D&D is fading. We have other games replacing it, and there are a few very strong contenders. We will be in this mode for a while longer, at least until D&D 6 is announced and the hype machine begins again. This is how it goes with D&D: in the end-of-edition era, it is always this decline and malaise, and other games step up and steal the thunder.
D&D 5.5E did not live up to expectations. The rules update itself wasn't horrible, but the monsters were such an insult, a politically correct reimagining of classic creatures and foes; all they did was drive people into the OSR, or back into the 2014 Monster Manual. They leaned so hard into making every humanoid a fay, elemental, or other magical reimagination that they lost the world's gritty, grounded nature entirely.
People go to Shadowdark to get that gritty, hardcore hit these days.
People go to Daggerheart to do the modern cosplay streaming show roleplay. What D&D tries to do, Daggerheart does, and it speaks to that audience much better and in a clearer voice.
People play the OSR to get the original thing.
People will play gonzo games like DCC to experience the thrill of the unknown, in adventures, characters, and monsters. Through Deathbringer in with the mixed gonzo-plus-gritty audience, and we are in a bountiful era of gaming.
If I want hardcore reality simulation as fantasy gaming, I will just play GURPS and have it all.
But the larger problem is D&D is trying to be everything to everybody, and it doesn't really do it all that well. And here in the end-of-edition phase, we have lackluster 2024 books, and people sort of mix and match what they agree with. A few of us are playing Open 5E clones just to clean up the experience, with games like Level Up A5E or Tales of the Valiant. ToV works for me, and I do have a soft spot for A5E.
The only way D&D can fix this is by abandoning 5.5E and announcing 6E. Like Hollywood and the inevitable next Avengers movie, here we go again, and it is trying to capture lightning in a bottle another time. What we loved, that first time we did it, is forever gone, and the new team has no clue what makes D&D special and fun, especially if the 2024 Monster Manual is any guide. The changes they made to monster lore are embarrassing and invalidate every classic adventure and campaign setting.
Again, if I wanted this much fundamental change, I would have just played Daggerheart, Nimble, DC 20, or even Draw Steel. Not D&D. D&D at this point is McDonald's; please don't change the Big Mac and just give me what I am used to. Tales of the Valiant delivers the classic "meal" I am used to from 2014, so that has the best flavor of D&D for me at the moment. Sure, I could stumble along with 2014 books, but I prefer to have a 3-book game that works without patching and fixes, and a clean implementation of 5E with the classic look and feel.
6E? We have 5E and ten years of books. Why, other than trying to own the market again?
I got all I want or need here, and I doubt Wizards knows what D&D is anymore in order to deliver an experience that most people want. That middle ground today doesn't really exist anymore.
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