D&D 5E What is most important to you for 5e?

[Blackbrrd]

I have been lurking around the threads here for a while and I do wonder what's most important to you for 5e?

For me it's the adventures. I want adventures with some epic fights, ways for the players to go completely FUBAR or come up with amazing strategies to overcome problems. I also want some very good opportunities for the players to roleplay and get into the mood of the game, not just the dice.

Why did I make this thread? It's partially because of this kickstarter: http://www.enworld.org/forum/news/3...nture-pathfinder-rpg-kickstarter-project.html It just seems like an awesome adventure and a model for adventures made for 5e.

The absolutely best adventure for me in 3.x was Red Hand of Doom - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia It had lots of different elements to make it a great story to DM. It had some funky too, but mainly I liked it because my players had decisions to make that were really important. I will never gonna forget when the Chaotic Good quasi-paladin came up with the: "We are going to make a deal with the Lich hey-hey"-slogan and persuaded the whole party to come along for the ride.

For 4e, the best module I DM-ed was The Scouring of Gate Pass War of the Burning Sky Adventure Path - EN World: Your Daily RPG Magazine it was a great city adventure and the skill challenges with the dwarves towards the end worked out brilliantly.

So, what if 5e starts of with quality adventures like this instead of pretty darned boring stuff like Keep on the Shadowfell - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia which in my eyes was as imagineative as a rock.
http://www.enworld.org/forum/news/3...nture-pathfinder-rpg-kickstarter-project.html

 

[CasvalRemDeikun]

Balance and ligitimate character options (not "I hit it with my sword).

EDIT: Oh, and a game that does not rely totally on the DM for it to function. I want a game that could be played DM-LESS.

 

[Ahnehnois]

Open-endedness*.

*possibly not a word

 

[caudor]

For me...fun.

 

[steeldragons]

EDIT: Oh, and a game that does not rely totally on the DM for it to function. I want a game that could be played DM-LESS.

Then why not play something other than D&D? I'm sure there must be other fantasy RPGs out there that do not require a DM/GM.

For myself, I want something with solid archetypal classes (I won't dare to wager what is "legitimate") that also offer options to do multiple types/concepts of characters within those classes (Themes/Specialties, Schemes and Domains seem on a good track to allow for this).

Adventures that can be any combination of combat, exploration, and/or interaction (or none at all, if for example you feel like an "all combat" or "all interaction", be it for one session or a whole campaign)...basically dials (even in the published ones, if possible) to generate whatever sort of experience you're looking for at the moment.

Flavor. I want flavor. Good ole creative, imaginative (or, perhaps more importantly, sparking of the imagination) fantasy flavor. In classes, races, monsters, magic and magic items...everything, really.

I think those are the "biggie" general points that are most important for me.

--SD

 

[CasvalRemDeikun]

Then why not play something other than D&D? I'm sure there must be other fantasy RPGs out there that do not require a DM/GM.

Because I like most of the other stuff from D&D? Why do people who want the game to be totally reliant on a DM not just ditch the rules and ask the DM what happens?

 

[steeldragons]

Because I like most of the other stuff from D&D? Why do people who want the game to be totally reliant on a DM not just ditch the rules and ask the DM what happens?

I imagine some do...I wouldn't/don't...but some probably do.

D&D has rules AND a DM...that's the game. You have an "adjudicator", a "referee", "judge" and (at least most of the time) "narrator", someone who (hopefully) has a modicum of common sense and sense of fairness (not to mention, if one is very lucky, a sense of humor, drama and creativity) to make coherent "rulINGS" and an enjoyable experience for their table.

D&D is not "totally reliant" on the DM...it is, really, primarily dependent on the players (without whom there's BE no story/adventure/game to use either the rules or the DM)...It is also not "totally reliant" on the rules. It is the meshing of the two (rules AND DM) that makes it D&D.

If you don't like that...that's totally fine. It is a game, you should be having fun with it. If it's not fun for you, play something else. Noone's going to find fault with that.

I could just as easily ask, "Why do people who want the game to be totally reliant on the rules not just ditch RPGs and play a video game or something that doesn't allow you to step outside of those preset parameters?"

D&D (or any RPG, imo) is not intended for the "binary at heart."

EDIT: As for liking "most of the other stuff from D&D", that's why I said another fantasy RPG...or just fantasy game in general. There are other places to get one's fix for elves and goblins, swords, magic and dragons.
/EDIT.

--SD

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

The thread hasn't even started yet, and people are already telling each other that they shouldn't play D&D in the first place, because it cannot do what they want it from. D&D Next sounds like a more and more challenging proposition.

---

I think what I like to see most are interesting mechanic that allow for balanced gameplay (in all areas of play, not just combat) between the classes, presenting everyone with interesting and meaningful options.

 

[Blackbrrd]

Nobody thinking quality adventures being important? Do you guys make all your adventures yourself or have DMs that make them for you?

 

[ferratus]

The Silver Standard. No, not just listing gp prices in sp, but actually have silver be a meaningful currency for buying and selling goods. In other words, treasure comes in bags of silver, rather than pouches of gold.

Why? I want a chest of gold peices to be a king's ransom, not a chest of astral diamonds.

