D&D (2024) I think we are on the cusp of a sea change.

[Reynard]

Here’s the other thing. The “community” isn’t what you think it is. There is such a breadth of different ways people play, and probably always has been, that people seemed to always be kvetching over it.

This is true. Our best guesses of the community of players WotC cares about is the moves they make -- but that doesn't preclude them being just plain wrong, or chasing the wrong subgroup, or acting at the whim of corporate overlords, or whatever.

 

[Reynard]

Changing the CR model to make it more accurate and able to do 1-2 encounters per day would be a big change within the context of 5, and a much needed one, but not really a sea change. Dungeon crawling procedures are already atrophied in wotc editions and adventures. And arguably point to the success of trad style gaming from the 80s on, so not really anything new.


Not having auto-combat situations is a hallmark tenant of the OSR and recalls some of the earliest traditions in the hobby. PCs negotiating between multiple factions is evident in Jennell Jaquays's megadungeon designs, for example. So this wouldn't be a sea change, but more of a return to form (and one already revisited in a decade's worth of osr products).

As is often the case, the play styles that appear to be new were there from the earliest days of the hobby.

It's not about it being novel, though, in this context. It's about it being official and predominant in official material. And that it certainly hasn't been.

 

[TerraDave]

I have played with younger and older players over the years, including with 5e, and boy do I wonder what this shift is?

The two trends I see are "pay to play" and a rise of more casual, drop in type gaming. This is happening online, but could also be happening in game stores or places life game cafes as they reopen.

So setting aside implied analogies...this just tells me that what WotC will want a game that works and wants to be pretty tight with the rules. It also means that lower levels remain more important, so we may not see a focus on fixing higher levels that we might want.

Thats it. In terms of "demographics", at least. Now if this is about something else...

 

[Malmuria]

It's not about it being novel, though, in this context. It's about it being official and predominant in official material. And that it certainly hasn't been.

They are releasing a number of "classic" campaign settings in the next few years. That doesn't suggest sea change to me.

It seems like the change that people are reacting to is the removal or deemphasis on racial alignment for humanoids creatures. Whether this is an important or barely noticeable change depends on your game (5e from the start reduced the mechanical impact of alignment, so not really a new change either).

 

[BookTenTiger]

It will be interesting to see if streaming influences the writing of the next generation of core rulebooks.

Streaming D&D was rare before 5e (the group I play with was actually the first D&D stream on justin.tv, which later became Twitch), but now is a way that lots of people interact with D&D.

 

[Micah Sweet]

They are releasing a number of "classic" campaign settings in the next few years. That doesn't suggest sea change to me.

It seems like the change that people are reacting to is the removal or deemphasis on racial alignment for humanoids creatures. Whether this is an important or barely noticeable change depends on your game (5e from the start reduced the mechanical impact of alignment, so not really a new change either).

I suspect very little of those setting releases will be "classic".

 

[NaturalZero]

The change already happened. 5e took off like a rocket and people looking for to play the game in a particular way have already been running it that way. 5.5e, or whatever WotC has planned going forward, is a slight course correction to align the game better with the sea change that has already taken place.

 

[Faolyn]

I don't think that is true going forward. I think the intent is to very much alter the way the game is played (story first, etc..) and aimed at a new generation -- and that generation's values -- in a way it hasn't been since Basic and D&D cartoon days.

What I don't get is, hasn't each edition focused on what that generation's values were, or perceived to be? And considering that there have always been players who wanted a story-first game--I've seen indications of this mentality even in Dragon Magazines dating from the early 80s and before--this is hardly a new way.

-- What are the new generation's "values" and how will aiming the game at those values be a sea change? Do you mean non-auto-evil humanoids? A multitude of playable humanoids? Haven't we had that since the 2e humanoid book?

Didn't Gygax say something once about a player playing a balor or balrog once in his game?

 

[Retreater]

I think I was watching a Matt Colville video recently, and he brought up a point that I agree with. 5e was designed and released before streaming really took off. The next iteration will address it in some capacity. It's the biggest shift in how the game is played and how it is viewed in society that we've ever seen. Bigger than AD&D 1e, bigger than WotC's purchase, bigger than Hasbro's purchase, bigger than the Satanic Panic.
How will that change it? I think it's going to be a lot less about rules and combat. More roleplaying to solve problems. Less dungeons and more urban/political intrigue.
Of course, culture changes quicker than books can be re-written and printed. The change is already here, but WotC just needs to address it in their books to further capture that market.

 

[Reynard]

The change already happened. 5e took off like a rocket and people looking for to play the game in a particular way have already been running it that way. 5.5e, or whatever WotC has planned going forward, is a slight course correction to align the game better with the sea change that has already taken place.

I don't think 5E launched that way. As I stated earlier, it launched as a corrective action focused on recapturing GenX players. Things have changed significantly since then.