D&D 5E What Makes 5E "5E"?

[Malmuria]

'Culture of play' is just a softened way of playing up otherism within the gaming community.

I think any game will want to say to its prospective audience, 'hey, I'm this kind of game.' Just as a matter of definitions. If I'm at a convention and someone is advertising a Shadowdark OSR experience, that label helps me understand what about it might be different than someone running 5e, for example. That can devolve into, 'this kind of game is better than that kind of game,' but definitions are still useful, even as guidelines.

 

[THEMNGMNT]

5e, to me, means material at least loosely compatible with other 5e material. I can use a 5e monster in any other 5e game, for example. I can run 5e adventures from one publisher with 5e characters built from the core books of a different publisher. Spells, magic items, monsters – these are all compatible with other 5e systems. Some material, like subclasses, species, races, feats, and other work might take some conversion work but are also generally 5e compatible.

There are some games built off of 5e that aren't really 5e. I put Shadowdark into this category. It clearly has 5e in its bones but it isn't really compatible in any reasonable way.

I think Mike nailed it. This is a good, practical definition -- games that are 5E vs games derived from 5E (or with 5E elements).

 

[Yaarel]

'Culture of play' is just a softened way of playing up otherism within the gaming community.

D&D includes numerous styles, each with its enthusiasts and traditions supporting it.

It is about figuring out what aspects of D&D one oneself enjoys most.

 

[Oofta]

D&D includes numerous styles, each with its enthusiasts and traditions supporting it.

I would even say that my style can sometimes vary depending on where we are in the campaign, the group, if we just feel like doing something a bit different. Have a long stretch of RP heavy politics and minimal or no combat? Maybe it's time to invade the enemy headquarters, chew bubble gum and kick ass when we're all outta bubble gum.

 

[Stalker0]

I would boil down 5e to two core concepts:

• Bounded Accuracy
• Rulings not Rules

Bounded accuracy includes a lot of the core 5e mechanics: Concentration, Adv/Dis instead of bonuses, a lack of stacking, a removal of a lot of "you can't play if your not X lvl" type mechanics or monsters. All of that stems from this core philosophy.

Rulings not Rules was a reversal on 3e/4e's mentality and a return to the older dnd systems. The notion that the rulebooks don't have to codify every scenario and try and synchronize dming through a large consistent rules base. It was the appreciation that the DM is the cornerstone of the game, and rules simply cannot replace a good dm. And so fostering good dming and then relying on them to arbitrate well became the new philosophy (that is also the old philosophy)

 

[Swarmkeeper]

That isn't true. Remember the first principles of 5E design: the GM presents the situation, the PC(s) describe their action, and the GM decides whether or not to ask for a ability check.

THAT is narrative agency.

There is no one true way and the rules just give suggestions in many cases. How do you describe that you want to know about some symbol when it could be a history or religion check? It could even be an investigation check to notice a hidden pattern or a perception check to see that someone is trying to obscure a different symbol?

It may add value to your game to go into detail on how someone disarm a trap but I've had a DM that turned it into "If you know what the DM wants to hear it works, otherwise it fails. "

That is why they emphasize rulings over rules. So if a DM and group is okay with "I search for traps" or "Insight check?" then that becomes the rule at the table.

I find it an… odd argument that paraphrasing the “How to Play” intro section of the PHB is somehow deemed onetruewayism.

 

[Reynard]

I find it an… odd argument that paraphrasing the “How to Play” intro section of the PHB is somehow deemed onetruewayism.

I literally have no idea what you are talking about.