D&D General What are your D&D gaming practices?

[Kobold Stew]

Thanks, all for the replies so far! This is really interesting. I know this is not scientific, and it's not obvious how to extrapolate from this, but the following stands out for me (without wanting to over-interpret the information elicited so far):

• about half of us do some online gaming, but playing at the table still dominates.
• almost everyone who answered has some active gaming going on. That's awesome.
• almost everyone uses physical books; and between a quarter and a third subscribe to D&D Beyond.
• of those playing 5e, it's split roughly 50/50 between those who have gone to 2024 and those who haven't.

Keep the answers coming! We'll see if any of this changes over the long tail.

 

[DEFCON 1]

• of those playing 5e, it's split roughly 50/50 between those who have gone to 2024 and those who haven't.

Heh... I actually voted for both 5E14 and 5E24 as I pick and choose which bits from each I use. Or more often than not... I have no idea which rule came from which book and I'm just improvising whatever "ruling" makes the most sense in any given moment, LOL.

RAW is overrated.

 

[Kobold Stew]

Heh... I actually voted for both 5E14 and 5E24 as I pick and choose which bits from each I use. Or more often than not... I have no idea which rule came from which book and I'm just improvising whatever "ruling" makes the most sense in any given moment, LOL.

RAW is overrated.

Ha! So still 50/50!

 

[Rainbow Scissors]

Mainly at the table, with the 2014 rules.
My group tried the 2024 rules for a little while, but have settled on the 2014 rules. There were some ideas that we liked in the 2024 rules, but there were also a lot of ideas that we strongly disliked. In particular, we did not like that 2024 Backgrounds removed the narrative elements that 2014 Backgrounds had.

It has been an ongoing discussion to try Enworld's A5E or Tales of the Valiant for the next campaign, after our current one wraps up. We'll see if that actually happens. We talk about trying those 5E variants, but it remains to be seen if they provide enough difference to actually warrant a change. There's a chance that we talk about it but still keep playing what we're playing because it's what we already have. That means needing to find people still publishing 5.0 content.

 

[el-remmen]

I forgot to answer for C4, that I pay for Owlbear Rodeo and Dungeonscrawl.

 

[THEMNGMNT]

Basically, I do all of the above. Clearly, I am a mega-consumer hyper engaged with RPGs.

 

[Stormonu]

A couple of things:

I build my adventures using a mix of the books and online tools, generally play primarily with electronic content (PDFs, DDB, etc.)

I use the online tools DDB, Rolld20, OMM (vtt), Homebrewery, DM's Binder, Token Stamp, and DungeonFog. Every so often, I use Discord when using a VTT.

I also use non-internet computer tools Profantasy City/Dungeon Designer, Wonderdraft, Obsidian (for taking notes/tracking campaign world), and Goodreader/Fox-it (for viewing PDFs). I'm in the process of building an Access/MS-SQL 2019 local DB of my game content (to include my homebrew and non-WotC content).

 

[Lazybones]

I currently run three games; a 5.0 and a 5.5 game in Fantasy Grounds and an in-person 5.5 game. I plan on winding down the 5.0 game later this year. These are all long-standing groups that have played for years, completing several campaigns each. Both of my 5.5 games started with the 5.0 ruleset, and we switched after a group discussion at breaks between campaigns. I recently started using Fantasy Grounds with my live group as well, projecting maps and other content onto a flatscreen set onto the tabletop.

I watch Dungeon Dudes regularly, and I'll catch the odd GinnyDi or other YouTuber if the algorithm shows me something interesting. I avoid all of the channels that opine on the future of D&D or whatever's currently going on with WotC.

I used to watch Critical Role regularly (all of campaigns 1 and 2 and most of 3), but now only catch the occasional episode or clips. Still a big fan of their animated programs. I've enjoyed Dimension 20 as well, but I haven't seen most of their content since it's behind a paywall.

 

[Kobold Stew]

I am surprised there's not more YouTube viewers, honestly. Many people have mentioned SLyFlourish, which I do not know. One has mentioned the Dungeon Dudes. None have mentioned D4 (D&D Deep Dive) and Treantmonk, as well as Pack Tactics, DnD Shorts, the Twig, etc. I would have expected them to be more popular. Some others, I know, primarily are click-baiting and scaremongering rumours; I don't mention them.

 

[Whisper-Kitten]

I used to use physical books a all the time until I realized how much easier was to search for something with a tablet compared to having 4 books open with multiple pieces of paper for bookmarks.