D&D General Concerns with returning to D&D in 2026

[Maxperson]

WotC's goal is to protect WotC, not harm other RPG companies. Revoking the OGL would certainly have brought harm to companies publishing games for 3E and 5E compatibility using the OGL, but that harm wasn't the goal.

This is a distinction without a difference. If my goal is to destroy an enemy base in the middle of a city and nuke it, saying, "But the goal was to destroy the base, not cause harm to the innocent civilians of the city" doesn't make a difference.

WotC tried to nuke the OGL knowing it would cause a lot of harm to a lot of people. Whether or not that was their goal doesn't make a difference. The knew and did it anyway.

And just to be clear, I don't hate WotC. I do view them with wariness, as is warranted with a company with a fairly long history of periodically making bad decisions like this.

 

[Maxperson]

*In layman's terms because I'm not a lawyer: WOTC proposed that third parties that made over a million dollars annually would pay a percentage of profits over that amount. The OGL agreement stated that they could freely use the rules.

Wait. You seriously think it only affected third parties that made over a million dollars?

 

[AlViking]

This is a change? Were there people who were allowing a rest to last through initiative before that? Wow. I would never have even considered that.

It's a bit open to interpretation and I should have clarified more, the actual rule says

"Interrupting the Rest. A Long Rest is stopped by the following interruptions:

• Rolling Initiative
• Casting a spell other than a cantrip
• Taking any damage
• 1 hour of walking or other physical exertion

If you rested at least 1 hour before the interruption, you gain the benefits of a Short Rest. See also “Short Rest.”

You can resume a Long Rest immediately after an interruption. If you do so, the rest requires 1 additional hour per interruption to finish."

So it depends on what is meant by "immediately after". I rule that if you get into a combat and have to heal up a bit afterwards and clean up signs of combat it's not "immediately after" because I'm a mean DM (it also doesn't happen all that often). It also means that if the players can prevent or avoid combat somehow even though they had to roll initiative or cast some spell they can likely continue their long rest. Interrupting for a full hour is not very likely in most games I've played - although it has happened in my game when the PCs were in wartime behind enemy lines.

If it's going to be difficult to get a long rest I'll typically let the players know ahead of time.

 

[AlViking]

It was not a proposal. A proposal is, "Hey, we want to do this." Once you start sending out contracts to people, you are in the process of implementation. It was never fully implemented, but it went beyond the proposal stage.

We've been told to drop this.

 

[Maxperson]

We've been told to drop this.

My bad. I hadn't gotten to that post yet. The dangers of getting caught up in a thread.

 

[Jov]

Curse of Strahd is generally positively viewed, I think. Probably the best-regarded of the book-length adventures.

For someone coming from older editions, as it sounds like you are, Ghosts of Saltmarsh might be a good fit. Or the converted adventures in Tales from the Yawning Portal.

I've run Curse of Strahd, Tyranny of Dragons, and most of Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus. I've also played through Princes of the Apocalypse. They have all been fun. Tyranny of Dragons, in particular, gets a worse rap than it deserves, in my personal opinion.

You may also find these threads useful:

D&D 5E (2014) Thread 'Best Third Party Adventures'

Jun 16, 2024

After reading many conflicting opinions about the quality of WotC's hardcover adventures (a subject I think we can all agree is one that there probably won't be a consensus), it got me thinking: What are the best THIRD PART adventures written for D&D 5E? Heck, even Pathfinder 2e (since that's what I'm playing now after abandoning D&D after WotC's OGL shenanigans last year).

A lot of people aren't aware of how much 3PP stuff is out there and separate the wheat from the chaff is a Herculean task.

• JediSoth
• Replies: 11
• Forum: *Dungeons & Dragons

D&D 5E (2014) Thread 'Best Third Party (not WotC) D&D Adventures?'

Oct 3, 2024

What are the best third-party (not WoTC) D&D 5e Adventures according to you?

• Thierry-Advent
• Replies: 35
• Forum: *Dungeons & Dragons

D&D General Thread 'Could you recommend - third party - long adventures (or adventure paths) for D&D or Pathfinder?'

May 7, 2024

Could you recommend - third party - long adventures (or adventure paths) for D&D or Pathfinder?

The only three I am aware of are Ptolus, Chains of Asmodeus and Empire of the Ghouls.

My group loves game of thrones style roleplay (intrigue at high court), but anything that is centered around humanoids (humans, elves, hobgoblins etc.) in a civilised society is to their taste.

• Maenalis
• Replies: 25
• Forum: *Dungeons & Dragons

• 

Thank you for this - I was actually looking into Princes of the Apocalypse / ToEE remake by Goodman Games. I did early on get Hoard of the Dragon Queen as well - it seems to be a decent learning module? I'll have to look more carefully. At any rate I'll stick with 5E / 5.5E and there are more than enough WoTC modules to use. As mentioned, its been decades since I played so whatever is out there is more than likely just fine even if it has warts. Plus, our group was super green and we probably did it all wrong anyway; can't expect much of 8th graders without a seasoned DM.

 

[Mort]

Was it really, though? Up until that point third party creators had been using the OGL just fine and could trust it, so there were no problems at all. Had the OGL fiasco never happened, creators would simply have continued on forever trusting in it and creating content.

All the OGL fiasco did was put content creation back to the exact point where it was at before the fiasco, except that now a lot of creators and those who support creators felt bitterness and bad blood over what happened. Bitterness and bad blood is not a win for the people who are having those feelings.

Edit: Didn't know the OGL topic was off limits.

Perhaps a different thread if we want to discuss further?

There was some red text re: ogl discussion overwhelming this thread, and I don't want to push that!

 

[AlViking]

Perhaps a different thread if we want to discuss further?

There was some red text re: ogl discussion overwhelming this thread, and I don't want to push that!

If we do that can we please just point to that thread every time this gets brought up again? Please?

 

[AlViking]

I may start a new thread in a bit, I have things to do and it's will take more than a minute.

 

[Jov]

I keep all my stuff back to my Holmes days, even if I'll never crack the cover again

On this note, some time before discovering this community and creating the thread, I went back to read the Holmes version and I'm perusing through B1 In Search of the Unknown as well, because I figured (right or wrong) that these earlier versions were less encumbered by a focus on narratives/storyline/theater of mind, and use more straight-to-the-point wording to introduce the player to the game - it is, after all, less than 50 pages. For example, while I've come across the term keying a dungeon, I was not aware that this term has existed in these earlier editions and that the maps were carefully made with a legend. A part of me wishes I played this instead of 3e frankly because it would have been significantly easier for everyone to get into the game, and get out alive. We didn't have the 3e Starter Sets/Basic Game/etc to play through otherwise that would have probably made a big difference. The B1 module in particular is very tempting and the backstory/plot isn't over or underwhelming.