For some reason, the new D&D books turned out to be good value, cheaper than the 2014 books. And then all local postal service retailers here had some amazing stock dumping sales of old stuff at better than second-hand prices so I thought I would recap my thoughts on this stuff. I hadn't grabbed lots of adventures before, but I've been nabbing them. It's good timing as I'm learning to DM 5th ed and manage risk. Also, going back and looking at my older books, now I finally get mechanics well enough to minmax and do weird stuff.
My normal homebrew is sorta streamlined 1985 1st ed & cyclopaedia inspired. I found it faster than 4th ed and have been playing it since about 2012. Most of my content was for this. Philosophically, it differs more with old-school design but I do like some modern features and took some weird sidequests.
Weirdly, I find lots of ppl spent less time fighting (I still seem to fit in lots of fights in my D&D5 games).
I don't believe any dnd game or retroclone or new indie story game is the one and only authentic way to game. I will be reviewing these books as having useful content to plunder from for homebrewers, like ideas, maps etc and as modern D&D.
Lots of 5th ed gear is mostly good for mechanics of 5th ed. The new Psion class online being playtested now is even more like my own. I'm fine, my dnd book has happy monsters and twinks in preposterous outfits for murdering goblins.
I played D&D5 from about 2020 but I did not exactly take in rules that well and taken me until the 2024 version I felt the book was usefully organised enough I would play.
My order I'm presenting these is based on when I got them mostly.
Possibly I'm a bit generous but they all have mostly nice art and are nice books. I don't think I'm the target audience but my students loved it/ I did have them see BX was faster for club quick games. After the book comments I dunk on the whole game a bit.
Mythic Odysseys of Theros
D&D 😀😀😀😀 Homebrew😀😀😀😀
I got this as I was running my Babylon d&d games and was working on bronze age stuff. To be clear I disliked lots of Wizards art (some overly new age for me) and zero interest in psuedo gambling card games. Id had a low opinion of official anything D&D since early 2nd edition (necromancy book was final thing I saw made me quit for RQ3. So something in this book sparked my interest. An attempt to make a pseudo greek fantasy made it interesting. You could still plunder myth as much as you like bit not worry about mythology experts being dicks to your game greeksplaining everything. I liked the Dyson mapped temples and the detail of religion. D&D 5 needs a cleric domain splatbook and the detail of Theros. I'm finally running this game now. I don't always like the alt mythology or monsters but it also does better than most of D&D. Harpies and Chimera and even some of the mods on monsters are good. I look forward to this being my default D&D5 for a while.
Waterdeep Dungeon of the Mad Mage
D&D 😀😀💥💥 Homebrew😀💥💥💥
So I saw what I thought was a book, cheap and got the map compilation instead. So I got the book. Its a worse product to even read without separate prints of maps. It's a megadungeon Ive reviewed before. It's kinda not a great megadungeon or like the old box set of undermountain. On the plus you could just take levels out and relocate them without much effort. A funhouse dungeon of a mad wizard it isn't as fun as it should be. No new lore or monsters to get excited by either. I prefer these minimal maps to the full colour video game looking ones, which had put me off.
Out of the Abyss
D&D 😀😀😀💥 Homebrew😀💥💥💥
A sale item and another kinda railroad with some sandbox areas. It has lots of demon lords and interesting locations to steal and some lore to expand play. Prison breakouts can be a pain but it can also be a break from meeting in a tavern. I thought it a better read with better ideas than Mad Mage,
Wild Beyond the Witchlight
D&D 😀😀😀😀 Homebrew😀😀😀💥
I got this out of interest for the idea of a faerie book that you could play without violence. I see people avoiding conflict often in modern games because fights are so slow and tedious or they feel obligated. If you want that fine and you can try and murder hobo through this. It reminds me a but of Dungeonland/Magic Missor modules of Gygax but probably more charming and fun. I like the rabbitfolk and how Bullywugs went from vain CE thugs to dandy nobility and good goblins as faerie folk. If you wanted to run a less violent game and let people stockpile pets it could be fun. I could also steal encounters from it. Maybe you could run something less combat oriented and simpler might be good.
Ghosts of Saltmarsh
D&D 😀😀😀😀 Homebrew😀😀😀💥
I waited for a goodman games original adventures version of this and I think they had dome so well Wizards tried to do it as a cockblock (I have no proof just my fantasy speculation LOL). Some stuff on boat battles might help (Theros too). People wanted something like the battlecar rules in the Avernus adventure. I also liked it was more Greyhawk and the starting setups. Has good ship maps, weather, monsters and other stuff usable in other games. Ships have stats but not lots of guidance to use them or any special player abilities to help.
