D&D (2024) Is There A New Sheriff in Town?

[Yaarel]

Those traditions have endured countless other new and innovative games entering the market with new ways to play. I don't think this time will be different.

By definition, tradition passes the test of time. Sometimes they succeed for reasons that are not yet fully understood. Nevertheless, each tradition needs doublechecking every now and then.

 

[Minigiant]

Huh, what I’ve seen seems like those archetypes playing pretty differently.

I might be wrong for the game now but there was neither dual wirlding weapons nor gish support in the Playtest.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

Those traditions have endured countless other new and innovative games entering the market with new ways to play. I don't think this time will be different.

Some have. Some haven't.

THAC0. Bards as (functionally) a ridiculously over-complicated PrC. Five bizarrely- (and often inaccurately-)named saving throw categories. Skill points.

Some things are like coelacanth or ginkgo or sharks, surviving hundreds of million years all the way up through the present...and others are like trilobites, which had a nearly 300MY run, only to be done in by the Permian extinction event.

Or, in simpler terms: The fact that a thing survived before isn't actually evidence that it will, let alone should, survive again. No President needed to be told they didn't get a third term until FDR.

Tradition isn't inherently bad. It also isn't inherently good. Slavish adherence to tradition simply because it is traditional is unwise. Unthinking destruction of tradition simply because it is tradition is unwise. That's why I said we need to ask whether or not they are productive--not presuming that they are unproductive, nor the opposite. Genuine, sincere, unbiased investigation.

Some old things get left behind merely for fashion reasons. It's chronological snobbery to pretend that everything old is bad. Some new things get ignored merely because they don't have enough pedigree--which is also fallacious, an appeal to tradition (sadly, it lacks a snappy name like "chronological snobbery"--perhaps "genealogical snobbery"?)

 

[doctorbadwolf]

I might be wrong for the game now but there was neither dual wirlding weapons nor gish support in the Playtest.

Dagger and small dagger, at least, you get a damage bonus to your main hand while holding a small dagger in your offhand.

Don’t know about gish support beyond like, rogue, ranger, and seraph, at least, all having the ability to choose both magic and weapon based domain cards.

 

[Tonguez]

It might be zeitgeist, with new players being more the story first, social media natives that Daggerheart caters to and has been cultivating

Is that enough to slay the leviathan - probably not but then lots of probably nots have ended up happening lately.

 

[Distracted DM]

I've been one of those to say "DND will never be surpassed regardless, it's the rock!" But it was pointed out to me that during the 4e era, Pathfinder actually did outperform DnD.

I think dndbeyond is a scary thing to overcome, though.

 

[Morrus]

But it was pointed out to me that during the 4e era, Pathfinder actually did outperform DnD.

Pathfinder never outsold D&D. For a time at the tail end of 4E, while WotC was not putting out any D&D books, Pathfinder did well in ICv2's charts (and that situation ended the second 5E was launched), but those charts didn't account for most of WotC's book sales which take place in marketplaces outside the hobby stores that ICv2 surveys. Amazon, mainstream book stores, non-US sales, etc. are massive. And I know others have mentioned DDB, but these days that's 50% of WotC's sales.

So no, there's no 'new sheriff' in town. Daggerheart is doing and will do very well in terms of TTRPGs that are not D&D. It'll stay in the top echelon of those. But it won't eclipse D&D, nor does it need to.

 

[Corinnguard]

Lol, most D&D players have no idea who works for WOTC, what their contributions are, what their loss would mean, what their movement to some other company says, etc…

Now folks on EN world…

Whereas some folk on EN World's forums do know someone who has done some work for Level Up: A5e. Either directly through EN Publishing, or through a 3pp like Purple Martin Games. And these individuals do drop by every now and then on EN World's forums to say hi to the rest of us, offer up an opinion or two on a particular forum thread, or to talk about their latest project for A5e and/or 5e.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I've been one of those to say "DND will never be surpassed regardless, it's the rock!" But it was pointed out to me that during the 4e era, Pathfinder actually did outperform DnD.

I think dndbeyond is a scary thing to overcome, though.

It’s more likely that the collapse of Hasbro would bring down D&D (as a tabletop game) than external competition.

 

[Krachek]

To me it look like an evolution of DnD 4ed, stepping further away from original DnD.
Domain cards and class cards are in line with 4ed vibe.
They got very interesting new mechanics with the fear/hope and the spotlight cycling.
Despite it claims to offer cinematic gameplay, there are many crunch management.
The game look nice to play live, but to play via vtt may be less cool.

It is the first time we see a new game pull by a popular show like CR.
It is definitively the best marketing tool in town!
How much it will influence the popularity of the game is unknown.