D&D General Has 5e become noise?

[Swanosaurus]

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.

 

[Zardnaar]

I generally just absorb stuff here and reddit.

I've got around 35 5E hard covers. I think there's 50 sonething.

Care factor ks low outside specific things.

 

[DrJawaPhD]

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". There's no way anyone can follow all the 3PP 5e content but having 5e-compatibility is still very attractive (required?) if you want any sort of reasonable sales on your product. I use a bunch of 3PP content but anything that isn't 5e-compatible is an instant pass for me, so I certainly wouldn't call the 5e label "noise", it's very much the opposite

 

[Swanosaurus]

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". There's no way anyone can follow all the 3PP 5e content but having 5e-compatibility is still very attractive (required?) if you want any sort of reasonable sales on your product. I use a bunch of 3PP content but anything that isn't 5e-compatible is an instant pass for me, so I certainly wouldn't call the 5e label "noise", it's very much the opposite

I'm talking about 5e compatible here, thanks for pointing that out - I have clarified it in my original post.

Good point though that there are probably a lot of people who will ONLY have a closer look if its 5e compatible ... I'm looking at it from an outsider perspective, and while for some time, a lot of the third party settings (Redsky, Beowulf) made me want to check out 5e, by now, it's just so much that it seems easier to say: "5e again? I'm not playing that, anyway, so I'll just ignore it."

 

[DrJawaPhD]

it's just so much that it seems easier to say: "5e again? I'm not playing that, anyway, so I'll just ignore it."

This totally makes sense if you aren't into 5e, but I think the direct opposite is much more common, people like me who would instantly ignore anything not 5e-compatible

Another thing to remember too is that many 3PP products are mostly system-agnostic but are marked as "5e-compatible" for marketing purposes (and since it is technically correct).

 

[Swanosaurus]

So I guess "5e oversaturation", if at all, only applies to gamers who consider multiple systems for playing and might end up saying: I feel overwhlemed by all the 5e material, I'd rather just play Dragonbane/Cypher/BRP or whatever.
Makes sense!

 

[delericho]

As it was in 3e, with first the d20 and then the OGL expanded universes, with 5e I think you have to decide what level of investment you're willing to make, decide what you're interested in, and try to ignore the rest. There's just too much to try to stay abreast of it all, much less purchase it all (barring a tiny minority of super-whales, I guess).

One thing that I did find useful, back in the day, was keeping just a little bandwidth reserved just in case something really cool jumped out at me. Every so often, you do get a real gem appearing unexpectedly...

 

[Seramus]

I generally don't use 3rd party material in any capacity. So I guess you could say I've always felt this way, since ANY 3rd party product is noise to me? But I only have positive feelings towards the growing quantity of products, and hope the creatives behind them make enough money to justify their time and passion.

 

[Morrus]

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?

It's been 11 years of this--what's changing in a few more months?

 

[aco175]

It seems that the other companies that have 5e stuff also have their own world that said stuff is published for, but is also compatible with the rest. You just need to pull it out and work it into your world. You may also like that world more than your own or an official one. This also lets the 3pp make worlds/settings that fill a niche or idea that is not officially part of D&D.

I recall 10ish years ago when DMsGuild first opened and everyone could make stuff for D&D. It was just Forgotten Realms and people made adventures and a lot looked a bit cheap. People adapted to the market and made subclasses and spells and such. The covers got better and people found ways to make some money. Wizards opened more worlds like Grayhawk and people found ways to stand out and be something more. Today there is soo much stuff and places to make things for it feels a bit crowded. It is a good and bad thing. Some yuk and yum going on as well.

I do not have much 3pp stuff and only a handful of the official campaign books. I have the core plus the box sets that I find more useful. The internet seems to fill a lot of places I need with the lore and then I homebrew. I find there is not much you "need."