D&D 5E Advanced D&D or "what to minimally fix in 5E?"

[Shardstone]

Saying Tales of the Valiant is not 5E is utterly absurd. It feels and plays just like 5E. It is barely a bigger change than 2024, if that. Have we even read the books in this thread? It is literally just 5E, but at 10th and 20th level you get to choose your class feature! That's it!

 

[Micah Sweet]

That's not odd.
They own the IP.

It's odd from a non-legal perspective that one company gets to ignore all the questions and debate and can just change whatever they want. Obviously being the legal owners of the IP lets them do what they choose and still call it D&D.

I'm not saying any particular version of WotC's game is or isn't D&D (no matter how I feel about it personally), but they can do things other companies can't, for no creative reason.

 

[TwoSix]

I'm not saying any particular version of WotC's game is or isn't D&D (no matter how I feel about it personally), but they can do things other companies can't, for no creative reason.

Such are the privileges of ownership.

The name "D&D" might attach to a broadly accepted definition within the zeitgeist of the community, but WotC obviously has no legal obligations to that definition, and I'm not sure I could form a coherent moral or ethical obligation they would owe to that definition either.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Such are the privileges of ownership.

The name "D&D" might attach to a broadly accepted definition within the zeitgeist of the community, but WotC obviously has no legal obligations to that definition, and I'm not sure I could form a coherent moral or ethical obligation they would owe to that definition either.

Of course. My point was simply that the WotC legal angle is part of the definition of "what is D&D".

 

[Minigiant]

It's odd from a non-legal perspective that one company gets to ignore all the questions and debate and can just change whatever they want. Obviously being the legal owners of the IP lets them do what they choose and still call it D&D

That's not odd.

If you own the name you dang well have the right to avoid any debate or question or whether or not new product gets to be called a version or iteration of that name.

Nobody gets to question if Micah Sweet RPG 2.0 is Micah Sweet RPG 2.0 but you.

 

[Micah Sweet]

That's not odd.

If you own the name you dang well have the right to avoid any debate or question or whether or not new product gets to be called a version or iteration of that name.

Nobody gets to question if Micah Sweet RPG 2.0 is Micah Sweet RPG 2.0 but you.

You don't think its odd from a creative standpoint that one company gets to make much more sweeping changes than any other?

 

[Minigiant]

You don't think its odd from a creative standpoint that one company gets to make much more sweeping changes than any other?

No

Am I allowed to make Pathfinder 3?

 

[Micah Sweet]

No

Am I allowed to make Pathfinder 3?

Again, creative standpoint. Other than legal ownership, what right does WotC have to call literally whatever they slap the name on and publish Dungeons & Dragons, when other companies need to hew much closer to one of the official versions for them to even be informally considered a kind if D&D?

The answer IMO is no (non-legal) reason at all. It's not like they developed most of the body of product currently considered to be D&D, even in an official way.

 

[Corinnguard]

It's not like they developed most of the body of product currently considered to be D&D, even in an official way.

Somewhere out there is a comprehensive list of all the 3pp's that have produced material for 5e over the last 10 years. 5e might have been started by WoTC, but it has grown beyond them in a very big way.

 

[Morrus]

The oddity is not that D&D is WoTC's IP. It's that some people look at 5e adjacent RPGs such TotV or Level Up and say that they aren't 5e. Both were built using 5e's chassis, and both are compatible with 5e. How can they not be 5e in that regard?

It's because 5E ≠ D&D. It's important to distinguish between those two terms. One is a brand owned by Hasbro, the other is a generic term used by the community to describe an underlying ruleset.

Only WotC can make "D&D". Anybody can make "5E".