So, they could release a new Oriental Adventures, that has the Mystic (regardless of older psionics, the mystic is definitely psuedo-Eastern), kensai and samurai sub-classes for fighter, ninja for rogue, and some new spells, feats, and items that fit that sort of genre. Do something similar for African, Arabian, etc. settings. Then, do stuff like steampunk, Enlightenment, Roman, etc. Each of these would be somewhat self-limiting on the bloat because it'd be a strange campaign, indeed, that had characters who borrowed from both feudal Japan and tribal Africa.
I personally would rather have resource books that are non-setting specific like the Complete series from 2nd edition or better yet, cultural expansion books with Asian, Middle Eastern, Meso-American etc. like you stated above. Those would be great
I hope that if they do this, they at least research it so it's not just a bunch of stereotypes and kung fu movie references for the East Asian one. The whole broken-English and acting like Mr. Miyagi/Jackie Chan/Bruce Lee gets really old, really quickly. All of them would take actual research actually.
It may be fun to have them put out guide books that really details a region, settlement, city, or organization, that has a strong identity and/or cultural reference, but that can be dropped into just about any campaign, so DMs can grab it up, make it their own, and drop it into their home game. I'd like it to be heavy on fluff - I feel like there are enough mechanics out there for now, although I always love new (but well thought out) monsters, spells and (magic) items tied thematically to new fluff - and I'd prefer something relatively contained but creative and original rather than something big and sprawling.
Personally, instead of putting out books on an entire campaign world, I'd rather have a book fully detailing:
a powerful, hidden yuan-ti clan with a well thought out hierarchy and members with competing agendas, detailing a number of strongholds and organizations both within the clan's hidden lands as well as within civilized realms (perhaps the court of a duke or a thieves' guild or a bards' school that has been infiltrated by one or more purebloods); or
a smallish forgotten continent/island/region that has elements of an established setting (Eberron, Dark Sun, Ravenloft, Maztica, etc.) or an entirely new setting (maybe something with Call of Cthulu or Sci-Fi or Prehistoric elements) - the key would be that the PCs can visit this strange place relatively easily, maybe by finding an ancient map or by having a ship go off course, i.e. not something that requires traveling across the Planes or having the DM switch entirely new campaign setting and starting the narrative from scratch; or
a city with futuristic technology that has been lost deep in the desert for centuries but is now overrun by various clutches of monsters warring with each other, trying to unlock the secrets of the city before it is (re)discovered by "civilized" human(oid)s; or
a sky-castle operated by a family of cloud giants, some good, some evil, who love each other but bitterly disagree as to their roles within the Ordning and with rivalries and alliances both with and against dragons, civilized humanoids, other giants, etc...
Basically, I do not want adventures with set encounters or timelines or narratives, or huge sprawling campaign worlds that require your entire game to be set within it, both which I find too restricting in ways, but rather something a DM can drop into any campaign but with enough hooks to build a bunch of adventures around, maybe even spark ideas for one or more entire home grown campaigns that can use the material as a catalyst.
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-If you have the misfortune of coming across a dwarf named Morag, a half-elf that goes by Nichalaus, or their human travelling companions Sukiem-Tor, Ak'huma, Dat'Vi Bek and Doc Ryder, immediately start walking back from whence you came. You'll thank me later.
That doesn't have too much to do with what I was saying, but okay. My main thing was making it seem authentic rather than a parody of a culture. Dropping it into campaigns convincingly without it becoming satire (to me) usually involves a little more research. I know others are fully able to have fun with stereotypes and a little bit of backstory and a handful of descriptions, but for me it doesn't always seem fair to the original culture they were pulling from.
DM'ing in 2e was madness. There were so many damn books to keep up with and every player had a favorite and it just got overwhelming. 3E had that with the d20 license too. You spent most of your time as a DM saying "No" to things vs finding great ways to use them because you couldn't keep up (well I couldn't). 5e? I've got three campaigns and am writing a fourth. I'm spending fair money on my hobby, loving the results, and keeping up.
Don't get me started, I began with 2e and there was so much being put out in those days. I don't think I could keep up.
