Reading Justin Alexander’s excellent, “So You Want To Be a Game Master” has me (once again) thinking about Hasbro’s Dungeons & Dragons. Ever since the OGL kerfuffle earlier in the year and the release of the D&D movie (from which the phrase “Hasbro’s Dungeons & Dragons” arose), I’ve been feeling distinctly uncomfortable with D&D 5e.
Justin’s book introduces roleplaying games through the lens of fantasy gaming using D&D 5th Edition. That’s reasonable given the dominance of the game and its popularity, even if he is quick to point out and name other games. The first adventure he offers newbies is both excellent in its design and also powered by D&D.
One the one hand, I am tempted to run that dungeon using D&D – after all, it’s a good dungeon and would make a great one-shot. On the other hand, it’s Hasbro’s D&D and with the current shift away from 5th Edition towards the eponymous “One D&D” in 2024, it is both increasingly expensive to get the Starter Sets and seemingly pointless when the edition is about to change.
And that’s not to mention the uncomfortable feeling that Hasbro’s touch brings to the whole brand. Just because something is the market leading product doesn’t make it the best product on the market. Popularity is an strange beast, especially when past experience of the game left me dissatisfied. Then there’s the poor handling of the game’s fans.
The truth is that I’m much happier playing Basic D&D from 1983, or even Second Edition from 1989 and Third Edition from 2000. It’s not that those games are intrinsically “better”, even if they have more to recommend them to my tastes. Even though 3e was Wizard’s (and soon after Hasbro’s) game, it was at least the bearer of the OGL.
So I am torn and somewhat heart-broken to admit that I am probably not going to want to return to Hasbro’s D&D in the near future. That said, there’s a good chance that if I want to get back to face-to-face gaming, I might have to eat those words and give the 5th Edition a third chance. Which kinda sucks.
Game on!
Roleplay Rescue’s Blog 
As you say, its popularity doesn’t make it better. It’s simply got more dollars behind it, thus more exposure, thus more market share. I’ll stick with the games I like, because life is too short. I’ve always been able to find players for any game I wanted to run, if I’m willing to play online. That does, after all, give you access to a world full of players. Although as we said yesterday, it would sure be nice to have a group of like-minded friends in the neighborhood for regular face-to-face gaming again.
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I absolutely don’t like Hasbro or WOTC. As a long-time MTG player, I’m familiar with their profiteering. As far as D&d is concerned, I only run OSR games, and retro clones of BX. My desert island game is 1st edition AD&D. There is a rabid strain of purity testing at the heart of Hasbro/WOTC that creates black and white thinking rather than compassion. Everyone should run their tables as they wish with anyone, but there is a tribalism that can be hurtful. And I include all sides in that.
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In the words of the Angry GM, 5th edition “really is the most soulless piece of **** that I’ve ever had thousands of hours of enjoyment from” (or something along those lines). I play in a regular 5e game and it’s very… reliable? Serviceable? Predictable? All good things and certainly adjectives I would appreciate if applied to my car, but I’m supposed to be playing a game of exciting, heroic fantasy, not doing the school run.
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