Systems You Left after One Bad Experience

cmad1977 · May 29, 2019

Hate to say it was 4e but... yeah 4e.
I did, later on, play in a (now shuttered) comic book store. The DM for that game was particularly good and I had hoped to be in more games that she ran. Alas, she moved on to bigger things in the RPG industry.

eyeheartawk · May 29, 2019

DragonQuest 3E. Character generation was a huge pain and the gameplay did nothing to salvage it. The whole thing was a needlessly complex monstrosity obsessed with verisimilitude to the exclusion of anything else. Literally the only game I got up from the table from and didn't even finish the session. And I've played some trash.

cmad1977 · May 29, 2019

Star frontiers? I don’t remember if we ever played.
Vampire, don’t know why really but it didn’t click with us.

zztong · May 30, 2019

eyeheartawk said:
DragonQuest 3E. Character generation was a huge pain and the gameplay did nothing to salvage it. The whole thing was a needlessly complex monstrosity obsessed with verisimilitude to the exclusion of anything else. Literally the only game I got up from the table from and didn't even finish the session. And I've played some trash.

Oh no, a dagger through the heart.

I loved DQ, though I admit the magic system was crap, and while the skill system was interesting, it isn't what folks expect today. Alas, I really liked its melee combat.

Garthanos · Jun 1, 2019

3.5 e the DMs nose was in the book constantly looking things up there was no sense of simultaneity the dm engaged in strong favoritism and the characters were imbalanced.

Garthanos · Jun 1, 2019

Tony Vargas said:
Rolemaster: OMG. I routinely embrace overly-complex games, but, just no. Of course, I tried it early on when it was the separate "_____ Law" boxed sets, it could've improved, I suppose.

Couldnt even bring myself to try Chart Law

pemerton · Jun 2, 2019

Garthanos said:
Couldnt even bring myself to try Chart Law

You missed out! It was my main system for nearly 20 years.

Xaelvaen · Jun 2, 2019

Jacob Lewis said:
I am hesitant to say 5e D&D because I made several attempts to let it grow on me. But the fact is my first session playing in the Adventurers League sealed it for me. It wasn't the DM, however; he was a friend of mine and handled it well for what he was given. It was most of the players who showed up like it was a chore they had to do in order to get rewarded. They selected characters from a rotating stable of sheets with no names (i.e. "Barbarian 4", "Cleric 2", etc.). And despite early comments from the group being fans of Critical Role, almost everyone was reluctant to participate in any activity or play that didn't involve a roll that would lead to dealing damage to someone. FYI, the adventure was largely centered around a puzzle/riddle dungeon. The first time a creature appeared and offered a riddle, half the party charged and forced a combat.

It was then I decided that 5e (and public play in general) was not so appealing to me. What I had with 4e was no longer there, and it didn't seem it would be coming back.

Sorry you had such a terrible experience, but that seems to have nothing to do with the system. Have you considered trying a private game of 5e, with people you know, or is that not an option? Were there aspects of the system (unmentioned in your post) that also affected how you felt?

My first impression of 4E went almost identical. My wife and I, as well as a friend, attended one of the 4e display sessions when the system wasn't quite out yet. Everyone else at the table was effectively a murder hobo, but it didn't seem the system was terrible.

Jacob Lewis · Jun 4, 2019

Xaelvaen said:
Sorry you had such a terrible experience, but that seems to have nothing to do with the system. Have you considered trying a private game of 5e, with people you know, or is that not an option? Were there aspects of the system (unmentioned in your post) that also affected how you felt?

I think that was the whole point of this thread: games you left because of a bad experience, not because of the system itself. Experiences, however, will often sour our opinions more than practical logic. It's a common fallacy of human nature. That said, my own particular instance was more of a tipping point for me. I was hoping for a better experience that would provide some incentive to give this new edition another chance, at least as a player if not a DM. The result was a polar opposite, but it worked out (personally) for the best. Dropping D&D as my primary game of choice has allowed me to broaden my experience with other game systems that, quite frankly, work better on different levels that I find much more appealing.

Regarding specific aspects of 5e that affected me, you must first understand my perspective. I have played/DM'd every edition since 1st/Basic. I have never thought the d20 was a good design for a mechanic, but more importantly, I have always felt the Vancian-style spell system required more bookkeeping, accounting, and referencing than was necessary. Even though 4e was imperfect, it did address the latter and made everything easy to read and accessible without constantly needing to flip through books or online docs to see how some spell worked, or what abilities a monster had. It was all right there on the page. Along with other innovations that made being a DM easier than ever, I got spoiled on 4e design. So when 5e came out and reverted back to those old issues I had before, it was like taking a step backwards for me.

If I had never gotten a taste of what 4e could be, I would probably be on board with 5e right now. It is an improvement over the older editions, but I have already played this version before. And I recognize the personal short-comings that are still present in this edition. Even the storylines are little more than rehashed or re-imagined adventures I've seen printed and/or played before.

This edition is not for me, but I do not think it is a bad thing. I am still a fan of D&D. I still have my 4e collection (along with select books from previous editions). But I have also discovered more games out there, and have rekindled my childhood passion for Star Wars through the various games from Fantasy Flight Games. The narrative dice system from their RPG, however, is nothing less than an inspired bit of genius to me.

Xaelvaen · Jun 4, 2019

Jacob Lewis said:
I think that was the whole point of this thread: games you left because of a bad experience, not because of the system itself.

I've never personally had an experience dictate my appreciation of the system, but I certainly get some people work that way - and was not questioning your decision at all, but wondering if there were mechanical complaints/issues as well. You well-explained that with your Vancian casting comment, so just a curiosity.

As far as 4E, despite that first terrible experience, my group gave it a fair shot in a non-public setting, and it was immensely more fun (especially with d&d Insider). I didn't like the Fort/Ref/Will being passive numbers, because it felt like a loss of player control - and I even more hated altering my character sheet every other level with a +1 everywhere (so we started using Excel sheets to solve that problem), but it was still a nice change of pace for a couple of years.

Like you, I'm not fond of Vancian - which is why our primary system is a homebrew system inspired by Talislanta 5E.

Anyway, thanks for the reply - I appreciate that it was more than -just- the experience!