As soon as Typebar came out this was the first article I read. It's an interesting read about whether we choose game editions due to game mechanical issues or due to broader social factors. - ThreadSky

simonm223.bsky.social • 2 days ago

As soon as Typebar came out this was the first article I read. It's an interesting read about whether we choose game editions due to game mechanical issues or due to broader social factors.

Reposted from Typebar Magazine (subscribe on Patreon)

Dungeons, Dragons, and Game Design: Why 4E Rules the D&D Roost by @seannb.bsky.social

www.typebarmagazine.com/2025/02/23/d...

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simonm223.bsky.social•2 days ago

@seannb.bsky.social have you read the 2024 rules yet? I'm about 5/6 of the way done (read PHB and DMG, halfway through monster manual) and definitely have thoughts about it as a distinct edition from both social and game-mechanics perspectives. I'd be interested to hear your thoughts.

seannb.bsky.social•2 days ago

I've not read the newest version of the rules yet, no. In the lead up to them I didn't pay much attention and assumed they were just 2014 5e with the errata and updated tool rules added in, then they released, I saw they weren't that, and I have yet to get around to checking them out.

simonm223.bsky.social•2 days ago

Yeah. I think WotC really did themselves a disservice by pushing the backwards compatibility angle on the marketing so hard. When the PHB dropped the perspective was it was basically just 5e+Tasha's as core. And it's not. But the problem is that a lot of the rules changes were rebalancing.

simonm223.bsky.social•2 days ago

A lot of attention was given to martial classes. So you get pretty big buffs for fighters, rogues and monks with Paladins getting debuffed and barbarians largely staying the same. Ranger, of course, was heavily redesigned but it still kind of sucks. Just for new reasons.

simonm223.bsky.social•2 days ago

Beyond that most of the rules changes were designed to speed combat up. This partially balances against the extra time taken for weapon masteries but...

simonm223.bsky.social•2 days ago

in general, attacks do more damage, there's greater variety of damage type which reduces the effectiveness of resistances, AC went up and, for monsters, HP went down.

So they hit harder and die faster.

seannb.bsky.social•2 days ago

I get the impression WotC is scared of calling something a new edition now, like they think it might lose them all the new players who were onboarded by 5e.

simonm223.bsky.social•2 days ago

I suspect that's the case. But it was a mistake because, instead, a lot of 5e players went, "well I have the core books and Tasha's already so..."

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