D&D General 6E But A + Thread

[Reynard]

There's about a bazillion generic systems out there that can do this already, though.

The balance for D&D about how much an implied setting it has versus how easy it is to use as "generic" fantasy has always been a bit hard to pin down.

One thing that would help is if the 6E DMG had something like the Daggerheart campaign frames section. That is, instead of the singular example of Greyhawk from the 2024 DMG, have Greyhawk plus Eberron plus dear-lord-something-new that includes things like classes and and races not being allowed and the dial settings 6E should have. Show people very concretely how to make Midnight versus Forgotten Realms.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Can't speak for anyone else, but I came at it with what I would like D&D to be like, then thought about what mechanics fit that and that is when I wrote those down.

That most of these exist in some TTRPGs and I happen to know / mention them for some does not mean that I want D&D to be more like that game specifically, only that the game has some features I prefer over how D&D does the same / a similar thing. That something similar exists in some other TTRPG should also not be a surprise...

Take the broader subclasses for example, you can accomplish this by having different feats / skills to select from, and having skill chains. Add to this the desire for progression to be synchronized and the two-tiered subclass approach from Shadow of the Weird Wizard looks like a great way to do this in a way that is familiar to players of D&D and accomplishes basically all of it in a very flexible manner. So in the context of D&D, I think the SotWW approach is probably the right one to go with if the end goal is what I wanted in the first place.

Or take the combat with no attack rolls and tiers of success, I want combat to be sped up and more interesting that just 'you miss, you do 6 damage, you do 9 damage, ...' tiers speed it up and they can allow for more interesting results than rolling 1d8 to determine the damage ever would. I also like the mechanics to be the same for melee and casters, this accomplishes that too.

In summary, what I describe is my platonic ideal for D&D, not an unholy mix of D&D and two or so other games I wish it would be like more.

But why does a game with those characteristics have to be called D&D, made by the D&D people?

 

[Remathilis]

The balance for D&D about how much an implied setting it has versus how easy it is to use as "generic" fantasy has always been a bit hard to pin down.

One thing that would help is if the 6E DMG had something like the Daggerheart campaign frames section. That is, instead of the singular example of Greyhawk from the 2024 DMG, have Greyhawk plus Eberron plus dear-lord-something-new that includes things like classes and and races not being allowed and the dial settings 6E should have. Show people very concretely how to make Midnight versus Forgotten Realms.

Why would they ever do that?

WotC wants you to buy books with PC options. That's why they put Everything books and PC options in monster books. They are never going to say "The Greyhawk setting only has X, Y, and Z" options because then everyone who runs it says "cool, I don't have to ever buy another splatbook again". WotC is at best going to place soft bans (ie Theros or Krynn) but never endorse hard bans.

 

[Scribe]

Why would they ever do that?

To show the flexibility of the system in telling much more deliberate stories with curated content instead of a grab bag of options that make less sense.

"I have an idea for a LotR like setting."
"Cool, I'll play a half vampire half Goo person."
"...."

 

[Reynard]

Why would they ever do that?

WotC wants you to buy books with PC options. That's why they put Everything books and PC options in monster books. They are never going to say "The Greyhawk setting only has X, Y, and Z" options because then everyone who runs it says "cool, I don't have to ever buy another splatbook again". WotC is at best going to place soft bans (ie Theros or Krynn) but never endorse hard bans.

The idea that every D&D world must have every option available is why people dislike D&D for other flavors of fantasy. But you could absolutely use D&D for something with a highly curated class and race list.

 

[mamba]

Just make DnD built for Nova-ing or non-attritional combat. It's what people want

yeah, if they go that route I am happily joining @Micah on the ‘I can ignore this without any regrets’ side. I can confidently say that I want absolutely none of this (Vancian and alignment can go, but the rest is the exact opposite of what I am looking for)

 

[Reynard]

yeah, if they go that route I am happily joining @Micah on the ‘I can ignore this without any regrets’ side. I can confidently say that I want absolutely none of this

Again, you just need dials. Tell the users how to get the most out of the product for them.

 

[Micah Sweet]

yeah, you basically recommend they make a 6e you are not being tempted by, interesting take

Correct. I want them to make the 6e the designers want to make, that caters to the customers they want to court (who are not me). I wanted 5.5 to be that game, to be honest. I think that game as best designed would be incompatible with 5e, and I want that too, so I could more easily ignore it. I have my games now.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Why is it a pity?
I thought your homebrew campaign was a post-apocalyptic, future Earth setting?

It is, but I'd still like the base fantasy game to adhere to a general aesthetic. I use supplements to make my post-apocalyptic setting. The core rules are still medieval-ish fantasy. And my preferred OSR is even more so.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

yeah, if they go that route I am happily joining @Micah on the ‘I can ignore this without any regrets’ side. I can confidently say that I want absolutely none of this

And yet... I think 80-90% of groups wouldn't even notice a problem. And indeed some significant fraction of that 80-90% would probably think it was better. Because a huge percentage of people playing D&D just don't play it attritionally, don't even think about that aspect of the game much, and primarily do 1-3 fights per adventuring day, if that.