PHB 2014
D&D 😀😀😀😀 Homebrew😀💥💥💥
Waterdeep Dungeon of the Mad Mage
D&D 😀😀💥💥 Homebrew😀💥💥💥
So I saw what I thought was a book, cheap and got the map compilation instead. So I got the book. Its a worse product to even read without separate prints of maps. It's a megadungeon Ive reviewed before. It's kinda not a great megadungeon or like the old box set of undermountain. On the plus you could just take levels out and relocate them without much effort. A funhouse dungeon of a mad wizard it isn't as fun as it should be. No new lore or monsters to get excited by either. I prefer these minimal maps to the full colour video game looking ones, which had put me off.
Out of the Abyss
D&D 😀😀😀💥 Homebrew😀💥💥💥
A sale item and another kinda railroad with some sandbox areas. It has lots of demon lords and interesting locations to steal and some lore to expand play. Prison breakouts can be a pain but it can also be a break from meeting in a tavern. I thought it a better read with better ideas than Mad Mage,
Wild Beyond the Witchlight
D&D 😀😀😀😀 Homebrew😀😀😀💥
I got this out of interest for the idea of a faerie book that you could play without violence. I see people avoiding conflict often in modern games because fights are so slow and tedious or they feel obligated. If you want that fine and you can try and murder hobo through this. It reminds me a but of Dungeonland/Magic Missor modules of Gygax but probably more charming and fun. I like the rabbitfolk and how Bullywugs went from vain CE thugs to dandy nobility and good goblins as faerie folk. If you wanted to run a less violent game and let people stockpile pets it could be fun. I could also steal encounters from it. Maybe you could run something less combat oriented and simpler might be good.
Ghosts of Saltmarsh
D&D 😀😀😀😀 Homebrew😀😀😀💥
I waited for a goodman games original adventures version of this and I think they had dome so well Wizards tried to do it as a cockblock (I have no proof just my fantasy speculation LOL). Some stuff on boat battles might help (Theros too). People wanted something like the battlecar rules in the Avernus adventure. I also liked it was more Greyhawk and the starting setups. Has good ship maps, weather, monsters and other stuff usable in other games. Ships have stats but not lots of guidance to use them or any special player abilities to help.
PHB 2014
D&D 😀😀😀😀 Homebrew😀💥💥💥
DMG 2014
D&D 😀😀💥💥 Homebrew😀😀💥💥
D&D 😀😀💥💥 Homebrew😀😀💥💥
I eventually got these as I was playing and I was often starved for any RPG gear in local shops and I was getting better value by post. So I nabbed these from shops. I think as a version of game with interesting stuff it was good. I had issues with half species and problems in player culture and the stereotype of being lost between two worlds stuff which made some of my students cry. Ive found in this edition most games I had were all furry characters. More recently, more have at least looked human (halfling, assamir) and one player likes reptilians (good taste really). I dislike the index pages I cant read even with glasses now I'm 55. I need good light to see nowadays. Im liking big fonts in old books more now than when I was kid. I used to want everything dense like Mutant Epoch RPG but now I think 92 era box sets and other books big print is ok. Even with both books being obsolete the PHB can be used to fill in gaps for subclasses and old content not in current version. DMG is wildly different. I liked it was full of tables and rule mods and evil subclasses for villains. In a few years from now, this DMG might be the more useful book. Its an OK DMG but a bit thin and not really required reading.
From here on I got at recent market sales and price probably helped their rankings here. Post costs are also a factor here, but mostly 20-50% off and good post rates. I have read most of these less deeply than older ones; I have read possibly twice or more.
Icewind Dale
----------------------------
That's it - I've considered the combined dragon adventure book but I'm open to recommendations. Any you liked?
I still think mostly d&d5 is a bunch of clever gimmick mechanics and fanboy service, making it overly complex and combat-focused. More and more I see games and podcasts play with very little combat, and often its the most boring. Sometimes you see a great gotcha moment when a character pulls a combo. In my experience as a player, we do everything to avoid fights. D&D shorts on YouTube prove the game is prone to minmaxing abuse, and it's a main feature of the game.
Reasons I didn't want to DM older version of d&d5:
Unreadable index and layouts for me made it hard to find stuff.
I find 2024 is easier to find stuff even without glasses.
I learned white spaces shapes were how I found stuff in old early 80s books.
