One D&D, 6e, 5.5e, whatever you want to call it, is coming in 2024. At this point, it’s inevitable.
How is this new edition – because that’s what it is – going to affect you and your DnD group?
Will you have to replace all your books?
Will you have to use DnD Beyond?
First, let me assure you, you don’t have to replace your books if you want to keep playing D&D when this new edition is released. There are grognards – God love ‘em – out there still playing first edition. There are even people who are still – GASP – playing 4e.
You own the books, you play the game you want to play. If you’re invested in today’s 5e, keep doing what you’re doing.
It’s only going to be an issue for you if you want to use DnD Beyond and their fancy new VTT. That whole thing is going to be built around the One D&D ruleset. And possibly even if you want to use Roll20 or another VTT. I wouldn’t be surprised if WOTC removed older editions from those markets if they could – but really I have no insider info. I have no idea what they can or will do or won’t do.
You only have to buy the new books if you want them.
But what about these new rules? How drastic a difference will there be?
I agree with Matt Colville, who incidentally has a fantastic video that gives us a historical perspective on what this new edition is going to mean for us and for the hobby. It’s an hour long, but it’s really good.
Here’s my paraphrase version: AD&D was basically a reorganization of first edition. Then we had 3.5 and 4e Essentials, which were updates to 3 and 4 respectively, but didn’t make major changes to the way the game worked. You could still use your 3e or 4e supplements and modules without much issue.
I expect that this 2024 edition is going to be like that. Based on what WOTC has been telling us – which may not be the strongest of foundations – and on what we’ve seen in playtesting, I really do think this is going to be another “point 5” edition. It’ll be backward compatible so you can use your existing books, and still be playing the same game as folks who are playing 5.5.
You may hear about new rules and want to add them to your game. Well, guess what? People have been doing that for years without buying new books.
In short, we don’t need to sweat this new edition from the standpoint of our own D&D nights.
But how is it going to affect the tabletop roleplaying hobby? A lot of people, including creators I respect, are suggesting that the 2024 edition along with its crisp new VTT could be catastrophic to the hobby, that Hasbro is positioning online D&D to become the only game in town.
If they build the fanciest, prettiest VTT and make 5.5 exclusive to their platform – which, adventurers, is a definite possibility – it could wreak havoc on other platforms, and the shockwave from that explosion could in turn wreak havoc on 3rd party publishers and publishers of other TTRPGs.
I’ll be honest – this is entirely possible. And it would be terrible for our hobby.
But let me refer to Matt’s fantastic – hour-long – video again. The 90s – a time when DnD was getting long in the tooth and TSR was eventually bought by a pre-Hasbro Wizards of the Coast – gave birth to a whole slew of new TTRPGs.
Today, the OGL has given us a burgeoning third party industry. And the OGL scandal of 2023 has driven people away from DnD in droves to those other publishers looking for a new way to participate in the hobby they love. Even so, DnD remains a strong brand and the largest TTRPG by far. But I think – given the strength of other brands like Kobold Press and Darrington Press and games like Shadow Dark, Dungeon Crawl Classics, and a million others, that are out there now, given the anger that has driven so many to make something better, to continue to create – I think we’re going to see an explosion in this renaissance of tabletop roleplaying games.
I think new players will continue coming to D&D. New creators will build new worlds for us to adventure in. New gaming communities will spring up online and in homes and LGS’s.
This hobby’s not going anywhere.
Are you excited for the 2024 edition? Worried about it? Do you agree with me? Do you think I’m completely off my rocker? Let me know in the comments, seriously. Healthy conversation is good for the gaming community, and I’d love to know what you think.
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