They don't list more than the first printing date. But it also has a notice beside that date of "(This printing contains corrections)".

I have nothing negative to say about these books.

I'm eager to see what comes next.

I would really like to see the material in the Unearthed Arcana articles become the contents of some future game supplements. It's really good stuff.

IIRC, Unearthed Arcana is supposed to be its own book, released sometime late this year.

Besides what's already mentioned, and depending on the setting you want to run there's a ton of stuff on the DM Guild and I personally love Forgotten Characters of the Realms by Thomas M. Costa. He's an author and developer that worked on a few 3e-Era stuff with WotC and mostly the Forgotten Realms. He's detailed a LOT of stuff in the PDF that I have: mostly character creation stuff like races, arch-types for classes, a new Scout class, and spells. All of the lore in the book pertain to the Forgotten Realms though, so if you're not using that particular setting it's gonna need re-worked.

There's also a lot of free stuff on their site as well. Things like the Player's Companions for stuff like Elemental Evil (new spells, a new races or two I think, etc.) If I remember correctly there was a big Compilation of Unearth Articles in one PDF called the Codex - Unearthed Arcana that was up to date until about February of 2017. I'm sure you can find that with a quick Google search or on DM Guild.

Then there are the adventures: of which there are quite a few so far. I really liked the older ones (Murder in Baldur's Gate, Legacy of the Crystal Shard) because they're open ended enough AND they have stats available online (for free) to run it in 3.5, 4e, and 5e. For the newer ones I'd say Curse of Strahd is often said to be one of the best and who doesn't want to fight Demogorgon (now that Stranger Things is super-popular) in Out of the Abyss adventure?

Quote from: Celestial;961298IIRC, Unearthed Arcana is supposed to be its own book, released sometime late this year.

Yes. But no pending release date yet. I plan to buy it. I would just like to know when I can.

Quote from: Celestial;961298IIRC, Unearthed Arcana is supposed to be its own book, released sometime late this year.

It sure feels like it from some of their comments. Like these are mini-playtests for some of this stuff.

But other bits have made it into later books. The Pale Master for example.

Quote from: Omega;961316Like these are mini-playtests for some of this stuff.

I'm pretty sure they are using the UA articles to test reception at the very least.

Each one has had a questionair afterwards so far and its the same system they used during the 5e playtest.

Last night, I spent quite a bit of time scouring over the character classes in the 5th Edition PHB. Giving them a thorough examination.

I like the different variant paths in which the character classes can go. The different options. It eliminates most of the reasons for Prestige Classes. And gets players back to just using the core classes. It makes me very happy.

I went to the DMsGuild website and noticed that people are just offering Prestige Classes in the stuff they put up there in the 5th Edition catagory. Even though they are now counter to the basic design of 5th Edition. It's just a lot of stuff to dig through to actually find something good there. It's like a lot of people just are putting out supplements without actually reading and understanding the 5th Edition. Which is just odd to me.

What interests me most are: New options. New ways of broadening the classes. Sorcerous Traditions and other branches off the main character classes. The more cool options, the better. To me.

Some are just copying, sometimes whole cloth, stuff from 3 and even 4e and slapping 5e on it willy nilly. The GMs Guild very quickly became a total mess.

Who needs more rules? I'm more interested in adventures on the DM's Guild.

Quote from: Voros;964260Who needs more rules? I'm more interested in adventures on the DM's Guild.

A lot of people do considering that a good portion of 5e's player-base came from 3e and 4e. Two systems that, for the past 15 years, created mechanical conceptions for thousands of conceivable option or combinations. In 4e I could play a Vampire Race, with a Vampire background, and a Vampire class with Vampire Feats. In 3e I could play a Centaur barbarian/ cleric/ fighter/ bard with a demon-werewolf template. Yea.......ridiculous but still, when people become accustomed to having all these options at the buffet NOT offering them for the new system in some manner will create a desire for more "crunch".

Quote from: Batman;964290A lot of people do considering that a good portion of 5e's player-base came from 3e and 4e. Two systems that, for the past 15 years, created mechanical conceptions for thousands of conceivable option or combinations. In 4e I could play a Vampire Race, with a Vampire background, and a Vampire class with Vampire Feats. In 3e I could play a Centaur barbarian/ cleric/ fighter/ bard with a demon-werewolf template. Yea.......ridiculous but still, when people become accustomed to having all these options at the buffet NOT offering them for the new system in some manner will create a desire for more "crunch".

You can also play all that as fluffy bits in most any system. The difference now, I think, is that players expect to be mechanically rewarded for everything their PC is. More crunch wanted, as you say, hence the whole video game comparison.  

That said, I'm not entirely sure about the desire for more crunch from anyone over 50.:-)

I don't mind a rules heavy game but once your rules are out I want more fluff or lore. I'll take it in an adventure format if I have to but give me a campaign box any day.

Problem with D&D in general is that the game adds way too many unnecessary bolt ins in class/race books which usually have very little, barely justified or downright weird lore to go with them.

Quote from: cranebump;964296You can also play all that as fluffy bits in most any system. The difference now, I think, is that players expect to be mechanically rewarded for everything their PC is. More crunch wanted, as you say, hence the whole video game comparison.  

I'm not even sure if it's a reward they are necessarily looking for. I think people just like having options to choose from, metaphorical buttons to push and levers to pull, etc.