Edition Wars
The 4th edition of Dungeons and Dragons was an attempt by the game’s publisher, Wizards of the Coast, to reinvent the game for the modern era. The overhaul of the game’s rules was focused on a few core changes: a new focus on combat, getting rid of obsolete rules, and reduce the amount of bookkeeping and logistics associated with playing. What resulted was a streamlined, combat-heavy strategy game that got rid of many of the old sacred cows of D&D.
Such a dramatic change in the way the game is played was hugely controversial and fractured the fanbase of D&D. Many players refused to adopt 4e and stuck to the previous 3.5 edition, some even reverted all the way back to 2e because they were convinced that these new conceptions of how D&D were played just weren’t for them. Additionally, Pathfinder was released in the wake of D&D 4e and it was built on top of the Open Gaming License of D&D 3.5e and tried to capitalize on the growth potential of 3.5 and its best aspects. However, a good number of players did actually make the jump to 4e and enjoyed it greatly, but the damage was done. The fanbase of D&D was spread out over various editions and internally fractured over how to play the game and what it should be about. This confusing and splintered culture around the game is precisely what 5e, the edition that I’m focusing on, set out to fix in 2014.
An internet meme criticizing the distinct differences between 4e and previous editions.
An internet meme describing the heated discourse around new editions.
Hard-baked into the concept of 5e is bringing new players to the table and trying to mend the divides between old ones. As a part of its development process, Wizards of the Coast brought actual D&D players into to playtest their beta versions and give feedback on what they wanted to see in the game. The result is a massively modular game that allows each set of players to tailor the game to their needs. This is accomplished by a refocus on the power of the DM. In 5e, the DM can adjudicate which rules to follow and which to throw out and what playstyle they want their game to follow out of the many that the core rules now accommodate. Using the same set of 5e rules, players can embark on combat-heavy dungeon crawling bloodbaths, incredibly detailed open-world exploration expeditions, interaction-driven roleplaying mystery investigations, or any combination of the three.
Paired with this newfound flexibility in playstyles is an overhaul of the core lore of D&D. Wizards of the Coast very intentionally set out to get rid of age-old stereotypes and prejudices lurking in its lore-base. They wanted to “depict humanity in all its beautiful diversity by depicting characters who represent an array of ethnicities, gender identities, sexual orientations, and beliefs,” and consequently drafted their core D&D ruleset, The Player’s Handbook, to reflect this attitude. Emblematic of this overhaul is the visual difference between depictions of the human race in the 4e Handbook vs. the 5e Handbook. In 4e, both characters are very pale and the man is placed higher on the page, in a more dominant position than the woman, and also in practical armor compared to the woman’s impractical crop top garment. In 5e, the only picture of a human is a depiction of a black woman fighter, dressed confidently in full armor and fully outfitted for adventuring. This distinct difference in depiction is true for the rest of the 5e handbook, where more women characters are introduced, characters of different colors and backgrounds, and the exclusion of stereotypical depictions of “evil” high fantasy races.
Official human race art for D&D 4th Edition.
Official human race art for D&D 5th Edition.
With the new attitude and freedom of play offered by 5e, the game was poised for the opportunity for new players to break down the barriers of the old stereotypes and gatekeeping around D&D. In recent years, helping to throw the proverbial wrecking ball at these obstacles has been the rise of several high-profile D&D games and their depictions that have gained enormous popularity in the D&D community: Critical Role, The Adventure Zone, and Dimension 20.