D&D General Not gonna worry, Will just keep playin (+)

[Bitbrain]

My group has already made the decision not to move on to 1D&D, so we’re probably going to stick with 5e for the foreseeable future.

I’ve also recently purchased a copy of Basic Fantasy (which looks drop-dead easy to customize and modify for home game use) and might ask my group to let me run an OSR campaign for them.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

Whatever happens, the only edition of D&D I have any interest in is Old-School Essentials.

Worst case scenario is that nothing changes for me at all. Anything that makes 6th edition less popular and get people more interested in other existing editions can only be of benefit to my campaigns.

I mean, the true worst-case scenario is that Old-School Essentials is forced to cease publishing and all books/content/supplements for it are driven out of direct sale (e.g., only available via resale), at least until they can be sufficiently scrubbed of "enforceable" problems (note quotes--a lot of this is "probably not actually enforceable by law, but de facto enforceable by the cost of bringing the issue to court.") Now, perhaps that still isn't a problem for you, because you have enough material or don't care about new material being created. But it's certainly a worse case than "5e/6e bombs, and my game can pick up some of the slack!"

 

[SkidAce]

What happened today?

that "leak" about the OGL from yesterday had me concerned for the future at first.

So I told my friends about how we could continue forever basically, and decided to discuss good ways of doing that here.

 

[SkidAce]

I've been jonesing to start up a full-bore, 1st-to-36th-level D&D campaign using the old BECM rules and classic modules. Roll20 has all of the stuff I need to keep playing remotely; I have hardcopies and PDFs of all of the materials that I can copy-paste in as needed, and I have a half-dozen geeky friends who are ready and willing for an old-school romp through The Keep on the Borderlands. Or the Isle of Dread. Or Rahasia, or The Master of the Desert Nomads, or Twilight Calling.

So yeah, we're gonna be just fine.

If its this one

I've used the "lizards" as background villains' forever. Can't get anyone to go there though...hehe.

 

[SkidAce]

The only thing I can see doing differently is that if DDB went away, I might scan my books into PDF format and OCR them.

Or just play a system other than D&D but I read this post as asking how we would continue to play D&D, specifically, is D&D was no longer available for new content and DDB went away.

I do have a lot of older stuff I could scan to make it easier to share with my group...hand't thought of that actually because last ime I checked into OCRing stuff, it was not worth the time nor the effort.

You read the thread correctly, looking for thoughts and best practices to continue "IF".

 

[SkidAce]

I'm reasonably sure that the news isn't true - it doesn't pass the smell test for me, and the OGL was specifically written to prevent this sort of thing.

However, I am currently running what is probably my last-ever campaign. If this does turn out to be true, and WotC attempt to de-authorize OGL 1.0, whether they succeed or not, then replace that "probably" with "definitely". And, until such time as the OGL 1.1 is published, and we can see the damage for ourselves, I won't be buying any more D&D books. Which is a small loss, both to them and to me, but there it is.

So yeah, I'll continue playing as I am. For now. But I am worried.

One of my main thoughts, similar to the time I had an rpg drought in the late 90s, is that I have more material and personal homebrew than we will ever need. I think thats when I created my custom runemaster class.

 

[SkidAce]

My issue is that, having played countless RPGs over 30+ years, and having found relatively lighter ones with less prep play pretty great, I probably wouldn't want to run D&D without digital tools supporting it. They've been really helpful for my main group particularly. I'm not just talking about VTTs, but a probably integrated character builder, searchable rules databases, and so on. Currently for 5E only Beyond offers that (4E's offering was slightly better, weirdly, in terms of what it could do, but was much clunkier-looking and relied on Silverlight lol).

Without all that, I'd be willing to play D&D, but I wouldn't be willing to run it. Also, all my 5E "books" are on Beyond, because I don't have space in my stupid London flat for a whole ton more books. I haven't bought a physical RPG book for like, four or five years? Maybe longer.

On the bright side, I haven't got a bunch of 5E adventures/campaigns I want to run, because I've largely run my own campaign/adventures in 5E (like 4E), so it's not like I'll be stamping my foot and cursing!

So I think my main idea would be to just run a different game. Maybe PF2, maybe Worlds Without Number, maybe DIE, who knows!

Would Excel character sheets cover the character portion? I once even had an Access database, but I would not want to rebuild that monstrosity.

 

[Laurefindel]

The more I like the game, the more I play it with little work involved.

The less I like the game, the more I have fun homebrewing the crap out of it.

I call this a win-win scenario

 

[GMforPowergamers]

How Would You Keep Gaming and What Good Methods Would Your Group Adopt?

for the second time in 30 years I don't know

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Would Excel character sheets cover the character portion? I once even had an Access database, but I would not want to rebuild that monstrosity.

I mean, if someone else had prefilled all the data from all Feats, races, classes, subclasses, equipment etc., probably. But am I going to type that stuff in? Life's too short.

 

[hedgeknight]

I don't give three $#!+$ what happens to WotC or the OGL. Like many others, I have enough materials to game two lifetimes. If WotC were to crash and burn today, I'd go home, start a fire, grab a bottle of brown water, and celebrate the defeat of the BBEG.

