely our own. Easy peasy.

 

[Helldritch]

Nothing beats experience and knowing your players.
Your approach is not worse or better than any other I have seen (and I have seen a lot). It must be the collector in me that makes me buy everything official from WoTC... Other than that, as I said, I see nothing wrong with what you're doing. I'm just pointing out that there are some gems in the books that could help or give you nudge in an unexpected direction. And nothing prevents you from borrowing a book and check it if you like what you can see in it.

 

[ZeshinX]

Nothing beats experience and knowing your players.
Your approach is not worse or better than any other I have seen (and I have seen a lot). It must be the collector in me that makes me buy everything official from WoTC... Other than that, as I said, I see nothing wrong with what you're doing. I'm just pointing out that there are some gems in the books that could help or give you nudge in an unexpected direction. And nothing prevents you from borrowing a book and check it if you like what you can see in it.

Oh I have absolutely no doubt I've missed a few gold nuggets along the way. I'm just far more selective about what I spend money on these days. I quite enjoy 5e and appreciate the slower approach to releasing splat material, so I don't feel particularly hard done by or anything. I do occasionally wish for some things, like campaign setting books of old, but recognize that's just not going to be how they're going to do it anymore (and their reasoning for that is sound).

 

[Helldritch]

Yep, and I'm sure that unlike me you have avoided some real sh***y stuff too! Being prudent with your hard earned money is usually the wiser thing to do. I wished I had been wiser with some of my purchases...

 

[ZeshinX]

Well one person's trash is another person's treasure. Case in point, I looooooved the 2e Player's Option series books (despite how unbelievably broken and uneven they were). Seriously...the monstrosity you could create using the Spells & Magic Priest options....phew! Crazy! Compare that to the Fighter options from Skills & Powers....you could have a Fighter with about gasp! 10% MR while the Cleric over there is holding his own, arm wrestling a titan. They were ridiculous, but I loved them.

 

[Azzy]

I have none of the adventures, Ravnica, Wildemount, Theros, or Aquisition's Inc. I may end up getting them all at some point just to have them (Ravnica will likely be my next D&D purchase), but it's not a high priority. I doubt I'll get either Stranger Things or Rick & Morty sets as neither really appeal to me (even though I'm a Stranger Things fan—not so much on Rick & Morty). I'd probably pick up the second DM's Screen (I have the original) before I pick up those sets even though I play pretty much exclusivey online now [].