Ramble - Starting My Discussion of Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition™ and Why It's Actually Really Interesting

Someone recently brought to my attention that Twitter X is just a turn-based PvP game, and it helped me understand why I absolutely love Starting Shit on there. This isn't quite that though. I am going to use a post to start a discussion that I feel is important: Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition™ is a lot more interesting than people give it credit for. Not mechanically speaking, mind you. I mean it's not the absolute worst (and it's clear next to no one has actually read the DMG cover to cover), but I've been on record for why I personally avoid playing it (ironically it's a lot of the same reasons I avoid some other very popular Tabletop Roleplaying Games :^) ). No I mean as a specimen ~ But I'm getting ahead of myself. First the post I'm beefing (not really) with:

Ahh a tale as old as time; A 5e Diehard is out here speaking their truth and some non-believer from the self-titled Indie TTRPG contingent is ready to slap them on the wrists for their narrow minded ways. [*1] Forgive them Gygax, for they know not what they do. While it's a frustration I get, I'm also getting equally (if not more) frustrated with the "Just Try Literally Anything Else" rhetoric, because it ignores so much. And thus we beefing (not really this is just a springboard). I have a habit of looking at Twitter X threads and saying "This should've been a blog post" so it's time to walk the walk as well instead of starting an internet argument. ~ sigh ~

Because I hate to be devil's advocate here, but the original poster here is actually absolutely right. (Also the phrase "Content Based TTRPG" is a gold mine I'll raid some other time.) I say this as someone who plays a LOT of tabletop games, barely plays Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition™  and also has some 5e Diehard friends. [*2] Because Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition™ is more than the stack of officially published books, 1st party email list magic items and a handful of Unearthed Arcana options. For most who play Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition™, it has a nearly endless flood of "legitimate" content by way of homebrew.

Even if you ignore Reddit Posts, Discord Shares and Private Wikis (and trust me, many of these Players don't) you're still looking at a dizzying amount of Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition™ content on the DM's Guild alone, and that's before factoring in all the gorgeous looking art books 3rd party 5e expansions that feel like they hit Kickstarter on a nearly biweekly basis (that's the biweekly where it happens twice a week). Heck even MCDM has carved out a career fixing adding to Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition™,  to much fanfare! 

Any TTRPG player worth their salt can name a game with more 1st Party character customization options than Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition™ (The expansive splats of Cyberpunk 2020 come to mind). But for folks who lurk in communities brimming with daily homebrew content? Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition™ is unrivaled!

That said, are those choices and options vapid because of a butts level-up system? Do all these 3rd Party options vary wildly in balance because (even internally at WotC) none of these writers have exactly the same vision for the game? Does all this content give Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition™ a very kitchen sink feel where great builds are nearly indiscernible from gags? Emphatically yes. But the original statement was about VOLUME not consistency, quality or even official support. This is by design. D&D Next's big vibe was modularity and expandability and they really made it happen (Not through game design really, but that's a different topic).

Makes the whole OGL debacle even more embarrassing, doesn't it? If WotC had cut that stream, Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition™ and its fans would look very different. There's a reason your friend who has never heard of Pathfinder had very strong (and informed) opinions on why the OGL going away is bad. So if you're one of those folks who wish the Dragon game would just go away, know that vorpal sword is still sitting in the desk of some Hasbro executive. 

OK, OK, so why bring all this up in a big long post? Why go to such lengths to describe what I believe to be the inner thinking of a 5e Diehard to indie folks who simply don't understand? Well firstly because I think indies who approach these Diehards like this are doing it all wrong and y'all should save your energy. Your friend who loves playing Cards Against Humanity is certainly capable of playing Netrunner or Dominion, and might even be able to agree those are good games. But ultimately they like Cards Against Humanity... like a lot. When they say "I love Cards Against Humanity because it has so many expansions," replying "literally play any other card game, there's more cards and better gameplay I promise" isn't a super helpful statement. (Except to help excise one's own frustrations with Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition™'s market dominance, which fair. Do what you gotta do). But to be honest, it's more than that. 

No this comes down to my sick curiosity and a fascination with the way we engage with mass market products. To me the biggest mistake is approaching Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition™ as a game, because it's not (and that's by design). It's a lifestyle brand. And I feel so much can be learned by this. By ignoring the 5e Diehard and insisting that they try other games, you ignore perhaps one of the most interesting sociological phenomenon of the 21st century; a commodified viral lifestyle that's gaining so much traction that it's become bigger than the Beatles. I don't believe these folks want a better game, or perhaps even a game at all. They want a community, a lifestyle they're a part of.

Sure Pathfinder 2e has better character options and better 1st Party support. But does it have the drunken wizard class my friend found on the DM's Guild and sent to me while I was depressed at work? Or a movie me and my friends all go see, where the characters act just like we do at the table? [*3] [A movie whose items I can get exclusively through the game's proprietary web service] Does it have branded socks and thermoses and Clue? Do I get to call out famous lines and moves, just like my favorite high-profile voice actor or comedian APer? Do I get to make in-jokes about the system's jank that I learned from the same TikTok that sold me my Cleric themed dice and matching tea set? Do I get to discuss lore I learned from a YouTube Reel that was recommended to me because I've been watching VTubers play the official video game adaptation of this TTRPG (which is set to win a huge swath of awards this year and which I can also play with my friends)? Does it appear by name in a critically acclaimed Netflix show that provides critical context to folks who want to know what it is me and my friends get up to on the weekly? No. 

I don't think any other game can do this. Frankly, I'm not sure any game should even aspire to do this. Because it stops being about the game at that point and becomes a lifestyle brand. I see glimmers of it in the way that people get really into certain indie juggernauts, but nothing can really compare. A system you know isn't a community. A game you like isn't a personality. But Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition™...? Well, that gets close.

Look I've played Destiny for 8+ years. I know what a lifestyle brand looks like when it only gets 1st Party support [and is based of skinner box design], and the answer is bad. The fact that Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition™ is as big as it is can be attributed to a lot of things from modern faux-nostalgia to Hasbro's mythic marketing abilities. But much like its primordial predecessor, what makes Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition™ thrive is the average people who play it. And make content for it. And make videos about other people's content for it. And make merch about the people making videos about other people's content for it. Which is then sold to the people who play it. You get the idea.

At some point I'd love to do a huge big deep dive on Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition™ as a lifestyle brand, why it's so successful and inciting. The whole concept of a "lifestyle brand" is morbidly fascinating to me. It weaves together all manner of parasocial engagement, self expression via brand loyalty and personal empowerment fantasies. But that's gonna have to wait for another day because I have to be at work in an hour DX

[*1 : I left out said original poster's tag here cause it's not really important. The beef here isn't personal  and this person's sentiment is far from unique. Also I played up the drama here cause it's fun! Don't take the beefing too seriously ~ ] 

[*2 : I use the phrase "5e Diehard" to mean someone who largely or exclusively plays Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition™ and generally embraces it as a lifestyle brand. There's a 7 person Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition™ game that runs biweekly (the biweekly where it happens twice per month - bimonthly if you will) so I get a fairly frequent peak into their minds and actually really enjoy talking about their game with them! It's something I'd recommend every designer do more of frankly. ]

[*3 : I'm really salty scalpers grabbed all the D20 popcorn buckets on the day of release. ISTG it's so hard to have nice things these days.]