There are more rumors swirling around “Dungeons & Dragons”, as there often are, but these might be worth listening to. According to Tenkar’s Tavern on Youtube, there are somewhat credible rumors regarding not only a new edition of D&D being written right now at “Wizards of the Coast”, but that this 6th Edition might see a return to some of the old school mechanics of early editions.
You can see the video I’m referencing here, if you like.
Now then, the meat and potatoes of the rumors are as follows: Luke Gygax (son of the legend himself, Gary Gygax) is working with WotC (perhaps as an advisor) on a new edition of D&D. These rumors also say that this edition would be much more like early D&D, such as 1st and perhaps even 2nd edition “Advanced Dungeons & Dragons”, just with a 5e polish.
Mostly this would pertain to a shift back to Proficiencies, like you see in the AD&D “Dungeoneers Survival Guide” and “Wilderness Survival Guide” books. This would be a subtle yet profound shift in the game’s design, moving away from Skills, and minimizing the need for Feats.
What is most important about these changes back to more of an old school design is that it would appeal to the OSR crowd, while not scaring off the newer players who joined the game at 5th Edition. Since the Old-School Revival crowd is active and those games are very popular, I can see how WotC might want to woo them back into the D&D fold, but they wouldn’t want to stray too far away from the simplicity of 5E, either.
So, a mix, then. Something for everyone, you might say.
Give the OSR folks a taste of the early days of D&D, which mostly got them into the hobby in the first place, while holding onto the “superheroic feel” of 5th edition. That could be a bit of a tricky mix to pull off, but it is possible, and in regard to WotC, it might be their last chance to revive the game.
Let’s be honest here. While the 2024 edition of D&D (5.24, let’s say) has sold a lot of books thus far, the only reason the game remains as the #1 tabletop roleplaying game in the world is because of the massive head start it got with the previous editions of the game. If 5.24 were going straight head-to-head with the rest of the market, without the massive market share the D&D brand has alone, it would be getting its ass handed to it by “Pathfinder”, “Call of Cthulhu”, and not to mention the OSR games like “Shadowdark”, “Mork Borg”, and so on. D&D 5.24 would still be okay, but in my opinion it would lose its perch as the #1 TTRPG in the market.
… and deservedly so.
So let’s ask ourselves, how can WotC turn things around? They need to sell books for D&D, but the original 5e is popular but a bit long in the tooth, and putting out a slight revision in D&D 5.24 didn’t prove to revitalize their sales like they thought it would. So what now? Where can they look to get the D&D brand back on top by the massive margin it used to boast?
Actual Plays aren’t the answer. “Stranger Things” is ending, so that won’t sell books for all that much longer. Maybe crossover books to different intellectual properties, like they do with “Magic: The Gathering”? If you look at the “Rick & Morty” crossover they already tried, this likely isn’t the answer.
What is left is the fanbase that WotC walked away from years ago, the OSR community. Some of those were left behind for the right reasons (racism, misogyny, etc), but the majority of us old school players just enjoyed the older editions of the game, and weren’t looking to play overpowered characters, like you have in 5th edition.
We’re older. We have disposable income (which is why we can spend so much money on these OSR books). All it would take is for WotC to create a 6th edition that embraces much of the cool mechanics in the early editions, which keeping the polish and some of the modern mechanics you have in the 5e books, and that might be a winning combination!
So yeah, this is all just conjecture and rumors at this state, but it would be nice to see something like this come about. That might be the one thing that gets me to pry open my wallet and buy more D&D books again.
