When the New Edition Doesn't Cut It

I think we've all been there. If it's a game I really care about, I'll give it a shot, but in my experience, my first impressions have been correct.

These days, I figure I've got so many RPGs that, rather than stick to an older edition, it's as good a nudge as any to play something else. If OneD&D was somehow completely not to my liking (not that I anticipate that happening), I'd probably just make DCC RPG my main game.
 

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James Gasik

We don't talk about Pun-Pun
Supporter
I'm usually pretty stoked when I game I like is coming out with a new edition. And why wouldn't I be? If the new edition of the game is going to improve something I already love then what's not to like. Of course that doesn't happen all the time and on rare occasion I just don't care for the new edition of the game.

The first time this happened was way back in 2000 with the release of Legend of the Five Rings 2nd edition. I had fallen in love with the 1st edition of the game when it was released in 1997 and was excited to purchase the new edition by quickly disappointed when I read the rules. It wasn't all bad. In the 1990s, splat books were king, and a lot of the rules for making characters from different clans was found in the Way of the... series of books, 2nd edition consolidated many of the rules meaning I didn't have to lug around 7 extra books to game night. But, for reasons that escape me to this day, they changed the way you roll skills. In the original version, you rolled your Trait + Skill and kept a number of dice equal to your Trait. i.e. If I had a 4 Strength and a 3 Wrestling I would roll 7 dice and keep 4. For second edition, you just roll the Trait and keep the Skill. So that same character would roll 4 dice and keep 3 of them.

More recently, I had the opportunity to run a Cyberpunk Red campaign, and the generally consensus among my group is that it isn't a very good game. For a little background, I absolutely loved the hell out of Cyberpunk 2020 back in the 1990s, and I had been looking forward to a new edition of the game for a number of years. (Cyberpunk V3.0 isn't something we talk about.) Of course I picked up the video game Cyberpunk 2077, and was super stoked to learn Mike Pondsmith was creating a new version of the classic and moving the timeline along. Probably my biggest problem with Cyberpunk Red is that I don't particularly care for the setting, the economy doesn't make sense, and some of the choices they made regarding rules leave someting to desire.

It's nearly impossible even to have an automobile as they are prohibitively expensive, but if you're character has the role of a Nomad they at least have access to a car. In a game where style is supposed to be more important than substance, having to walk or take the bus to your highly illegal mission is kind of a bummer. And there's a cognitive dissonance between the art, much of which presents your typical cyberpunk cityscape with cars, cyberware, etc., etc., with a setting where you have to go to a special night market (black market) just to buy a regular rifle or pistol. I want to run another game of Cyberpunk, but I'm going to use the rules from way back in 1991.
I can explain the skill rule change in L5R. You saw a lot of characters focus more on increasing abilities than skills, as skills only added "rolled" dice, not "kept" dice. I saw this in action with a Phoenix Air Shugenja. They inexplicably challenged a Bushi to a duel, and won with nothing more than their wakizashi and a high Air Ring.
 

eyeheartawk

#1 Enworld Jerk™
I can explain the skill rule change in L5R. You saw a lot of characters focus more on increasing abilities than skills, as skills only added "rolled" dice, not "kept" dice. I saw this in action with a Phoenix Air Shugenja. They inexplicably challenged a Bushi to a duel, and won with nothing more than their wakizashi and a high Air Ring.
7th Sea suffered from this cheese too. Though, the change wasn't popular. IIRC, L5R reverted back to the original Roll and Keep method in 3rd edition.
 

James Gasik

We don't talk about Pun-Pun
Supporter
7th Sea suffered from this cheese too. Though, the change wasn't popular. IIRC, L5R reverted back to the original Roll and Keep method in 3rd edition.
Honestly, I didn't care for it either, I was just explaining the intent, since the OP made it sound like they didn't get it at all. Rings IMO are expensive and thus should feel pretty powerful.
 

MGibster

Legend
I can explain the skill rule change in L5R. You saw a lot of characters focus more on increasing abilities than skills, as skills only added "rolled" dice, not "kept" dice. I saw this in action with a Phoenix Air Shugenja. They inexplicably challenged a Bushi to a duel, and won with nothing more than their wakizashi and a high Air Ring.
It wasn't a problem in the games I was involved in. But sometimes that's just how it goes, a problem might not be noticed at your table but it's noticed at a lot of other tables.
 

GMMichael

Guide of Modos
I'm usually pretty stoked when I game I like is coming out with a new edition. And why wouldn't I be?
Because... potato head halflings?

It's nearly impossible even to have an automobile as they are prohibitively expensive,
So, they don't have loans in the future?

. . . but if you're character has the role of a Nomad they at least have access to a car. In a game where style is supposed to be more important than substance, having to walk or take the bus to your highly illegal mission is kind of a bummer.
So, they don't have oppressive public surveillance (at least of license plates) in the future? Or carjacking? Skateboards? Who wrote this game?

I saw the writing on the wall when D&D 3.5 ended. But I got so much practice house-ruling that beast, that I can probably play any game now without wanting a new edition.
 

I honestly can't say I can name any game that ever needed another edition. It's always either:
  • A) A completely different game that is tied to the previous one loosely at best, if not at all
  • B) A minor revision that could've just been an erratum
Axis and Allies 2nd edition is a pretty good improvement over the original. The new map makes the notorious "shuck-shuck" Atlantic troop ferry pattern significantly more inefficient.
 



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