D&D General Do THIS, WotC!

[Upper_Krust]

Another: Some kind of Epic/Immortal Handbook. Not just 16-20 level, but 21 and beyond. Rules for attaining truly mythic status, even demigodhood at levels 30+.

Might I suggest: God Rules: Player's Guide.

 

[Desdichado]

I'm with you there. But you seem to be going off of hot takes of what Radiant Citadel was allegedly going to be, not what it actually is.

Nah, I've read it. Not recently, but yeah.

 

[AnotherGuy]

Desperately looking forward to Tyranny of Dragons for only a 4th time with just a cover change

 

[evilbob]

For the life of me, I just don't understand why WotC didn't years (or decades) ago offer a simpler variant, even bringing back "Basic" vs. "Advanced," but in a more literal sense.

I suppose, maybe, they didn't want to confuse people, or compete against themselves. But I think a more "basic D&D" could potentially be very popular, and give a stronger on-ramp to the fuller game (but wouldn't have to).

I didnt read the rest of the thread because this is my answer.

Make Dungeon World, but D&D. Make a simpler version.

What we have is too complex and people bounce off the crunch. You're never going to be fully mainstream until actually anyone can play.

 

[CleverNickName]

What we have is too complex and people bounce off the crunch. You're never going to be fully mainstream until actually anyone can play.

I don't disagree with what you said about making a simpler version of D&D. But D&D has been fully mainstream for years. Blockbuster movies, award-winning video games, dozens of celebrity endorsements and streaming channels...heck, it even made the cover of Sports Illustrated magazine. If that's not "fully mainstream," I don't know what is.

 

[Corinnguard]

What we have is too complex and people bounce off the crunch.

It's more of a mix IMO. There will be those who say that D&D in its' current and past incarnations have been too complex. Then are those who think D&D currently has gone the other way by simplifying things. Players who want 5e to be crunchy in a Goldilocks sort of way, not too little, not too much, but just right.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I didnt read the rest of the thread because this is my answer.

Make Dungeon World, but D&D. Make a simpler version.

What we have is too complex and people bounce off the crunch. You're never going to be fully mainstream until actually anyone can play.

Is being "fully mainstream" what we should be shooting for? I think there's a lot you lose when that's your goal, too much to lose for my comfort level.

Also, DW and any version of D&D are completely different mechanically, so what does "DW, but D&D" even mean?

 

[Corinnguard]

DW, but D&D" even mean?

1. Looks and plays like Dungeon world, but with D&D's game mechanics.

or

2. Looks and plays like D&D, but with Dungeon World's game mechanics.

or

3. Somewhere in between. There might be game mechanics that work in both RPGs.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

An alternate version of the game that:

• uses skills in place of most other character abilities so that any action is a skill check. Weapon groups and spell schools are skills, etc.
• replaces HP with something similar to Daggerheart but all damage scaling is dice and so your armor and defense checks reduce how many dice are rolled to hurt you, and then that result is compared to your thresholds.
• Has campaign and connection building rules in session 0
• Set primarily in a new Aetherpunk world similar to Eberron but with more direct class struggle, tension between supremacist regimes and freedom fighters/dissidents, and a growing war for control of the skies.

Aaaand

A “Guide To The Multiverse” that is equal parts setting anthology and guide to worldbuilding, with significant work tying things together using Spelljammer and Planescape.

Oh and also

A book with new classes and species

• Witch (hermetic full caster with advanced rituals and a built in familiar, with a mix of arcane, divine, and primal, spells
• Assassin that leans into the “uses stealth and quick kills to bring down enemies that their people or organization otherwise couldn’t stand up to” vibe of the original assassins, rather than conflating the concept with hitmen
• A fully* at-will Warlock rewrite
  • *mostly. Invocations can provide some 1/day spells, including mystic arcanum
• A bard that is a storyteller with elements of the medieval bard-like roles that could speak truth to power and get away with it, and completely abandoning the JoAT and letting that belong to other classes.

 

[Gradine]

An alternate version of the game that:

• uses skills in place of most other character abilities so that any action is a skill check. Weapon groups and spell schools are skills, etc.
• replaces HP with something similar to Daggerheart but all damage scaling is dice and so your armor and defense checks reduce how many dice are rolled to hurt you, and then that result is compared to your thresholds.
• Has campaign and connection building rules in session 0
• Set primarily in a new Aetherpunk world similar to Eberron but with more direct class struggle, tension between supremacist regimes and freedom fighters/dissidents, and a growing war for control of the skies.