Wait for D&D One or start with 5ed?
May 14, 2023 4:13 AM Subscribe
I'm thinking of resurrecting a campaign we had going several years ago (none of us have played any TTRPGs since). We were using Pathfinder back then, but I'd like to move to D&D. From what I've read, D&D One will be out next year. Should we wait for it, or should we just start with 5ed first?
We're all busy working parents, so it's going to take a long while to get things moving. So even if we do go with 5ed, it might only start next year anyway. But I guess if it's 5ed I can buy the books first and read up.
We're all busy working parents, so it's going to take a long while to get things moving. So even if we do go with 5ed, it might only start next year anyway. But I guess if it's 5ed I can buy the books first and read up.
Best answer: 5e is the most popular edition of D&D ever, with lots of third-party materials, digital tools, and resources available on top of the full set of official materials. One D&D is still a ways away, and may never have the same robust community because of the licensing tomfoolery that Wizards of the Coast has been engaged in. Given these two options, I’d vote 5e.
I will also make a pitch for Pathfinder 2e. If you’re not aware of the recent news at WOTC, you might wish to check out #OpenDnD. Long story short: WOTC attempted to revoke the perpetual open gaming license that has allowed the D&D community to flourish. They’ve backed down for 5e, but there are no guarantees for future editions. They have been making moves towards a more videogamey, microtransaction-based walled garden — which most players find antithetical to the spirit of the game. Some folks have responded by moving to Pathfinder 2e. If your group is already comfortable with Pathfinder, you might want to consider it.
posted by ourobouros at 4:54 AM on May 14, 2023 [6 favorites]
I will also make a pitch for Pathfinder 2e. If you’re not aware of the recent news at WOTC, you might wish to check out #OpenDnD. Long story short: WOTC attempted to revoke the perpetual open gaming license that has allowed the D&D community to flourish. They’ve backed down for 5e, but there are no guarantees for future editions. They have been making moves towards a more videogamey, microtransaction-based walled garden — which most players find antithetical to the spirit of the game. Some folks have responded by moving to Pathfinder 2e. If your group is already comfortable with Pathfinder, you might want to consider it.
posted by ourobouros at 4:54 AM on May 14, 2023 [6 favorites]
What's the reason you want to move to D&D? Pathfinder 2e is pretty well regarded and might be more familiar. 5e is at the end of its life, with over 150 subclasses and a fair amount of power creep and deprecated choices. No one knows if One D&D will be an improvement, a misstep like 4e, or just an ad for Hasbro's new online services. If you feel like you MUST move to D&D and you want to be able to start prepping now, I'd say go with 5e, but with a limited set of books, so you don't have to deal with every outlier piece of newly-broken splatbook.
posted by rikschell at 4:59 AM on May 14, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by rikschell at 4:59 AM on May 14, 2023 [2 favorites]
Response by poster: Yup I heard about the whole WotC fiasco, which is one of the reasons I'm asking this. Mainly, if we stick to 5e after One D&D comes out, will we end up being "left behind"?
As for Pathfinder vs D&D, I found Pathfinder a bit too crunchy for my liking; I kind of want to run a game (I'm the DM) with more improv and creative choices. I know there are other systems better suited for that than 5ed (e.g. 13th Age seems pretty cool), but... I guess the biggest reason is I'm a huge FR dork and I want to run the game in Faerun. Back when I had no kids, I had the time to figure out how to convert FR source material to work with Pathfinder, but I really don't have the time for that now. I just want to be able to grab a campaign book and use that pretty much verbatim, with any adaptations more of creative/aesthetic choices than mechanics.
In addition I'm really quite a newbie DM, that previous campaign was the first time any of us played a TTRPG. I ran my own campaign and wrote the story for it, but looking back I think I didn't design it that well. Getting a ready made campaign for the time being would probably be helpful in getting all of us back into the game effectively.
posted by destrius at 5:56 AM on May 14, 2023 [1 favorite]
As for Pathfinder vs D&D, I found Pathfinder a bit too crunchy for my liking; I kind of want to run a game (I'm the DM) with more improv and creative choices. I know there are other systems better suited for that than 5ed (e.g. 13th Age seems pretty cool), but... I guess the biggest reason is I'm a huge FR dork and I want to run the game in Faerun. Back when I had no kids, I had the time to figure out how to convert FR source material to work with Pathfinder, but I really don't have the time for that now. I just want to be able to grab a campaign book and use that pretty much verbatim, with any adaptations more of creative/aesthetic choices than mechanics.
