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

[Micah Sweet]

So You agree it's not art, which was the point.

I agree they was describing marketing and not design.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

If only I had Micah’s wisdom I wouldn’t be so easily manipulated into buying books I don’t need. Woe is me!

Mod Note:

Why the poke at Micah? Or anyone, for that matter? How about not doing that.

 

[Fifth Element]

I don't need everything to cater to my tastes either. But D&D did a pretty good job for many years, and then rather abruptly stopped.

Cool. The D&D you like still exists, as do all the old books you may have.

I don't appreciate being insinuated to be selfish and not want other people to be happy. That's a label too, by the way.

I mean, it isn't a label, but whatever. I was describing my own attitude here.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Cool. The D&D you like still exists, as do all the old books you may have.


I mean, it isn't a label, but whatever. I was describing my own attitude here.

You said your attitude was the opposite of mine. Your words. How did you expect me to take that?

 

[Thomas Shey]

I think we're operating with very different ideas of what 'structure' means, then. Particularly with the 'describe what you're doing' vs. 'push a button' split: that is one of the very first rules in the PHB. It's foundational to the game's basic play loop.

It might be my fault for not making it clear; I'm talking about the structure of the system. While resolution approaches are not completely disconnected with that, its far more vulnerable to, from lack of a better term "local conditions"; no matter how a game describes how you're supposed to approach dealing with particular types of problems, people will use the core mechanics in other ways to do that. That comes up outside the D&D sphere too (dip into enough threads about PbtA games and its abundantly clear a non-trivial amount of GMs ignore the way they're told to use the system, sometimes in ways that seem kind of appalling to PbtA proponents, and PbtA games and related have always been far more rigid in that way than virtually any editions of D&D.)

As such, I don't think a lot of things that are theoretically part of a game loop don't seem particularly core to people because they've played in a lot, maybe all their games that don't follow it. But they've still probably played D&D with classes, levels, level elevating hit points and a couple other things. Its far more central to the overall D&D hobby than any specific playstyle (though there are certainly some styles that have been very common throughout its history).

 

[UngainlyTitan]

Eh. I think there's been enough common elements from all the way back to OD&D that you can point at them, and a number of them are pretty rare (levels, classes, significant hit point advancement over time) outside of D&D and its clear offshoots that you can call them that. No one of them says D&D per se, but as a set that structure has been fairly consistent.

Defining D&D is like that of porn, you know it if you see.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

that fact that 20 pages in we see divide and we are still in playtest shows there will be... However this weekend at a store I ran into people who didn't even know 1D&D was a thing talking about it with the store owner and getting mad.

1 of the two players had JUST bought there PHB either beginning of this year or end of last and said they would be upset if the 2024 reprint was adopted by there group because they were not rebuying a book after only 2 years, and the other (younger) player said there parents warned them that D&D changed edition every few years and they didn't understand it until now... when the store owner told them it wasn't 'really' an edition change they both laughed. Both are new players, neither played any RPGs before 5e D&D and even THEY felt this was both unneeded and an edition change even if not called such.

When I tried to help by saying that if there group all agreeed to stay with older rules it would be fine the older of the two said he had heard stories about people staying with 3rd edition and loosing friends when 4th edition came out... and me and store owner had to admit that did happen.

edit: since said store owner is a friend, I will add they are PRO 1D&D in private, but have to put on a more conservative face at moments like this. Out of the two of us (me and store owner) I am MUCH less enthusiastic

 

[Olrox17]

that fact that 20 pages in we see divide and we are still in playtest shows there will be... However this weekend at a store I ran into people who didn't even know 1D&D was a thing talking about it with the store owner and getting mad.

1 of the two players had JUST bought there PHB either beginning of this year or end of last and said they would be upset if the 2024 reprint was adopted by there group because they were not rebuying a book after only 2 years, and the other (younger) player said there parents warned them that D&D changed edition every few years and they didn't understand it until now... when the store owner told them it wasn't 'really' an edition change they both laughed. Both are new players, neither played any RPGs before 5e D&D and even THEY felt this was both unneeded and an edition change even if not called such.

When I tried to help by saying that if there group all agreeed to stay with older rules it would be fine the older of the two said he had heard stories about people staying with 3rd edition and loosing friends when 4th edition came out... and me and store owner had to admit that did happen.

Tbh, the only thing that surprises me from your anecdote is younger people getting upset/surprised about this, in a game market where annual videogame releases have been the norm for a decade or so.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

Tbh, the only thing that surprises me from your anecdote is younger people getting upset/surprised about this, in a game market where annual videogame releases have been the norm for a decade or so.

I think (and I may be way off I have not been young since the T rex went extinct) that we still sell the TTRPG as 'not video games'. I doubt either (although I don't really know them and only have seen 1 of the 2 of them before in passing) would be suprised at the new madien or assassins creed game coming out, but the idea that D&D could change so soon seemed to shock them.

in my own group we are all 3e or older players so I am not sure at all... my niece and nephew both stared playing around end of 4e along with 'no thankkyou evil' so they already know of the edition wheel spinning

 

[Warpiglet-7]

I like a few of the new possible rules and dislike some of the others.

My purchase of PHB is really going to come down to the art. If it’s cool I might just grab it and steal any new rules we like.

If not…probably will stick with 5e as is. My group is a group of friends and occasional kid tagalong. We are not being divided and will play group consensus. Frankly, there is such a big player base now I don’t think it will be hard to find 5e games for years to come.