Maybe a sourcebook for different genres under the 5e rules? Something like Steampunk, Urban-Fantasy, Feudal Japan?
Something you could keep the core mechanics, add or take away some bits here or there and it's now a completely different setting.
I'd played 1E for several years before 2E was released. There were a few things I hated about 2E (TWF Rangers annoy me to no end) that I "officially" continued to run a 1E game. There were enough things about 2E that I liked, though (not all priests strapped on heavy armor and waded into combat, thieves had some options to specialize) that I mixed the two editions quite a bit*. We used several of the expansion books, but it was always explicit as being my call because I was (theoretically) running 1E, not 2E.
* If you didn't play in that era, the difference between 1E and 2E was more like 3E and Pathfinder. Sometimes you'd have issues, but 95% of the time, things worked just fine. Whenever 6E comes out, I hope it's as close to 5E, just tidying a few things up (nothing specific, IMO, just acknowledging both that new editions are inevitable and that, while I'm pretty happy with 5E, I'm sure there are ways it could be improved).
I agree that limiting the number of splat books is a good way to go. We don't need a book with new races and classes every few months. I only want books that are easy to use in any setting whether that be Forgotten Realms, Dragonlance, Eberon, or Homebrew. Books like the SCAG are good, but really only if you play in Forgotten Realms (and rightfully so given the title), but I would have liked the new character options published separately from the fluff of the setting as only about 20 pages of the book are useful out of 160 so hardly worth be price (at least in my opinion).
The adventure books are ok for DM's that don't want to have to do the extra work or just don't have the time to create their own, but I feel that they should be made along side books that are useful to the rest of us as well.
TL;DR Campaign World specific source books are good, but in my opinion should provide mostly fluff with the crunchy bits such as character options and the like being published in a more universally useful nature.
My biggest wishlist item is small adventures that are easily used for higher level campaigns. I have been running the same campaign since 4e and sometimes I have writers block. I managed to shift the group into Tyranny during my last block and it has been okay to adjust to their level; however it would have been preferable to have a nice 8 hour adventure for level 10+ players to ease my addled mind. I find most DMs guild adventures to be low level as well.
Tales is an option perhaps but they still felt the need to release it as a full 300+ page book. I would love a cheaper single adventure even as a pdf.
I suppose their goal was to have the guild fill that void and there is lots of great content on there, I just haven't found anything to fit my needs.
I hope that they will never do a 6th or newer edition.
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He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And if you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss also gazes into you.
It's the nature of the beast. Every now and again you have to reboot to a new edition because the market is saturated with your core content, player tastes change, and you sort of run out of "optional material" or weird corner-case splat books to print to an ever dwindling audience. Now, 5e is built on a decently solid foundation that I expect to last longer than 4e (6 years) or 3e (8 years) did, but at best it's probably got a life cycle similar to 2e (11years). So, if I was a betting guy, I'd bet on something new in the pipeline in the next ten or so years.
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"The mongoose blew out its candle and was asleep in bed before the room went dark." —Llanowar fable
Technically third edition is still continuing via Pathfinder, and made a small company the second most dominant RPG company behind WotC. Well it's debatable. Some people might claim Paizo is a larger RPG company as WotC has other products.
So third edition has been selling well for 20 years or so. Will probably outlast 5th edition. So I'd question the idea that you really need to change editions. Especially since the change to 4th almost killed D&D.
Let's be clear, it was 3.X and its open license that gutted D&D. Having that open license allowed other companies to carry the torch for an old edition long after it had completed its useful life cycle. It was the first time that D&D ever had to compete with itself when it came time to switch editions, allowing players to lag behind in far greater numbers. If anything, the fact that 4.0 lasted as long as it did (just two years shy of 3.X) in the face of that roadblock, in addition to the vast number of fumbles WotC had on the digital front that it was designed to work well with is a testament to how solid and popular a system it was (if however briefly). Pathfinder is not D&D. It is a product built on the bones of a universal D20 system that WotC developed. With no less than four or five systems under its belt, D&D has never been about a system.