 

[el-remmen]

The way I always have, running games for friends and sharing the stuff I make up online with other people or making handmade zines that fall beneath the notice of WotC/Hasbro.

 

[DarkCrisis]

No need to feel put off by D&D, keep playing whatever version you like, but do keep in mind there is a wealth of other RPGs out there for all kinds of different genres. RPGs may have began with D&D but it doesn't end there by a long shot.

 

[Clint_L]

To put this in context, Marvel went bankrupt in the late 90s. The comic book business was in collapse, their movie rights were all over the place and had never been used to make anything except a few risible B films, and there was much talk of The End.

They seem to be doing okay.

My point is that once an IP reaches a certain level of cultural saturation, it's really hard for it to go away, barring massive cultural shifts that are way outside its control. It might languish for a time, but there will be a reservoir of awareness and nostalgia that keeps it alive and ready for a resurgence. D&D has that level of cultural saturation - in fact, that is what is sparking Hasbro's talk of better monetizing it.

So OP has the right attitude - just keep playing it how you like and making more great adventures.

I need to do a better job of ignoring all the agitated threads that jump onto whatever the latest rumour is and go into a frenzy. I find them frustrating because it feels to me like a lot of folks are just here to root against D&D, or against the current version of D&D, and I don't understand why that's a thing. So I start arguing and become part of the problem.

Edit: I love D&D. I have since I was introduced to it at 12 years old. I run the D&D Club at my school, and the game has made such a positive impact on so many kids. Last summer, I ran my first summer camp for mostly neuro-divergent kids, and they were so happy - I cannot tell you how many parents were just thrilled that their child was excited to be with another group of kids, socializing and having a great time. I have had parents tell me that their child never had a real friend before they started playing this game. I talked to one mom on the phone who was crying, telling me that her kid, who had never had a single friend over, just had a D&D birthday party with 7 other kids at their place, and now they play every weekend, almost.

I get that other RPGs are great, too. I play many of them, and I introduce students to them, too. But D&D is the thing that everyone knows about - it is the gateway for almost all these kids. I have seen it have such a positive impact, over and over. So I root for it to keep doing well, and I get defensive of it. And WotC has sponsored our club via access to a ton of free stuff on DnDBeyond, and I want to speak up for that. Painting them as corporate villains really rubs me the wrong way, because in my direct experience they are the opposite of that.

Edit 2: Each time I read this thread's title, the voice in my head sounds like Wooderson from Dazed and Confused (Matthew McConaughy's character). Just keep p-l-a-y-i-n'.

 

[hedgeknight]

I need to do a better job of ignoring all the agitated threads that jump onto whatever the latest rumour is and go into a frenzy. I find them frustrating because it feels to me like a lot of folks are just here to root against D&D, or against the current version of D&D, and I don't understand why that's a thing. So I start arguing and become part of the problem.

Clint, spot on man. I need to do likewise.

 

[Micah Sweet]

It's all so silly.

3E was "open"... 4E was "closed"... 5E was "open"... 1D&D was "closed"... yadda yadda yadda.

There's absolutely no reason to think that the "Official" Dungeons & Dragons game won't "re-open" again somewhere down the line, so being worried about anything having to do with this game is unnecessary. Even if the money people at Hasbro kill 5E's momentum with an attempt at monetization, all that will happen is that the game will slow down, the D&D team at Wizards will get gutted, a new group of folks will be hired to come into the design room, and then 6E/7E (whatever naming convention suits you) does what Mearls did with 5E and get the game back on its feet in a bunch of years.

Second verse same as the first.

That's still a bunch of years without 3PP content, and a bunch of creators who are out of luck.

 

[DEFCON 1]

That's still a bunch of years without 3PP content, and a bunch of creators who are out of luck.

I am unconcerned with not having new 3PP content or the creators that make it.

Others feel differently, and that's fine.

 

[Mind of tempest]

I have considered leaving dnd if it does wrong but I got no idea what to move too

 

[Dioltach]

I remember the days when it was understood that all you needed to play D&D was a PHB, a DMG, a MM (or MC) and some dice. Anything else is nice, but not necessary.

As matters stand, even after culling my collection of countless books and boxed sets, I still have shelves of d20 material: 3.5E, D20 Modern, Star Wars D20, various d20 variants. Plus my 1st edition Dark Eye boxed sets and BECMI. I can play face to face with friends, or via Teams/Zoom/Skype. I'm happy.

 

[hawkeyefan]

For my gaming group that plays a lot of D&D, I’m not concerned. We can continue on with the 5e stuff if we want. Or if people are excited by One D&D, then we can do that. I’ll also continue to GM new games for them whenever possible.

For my other gaming group, D&D isn’t on the menu, so whatever happens is a non-issue.

For folks who create content for sale, I hope the new license allows them to continue doing so. If it doesn’t, I hope there is sufficient wiggle room to basically keep making stuff just without the official 5e stamp.

Most of all, though, I hope that this makes folks… both gamers and designers… look into other games. There’s so much out there to play, and not everything designed meeds to be 5e compatible.

I think the fans are a better and more capable steward of both D&D and the hobby overall.