D&D Will Never Stop Changing—And That’s Perfectly Fine

I dislike change as much as the next person, more actually, according to my psychiatrist, yet it seems it’s fans of the popular tabletop game Dungeons & Dragons that hate it most of all. My social media is flooded with complaints about changes to the rules and lore of the game, so clearly there are some pretty deep schisms in the hobby.

Except, of all the hobbies to rail against changes to the official rules or lore, D&D makes the least sense to complain about.

D&D Has Never Stopped Evolving

That original game system carved out by the late, great Gary Gygax was nothing more than a draft. It was a solid foundation on which to build something closer to the ideal tabletop game its creators envisioned. You can only do so much within the confines of your own imagination, so after real people started playing D&D the game had to evolve to cover up mechanical issues, but also to adjust the lore.

There has never been a single moment in the history of the game where it existed as the perfect snapshot of lore and rules. It’s always been a game transitioning from one state to the next. It’s completely fluid and always has been, almost by design.

The Rules Have Always Reflected the Times

Whether we like it or not, the rules and lore of any game will reflect the times they were created in. Yes, D&D was revolutionary and is a foundation for modern game design, tabletop or otherwise. However, it’s still tied to a specific time and place in human history. With values and a worldview that goes along with that milieu.

So it shouldn’t be surprising that when someone is tasked with updating or rethinking those rules and the lore that goes with them, our current society is going to influence that. To a modern game designer or writer, some things just around going to feel right anymore, and frankly, if we’re just going to get more of the same, there’s little point in maintaining and updating the game in the first place.

New Editions Don’t Erase the Old Ones

The thing that makes D&D and other TTRPGs special is that older editions of the games don’t suddenly become “obsolete” or unplayable just because a new version has come out. None of the editions you love have been erased. Nothing stops you from playing using the rules and lore you like the most.

Indeed, that’s exactly what people do. Playing “classic” D&D is an interesting and attractive proposition on its own, whether you’re just curious about the past or you really like THAC0 more than what came later.

Homebrew and House Rules Keep Creativity Alive

It’s easy to forget that the only real rule in D&D is that the Dungeon Master’s word is final. The rules of D&D are more like guidelines, and the DM can design the campaign however they like. As long as everyone is aware of and agrees to the house rules, every session with every DM is basically its own custom variant of D&D. From that point of view, it doesn’t really matter if the “official” D&D lore or rules change in a way you don’t like.

Actual games played by actual players will simply ignore the bits no one likes, and embrace the bits they do. So if something really is unpopular, and it’s not just a temporary dislike of something just because it’s different, it’s going to die on the vine anyway.

The Community Is Bigger and More Diverse Than Ever

When D&D first started taking off, its community was still relatively small and made up of people who were broadly similar to each other. In the intervening decades, that’s changed, and a much more diverse group of people want to play. When you have something that’s become so much more popular (even Hollywood actors promote D&D), there will inevitably be a push to change aspects of the game to suit its new, broader audience.

This seems to happen in every major hobby of fandom eventually, and it absolutely does alienate some original fans. I just don’t see how you can have something stay exactly the same and also grow to appeal to a broader audience. Ultimately, the game is also a business, and businesses need to be sustainable and ideally have some growth. You just can’t have it both ways.

Just Play Your Favorite Version

The latest version of D&D is going to be someone’s favorite version for the rest of their lives, and they too will complain about how Orcs aren’t as cool as they used to be in the 2020s. The good thing is that fifty years from now, nothing barring the robot apocalypse will prevent them from just playing the version of D&D they like, just like nothing is stopping you from being a 2nd Edition purist today.