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"The mongoose blew out its candle and was asleep in bed before the room went dark." —Llanowar fable
Pathfinder is D&D. It is almost the players handbook reprinted. In essence third edition continues to be profitable. My only point is to take issue that third was past its life cycle when it clearly wasn't.
What really happened is the new designers wanted to make their own game and 4th was created. 3rd didn't reach the end of its lifecycle.
Pathfinder is D&D. It is almost the players handbook reprinted. In essence third edition continues to be profitable. My only point is to take issue that third was past its life cycle when it clearly wasn't.
What really happened is the new designers wanted to make their own game and 4th was created. 3rd didn't reach the end of its lifecycle.
See, that only makes sense if you were to pretend that businesses don't work the way they have traditionally worked for ages and/or assume that WotC is wildly incompetent. Wizards has gone on record many times being clear about the fact that, from Magic to D&D to Duelmaster, etc.; if a product stops being profitable, it's time to change. If Wizards decided that it was time for an edition change, then it was because they were seeing flagging sales in the three core books (PHB, MM, and DMG). You can only reach market saturation so many times, and 3.X had already hit that number more than once from both 3.0 and 3.5 being printed. You can only print so many niche splatbooks before you run out of niches to give you money.
WotC, as a corporation, didn't decide to flush a profitable product-line down the sewers just because some developers wanted to try a new thing. They decided to end support of a flagging product in order to reassert control of the IP via a much stricter license as well as explore making the game more compatible with online table-top platforms that the younger user-base were using more and more of. It's pretty clear they succeed in the first part (not much 4th ed content outside of official sources) while failing extremely hard at the second goal (WotC is still struggling to enter the online arena), all while losing out on the mid-to-late adopters who sit out of new editions until inertia drags them back in because the open game license of 3.X and Pathfinder gave them a home instead.
And here we are today at 5th Ed where Wizards has pretty much decided that selling the three core books plus one splat/adventure book per year is a sound model while they also explore tie-in space via the DM's Guild and this new digital venture with Curse.
Pathfinder isn't D&D just like D20 future isn't Star Wars, Star Trek, Warhammer 40k, Firefly, or any other Sci-Fi RPG with an equitable IP name.
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"The mongoose blew out its candle and was asleep in bed before the room went dark." —Llanowar fable
Started playing D&D with 5e after playing DDO. (Dungeons & Dragons Online - Eberron.)
Have to admit, was pretty excited, and enjoyed the DMG - the mention of the multiverse, Eberron, DarkSun, etc. - it was like, "Yes! This is gonna be great!" The Tyranny series had already come and gone and PoTA was released - Elementals, "Yeah, this is gonna be cool!"
PoTA: "Hmmm... Realms? Ok, I guess - A guide to converting to Eberron... pretty anemic - suppose I'll try Realms." lvl. 15: Red Larch has grown as the heroes grew, and a lightning rail was being established - (made sense, elemental campaign) ;)
Then came Out of the Abyss... (wasn't remotely interested, until Chris Perkins added color to it - then bought and stored it... as a campaign of that nature seems better suited for Eberrons Khyber. After all, a place that is both real, in places, and in others is dimensional, feels better suited for such an epic campaign.
Up to Strahd now? "Yes, finally leaving the Realms... God knows I tried to like it - wait, you start in the Realms. What about the DMG with all this multiverse bit?" So, my players started off and zipped off to Strahds, to be 'spit out' into Eberron. lol!
Got tired of WotC not supporting it, devoured Keith Bakers blog, its about 300+ pages of free material about Eberron, that is updated constantly. Finally bought, practically every 3.5 Eberron source book, and threw up my hands at the idea of WotC ever leaving the Realms.
I watched as Storm Kings Thunder came out, and thought: "Excellent for Xen'Drik, an 'Against the Giants' style campaign" Bought the original Tyranny series and wanted to start a custom campaign, utilizing ideas from both campaign books, to fit with the Eberron Dragon/Giant theme. ;)
When Yawning Portal was released, I thought, "Maybe this is it - finally wrapping up and leaving the Realms"
You may ask, "Why so much hate for the Realms?" - I actually don't hate it... but think about it, essentially one source book for the Realms - SCAG... For the majority of people, 5e is their first edition. Wotc had a ton of material in 3.5, and practically nothing for 5e - they wanted you to buy the old pdfs, as they were afraid of repeating material for the veteran crowd.
