D&D 5E Please help me understand "official" 5E releases.

[painted_klown]

Hello all,

I have been reading here a lot as of late, and I always see the hardback books being listed as official releases for 5E. What I do not see mentioned are the sogftcover modules such as Ghosts of Dragonspear Castle, Murder in Baldur's Gate, Legacy of the Crystal Shard, and Vault of the Dracolich. When I look at the Wikipedia page for D&D 5E, these do not even get mentioned as being part of the 5E lineup, and I don't really see them being discussed here either.

Aren't these modules also considered official 5E adventures, or am I mixed up on this?

 

[thalmin]

Those were modules written for the playtest. The rules were not yet finalized, and the monsters were under early development.

 

[Jan van Leyden]

All of these adventures were published before the official release of 5e and they rely on the rules of the playtest versions. AfaIk, none of these was officially updated to 5e. So while they are fit to be used - maybe with some changes - they aren't "official" products for 5e.

 

[painted_klown]

Ah, insteresting. I was unaware they weren't the same. I thought the "D&D Next" and "D&D 5E" labels were interchangable for the most part.

Thanks for the clarification.

 

[Morrus]

Yeah. You can use them (though you might find some odd compatibility bits here and there) but they were mainly compatible with the playtest rules, not the final version.

 

[painted_klown]

As an OCD collector, knowing this actually helps me a lot. LOL!

Makes life a lot easier on my wallet, to be sure...

 

[Morrus]

Ah, insteresting. I was unaware they weren't the same. I thought the "D&D Next" and "D&D 5E" labels were interchangable for the most part.

Colloquially, they are. More specifically, D&D Next was the working title for D&D 5E while it was being developed.