It’s been a lengthy time since I posted right here. The brand new 12 months has me excited about the state of D&D all the way in which again to 2014, as a result of for no matter cause, 2026 appears like there are some essential threads that lead again to 2014, however I can’t go into that right here. I don’t need to take into consideration the actual world, and after I don’t take into consideration that, then I can’t assist however spend method an excessive amount of of my cognitive house on retrospective evaluation.
A part of what I need to do is to look again over the 2014 D&D merchandise we obtained, after which wildly speculate on what might need affected them, and discuss how they might have adjusted the trajectory going ahead.
Dungeons & Dragons 2014 Core Rulebooks
I can’t say an excessive amount of about these, since they’re type of the baseline. There was nonetheless a little bit of time between when these got here out and the 2014 guidelines actually catching hearth resulting from D&D’s popular culture positioning. There was a really fascinating growth cycle that was marked by continually saying, “Is anybody associating this with D&D 4th Version?”
The Shadow of Earlier Editions
There are positively just a few guidelines that confirmed up both in later books or within the 2024 guidelines that echo a number of the stronger design in D&D 4e, however on the time the 2014 guidelines got here out, the belief had been, because it had been with a number of editions earlier than the fifth version guidelines, that almost all of your gross sales would come from those who beforehand performed different editions of the sport. As a result of a part of the technique was to recycle the “olds,” the olive department to the OSR and Pathfinder defectors was to say, “None of this appears to be like something like 4e.”
As somebody that performed earlier editions, 5e felt like what third version might need appeared like if somebody completed writing the 3e guidelines and wasn’t making an attempt to make such a dramatic break from the 2e guidelines, which weren’t a lot unpopular as they had been simply “executed.” No matter who remains to be working at WotC, it appears like we fall into some cycles with how editions are designed and marketed. I feel 3e was very concerned with having its personal identification, however they weren’t as afraid to acknowledge that 2e exists.
Whereas they clearly prevented something 4e associated, it additionally appears like when revisiting ideas that had been born or took their definitive form in 3e, the 5e designers remembered issues like “why are we making guidelines that fear about simulation when one of many first classes we inform gamers is that hit factors are an summary illustration of a personality’s company within the sport.” We don’t must make PCs spend factors on abilities at each stage to show ongoing enchancment. We don’t have to hammer residence that preventing with two weapons is difficult in actual life. You can also make mobility a tactical selection with out turning it right into a dying spiral of free assaults for each 5 ft you progress.
My D&D 2014 Origins
I checked out one packet of the playtest materials, and I couldn’t deliver myself to dive headlong again into it. I by no means hated 4e, though I wasn’t a fan of the 4e Forgotten Realms. I used to be a participant in a number of video games, and I’ve fond recollections of my Eladrin paladin and my Minotaur rune priest. They nearly obtained me to attempt my hand at DMing 4e once they launched the Neverwinter Marketing campaign Information, as a result of it lastly felt like “Neverwinter +100 years in a fashion that’s nonetheless recognizable to you if you happen to knew Neverwinter in earlier editions.” I picked up the Monster Vault and actually favored not simply the stat blocks, but additionally the bodily product and a few of its improvements, just like the ring to resize monsters in the event that they had been bigger than anticipated.
I can’t go off on an excessive amount of of a tangent, however WotC has a historical past of releasing revolutionary merchandise to assist run the sport, after which when the very first product that makes use of that software doesn’t promote like gangbusters, they by no means help it once more. For lots of these instruments, the bottom software that they launched would promote once more if it had been supported. However we reside in an period the place one thing has to do properly out of the gate or it’s not price supporting or constructing on. However that’s past simply the RPG business.
You’ll be able to scroll again on this weblog. I used to be simply drained. The best way WotC dealt with 4e, not the standard of the foundations, left me burned out. And paradoxically, the way in which Paizo was advertising and marketing and producing materials for Pathfinder burned me out in just a few years as properly. For the time being throughout the playtest, I used to be comfortable exploring much more indie video games. However one of many smartest issues they did was to launch the Primary Guidelines, sufficient that you may play a Fighter, Cleric, Rogue, or Wizard from 1st to twentieth stage, and the DM had roughly sufficient materials to run for them (or extra importantly, sufficient to choose up an journey with out getting the complete guidelines and run an journey). Seeing the fundamental guidelines, the last word type of all of this playtesting truly obtained me excited once more.