Sure, the campaigns were enough flavor, if you were satisfied with the Realms, or rather Neverwinter. Just could not get into that area - they didn't even bother to cover Baldur's Gate - aside for the shout-out in SCAG. ;)
Conclusion: (i.m.o)
1: They totally missed out on presentation. This should have started differently back when WotC bought D&D. a: settings books without stats to keep it edition neutral.
2: Multiverse? Yeah... they could have done something with that. Personally I can fit spelljammer in Eberron, as well as planescape... the setting really has a lot of potential if they would open up the DMsGuild to Keith, seeing they wont do anything. ;) There is really only one campaign I can see being its own setting out of Eberron, and even that could be shoved into one of the 13 planes - DarkSun. The fact is, Keith created a world where anything literally could fit in the world... (key word is it could, doesn't have to - and it really, just works.) a: They could have done campaigns that were true settings neutral, with instructions on how to integrate it into any official setting... i.e., PoTA did the best job, and it was even 'weak'. b: They could have done settings every two - four years, if they released more material than... Neverwinter, and... oh, Neverwinter. ;) (Yes, they have a video game - should have done a WoW, and made the full world of the Realms or Eberron... so they are not so tied to that one area.)
3: Now Mike is hinting at 6.0, twice in a row - so give it 2.5-3 years and it will be here. From what I gather, people aren't liking his ideas for change. It seems to me D&D was on its last legs, due to Pathfinder - and D&D Next, 5e surprised them... and now its rolling again.
Personally, I don't see 6 doing well... The key isn't in making up new rules every 5 years, but... concentrating on content. Campaigns and settings, and make a video game that isn't pay to win, but is a full world - connected to another, and not how DDO did from Eberron to the Realms.
Runhammer Games, as of this post, is currently number 1 on drivethru RPG... and for a reason. As the creator said, "Its how his group plays 5e" - and its how I'm going to start playing mine.
Rules light, and fun... no fuss to make arbitrary rules, and finding faults to lead up to a 6.0.
I'm certain this opinion is not in the majority... its fun to ride the wave, etc. Again, I had a certain expectation, from the DMG, and having played in Eberron, DDO - so my mileage with 5e is a lot shorter than most, as it just hasn't delivered.
This next campaign... dinos. Realms to FeyWild, probably... :p Funny bit is that the floating moats, airship, dinos - feels like they are trying to make the Realms do what Eberron already did nicely... fit all the stuff in D&D into one setting. Take Psionics... it just works, and if you don't like it - it wont be noticed. If you want to play DarkSun or Eberron you have to use optional rules just to get it to work. Now, for new players, this may be better, and I wont argue with it.
Biggest WotC mistake, is not having campaigns with solid support for the various worlds... some skip out altogether. Volo's guide, a Monster Manual 2, focused on Realms... (Where did the Beholders really originate from? At least they left it open to Xoriat and the Daelkyr...) ;)
Pathfinder is D&D. It is almost the players handbook reprinted. In essence third edition continues to be profitable. My only point is to take issue that third was past its life cycle when it clearly wasn't.
What really happened is the new designers wanted to make their own game and 4th was created. 3rd didn't reach the end of its lifecycle.
See, that only makes sense if you were to pretend that businesses don't work the way they have traditionally worked for ages and/or assume that WotC is wildly incompetent. Wizards has gone on record many times being clear about the fact that, from Magic to D&D to Duelmaster, etc.; if a product stops being profitable, it's time to change. If Wizards decided that it was time for an edition change, then it was because they were seeing flagging sales in the three core books (PHB, MM, and DMG). You can only reach market saturation so many times, and 3.X had already hit that number more than once from both 3.0 and 3.5 being printed. You can only print so many niche splatbooks before you run out of niches to give you money.
