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D&D (2024) What's Your 2026 WotC D&D Wishlist?
- Thread starter Reynard
- Start date
Except it should not be a D&D game. 5E would make a terrible GW.
I'm a sucker for a book of magic items.
I think the monster-themed books like Fizban's and Bigby's (Lords of Madness, Libris Mortis) would be better if they came with a campaign. Not the short encounters they currently have. But 50 or 75 pages of adventure. I'd LOVE a book like that.
And I'd like a Phandelver-style intro adventure that's a true regional sandbox.
I think the monster-themed books like Fizban's and Bigby's (Lords of Madness, Libris Mortis) would be better if they came with a campaign. Not the short encounters they currently have. But 50 or 75 pages of adventure. I'd LOVE a book like that.
And I'd like a Phandelver-style intro adventure that's a true regional sandbox.
Whizbang Dustyboots
Gnometown Hero
Why do you say that?
You'd need new species, classes and feats, but the basic structure seems fine to me. You could have a lot of fun with feat trees simulating advancing mutations or, depending on what the setting is like, advanced nano-bot infection, etc.
I haven't played Gamma World since its first edition, but it was very similar, mechanically, to contemporary D&D at that point and while the setting is very different, it's not trying to deliver a play experience that much different than standard D&D.
Really? I'm not so sure about that. Robert Schwalb has a hidden gem called Punkapocalyptic. It's his Gamma World-like game built on the Shadow of the Demon Lord engine. It's different than 5E...but not that different. And it's great. I could see how you could build a very elegant 10 level game from the component parts of 5E.
Exactly this. D&D is fighting monsters and looting magic in a medieval fantasy post-apocalypse. Gamma World is fighting monsters and looting tech in a science fantasy post-apocalypse.
[NOTE: I am biased because I worked on GW d20.]
The reason I think 5E would make a terrible version of GW is similar to the reasons that GW d20, while very cool in its own right, was not an especially good iteration of GW: GW is gonzo in the extreme. It does not care about balance or math or consistency. It isn't really well suited to long 1st-15th level adventures, and it is even more of a quintisentially sandbox game that D&D.
I think a 5E "post apocalyptic science fantasy" game would be fine. I think the 5E engine can do lots of things. I just don't think "Gamma World the way it is meant to be played" is one of them.
Again, for clarity, I acknowledge my bias in this area.
Sometimes people think "like 5E" means "roll a d20 and add some numbers, as long as they aren't too big" plus advantage/disadvantage. People do it all the time with Shadowdark.
I think what makes a game 5E is deeper than that and built into all the system of the game.
Very cool.
I personally like a more grounded version of Gamma World. I think that's one of the points of divergence in the GW community -- gonzo vs grounded.
I'd love an edition that has the sandbox aspect of Mutant Year Zero with 5E character building and 4E monster design.
Whizbang Dustyboots
Gnometown Hero
That makes sense. Honestly, I'm not sure how much of an audience there is for a Gamma World 2025 that Mutant Crawl Classics hasn't already snatched up.
I can see WotC putting it into a compilation of crazy alternate settings (a 5E Manual of the Planes, at long last?) but I suspect it's low on the list of projects as far as return on investment goes.
