D&D 5E 5E: Ten Years Later

[graypariah]

If I had to plan the 10 year evolution of 5th edition I would go mostly with a lot of what was suggested by others.

1) No expansion of the core three books. The rules in the three core books are enough for any DM to fill in any gaps in his campaign. Another book filled with monsters wouldn't be terrible but is it really needed? There are plenty of examples in the MM and the rules in the DMG make creating your own enemies really easy. Additional PHBs would only bloat the game. It is easy to tell players that they need permission to use any third party products, but telling them that they can't use the PHB2 is a hard sell.

2) Expansions of the existing Campaign Settings. A box set for Dragonlance, Greyhawk, Forgotten Realms, Eberron, and Dark Sun. In the boxed set I would have a campaign setting book, poster maps, and a CD or DVD with a collection of tools such as maps, handouts, and music. Do a collectors edition one that has a few other collectibles from the campaign setting as well. I would stagger these expansions every 6 months or so (so the first one in June).

3) PDFs as far as the eye can see! This is where you make the money. A weekly PDF release that contains OPTIONAL things like class variants, rule variants, ect. will give the players that crave spat book after spat book what they want and will give those of us who don't want the bloat a way to avoid it while still getting money from us. Monthly subscriptions are the way to go with this. Additional PDF releases can contain compilations of the weekly release's articles and things such as campaign specific PHBs and MMs.

4) OGL. Support is great but for a rule system to stay alive it needs content in the form of modules and adventure paths. WoTC could try to provide all of these but I don't see a way they could do it at a price that would work for both them and DMs. I really wouldn't pay more than a few dollars for an adventure and I am probably not among the minority in this respect. The only way to turn out cheap adventures is to have other people do it for you. You may not get any of their revenue, but DMs are the ones that are expanding the hobby. If a DM brings a player into the hobby that player will probably buy at least a pdf version of the PHB and may even subscribe to a weekly or monthly subscription. For a DM to bring a player into the hobby however, he or she needs to be playing that rule system and that DM isn't going to play a rule system that doesn't have an ever expanding amount of content.

5) Develop an all inclusive online RPing system. This one would be something I would recommend researching, but not committing too without proper market analysis. Roll20 is coming close to an all in one system with their character sheets and such, but they are not the optimal choice in everything. I use a combination of roll20, vent (I prefer push to talk as the default), and myth-weavers. Again, I would advise looking into it but it may not be cost effective to build such a platform.

These are just some things I have off the top of my head.

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

Hopefully just a lot of stand alone adventures and longer AP's. Maybe a couple setting books. Just give me a lot of adventure material that isn't an AP.

 

[Mercule]

This is mostly a wish list. I'll make a nod toward viability/profitability, but acknowledge I don't really have a clue. Also, a ten-year plan is subject to some reassessment, so this is pretty rough.

0) Edition stability: Even though I hate the idea of a "living rules set", I'll agree that too much churn is very bad for the game's longevity. Future edition drift should be viewed similar to editions/printings of things like Risk or Life. There isn't a lot of change to the basic rules between editions (although Life had a couple of screwing "evolutions"). When/if 6E comes, it should hew pretty close to 5E and be largely compatible and familiar to players of earlier editions.

0.5) Digital enhancements: Downloads are never considered primary sources. Variant character sheets, etc. are fantastic, as is a FAQ, but anything found only online should be considered supplemental and secondary. I'm a fan of offering PDF versions of books and magazines, for those who want them, but a physical version should be available. Print-on-demand is fine, but "bind it at Kinkos" isn't.

1) "Core" source books: Keep it slim. No more than one per year, and only if really called for. Some sort of psionics book should come out in 2015. I could also see a MM2 in 2016 or 2017. Maybe a MM3 a year or two after that. I don't see a need for Deities and Demigods, but would listen for demand.

2) Settings: Release one per year, for the first couple years. Start with Eberron or the Realms, due to fan base, then look at others. I'd actually be inclined to do Eberron first, and support the Realms through the novel line -- potentially including a fluff-only setting book from that channel -- and leave its mechanical implementation as "implied setting" of the core books.

3) Adventures: Big "adventure path" or campaign in a book/box type adventures should have a purpose. That can be just a cool idea, but the idea should precede the "let's do an adventure path" (this is the issue w/ the Tyranny of Dragons path, IMO). I'd give priority to mega-adventures designed to support a setting and immerse the group in that setting and demo the "feel" of the setting. For sure, each setting book gets one AP, to be released concurrently. FWIW, there's no way I'd consider doing Elemental Evil anywhere but Greyhawk -- either you put out a 5E Greyhawk book or skip the AP altogether. If no good ideas or settings present themselves in a given year, there's no AP.

4) Periodicals: Primary support for the core game comes from a resurrection of Dragon and Dungeon magazine. Both are digital-first publications, with an option for customers to receive a print copy in the mail (related to point 0.5, above). Dragon focuses on rules issues, regardless of which side of the screen. Dungeon is for adventure publication. Both are principally filled with third-party content (quality control by WotC), with Sage Advice and similar first-party content. This probably means bringing back the "D&D Insider" subscription, but I'd be fine with content being free, if cost permits. Regardless, the end goal is to be able to gather the content into defined volumes or issues, for publication and permanent reference. If there isn't enough market/availability for content, this could be a quarterly publication, rather than monthly.

At an appropriate point, generally accepted material from Dragon can be compiled, potentially cleaned up, and republished in either a "Best of Dragon" soft-cover or an "Unearthed Arcana" or PHB2 hard-cover. The hard-cover route may get additional new material and generally rewritten, but sourcebooks beyond those listed, above, germinate in Dragon.

 

[DMZ2112]

Imagine you were tasked with laying out a ten year plan for this edition. What would it look like? What's your reasoning? Which products would you release early? What about in the later years? And finally, what would a complete D&D bookshelf look like in ten years?

I like the existing proposal.

About three hardback adventure paths a year, set in the most logical official setting, with frequent digital enhancements.

In ten years, a complete D&D5 collection looks like the PHB, MM, and DMG; 30 thick hardbacks, containing both adventures and new setting fluff; and maybe a few homemade* binders of printed articles, for those who prefer hardcopy.

It looks a lot like Pathfinder does now, actually, except with single hardbacks instead of sets of five thin softcovers, binders of printouts instead of staple-bound splatbooks, and no hardbound rules expansions.

(*Actually, if Gale Force Nine manufactured and sold reasonably priced and attractive official binders for printed digital enhancements I'd probably buy those. I am a sucker for a good binder. So they wouldn't necessarily have to be homemade.)

 

[TwoSix]

I see Paizo continuing to support all of the D&D versions it now owns, with support for both Pathfinder Original, 5e, and Pathfinder 2nd ed.

 

[KarinsDad]

The problem with adventure paths and campaign settings is that so few people buy them. It's not like the PHB where a high percentage of players own it.

In order to survive, D&D will have to branch out like they tried in the past. Movies, cartoons on TV, a good MMORPG, a mobile MMORPG app for cell phones, additional content via a monthly/annual subscription; things of this nature. They need to carve a niche in younger generations not just for the roleplaying game, but for the franchise. In order to encourage young people to play the tabletop game or read D&D novels, WotC needs to get them interested. If it does not do this, in 10 years, D&D will be a much smaller audience mini-hobby. And it might mostly disappear in 25 years without such goals. 5E has had a nice resurgence, but that won't last without them continuing to build their audience and without them continuously keeping their name brand in the public consciousness.