D&D (2024) Does anyone else think that 1D&D will create a significant divide in the community?

[MichaelSomething]

Maybe. I just don't think WotC is likely to listen to complaints thst amount to, "Please toss out backwards compatibility and make a new game that better fits your current fan base". I really, really wish they would, but I just don't see it.

Didn't they try that with 4th Edition?

 

[Micah Sweet]

Didn't they try that with 4th Edition?

Yep. And I tried it for a while, didn't like it and left it alone. At least this time, I have a good 5e-adjacent I prefer and have players for. I tried Pathfinder, but by then I'd already invested a lot in 4e and didn't want to do it again.

 

[Scott Christian]

Honestly, I don't see any divide. In my opinion, it will be unifying for most, and it will expand the game to reach further masses.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Didn't they try that with 4th Edition?

I mean I think the major issue with 4E was that they didn't, actually. The post you quoted said:

"Please toss out backwards compatibility and make a new game that better fits your current fan base"

With 4E, I think there's very clear evidence that they tossed out backwards compatibility, but they didn't design a game that "fit the current fan base", given that a fairly significant proportion of the fan base didn't like it. Yeah there were a lot of other factors that made the issues it had much worse (primarily the world's worst PR/launch, including the GSL), but it seems like the design was too forward-looking and different for a lot of the fanbase. We know that some of that was simply a timeframe issue - WotC were told they had to get the new edition out by a certain date, so they did - but as Mearls said, if they had had another six months in development they'd likely have ended up closer to Essentials.

 

[SteveC]

As we move through the playtests, the answer is still really "we don't know." The paladin/druid doc had one mostly unchanged class that is quite powerful (paladin) and ... the druid. I think it's unlikely that anything like the playtest druid will be in play, but that sort of remains to be seen. I think that's the first class that is really different. I've said my peace on it but I also know that so few people play druids that it's unlikely to cause a split.

We still have to see how different 6E is going to be. I've said that I think there will be significant differences but hey, I've been wrong before, correct?

I do think this is a great opportunity to make a split if the people interested in doing that create a good rules set. So far, that also hasn't really happened. As excited as I am about Black Flag, the playtest doc that I have read was not exceptional nor would it make me adopt those rules.

So I think we're still "wait and see."

 

[Blue Orange]

We can't tell at this point, obviously. They do this every 10 years, it's not that unusual. If enough people like the new version, they'll switch to it; if they don't, now that there's an OGL Black Flag or someone else will make a fork like Paizo did with Pathfinder.

I like having more RPGs out there.

 

[Corinnguard]

We can't tell at this point, obviously. They do this every 10 years, it's not that unusual. If enough people like the new version, they'll switch to it; if they don't, now that there's an OGL Black Flag or someone else will make a fork like Paizo did with Pathfinder.

I like having more RPGs out there.

Or like what EN Publishing did with Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition.

 

[Benjamin Olson]

Honestly, I don't see any divide. In my opinion, it will be unifying for most, and it will expand the game to reach further masses.

What about OneD&D makes it more capable of reaching "further masses" than the existing game? What is the "unifying" force your envision?

In any case I own most of the 5e books and intend to keep playing it or derivations of it indefinitely, but I'm not sure I'll even get a PHB for OneD&D, a project that just holds no appeal for me. I'd say I've been divided from the OneD&D fans. I'll accept that I might be a weird outlier, but it still emphasizes the point that I just don't see how this OneD&D project brings more unity by driving away the 5e grognards to create a mostly identical product with presumably the same general level of appeal.

I do think it's possible that, with the SRD going creative commons and WotC putting out a pointless clone as their new edition, one that practically challenges everyone with a game design itch to do their own version, that a galaxy of broadly compatible 5e clones will take up a lot of the ttrpg space. So if unity means more people playing things loosely compatible with 5e and OneD&D, sure that seems plausible enough.

 

[Incenjucar]

OneD&D does have inclusive-forward elements, which are quite attractive to some folks (myself included), as well as the standardization that makes it more attractive for homebrewing and 3P. It's also making some nods to lapsed players, including some subtle olive branches to Planescape fans and 4E fans.

 

[Benjamin Olson]

OneD&D does have inclusive-forward elements, which are quite attractive to some folks (myself included), as well as the standardization that makes it more attractive for homebrewing and 3P. It's also making some nods to lapsed players, including some subtle olive branches to Planescape fans and 4E fans.

Fair points all. I personally don't think the number of people who will decided to play versus not play based on the factors you mention is likely to exceed the number of people who avoid the new edition because they don't want to buy a bunch of new books and learn a bunch of new rules just to play nearly the same game (and possibly a nearly-the-same-game they don't like as much). But I guess we'll see.