When I first started playingDungeons & Dragons, I would hear about players who were still playing previous editions of the game that had come out years ago. At the time, I wasn’t sure why players wouldn’t want to check out the newest ruleset. However, now that a new edition ofDungeons & Dragonshas come out somewhat recently, I completely understand the hesitancy players feel towards adopting the latest rules.
My first experience withD&Dwas with the game’s Fifth Edition (5E) about a year after it was released in 2014. At this point,I’ve been playingD&D5E for about 10 years with a few different groups, and I’ve run a weekly TTRPG game with some of my friends since 2020. With so much experience in 5E, I am a little intimidated about the prospect of trying out thenewest edition ofD&D, both because of what I’d have to give up and what I’d have to ask from my players.
I’ve Invested A Lot In D&D 5E
Aside from putting a lot of time intoDungeons & Dragons' Fifth Edition,I’ve also spent a decent amount of money on it. I use Roll20’s virtual tabletop to run my weekly games, since my friends live in a few different states, and we rarely get to meet up in person. To help streamline the process of prepping games and creating new characters, I’ve been slowly collectingD&Dsource books on Roll20. While I managed to get some on sale or in bundles, I’ve still spent a decent amount building my collection.
It would feel like a waste to abandon all the source books I have for 5E, and I’m not exactly looking forward to buying all thenew ones forD&D2024. There’s also the fact that my group hasn’t made our way through all the modules I have yet, and there are still a few classes players haven’t tried out. There’s no real reason for us to move on to theD&D2024 when there is still a lot for us to do in 5E, and I’m not exactly excited about the prospect of asking my players to learn a new ruleset.
Asking Players To Learn New Rules Is A Big Commitment
Learning D&D 2024 Means Unlearning 5E Too
There may be some TTRPG players out there who consider reading new rules to be just as exciting as playing, but I wouldn’t consider myself or any of my players among that crowd. The idea of taking time away from playing to learn new rules isn’t really that appealingwhen the alternative is just continuing to have fun with the rules we already know. The similarities between 5E andD&D2024 may seem like they would make learning the new rules easier, but it can also lead to confusion between which rules were exclusive to 5E and what the changes are.
Then,I have to consider whether it’s worth spending so much time and effort learning new rules forD&Dwhen that time could be spent learningother TTRPG systems. Some of my group’s best play sessions have come from when we took a break fromD&Dand playedCyberpunk Redinstead. Although this was also a big commitment in terms of learning new rules, the payoff was a unique game with strengthsD&Dlacks. I don’t mind making the effort to learn a completely new game, but taking similar pains to learn what is essentially the same game isn’t appealing.
My D&D Group Has Already Addressed Our Issues With 5E
Home Rules Have Helped Address The Edition’s Major Flaws
Another reasonD&D2024 isn’t that appealing to me is thatmy group has already pretty much addressed many of the issues we had with 5E. If you’re not playing at an official Adventurers League event, there’s no reason you can’t bend the rules ofD&Da bit to better suit your purposes. While we mainly follow the rules as written, my group has some home rules that we use to help streamline combat or address issues we’ve encountered with the official rules.
At this point, it’s a lot easier for us to just mess around with our current rules a bit than to learn a whole new edition ofDungeons & Dragons. We may even incorporate some of the elements of 2024’s new rules into 5E, but learning an entire new set of rules, only to probably have to tweak them at some point anyway, isn’t that appealing. I completely understand now why some players never adopted 5E, and I don’t see myself moving on to a newer edition any time soon.