I ran some associates by way of Ghosts of Dragonspear Citadel and came upon that wolves aren’t any joke in D&D 5e. We didn’t get too far, but it surely was sufficient that I used to be within the full guidelines once more, and when the core rulebooks got here out, I picked them up.
For context, I had taken a 12 months off work to return to high school and end a level that had been in stasis for 15 years, so after I reentered D&D, I reentered as a participant who confirmed up for Wednesday night time Adventurers League on the native sport retailer, and at any time when there was a particular occasion on the weekends. And I used to be seeing a number of the Magic: The Gathering gamers who watched that Vital Function factor present up for AL occasions as properly.
A Be aware on Factions
The Dungeon Grasp’s Information and Adventurers League particularly launched anybody new to the sport to a number of factions within the Forgotten Realms. The factions had lengthy been an essential side of the Forgotten Realms, however within the 4e period, any good or impartial faction that may work together with the PCs over essential issues was obliterated, as a result of in a Factors of Mild Setting, your PC adventurers want to drag themselves up by their bootstraps to change into the one essential individuals anyplace, ever. At the very least in a fantasy narrative, it actually is feasible to drag your self up by your bootstraps, making the absurdity of the time period on its face much less evident.
Among the huge factions that labored for good or steadiness obtained revived when Faerun obtained its reset button with the Second Sundering. I’d wish to say that is totally as a result of the factions within the Forgotten Realms had been too compelling to depart prior to now, but it surely was additionally helpful that the Realms had factions you may spin as much as connect participant characters to, after most of the individuals WotC was concentrating on had been taking part in Pathfinder Society for years.
It turns into roughly egregious in numerous merchandise over time, however that is actually the start of the “if we depart alignment within the sport, we have to allow them to have evil PCs.” AL prohibited Chaotic Evil, particularly, as a result of again in 2014 we had been nonetheless pretending that fascists had been simpler to reside with than serial killers, and we had been very incorrect and Lawful Evil is simply as dangerous as Chaotic Evil, however I’ve obtained different locations I can rant about portraying evil in D&D. The related a part of that is that the Zhentarim turned the mafia, and primarily the Hollywood model of the mafia, as a result of they had been nearly at all times portrayed as doing issues like assassinating those who had been already hardened criminals, and there have been so many “make a contact so the Zhentarim can do crime with them later” missions in AL adventures.
Whereas a variety of horrible villain conduct has been curtailed in D&D by the point we attain 2024, I truthfully assume a few of that curbing isn’t simply to keep away from tough subjects that WotC would moderately simply delete than have interaction with meaningfully and punctiliously. It is usually to supply guardrails for individuals taking part in evil PCs. If the Zhentarim isn’t that dangerous, and is principally simply ruthless towards hardened criminals that double crossed them, you’ll not hear tales about how somebody’s PC murdered harmless crafts folks or retailers that refused to do enterprise with the Zhentarim, or that rises to a place of energy and makes use of the precise levers of energy to create an unaccountable group of enforcers that the federal government received’t reign in who can commit homicide with impunity. Or not less than in concept in case your blueprint for evil is in washed-out colours and doesn’t coloration exterior the traces, then this strategy works.
To make this just a little extra apparent, the Purple Wizards of Thay don’t simply abandon slavery as a result of it’s a critical matter that requires a dialogue in session zero, ongoing vigilance for questions of safety, and a willingness to exclude if a number of of your gamers doesn’t need to have interaction with that materials, it abandons it so if a PC at your desk desires to be an edgelord and say they’re a Purple Wizard of Thay; they don’t canonically help human trafficking.
Tyranny of Dragons (Hoard of the Dragon Queen, The Rise of Tiamat)
The primary official, non-playtest journey to launch for D&D 2014 was Hoard of the Dragon Queen. In its present type, Tyranny of Dragons is one huge journey, but it surely initially got here out in installments. The staff needed to put together Hoard of the Dragon Queen for the launch of the version, and a few encounters had been initially written with monsters that had totally different problem scores, so the encounters may very well be uneven.
