D&D General 6e guesses

[TwoSix]

I guess the argument is that if 3e had been evergreen for them, they would be playing 3e still, but they are playing PF1 instead

As a contrasting hypothetical, would we be better off as a community if the 2024 books had been the 4th revision (2003, 2008, 2014, 2024) of the still-churning 3e engine? Assuming that engine continuity is actually a virtue?

 

[Belen]

Sure you are right, its more that I fear that the "its implemented this way" could in the end really influence 6E which I would find a bit sad. I had not thought about that before, so the argument was a bit of a shock.


Of course being optimistic about 6e (that its a completely new innovative system) is better than just fearing the worst.

Once you have the tech set, especially in a subscription environment, the focus tends to be iterative and QOL improvements.

They will not want to spend large amounts rebuilding everything.

AI may change it as data entry will probably be automated, but my guess is that things will begin to ossify.

 

[Scribe]

Given the state of 2026, I have more excitement (if that's the word) about big new changes than I can handle.

 

[mamba]

As a contrasting hypothetical, would we be better off as a community if the 2024 books had been the 4th revision (2003, 2008, 2014, 2024) of the still-churning 3e engine? Assuming that engine continuity is actually a virtue?

no idea, given the trajectory of 3e the answer is obviously no, if sales had not tanked however, who knows

Didn’t play 3e, but it sounds like it was pretty fiddly, so personally I would prefer the 5e approach, but as a community… can’t really say

 

[Scribe]

As a contrasting hypothetical, would we be better off as a community if the 2024 books had been the 4th revision (2003, 2008, 2014, 2024) of the still-churning 3e engine? Assuming that engine continuity is actually a virtue?

I'd argue that the level of crunch, complexity, and vast amount of content eventually hits a point where it's difficult to support.

A more simple system can just have adventures or small content updates (a zine) "forever".

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Didn’t play 3e, but it sounds like it was pretty fiddly, so personally I would prefer the 5e approach, but as a community… can’t really say

The insane product cadence they had for 3E and how it all interacted with each other made things rough by the end of the 3E cycle. Speaking as a DM, I was exhausted.

 

[mamba]

The insane product cadence they had for 3E and how it all interacted with each other made things rough by the end of the 3E cycle. Speaking as a DM, I was exhausted.

true, they cannot keep that cadence going, esp for crunch there are diminishing returns. A lesson they learned with 5e

 

[FitzTheRuke]

While I generally believe you are correct, I will point out that they are completely rebuilding Beyond to make easier to change (I think). So it could be easier to move Beyond to a new core system in the future possibly.

Yeah, that Beyond can currently change very little (can't even do some of the 3PP stuff, heck, IIRC still can't do some Tasha's stuff, and can't do some 2024 stuff either) doesn't mean that it won't be able to do it by the time a supposed 6e would be released.

So... DDB is not the reason that a 6e will be little changed from 5e. But it's still likely true that it won't change by much. It's just not likely to.

OTOH, what is "Big Change" is subjective. There are folks on this board that consider "5.5" to be so barely different from "5.0" that it's not worth worrying about the difference, and others that think that they are so drastically different as to be totally different things. (And everyone in-between).

It'll be iterative, and at least 8 years away (we will probably hear about it in six, with two years of playtesting). IMO, the OP is correct that it is "inevitable" but it's not really what I would call "immanent".

 

[FitzTheRuke]

The insane product cadence they had for 3E and how it all interacted with each other made things rough by the end of the 3E cycle. Speaking as a DM, I was exhausted.

I was exhausted as a Retailer, too.

As a DM... well, I gave up and ran other things. So... yeah.

 

[Belen]

The insane product cadence they had for 3E and how it all interacted with each other made things rough by the end of the 3E cycle. Speaking as a DM, I was exhausted.

This!

I can never go back to that insane level of crunch.