dmccoy1693
Adventurer
Link to Original
Back when 5e was first announced in 2012 I was incredibly thrilled. I loved the game all through the playtest, some iterations of it more than others, but we got the final game back in July of last year. Since then we have the Monster Manual, the Dungeon Master's Guide, and a two-part campaign. But my interest has fallen, my participation in my local Adventurer's League has become sporadic and I'm looking around at other games to play. So here are my Top 5 Reasons why my interest in the game is waning and what Wizards can do to fix it.
5) Serious Lack of Digital Tools. In this day and age where computers are everywhere, not having some kind of online character generation system is practically a sin. Having the basic rules of the game on a web page is a good first step, but it is not enough. It is kind of hard to accept a game that wants to be the flagship game of the industry that is technologically behind the times. I know this one takes time and personnel (two things the D&D team does not seem to have much of) to fix so it is at the bottom of the list.
4) No PDFs (except for the basic game). I split this one off from digital tools because that is how important this one is. I live on a computer of some sort or another almost constantly. What don't I carry with me: bookshelves. I want my whole library with me at all times and I have it on my tablet. Except for D&D. So if I am waiting for something, I can just pull out an electronic device and start reading. When I go to local conventions, if I like the game I just go to an online store, purchase it, and download it right there. I can't do that with D&D. This one is the easiest one to fix on the list. PDFs were already made of the books to ship off to the printer, and while I know it is a completely different layout for a PDF instead of a print book, it is still a starting point that other points on this list simply do not have.
3) Nothing Much to Look Forward To/Lack of Product Diversity. Of all of these, I think I am the most upset about this one. Folks at Wizards have said they want to focus on adventures. Ok fine. Where are they? To date, one came with the beginner's set and there was one campaign in two books. What if I don't want to play in that campaign? What if I want to play something else? The Tomb of Elemental Evil campaign is coming up; what if I don't want that either. What if I know my group can't handle a long campaign and instead want a series of short adventures with the same characters. There are no 32 page stand alone adventures to download, no dungeon magazine to subscribe to. That is game mastering help that the game seriously lacks right now. GMs not getting the help they need will make them look to other games. Personally, I have never been an adventure reader (some people are and more power to them). I have always been a setting reader. There is no setting material for this edition to read. I get a full campaign setting takes a long time to write. But what about a 32 page setting book that told what area is like for the Horde of the Dragon Queen campaign, or the Elemental Evil campaign. I might not run the adventures, but I can use the setting to make my own. Why not that? Without something to fuel my imagination, I am bored and am going to look elsewhere. Now lets have a frank discussion, Wizards has said they want to focus on adventures because releasing too many splat books (specifically books filled with player crunch options) made the system far too heavy for later development and killed it. While I understand that and to a degree agree, you've swung too far the other way. Some players at the table are those optimizers that do not have anything to look forward to and will look elsewhere. All in all, to keep the varying types of players and game masters happy, there has to be a balance. At present, there isn't any balance. All the products out there, beyond the core 3 books, are geared for the long-term GM.
2) The Waiting. Waiting is not something that our society does well these days and it does not look like it is going to change any time soon. I didn't even bother looking at the Fantasy Flight Star Wars game because it took them 2 years to publish a book on Jedi. I considered giving up on 13th Age but they finally released the PDFs this past December to physical books they released the previous January. You guys, the two and a half year wait from announcement to final game was perfectly fine because I was that excited for it. The wait from PHB to DMG is fine since you were publishing the system. Now that is all done with, I am done with waiting. What is coming? I want to know. 1 campaign isn't cutting it. Tell us what you are working on.
1) No OGL (or some kind of compatible license). The above points could be fixed if there was some kind of license for other companies to use. You could focus on long campaigns if other companies could write the short adventures. I could run my own game and invite those that do not play (and they would in turn buy the PHB) if I had some 5e compatible setting to keep my interest and could read it anywhere since I got it in PDF. Someone could even turn the rules into an app, meaning you don't have to. And best of all, I could have it now, to get me over the dry hump while I'm waiting for your book. Do you think that if I bought a compatible book on elves that I wouldn't largely ignore it, if not completely ignore it, when your book on elves comes out. But it gets me some racial development to cover the meantime. All the problems I see right now could be fixed with the rules being OGL. All of them. The worst part is that, you had over 2 years to prepare for the launch. You could have hand picked several publishers to release compatible books timed with your other releases for your game. But instead you wanted the initial time frame completely your own. And now I am looking elsewhere.
So that is my reasons why my interest in D&D is waning right now. How is your interest in D&D 5e? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.
