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

[Sacrosanct]

Everyone in this thread, Ray, and everyone at WotC should be reaching out to Steve Winter and Skip Williams, because these are the exact same questions and comments that they went through when 2e was planned. They could probably answer a lot of them from lessons they learned.

 

[Vaalingrade]

Uhhh….that’s not what I said.

I said it’s more fun. Meaning, I’d rather have to make decisions and use my abilities to get sneak attack than just attack any target from anywhere and get it automatically. Even if it’s not “hard”.

Funny how people complain that the fighter is just “I attack” but the rogue requires even the tiniest bit more interactivity and the reaction is “why can’t it be automatic?”

I think the issue is that people feel it's just theatre and not actually making decisions and using abilities to get SA. As long as you can weasel the DM and play the meta game (which I guess is skilled play of a sort), you get it.

I'd love to have decisions and abilities in 5e, but real ones rather than all roads leading to the one result.

 

[Reynard]

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.

How are "backwards compatibility" and Beyond related?

 

[darjr]

Several OSR games have BOTH thac0 and ascending AC. It’s possible to do both at the same time and so I think it would have been possible to introduce it to an existing edition. In fact I think it might have been a less controversial change for many.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I just don't see why anyone who is playing now would buy these if the changes are as minor as everybody says.

They are incremental. Since I'm already using Tasha's and MoM, further changes are small. If you are still using launch day 5.00, then the changes will be much bigger.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

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.

yes 100% this... back then I didn't buy that black boardered PHB cause I had one already... knowing that will set expectations.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

It is obvious to me that they never intended for those changes to be optional. They just wanted people to think they were at first.

Everything is optional. House rules are actively encouraged.

 

[overgeeked]

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?

So you’ve never changed editions of any RPG? You still play the first edition you came across of every RPG you’ve every played? That’s wild.

 

[rooneg]

How are "backwards compatibility" and Beyond related?

You're not talking about the existence of Beyond, you're talking about Beyond being "necessary" to play in some sense. The current game is exceedingly far from requiring something like Beyond to play, so I can't envision a world in which a backward compatible version of the game changed it sufficiently such that you could reasonably say that Beyond was needed to play it.

 

[payn]

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.

7. Folks (like me) that never bought the original prints and might be interested in a refreshed PHB, DMG, MM.