Going back to 3.0 ?

[questing gm]

I leaving for uni in a week and won't be seeing my beloved 3.5 core rulebooks for quite some time until i come back during the school breaks. Reason i'm not bringing them along with me is because my gaming group would be using them (and i'm the only one with an actual copy of the books). They still have a DM to run games for them so i don't want to be selfish & cruel by leaving them to fend for themselves without the books...

But i was thinking of getting some new players while in uni so i wouldn't lose touch with D&D while i'm there....unable to take 3.5 books....i thought of taking my 3.0 books instead~! and since most of my FR material is in 3.0 anyway so i have a whole package to take with me once i get to uni~!

Is this just awkward that i going back to 3.0, what sort of backtracking that i should be ready to do after 2 years playing 3.5?

How should i go about recruiting new players into the game to a bunch of strangers that would almost never heard of a game like D&D...? Is 3.0 easier to play than 3.5 ?

 

[Khuxan]

I wouldn't worry about it. 3.5 is better than 3.0 (IMO), but people continue to play 3.0 even now. The two systems are also so similar hardly anyone will notice. If they do know 3.5, people that want to play rangers and bards might get (rightfully) miffed at how underpowered those classes were in 3.0. In that case, I suggest downloading the SRD and printing out the revised ranger and bard.

EDIT: Is this meant to be under Humor? If so, I would take Diaglo's advice and go straight to OD&D.

 

[Arbiter of Wyrms]

Buy more books. Don't revert to 3.0. Leave the 3.0 books with your friends at home and let them go out and buy their own 3.5 books when they see how bad it would be to go back to an earlier, lesser form of the game. Tell your folks that you plan to take up drinking and "self exploration" because you don't have another set of D&D books at university with which to run games. Buy PDF copies of the core books from RPGnow. Get the university library to buy copies of the core books. Buy Monte Cook's Arcana Evolved and play that while your at the university instead of D&D and play D&D while you're home on break. Take your 3.0 MM and DMG with you and your 3.5 PHB. Let the home group chip in together for a 3.0 PHB. Tell their parents that they plan to take up drinking while you're away and that you've encouraged them to call them when they're too drunk to drive, since you'll be at school engaged in study and D&D.

There are lots of other fun things to do while you are in college. During your upper-division work, you'll be too busy for those things, and during your lower-division years, you'll be too young/socially unconnected/worried about adhering to local statutes to do any of those things. I've head of undergraduates who blew off prepping for finals to prepare PC background so they could stay in the running to join a good D&D game. D&D is wholesome, engaging, safe, and affordable. Get out and do other stuff too while you're in school, but don't give up your hobby and certainly don't compormise it with outmoded rules.

Remember the 3.0 ranger? Haste? Polymorph? You'd have to houserule it to the point of playing 3.5.

 

[Arbiter of Wyrms]

For my 1000th post, I will make a correction and go along with Khuxan here.

Print out the SRD and leave that with your friends while you take the new books.


Or, I guess you could take it and leave them the new books.

 

[TheAuldGrump]

Use the 3.0 books, but bring along the very nice SRD Handouts from the good folks at the Other Game Company for Ranger and any other classes, races, or etc. that you think got changed for the better. I have gotten a good deal of mileage out of those sheets.

The Auld Grump

*EDIT* While you are there check out their PDF Monster Cards, blank ones are free on the site, a complete set of the critters from the SRD is available from RPGNow. They can do a good job of subbing for the 3.5 Monster Manual.

 

[Ciaran]

If your friends really want to use the 3.5 books, they can buy their own. Even if they're poor, they can pool their cash to buy one set for the group.

 

[chitzk0i]

Gee, I'm still using 3.0 and see no reason to change.

 

[GuardianLurker]

Is this just awkward that i going back to 3.0, what sort of backtracking that i should be ready to do after 2 years playing 3.5?

A darkness that's really dark. An invisibility that's improved. A harm that's actually in line with the other 6th level death effect spells. The overwhelming attractiveness of alt.rangers. A blindness that can't be cured with a dispel magic.

How should i go about recruiting new players into the game to a bunch of strangers that would almost never heard of a game like D&D?

I've always found that lassos or dart guns, manacles, and copious amounts of alcohol work well. Depending on who you're lassoing, you may need gamer attire so that they are permanently socially branded, and thus forced to associate with you, now their only friends. (Oh, and you could try deadfall traps or snares, but lassos and dart guns work better).

 

[Kae'Yoss]

I also say they get the SRD and the old books. If they want new books, they go get their own. Where is it written that only one player has to buy all the books and the rest will just borrow? The books are cheap enough. If they want to play, they buy another set. The books are yours, after all. Plus, having the most recent set of rules will certainly help in recruiting new players.

 

[Kae'Yoss]

A darkness that's really dark.

I give you that.

An invisibility that's improved.

Words. Whether it's called improved invisibility or greater invisibility, it's not a big deal. But greater works better with the new way spells are listed.

A harm that's actually in line with the other 6th level death effect spells.

Huh? Have I missed something? A spell that stole all but a couple of hit points, and you don't get a save? How's that in line with anything? You have to go out of your way to defend against that spell, and no single spell should enforce such a behaviour.