D&D 5E Does your group allow homebrew or 3PP material?

[Jester David]

In your eagerness to make us like 3PP now you're going into stalker mode.

Please don't go there. Winning this argument can't be that important.

My eagerness to combat a BS excuse.

The poster replied to me a half-dozen times today and then complained about not having free time to review PDFs. Clicked his name, clicked his activity, and then scrolled down for a while. That's a bout a creepy as scanning (and not reading) someone's Facebook feed.

Seriously. Stalking. C'mon.

 

[DM Howard]

I don't limit the use of 3PP content. I think variety is what makes D&D, and RPGs in general, so powerful, but I have said "no" to things before, but mostly from a thematic point of view rather than anything mechanical. I do remember not allowing Psionic characters in my 3.5 campaigns, however, but that's because my friend and I were able to kill an adult red dragon at level one!

 

[SkidAce]

In other news, I thew in a few of those necromancy spells from En5ider into tonight's treasure haul. The party wizard necromancer was smiling and giggling like a schoolgirl. However, to be honest, I'm more concerned the Staff of Fire and wand of Polymorph i gave them will be more unbalancing than the new spells.

A Staff of Fire is giving me headaches. "Wall of Fire" around the bad guy.

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

As the DM I would allow it, but my players don't see very interested in tracking down 3rd party materials, or even stuff like the options in the sword coast guide, they just seem fine with using the PH.

 

[Azurewraith]

Depends on what it is. If I'm running a low tech kind of game you can kiss that gunslinger goodbye. I usually have them veted for balance and comes with the caveat of if it breaks the game, the game breaks you.

 

[Creamsteak]

I know this answer is obvious, but: it varies. It's all about the group at the table and what we collectively want. Sometimes we want everything and the kitchen sink. Other times we want things cut down to the bare essentials. They promote different kinds of games.

 

[I'm A Banana]

So now I'm a bad DM. And someone said there was no badwrongfun, One True Wayism going on here...

What gives you the impression that I think you're a bad DM? Or that there's only one true way to DM?

To be clear, if you want to ban 3PP's at your table, that is your prerogative, and if your group has fun anyway, it sounds like you're doing fine. (I've been on record before mentioning that there's a lot of options in the core material, enough to keep you chugging along for years, it's not like non-WotC products are ever really necessary).

But, I would question if that table rule (no 3PP's) has any causal link with preventing what you fear (unbalanced material), or if another able rule (such as "everything's subject to ongoing DM evaluation at all times") might better accomplish that goal, while realizing many of the benefits of 3PP products.

 

[Mike Myler]

I've been in a group that used Forgotten Realms (we were all over the 3E books) but aside from that, I'm almost always doing homebrewed content which might count as 3PP because then I turn that into a book?
Really though my impression initially--perhaps because of the people I started with--was that D&D (and most tabletop RPGs) are guidelines for building a world wherein you collectively tell a story (therein expanding and enriching that world). It only occurred to me a few years ago that maybe people had been making their own worlds and sharing them with other people; as soon as I found that out, I started doing the same. Haven't looked back.

Note: I've always got Homebrew-3PP hybrid material in my games for playtesting at this point, but I restrict players to whatever it is we're playtesting or the core rules so I can see where x or y needs an oomph or nerf to be more in line with the basic mechanics of the game. On the rare occasion where I get to just play, everything is on the table.

 

[arjomanes]

RPGs have gone from punk rock to Disneyland.

There is for sure still a punk rock camp (enough to earn Zak S a few Ennies).

 

[arjomanes]

I don't even allow most first-party material. A reasonable game world doesn't need both vampires and dragons.

I agree with the premise, but Dracula means literally "Order of the Dragon."