Gasp I think I am a grognard now

[Sadrik]

Wallet tapping is a significant reason why I stopped at 3.5. Some in my group have purchased 4e books and pathfinder books, however I wonder if they will hit the table. It is not like I will not ever play 4e or pathfinder.

I got to thinking about an eventual 5e or pathfinder 2e and it will literally have to blow me away to buy it. What can't I do in 3.5 that 5e is going to do?

Our group plays lots of games, and we are not a one trick pony. We play home brew systems, Savage Worlds, One Roll System and other stuff. The thing is, my Will save is too high now, I'll always make may save on purchases. Whatever I have on hand is 3.5 and it is fine. If we want to have a super-hero fantasy game with attrition style damage system we'll play 3.5 with some house rules. Otherwise there are a myriad of other games (including my recent fascination with the alternity and star frontiers again).

 

[Stormonu]

I've tried picking up 4E about four times now, and it just isn't my (or my group's) style. I even picked up the new red box, hoping it might inspire me, but it didn't (Oddly, I can't make myself give up the books though, even though I know I'll never use them now).

On the other hand, the PF game I was trying sort of imploded. I still like the system, but the rest of group seems to be sort of "meh" about it (with one person vehemently opposed because of the different dice - d4's, d6's, d8's - weird).

Oddly, we haven't entirely given up on games; the group really digs nWoD and enjoys L5R, and I've picked up a second group that I've been using Savage Worlds in (and my wife has become a SW fanatic). It's not a case that we're opposed to learning new games, but it seems to be that 4E (and possibly PF) do not fit our play styles.

 

[Vegepygmy]

I didn't advance on to 4e or Pathfinder and neither did the groups I play in. Anybody else experience that?

Yep. It's still 3.5 for me and my gaming buddies (though we happily use Pathfinder adventures).

 

[Cor_Malek]

Yep. It's still 3.5 for me and my gaming buddies (though we happily use Pathfinder adventures).

This is something I've noticed every now and then - it seems that the effect of backward compatibility of Pathfinder is not that people use 3.X supplements with PF, but rather that those who stayed with 3.5 - use PF adventures. I wonder if that was Paizo calculation from the start (or just a mixture of vocal minority+confirmation bias on my part).

As to all those "3.5 grognards" - I wonder if late John Young isn't rolling in his grave right now If anything, I'd expect grognards to move to 4e, or at least look forward to Essentials.
But then again I wasn't there to see veteran wargamers disgruntlement with newer DnD editions, so for me this term was associated mostly with preferring some edition of choice, and only later I learned about it's background (when much to my surprise I saw time and time again people spewing this term as if it was the very worse thing you could say about someone).

 

[Imperialus]

I'm in a similar boat.

When 4th edition and Pathfinder came out I realized that:
a] neither game was for me
b] I had grown sick of 3rd edition

I had the same realization. I had given up on 3rd ed probably back in 2006-07 and we switched to Burning Wheel. Then the guy GMing BW moved and we switched to a shortlived 4th ed campaign which never really got off the ground and we realized as a group that 4th ed just didn`t do what we wanted it to. Switched to Shadowrun for a year or so. Now we`re moving back to 2nd ed AD&D.

As an aside, about a year ago myself and one of the other guys from my `main`group started a new group playing BX redbox. That campaign is almost a year old now The BX group was largely what encouraged me to make the move to 2nd ed.

 

[deinol]

This is something I've noticed every now and then - it seems that the effect of backward compatibility of Pathfinder is not that people use 3.X supplements with PF, but rather that those who stayed with 3.5 - use PF adventures. I wonder if that was Paizo calculation from the start (or just a mixture of vocal minority+confirmation bias on my part).

I can say I use 3.X material in my Pathfinder game with 2E Planescape adventures. Although more and more of my 3.X material is from 3PP (Arcana Evolved, Book of Experimental Might, Secrets of Pact Magic, Tome of Horrors, etc.)

I think I'm a neo-grognard. I like new stuff. I like old stuff. I ran a quick Rules Cyclopedia one shot last weekend, but a I run a Pathfinder game regularly. I've been gaming since '83, so I've seen most of the evolutions of many games.

 

[thedungeondelver]

You have now entered the slippery slope that leads to OD&D 1974 (or Swords & Wizardry if you're strapped for cash and don't want to download pirate pdfs).

Welcome to the dark side.

Do not listen to this man.

AD&D is the path. Hitherto shalt thou come and no further!

 

[ExploderWizard]

Do not listen to this man.

AD&D is the path. Hitherto shalt thou come and no further!

[Bib Fortuna]

AD&D rather than OD&D? He's no Grognard.

[Bib Fortuna out]

 

[Olaf the Stout]

I'm sort of the defacto grognard of our group. I DM a 3.5E campaign and we play fortnightly. Half of my group also play in another campaign that one of my players runs on alternate weeks to my game.

When 4E came out the other group started a new campaign using 4E, while I kept mine going in 3.5E. Everyone in the group is happy with that. 2 years after the release of 4E, both groups are still going strong. However, being they only one to have not played at least a session of 4E, (not that I'm against it or anything) I have been deemed the grognard of our gaming group.

Personally I am quite happy with my decision. We still haven't broken 3.5E (although we are well aware of its flaws) and I have many more campaigns I want to run after this one so I don't see us switching any time soon, to Pathfinder, 4E or some other system.

Sticking with 3.5E has made me happy on a couple of levels. Firstly, I feel good about getting value out of my books. I own over 35 WotC 3.5E books and around 50 3rd party 3.5E books, along with over 100 PDF's. If I switched editions those books would largely sit unused on my shelf. That they are still getting used make me feel like I haven't wasted the money I spent on them.

Secondly, now that I'm not on the D&D book-buying treadmill it has allowed me to spend money on my related D&D interests. I was finally able to buy some Hirst Arts molds, which I am now going to use to make some cool dungeons for my game. I was also able to keep up my D&D minis purchases.

Thirdly, my other big hobby, Blood Bowl was able to get some loving. There are so many cool minis coming out for Blood Bowl at the moment and I can afford them now that my discetionary spending money isn't taken up by D&D books.

Olaf the Stout

 

[wingsandsword]

I didn't advance on to 4e or Pathfinder and neither did the groups I play in. Anybody else experience that?

Story of my life

As far as my friends and gaming group goes, 3.5 IS D&D.

4e is like the New Coke of gaming, the label says it's D&D, the company that makes it says it's D&D, but it's just not D&D to us. Doesn't feel right, doesn't "taste" right. Unlike New Coke, however, we still have access to older D&D and just choose to not give WotC any more money.

The most modern RPG I play is Star Wars, Saga Edition. Even that's now out-of-print