D&D (2024) So Will 'OneD&D' (6E) Actually Be Backwards Compatible?

[dave2008]

My initial thought when they released SRD 5.1 to CC was that 2024 would now see major changes to wall it off, but after thinking about it, I think they'll take another tactic instead. I'm betting the 5.1 SRD will be the last one released by WotC. The math of 2024 will remain the same, allowing both WotC 5e products and SRD 5.1 products to remain compatible with the new books, but everything new in 2024 will require DMs Guild or DDB VTT Marketplace to directly access the new features (similar to how you have to use DMsG if you want to make a Dragonlance or Spelljammer campaign now).

They do say this in there most recent FAQ about the SRD. Though you can interpret it a few ways:

Will more content be added to the SRD? The full 5th edition game and its expansions are available for use via the DMs Guild. New material will be added to the SRD if it is necessary to keep this document and its contents compatible with the latest D&D rules.

 

[dave2008]

Define compatible….

math and terminology will be generally compatible, but much will be different in the details. Most 5.50 PCs > 5.0 PCs. Same for MM monsters.

I'm going to disagree there about the Monsters. I guess it depends on what you mean by "greater," but I think they are trying to make monsters easier to play / more interesting, but the don't seem more powerful.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Why can't you ignore a compatible version? I thought you had transitioned to A5e?

Easier to ignore then. If 6e were it's own thing, talk about it would be largely confined to its own sub forum, for example. Its more a community thing than a game thing. It's hard enough now to talk about 5e without constantly having people assume WotC as the standard.

 

[Micah Sweet]

My initial thought when they released SRD 5.1 to CC was that 2024 would now see major changes to wall it off, but after thinking about it, I think they'll take another tactic instead. I'm betting the 5.1 SRD will be the last one released by WotC. The math of 2024 will remain the same, allowing both WotC 5e products and SRD 5.1 products to remain compatible with the new books, but everything new in 2024 will require DMs Guild or DDB VTT Marketplace to directly access the new features (similar to how you have to use DMsG if you want to make a Dragonlance or Spelljammer campaign now).

Except the new features would mostly be game mechanics, which they can't prevent being duplicated in effect if not in exact words.

 

[dave2008]

Easier to ignore then. If 6e were it's own thing, talk about it would be largely confined to its own sub forum, for example. Its more a community thing than a game thing. It's hard enough now to talk about 5e without constantly having people assume WotC as the standard.

I am sure you are aware of the A5e forum, keep pushing people that way!

 

[Jer]

I think it will be compatible in the sense that the core rules of the game aren't going to change. And by core rules I mean the rules they were originally going to put under CC-BY with their 1.2 OGL talk in the DDB survey. The changes will be in the other parts - classes, monsters, spells, magic items will all probably get a tweak to one level or another, some more, some less, but the basic structures aren't going to change.

Also I'll put a marker down that their lack of compatibility will be limited by what changes can be made to DDB by the time of the projected roll out. The thing about tying their wagon to a digital strategy is that the lead time for changing software has to be built into the changes they make and they can't pivot as quickly on new game designs.

 

[mellored]

Yes, mostly. At least from what I have seen in the playtest.

1DnD characters can play in the same campaign as 5e characters. Don't see any reason why a 5e ranger and a 1dnd range can't slay Strad together.

You just you can't mix and match character options between the 2.

Easy enough to homebrew old cleric sub-classes into new cleric, though.

 

[Willie the Duck]

Mu.
It will be 'compatible enough' to make it work if you want to make it work. Characters built with one system's rules will be playable in the other -- and with characters built in the other, probably with power differentials not outside the existing span.

That said, there will be existing builds that are no longer interesting (especially if their primary gimmick/uniqueness is eliminated/made universal). New ones will pop up. Certain actions will be more or less advisable (I'm certainly looking to where we end up with regards to switching between running/climbing/swimming/jumping). Stealth and sentry duties (and darkvision vs. light cantrips) will again have winners and losers if you play pure RAW.

I'm guessing no. I don't think that Hasbro/WotC have abandoned their (alleged) plans to try and turn D&D into their next billion-dollar franchise, and that means massive monetization. Which means that, now that they've abandoned trying to put the toothpaste back in the tube with 5E and reining in competing VTTs, they'll just make the next iteration of D&D different enough from 5E so that it's (largely) incompatible with it.

If they're trying to make it a billion-dollar franchise, how does this advantage them? If everyone who wants to keep up has to go out and re-buy everything, it will keep it as a 150 million-dollar franchise a bit longer, but do nothing to grow the brand.

 

[dave2008]

Except the new features would mostly be game mechanics, which they can't prevent being duplicated in effect if not in exact words.

Well we don't actually know that when it comes to RPGs. That is something I continued to point out during the recent OGL "discovery" over the last 2 months. The legal precedent of game mechanics not be copyrightable does not strictly apply (that we know of) to what we call RPG game mechanics. It strictly applies to throwing dice, moving tokens, etc. Things you can physically do. It is entirely possible a court could find roll 2d20 pick the highest is an "expression" of the game mechanic of dice rolling. And expressions are copyrightable. We just don't know what a court would conclude. That was the whole point of the SRD to begin with - to give that safe haven.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I am sure you are aware of the A5e forum, keep pushing people that way!

I do, but there is more to D&D discussion then specific A5e concerns. Most of the threads that appear on the 5e sub forum concern issues that are perfectly applicable to many versions of 5e, but the implicit assumption always seems to be a WotC 5e one, rather than 5e as a general rules set encompassing 3pp. I often get pushback when I bring up how A5e handles a topic differently from WotC 5e, as if 3pp opinions don't matter. If 6e were discussed separately, this wouldn't happen as much.