D&D (2024) So IS it a new edition?

[FitzTheRuke]

2024 revision is more opaque than 5.5e. In the same way as glass is more opaque than open air. 5.5e is just a bit easier to understand.

Well... as long as you are familiar with what a "half edition" is, sure.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

Well... as long as you are familiar with what a "half edition" is, sure.

How many of the people playing this game have never, in their lives, not even once seen a piece of software with an X.Y version number?

Do you really think this is such a ridiculous, unbelievable convention that the typical user would be unfamiliar with the implications of an X.Y version numbering scheme?

 

[Vaalingrade]

Well... as long as you are familiar with what a "half edition" is, sure.

I think people can suss that out. Disney even used the concept for an interquel. Their phones and games iterate with two decimal points. Have you seen the latest Minecraft snapshot? I can locate an artic supply cache with it.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

Think you may be onto something here about "versions" rather than "editions."

Perhaps when people are arguing over whether the 5e rules and the 5e revised rules are different "editions", they're really arguing over whether the two sets of core rules are different games. Arguing over the specific word "edition" and its applicability, or degrees of backwards compatibility, are really a proxy for that more fundamental question.

This is a big part of why I like "3.5" and "5.5" as labels. They make clear that it is still, fundamentally, the same version of the game. It is not the 2nd version, nor the 1st version, nor the 4th version, etc. It is, at its heart, still the 5th version of the game; I do not challenge that, and never have. But the 5.0 version is not precisely the same as the 5.5 version. There have been revisions, as (I now know) the text says. There is interoperability between 3.0 and 3.5, just as there is/will be between 5.0 and 5.5.

To use a video game term, this is not the kind of update that would break save files, but it is the kind of update that might make you consider starting fresh anyway.

I think people can suss that out. Disney even used the concept for an interquel. Their phones and games iterate with two decimal points. Have you seen the latest Minecraft snapshot? I can locate an artic supply cache with it.

But without knowing 25+ years of D&D history, how could any human being possibly understand that "5.5" means "5th version, with alterations"? It's clearly so baroque and impenetrable that it will deeply confuse anyone reading!

 

[Maxperson]

Well... as long as you are familiar with what a "half edition" is, sure.

That's super easy to understand. It's literally 1+1/2.

 

[mamba]

That's super easy to understand. It's literally 1+1/2.

not really easier than 2024

 

[JEB]

This is a big part of why I like "3.5" and "5.5" as labels. They make clear that it is still, fundamentally, the same version of the game.

You raise a good point, but doesn't "5e revised" also convey this idea?

 

[FitzTheRuke]

That's super easy to understand. It's literally 1+1/2.

Oh, it makes sense when it's explained, and it's possible to guess what is meant by it - but if you're someone who has never purchased D&D before (like the vast majority of people) then it's not actually intuitive.

But, yes, more along the lines of "Is that an update?"; "Yes."

Rather than, "I don't at all understand what that means."

But, trust me - unless you played 3.5 (which a LOT of gamers did) or know of it, then it's not immediately clear.

 

[Vaalingrade]

But without knowing 25+ years of D&D history, how could any human being possibly understand that "5.5" means "5th version, with alterations"? It's clearly so baroque and impenetrable that it will deeply confuse anyone reading!

It's much easier to make it clear it's the... somethingth version that came out in 2024, even though the last of the new books is due out in 2025 when, from the common parlance of games like Madden and FIFA, D&D 2025 ought to be coming out.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

You raise a good point, but doesn't "5e revised" also convey this idea?

Sure--but it could be more efficient. I don't care for "5ER" because "ER" does not have a conventional meaning. "5.5e," on the other hand, clearly draws on the conventional meaning. But I would not be upset if they consistently called it that, it just would not be to my preference.

Instead, they keep loudly insisting it is "2024 D&D." I have about the same feeling toward this as I do toward the naming of the game which preceded DOOM Eternal. That is, it is just called "DOOM." Now, don't get me wrong, I think that that game is great (which is very weird for me, I'm not normally much one for DOOM-style games)--but it adds unnecessary confusion. The industry has seemingly collectively agreed to call it "DOOM (2016)", but this is clearly awkward and less-than-desirable. It would have been better if they'd stuck with the original name (DOOM 4) or picked a subtitle to distinguish it (such as DOOM Reborn or the like). Naturally, I would have preferred the simplicity of a numbered entry, since that's really what it is (there are even internal references to the "third era" and such which clearly call out prior games in the series, indicating the Doomguy has traversed space and time and in some way "been" every version the player has played.) But I would have accepted at least a subtitle, especially given it will soon be flanked by both a sequel and an upcoming prequel, DOOM: The Dark Ages.

It just seems really really clear to me that WotC is avoiding a clearer, simpler, more specific name because they're afraid of the implications the audience will draw from that name. I genuinely do not believe that anyone on the team actually prefers this nomenclature over something simpler and more consistent with the game's history.