D&D (2024) Have the 2024 PHB Reveals changed your intentions re: purchasing D&D 2024/25?

[Imaro]

I'm not that guy, but I think it's easy to see some RPGs are masterpieces of TT RPG design qua design:

MASKS
Heart (more than Spire - despite me having run Spire so much more)
Lancer
Mork Borg (though I am not personally a fan, I am impressed with it)

Maybe Dread? Probably at least one FitD game (probably not Blades in the Dark itself, it's important but I don't think it was a masterpiece - I wouldn't put Apocalypse World on the list either, for similar reason). Shadowdark might be? I haven't played it - I have like, personal objections to some of what it's doing but what I cannot honestly say is that those stop it being a masterpiece - on the contrary they may contribute to it being one! Maybe Torchbearer? I haven't played it enough to say. Probably some other PtbA games (definitely not Dungeon World or City of Mists, though!). Maybe one of the Travellers?

There will be so many other I'm just not immediately thinking of. For me a masterpiece is a game where everything lines up, where there's a really coherent vision that produces something truly remarkable, and where it also actually plays really well at the table, and plays in a way that doesn't contradict that vision.

What a masterpiece is not, for me, is something that's important but not actually all that well-designed (Call of Cthulhu, for example, is important, but quite naive and unimaginative design-wise, and has elements that work directly against its thesis/concept). Nor is a masterpiece necessarily related to popularity. Popularity neither detracts from nor adds to whether something is a masterpiece in my view - you can see this in painting, for example - whilst a lot of the most popular and striking pieces in the world are masterpieces, there are a lot of masterpieces that relatively lesser-known, and it's always a delight when one comes across one for the first time!

5E is a jolly decent TT RPG, it's easily a 7/10 on the worst, meanest-spirited day and could be a lot higher. It's highly accessible, especially for something that is actually quite complex, rules-wise. But it has a fundamentally incoherent and self-contradictory vision, and a lot of smaller rules elements run directly against the over all sweep, and by trying to be all things to all men (or at least presenting as such), that inconsistency is amplified. That doesn't make it a bad game - for some groups it'll be the best game they play, and they'll love it forever. But it's not a masterpiece, because of incoherency, the fact that the 2014 edition was both rushed and designed as an "apology edition", rather than one with a coherent vision. Either 4E or 5E could have been a masterpiece if either had a stronger vision and say, another year in the oven.

This makes me think masterpieces are subjective to the individual... but thanks for the reply

 

[Parmandur]

lack of background customization (which is absolutely clinically insane design when they say that to use 2014 backgrounds, just pick whatever stats, skills, feat you want, as was recently revealed!)

The Background limits are training wheels for new playerd, that's why the book says that if you have read another D&D book you can take them off. We already know the DMG will provide fuller customization options.

 

[eyeheartawk]

My intention was to not purchase unless there were big meaningful changes and from what I've seen, it's mostly been nothing huge individually. What changes were made were mostly not to my tastes (they did change some things I did like too) and more towards a style of play that I do not enjoy. Given the fact that, to my eye, mixing character rules from 5 to 5.5 at the same table is problematic I'd rather just stick to the version I already have and is mostly complete anyway.

 

[Stalker0]

But just based on word count, I'd conservatively estimate the game is at least 75% fantasy combat, about 25% everything else combined.

And that is a poor assumption. I would argue that a small section of monsters in the monster manual get the majority of play at tables. There are dozens of dragons, but I certainly don’t use them all in every single campaign.

Equating that a complex subject that requires a lot of words to explain with its commonality of use is a poor assumption, especially in the face of so many tables that report combat lite dnd experiences

 

[Reynard]

This makes me think masterpieces are subjective to the individual...

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Not really, was gonna get it, still getting it. Looking to start new campaigns after getting the full 2024 books.

I wonder if we're going to see a bumper crop of new starter adventures going on sale from third party adventure designers this fall and spring. If I had a less full dance card this fall, I know that's what I'd be focusing on.

 

[Neonchameleon]

I didn't purchase the 2014 PHB until I could get an edition not thanking the RPG Pundit. So I only bought the core books years after I'd started running a campaign.

This one? I was expecting to get given they had an ongoing campaign. The playtest at a couple of points (mostly round half-casting warlocks) came close to getting me not to buy. But they didn't fall into the major potholes. So I've got one on preorder.

 

[Corinnguard]

I was leaning toward not getting it for several reasons.

• My group has not expressed an interest in switching from the 2014 version to the 2024 version. We're right in the middle of an adventure that was started at the beginning of 2023, and it will be a while before we have completed it.
• I wasn't thrilled about some of the changes being made to some of the species (Aasimar, Dragonborn) and the Ranger class.
• I am more invested in Level Up than 5e atm.

However, now I am leaning toward getting it thanks to the YouTube clip from DnD Shorts. I think he did a really good page-by-page review of the 2024 PHB. I got to see the new PHB's layout and some truly nice artwork. I liked how each subclass now appeared to have an iconic representative. And as a Dragonborn fan, I liked how they officially have tails now. Plus I got to see a pic of what their new Spectral Wings looks like. I still wish that the Aasimar came in three different flavors.

I'll probably get it right before my birthday next month.

Anyhow, I find it easier to buy something when someone shows me the contents.

 

[Nebulous]

It's not enough of a fundamental change for me to bother buying all new books. It does look like a better version of D&D, but I DM exclusively, so the class options don't even interest me. I might adopt it later down the road, but not mid-campaign.

 

[ezo]

Didn't intend to purchase, and the more information is revealed simply confirms my decision not to bother.

For groups of design teams with millions of dollars of talent, materials, and research at their disposal, I would expect WotC to do better. If I ever win the lottery, I will be starting up my own RPG house and see what we can do then.