Back when 5e was first announced in 2012 I was incredibly thrilled. I loved the game all through the playtest, some iterations of it more than others, but we got the final game back in July of last year. Since then we have the Monster Manual, the Dungeon Master's Guide, and a two-part campaign. But my interest has fallen, my participation in my local Adventurer's League has become sporadic and I'm looking around at other games to play. So here are my Top 5 Reasons why my interest in the game is waning and what Wizards can do to fix it.
5) Serious Lack of Digital Tools. In this day and age where computers are everywhere, not having some kind of online character generation system is practically a sin. Having the basic rules of the game on a web page is a good first step, but it is not enough. It is kind of hard to accept a game that wants to be the flagship game of the industry that is technologically behind the times. I know this one takes time and personnel (two things the D&D team does not seem to have much of) to fix so it is at the bottom of the list.
4) No PDFs (except for the basic game). I split this one off from digital tools because that is how important this one is. I live on a computer of some sort or another almost constantly. What don't I carry with me: bookshelves. I want my whole library with me at all times and I have it on my tablet. Except for D&D. So if I am waiting for something, I can just pull out an electronic device and start reading. When I go to local conventions, if I like the game I just go to an online store, purchase it, and download it right there. I can't do that with D&D. This one is the easiest one to fix on the list. PDFs were already made of the books to ship off to the printer, and while I know it is a completely different layout for a PDF instead of a print book, it is still a starting point that other points on this list simply do not have.
3) Nothing Much to Look Forward To/Lack of Product Diversity. Of all of these, I think I am the most upset about this one. Folks at Wizards have said they want to focus on adventures. Ok fine. Where are they? To date, one came with the beginner's set and there was one campaign in two books. What if I don't want to play in that campaign? What if I want to play something else? The Tomb of Elemental Evil campaign is coming up; what if I don't want that either. What if I know my group can't handle a long campaign and instead want a series of short adventures with the same characters. There are no 32 page stand alone adventures to download, no dungeon magazine to subscribe to. That is game mastering help that the game seriously lacks right now. GMs not getting the help they need will make them look to other games. Personally, I have never been an adventure reader (some people are and more power to them). I have always been a setting reader. There is no setting material for this edition to read. I get a full campaign setting takes a long time to write. But what about a 32 page setting book that told what area is like for the Horde of the Dragon Queen campaign, or the Elemental Evil campaign. I might not run the adventures, but I can use the setting to make my own. Why not that? Without something to fuel my imagination, I am bored and am going to look elsewhere. Now lets have a frank discussion, Wizards has said they want to focus on adventures because releasing too many splat books (specifically books filled with player crunch options) made the system far too heavy for later development and killed it. While I understand that and to a degree agree, you've swung too far the other way. Some players at the table are those optimizers that do not have anything to look forward to and will look elsewhere. All in all, to keep the varying types of players and game masters happy, there has to be a balance. At present, there isn't any balance. All the products out there, beyond the core 3 books, are geared for the long-term GM.
2) The Waiting. Waiting is not something that our society does well these days and it does not look like it is going to change any time soon. I didn't even bother looking at the Fantasy Flight Star Wars game because it took them 2 years to publish a book on Jedi. I considered giving up on 13th Age but they finally released the PDFs this past December to physical books they released the previous January. You guys, the two and a half year wait from announcement to final game was perfectly fine because I was that excited for it. The wait from PHB to DMG is fine since you were publishing the system. Now that is all done with, I am done with waiting. What is coming? I want to know. 1 campaign isn't cutting it. Tell us what you are working on.
1) No OGL (or some kind of compatible license). The above points could be fixed if there was some kind of license for other companies to use. You could focus on long campaigns if other companies could write the short adventures. I could run my own game and invite those that do not play (and they would in turn buy the PHB) if I had some 5e compatible setting to keep my interest and could read it anywhere since I got it in PDF. Someone could even turn the rules into an app, meaning you don't have to. And best of all, I could have it now, to get me over the dry hump while I'm waiting for your book. Do you think that if I bought a compatible book on elves that I wouldn't largely ignore it, if not completely ignore it, when your book on elves comes out. But it gets me some racial development to cover the meantime. All the problems I see right now could be fixed with the rules being OGL. All of them. The worst part is that, you had over 2 years to prepare for the launch. You could have hand picked several publishers to release compatible books timed with your other releases for your game. But instead you wanted the initial time frame completely your own. And now I am looking elsewhere.
So that is my reasons why my interest in D&D is waning right now. How is your interest in D&D 5e? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.
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