WotC, as a corporation, didn't decide to flush a profitable product-line down the sewers just because some developers wanted to try a new thing. They decided to end support of a flagging product in order to reassert control of the IP via a much stricter license as well as explore making the game more compatible with online table-top platforms that the younger user-base were using more and more of. It's pretty clear they succeed in the first part (not much 4th ed content outside of official sources) while failing extremely hard at the second goal (WotC is still struggling to enter the online arena), all while losing out on the mid-to-late adopters who sit out of new editions until inertia drags them back in because the open game license of 3.X and Pathfinder gave them a home instead.
And here we are today at 5th Ed where Wizards has pretty much decided that selling the three core books plus one splat/adventure book per year is a sound model while they also explore tie-in space via the DM's Guild and this new digital venture with Curse.
Pathfinder isn't D&D just like D20 future isn't Star Wars, Star Trek, Warhammer 40k, Firefly, or any other Sci-Fi RPG with an equitable IP name.
Pathfinder is literally a reprint of the D&D Player's handbook, with the magic items moved into it and some rewording. It is virtually the same book, with so minor of changes that it at best the same as the jump from 3.0 to 3.5 (some have dubbed it 3.75). The very fact the Pathfinder PHB, DM guide, and monster manual sold and made Paizo a lot of money, proves that 3.0 was not lagging behind in sales. In fact Pathfinder is estimated to have outsold 4th edition...with the alleged book that had run its course.
Its one thing to say a game like D20 future isn't star wars or star treck. It is another thing to say the book that includes the same rules, same spells, same classes, same races, same bonuses, same magic items, isn't the same book.
Literally Pathfinder changed the same amount as 3.5 did from 3.0 and you aren't calling 3.5 not D&D. Paizo made a fortune off the so called "end of their life cycle" books and became more profitable than a new edition of the game. Its very clear that 4th edition was a result of designers wanting to design their own version of d&d and attempt to dumb it down to gain more players. Which failed horribly. Its debatable that Paizo had much impact on the failure of 4th edition, as no one really needed Paizo to continue playing third edition.
If a book only changed like 5% of the content how is it not the same book?
D&D went with Forgotten Realms because their surveys said it was the most played setting. The others are there only because people like them, and because you have to appease those who like Gygax's world of Greyhawk. It looks like D&D is trying to eliminate all campaign settings though. My guess the reason Forgotten Realms hasn't been published yet is because the third edition and 4th edition books are there and maybe the 4th edition one didn't sell very well. WotC is backing itself into a corner though as new players who aren't familiar with the realms and doesn't have the ton of books needed for it suddenly find themselves defaulted into the world without access to the books.
I always find homebrewing to be better because you become master of the world. If you run Forgotten Realms or Eberron you always have that player who has read every book since 1st edition and knows the setting better than you. And that can sometimes cause issues.
Also I find that I simply am not likely to remember a lot of details and most things are getting made up by me as I go, so I might as well run a homebrew.
I almost jokingly think the Critical Role setting is going to become the new default (a shame Matt had to alter the deities names, or at least a lot of them) as I think it is actually going to be the first major campaign setting produced for 5th edition.
I almost jokingly think the Critical Role setting is going to become the new default (a shame Matt had to alter the deities names, or at least a lot of them) as I think it is actually going to be the first major campaign setting produced for 5th edition.
I would think his world would be another GreyHawk/Realms. (or something WotC could throw on the Sword Coast! lol!)
Seriously though - Matt, as a voice actor, is entertaining and bringing many people to D&D... Personally, I stopped watching with his giant campaign - was totally railroaded, no true player choice, and you could feel it.
I feel there are other equally talented, if not more so, DMs, that just haven't had the spotlight put on them. Drunkens and Dragons is a favorite, ol' Hankerin'. He just released a new game system, ICRPG CORE, based on how his group played 5e. Already #1 on drivethru. The guy is fun to watch, and his ICRPG games aren't scripted... it shows what D&D could be at the table... :)
I'm not saying Matt can't create a world, but I have been amazed at how Keith Baker can talk about any point of Eberron at any given moment, fill in detail - yet leave it open so that you can still do what you want... and it all makes sense. Don't feel this is something that is necessarily easy to do...