MM 2014
D&D 😀😀😀💥 Homebrew😀😀💥💥
D&D 😀😀😀💥 Homebrew😀😀💥💥
Its ok. I was a bit surprised by the changes having not really seen 3rd or 4th ed much. I appreciate the 2025 one but its only marginally better. It has fixed some things but made new problems. I found newer version easier to find stuff in. I like the Sphynxes and Lamia more in 2014 book. Mostly more HP monsters mean slower fights. Lower AC monsters can make missing so unlikely that rolling is tedious. Overall, both versions are fine for their time I will keep both versions for a while. In my old-school game I use D&D5 monsters for extra hard versions of things but with old-school saving throws and conditions like death.
Xanathars Guide To Anything
D&D 😀😀😀😀 Homebrew😀😀💥💥
Xanathars Guide To Anything
D&D 😀😀😀😀 Homebrew😀😀💥💥
As a teen when I thought beholders were so cool I would have loved this. Early character subclasses, forge domain, grave domain, druid shapeshift details, race feats, stuff that shoulda been in DMG or PH and is in 2024, tools, balancing encounters (I ignore this), encounters, traps, downtime, magic items, spells and a name section I'm using in other games. As a early splatbook its revisions were welcome and it had something for everyone despite being a bit thin vs some other similar books.
Volo's Guide to Monsters
D&D 😀😀😀😀 Homebrew😀😀😀💥
Lots of lore on monsters that lean into what I thought would have been cool at 15. Over specific monster lore and monsters being interrelated or made by specific demons, I think diminishes the wonder. I don't love the maps but the lair concepts are good and you as a DM get a mini game of building monsters and a lair for a cinematic battle. Gnolls to me are one type of beast folk and they could all be the same stats. I think D&D gnolls are cool but a bit overdeveloped. We need a book of fey like the giant and dragon books with goblins and faerie. Hags are cool. I do think a lower rank one like a chaos had from BX with 4HD and some powers for local witch things. I blinked and kobolds had become draconic minions. I like a variety of kobolds but D&D has made own distinctive thing. Lots of cook kobold art. Mindflayers are cool I guess and detail is good but to me too much about a weird outer alien being kinda doesn't help. Some monsters should be enigmatic. Yuan-Ti are fine but making them players in later books with advantage vs all magic was a problem. I like lots of variety of strength with types. All these monsters have a lair map and let the DM minigame a monster boss its interesting. My lack of fan devotion probably minimises how cool they are. I like races but Goliath a bit too biblical for me. Loved Kenku except the annoying roleplaying rule making them seem non sentient. I loved these lizard folk. The extensive bestiary is great. Some welcome returns of classics. A giant with 2 sheilds is a bit edgelord for me, but I like various monster types for low and high level play. Lizard folk 2025 you were done wrong. Lots of big headed little people in older books I disliked for some weird reason. Stats for human foes is great and easy to mod species. I still find it weird the game doesn't worry about human levels for NPCs only with wizards do they cast as a specific level. Having given up on this these sort of blocks are needed. I can imagine a new splatbook with more specialists for humanoids and player species. Its another solid splatbook of ideas. i enjoy statblocks more than the lore but liked random stuff. A good rainy day DM prep n play book.
Mordenkainen's Book of Foes
D&D 😀😀😀💥 Homebrew😀😀😀💥
Another mega splat book with monster and race stuff! Lore dumps on bloodwar and tiefling mods. Elves section which I liked the gods but would rather a faerie world sourcebook. Eladrin were awesome and I use as Dryads in Theros. Dwarves which are now dwarfy. Dueregr seem to have better variety. Gith lore I find the vaguer the better. Then into monsters which it has lots of. The bronze constructs are nice. Demons and devils are good but some from other books and art. Nagpa are awesome and frost salamanders. Lots of horrific monsters id have to work at finding right uses for. Some give my 80s horror film vibes. However shortly after this came out a "new" book Monsters of The Multiverse came out
Mordenkainen Presents Monsters of The Multiverse
D&D 😀😀😀💥 Homebrew😀😀💥💥
A recap of races/species with more detail and revised in samoe cases already ecept Yuan Ti and Satyrs still get improved magic saves. The rest is all bestiary compiling stuff from previous books to accompany the Monster Manual and often re uses art. The splatbook thing with many many choices and spells and books to carry and revisions are making the game harder to play at this stage but choices are cool. Bloody whole page on dolphins. Its reasonably fat and as a monster book has most of previous two books monsters. This all happened quickly.
