D&D (2024) What will the impact of 1D&D be on 3PP material?

[Eyes of Nine]

For those who have been keeping up with the playtest materials - what will the impact of 1D&D be on 3PP material?

I know WotC has promised to make 1D&D backwards compatible with their own stuff; but they can't ensure it's compatible with the loads of Third Party Publisher (3PP) material that's out there (and probably don't even want to). Or am I looking at this wrong? Should I be thinking instead: If it's compatible with O5e (original 5e), then it'll automagically be compatible with 3PP stuff?

So - what's the skinny here? Is there already a thread on this?

 

[Yaarel]

My hope is, 5e players incorporate indy material as frequently as 1e players homebrewed houserules.

Whether earlier indy content remains viable in 2024 depends on how closely it adheres to the 2014 game engine. The more liberties an indy product took, the greater the chance of needing to update the indy rules to remain compatible with 2024.

 

[mellored]

I've been running 2024 and 2014 characters side by side for a while with no issues.

There may be an issue if you have a subclasses, item, or monster that directly refers to a specific class feature or spell.

For instance, Druids can now trade spell slots for extra Wild Shape. And if you balanced a subclass expecting 2 wild shapes per short rest, your going to have to adjust.

Or if you have a monster that combines Conjure Animals + Polymorph, your going to need to rewrite that to be more explicit.

But the majority of things will be fine.

 

[bedir than]

For those who have been keeping up with the playtest materials - what will the impact of 1D&D be on 3PP material?

I know WotC has promised to make 1D&D backwards compatible with their own stuff; but they can't ensure it's compatible with the loads of Third Party Publisher (3PP) material that's out there (and probably don't even want to). Or am I looking at this wrong? Should I be thinking instead: If it's compatible with O5e (original 5e), then it'll automagically be compatible with 3PP stuff?

So - what's the skinny here? Is there already a thread on this?

I think you'll find that the three pillars of 1D&D have differing impacts on 3pp

The 2024 rules shouldn't have any impact. The compatibility is clear. People have been running 5e24 alongside 5e14 and 3pp for almost two years now.

Beyond now has some 3pp, but not a lot. That slow pace likely continues.

The 3D VTT seems like it will allow 3pp more than Beyond does, as the VTT doesn't require a rule set to use.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

Yeah, I can't imagine how it will have any impact. The OGL fiasco had a much, much bigger impact than D&D5.24 could ever come close to.

 

[Morrus]

I don't think it will make any difference. Unless the new D&D is such a divergent product that the very terminology has changed, 3PPs already have all the tools they need to make compatible products.

The thing that will affect 3PPs is the DDB-focus and walled garden approach. It's not that 3PPs won't be able to make the stuff, it's whether people will buy it if it isn't on DDB. Right now that's a small issue--but that has the potential to turn into a major hurdle as D&D moves more online and more dependent on WotC controlled digital platforms.

 

[aco175]

I do not think it is up to them to ensure the compatibility with 3pp stuff. If I made a world and a bunch of new classes and monsters, and then the base rules were changed, I would need to update them with a FAQ or a new book with the updates inside. Did Wizards look at all the DMsGuild products to see if they would be ok? No. Even though that site is related to them directly. How many new subclasses come out they each week?

When A5e or TOV come out with a new version of 5e, do they make sure it is compatible? I guess it uses the same chassis to make the game and then expand from there. There seems to be stull I like in these that are not placed in the 5.5e coming out. This will make me chose what to bring into my home game. The issue of DDBeyond only allowing some digital to play in their online will be a problem for 3pp.

 

[GMMichael]

The thing that will affect 3PPs is the DDB-focus and walled garden approach. It's not that 3PPs won't be able to make the stuff, it's whether people will buy it if it isn't on DDB. Right now that's a small issue--but that has the potential to turn into a major hurdle as D&D moves more online and more dependent on WotC controlled digital platforms.

This has me thinking about the Google Maps Effect. I'm seeing people who can't find anything without GM (ouch, bad acronym) because GM just walks them through getting from point A to point B (see also, Railroading is Bad). The brain-muscle grows weak. If ODD takes up the difficulty factor a bit, then DDB (and whatever new tech pops up for walking players through ODD) will make third party products that don't have licenses with DDB seem painful to use. Like real maps.

 

[tetrasodium]

For those who have been keeping up with the playtest materials - what will the impact of 1D&D be on 3PP material?

I know WotC has promised to make 1D&D backwards compatible with their own stuff; but they can't ensure it's compatible with the loads of Third Party Publisher (3PP) material that's out there (and probably don't even want to). Or am I looking at this wrong? Should I be thinking instead: If it's compatible with O5e (original 5e), then it'll automagically be compatible with 3PP stuff?

So - what's the skinny here? Is there already a thread on this?

The same thing that happened to the old 2e & 3.0 stuff when 3.5 came out. Either it will be updated & reprinted or GMs will use it for anything from inspiration to as is with minor tweaks.

This has me thinking about the Google Maps Effect. I'm seeing people who can't find anything without GM (ouch, bad acronym) because GM just walks them through getting from point A to point B (see also, Railroading is Bad). The brain-muscle grows weak. If ODD takes up the difficulty factor a bit, then DDB (and whatever new tech pops up for walking players through ODD) will make third party products that don't have licenses with DDB seem painful to use. Like real maps.

I don't think it's that simple, google maps & voicenav gps apps do everything* that paper maps did & more. A better comparison would have been paper maps vrs those old mapquest printouts. DDB might be more searchable than a dead tree book, but so is an OCR'd PDF. Like those printouts the automation in ddb can be just as much (or more) of a limitation as a boon too.

* A lot of them even keep cached copies of large geographic areas (ie entire states or regions) so they can serve mapdata even if you have no signal while traveling

 

[Uni-the-Unicorn!]

For those who have been keeping up with the playtest materials - what will the impact of 1D&D be on 3PP material?

I know WotC has promised to make 1D&D backwards compatible with their own stuff; but they can't ensure it's compatible with the loads of Third Party Publisher (3PP) material that's out there (and probably don't even want to). Or am I looking at this wrong? Should I be thinking instead: If it's compatible with O5e (original 5e), then it'll automagically be compatible with 3PP stuff?

So - what's the skinny here? Is there already a thread on this?

Basically compatible same as 2024 is to 2014 and 2014 is to 3PP