D&D (2024) Is 5th edition too big for there to be a 6th edition?

[robus]

Back when I first joined a public D&D Meetup in 2008, 3e was still bringing in some young people, but they tended to be stereotypically 'nerdy' types and there was not a broad-based appeal. 4e basically did not bring in new gamers, more the reverse. In terms of recruitment about the only good thing I can say about 4e compared to 3e is that it attracted relatively more women players. But 5e brings in people from across a vast demographic in terms of age, both sexes, and a wide range of preferences re complexity, genre tone, etc etc.

My new younger group has no straight white men (except for me ). My older group is 50/50 men and women.

 

[Imaro]

Hey, once you've /watched/ it played, you're not exactly new to it, are you? It's not an expectation, anymore, it's an experience.

But, sure, if you want to say 5e is meeting the expectations of new players who have read about 5e on line and watched streaming video of people playing 5e on line, yeah, I suspect it probably does...

Wait so now watching a game or reading about it is akin to playing it?

Most younger people (I'm tempted to say most people in general) who want to try something new are going to at the very least google it and watch/read a few of the things that pop up. I think it's going to be a rare to non-existent player whose sole knowledge of D&D boils down to fantasy with a dungeon and a dragon... Again you seem to be vastly underestimating the ease with which info is available nowadays.

 

[S'mon]

My new younger group has no straight white men (except for me ). My older group is 50/50 men and women.

Demographics are definitely broader now - in the UK that mostly means more female players, though I noticed when I joined a group playing Tomb of Annihilation there were a couple new black players, which didn't use to be common here. The female player later joined my own Meetup group, played in my campaign & became a friend of mine. Last I heard her Amazon Warrior PC Nemesis was 10th level.

Recently a guy dropped in to play one of my D&D Meetup sessions. Afterwards my son turned to me, wide-eyed, and said:

"Daddy! That guy was a nerd!"

10 years ago I can't quite imagine anyone remarking on a nerd playing D&D.

 

[Tony Vargas]

Wait so now watching a game or reading about it is akin to playing it?

It creates a different set of expectations about the game then merely knowing it exists, certainly. (and, really, a game like D&D where you take your turn, then watch 5 other people play their turns, yeah, watching play really is kinda akin to actually playing, isn't it? hadn't though of it that way before)

The more the 'new player' researches the game and gets accurate information about it, the more of a given it will be that the game will meet the expectations formed in those researches.

I mean, it's nice that there isn't a lot of misinformation about 5e choking the internet, and that players aren't sitting down expecting to be indoctrinated into a Satanic cult only to be bitterly disappointed when they find out there are no real spells in it, at all...
... but it's not a quality of 5e, itself, it's the quality of the available information.

It is, OTOH, a quality of 5e that it meets expectations of returning players from the TSR era, fairly well, because it does, in it's mechanics and presentation, effectively evoke those past editions.

 

[Imaro]

It creates a different set of expectations about the game then merely knowing it exists, certainly. (and, really, a game like D&D where you take your turn, then watch 5 other people play their turns, yeah, watching play really is kinda akin to actually playing, isn't it? hadn't though of it that way before)

The more the 'new player' researches the game and gets accurate information about it, the more of a given it will be that the game will meet the expectations formed in those researches.

I mean, it's nice that there isn't a lot of misinformation about 5e choking the internet, and that players aren't sitting down expecting to be indoctrinated into a Satanic cult only to be bitterly disappointed when they find out there are no real spells in it, at all...
... but it's not a quality of 5e, itself, it's the quality of the available information.

It is, OTOH, a quality of 5e that it meets expectations of returning players from the TSR era, fairly well, because it does, in it's mechanics and presentation, effectively evoke those past editions.

If they google D&D watch a few streams, or read a few articles, even look at a few images they are going to know the difference between a D&D game vs. Tunnels and Trolls... that was my point, the rest of this I didn't comment on one way or another.

 

[Tony Vargas]

If they google D&D watch a few streams, or read a few articles, even look at a few images they are going to know the difference between a D&D game vs. Tunnels and Trolls...

If.

 

[Imaro]

If.

Which most new players are going to do. It's about a dungeon and a dragon is setting the bar way lower than what the average new player is going to know about D&D plain and simple.

 

[Parmandur]

If they google D&D watch a few streams, or read a few articles, even look at a few images they are going to know the difference between a D&D game vs. Tunnels and Trolls... that was my point, the rest of this I didn't comment on one way or another.

Super off-topic, but....are there any good Tunnels & Trolls streams out there?

 

[Imaro]

Super off-topic, but....are there any good Tunnels & Trolls streams out there?

Not that I'm aware of but I've never really looked for one since I don't play or run it.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

This time the strategy is different. It isn't about publishing more titles but selling more because there are new players. And I guess they are playtesting a lot of new crazy ideas. There is not psionic yet, and almost all the books are set in Forgotten Realms.

My opinion is d20 Modern 2.0. will appear before 6th Ed. Maybe they want a d20 Modern videogame like Gamma World.

And they are await to see the success of the coming-soon movie by Universal Pictures to choose the next step. Maybe the incarnum, the vestige pact magic and the martial adepts will be in the OSR, because they are in Pathfinder anyway.