How Backwards Compatible is D&D 2024?

Professor DM provides an answer to perhaps the most asked question about new D&D. (Ep. 416)

[dimesonhiseyes]

Remember friends. You don't need DnD to have your DnD.
Also, never trust an evil wizard. Never give an evil wizard money.

[Webhead]

I'm with Hickman. Pick a number and roll a die. That's been the heart of D&D (and RPGs in general) since the beginning. Hell, my earliest days DMing D&D was using a 2E PHB, a 1E Monster Manual and a handful of BECMI adventure modules. And you know what? It was awesome.

[mruebe]

What? No scandal? No controversy that got even worse? That's not how a youtube video on D&D works, Professor :-). Thank you for a balanced, calm commentary.

[kaijuultimax]

All editions are compatible if you're willing to bend over backwards to do WoTC's game design for them.

[OrinThomas]

"Chart of Hoes" is the name of Prof DM's 90's rap single.

[DoctorLazers]

Here's the thing about any RPG. If you've been playing it for like two years, congratulations. You are now more experienced and knowledgeable about this system than the creator, at the time it was published. So don't ever feel like the writers know better than you.

[purple_sorcerer]

Dungeon Craft is one of the very few RPG channels that I drop everything to watch a newly released video. Great stuff.

[gerardbrown]

I exclusively play Castles & Crusades and at my table I have used Caves of chaos and several old modules. All changes made in my head on the fly! Works great

[Malcadon]

A friend of mine pointed out that the entries in the Random Harlot Table sound like the names of mixed drinks, and she is absolutely not wrong. I could go for a Saucy Tart with lime... or maybe a Aged Madam?

[billdefranza]

I started playing just when 2nd edition was published, and didn't realize for about a year that the older kids we were playing with had 1st ed books and the ones we were buying were a different edition. We when used Oriental Adventures in our 2nd edition games. Maybe it wasn't the tightest fit, but basically, if you're having fun, you're doing your RPG correctly.

[Tizmanian]

I like how you roll, Prof DM! All hail having a great time with those at your table - the rest is noise.

[deciusaemilius]

The biggest issue I'm running into isn't with my current group (we're happy with 2014) but when I run with people new to the hobby (which I have been doing). They make characters on DNDBeyond or using the new PHB (because that's what they bought) and now I'm here forced to either figure out the new weapon masteries, spell variants, class changes et cetera - or tell them they can't use their stuff, which is not exactly welcoming (particularly if they bought the PHB). The monsters are actually the least of the changes - that's formatting. I can run a multi-reaction monster as one with legendary actions, and I edit stat blocks all the time. The changes to core mechanics - how stealth works, what each class can do, that's where I'm running into issues. Last game the player playing a dwarf fighter says "Can I use Second Wind for Tactical Mind to try and figure out how to stop this exploding steam engine?" and I have no idea what he's talking about. That's the problem with the edition change.

[paddysparlor]

I started writing content for ShadowDark last month and it’s been fun so far. That and I do all my own art and I’ve been likened to Erol Otus so I think I’ll hit the right themes and tone. After having skipped 5e for nearly its entire run and missed SD’s launch, I am surprised at how much I enjoy it. Great video PDM!

[LootandRoll]

Almost everything is compatible if you are an experienced GM

[ericjensen]

I like how by now we've given up on there being any actual rules in the DMG 😂

[SSkorkowsky]

Outside of a brief 1-year (and ill-fated) fling with 3.5, I spent 91-08 playing a hybrid-combo of 1e and 2e AD&D. They were all but the same edition in my eyes. Conversion between 1e & 2e wasn't even necessary. You could just pick up a module or supplement book and use it. Call of Cthulhu is the same. It's fully backwards compatible through all editions. I've run multiple 1e-6e Call of Cthulhu adventures using 7e rules and never even had to slow down.
Meanwhile I've tried converting 1e D&D to 3.5e and to 5e. That was a chore. Outside of large concepts like there being Clerics and Elves and a spell called Magic Missile, they're completely different games. I'd even say that because they have similar names with wildly different effects/meanings, it's harder to convert a 1e game to 5e D&D than it's be to convert a completely different thing to 5e because you can't make the natural and incorrect assumption that the spells/monsters are mechanically similar.
I've also had edition updates. Mongoose 2e Traveller did one in 2022. Prettier books, new art, but the mechanics are 99.8% the same. They're the same edition. Any changes weren't much more than an applied errata. If one player is using the old corebook and a different player is using the updated corebook, the biggest confusion the table faces is the page numbers are different (I found that rule on page 108, " doesn't' help someone else find that rule if they're using the different corebook).
From everything I've heard, the 2024 D&D is a new edition. Is it backwards compatible? Evidently. I'll just take your word for it. Is it the same edition? Nope. Even if the changes are no more significant than the difference between 1e and 2e AD&D, it's still a new edition. I find it annoying they're pretending it's not, or that being backwards compatible is somehow revolutionary.
The big issue isn't if the adventures convert to the new edition it's that if one player is using the 2014 D&D PHB, they all need to be using the 2014 PHB. Once one converts to the 2024 one, the differences sound significant enough that everyone else will need to convert, as well.
Most of what I've heard is the 2024 edition is an improvement. That's good to hear. I hope people enjoy it. I only wish WotC would admit it's a different edition.

[shawn-raymulder]

Letters From The Dark vol 4: Borderlands is a Shadowdark conversion of Keep on the Borderlands. I got a printed copy off Drivethru RPG for around $11.

[anthonyrenli]

For an experienced DM/GM the game system doesn't matter. Especially if they have experienced or a known player group.
Some systems are more clunkily than others (I'm looking at you RoleMaster or the first edition of Twilight 2000), but an experienced DM/GM can work around that and make it work regardless of the system people are looking to play..
Experienced DM: "You want to play a low-magic Cowboy themed adventure set in 1870's Wyoming? Sure - we can do that" and then they dig out whatever system they have handy and just re-skin the heck out of everything to make it fit.
The issue is we want to have a bunch of "New" DM's out there- and for them using the guard-rails of the established rules is really helpful. It's like improvising with a musical instrument - You have to know the rules and know them pretty well before you know when you can ignore the rules.

[Hugh]

I feel people should take the exorbitant cost of the 5e2e books and buy a couple dozen other RPG's to try. If you feel like going back to 5e afterwards, you'll then have a whole heap of new mechanics to pick and choose from and create your own updated version.

[BradDaeda]

Great video!

Had a similar experience as you. My first D&D game was when I was 11 in 1981. Played a Ranger in Isle of Dread. So a B/X module played with AD&D.

I also refrained from moving to 2nd Ed, initially. By 1995 everyone was wanting to play 2nd Ed and with the release of the new black cover books I relented. 2nd Ed and the Skills & Powers books essentially destroyed my games.

My first D&D game only lasted one session for reasons I won't go into. But I officially got into D&D a year later in 1982 when a buddy got Moldvay's Basic Set. We played it a bit and when I went to buy D&D, I ended up getting the AD&D books instead, not realizing it was essentially a different game. Because I didn't realize that we ended up essentially playing Basic D&D rules but with AD&D stats, races, classes, spells and DMG stuff. Played that way for over a decade. I've probably never run AD&D completely RAW.

Lastly, I mostly run B/X, AD&D, and Basic Fantasy modules in my Shadowdark game. Easy peasy.

Anyway, again good video!