D&D 2014 Survival Guide

Playing D&D sucks right now.

The company split the player base into two sides with the 2014 and 2024 versions.

When someone remembers D&D and "wants to play that, " I need to explain the differences between editions of 5E. You make my darn job HARDER, Wizards. Most people, when I start explaining 2014 vs. 2024, walk away.

This is too complicated for me! If I buy the old books, will I be able to play? Will they be a waste of money?

Some say 3rd-level 2024 characters are equivalent to the power level of 6th-level 2014 characters. So we are dealing with a potential power-level change.

And here I am calling 2014 5E, "Closer to classic D&D." And you know what? It is true. Orcs and goblins are still bad guys. I am not explaining weapon properties. Racial ability score modifiers are there. The art is closer to the classic game.

I have players with 2014 books who don't have the money for new books or want to buy them. They are happy with their game. I have to keep them in the group. If the group is a 2014 group, it is a tough sell to get them to re-buy what they already have and like.

And with the OGL and other mistakes, many won't give the company another dime.

And I am explaining that to new players, too.

The team that designed 2014 was a far better class of game designers. They made a ton of mistakes, but that design pedigree shows. 2014 5E was the perfect game (with a few fixes). The Wizards team even said so. 5E was supposed to be "evergreen." I would rather have had a new edition of the 2014 books with as few changes as possible to clean up a minimal scope. Keep the game the same with no new rules or features, and just give us an updated book to play with.

What a mess.

Another version split.

A divided community.

They did this to themselves.

I can see why some give up and go to an Open 5E clone. But, to the average person who has never heard of them, it isn't D&D. Tales of the Valiant, Level Up Advanced 5E? What are those? They aren't D&D. Not to the average person, 20 years removed from the hobby.

Get your hands on a good set of 2014 books with the character options, and call it quits.

Or go Open 5E and call it "D&D."