Playing in the Beautiful Mess

A few months ago, I listened to Mike Shea’s recording of a panel including him and other 5e designers at Gamehole Con 2025, discussing the platform that is 5e. I was particularly struck the following week when I prepped for my Ptolus campaign at the time. Working through my prep structure in my notebook, I found myself consulting a few books. One was Monte Cook Games Banewarrens, which I want to turn into a climactic element of that campaign. Since my party was currently making their way into a fortress in Hell, I consulted the Book of Fiends from Green Ronin. In addition to that, I jotted down page numbers for some devils from Flee Mortals and Kingdoms & Warfare, by MCDM. Then I decided to use the Monstrous Menagerie by EN Publishing for my more normal fiends. Finally, I used the Vault of Magic from Kobold Press to stock a treasure hoard within the citadel.

You’ll note I didn’t consult a single source from Wizards of the Coast—which was not deliberate. Instead, these resources were ones that jumped to mind, and seemed to have everything I needed. This variety is another symptom of the “Beautiful Mess of 5e.” The nature of the game, with so many non-integrated systems, as mentioned by Mike Mearls in the recording, facilitates the easy plug and play of a wider variety of sources. 

While editions may march on, with the release of so many available 5e variants with broad compatibility across them, seems to assure that this game will continue to be played for many years. It may not be perfect. It may get stale at times, but I think we’ll still be playing it, or a game much like it in a few decades.