D&D (2024) The impending mess that will be backwards compatibility

[Micah Sweet]

If they haven’t done so by the time you can find this on Amazon, then I’d be surprised.

If they have to label it separately for some people, why go.out of their to say they're not labeling it separately now?

 

[Weiley31]

Communism has worked in practice.

no, but more importantly let's not go down that rabbit hole

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

It's great to see you back, but did someone have to read from an eldritch tome to summon you back from the inky depths where you slumbered, @MerricB?

 

[mamba]

If they have to label it separately for some people, why go.out of their to say they're not labeling it separately now?

I am not sure I follow, I always said they would be distinguishable, eg by the cover art. It won’t be called Player Handbook 2 or something however. You are the one claiming they cannot be told apart, not me

 

[Micah Sweet]

I am not sure I follow, I always said they would be distinguishable, eg by the cover art. It won’t be called Player Handbook 2 or something however. You are the one claiming they cannot be told apart, not me

And I'm saying there are multiple D&D books in print right now, and plenty in the past, with near-identical text and different cover art, so that is not a worthwhile distinction.

Let me ask you this: let's say the last 2014 PH is the 11th printing. Is the first 2024 PH the 12th printing of the same book, or the 1st printing of a new book? If the latter, what is the title of the 2024 book? Also Player's Handbook (5e)? Do you see why this seems ridiculous to me?

 

[mamba]

And I'm saying there are multiple D&D books in print right now, and plenty in the past, with near-identical text and different cover art, so that is not a worthwhile distinction.

Why not? Clearly it is a worthwhile distinction if it was sufficient for 40 years by now. Did you end up buying the wrong book once?

Also, I am not saying anywhere that there are no other possible differences. You are the one claiming they cannot be told apart, I am saying they can, at a minimum by the cover

Let me ask you this: let's say the last 2014 PH is the 11th printing. Is the first 2024 PH the 12th printing of the same book, or the 1st printing of a new book?

the latter

If the latter, what is the title of the 2024 book?

Player Handbook, obviously, just like the ones for 1e through 5e

Also Player's Handbook (5e)? Do you see why this seems ridiculous to me?

no, but you somehow managed to not mention it before now, despite this being done every single time for the past 30+ years, I wonder what changed…

 

[dave2008]

That is odd The MM says it's useable with the 5th edition Player's Handbook and Dungeon Masters Guide. I asume the DMG does the same about the PHB and MM?

The say it some places, but most of the books, even beyond the core, don't say 5th edition or do so very discretely.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

We're using the categorization that's been in place the last 20 years. A 1.0 is when the baseline rules change, a .5 is when revenue has caught up to actual ideas and it's time to tweak things to shore things up until executive bravery allows for a new 1.0.

Also, if they hadn't chosen violence and picked a codename that sounds like a cult of early 90's ska song, we wouldn't be offering better names.

Not really. The .5 was used ONCE, 20 years ago... but that's not the same thing as being in use for 20 years. There's also an easy solution. Call it what it's called. Sure, you don't get to "stick it" to WotC that way, but you'll share the name with everyone else. The current playtest is 1D&D and the upcoming books will either be 50th D&D or 5e Revised. Are they great names? Maybe not (Personally like 50th more than 5.5 myself, but I never liked half editions).

If we can't use what they want to do as a barometer for what they're going to do unless stopped, I'm not sure anything has a point anymore.

No, you can totally use it as a barometer. You can say that you don't like what they've come up with. You can tell them that. You can tell us that.

What I object to is you saying that the 2024 classes "WILL be worse". We have no idea yet.

 

[DataDwarf]

Pretty sure no one will actually be confused by this when buying or using the book. I have no idea why you find it confusing. Molehills and mountains, something something

No worse than showing up to a University class with the wrong edition version of the textbook where the page numbers are all different and the questions at the end of the chapter you get assigned for homework are changed.

 

[Uni-the-Unicorn!]

The book will be completely rewritten. The ruleset will for my money be significantly changed. That I hope is better worded.

That is worded better IMO.

Of course we don’t know how significantly things will be changed yet. However, I am 100% sure people will not agree on how significant those changes are when they are eventually published!