One DnD: My Initial Thoughts

If you haven’t seen it yet, Wizards of the Coast announced the playtest of their new edition, which they’re calling One D&D. I’m not going to tell you what’s in it; you can read it for yourself and see the direction they want to go.

Personally, I like some things and I don’t like some things. But frankly, what I don’t like is such a minor quibble that it’s not worth mentioning. What do I like about it? Well, it seems like there will be more mechanical options.

That was my single biggest gripe with 5e. You choose your subclass at it before third level, and that’s the last choice you have for your class. I left 5e because the simplicity was not to my taste. I never felt the more complex options were not what I wanted. To compare it to bikes, I would describe 5e as ranging from a bicycle with training wheels to a tricycle. Meanwhile, I want a performance unicycle with someone balancing on my shoulders. But again, that’s my personal tastes; to each their own.

To me, it looks like 1DnD will be more complex, and I can only see that as a good thing. I’m sure there will be plenty of low-complexity options, and that is a good thing. New players need easy-to-play options, and some more experienced people just prefer that play style.

Now to a prediction: I don’t expect to see this edition to have an OGL. Oh, it DEFINITELY will have the DMs Guild. That money maker WotC will never get rid of. But the OGL, nope. I fully expect to see them walk away from that.

If you want a more complex game, I recommend checking out Pathfinder, either 1e it 2e. And you can grab our titles for these games at DriveThruRPG, the Open Gaming Store, and Paizo.