D&D 5E (2024) Do You Prefer D&D 5.5E/2024 to D&D 5E/2014?

[Paul Farquhar]

It wasn't an obvious ambush to me/us. But then again, both the DM and all but one player were not only new to D&D 5e, but new to TTRPGs in general. So for us it was a TPK (the first try, the DM did let us re-use or create new chars and try a second time, which did result in 100% dead goblins). Just curious, but did you have previous experience with TTRPGs before that campaign ?

Oh yes!

And of course that’s where player skill (experience etc) is the biggest factor of all when it comes to encounter difficulty.

 

[abazaba]

Oh yes!

And of course that’s where player skill (experience etc) is the biggest factor of all when it comes to encounter difficulty.

Thanks.

Spoiler: Lost Mine of Phandelver

We did learn early on in that same starter set to be on the lookout for things like 'traps' or floors/bridges/etc that might not be able to carry our weight though.

 

[Tigris]

Thanks.

Spoiler: Lost Mine of Phandelver

We did learn early on in that same starter set to be on the lookout for things like 'traps' or floors/bridges/etc that might not be able to carry our weight.

Thats the thing its not really about skill its about preknowledge. People coming from other games may not even know that "ambush" exists since thats not in most games.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Thanks.

Spoiler: Lost Mine of Phandelver

We did learn early on in that same starter set to be on the lookout for things like 'traps' or floors/bridges/etc that might not be able to carry our weight.

I always felt that Lost Mines was intended for players new to 5e, not players new to RPGs. After all, when it was written they had no idea 5e would have such a huge explosion in popularity, in the last couple of editions most players were coming from older editions.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Now see, in general, I'd consider this a waste of space. For a starter box, it is appropriate but for experienced RPGers, I would think they'd vastly prefer something else.

5E is a game that has multiple Starter Sets. I don't think you should write the DMG for beginner GMs.

The DMG should absolutely be written for new DMs.

A. Not all groups will pick up a starter set rather than the core books

2. Using a starter set doesn't make you not new to DMing, so even for those who go that way a new DM friendly DMG is highly useful.

III. There is plenty of room for new DM guidance and stuff for experienced DMs, and experienced DMs have many books to potentially learn from. The core DM book must be useful to new DMs.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Thats the thing it’s not really about skill it’s about preknowledge. People coming from other games may not even know that "ambush" exists since thats not in most games.

That’s a fairly meaningless distinction. A big part of being good at something is knowing what to do because you have encountered similar situations before.

You don’t learn how to pick locks without practicing on lots of different types of lock.

 

[Reynard]

The DMG should absolutely be written for new DMs.

A. Not all groups will pick up a starter set rather than the core books

2. Using a starter set doesn't make you not new to DMing, so even for those who go that way a new DM friendly DMG is highly useful.

III. There is plenty of room for new DM guidance and stuff for experienced DMs, and experienced DMs have many books to potentially learn from. The core DM book must be useful to new DMs.

There are more resources for new GMs than there have ever been, from multiple starter sets to popular books aimed at them to whole channels on YouTube. The DMG is a reference book that helps GMs run the game and build awesome adventures. It should be useful for the life of the game. Turning the DMG into the "new DM's Guide" limits its value over time. Better to put that stuff in a cheap, easily accessible thing.

I mean, if there were just a single "New DM" chapter, maybe. But 5E has already always been extremely stingy with the kidns of support long term GMs actually need and using up space in the DMG that is useful for a half dozen sessions just exacerbates the problem.

 

[Tigris]

That’s a fairly meaningless distinction. A big part of being good at something is knowing what to do because you have encountered similar situations before.

You don’t learn how to pick locks without practicing on lots of different types of lock.

It is an important distinction, someone can be skilled in tactical gaming and not know this, could really fast and easily learn this from a well made tutorial.

On the other hand someone who is bad at tactical gaming will even after 1000s of hours not be good at it, but might handle this kind of situation easily because this kind of knowledge is easily learned.

There is a huge difference between knowledge and skill. Thats also why many games try to make people feel clever by rewarding knowledge, because they know that everyone can learn this, and they can make a larger target audience feel clever, than if you would as an example need tactical skill.

There are more resources for new GMs than there have ever been, from multiple starter sets to popular books aimed at them to whole channels on YouTube. The DMG is a reference book that helps GMs run the game and build awesome adventures. It should be useful for the life of the game. Turning the DMG into the "new DM's Guide" limits its value over time. Better to put that stuff in a cheap, easily accessible thing.

We just discussed this before: Starter sets are not for new DMs. Also "youtube channels" are 3rd party material you cannot rely on 3rd party material to teach your game.


Experienced GMs will often only read anyway material which tells them that what they already do is great. And not even read for a new game the encounter building guidelines, as seen in this thread.

Also new players are always more valuable than old ones in general so you want to help them.

 

[Lazybones]

Maybe a better word is "new-ish." I think the new HotB starter set is excellent for bringing in people who are brand new to tabletop roleplaying. Throwing the 5.5e DMG at someone who's never played D&D would be asking too much, IMO. But the new DMG is much better than the last one for helping a DM who maybe has played a bit or who has run a few games but wants to start homebrewing or worldbuilding. The reference stuff that not everybody needs is always going to be there (and is appreciated by experienced DMs like myself), but I think the organization of the new book is better and I really appreciate additions like the sample short adventures and the sample Greyhawk setting.

 

[abazaba]

We will always need more new DM's. We need to make it as accessible and easy as possible for new people to try that out and see if they like it.