Basically, I do not want adventures with set encounters or timelines or narratives, or huge sprawling campaign worlds that require your entire game to be set within it, both which I find too restricting in ways, but rather something a DM can drop into any campaign but with enough hooks to build a bunch of adventures around, maybe even spark ideas for one or more entire home grown campaigns that can use the material as a catalyst.
-If you have the misfortune of coming across a dwarf named Morag, a half-elf that goes by Nichalaus, or their human travelling companions Sukiem-Tor, Ak'huma, Dat'Vi Bek and Doc Ryder, immediately start walking back from whence you came. You'll thank me later.
That doesn't have too much to do with what I was saying, but okay. My main thing was making it seem authentic rather than a parody of a culture. Dropping it into campaigns convincingly without it becoming satire (to me) usually involves a little more research. I know others are fully able to have fun with stereotypes and a little bit of backstory and a handful of descriptions, but for me it doesn't always seem fair to the original culture they were pulling from.
Don't get me started, I began with 2e and there was so much being put out in those days. I don't think I could keep up.
Maybe a sourcebook for different genres under the 5e rules? Something like Steampunk, Urban-Fantasy, Feudal Japan?
Something you could keep the core mechanics, add or take away some bits here or there and it's now a completely different setting.
I'd played 1E for several years before 2E was released. There were a few things I hated about 2E (TWF Rangers annoy me to no end) that I "officially" continued to run a 1E game. There were enough things about 2E that I liked, though (not all priests strapped on heavy armor and waded into combat, thieves had some options to specialize) that I mixed the two editions quite a bit*. We used several of the expansion books, but it was always explicit as being my call because I was (theoretically) running 1E, not 2E.
* If you didn't play in that era, the difference between 1E and 2E was more like 3E and Pathfinder. Sometimes you'd have issues, but 95% of the time, things worked just fine. Whenever 6E comes out, I hope it's as close to 5E, just tidying a few things up (nothing specific, IMO, just acknowledging both that new editions are inevitable and that, while I'm pretty happy with 5E, I'm sure there are ways it could be improved).
I agree that limiting the number of splat books is a good way to go. We don't need a book with new races and classes every few months. I only want books that are easy to use in any setting whether that be Forgotten Realms, Dragonlance, Eberon, or Homebrew. Books like the SCAG are good, but really only if you play in Forgotten Realms (and rightfully so given the title), but I would have liked the new character options published separately from the fluff of the setting as only about 20 pages of the book are useful out of 160 so hardly worth be price (at least in my opinion).
The adventure books are ok for DM's that don't want to have to do the extra work or just don't have the time to create their own, but I feel that they should be made along side books that are useful to the rest of us as well.
TL;DR Campaign World specific source books are good, but in my opinion should provide mostly fluff with the crunchy bits such as character options and the like being published in a more universally useful nature.
She/Her Player and Dungeon Master
My biggest wishlist item is small adventures that are easily used for higher level campaigns. I have been running the same campaign since 4e and sometimes I have writers block. I managed to shift the group into Tyranny during my last block and it has been okay to adjust to their level; however it would have been preferable to have a nice 8 hour adventure for level 10+ players to ease my addled mind. I find most DMs guild adventures to be low level as well.
Tales is an option perhaps but they still felt the need to release it as a full 300+ page book. I would love a cheaper single adventure even as a pdf.
I suppose their goal was to have the guild fill that void and there is lots of great content on there, I just haven't found anything to fit my needs.
Look at some of the stuff pathfinder puts out that can be easily converted. I think they have single adventures.
Goodman Games has a dungeon crawl classics called I think 5th edition fantasy or something like that. They are single adventures.
The DMs guild has people who write a lot of single adventures too.
I hope that they will never do a 6th or newer edition.
He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And if you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss also gazes into you.
It's the nature of the beast. Every now and again you have to reboot to a new edition because the market is saturated with your core content, player tastes change, and you sort of run out of "optional material" or weird corner-case splat books to print to an ever dwindling audience. Now, 5e is built on a decently solid foundation that I expect to last longer than 4e (6 years) or 3e (8 years) did, but at best it's probably got a life cycle similar to 2e (11years). So, if I was a betting guy, I'd bet on something new in the pipeline in the next ten or so years.
