D&D 5E Reasons Why My Interest in 5e is Waning

[Fildrigar]

There is a happy medium between a bloated game system and what we have now. People need to stop being so extreme. Just because the OP is asking for more product doesn't mean they want hundreds of books. There is nothing wrong with wanting updated setting material. There is nothing wrong with wanting more adventures. I'm so happy for all of you that don't need any of that.

I think the issue is that WotC just doesn't have the resources to provide the products that a handful of us want. The reason why they aren't announcing anything is because they don't want to announce something and then have to say "sorry we have to cancel it". We've already seen this with Dungeonscape. We've seen it with the Adventurer's Handbook as well (and this wasn't even officially announced). They are focusing on what makes them money and it's not the RPG. It's a sad thing. It's not HASBRO overlording on WotC either. WotC is it's own entity and any losses on the RPG side are easily compensated for the massive CCG market that it has. Don't expect anything from them and maybe we will be surprised when they finally come up with something awesome.

Until then I guess we have to use material from editions that were better supported.

But that's just it. This release schedule *is* a happy medium at the moment. Five big books in the first six months? That's ambitious. Note that right here you're criticizing Wizards for "cancelling" a product that was never officially announced. ( And the stuff from that cancelled book *is* being released. FOR FREE. How can that possibly count against them?) I am positive that they have more releases that are being worked on right now, this very minute. They just want to not announce them until they can give firm, unmovable release dates. And, seeing them take fire for "canceling" unannounced products, I can certainly see why they've chosen to take this path.


TL;DR: Five books have come out in six months. That's a pretty fast release schedule.

 

[wedgeski]

Since you ask...

Don't care about digital tools. The game is in no way complex enough to warrant them (and I get a certain nostalgic pleasure from the rubbed-out smear marks and gradually thinning paper of my character sheets!). Don't care about slow release schedule (actually, I suppose I do care, because I find I like it better that way). Don't much care about PDF's, although it would be of benefit as we ramp our expertise on the rules, I must admit. Really, really could not care less about an/the OGL. Actually quite interested in what WotC is going to do by keeping the license exclusive to bigger licensees (if indeed that's what they continue to do).

My group is just finishing Phandalin and will move smoothly on to Hoard. Those two hardbacks represent 9-12 months of gaming for us, easily. If a proposed second group picks up the game, I'll shift into home-brew stuff for them where, along with my ever-expanding ideas list, the three core books represent plenty of material and inspiration to be getting on with.

So, interest waxing, if anything! Enjoying the game a lot. Intrigued for the future. Wallet at the ready.

 

[Galendril]

These sorts of 'I'm tired with this game' threads are so typical. Usually, they have some bit of constructive criticism though.

 

[Kramodlog]

All these discussions make me think they never was an Edition War. Not that no one disagreed about 4e, just that what was really happening was that some people were critical of WotC and what it did with D&D, and some people felt WotC needed some heroes to white knight it. It never really was about an edition switch.

The same thing is happening with the critics about the release schedule, the OGL, the lack of PDFs, etc.

 

[Razuur]

My 2 cents:

#5 - Online tools are not an issue at all for me.

#4 - PDFs - interesting business choice. Bottom line is anyone who really wants PDFs of the core can figure out how to get the,. I think that WOTC is missing out on sales because there are folks like myself who buy a lot of PDFs and would do the purchase. But if they leave the only option to be piracy - in a way they are supporting the activity they are trying to prevent. Again - their call, their business.

#3 - This is a big one for me. I stay excited about games with a constant release schedule of product to look forward to. Again, interesting business choice. I respect their choice, but think they could be releasing more. Bottom line is that OSR and Pathfinder products are still being purchased as converting them is not too hard thanks to 5e's design. Still, I have money and am wanting to spend, and there is nothing to spend it on. I am a businessman - that is referred to as demand!

#2 - Waiting. Again, I have money to spend, and am spending it elsewhere. So the waiting is...really a symptom. Wierd thing is, I am not sure what I am waiting for in 5e. Nothing announced on the horizon has me excited now that I have the core books. I am just waiting... for something, and getting distracted by other things.

