D&D (2024) Dungeons and Dragons future? Ray Winninger gives a nod to Mike Shea's proposed changes.

[Yaarel]

His main points are: Make 5.5 Fully 5e Compatible. Include Easier Encounter Building. Include "Theater of the Mind" Guidelines for Combat. Strengthen High-CR Monsters. Fix Certain Spells and Abilities. Include Tasha Upgrades. Provide Less Problematic Race Descriptions. Update the System Resource Document under the Open Gaming License. Leave the Rest Be.

Oh.

So.

5.5 it is.

More like 5e refinements and developments.

 

[dave2008]

would not a art book for D&D (or any adventure or new book with new content AND art) do the same but without rebuying things?

Yes and no. I can only buy what they produce. And for some reason I do like buying a Monster Manual more the a "Dragons" book or whatever. The art is really important to me, but even more so when a stat block comes with it. I'm still a DM after all. So it is not just art, but art is a huge component for me.

To give an example, I completely skipped 3e because I couldn't stand the graphic design. Different things matter to different people

 

[darjr]

You give and you take as DM. If the rogue has to have conditions to do sneak attack then as a DM you can take that away and preserve verisimilitude. Like a mage needing to be able to talk and wiggle their fingers.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

Just to clarify this is not what is normally meant by not being backwards compatible.

Changes are normally considered backwards compatible when there are no knock-on changes that mean that you need to clarify which ruleset you are using. So, for example 3.0 -> 3.5 was not backwards compatible change because they did things like change the shape of a horse from 5ft by 10ft to a 10ft square (leaving nothing rectangular in the game) and tweaked the skill list, removing skills such as Animal Empathy, Innuendo, and Read Lips that (theoretically) apply to every character. Meanwhile if just the 3.0 bard and ranger had been replaced with the 3.5 versions that would have been entirely backwards compatible as you could play a 3.5 bard alongside a 3.0 wizard and no one would care. It would also be considered backwards compatible if spells were erratad (as Haste was) as long as fundamental rules were unchanged.

the 3.0-3.5 changes took pages and pages (a whole free booklet at Gencon that year) to explain... and still very few if any people truely used it as backwards compatible...

 

[Reynard]

Obviously we can't assume our discussions here are representative. I spend only a little time on reddit and none on twitter, so I don't know what the attitudes are there, but it seems to me that encouraging rampant speculation is a bad thing. I wonder if they will just tell people straight out what 2024 is going to look like, sooner rather than later. If this is a minor revision -- something more along the lines of the black border 2E reprint -- it would be good to know that going ahead. Fears of too big a change might cool book sales for the next 2 years, and if 2024 really is about future growth, it shouldn't matter if current players give it a pass until they need to release their books.

The real question, i think, is what is it going to look like relative to Beyond. Does Beyond become necessary with the new "edition"? I have no conception of how many people are using Beyond compared to how many buy books and what the crossover is between those two groups. What percentage of people that play D&D only buy via Beyond, versus only buy paper? What percentage play on a VTT? Which ones? Those all seem much more relevant questions than whether the ranger gets another crappy redesign, or whether gnomes finally get excised from the multiverse.

 

[darjr]

Oh.

So.

5.5 it is.

sigh

Note, again, Ray didn’t specify exactly how Mike’s going to be happy.

 

[rooneg]

The real question, i think, is what is it going to look like relative to Beyond. Does Beyond become necessary with the new "edition"? I have no conception of how many people are using Beyond compared to how many buy books and what the crossover is between those two groups. What percentage of people that play D&D only buy via Beyond, versus only buy paper? What percentage play on a VTT? Which ones? Those all seem much more relevant questions than whether the ranger gets another crappy redesign, or whether gnomes finally get excised from the multiverse.

There is absolutely zero chance that Beyond will become "necessary" to play 5.5e. It would be so far from everything they've said about backwards compatibility that it's not even in the realm of the possible.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

No growth and change? The core will remain and likely be slightly altered over time, but WotC will always put out new splat books. New spells, new feats, new subclasses, new classes (maybe), new modules, new settings, etc. There will always be growth and change.

again... if this was 1996 that would mean we would still need thac0 today... no growth or change will not help mass markets going forward

 

[darjr]

the 3.0-3.5 changes took pages and pages (a whole free booklet at Gencon that year) to explain... and still very few if any people truely used it as backwards compatible...

I dint think that’s true. I think many people didn’t have any idea that they were.

I give you the Forgotten Realms Setting book as evidence. To this day I remind people that it is a 3.0 book.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

um... why would you put ANY money into something that you can just keep useing the old one? and how many people do you think would rather rebuy the core 3 books then buy new add on books?

Well, in addition to the fact that the 5e PHB (for example) continues to sell very well, there are a few factors-

1. People who bought early in the cycle ... well, they will want to replace their old books. If you play a lot, the wear and tear eventually gets to them. Stuff spills. Pages and bindings get a little frazzled, etc.

2. Others will simply want a new version because their older books do not have all of the collected errata and updates. It's a one-stop shop instead of having to remember all the changes spread across multiple sources.

3. Some people will be gaming with new entrants to the game, and those people will be playing with the new books. So you might want to buy them so that you can stay consistent.

4. Of course, if you are among the contingent of people who doesn't play 5e but enjoys complaining about it on this forum, you need to buy the books to make sure your complaints can be sourced! Or ... just keep referring to the SRD. Yes, other people notice.

5. Some people really enjoy new art, too!

6. Finally, this isn't a massive investment. When you compare the cost to, say, a major videogame, or going to the movies, or dining out, the cost of the core three RPG book as an investment in a decade of RPG playing seems ... more than reasonable.

Now, all of that said- everyone is different. But there will be a large number of people that will want to keep current- in addition to the constant influx of new entrants.