D&D 5E Would you define the current edition of D&D rules-light or rules-heavy?

I voted rules heavy. I argue that 5E is a lot more granular than 1E and is a veritable morass compared to Basic, be it Holmes or Mentzer. I would definitely categorize it as medium, if the option was available, but rules light it is not.

In the context of D&D, it's on the rules-light side. All you need to play is the Basic rules, they are far lighter than more than half of the versions of D&D that came before it, so that's rules-light on the D&D scale.

On the scale of all RPGs that exist, it's rules heavy.

But context is left to each person on this one. I chose to read it as "in the context of D&D". So I voted rules light.

I think from a grammar perspective it is light.
From a vocabulary perspective it is heavy.

Meaning, it is easy to explain how combat works; what to roll, to hit, to miss.
It is difficult detailing what all the classes and races can do as in all the branches and powers they have and how they interplay with the other classes. It is the first thing everyone forgets. Not how to add or substract based off modifiers.

I’m in the group that looked at the poll and couldn’t answer, because it is so squarely in the middle. Now, if there were a free pizza impelling an answer from me, I’d say “heavy”, but I’d probably wince.

I’ve got a pretty broad knowledge of role-playing games (not as much as some of you, but more than most gamers) going back to late 80s. (That’s context for my observations, not a claim to authority.) From *my* perspective light or heavy games are something I can clearly place in that category. If I can’t easily place it one way or the other, it’s moderate/medium. (I think the same way about D&D alignment, or at least the L/N/C axis.)

GURPS, HERO, or the occasional behemoth of a rules set that makes your head hurt and yours eyes water trying to use—those are heavy. Pathfinder is probably on the lighter side of heavy too. (I know someone is going to say it is way heavier than GURPS, and they’re probably right, but it’s been a while.)

Most games that are clearly in my definition of light aren’t all that popular. Off the top of my head, I’d place Marvel Heroic Roleplaying in that category, about 75% of the way to medium. There are a slew of really light games out there that very few people know about. I’m sure I’m not the only one who has created ones you can write on one page or less. However, I think most of those should be given less weight than the proliferation would indicate. Why? Because how often do they actually get used regularly by any significant number of people? If they aren’t satisfying enough to be regularly played ( rather than simply used as concept proofs and design exercises), then I’m not going to average them up and account for them in some sort of mean average heaviness result.

However, I don’t think a pure median average works either. If there is one game that is an order of magnitude heavier than everything else, it shouldn’t skew of the overall scale, just like “Here’s the rules: everyone says what happens in the story from the perspective of their character. We’ll call it Game”, shouldn’t set a low-end standard for lightness.

So what all that analysis is telling me, is that there is an intuitive feel that helps me sort through the thoughts in my head when I’m determine how heavy a game is. But what I think the feel is based on is how complicated it feels to actually play the game, combined with effective learning curve. Number of product pages is irrelevant to that, but number of distinct subsystems is huge. (That’s why I don’t count older edition of D&D as light, because subsystems for things like bending bars and lifting gates is a mess of complexity.)

I will say I probably count D&D as a little lighter than it should be due to familiarity. I can look at 5e and see how it is lighter than other editions, but someone who has never played D&D but has lots of experience with GURPS might find 5e D&D a heavier game. (I might even agree if it hadn’t been so long since I’ve looked GURPS.)

Morrus said:

But that's the correct answer - it's the very definition of mid-crunch! If Fate or Cypher System are rules-light, and Pathfinder or HERO is rules-heavy, D&D 5E is squarely in the middle.

Click to expand...

I prefer discussing "crunch heaviness" more in terms of a Likert scale gradient: i.e., light, light-medium, medium, medium-heavy, and heavy. There is a lot of gradient between those sub-categories as well. We may even want to add the categories "Ultra-Light" and "Ultra-Heavy" to describe some.

I would say that 5E D&D leans towards "medium-heavy." There are a LOT of individual mechanics that are present in the game between races/monsters, classes, spells, environment, etc. that sometimes require consulting the books. One general rule, among many, is that heavier rules systems are typically those systems that require more frequent consulting of the rules found in the associated books even for more experienced players. 5E may have the appearance of being "lighter," because it affords greater GM fiat than other editions and has some common mechanics that make it seem "rules easy" rather than light (e.g. advantage).

Aldarc said:

I prefer discussing "crunch heaviness" more in terms of a Likert scale gradient: i.e., light, light-medium, medium, medium-heavy, and heavy. There is a lot of gradient between those sub-categories as well. We may even want to add the categories "Ultra-Light" and "Ultra-Heavy" to describe some.

Click to expand...

I personally prefer a 44-point scale. Some divisions include light-light-light-medium-medium, light-light-light-medium-medium-medium, medium-medium-heavy-heavy-heavy, and so on.

Rules Light. In large part due to their "Rulings not rules." attitude that has essentially put the burden of creating rules where WotC could/would not on tables at home.

Morrus said:

I personally prefer a 44-point scale. Some divisions include light-light-light-medium-medium, light-light-light-medium-medium-medium, medium-medium-heavy-heavy-heavy, and so on.

Click to expand...

But what's the mechanic for differentiating between a 27 and a 23? What if the rules are published in 3 small books vs one large book? Is there a bonus for a searchable PDF with a table of contents? I'd hope that the system models using common language names and pictures for game concepts as opposed to using legal game terms. Do bonuses for table of contents and searchable PDF stack?

Or do you just assign the number by GM fiat?

Combat is explicitly rules-heavy. Everything else is rules-light.

redrick said:

But what's the mechanic for differentiating between a 27 and a 23? What if the rules are published in 3 small books vs one large book? Is there a bonus for a searchable PDF with a table of contents? I'd hope that the system models using common language names and pictures for game concepts as opposed to using legal game terms. Do bonuses for table of contents and searchable PDF stack?

Or do you just assign the number by GM fiat?

Click to expand...

These rules for measuring rules-weight weigh in at a whopping 43 points on the Morrus scale