#1 - This is the biggest one for me. The 3e OGL got a lot of flak, but I loved it. I loved the diversity of products, approaches, settings, etc. Was their crap in there, yep - but there were also shining jewels (and everything in between). Since WOTC is taking a more relaxed approach to releasing product - I think that an OGL is *necessary* for the survival of the game long term. Let WOTC take the measured approach, and let the 3ppp take the risks.

 

[Nebulous]

Or putting the Brady Bunch in A Game of Thrones. The thought of Greg stupping Jan and pushing Bobby off the roof doesn't really work without serious rework of the personalities of the characters.

That's awesome . Game of the Bunch...

 

[Chocolategravy]

Not a single one of those things impacts my enjoyment of 5th edition. Not even, like, remotely. Lucky me, I guess. If waiting for adventures is particularly troubling you, then use some from the past 40 years of D&D. They're still perfectly acceptable.

Why bother even using 5E then if you're going to use a previous edition's adventures? Even if you didn't have to redo all the encounters from scratch and redo all the treasure, redo all the traps, redo all the DCs, basically remake absolutely everything in the adventure besides the maps, character backgrounds and descriptions, why even bother with 5E at all?

 

[Sunseeker]

While I agree with most of your points OP, I find this thread highly disingenuous.

 

[Gecko85]

Why bother even using 5E then if you're going to use a previous edition's adventures? Even if you didn't have to redo all the encounters from scratch and redo all the treasure, redo all the traps, redo all the DCs, basically remake absolutely everything in the adventure besides the maps, character backgrounds and descriptions, why even bother with 5E at all?

C'mon, now. That's a whole lot of hyperbole. Converting adventure for 5e is pretty easy. You don't have to redo all the encounters from scratch. Not even close. Most monsters can be swapped with current equivalents, treasure can be easily adjusted (some earlier adventures, especially 2e, had a ton of treasure...just ignore much of it). You do not need to "remake absolutely everything in the adventure besides the maps..." Not even close. Most adventures can even be converted on the fly if you're so inclined.

 

[Grimstaff]

Actually, I love the system. I have the just enough crunch to be meaningful while being light enough to not get in the way. I am not a system person. My enthusiasm runs off imagination. I love campaign setting books that are twinged with the specifics of the system.

FAQ (just getting it out of the way): Why can't I just read some some other system's setting material and play it with 5e? To put it in a way that will be easy to understand, it's like trying to read an Elric story and reskin it for Diskworld on the fly. Or putting the Brady Bunch in A Game of Thrones. The thought of Greg stupping Jan and pushing Bobby off the roof doesn't really work without serious rework of the personalities of the characters.

In the same way, the way that a setting emphasizes the role of the adventurer, the level of power a first level adventurer has vs the common man, the kind of adventures they game assumes adventurers will have, the assumed power the players can eventually reach all make serious differences in how a setting is presented. Does the setting talk about goblins as a serious threat (like a 6-8 level campaign can be based on goblinoids, like 5e) or is it just something you do at 1st and 2nd level and then you move on from there (like 3.5/Pathfinder). Are you expected to be a mover and shaker from level 1 (like 13th Age) or are you a farm boy that picked up a sword defended his home yesterday (like 3.5/Pathfinder). Are you expected to be of a certain age where you are in the pique of physical performance (like 3.5/pathfinder) or are you expected to have a career before starting to adventure (like 13th Age/5e). Are you expected to light up like a christmas tree when someone activated detect magic (like 3.5/pathfinder, 4e and 13th Age) or are you limited to the number of magic items you can use at any point in time and they are relatively rare (like 5e).

All of these make huge differences in the way a campaign setting is presented. For someone like me, to take another campaign setting and stick it in another system is like using a sword to do a hammer's job.

What non-5e adventures have you tried to run with 5e that have you this opinion? Or are you guessing that's how it might be?

For my part, I'm running Paizo's Rise of the Runelords with 5e, and it's been a blast, very little conversion involved beyond looking up a giving monster in the 5e MM and adjusting the odd DC here and there. We're halfway through the AP and have had no balance issues, or flavor issues, or who's a farm boy or not.

5e's wide, slow power curve specifically makes it easy to run adventures designed for other systems without worrying about balance.