In addition I'm really quite a newbie DM, that previous campaign was the first time any of us played a TTRPG. I ran my own campaign and wrote the story for it, but looking back I think I didn't design it that well. Getting a ready made campaign for the time being would probably be helpful in getting all of us back into the game effectively.
posted by destrius at 5:56 AM on May 14, 2023 [1 favorite]
Best answer: You can't really be left behind with a TTRPG, there are still people playing 1e for example. Especially if you are playing slow and in the case of 5e you'll never get through what has already been released. And you don't have to practically worry about version differences with other groups. People will be playing 5e in a big way for at least a decade, no need to run to the new edition.
posted by Mitheral at 6:36 AM on May 14, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by Mitheral at 6:36 AM on May 14, 2023 [3 favorites]
Best answer: If the selling point is the Forgotten Realms setting material, and you don't want to have to convert it to a new system, I was going to say it's a no-brainer to go with 5e because it'll be who-knows-how-long until that stuff is out for the new edition. Just make sure there's enough 5e Forgotten Realms stuff in the first place, I guess. I would have expected more out there.
As to being left behind, I'll second it's not a big worry if you're playing with friends, especially if you don't mind PDF books instead of physical ones. I'm currently playing in a campaign written 20 years ago for 3.5e, our DM is running it with Pathfinder 1e rules.
posted by mark k at 6:41 AM on May 14, 2023 [2 favorites]
As to being left behind, I'll second it's not a big worry if you're playing with friends, especially if you don't mind PDF books instead of physical ones. I'm currently playing in a campaign written 20 years ago for 3.5e, our DM is running it with Pathfinder 1e rules.
posted by mark k at 6:41 AM on May 14, 2023 [2 favorites]
Absolutely start with 5e if you're not interested in PF2e. It will be a loooong time before One D&D becomes the default, well past it's official launch date. Have fun!
PM me if you want some 5e resources - I'm a relatively new DM and I have quite a few things squirreled away.
posted by pyro979 at 7:09 AM on May 14, 2023 [1 favorite]
PM me if you want some 5e resources - I'm a relatively new DM and I have quite a few things squirreled away.
posted by pyro979 at 7:09 AM on May 14, 2023 [1 favorite]
Best answer: Given your reasons, I’d definitely recommend 5e. I’d also recommend checking out the Sly Flourish resources — in a world full of great 5e content, I think his stuff is a great place to start for most DMs, and ideal for your specific purposes. He’s got great reviews & DM guides for many of the WotC published campaign books (including most of the Faerun campaigns), as well as some excellent guides to efficient (“lazy”) DM prep and running the game.
posted by ourobouros at 8:49 AM on May 14, 2023 [4 favorites]
posted by ourobouros at 8:49 AM on May 14, 2023 [4 favorites]
Hmm. Consider the The Wild Beyond the Witchlight. 5e, levels 1-8, came out in late 2021, lots of opportunity for improv/theatre. Faeries.
posted by enfa at 9:03 AM on May 14, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by enfa at 9:03 AM on May 14, 2023 [3 favorites]
Ah, and one more thing: if you want to guarantee long-term access to your materials, you’ll probably want to buy the physical books (instead of—or if you really wish, in addition to—the digital editions). The three core books and your campaign book will have enough content to get you through years of play. Tasha’s would likely be my next buy after those four.
posted by ourobouros at 9:15 AM on May 14, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by ourobouros at 9:15 AM on May 14, 2023 [1 favorite]
Seconding Sly Flourish, I used a lot of his resources and eventually ran his Ruins of the Grendleroot campaign. Lots of fun and some really interesting scenarios.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 10:35 AM on May 14, 2023
posted by EndsOfInvention at 10:35 AM on May 14, 2023
Just do 5E, it's less fiddly than Pathfinder and there's a million resources for it. One D&D is still in very early stages and they keep saying it'll be "compatible". I plan on completely ignoring it whenever it comes out and it appears that's how most people feel. 5E is a lot bigger than Wizards.
