One D&D - Dungeons and Dragons started playtest of their new edition

[Kallatari]

Dungeons and Dragons just launched the playtest for the next edition, which they are calling One D&D (instead of 6E). I haven't looked at the current playtest materials, but it sounds like it's going to be mostly very similar to 5E with tweaks and reorganizing the rules to make the books/system "digital by design" (i.e., they've acquired D&D Beyond and are making it the official rules), and it will come with a virtual tabletop, model generator, etc. Seems their target release date for One D&D is 2024.

You can find more info at their website: https://www.dndbeyond.com/one-dnd

It does makes me wonder why they're bothering to release the Spelljammer 5E and Dragonlance 5E at this point, but I guess that's still 2 years away, so they'll still be useful for a while.

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by Kallatari

It does makes me wonder why they're bothering to release the Spelljammer 5E and Dragonlance 5E at this point, but I guess that's still 2 years away, so they'll still be useful for a while.

The claimed intent is that previous books will be usable with the new edition, which might or might not actually work out, but they've clearly been going through a soft reset process already, such as the recent Monsters of the Multiverse book (which replaced two prior books, and shows a significantly different design philosophy).

[Stormcrow]

It seems like the same update strategy as Windows 10 (and will likely be as successful).

[Kallatari]

I just saw the video of the prototype VTT, and I have to admit, it looks impressive. It's 3D and uses the Unreal Engine. The player/NPC tokens actually look like 3D tabletop models (and are apparently customizable) in an actual 3D model set. However, it's only really showed a flyby of the board and some camera/mouse movement to rotate view, etc., with a little bit of the "board design" features. I didn't see how it actually plays the game (i.e., no die rolls, token stats, etc. were in the demo)

I wonder how flexible/editable it will be, and if you will be able to, for example, run GURPS games with it... even if you can't program anything of the GURPS rules themselves, the graphics were good enough that if you can make hexes instead of square, and depending on how easy it is to make your own maps, I'd be willing to just use it to track PCs/NPCs and do the die rolls/game mechanics on my own as players/GM. The setup really adds quite a level of immersion making you feel like you're there... although that could just be the novelty effect that might wear off with time.

[Anaraxes]

I'm also curious as to how transparent, accessible, and moddable the digital rules are. Having an official digital package is great. Being unable to tweak anything or add houserules is not. (I've never known a group that was literally 100% RAW compliant for any system.)

[johndallman]

Originally Posted by Anaraxes

(I've never known a group that was literally 100% RAW compliant for any system.)

I've encountered people on SE.RPG who were trying to play early editions 100% RAW to capture the authentic experience. They were gradually becoming aware that various things did not make any sense, but were unwilling to accept that back in the day, nobody tried to stick very hard to RAW.

[Polydamas]

Originally Posted by johndallman

They were gradually becoming aware that various things did not make any sense, but were unwilling to accept that back in the day, nobody tried to stick very hard to RAW.

The first edition where playing by-the-books was really practical was 2e, and 2e had both a thriving culture of house rules and the official variant rules in books like Combat and Tactics. Maybe you could manage it in 1e, but 1e rules did not cover many situations and there was even more of a culture of house rules in three-ring binders. 3e reigned in the house rules with the Open Game License, but it had all those endless third-party splatbooks (and its own expansion modules like the Stronghold rules).

[Varyon]

Originally Posted by Kallatari

I wonder how flexible/editable it will be, and if you will be able to, for example, run GURPS games with it... even if you can't program anything of the GURPS rules themselves, the graphics were good enough that if you can make hexes instead of square, and depending on how easy it is to make your own maps, I'd be willing to just use it to track PCs/NPCs and do the die rolls/game mechanics on my own as players/GM. The setup really adds quite a level of immersion making you feel like you're there... although that could just be the novelty effect that might wear off with time.

I jumped around in the video on their main site (with sound off), and noticed that, when they were moving a token, it appeared to be gridless and simply gave a measurement (to the foot, rather than in 5-foot squares - indeed, the bit I saw involved a token being moved 13 feet). My guess is that it will support both freeform movement and square grids - and as I know at least some earlier editions had optional rules to use hexes instead of squares, that might also be an option (or you can just adapt the GURPS rules to allow for freeform movement, as some groups have already done).

[The Colonel]

Originally Posted by Polydamas

The first edition where playing by-the-books was really practical was 2e, and 2e had both a thriving culture of house rules and the official variant rules in books like Combat and Tactics. Maybe you could manage it in 1e, but 1e rules did not cover many situations and there was even more of a culture of house rules in three-ring binders. 3e reigned in the house rules with the Open Game License, but it had all those endless third-party splatbooks (and its own expansion modules like the Stronghold rules).

3Ed was the first real attempt to fully systematize things, although late 2E was drifting in that direction - 1Ed was much like soup (partly because it was full of miscellaneous stuff boiled together, and partly because you hadda roll with it (ahem)).

But another version of D&D already? Have they been hanging out with G-dubs?

[SID]

Originally Posted by Kallatari

Dungeons and Dragons just launched the playtest for the next edition, which they are calling One D&D (instead of 6E)... <snip> It does makes me wonder why they're bothering to release the Spelljammer 5E and Dragonlance 5E at this point, but I guess that's still 2 years away, so they'll still be useful for a while.

Alas, I agree.

I still feel like 5E was released just yesterday.

The books are costly, but I cannot deny a lot of people complained about the changes in 5E, perhaps they want to concile old and new systems.