D&D (2024) The 2024 Core D&D Rulebooks Are Coming In May

21st May 2024 is the official release date!

Update--WotC has taken down the promo image and replaced it with one without a release date. See more here.

 

[Maxperson]

Which changes seem dramatic to you?

The major changes to, well, just about everything. Classes have changed drastically, subclasses have changed drastically, feats, spells, and on and on. All of those are significantly different from the 5e versions.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

It's not 5e, though. The changes are too drastic for it to remain what it was. Being mostly compatible doesn't leave it the same game.

Actually, I agree with @Parmandur that the most sensible, least gimmicky thing to call it is D&D2024 simply because it is the only thing that's 100% true. It's the D&D that comes out in 2024. It's even better than calling it 5e (which was never really true, even for 2014 D&D).

 

[Parmandur]

If the .5 was just a gimmick to avoid calling 3e 4e, then all the current names for 6e(5.5e, One D&D, D&D '24) are just gimmicks as well, because the current changes are even more dramatic than the 3e to 4e(3.5) changes. Adding a .5 is the least gimmicky, though. It keeps it with an edition number at least.

No, .5 is peak gimmick. Calling it 9th or even 17th edition could work, but '24 us the least confusing.

 

[Parmandur]

It's not 5e, though. The changes are too drastic for it to remain what it was. Being mostly compatible doesn't leave it the same game.

No, but 5E was not the fifth iteration of the core books, let alone the game rules.

The name 3E was also a gimmick.

 

[Yaarel]

The major changes to, well, just about everything. Classes have changed drastically, subclasses have changed drastically, feats, spells, and on and on. All of those are significantly different from the 5e versions.

Whats the difference between an updated 5e class and an additional 5e class? Seems within the scope of 5.0.

There are always new spells in any edition.

I guess, when I say "5.0", I mean the 5e game engine is the same.

 

[Maxperson]

No, but 5E was not the fifth iteration of the core books, let alone the game rules.

The name 3E was also a gimmick.

I disagree. There were no other editions than 1e and 2e. Basic and it's expansions were a different game of D&D and not different editions, and the skills and powers books were not a new edition or a .5. They were just optional rules for 2e.

You can argue that you feel 3.5e should have been called 4e, but .5's have been used in other mediums to describe changes to the base edition that aren't drastic enough to be a new edition, so it was a viable use of the term. That was WotC's call. They could have gone with 3.5e or 4e and been correct. They chose 3.5e.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

I disagree. There were no other editions than 1e and 2e. Basic and it's expansions were a different game of D&D and not different editions, and the skills and powers books were not a new edition or a .5. They were just optional rules for 2e.

You seem to be leaving out that the Skills and Powers book came out alongside a whole new PHB.

You can argue that you feel 3.5e should have been called 4e, but .5's have been used in other mediums to describe changes to the base edition that aren't drastic enough to be a new edition, so it was a viable use of the term. That was WotC's call. They could have gone with 3.5e or 4e and been correct. They chose 3.5e.

You seem frightfully willing to go with them on a marketing decision they made 20 years ago, but unable to budge on your opinion of a marketing decision that they make today. What do you think has changed?

 

[Maxperson]

Whats the difference between an updated 5e class and an additional 5e class? Seems within the scope of 5.0.

There are always new spells in any edition.

I guess, when I say "5.0", I mean the 5e game engine is the same.

These cars all have a V6 engine. They are not all the same car. Same engine =/= same edition.

 

[Maxperson]

You seem to be leaving out that the Skills and Powers book came out alongside a whole new PHB.

What were all the significantly new rules of that PHB? I didn't notice any differences when I scanned through it, but I didn't give it more than a cursory glance.

You seem frightfully willing to go with them on a marketing decision they made 20 years ago, but unable to budge on your opinion of a marketing decision that they make today. What do you think has changed?

The game evolved in editions starting with 2e. Other RPGs also evolve in editions. If you aren't going to go with a full new edition, advancing by .5 makes sense, whille the other doesn't.

 

[Parmandur]

There were no other editions than 1e and 2e.

Talk about a marketing gimmick.

the skills and powers books were not a new edition or a .5. They were just optional rules for 2e.

No, but the new Core rulebooks with new ISBNs were a new edition.

You can argue that you feel 3.5e should have been called 4e, but .5's have been used in other mediums to describe changes to the base edition that aren't drastic enough to be a new edition, so it was a viable use of the term. That was WotC's call. They could have gone with 3.5e or 4e and been correct. They chose 3.5e.

No other publishing venture to my knowledge. If the gimmick had worked, maybe it would ceased to be gimmicky through rear usage...but nobody has ever followed suit.

What were all the significantly new rules of that PHB? I didn't notice any differences when I scanned through it, but I didn't give it more than a cursory glance.

There was enough of a difference to warrant a new ISBN, which is how Editions are marked in publishing. Just counting AD&D, the mid 90's refresh were the fourth typical edition in publishing parlance. This makes "Third Edition" egregiously bananas.