Technically third edition is still continuing via Pathfinder, and made a small company the second most dominant RPG company behind WotC. Well it's debatable. Some people might claim Paizo is a larger RPG company as WotC has other products.
So third edition has been selling well for 20 years or so. Will probably outlast 5th edition. So I'd question the idea that you really need to change editions. Especially since the change to 4th almost killed D&D.
Let's be clear, it was 3.X and its open license that gutted D&D. Having that open license allowed other companies to carry the torch for an old edition long after it had completed its useful life cycle. It was the first time that D&D ever had to compete with itself when it came time to switch editions, allowing players to lag behind in far greater numbers. If anything, the fact that 4.0 lasted as long as it did (just two years shy of 3.X) in the face of that roadblock, in addition to the vast number of fumbles WotC had on the digital front that it was designed to work well with is a testament to how solid and popular a system it was (if however briefly). Pathfinder is not D&D. It is a product built on the bones of a universal D20 system that WotC developed. With no less than four or five systems under its belt, D&D has never been about a system.
Pathfinder is D&D. It is almost the players handbook reprinted. In essence third edition continues to be profitable. My only point is to take issue that third was past its life cycle when it clearly wasn't.
What really happened is the new designers wanted to make their own game and 4th was created. 3rd didn't reach the end of its lifecycle.
Thanks!
I have run a number of adventures of DMs Guild as one offs and really enjoyed them. I just haven't come across a whole lot of content for levels 10+.
However I haven't been on there for a couple months and tend to stick to the popular titles.
Low levels are easier to write for and where most people play and where you earn more money selling products.
Started playing D&D with 5e after playing DDO. (Dungeons & Dragons Online - Eberron.)
Have to admit, was pretty excited, and enjoyed the DMG - the mention of the multiverse, Eberron, DarkSun, etc. - it was like, "Yes! This is gonna be great!"
The Tyranny series had already come and gone and PoTA was released - Elementals, "Yeah, this is gonna be cool!"
PoTA: "Hmmm... Realms? Ok, I guess - A guide to converting to Eberron... pretty anemic - suppose I'll try Realms."
lvl. 15: Red Larch has grown as the heroes grew, and a lightning rail was being established - (made sense, elemental campaign) ;)
Then came Out of the Abyss... (wasn't remotely interested, until Chris Perkins added color to it - then bought and stored it... as a campaign of that nature seems better suited for Eberrons Khyber. After all, a place that is both real, in places, and in others is dimensional, feels better suited for such an epic campaign.
Up to Strahd now?
"Yes, finally leaving the Realms... God knows I tried to like it - wait, you start in the Realms. What about the DMG with all this multiverse bit?"
So, my players started off and zipped off to Strahds, to be 'spit out' into Eberron. lol!
Got tired of WotC not supporting it, devoured Keith Bakers blog, its about 300+ pages of free material about Eberron, that is updated constantly.
Finally bought, practically every 3.5 Eberron source book, and threw up my hands at the idea of WotC ever leaving the Realms.
I watched as Storm Kings Thunder came out, and thought: "Excellent for Xen'Drik, an 'Against the Giants' style campaign"
Bought the original Tyranny series and wanted to start a custom campaign, utilizing ideas from both campaign books, to fit with the Eberron Dragon/Giant theme. ;)
When Yawning Portal was released, I thought, "Maybe this is it - finally wrapping up and leaving the Realms"
You may ask, "Why so much hate for the Realms?" - I actually don't hate it... but think about it, essentially one source book for the Realms - SCAG...
For the majority of people, 5e is their first edition.
Wotc had a ton of material in 3.5, and practically nothing for 5e - they wanted you to buy the old pdfs, as they were afraid of repeating material for the veteran crowd.
Sure, the campaigns were enough flavor, if you were satisfied with the Realms, or rather Neverwinter.
Just could not get into that area - they didn't even bother to cover Baldur's Gate - aside for the shout-out in SCAG. ;)
Conclusion: (i.m.o)
1: They totally missed out on presentation. This should have started differently back when WotC bought D&D.
a: settings books without stats to keep it edition neutral.