I DM 5E for busy adults and have a bookshelf full of Wizards and 3rd party stuff. If I were starting from scratch right now, I would use the now Creative Commons 5E SRD (basic rules) and let players use whatever options they want for characters from whatever Wizards book they happen to own. Then for setting I would use Kobold Press Midgard for world/map/lore/additional character stuff.
The Forgotten Realms setting is kind of a mess, and the WotC sourcebooks are terribly designed in every way for a DM actually running a game. Kobold's Midgard in contrast is much better thought out and more interesting, and more importantly, the books are written to be helpful for DMs planning games! Maps, timelines, fully formed factions, cities, NPCs, governments, etc. and all well organized and highly detailed, the kind of stuff you need to run a game. If you're not already attached to the Forgotten Realms, skip it.
IMO the best starting adventure for a new DM is "The Lost Mine of Phandelver" aka the original 5e Starter Set box adventure. It teaches you how to DM 5E and it is a great adventure in it's own right, that you can easily modify or drop in to any setting. There's also the "Dragon of Icespire Peak" which is sort of an expansion for it, and they've got an actual post-Phandelver campaign book coming out soon.
posted by bradbane at 1:52 PM on May 14, 2023 [1 favorite]
I DM 5E for busy adults and have a bookshelf full of Wizards and 3rd party stuff. If I were starting from scratch right now, I would use the now Creative Commons 5E SRD (basic rules) and let players use whatever options they want for characters from whatever Wizards book they happen to own. Then for setting I would use Kobold Press Midgard for world/map/lore/additional character stuff.
The Forgotten Realms setting is kind of a mess, and the WotC sourcebooks are terribly designed in every way for a DM actually running a game. Kobold's Midgard in contrast is much better thought out and more interesting, and more importantly, the books are written to be helpful for DMs planning games! Maps, timelines, fully formed factions, cities, NPCs, governments, etc. and all well organized and highly detailed, the kind of stuff you need to run a game. If you're not already attached to the Forgotten Realms, skip it.
IMO the best starting adventure for a new DM is "The Lost Mine of Phandelver" aka the original 5e Starter Set box adventure. It teaches you how to DM 5E and it is a great adventure in it's own right, that you can easily modify or drop in to any setting. There's also the "Dragon of Icespire Peak" which is sort of an expansion for it, and they've got an actual post-Phandelver campaign book coming out soon.
posted by bradbane at 1:52 PM on May 14, 2023 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Thanks for all the replies!
Now that I think about it, it seems a no-brainer to just go ahead with 5e, especially for all the reasons y'all highlighted. I think what was making me unsure was that with our previous campaign, we were only a few sessions in when 5e came out, and it seemed more suitable for us than Pathfinder (plus it had a whole lot of FR stuff). But it was too late to change system by then. At this point I think sticking to 5e should probably be good enough.
Will go through all your recommendations, thanks again!
posted by destrius at 2:24 AM on May 15, 2023 [2 favorites]
Now that I think about it, it seems a no-brainer to just go ahead with 5e, especially for all the reasons y'all highlighted. I think what was making me unsure was that with our previous campaign, we were only a few sessions in when 5e came out, and it seemed more suitable for us than Pathfinder (plus it had a whole lot of FR stuff). But it was too late to change system by then. At this point I think sticking to 5e should probably be good enough.
Will go through all your recommendations, thanks again!
posted by destrius at 2:24 AM on May 15, 2023 [2 favorites]
WotC is looking to make more money and monetize things more granularly, so it seems unlikely the next version will be much of an improvement for actually playing. The new DnD head also has a history in gnarly dark pattern casino games and is looking to incorporate as much of that as they can into the product moving forward.
posted by GoblinHoney at 9:47 AM on May 16, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by GoblinHoney at 9:47 AM on May 16, 2023 [1 favorite]
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posted by destrius at 4:15 AM on May 14, 2023