TrippyHippy
Hero
I must say, hanging out on this forum is proving to be hilarious, but enough of my human failings. In the last thread I participated in, which was shut down, somebody took umbrage to my lampooning of the notion of D&D4 being used to simulate Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. I was asked what my favorite edition was, so that I could have this version lampooned in retaliation (in a childish way - yay!)
The thing is this: I don't have a favorite edition.
I was introduced to roleplaying via D&D - the Red Box basic set in the mid-80s - and largely moved onto AD&D with my school chums within weeks. We couldn't always afford the books so we made up a lot of stuff on the fly. I never played AD&D 2nd edition, largely because I discovered other games (Warhammer, Stormbringer, WoD's Mage mainly in the 90s), and also because I didn't really feel at the time that the rules were logical in the D&D game.
When 3rd Edition came about, I was largely esconced in the Mage game, and was also getting into other games like Call of Cthulhu, Paranoia, Pendragon and especially Traveller. I played a lot of other one shot games (at least 50) in conferences, and in the last few years have also gotten into RuneQuest.
When 4th edition came out, I didn't care for it. But to be honest, it wasn't any different to any of the previous editions really. If I want a really well designed fantasy game, on which I could simulate fantasy literature and movies, I would choose RuneQuest right now. It simply does a better job.
So why do I like D&D? Let's be clear, I do like D&D, and have played lots of games (including long term campaigns) of 1st edition and 3rd Edition and at least a few one-shots of 4th edition.
I like it because the game has brio - and support. Getting a RuneQuest game together requires some effort to find players - and they'll usually say "That's cool, but I prefer GURPS" or "Let's play Savage Worlds! instead". You'll spend half your time debating about which game system is best. With D&D there has always been a guarantee that everybody will just say "cool, lets play". And when you are playing, you can forget about the illogical rules (and even the illogical narrative of most adventures) and just get on with the gaming fun. I like D&D, above all, because it's social.
This is what concerns me more than anything about the Edition wars. D&D is in danger of losing it's universality with the whole 4E/3.5(Pathfinder) split. This has an impact on the whole hobby - without a unifying game to act as a flagship, there is no avenue to move onto other games, should you want.
Where people would just tolerate rubbish D&D rules (and/or just house rule it themselves to their own sense of perfection) we now have a situation that all the pseudo experts will spend more time arguing about which game system is best, rather than just playing the damn thing. If I am going to make one criticism of 4e it's that it has been divisive - and that goes to the very core of the game's fundamental appeal in my view.
So, in short, I laud the attempts to unify the fan base with 5e. It won't be easy to reach a compromise - but it would be nice to know that people would be willing to compromise in the first instance. Ultimately, all rpgs require co-operation to make them work.
The thing is this: I don't have a favorite edition.
I was introduced to roleplaying via D&D - the Red Box basic set in the mid-80s - and largely moved onto AD&D with my school chums within weeks. We couldn't always afford the books so we made up a lot of stuff on the fly. I never played AD&D 2nd edition, largely because I discovered other games (Warhammer, Stormbringer, WoD's Mage mainly in the 90s), and also because I didn't really feel at the time that the rules were logical in the D&D game.
When 3rd Edition came about, I was largely esconced in the Mage game, and was also getting into other games like Call of Cthulhu, Paranoia, Pendragon and especially Traveller. I played a lot of other one shot games (at least 50) in conferences, and in the last few years have also gotten into RuneQuest.
When 4th edition came out, I didn't care for it. But to be honest, it wasn't any different to any of the previous editions really. If I want a really well designed fantasy game, on which I could simulate fantasy literature and movies, I would choose RuneQuest right now. It simply does a better job.
So why do I like D&D? Let's be clear, I do like D&D, and have played lots of games (including long term campaigns) of 1st edition and 3rd Edition and at least a few one-shots of 4th edition.
I like it because the game has brio - and support. Getting a RuneQuest game together requires some effort to find players - and they'll usually say "That's cool, but I prefer GURPS" or "Let's play Savage Worlds! instead". You'll spend half your time debating about which game system is best. With D&D there has always been a guarantee that everybody will just say "cool, lets play". And when you are playing, you can forget about the illogical rules (and even the illogical narrative of most adventures) and just get on with the gaming fun. I like D&D, above all, because it's social.
This is what concerns me more than anything about the Edition wars. D&D is in danger of losing it's universality with the whole 4E/3.5(Pathfinder) split. This has an impact on the whole hobby - without a unifying game to act as a flagship, there is no avenue to move onto other games, should you want.
Where people would just tolerate rubbish D&D rules (and/or just house rule it themselves to their own sense of perfection) we now have a situation that all the pseudo experts will spend more time arguing about which game system is best, rather than just playing the damn thing. If I am going to make one criticism of 4e it's that it has been divisive - and that goes to the very core of the game's fundamental appeal in my view.
So, in short, I laud the attempts to unify the fan base with 5e. It won't be easy to reach a compromise - but it would be nice to know that people would be willing to compromise in the first instance. Ultimately, all rpgs require co-operation to make them work.
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