Tasha's Cauldron of Everything
D&D 😀😀😀😀 Homebrew😀😀💥💥
Sorta compiling player options splatbook and some DM stuff grab bag. Artificers are cool and hope to play one this year. New subclasses, and lots of psionics as a major type of stuff now. Patrons and tables are nice, make your own background stuff and get closer to the current edition. Loytsa spells with stat blocks for summoning. Magic items, DM tools, sidekicks, parley, environment tables, which are the best thing in the book, puzzles and other oddments. Im quite fond of it, but it's possibly another wild grab bag of stuff we dreamed up this season. I think they could have made it more clear which books made older books obsolete. Im glad I just realised two dragon adventures now in one book before getting older version.
Curse of Strahd
D&D 😀😀😀💥 Homebrew😀😀💥💥
I grabbed this and didn't get too deep. Ive been in a campaign for a year in it now. I can see amateur acting style gamers would enjoy this and you can minimise violence. And you can have Strahd kick your arse. I hate him. I did play the original one and broke it with random luck and I'm a horrible player (reforming now). I had the 1st box set and a few books for it then went full BRP and TSR Marvel for 10 years. Actually, I quit reading Marvel comics same period. I wont go on about it here much. Its a classic Hammer Horror action drama.
Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft
D&D 😀😀😀😀 Homebrew😀😀😀💥
This one is a nice guide to d&d horror and subgenres. A bit of character stuff. They have changed a few things but I'm fine. Lots of mini settings for short campaigns or extended Ravenloft adventures. A few monsters but lots of great advice, tropes and ideas and not as many mechanics as other books.
Fizban's Treasury of Dragons
D&D 😀😀😀💥 Homebrew😀😀😀💥
Lots of dragons, dragon lairs and lore with table minigames for the DM to make dragons of all types. The lairs are really good. Lots you can drop in a campaign with maps. Some character rules, gem psionic dragons and lots of monsters. It's pretty fun. Mordenkainen's Book of Foes
D&D 😀😀😀💥 Homebrew😀😀😀💥
Another mega splat book with monster and race stuff! Lore dumps on bloodwar and tiefling mods. Elves section which I liked the gods but would rather a faerie world sourcebook. Eladrin were awesome and I use as Dryads in Theros. Dwarves which are now dwarfy. Dueregr seem to have better variety. Gith lore I find the vaguer the better. Then into monsters which it has lots of. The bronze constructs are nice. Demons and devils are good but some from other books and art. Nagpa are awesome and frost salamanders. Lots of horrific monsters id have to work at finding right uses for. Some give my 80s horror film vibes. However shortly after this came out a "new" book Monsters of The Multiverse came out
Mordenkainen Presents Monsters of The Multiverse
D&D 😀😀😀💥 Homebrew😀😀💥💥
A recap of races/species with more detail and revised in samoe cases already ecept Yuan Ti and Satyrs still get improved magic saves. The rest is all bestiary compiling stuff from previous books to accompany the Monster Manual and often re uses art. The splatbook thing with many many choices and spells and books to carry and revisions are making the game harder to play at this stage but choices are cool. Bloody whole page on dolphins. Its reasonably fat and as a monster book has most of previous two books monsters. This all happened quickly.
Tasha's Cauldron of Everything
D&D 😀😀😀😀 Homebrew😀😀💥💥
Sorta compiling player options splatbook and some DM stuff grab bag. Artificers are cool and hope to play one this year. New subclasses, and lots of psionics as a major type of stuff now. Patrons and tables are nice, make your own background stuff and get closer to the current edition. Loytsa spells with stat blocks for summoning. Magic items, DM tools, sidekicks, parley, environment tables, which are the best thing in the book, puzzles and other oddments. Im quite fond of it, but it's possibly another wild grab bag of stuff we dreamed up this season. I think they could have made it more clear which books made older books obsolete. Im glad I just realised two dragon adventures now in one book before getting older version.
Curse of Strahd
D&D 😀😀😀💥 Homebrew😀😀💥💥
I grabbed this and didn't get too deep. Ive been in a campaign for a year in it now. I can see amateur acting style gamers would enjoy this and you can minimise violence. And you can have Strahd kick your arse. I hate him. I did play the original one and broke it with random luck and I'm a horrible player (reforming now). I had the 1st box set and a few books for it then went full BRP and TSR Marvel for 10 years. Actually, I quit reading Marvel comics same period. I wont go on about it here much. Its a classic Hammer Horror action drama.
Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft
D&D 😀😀😀😀 Homebrew😀😀😀💥
This one is a nice guide to d&d horror and subgenres. A bit of character stuff. They have changed a few things but I'm fine. Lots of mini settings for short campaigns or extended Ravenloft adventures. A few monsters but lots of great advice, tropes and ideas and not as many mechanics as other books.
Fizban's Treasury of Dragons
D&D 😀😀😀💥 Homebrew😀😀😀💥
From here on I got at recent market sales and price probably helped their rankings here. Post costs are also a factor here, but mostly 20-50% off and good post rates. I have read most of these less deeply than older ones; I have read possibly twice or more.
