Dungeons and Dragons is planning on giving up the One D&D brand name shortly. In the future, Dungeons and Dragons will be marketing its One D&D products more directly as a revision of the 5th Edition ruleset.
Last year, Dungeons and Dragons revealed One D&D, its evergreen evolution of 5th Edition. It has since released several Unearthed Arcana playtests under this branding with the intention of moving away from specific editions, as it had in the past.
However, during the recent Dungeons and Dragons Creator Summit, Wizards of the Coast revealed One D&D was an in-progress title for the project. The slides shown in the presentation did not use One D&D, instead referring to the upcoming rules update as the “2024 Revision to 5th Edition.” Likewise, it has no plans of calling it 5.5e or 6th Edition either–it would simply continue to be 5th Edition.
Dungeons and Dragons is likely choosing to do this because of feedback it received from its One D&D playtests. Though it had claimed One D&D would be fully backwards-compatible, many fans did not think the content from the Unearthed Arcana would play nicely with previous Dungeons and Dragons books. To many, One D&D felt like a new edition of Dungeons and Dragons, rather than a simple evolution of the ruleset.
It is possible Dungeons and Dragons is distancing itself from the One D&D name to drive home the fact that it isn’t trying to reinvent the wheel. The 2024 Revision is not trying to make a new edition, so using the same name for the system gives credence to the playtests and helps make players feel like they are still playing the same game. Attempting to rebrand would also confuse new players, who might think old 5th Edition adventure paths and products couldn’t be used with One D&D books.
That said, plenty of players are irritated that Wizards of the Coast refuses to give the rules revision a proper name. Many fans think the rules changes in Dungeons and Dragons are far too drastic to still call 5th Edition, and that not giving it a proper name will cause confusion over what features their Dungeon Master is using. Others want Dungeons and Dragons to give it some way of easy identification, rather than having to call it the 2024 Revision of 5th Edition every time. If it doesn’t, the Dungeons and Dragons community will probably still call it One D&D or 5.5e for simplicity’s sake.
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