It wasn’t essentially evident but, however WotC clearly had a method that they had been going to launch traditional D&D adventures, however within the Forgotten Realms, as a result of that was their new default setting. At the very least earlier than it was “the multiverse.” They had been making an attempt to create recognizable situations, even when the correct nouns had been totally different. Tyranny of Dragons was a velocity run of the Dragonlance adventures, primarily from the standpoint of “the five-headed dragon goddess is making an attempt to return by way of a portal into the Prime Materials Aircraft.” That mentioned, whereas the theme was borrowed from Dragonlance, a variety of the story beats had been new. Faerun wasn’t a land that hadn’t seen a dragon for 1000 years, or a cleric for 300. The large political hook was Laeral Silverhand changing Degault Neverember because the Open Lord of Waterdeep.
Sadly, for the journey, it’s clear that there was a want to have the gravitas of established Forgotten Realms villains present up, so the Cult of the Dragon obtained tapped. However they had been just a little tough to acknowledge, as a result of they had been mainly simply worshippers of Tiamat. Whereas there’s some proof that the “previous guard” nonetheless exists and isn’t comfortable concerning the change, anybody who’s model new to Faerun may very well be forgiven for pondering the Cult of the Dragon was only a long-running faction that worshipped Tiamat.
Regardless of the shadow of “genericization” within the type of the Cult of the Dragon and the general theme being lifted from Dragonlance, the “best hits, however in Faerun” theme hadn’t emerged but. You had facets of the journey that concerned touring with a caravan up the Sword Coast and figuring out the management of Waterdeep, which made it really feel prefer it was not less than considerably involved about what world it existed in.
The Adventurers League and Tyranny of Dragons
It’s arduous to speak about any of the early releases with out referring to Adventurers League, as a result of AL was an essential side of their advertising and marketing plan for the 2014 guidelines. Wizards of the Coast made a option to focus primarily on the Sword Coast for his or her adventures, and AL was particularly given the Moonsea area, north throughout the ocean from Cormanthor and the Dalelands. Primarily, it felt like WotC was saying, “We’re not planning on creating this space; have enjoyable.”
The AL adventures offered a “season” with a theme that tied in with the present journey, so the story of the primary season of the 2014 D&D Adventurers League content material was dragons and the way they had been agitated by the plans of Tiamat to invade the Prime Materials aircraft.
There have been 14 adventures launched on this season, and one “Epic,” a gaggle journey meant to be run at venues like conventions, the place a number of tables are tackling totally different facets of the identical downside, and their collective progress would decide how the journey was resolved. Whereas the person aspect missions PCs in numerous factions might need weren’t at all times nice, the AL adventures had been rather more involved with framing the occasions within the adventures on both within the hardcover adventures.
Neverwinter and Tyranny of Dragons
You actually couldn’t escape the sensation of D&D adventures having a “season” related to them. Not solely was it strengthened by AL, the Neverwinter MMO had seasonal themes that coincided with varied adventures. As time wore on, these related seasons obtained additional and additional away from the discharge date of the journey on which it was based mostly, but it surely was clear at the beginning that WotC wished to create an environment the place they launched and journey, and for not less than six months, that journey and its general themes had been what D&D was “about.”
To be Continued?
I actually thought I used to be going to get additional into early 2014 releases, however there was a lot I wished to the touch on concerning the zeitgeist that led as much as that preliminary launch. I debated speaking about a number of the disastrous selections surrounding WotC making an attempt to safe a number of the OSR fanbase, however truthfully, it’s disheartening and jogs my memory an excessive amount of of the actual world, so we’re going to skip it. Possibly it’s going to come up later.
I guess you thought I skipped the Starter Set? I did clearly, however I’m going to the touch on it subsequent time. I need to take a look at the way it influenced issues, however I don’t assume that affect actually obtained shifting till after the entire version obtained rolling. So, if you happen to had been hoping this was going to be a 100% chronological take a look at D&D 5e merchandise, I’ve failed you. However hey, it’s good to get used to that feeling now if you happen to’re new.