Icewind Dale
D&D 😀😀😀😀 Homebrew😀😀😀💥
It's a big, impressive d&d frozen wilderness sandbox with a plot and lots to do and see. I played it and saw about 2/3 content. It has lots of nice frozen villages and monsters and I've seriously considered jacking content from it into Forbidden North or Black City. We enjoyed playing it and reading it after made my party look like impatient. We aggressively targeted the dark dwarves, then the snowmaiden goddess, and then called quits. Lots of good scenes and ideas to use. It's probably my favourite adventure all round. It's fat with lots of extra monsters in the back.
Candlekeep Mysteries
Tomb of Anihilation
It's a big, impressive d&d frozen wilderness sandbox with a plot and lots to do and see. I played it and saw about 2/3 content. It has lots of nice frozen villages and monsters and I've seriously considered jacking content from it into Forbidden North or Black City. We enjoyed playing it and reading it after made my party look like impatient. We aggressively targeted the dark dwarves, then the snowmaiden goddess, and then called quits. Lots of good scenes and ideas to use. It's probably my favourite adventure all round. It's fat with lots of extra monsters in the back.
Eberron Rising from the Last War
D&D 😀😀😀😀 Homebrew😀😀😀💥
It's a setting I shunned for years, and now I come to see echoes in my own projects. I might mash it with Trey Causey's Weird Adventures and my own recent work. I like lots of the effort. Now grimecore is so big maybe they will revise it soon with current filth and grot. Probably for many games, this would have some problems stealing ideas from. If you do run a post-industrial fantasy, this has lots of stuff. I like the news clippings throughout the book. Lots of automatons and war forged, and artificers too. Other weird species are also on show. I'm certainly more interested in playing this setting.D&D 😀😀😀😀 Homebrew😀😀😀💥
Candlekeep Mysteries
D&D 😀😀😀💥 Homebrew😀😀💥💥
It's full of mysteries about books and mostly short scenarios, maybe longer with lots of talking. While I'm not ready for non evil lamia from what Ive read its quite fun and I will use some of these. Maybe I will run a wizard school game with this. more fun and fast than I expected and could be reused with work elsewhere. Good for urban investigation games even though Im for magic nerfing investigations. Tomb of Anihilation
D&D 😀😀😀💥 Homebrew😀😀😀💥
The Isle of Dread, Tomb of Horrors and Dwellers in the Forbidden City had a baby and this is it. Using the interest in Tomb of Horror and a return of a popular villain, I guess, seemed like good marketing. A colonialist lost world fantasy of lost jungle cities and curses. Lots of good episodes, maps, encounters and backgrounds. Im less into the plot of the Death curse. I like the hexcrawl elements and the nice city maps, but I'd happily fill in more detail. I like the Yuan-Ti dungeon but less interested in the trap-filled funhouse section and not sure If my players would do it. I think Id just run Tomb of Horrors with lots of pregens as a beer and pretzels game. Mant elements like sets of keys and puzzle parts are awesome. Id probably give them checklists when they found items part of a set. Even though colour maps I like these more than many earlier products. I got this in part for resemblance to the Forbidden City adventure of the 80s not for its tomb of horrors. For what it is I quite like it. Stuff in here I'd consider transplanting to the Isle of Dread if I do run a sea exploration game. It does have some dips into pulp exotica, colonialist and orientalism, like having Anthropology and Archaeology background. I can see they tried to do better than past.Glory of the Giants
D&D 😀😀😀😀 Homebrew😀😀😀😀
After Theros this book is my favourite in many ways. Lots of lore. locations, maps and monsters ready to drop into a setting, and I will be using lots as part of my Theros game at higher levels. Ready for a sandbox adventure anytime. Lots of tables for DM to generate giants and fancy rune magic and rune items. The implied giant technology is sometimes quite amazing and almost godlike. Lots of big, solid lore dumps and ideas. It's a bit thin with no map, and was the highest-priced book in the series I have got yet. I really like the faerie lore overlapping. The formarians and Fensirs and trolls. D&D needs more troll lore. I'm a stinge sometimes and do consider it a factor, still probably why I got so late. Pleasantly more engaging than I imagined. I prefer this to the Dragon book.D&D 😀😀😀😀 Homebrew😀😀😀😀
Descent to Avernus
D&D 😀😀😀💥 Homebrew😀😀💥💥
Lots of cool hell stuff and a map, but half the book is Baldur's Gate yet again. Its detailed enough to use as a sourcebook on that city, but I feel the hell stuff is more interesting and the map. I've worked on and off on a hell setting for years, and the map is inspiring. And how distance is more like faerie time flow. The giant hellish Mad Max vehicles seem like lots of fun. I do feel you'd come back a bit tainted by the setting. I'm not into current cosmology and who rules what plane and Id probably change stuff and have Tiamat meddling more.D&D 😀😀😀💥 Homebrew😀😀💥💥
----------------------------
That's it - I've considered the combined dragon adventure book but I'm open to recommendations. Any you liked?
