D&D General Has 5e become noise?

[Yaarel]

Disclaimer: I've never played 5e, and I've hardly played any other edition of D&D. Still, a lot of 5e products got my attention for a long time: Interesting settings that I thought might make me give 5e a try or that would be good for conversion.

But lately, I feel that there's such a constant barrage of 5e compatible products that they have turned into the background noise of rpg marketing. Yes, all this stuff is there, and a lot of it is probably great ... but it's so much that my brain stops caring as soon as it sees the 5e label. I'm not ranting, just wondering: how attractive will 5e compatibility be in a few more months, when more and more people start to feel like this? Have we passed peak 5e? Or is it just me? How do the people feel about it who are actually into 5e or some variant? Have you found your niché and ignore the rest? Or do you still try to follow what comes out?

EDIT: I'm talking about 5e compatible products here, not about the official WotC books.

Start your D&D campaign in an extremely specific, local setting.

As your players explore beyond there, decide what they discover there. Add features that you like, delete features that you dont like.

The best D&D setting is "Schrödinger's cat" − it doesnt exist until the players at your table observe it. This true for 5e as well.

 

[Swanosaurus]

Start your D&D campaign in an extremely specific, local setting.

As your players explore beyond there, decide what they discover there. Add features that you like, delete features that you dont like.

The best D&D setting is "Schrödinger's cat" − it doesnt exist until the players at your table observe it. This true for 5e as well.

This makes an interesting point, because it is probably the right way to play 5e and probably also a lot of similar rpgs, but it is also a way of playing rpg's that I can't really bring myself to. I'm usually motivated by a setting (it can be vague, but it must be well-defined in one way or another, even if its just in terms of its vibe). I think the cool thing about a lot of class-and-level-based rpgs is that they convey a nice assortment of setting assumptions without having to teach you a setting and allow a setting to emerge. But a downside is that they tend to collide with setting as something pre-imagined.

I'll create a separate thread about this after giving it some thought.

 

[Parmandur]

I've never played 5e, and I've hardly played any other edition of D&D

I mean, then for you personally hasn't it always been noise...?

Don't see any reason to belive we are past "peak", rather than only a long-running plateu.

 

[Aldarc]

 

[Koloth]

Reminds me a lot of the 3rd party frenzy during the 3.x era. Piles of stuff labeled d20 and/or OGL compatible. Some good. A lot not so good. Much of it was published using the then relatively new concept of 'pdf publishing'. Gave rise to sites like drivethrurpg. And for that matter, this site. Then came the great culling when 4e came out with the GSL.

Do your research. Buy what works for you. Mostly ignore the rest.

 

[Stalker0]

Are we talking about WotC official material only? Or also including 5e-compatible third party publisher (3PP) content?

There really isn't that much WotC official content coming out to call it anywhere near a "constant barrage" so I'd assume you're lumping all 3PP content together as "5e".

yeah that was my assumption, as in terms of the "WOTC stuff", I feel its the opposite. There are so few products outside of adventurers and settings that I can't remember the last time I even looked at buying a 5e book....they are just so rare.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Hmm. I watch crowdfunding projects pretty closely and, if anything, I'd say we've leveled off or declined in the number of new third party products lately, probably because folks have been retooling coming projects from 2014 to 2024.

I don't know that there's any evidence yet that people are broadly burned out on 5E. I just had a group of coworkers come to me about running Heroes of the Borderlands this month and local game cafes are actually adding 5E games to their line-up.

 

[MichaelSomething]

It's not noise, it's Gygaxian naturalism in action! The weaker products fail while the strongest rise to the top of the market!

 

[schneeland]

Hmm. I watch crowdfunding projects pretty closely and, if anything, I'd say we've leveled off or declined in the number of new third party products lately, probably because folks have been retooling coming projects from 2014 to 2024.

I was about to say the same. My feeling is we were at peak 5e shortly before the whole OGL hubbub. Now maybe I'm just not watching the 5e compatible crowdfundings as much as I used to, but my impression is we see more big projects for/based on other systems.
Doesn't mean that D&D is necessarily declining - IMO it is still more or less the 800 pound gorilla of RPGs - but it feels like it's not growing at the same rate it used to.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Disclaimer: I've never played 5e, and I've hardly played any other edition of D&D. Still, a lot of 5e products got my attention for a long time: Interesting settings that I thought might make me give 5e a try or that would be good for conversion.

But lately, I feel that there's such a constant barrage of 5e compatible products that they have turned into the background noise of rpg marketing. Yes, all this stuff is there, and a lot of it is probably great ... but it's so much that my brain stops caring as soon as it sees the 5e label. I'm not ranting, just wondering: how attractive will 5e compatibility be in a few more months, when more and more people start to feel like this? Have we passed peak 5e? Or is it just me? How do the people feel about it who are actually into 5e or some variant? Have you found your niché and ignore the rest? Or do you still try to follow what comes out?

EDIT: I'm talking about 5e compatible products here, not about the official WotC books.

Why not talk about the official WotC books? Is their content somehow less exhausting because WotC makes it?