2: Multiverse? Yeah... they could have done something with that.
Personally I can fit spelljammer in Eberron, as well as planescape... the setting really has a lot of potential if they would open up the DMsGuild to Keith, seeing they wont do anything. ;)
There is really only one campaign I can see being its own setting out of Eberron, and even that could be shoved into one of the 13 planes - DarkSun.
The fact is, Keith created a world where anything literally could fit in the world... (key word is it could, doesn't have to - and it really, just works.)
a: They could have done campaigns that were true settings neutral, with instructions on how to integrate it into any official setting...
i.e., PoTA did the best job, and it was even 'weak'.
b: They could have done settings every two - four years, if they released more material than... Neverwinter, and... oh, Neverwinter. ;)
(Yes, they have a video game - should have done a WoW, and made the full world of the Realms or Eberron... so they are not so tied to that one area.)
3: Now Mike is hinting at 6.0, twice in a row - so give it 2.5-3 years and it will be here.
From what I gather, people aren't liking his ideas for change.
It seems to me D&D was on its last legs, due to Pathfinder - and D&D Next, 5e surprised them... and now its rolling again.
Personally, I don't see 6 doing well... The key isn't in making up new rules every 5 years, but... concentrating on content.
Campaigns and settings, and make a video game that isn't pay to win, but is a full world - connected to another, and not how DDO did from Eberron to the Realms.
Runhammer Games, as of this post, is currently number 1 on drivethru RPG... and for a reason.
As the creator said, "Its how his group plays 5e" - and its how I'm going to start playing mine.
Rules light, and fun... no fuss to make arbitrary rules, and finding faults to lead up to a 6.0.
I'm certain this opinion is not in the majority... its fun to ride the wave, etc.
Again, I had a certain expectation, from the DMG, and having played in Eberron, DDO - so my mileage with 5e is a lot shorter than most, as it just hasn't delivered.
This next campaign... dinos. Realms to FeyWild, probably... :p
Funny bit is that the floating moats, airship, dinos - feels like they are trying to make the Realms do what Eberron already did nicely... fit all the stuff in D&D into one setting.
Take Psionics... it just works, and if you don't like it - it wont be noticed. If you want to play DarkSun or Eberron you have to use optional rules just to get it to work.
Now, for new players, this may be better, and I wont argue with it.
Biggest WotC mistake, is not having campaigns with solid support for the various worlds... some skip out altogether.
Volo's guide, a Monster Manual 2, focused on Realms... (Where did the Beholders really originate from? At least they left it open to Xoriat and the Daelkyr...) ;)
D&D went with Forgotten Realms because their surveys said it was the most played setting. The others are there only because people like them, and because you have to appease those who like Gygax's world of Greyhawk. It looks like D&D is trying to eliminate all campaign settings though. My guess the reason Forgotten Realms hasn't been published yet is because the third edition and 4th edition books are there and maybe the 4th edition one didn't sell very well. WotC is backing itself into a corner though as new players who aren't familiar with the realms and doesn't have the ton of books needed for it suddenly find themselves defaulted into the world without access to the books.
I always find homebrewing to be better because you become master of the world. If you run Forgotten Realms or Eberron you always have that player who has read every book since 1st edition and knows the setting better than you. And that can sometimes cause issues.
Also I find that I simply am not likely to remember a lot of details and most things are getting made up by me as I go, so I might as well run a homebrew.
I almost jokingly think the Critical Role setting is going to become the new default (a shame Matt had to alter the deities names, or at least a lot of them) as I think it is actually going to be the first major campaign setting produced for 5th edition.
(or something WotC could throw on the Sword Coast! lol!)
Personally, I stopped watching with his giant campaign - was totally railroaded, no true player choice, and you could feel it.
Drunkens and Dragons is a favorite, ol' Hankerin'. He just released a new game system, ICRPG CORE, based on how his group played 5e.
Already #1 on drivethru. The guy is fun to watch, and his ICRPG games aren't scripted... it shows what D&D could be at the table... :)