I still think mostly d&d5 is a bunch of clever gimmick mechanics and fanboy service, making it overly complex and combat-focused. More and more I see games and podcasts play with very little combat, and often its the most boring. Sometimes you see a great gotcha moment when a character pulls a combo. In my experience as a player, we do everything to avoid fights. D&D shorts on YouTube prove the game is prone to minmaxing abuse, and it's a main feature of the game.
Reasons I didn't want to DM older version of d&d5:
Unreadable index and layouts for me made it hard to find stuff.
I find 2024 is easier to find stuff even without glasses.
I learned white spaces shapes were how I found stuff in old early 80s books.
The huge variety of player options makes it harder for the DM to cope.
NPC playable species as monsters no longer let the DM say I need a 5th lv cleric npc and run with it. Most modern MM statblocks don't even give a level for npc's unless related to spell casting level. So this removes lots of options for DM to just say F4 or W6 or T4 and know their abilities on the fly. The DM was using the same language as the players and even with the stuff added 85 to D&D like specialisation, non-weapon skills and the brown class splatbooks with lots of interesting combat options. It was easier to counter player abilities in older D&D while in modern books you can overwhelm DM easily.
Maybe the English or FB are not the best, but their utility is in part derived from success and user base. In Adelaide, I've played more D&D5 - in Sydney I always had more choices and editions to play. I found it faster to start a new D&D5 game here. There is a big age group divide. I've played with lots of ppl in 20s I've known for 5 years now but plenty of younger ppl will run a million miles from older games and having been in old gaming clubs I can see why. Ive seen sketch show gags about older gamers barging into young ppls games and destroy them and I had this happen early 80s. Plenty of older gamers didn't. Some treated younger gamers as younger siblings to torment.
D&D5 has increasingly moved away from mythology. Monsters are detached from origins and nature. Orcs as a player species I'm fine with. I like D&D has outgrown race ideas and women don't have worse attributes with mansplaining why in the text or all female characters have sharm/seduction powers, which we were suspicious of by 85. Lami are supernatural baby killers with vampiric or evil spell powers. Old D&D their appearance varied from a mash-up of lion or deer or snake. In latest MM they are more set in stone and not really presented as very evil. In one of the Candlekeep Mysteries, there are non-evil wolf-were who turn out to be ok but they want to resurrect a lamia who is a neutral jerk but not evil. Im glad to see lots of alignment shift of sentient species but alignment seems to me to be more significant in supernatural monsters, especially planar ones. Im fine with such creatures having less free will than mortals. Sphynxes now just cuddly, benevolent guys who look like they could be in My Little Pony or a line of plush dolls. They are completely separated from greek myth as maneaters. Or Egyptian myth as serving specific gods like Cyrosphynx goat headed servants of Amon, The hawkheaded ones guarded sites of Sekemnet or Horus. Andro sphynx is European from 1700s as a male version of greek gynosphynx for use in architecture. Im fine with the silly horny sphynx lore to die its not part of any old myths. I like eutruscan versions of monsters that all look more demonic vs horny neoclassical or prerapaelite painters.
Imagine class design for a less combat-oriented d&d game like witchlight setting. Id be fine if a combat-lite lite simpler version of the game with lots of fabulous twinks, furries and cute versions of monsters existed with crystals and new-age vibe art. I'd also be happy with a full combat-focused grimcore horror game. Variety is good. One set of rules is bad. Its a poor system for investigation so nerfing all divination just makes it worse. Maybe the metalkids are a big part of gaming too and should be able to have sick edgelord game full of gore and criminal misadventures.
Ive played Shadowdark too and quite like it. It seems cobbled from ideas from G+. I think lots of ppl could write something similar in a few hours. Its well resolved. My DM is a bit too kind to kill anyone. It's bringing back resource-based horror exploration and risk which are good. I think my players enjoy a game featuring more domain and faction play with adventures to fund their ambitions in statehood or business. We also played RQ for 20 years and no d&d which a few people can see in my writing. When I want grittier games I usually go for BRP/RQ/Cthulhu. If I wanted more loosely superheroes, I used TSR Marvel. D&D has swung more to superheroes. A 1st level character has so many abilities and resources and background stuff its hard to play humble nobodies like older editions. To be fair power creep in modern RQ positions everyone as almost a Rune Lord, while RQ2 you had no starting points on your skills and were useless teenagers who adventured to get money to get an apprenticeship to slowly learn some skills. It worked well with an adventure per year and some other events and Pendragon year turn play worked quite well.
