Monday, January 27, 2025

The End of the 2014-2024 Era

5E has had a good run. It is still popular, but with D&D channels on YouTube dropping like flies due to YouTube saying, "We are not interested," - I feel that sense comes from the point of "big data" that we will never be able to see or understand. There is a level of trust you need to put into YouTube, but they would not draw down their support of this platform topic unless there were actual data behind the drop. Engagement, ad revenue, and other profit-based factors must have dropped quarter after quarter to the point where YouTube pulled the plug on supporting D&D content creators through recommendations.

It is no different than a TV network canceling a show that people love but has been dropping in the ratings season after season. YouTube has the data and tells D&D channels, "Don't even try anymore."

There will always be YouTube D&D channels, but the number of recommendations we saw over the last five years will never again be the same. As an ad platform, YouTube controls what is hot, not any outside group, fad, game, company, or hobby.

And D&D is no stranger to slumps and market collapses. Why do you think we have five versions? Some of you may remember TSR's bankruptcy and sale. It happens. This is the "games" market, and tying it to a "lifestyle brand" means you are tying the game to a ticking clock. Lifestyles always go out of style and seem dated. The 1980s will only be popular for so long, and then we will be on to the 1990s, and that was a horrible decade for D&D.

A few versions of Open 5E exist, but none have caught fire. I have too many other better games to play, and 5E requires computerized character sheets. Why bother with no great character builders online and the few we have feeling abandoned? Also, they still have martial-caster imbalances (ToV) or are poorly proofread (A5E). Of both, A5E has better rules, and ToV has better libraries.

5E is always a floating target in terms of balance. Companies will ship an unbalanced game, fix it in the next book, break something else, and repeat the process. It is the MMO model of releasing, breaking, repairing, and shipping a floating design.

Old 5E or one of the Open 5E alternatives is still fine. I don't see much point in 2024 other than if you are stuck on D&D Beyond and forced to upgrade.

And why do I need twelve boxes of 5E books when I have Shadowdark? Why do I want to play a game where it takes 30 minutes for one player to decide 'what to do' on one combat turn, and the party will win that fight regardless? Shadowdark solved the D&D problem; it is the best version of 5E ever created. Other old-school games do things their way, but if I have players used to 5E, this is a super easy sell, effortless to teach, and is designed for maximum fun at the table.

If you love 5E but hate what D&D has turned into, Shadowdark is your game.

If you want a super easy sell to practically anyone, with the basic starting rules as a free download, Shadowdark is your game.

Pathfinder 2? I can't sell that without a significant initial investment (yes, the rules are free online, but there is a massive learning curve). GURPS? Forget about recommending that; it goes in one ear and out the other for most people. DCC? It's a tough sell due to the expensive dice. 0e or 1e? It's not an easy sell due to the perceived complexity, but it does have a nostalgia factor working for it.

Shadowdark?

Here is your character sheet.

The starter set is a free download if you want to know more; most players only need that.

It's like 5E, what you already know.

Don't let the torch go out.

All my 5E books are in the garage. My Pathfinder 2 books are out and will probably be my last gaming books from 2014-2024. If the team over there can keep it together and avoid critical misses, which is tough for them due to the dice mechanics of the game, this game hopefully has another 10 years of fun going for it. The team lacks discipline, so I am doubtful, but this game is still good. If they blew it, it would be a sad end to something I love.

Right now, people who don't even play are jumping in to fight with each other. Discussion of the game is gone; all left are arguments and name-calling.

Sadly, the dark times for Pathfinder continue.

Traveller is still hanging around my shelves. I don't have much time for it. Still, a solid universe and game, but it doesn't hold my interest.

Dungeon Crawl Classics is still on my most-played shelves. The game is full of imagination and fantastic fantasy art and has many amazing dice. Some games are an excellent combination of potential and inspiration; it is hard to put this away. DCC is like the "Shadowdark of D&D 3.5E" and uses many of the same mechanic styles. This company is also inclusive but doesn't get dragged into the mud. They are a well-disciplined team that stays on message and keeps the game for everyone.

OSRIC is the OG. There is no chance this gets put away. When all else fails, and I want the best game ever written, give me OSRIC and my 1e books for inspiration.

The other competitor to the OG throne is Swords & Wizardry. No OGL and no SRD? Sign me up. This is also a small game compared to the others—very compact, great art, great feel, and it does not eat a shelf. It also has many amazing innovations and streamlining.

D&D 3.5E sits in the background, waiting for Pathfinder 2 to devolve into a party argument and TPK. Everything Wizards did past 3.5E was a mistake, and this is the pinnacle of "Wizards D&D" and setting support. It is broken but amazing.

And I am back in GURPS, the game that will remain, and be able to do everything any other game does after everything else is long gone. GURPS is a game designer's dream toolbox. People call GURPS the "B game" - as in the one you play when you don't have the "official game" - but as time passes, every official game dies, and we are left with GURPS.

Seriously, why waste years of my life waiting for the official game, watching it die, being versioned out far too quickly, or being disappointed again as the license changes hands? I would rather play a 10-year GURPS campaign than buy multiple editions, be strung along, and buy book after book. Yes, the official books will make everything easy, but it is a lot of money and watching support be dropped after a while.

GURPS 3rd Edition was released in 1988 (outliving 6 versions of D&D), and GURPS 4th Edition was released in 2004 (outlasting 4 editions of D&D), and it is, for the most part, the same game.

GURPS in fantasy is one of the best parts of the game. I love the detailed, gritty combat. I love the character designs. The hit point scale matches B/X, and the stats can be quickly assumed. You are not spending 30 minutes deciding what to do for a one-second combat turn, you do one thing and then you move on.

GURPS is solid.

5E can still be played. But the game is in decline. If you are happy with 5E, stay with what you have. For me, I grew tired of creating characters by hand for Open 5E, and I am not signing up for D&D Beyond.

Of the games on this list that need character creation software, those are D&D 3.5E (Hero Lab Classic), and GURPS (GURPS Character Sheet), and Pathfinder 2 (Hero Lab Online). All the rest of these games don't need software.

These are my 2024 games, and 5E has passed into the sunset for me. I have too many other better games, and the ones that need software support are fantastic. Traveller and Pathfinder 2 are the weakest here. GURPS is the strongest due to how flexible the game is.

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