Your Guide to the D&D One Playtest – Origins

After encouragement from my Patreon, I recorded a two-part video walking through the first playtest packet for “D&D One” – the new version of D&D that will be released in 2024.

The First Playtest Packet – Origins

The prospect of D&D One is very exciting! What changes will they make, big and small? Will it really be fully compatible with 5E? Will it feel more like 5.5 or 6E? And how good is this survey at asking the right questions? In the videos, I walk through both the survey and the playtest rules themselves.

• D&D One Playtest and Survey Review: Ancestries!
• D&D One Playtest and Survey Review: Backgrounds and Feats!

Playtests are very important. Our combined feedback will let the designers know whether they are on the right track, or far from it. D&D Next, which became 5E, had an excellent playtest process. We got to see some wildly different takes on skills, classes, and many core elements. In the end, the combined feedback led to an excellent 5E. I hope we see the same with the 2024 version of D&D!

You may also be interested in the discussion Shawn Merwin and I are having on the Mastering Dungeons podcast. We are taking a fresh look at the 5E PHB with the following idea: if we were on the design team, what would we want to change?

How about you? How did you like the first playtest packet for Origins? What would you like to see change?