Shadowdark on the bright side, would be easy to design for. I find it very pricey here. I could get both old-school essentials, core books and adventures for the same price of one book. It seems built to be pricey and I fully respect their business skills.
It feels like D&D now takes you from an extraordinary freak to a demigod in a few months. I like starting people as wretched urchins or the bottom of society. If you want to be a prince, it will make the whole party suffer from being near you and the problems that come with it.
I think the idea of a distinct and authentic way to play D&D genre play is not a real thing.
I overall prefer 5th to 2nd 3rd, and 4th. I do feel writing for it as would involve more drama for mechanics. Id possibly feel obligated to spend thousands on full colour art.
Some things I'd like to see for D&D5.
A new setting for 5th ed rather than just a multiverse of old stuff with whirlwind tours, everything. At best, this is a taste test fest; at worst, it feels like marketing of IP.
Less world/universe-shaking stakes. Maybe get to know locals and become a member of the community.. Ravenloft and Frost Maiden do this a bit but something with one town and built for players to bond with, not just another fetchquest.
I'd rather see old-school ppl re-create old adventures than the Wizards guys. Saltmarsh was one of the better ones, and you more clearly don't just massacre lizard fold and discover you should make peace. It's much clearer in the new one. Mostly, I prefer works like Tomb of Annihilation being inspired by the past rather than ported from an old product (it does have other issues).
A re-creation of the Desert of Desolation series and faux Egyptian mythos and cleric stuff and character options in one book, and don't use ideas from Khemetism or other modern cults - Hollow Earth Egypt book was ok. Faux Egypt has been in D&D for a long time.
A more gritty, spooky, dark age setting that's adult without anything from Game of Thrones and devoid of new age ideas of magic. Something more tasteless, spikey, possibly like a whole hell campaign with no worrying about the mortal plane, you could slap on any setting for 12- 20th Lv.
A simpler, less combat dnd for ppl who prefer to talk and don't want to play tactical card games of conditional abilities. Witchlight book style stuff might be nice like this. As long as you get pets and maybe giant glowing crystals and unicorns. Or maybe a combat-stripped investigation variant with more social interaction mechanics (which might be in some of those books) or something that leans into LARP RPG games like Edwardian faerie folk or something.
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Ill be back to writing a more in-depth piece for Gods of the Forbidden North vol 1 & 2 and northern theme games in general. i could possibly mash it up with Frostmaiden and my Stone Age Sorcery setting and even that giants book. Will be a long way off though.
NPC playable species as monsters no longer let the DM say I need a 5th lv cleric npc and run with it. Most modern MM statblocks don't even give a level for npc's unless related to spell casting level. So this removes lots of options for DM to just say F4 or W6 or T4 and know their abilities on the fly. The DM was using the same language as the players and even with the stuff added 85 to D&D like specialisation, non-weapon skills and the brown class splatbooks with lots of interesting combat options. It was easier to counter player abilities in older D&D while in modern books you can overwhelm DM easily.
Maybe the English or FB are not the best, but their utility is in part derived from success and user base. In Adelaide, I've played more D&D5 - in Sydney I always had more choices and editions to play. I found it faster to start a new D&D5 game here. There is a big age group divide. I've played with lots of ppl in 20s I've known for 5 years now but plenty of younger ppl will run a million miles from older games and having been in old gaming clubs I can see why. Ive seen sketch show gags about older gamers barging into young ppls games and destroy them and I had this happen early 80s. Plenty of older gamers didn't. Some treated younger gamers as younger siblings to torment.
