D&D (2024) I am so torn [UPDATE: I bought it]

[timbannock]

I have never NOT owned a copy of the current edition of D&D, and I played/ran all of them except OD&D (though 4E was admittedly brief).

I am also still mad that WotC has not released the 3.5 SRD into CC, and about the OGL debacle in general. But they have also done some things as shows of good faith, particularly opening up Beyond to 3rd parties and making 2024 available to other VTTs (which legitimately surprised me).

I am teetering on the fence whether to break my "no money for WotC" rule and getting the 2024 core book.

Help push me to one side or the other, please.

WOTC are a bad company headed by bad people who will absolutely destroy the good creatives on the D&D team in a heartbeat in order to make D&D even more bland and profit-driven. On top of that, the good creatives on the team still are unable to put out useful tools and advice, and materials that aren't grossly overwritten, because the focus of the game is less on playability and more on lifestyle branding and pushing people to digital content in a closed ecosystem.

It's an alright game. It's a walled garden. It's owned by people who don't know or don't like gamers and who want only to appease shareholders.

Your money and shelf space is better served with better games by better people and companies that care about what you play and who need your support so much more.

 

[Charlaquin]

My line in the sand has been "release the 3.5 SRD into CC" because the threat of "de-authorizing" the OGL is really only an issue for those games and companies reliant on the 3.5 SRD via the OGL. However, those seem fewer and fewer these days. In fact, I am not sure if any currently published games or companies are dependent on that situation anymore.

Yeah, I think companies that had been relying on the 3.5 SRD have largely all moved away from that, and probably won’t move back to it whenever WotC gets around to adding it to the CC. The trust has been broken, and publishers aren’t comfortable hitching their wagons to WotC any more.

Obviously releasing the 3.5 SRD into the CC is still something WotC should do, and we should hold them to that. But, yeah, I think most small publishers are going to avoid the 3.5e SRD now regardless.

 

[DEFCON 1]

Are you going to be playing 5E24 any time soon?

If the answer is 'No', then you don't need to spend your money because you aren't going to use them. And it won't matter what any of your feelings towards WotC may or may not be. No reason to buy something you aren't going to use.

If the answer is 'Yes', then decide whether owning any of the three new core books would make your experience playing it easier. For all you know it might not be necessary. You might find you can play the game without issue by just borrowing one of your table-mate's Player's Handbooks on occasion when you need to write down your character abilities or level up. But if you find that owning a PHB in order to reference it while playing does become a necessity (to avoid annoying your fellow players who own their own copies if nothing else)... then you can make the decision as to the morals you feel towards giving Wizards of the Coast $35 (half of the shelf price, as the other half goes to the bookstore you buy it from) versus no longer having to keep bothering your friends by continually borrowing their books.

Thus the answer is what you feel is ultimately worse... giving WotC $35 or bothering your friends at the table on occasion.

* EDIT * And if the only reason you might buy the books is because you've "always bought new D&D books"... that's an emotional response that you can get over at this point in your life. It's just gaming. There are so many other things to get emotionally tied up in... spending money on things you might not use just because you "always have" should not be one of them.

 

[Guest 7037866]

Help push me to one side or the other, please.

Ask yourself this: do you want the 5E 2024 books or not?

If you want them, get them. Either second-hand or elsewhere (they're out there) if you would rather re-imburse someone who regrets their decision to buy them (they gave their money to WotC, you're giving it to them and helping them regret it less).

The simple truth is you can get the books without giving the money to WotC.

 

[LordEntrails]

Here's my view...

First, I don't consider the 2024 rule to really be published yet. Until the 3 core books are all published, not everything I need is available. So, yea. Why spend something now to buy something that is not complete? (Sure, I get the argument against this, but it doesn't interest me.) Second, what adventures am I going to run that need the 2024 rules? Nothing published and if I'm creating my own I can create them to whatever version I want. Then I look at; are the 2024 rules so much better that 2014 just isn't usable? Nope. Then the question about is WotC Evil or Bad? And I hope we don't go off on that argument, but to me, no they are not. So that's not an influencer to the decision.

In short, the only driver for me to buy the 2024 rules is FOMO. And I try really hard not to succumb to FOMO.

I'm sure I will buy the 2024 rules, but given that we are just starting a FrontierSpace campaign, it will probably be several years until I have any reason to buy them. (i.e. when I want to run D&D and all the new tools are focused on 2024 and I want to use those tools.)

 

[mamba]

I am teetering on the fence whether to break my "no money for WotC" rule and getting the 2024 core book.

Help push me to one side or the other, please.

If you need some kind of trigger, wait for the new SRD in CC, if / when that drops go ahead. Or you could wait until the 3e SRD, supposedly that is in the works too.

If you do not want to base it on conditions, just go ahead (assuming you like the books…), you do not need anyone’s permission

 

[Henadic Theologian]

I have never NOT owned a copy of the current edition of D&D, and I played/ran all of them except OD&D (though 4E was admittedly brief).

I am also still mad that WotC has not released the 3.5 SRD into CC, and about the OGL debacle in general. But they have also done some things as shows of good faith, particularly opening up Beyond to 3rd parties and making 2024 available to other VTTs (which legitimately surprised me).

I am teetering on the fence whether to break my "no money for WotC" rule and getting the 2024 core book.

Help push me to one side or the other, please.

I say buy it, but only after they release the SRD for the edition and tell is their plans for releasing the SRDs for previous editions.

 

[Scribe]

am also still mad that WotC has not released the 3.5 SRD into CC, and about the OGL debacle in general. But they have also done some things as shows of good faith, particularly opening up Beyond to 3rd parties and making 2024 available to other VTTs (which legitimately surprised me).

Opening up Beyond is not an act of good faith. Valve is more than happy to take a cut on every game sale in the world (Steam).

 

[Reynard]

Opening up Beyond is not an act of good faith. Valve is more than happy to take a cut on every game sale in the world (Steam).

My guess is that those companies that have access to that market would very much disagree with you.

Also, DTRPG takes 30% too. It's pretty standard.

 

[UnplayedRanger]

A capitalist corporation is always going to place profit motive above anything else. Most of the "bad" decisions being made are above the actual game developers pay grade. So if you enjoy DND, and want the new books, get them.

But there's also no harm in waiting. Used sales, future errata updates, heavy discounts on other store fronts. Its not necessarily a buy now type of thing.