D&D 2014 and D&D 2024

D&D 2014 includes more variant rules to support old school play than people give the game credit for. Very few seem to use them, since I never really see them discussed. The truth is, both D&D 2014 and 2024 can run a game that feels more old-school, but you will run into a few problems with either edition. You will likely require a lot of patching and homebrew to make this work.

The variant rules in the DMG for the following are very useful:

• Healer's Kit Dependency
• Rest Variants: Gritty Realism (see notes below)
• Injuries
• Massive Damage
• Morale

I swear, some OSR YouTubers forget there is a morale rule written into the 2014 DMG. Note that most of the Variant rules above were removed from D&D 2024. Morale was integrated into the "fight or flight" rules in the 2024 DMG. There are morale rules in all versions of D&D 5E and 5.5E.

Also, 2014 is a heavily patched game at this point, requiring a few extra books to work correctly and be up to the latest "patched" version of 2014 5E. The advantage of 2024 is that it is only the three core books, and that is it. Oh, and don't fall for the digital DLC trap; if it isn't in a physical book, it isn't real.

But the longer rest variants were removed in D&D 2024, leaving us significantly worse off. Yes, you can houserule them in, but as 2014 fades, 2024 will be the official books and supported rules going forward. 

Then again, the Gritty Realism Variant rules did significantly slow game pacing and hurt classes that relied on short rests by forcing them to last 8 hours. While they did force a more old-school mentality, I can see why many did not use them since they slowed the pace of adventuring to a crawl. Many said good riddance to these rules, since they never worked all that well without heavy patching.

You fight the system and its balance, trying to make it work like an old-school game. Where 2014 threw a bunch of "hey DM, try this" rules in the DMG that never worked that well, D&D 2024 gets rid of them and streamlines the game. Honestly, 2024 plus homebrew rules are probably the better way to go, since the game is streamlined, with less confusion and fewer exploitable rules overall.

Some turn to third-party supplements to get the old-school rules and feeling in place for the game. Some of these are massive rewrites, while others are more targeted with thoughtful options. 5e Hardmode is one of my favorites, giving you a bunch of optional rules you can use that feel better thought out than the Variant rules presented in the 2014 DMG. This will work seamlessly with either 2014 or 2024 D&D.

But, the game as it is, is still D&D 5E at its heart. You can adjust resource replenishment, which is what hardmode 5e attempts to do, but you will still run into the same issues Gritty Realism ran into. Part of me feels this book is good, and another feels it would cause problems and "just play 5.5E and use tone" - it is a tricky problem.

It is probably better to not use this and learn 5.5E on its own without modding it. There are enough differences to learn, and the streamlining that 2024 brought makes this a new system; it is farther from 5E than one may think.

Either version of D&D (2014 or 2024) plus the 5e Hardmode rules will get you there. This is probably the easiest way to go about this, and you can pick as many optional rules as you like to make things work for you.

The 2024 wilderness exploration rules were massively rewritten and expanded, and can no longer be ignored by ranger characters. This is a clear improvement over D&D 2014, and it makes the game better for old-school-style play. I can see why they got rid of the ranger's "soft powers" in D&D 2024 now, since the entire wilderness exploration system has changed.

The exhaustion rules in 2024 are better than those in 2014, and more usable during play than the harsher 6-level system. ToV and A5E still retain the old exhaustion systems, though A5E splits them into six levels of Fatigue and Strife, and each is less harsh. ToV sticks with 2014's table and is in the same boat with exhaustion, with many groups not using it because of how harsh it hits characters.

The darkvision problem was also addressed in 2024, and light sources are more important. Equipment use overall is cleaned up and cleared up in 2024, requiring certain pieces of gear for travel challenges and laying out which tools give an advantage for which travel activities.

2014 had popular variant encumbrance rules, whereas 2024 simplifies encumbrance and reserves it for edge cases. It is a wash either way, with 2014 holding the edge due to the variant rules.

Also, please get the 5.5E Monster Manual Expanded to fill in the missing monsters from the 2024 Monster Manual. You will get the orcs, drow, and humanoid monsters back. I knew this would eventually happen, but it does add to the cost of the game and adds another book to the shelf.

Given the criteria we set out, D&D 2024 plus Hardmode 5e is your best bet for simulating an old-school game using the D&D rules. The changes to darkvision, the equipment-use clarifications, and the wilderness exploration rule expansion push this over the top for me. Also, to have the "full game" of 2014, it is more than just the three core books, since major rules changes were introduced in later books.

The fact that 2024 beat 2014 actually shocked me, but now that I own the books, everything is a lot clearer. The nods to the old-school style of play are more evident in 2024 than in 2014; fewer books are needed (no Tasha's, Xanathar's, or Monsters of the Multiverse as core books), and you do not need to houserule this to make it work as intended. But people love houseruling, so there is that.

It is also sad that 2024 is generally an improvement over 2014; many skipped these books out of anger at Wizards over issues like the OGL, and the edition is seen as a disappointment. Some sensitivity issues crept in here as well, such as humanoid monsters going missing from the Monster Manual, and a few of the art pieces feel off. Conversion rates remain low, and many are playing with what they have in a tough economy.