I broke down and got the new D&D books since I have a new blog focusing on old-school 5E gaming. There are a lot of 5E games, and it is nice to have a place where I cover only that, with a stronger focus on the old-school style of gaming and how you get there from these games. Basically, how to play 5E like BX, without needing to play BX.
I am not doing D&D Beyond for 5.5E, nor am I doing digital DLC. If it is not in a printed book, it isn't real to me, nor will it be at my table. If it is not still in the world after an EMP wipes out all computers and AI systems, I am not using it.
If you review my past work, you'll see I've struggled with 5E. The need for online character sheets and the dozen-page-long printouts hurt the game for me. I do not deny that I have had a lot of struggles with this game, especially since there are faster, easier systems out there that do mostly the same thing. I have also had issues with their directions and decisions. It has not been an easy road for me with any of 5E, especially the last few years, starting with the OGL.
Also, it is so easy to listen to YouTube and adopt those as your opinions instead of thinking for yourself. It is like repeating those "Everything Wrong With..." movie or game videos meant as sarcastic humor, but so many just use them as their opinions just to sound snarky and cool. I stopped watching those snarky movie reviews 4 years ago, and I have not missed them. I want to think for myself.
And I have recently given up on D&D YouTube. I find I enjoy the game more the less I hear from them.
There does come a day when I must force myself to be objective and real.
The sad thing is, D&D 2024 feels like a disappointment to many, but it is still generally an improvement over the 2014 5E to the point where this is the better game to start with these days. There are darkvision fixes, a wilderness exploration game, structured exploration, and stronger equipment use. The wilderness rules in 5.5E bring this closer to BX than 2014 D&D, where wilderness adventures were "why bother, run a cutscene."
And still, 80% of the games at my local hobby store are 5.5E. If you want in on live play, you really don't have a choice, and it isn't too hard to adjust.
My new blog is based on one idea: if you play by old-school structures, methods, and principles, it doesn't matter which version of 5E you play, and you don't need to switch to BX to enjoy an old-school experience. All versions of 5E can coexist and give you that experience. Will it work? I'll try it, play with it, and report back on how it went and what changes I needed to make.
That is a fun, creative, positive, hobby-centric project that I crave.
Many of us who love BX will embrace the wilderness adventure rules of 5.5E and see them as a needed improvement, where many 5E players used to 2014 will see them as a hassle and are programmed to automatically ignore them, since "why do we have rules for what should be a cutscene transition, it slows the game down." Laugh if you want, 5E players have been cutting to the chase for 10 years and starting in the dungeon. We who come from BX will say, "Oh, so they finally fixed that?"
Buying three core books and not needing anything else is a huge plus with an asterisk.
You do not need to tell new players to buy the Tasha, Xanathar, and Monsters of the Multiverse books for the fixes. That is three extra books you can avoid, bringing the core books back down to three again. For new players, this is huge, and it makes the game far more accessible. That is half the weight of my backpack, gone.
Am I telling new players to buy and read three books or six?
Yeah, I know which edition I am telling them to buy.
The fact that D&D 5.5E even has wilderness rules is amazing, and they are not shorthanded to the point where if you have a ranger, you can ignore all of them (like 2014). There are still skill checks needed, and the ranger just makes them easier - but the ranger does not short-circuit the entire wilderness exploration system to the point where you ignore the entire part of the game.
"Over time, however, the strengths of the new system became undeniable. The cleaner presentation, improved readability, and streamlined encounter flow genuinely enhanced gameplay once I settled into its rhythm. I also realized that some of the things I dreaded were not actually that prevalent."
Dragonix, D&D 5.5E Monster Manual Expanded, page 2
The rules are streamlined to the point that this feels like a new edition. People who immerse themselves in the changes report that this plays faster and is easier to manage at the table. They say this is just a rules clarification update, but from what I read, people say it feels entirely different to play once you relearn all the systems, and that it's a better game for beginner to high-level play.
Only Tales of the Valiant matches this in terms of new-player friendliness, and I would give D&D 5.5E the top spot just for defining play structure for different parts of the game.
Losing the orcs and humanoid monsters from the Monster Manual hurts, but third-party books are already filling the gap. This is a sore point for the system, and it adds another book to the shelf that I need to consider a "core book." This is the asterisk, and it is a huge omission that wasn't needed.
The 5.5E Monster Manual Expanded has the missing monsters in full. Get this if you are angry about that, or stick with 2014. Personally, I am an old-school player; orcs and goblins should always be in the Monster Manual. This is now a core book, sorry.
Am I bought in on expansion books? Probably not. I'm getting the core books and skipping the rest, for the most part. I am not buying into D&D Beyond, either. Physical books are my thing, and I understand the game is going "digital first" - but I still need to be able to discuss the game fairly and without the bias YouTube spreads.
If it is printed in a physical book, it is a real thing. If it is digital-only, I don't really care.
Heavy users and those burned out on D&D 2014's clunkiness will probably find a lot to love here, but for casual players with a full library, it is a harder sell. For those who bought into other versions of the game, why bother? To me, the best part of 2024 is that it only needs three books to play, four if you miss the Orcs.
Also, if I look at the hobby store schedules? It is wall-to-wall D&D 2024 around here, and you are lucky if you get one D&D 2014 game per month. The world has moved on from D&D 2014. I can't find one ToV game, either. The hobby store tables are a brutal place, and if you want to play, you stick with 2024 and never look back.
The negativity has worn off a little with D&D 5.5E, but the disappointment is still pervasive in the broader community. Many have burned the 5E 2014 rules into their brain's mental pathways, and it is hard to change. But if you are happy with 2014, there is no real reason to switch to 2024. Many do not want to learn new things, nor do they have new players to play with. If this edition came out in 2020, it would have been a different story.
Given the soft economy and D&D 2024 5.5E sales, this edition's shelf life will likely be shortened, which is disappointing. This is one of those Wizards releases like D&D 4.5E Essentials that was well thought out, deserved more of a chance than it was given, and was replaced far too soon. Even the much-loved D&D 3.5E had a five-year shelf life before it was replaced by D&D 4E.
We have about three short years left with this edition, which should be enough to enjoy it while it lasts. If we are lucky, we will have five. This is the legacy of the point-five versions of Wizards games. They are generally the better games mechanically, but they are very short-lived editions.
New players? Dive in! This is good stuff.
Existing players? It depends.
Waiting for this edition to run out is also possible. It would be sad if this had a five-year shelf life.
Overall, I recommend this version for the mechanical improvements and streamlining.
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