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So we're half a year in and it looks like the 2024 edition is sticking. However, there are 10 years-worth of 5E projects that, while backwards compatiable, could do with an upgrade to more seamlessly fit the new rules. The question is, is it worth the cost? Releasing new print versions for a...

The 2024 5R rules changed a lot across the Unearthed Arcana surveys. After a certain point, however, the more experimental rules were rolled back to go back to classic 2014 paradigms. This was done in the name of backwards compatibility -- the ability to use old subclasses and adventures with...

I want to talk about what I think is the absolute best variant rule so far published for 5E and 5R: the 2024 DMG's Mob rules. I won't copy/paste them, but I will explain them here, then I'll explain why I like them. So, mobs are simple. You have a huge number of creatures but don't want to...

Hey everyone! I have a new Kickstarter available for SHADOWDARK that just went live. The Wood's Voiceless Hymns is a bestiary of 10 creatures designed each with their own hyper-customizable encounters. As players explore the scaduwood of the Horned God, they'll come across powerful spirits...

So with BG3 stopping leveling at 12nd level, a new kind of aesthetic is born. The reasoning for this is because it was difficult to balance 7th level+ spells on the player end. This creates a new cap at 6th level spells, providing a new effective range of traditional power and recontextualizing...

This is a thread for pitching fun new class ideas, without regards to "What the game needs" or "Why can't that be a subclass instead?" For example, I read recently this amazing Lycan class that has two subclasses, picked at different times, and sounded like just a blast to play. It reminds me of...

With 5E, the Paladin's fluff changed to be less reliant on a deity and more reliant on an oath. Conviction in said oath unlocks all kinds of supernatural powers for the Paladin; essentially, their Charisma -- their Force of Will -- enables them to create miracles, smite enemies of their oath...

In a game where exploration is a central pillar of play, encounter balance serves as an unnecessary gatekeeper to immersion, storytelling, and creativity. This thesis relies on the idea that encounter balance, defined as having a rigid system that can output the potential difficulty of a fight...

I am in no way affiliated with Mage Hand Press. My absolute favorite book, and one that I believe everyone here that runs 5E should own, is Valda's Spire of Secrets, by Mage Hand Press. For those of you who don't know, Mage Hand Press got started like a decade ago and put out wild, but usually...

This is paradoxically common knowledge and something most people do not know or just simply forget — that how you handle resting dictates the feel of your game. While it'll always be combat-slanted (in reality, conflict-slanted), when your players can recover influences the pacing of your...

Here's what I mean-- The core, mainline 1st edition game should be streamlined and simplified, as is happening in 1D&D. By making things easier to understand, a little bit more fluid, and a little bit more organized, they encourage both third party developers, their own freelancers, and...

I've been doing amateur (and professional) game design for 8 years now. In those eight years, I've consumed a lot. Much of what I've consumed has been paradigms from many different parts of the community, from OSR to narrative to vanilla 5E and beyond, across many, many games. Many of these...

My new project for DnD 5E, Crimson Catalyst, is live! Invoke the power of alien forces to save your world from extinction in this 5E setting book. Overcome cataclysms with Scavenger: Crimson Catalyst, an otherworldly Bronze Age epic for DnD 5E. This book creates a visceral science fantasy...

A new month is coming and we have no active Psionics thread? WHAT??? So, here's the idea. People always say how adding non-spell spells (psionics) is too much mechanical complexity for the game and is confusing. This is, even though I don't fully agree, such a widespread sentinment across D&D...

I was rereading Descent Into Avernus (henceforth: DiA) because I really, really, really like the idea of Mad Max + Bloodwar. However, while rereading it, I came to a startling realization for why that adventure ultimately was, in my eyes, a failure. DiA is trying to be like Mad Max: Fury Road...

Howdy everyone! Here is the first chapter of our third major project, TORN & BEYOND. Specifically, this is the first chapter of The Shardlight Epic — an adventure-campaign setting designed not only for ease of DM use, but also to create one-shots, short stories, and epic campaigns with the...

The question is in relation to how easy it is (requiring little to no editing) to how difficult it is (requiring editing or extensive prep to make work). No neutral option, as I'm really only interested in seeing how much people rely on edits to run their adventures.

10 years ago, WotC was making just barely 30 mil a year off D&D. Now they're making hundreds of millions a year, and, alongside magic, have completely redefined Hasbro. https://icv2.com/articles/news/view/47698/wotc-makes-more-money-hasbros-toy-business

SCAVENGER: Nomads of Uncharted Worlds is a beautifully illustrated art book and also an original campaign setting for D&D 5E set in a ravaged bronze age world where the only hope is an ancient gateway to other mysterious dimensions throughout the multiverse. Explorers, wanderers, treasure...

Link to the SageAdvice here: https://www.sageadvice.eu/2019/11/30/jeremy-crawford-we-havent-closed-the-door-on-a-class-like-mystic-psion/ As I said before, I'd eat my words if WotC said they'd make a dedicated Psion class. While I enjoy the one I've homebrewed recently, I'm happy to be getting...