D&D 5E The D&D Next books I'd like to see after the Core

[Lord Vangarel]

Assuming WotC release 5e as the three core books rather than all the usual splat books that normally appear I'd like them to spend the first year releasing books aimed at specific previous editions. So we'd get a rules book for D&D Next for 4E with specific rules on using/converting the core 5E system to that edition, another book would be for classic AD&D etc.

This would allow people to use the new system to play their favourite edition and could be a cool new take on the rules plus a refreshing change from Martial Handbook I, Arcane Handbook, etc.

What do you guys think?

 

[Li Shenron]

I think they will publish online articles on how to do that, rather than selling printed books, because having specific books for that will give e.g. 4e players the feeling that they need to buy more books to even start play something they like. Those books won't feel "optional" but rather "mandatory", so it's better for WotC to give the feeling we don't really need much in order to play 5e in the style we want.

 

[delericho]

I think each of us has a certain set of 'required' components that we need to be supported to convert our campaigns. For example, as an Eberron DM I 'need' Warforged, Changelings, Artificers, etc. Other DMs will, of course, have other 'needs'. And, no matter how they structure them, the core rulebook(s) will inevtiable have to miss some of these things out - they simply cannot support everything.

Therefore I would expect WotC to spend much of that first year "filling in the gaps" - they won't convert everything, but I would expect them to convert a broad base of material to make it easy for the many existing campaigns to convert over.

I wouldn't be at all surprised if the "old edition support" were the subject of extensive conversion/support articles in eDragon when it returns (or its successor). Or even being made available as free articles on the D&D website.

 

[Jeff Carlsen]

Personally, I'm not interested in books focused on specific editions. I'm far more interested in books related to sub-genres. Books like Heroes of Battle with guidance and rules modules for running a war based campaign.

For general playstyle modules, the DMG and a future Unearthed Arcana can probably fulfill most needs.

 

[Dausuul]

Assuming WotC release 5e as the three core books rather than all the usual splat books that normally appear I'd like them to spend the first year releasing books aimed at specific previous editions. So we'd get a rules book for D&D Next for 4E with specific rules on using/converting the core 5E system to that edition, another book would be for classic AD&D etc.

This would allow people to use the new system to play their favourite edition and could be a cool new take on the rules plus a refreshing change from Martial Handbook I, Arcane Handbook, etc.

This assumes that people who are deeply committed to edition X will be interested in adapting 5E to play like edition X. Why would you do that? You've got edition X already. If you switch to 5E, it's going to be because 5E offers you something that edition X doesn't--which means that you don't want it to play just like edition X.

I would be much more interested in an "Unearthed Arcana 5E" book, which presents an array of options for customizing 5E in wild and out-of-the-box ways, and doesn't attempt to group them by edition. Let us, the players and DMs, be the judges of which elements of each edition appeal to us. While they're at it, they could throw in ideas that have never been present in the printed rules of any D&D edition*. E6 rules! Vitality/wound points! Something that does what skill challenges tried to do, but actually works without the DM having to build a ton of stuff on top of the basic system!

Beyond that, I think they can and will profitably occupy the first couple of years just filling in all the usual gaps. Monster books, setting books, Manual of the Planes, PHB supplements with the classes that didn't make the cut for PHB1, et cetera, et cetera. But I do hope they're more adventurous in terms of providing optional rules and variants.

[SIZE=-2]*As far as I know. Now that I've said this, somebody is going to point out that in the Dragon Magazine Director's Cut, cuneiform edition, all of these things are presented as official rules for D&D 1.5E.[/SIZE]

 

[Mistwell]

A really good adventure.

That's the first thing I want them to focus on, after the core books. Publishing a really good adventure. Maybe an "adventure path", maybe just a single adventure. But that's what I want them to focus on first.

I got the sense that The Sunless Citadel and The Forge of Fury (two good adventurers) helped D&D 3.0e take off initially, and I hope they do something similar for 5e.

 

[TwoSix]

A really good adventure.

That's the first thing I want them to focus on, after the core books. Publishing a really good adventure. Maybe an "adventure path", maybe just a single adventure. But that's what I want them to focus on first.

I got the sense that The Sunless Citadel and The Forge of Fury (two good adventurers) helped D&D 3.0e take off initially, and I hope they do something similar for 5e.

I agree that an extremely good adventure path would be a great move. An Unearthed Arcana to emphasize what should be the wild, wooly nature of 5e modding and homebrewing should also be an early release.

Sometime soon after, I want The Complete Book of Complicated Warriors and Simple Casters, followed by The Complete Book of Hit Point Options.

 

[the Jester]

A really good adventure.

I rarely agree with anyone as strongly as I do with Misty here.

Not some crap adventure with cool maps; not an adventure designed to highlight new mechanics in the crappiest way possible (e.g. the skill challenge with Sir Kegel or whatever in KotS); not an adventure with meaningless encounters that serve no purpose except for filler while pretending to be important (the excavation site encounter in KotS). A good adventure with a solid set of maps (PLEASE NO GODDAMN DUNGEON TILES!), cover art that doesn't make it look pretty much like the same brown smear that all other adventures released for the edition look like, enough plot for storyteller gamers but little enough plot for sandboxy dms to make their own.

Let's not rush out a crap adventure just to show off the game this time. All that does is make the game look like crap, too.

 

[delericho]

A really good adventure.

Yes.

Maybe an "adventure path", maybe just a single adventure.

Nah, definitely an adventure. A really good adventure path would be great, but it's much harder. WotC really need to walk before they try to run on this one.

 

[DEFCON 1]

See... while I agree for the most part with "A really good adventure"... in truth, I think we'd be better served with "Several really good adventures from specific campaign settings that includes player options to update characters to 5E rules."

If the era of the splatbook is gone as Mike has hinted at (where most of all the first new books released are all just player crunch)... and the idea of releasing new full-sized Campaign Setting books that end up re-writing or kind of adapting previous material is unrealistic because of the size and amount of details necessary to make them actually useful...

...I'd rather see them release a series of Levels 1-10 adventure modules plus mini-campaign settings (a la Ghosts of Dragonspear Castle) for each of their main settings that include the player crunch necessary to adapt characters into that particular setting. So the Forgotten Realms adventure would include race information for genasi and drow and the swordmage sub-class... the Eberron softcover would include the shifters, kalashtar, and changelings plus the Artificer sub-class... Dragonlance has kender... Dark Sun has muls and thri-kreens... etc. etc. Give us a mini-campaign of adventures to take us from Levels 1-10 with all the details of the small area we are in, and fill in the character creation details to cover those options not already detailed in the main game.

At this point I don't know if any of us really need full campaign setting books covering the entire world of these settings (since we've gotten them several times before), but perhaps just a smaller area in much more detail would serve. And we also don't need books of just crunch, because that tends to expand the rules of the game too far too fast. And while good adventures are absolutely important, those by themselves tend to often be DM-only purchases and thus aren't as financially sound as other options.

But if you could combine all three of them together into a single product? A product that both players and DMs would potentially buy? A product that opens up most of (if not all) of the game's previous settings within the first year of the game's existence? You might have something that gets a huge swathe of the gaming population up and running in their favorite settings using 5E right off the bat. And even if the mini-settings do nothing for some people... you can still easily yank out the adventures and place them in your own individual world like always.

This seems to me to be the best of all worlds.