D&D General Past and Future of D&D at GaryCon, w Dan Ayoub and Luke Gygax

Whizbang Dustyboots · Friday at 9:08 PM

Charlaquin said:
Yeah, I remember the rumor having been that they were already working on 6e, and that 6e would be OSR inspired. I never believed for a second that would happen. A parallel “Basic D&D” line seems more believable, but still very unlikely.

More Heroes of the Borderlands-style content seems doable, though, although there's a cap at how high level they could go before the cards and boards get unwieldy. (They already take up a lot more space than you'd think.)

But more classes, more ancestries, more backgrounds, more equipment and monsters, that's all doable, as are additional adventure packs, whether that's the Cave of the Unknown, revamped B series modules, or something else.

That would definitely fit the criteria of WotC doing something in the classic mold.

Whizbang Dustyboots · Friday at 9:10 PM

Ralif Redhammer said:
The one that bounced off of it hard was a power gamer and I kinda feel like it boiled down to him not liking that for all his min-maxing, his character was still just as fragile as everyone else's.

I have some players who had the same initial reaction and then they realized that their (very impressive) real life brains could play more of a role in OSR games, and suddenly they were min-maxing by being brutally smart about how they approach things, since the group couldn't just Superman their way through challenges.

darjr · Friday at 9:19 PM

Whizbang Dustyboots said:
It might be too late to get in on it. My understanding is Free RPG Day stuff is already printed and ready to ship out to stores.

I realize.

I’m just screaming at the dark.

bedir than · Friday at 9:23 PM

Ralif Redhammer said:
At this point, for D&D to change course so dramatically, it would require a complete change of leadership.

There's a new WotC pres, a new head of D&D, a new head of D&D the game, a new head of D&D franchise, a new lead designer and a new D&D world's guide all within the last 7 months.

And they're sticking with the version of the game that is selling really well.

Parmandur · 2026-03-21T15:03:15+0000

Anybody going to be at the panel here? Or is it being streamed? @darjr

LaTia J · 2026-03-21T15:13:22+0000

Parmandur said:
Anybody going to be at the panel here? Or is it being streamed? @darjr

I’m in the room! It’s not being streamed, but at least one person is recording it.

Plaguescarred · 2026-03-21T15:14:43+0000

I just read on his Facebook that Stephen Radney-MacFarland is writing one of the GREYHAWK adventure using 5.5E with some tweak. I like the direction and options for more grittyness!

Stephen Radney-MacFarland
...The adventure I'm writing for this book uses the 5.5 rules, with minor changes to better fit the World of Greyhawk as presented in the 1983 Boxed Set, which serves as the story foundation for this project. It will also feature some variant rules in case you want a more dangerous feel for that ruleset.