 

[Shadeydm]

Most of all I want to see a core game that is the distilled bare bones essence of D&D that is playstyle neutral. (Even the fighter action dice should be an option not core IMHO)
I want to see lots and lots of optional modules with rules/mechanics from every edition and hopefully brand new ones too.
I want to be able to totally cherry pick and build my game to emulate any edition and any playstyle via those optional modules.

Regarding adventures: I think quality adventures would be great but if the game stinks they will have been wasted. Like Delta Green was one of the best sourcebooks/adventures I've ever read yet generally wasted money since nobody is playing that system.

 

[steeldragons]

Nobody thinking quality adventures being important? Do you guys make all your adventures yourself or have DMs that make them for you?

I generally do make them up myself. Most of my DMs over the years (for the limited amount I get to play instead of DM) made up their own too...now how much they took from published stuff I can't really say.

But, yes, I still want quality adventures from which to rip..er...I mean, "borrow" ideas. Or, even better, seeing something in a published adventure that sparks a different idea that I can make my own. nd if I like it so much I just run it, whole hog, as it is then fantastic! Adventures that are a good read, whether I ever play them or not, are also highly valued.

Your question kind of answers itself. That is, I think everyone wants quality/well-written/creative/<insert whatever adjective you think makes a "good" adventure here> published modules. I don't think anyone would advocate having/wanting crappy adventures published just for the sake of publishing something with a "For 5e!" on the cover.

 

[Li Shenron]

I want 5e to allow me to run a large variety of D&D campaigns (e.g. letting me to emphasize downtime activity in one campaing, exploration in another and so on...) but without getting headaches because of rules complexity.

 

[Ahnehnois]

Nobody thinking quality adventures being important? Do you guys make all your adventures yourself or have DMs that make them for you?

If I'm buying a D&D book, I'm buying it to get something I don't already have. I don't have a way of taking a fantasy action adventure and converting the setting, characters, and events into discrete game mechanics (or at least I didn't before I bought my D&D books).

OTOH, I have more good stories and character ideas and setting elements than I know what to do with. And if I didn't, I'd just check out a (non-D&D) book/movie/news story for some inspiration.

As to the legwork; I've never seen any premade stat blocks/maps/etc. for any system, D&D or otherwise, that I would use out of the book; that stuff is just wasted space.

So to me the answer is a definitive no. YMMV.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Nobody thinking quality adventures being important? Do you guys make all your adventures yourself or have DMs that make them for you?

It would be neat, but currently, I am running my own campaigns and I don't see an urgent need to change that.

 

[Pour]

It has to add something new to the D&D conversation. It has to provide me with a legitimate game that isn't so derived from past editions that I could simply play those games and have a more robust and tailored experience. It has to be a 5th edition and not a distillation of any sort of D&D 'truth' (which I'm not sure I believe exists). I want a lot of new settings and planes, also. I am a sucker for settings and planes.

... Oh, and it has to fix the economic crisis.

 

[Lord Mhoram]

A game loose enough with balance to easily run it assuming imbalance, but have it there for those who want it (optional one or the other).

More power to the GM, less to the rules than 4th or 3rd.

More interaction with the world and GM and less interaction on the character sheet - you don't look at Char sheet to see what you can do - you tell the GM what you do, and end up looking at sheet to see if you succeed or fail.

Lots of Spells. Lots of combat options for non casters.

Workable, flavorful Multiclassing.

Classes not being and in world thing, but a game design view of a package of mechanics, so the character isn't "A fighter" but "Bob" - with class, theme, background, possible multiclassing just being metagame concepts. A 3rd ed like system like that, but less definition of classes (especially prestige class type things) within world. The levels are just a discreet set of abilities that you give your character. Someone with 8 levels in 8 different classes is a viable and workable character - and none of those classes really define the character. (Yeah, I come from a point based system preference) - but if the GM wants his world to be defined by classes so you aren't playing Bob, but Bob the figther, the system supports that. It just isn't default play (or what I want as an optional module that is in the core book).

 

[Stormonu]

I want something that works with the 30+ years of D&D stuff I have - and for which I can get new adventures and supplements that all works together.

And at the very least, I want something I'll want to play - not that will end up sitting on my shelf collecting dust unused.

 

[stoloc]

I agree having a decent starting adventure will be important (UNLIKE 4e had at the start) but I think when you ask what folks think is most important thats not gonna rank up there as high as some other things.

For me I want a balanced game that is simpler and faster than 4e but gives better ballance than 3e and is more "unified" than 1/2e (by that I mean doesnt have the quirky rules where some things you roll high, some you roll low).

For me I hope the original Adventure is more like the one thats in kickstarter right now or T1-4 than the crap they did for 4e. Personally I think a huge part of the problem 4e's had was the loss of talent to pathfinder and other companies for adventures. I hate the pathfinder system compared to 4e but their products blow wotc's away.

 

[Blackbrrd]

Ok, any of you DM's that are overflowing with campaign ideas that live in Norway and want a new player? I don't think I have had time or will to create my own campaign in a long time and the other DM in our group got a kid and haven't been DM-ing for 2 years.

Btw, I find all your answers really interesting, mostly because they are so incredibly different.