D&D 5E (2014) Mordenkainens feedback.

[Mind of tempest]

I’m 45. But most of my players are 25-35 and started playing in the 5E era. None of them have heard of Planescape Torment.

what year did it come out agian?

 

[Alzrius]

what year did it come out agian?

1999. Add me to the "wow do I feel old" group.

 

[Ancalagon]

Of course. But Dak'kon being in a game that was a cult hit 22 years ago when most of today's players were not born yet or were small children is not significant compared to what would happen with gith if somebody played one on Critical Role.

all I was saying is that a character in a video game may not be enough to propel a race to RPG popularity.

 

[Mind of tempest]

1999. Add me to the "wow do I feel old" group.

it is one-year younger than me now I fell old.

 

[Burnside]

all I was saying is that a character in a video game may not be enough to propel a race to RPG popularity.

It will if the video game is actually a hit, unlike Planescape: Torment. I never understood the appeal of Misc and Boo, but here we are 23 years later and the characters are still popular because a TON of people bought Baldur's Gate and Baldur's Gate 2. Comparatively speaking, nobody knows who Dak'kon is.

 

[Gorg]

Just curious: why e-bay? All the 5e books area still available from Amazon and other retailers.

Most of what I was looking for was 3E stuff to fill out my collection- primarily FR books. Plus nifty old stuff like early edition character sheets, BECMI sets, etc. I grabbed up books for 5E, because a) they were there, and I could; and b) They're WAY cheaper than they sell for at my local game store. ($50/pop last time I went and bought one...)

Also, not a fan of Amazon.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

The content in Mordenkainen's is more than a little unfocused. We have devils, demons, and gith on one hand, which neatly fit into a "planar monsters" category, then... halflings, dwarves, and elves. Huh?

It's a book about cosmic conflicts, with a chapter on the two races that never seem to be involved in any cosmic conflicts.

Makes sense .

 

[R_J_K75]

Seriously, the vast majority of the people I know who only play and never DM (which is a lot of people) don't buy any of the books. At most, a few of the most dedicated ones get the Player's Handbook. Zero of them would buy Mordenkainen's.

Yep. I've been tempted at times to require players to buy a PHB if they want to play after a few introductory sessions. Everyone in our group can afford one and should but for some reason players generally want to just show up and play while giving zero thought to their characters in between sessions.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Seriously, the vast majority of the people I know who only play and never DM (which is a lot of people) don't buy any of the books. At most, a few of the most dedicated ones get the Player's Handbook. Zero of them would buy Mordenkainen's.

Wild! My players all have copies of several books, including a few adventures. Definitely into the lore and thinking about their character between sessions.

I think the hobby in general is a mix of your players and mine, but enough are like mine that these books keep topping the book sales charts on Amazon, flying off FLGS shelves, etc. IMO you can’t explain that as just DMs.

In its defense:

• Lots of the monsters are great
• The variant tieflings are very cool and do add a lot of options for mechanical creativity to that race
• gith are actually a very good player race; I think it's only a matter of time before a high-profile gith character shows up and then everyone will be playing them. Baldur's Gate 3 may cause this.

also, the lore for gnomes was actually decent. They’re the only one, I think, but it’s something! (Okay, really it’s just elves and dwarves they messed up, and the Halfling stuff is...kinda meh and unnecessary)

 

[Parmandur]

also, the lore for gnomes was actually decent. They’re the only one, I think, but it’s something! (Okay, really it’s just elves and dwarves they messed up, and the Halfling stuff is...kinda meh and unnecessary)

I personally love the Elf & Dwarf material, though the Halfling stuff is pretty forgettable.