Will 6e D&D save the game?

While I'd agree that 5e was built with that design intention, to be bland, simple, easy to learn and very inoffensive, I do think they could have done a better job in some areas, and that showing a little more innovation or having new, original ideas might have given the game value other than just as an entry point or lowest common denominator aimed product.

I've been playing since AD&D. 5e is my favorite. Frankly, it's the first time I've actually liked a D&D system. We used to just play Deadlands, Shadowrun, Vampire, etc. It's nice being able to play D&D without having to houserule it to hell and back.

>I've been playing since AD&D.

Eh, unlike him, I wouldn't say 5e is my favourite, but it's certainly the edition I'd want to play the most at the moment, and I started with AD&D, as well.

I would like to see an eventual 6e have more focused design and some actual ideas. 5e works for its own purposes, but despite the controversy I really appreciated what 4e did as a system.

I'm not their primary audience, I rarely play D&D, having moved on to other games a long time back, but 4e actually caught my interest because it did something different, and the kind of storytelling its mechanics supported gave it a place in my RPG collection if I was ever in the mood for some high action fantasy storytelling.

5e, in contrast, seems more like what most D&D fans want, but lacks anything to really inspire me to play it.

I'd hope a 6e would manage to find a balance point, keeping that broad appeal while also introducing some design ideas or innovations that gave people a reason to play it beyond it being a functional iteration of the brand.

Tail end of it, but yeah. I started playing when I was 13. 3rd didn't come out until 2000, when I was 15.

Christ, I still remember my first session. Backstage at the community theater before rehearsal on Saturday, trying to figure out why the fuck armor classes went down into negative numbers. It seemed like such a dumb way to handle it.

5e is fine, stop with the meme hate

Yeah, some actual content would be nice, even if it's just rehashes from fan favourite material in previous editions, but some relatively new ideas would be great, too. Look at what 4e did with the Warden and the Avenger: while the idea of the forest guardian or the religious executioner were by no means original or unheard of, they were something that D&D itself had never really made its own before then.

“Saving a franchise” is by any definition it is ever used when speaking about economic success.

I concur that they could have tried to do some more new stuff to make the game have a unique feel. However, 5e also came after 4e which had a fair deal of blowback from their established playerbase. I think 5e is kinda like Star Wars VII where it didn't really do much new because they were trying to go back to their roots and recapture their audience. They opted to go with the safe bet, for better or worse.