D&D5 has increasingly moved away from mythology. Monsters are detached from origins and nature. Orcs as a player species I'm fine with. I like D&D has outgrown race ideas and women don't have worse attributes with mansplaining why in the text or all female characters have sharm/seduction powers, which we were suspicious of by 85. Lami are supernatural baby killers with vampiric or evil spell powers. Old D&D their appearance varied from a mash-up of lion or deer or snake. In latest MM they are more set in stone and not really presented as very evil. In one of the Candlekeep Mysteries, there are non-evil wolf-were who turn out to be ok but they want to resurrect a lamia who is a neutral jerk but not evil. Im glad to see lots of alignment shift of sentient species but alignment seems to me to be more significant in supernatural monsters, especially planar ones. Im fine with such creatures having less free will than mortals. Sphynxes now just cuddly, benevolent guys who look like they could be in My Little Pony or a line of plush dolls. They are completely separated from greek myth as maneaters. Or Egyptian myth as serving specific gods like Cyrosphynx goat headed servants of Amon, The hawkheaded ones guarded sites of Sekemnet or Horus. Andro sphynx is European from 1700s as a male version of greek gynosphynx for use in architecture. Im fine with the silly horny sphynx lore to die its not part of any old myths. I like eutruscan versions of monsters that all look more demonic vs horny neoclassical or prerapaelite painters.
Imagine class design for a less combat-oriented d&d game like witchlight setting. Id be fine if a combat-lite lite simpler version of the game with lots of fabulous twinks, furries and cute versions of monsters existed with crystals and new-age vibe art. I'd also be happy with a full combat-focused grimcore horror game. Variety is good. One set of rules is bad. Its a poor system for investigation so nerfing all divination just makes it worse. Maybe the metalkids are a big part of gaming too and should be able to have sick edgelord game full of gore and criminal misadventures.
Ive played Shadowdark too and quite like it. It seems cobbled from ideas from G+. I think lots of ppl could write something similar in a few hours. Its well resolved. My DM is a bit too kind to kill anyone. It's bringing back resource-based horror exploration and risk which are good. I think my players enjoy a game featuring more domain and faction play with adventures to fund their ambitions in statehood or business. We also played RQ for 20 years and no d&d which a few people can see in my writing. When I want grittier games I usually go for BRP/RQ/Cthulhu. If I wanted more loosely superheroes, I used TSR Marvel. D&D has swung more to superheroes. A 1st level character has so many abilities and resources and background stuff its hard to play humble nobodies like older editions. To be fair power creep in modern RQ positions everyone as almost a Rune Lord, while RQ2 you had no starting points on your skills and were useless teenagers who adventured to get money to get an apprenticeship to slowly learn some skills. It worked well with an adventure per year and some other events and Pendragon year turn play worked quite well.
Shadowdark on the bright side, would be easy to design for. I find it very pricey here. I could get both old-school essentials, core books and adventures for the same price of one book. It seems built to be pricey and I fully respect their business skills.
It feels like D&D now takes you from an extraordinary freak to a demigod in a few months. I like starting people as wretched urchins or the bottom of society. If you want to be a prince, it will make the whole party suffer from being near you and the problems that come with it.
I think the idea of a distinct and authentic way to play D&D genre play is not a real thing.
I overall prefer 5th to 2nd 3rd, and 4th. I do feel writing for it as would involve more drama for mechanics. Id possibly feel obligated to spend thousands on full colour art.
Some things I'd like to see for D&D5.
A new setting for 5th ed rather than just a multiverse of old stuff with whirlwind tours, everything. At best, this is a taste test fest; at worst, it feels like marketing of IP.
Less world/universe-shaking stakes. Maybe get to know locals and become a member of the community.. Ravenloft and Frost Maiden do this a bit but something with one town and built for players to bond with, not just another fetchquest.
I'd rather see old-school ppl re-create old adventures than the Wizards guys. Saltmarsh was one of the better ones, and you more clearly don't just massacre lizard fold and discover you should make peace. It's much clearer in the new one. Mostly, I prefer works like Tomb of Annihilation being inspired by the past rather than ported from an old product (it does have other issues).
A re-creation of the Desert of Desolation series and faux Egyptian mythos and cleric stuff and character options in one book, and don't use ideas from Khemetism or other modern cults - Hollow Earth Egypt book was ok. Faux Egypt has been in D&D for a long time.
A more gritty, spooky, dark age setting that's adult without anything from Game of Thrones and devoid of new age ideas of magic. Something more tasteless, spikey, possibly like a whole hell campaign with no worrying about the mortal plane, you could slap on any setting for 12- 20th Lv.
A simpler, less combat dnd for ppl who prefer to talk and don't want to play tactical card games of conditional abilities. Witchlight book style stuff might be nice like this. As long as you get pets and maybe giant glowing crystals and unicorns. Or maybe a combat-stripped investigation variant with more social interaction mechanics (which might be in some of those books) or something that leans into LARP RPG games like Edwardian faerie folk or something.
--------------------------------------------
Ill be back to writing a more in-depth piece for Gods of the Forbidden North vol 1 & 2 and northern theme games in general. i could possibly mash it up with Frostmaiden and my Stone Age Sorcery setting and even that giants book. Will be a long way off though.
