D&D 5E Pages from the PHB

[Cybit]

Pretty sure most of the grognards have their favorite system or they wouldn't be grognards, they have plenty of options that will give them a more grognard like experience than D&D Basic, they have the rule books on their shelves and plenty of OSR clones available.

But sure some will they exist, but I would bet they are a very minor minority of people playing D&D 5e in 2015.

They also might be looking for more people to game with, and be willing to compromise a little more in game mechanics for a bigger pool of people.

 

[Nellisir]

Pretty sure most of the grognards have their favorite system or they wouldn't be grognards, they have plenty of options that will give them a more grognard like experience than D&D Basic, they have the rule books on their shelves and plenty of OSR clones available.

But sure some will they exist, but I would bet they are a very minor minority of people playing D&D 5e in 2015.

They also might not all be grognards. I use play Swords & Wizardry because 4e didn't appeal to me and I finally burned out on the math in 3e/PF. S&W is very very fast in contrast. But the 5e playtest races are heavily dialed back from PF/3e and could literally be used as written in Swords & Wizardry. I suspect I'll switch to 5e for games; whether I write in that format or not depends on the license.

 

[Paraxis]

From the live Q&A today, the Basic Rules will only have 5 or so spells for each level, fewer at the higher levels of play. That does not sound like a complete game to me. No feats, 4 classes, 4 races, 4 backgrounds, no choices beyond that, again looks like a lost leader or teaser version of the game. Not some core rules system everything else will hang on, he said multiple times it is just a few things they plucked from the players handbook, it is not the foundation of anything just a few samples of the core rules.

 

[Mistwell]

Pretty sure most of the grognards have their favorite system or they wouldn't be grognards, they have plenty of options that will give them a more grognard like experience than D&D Basic, they have the rule books on their shelves and plenty of OSR clones available.

But sure some will they exist, but I would bet they are a very minor minority of people playing D&D 5e in 2015.

I plan on running a Basic-edition campaign. Because with a toddler in my household, and many of my players having toddlers, we just don't have the time anymore to screw around with looking up a lot of rules, and Basic is intended for that very purpose. Indeed, Mearls even said that exact thing - his wife is pregnant, he expects his time will be much more crunched, and he plans on running a Basic game because of the time-saving element of it matches well with that lifestyle.

I wouldn't call me a grognard. I did learn on B/X and AD&D, but I also liked 3e and 4e. But, Basic deeply appeals to me. I plan on buying the PHB, MM, and DMG, and maybe we will run something with those as well (probably will). But I definitely will be running a Basic game, and I find a stripped-down version of the game like that highly appealing.

 

[Mistwell]

You might be surprised. Sure, some of the grouches over at a certain other forum that think anything made past 19(insert number here) is blaspheme to the name D&D won't give it one let alone two looks. But a lot of my old school circles on G+ are posting a lot about it. And one of the bigger endorsers of 5e over at RPGnet is Blacky the Blackball, creator of Dark Dungeons.

The OSR crowd has always been a niche of a niche, but it's nice that here's an option for them.

Given Pundit and Zak Smith were both paid consultants on the game, and both are old school guys, and TheRPGSite is mostly an old school themed message board but most people there are very excited about 5e and in particular Basic edition, I think you're right. 5e, and in particular Basic edition, is getting a whole lot of attention from TSR-era fans of the game.

 

[Agamon]

From the live Q&A today, the Basic Rules will only have 5 or so spells for each level, fewer at the higher levels of play. That does not sound like a complete game to me. No feats, 4 classes, 4 races, 4 backgrounds, no choices beyond that, again looks like a lost leader or teaser version of the game. Not some core rules system everything else will hang on, he said multiple times it is just a few things they plucked from the players handbook, it is not the foundation of anything just a few samples of the core rules.

So it will look like the 80's Basic games, which were complete games.

 

[Mistwell]

From the live Q&A today, the Basic Rules will only have 5 or so spells for each level, fewer at the higher levels of play. That does not sound like a complete game to me.

Sounds like a complete game to me!

No feats, 4 classes, 4 races, 4 backgrounds, no choices beyond that

First he did not say 4 backgrounds. Second, yes, just like OD&D, and B/X, and BECMI, and Rules Cyclopedia. You know, only some of the most popular and longest running versions of the game ever!

again looks like a lost leader or teaser version of the game. Not some core rules system everything else will hang on, he said multiple times it is just a few things they plucked from the players handbook, it is not the foundation of anything just a few samples of the core rules.

That's not what he said at all. He said it IS the core game in fact. He said it's not "just a few things" but that it's "the most iconic things". I think you're experiencing confirmation bias. It's not what you want out of the game, but to an awful lot of people, that IS what we want out of the game, and it's what the game used to be.

 

[Thaumaturge]

From the live Q&A today, the Basic Rules will only have 5 or so spells for each level, fewer at the higher levels of play. That does not sound like a complete game to me. No feats, 4 classes, 4 races, 4 backgrounds, no choices beyond that, again looks like a lost leader or teaser version of the game. Not some core rules system everything else will hang on, he said multiple times it is just a few things they plucked from the players handbook, it is not the foundation of anything just a few samples of the core rules.

I can see how, if you're thinking of 3e and 4e as baselines for D&D, what he's saying doesn't sound like anything close to a complete game.

Can you understand how, people in a time crunch, who cut teeth on a more streamlined and simple version of the game, and who sometimes want a game with no bells or whistles, might disagree?

Even if it sounds like a horrible, childish version of the game you love.

Thaumaturge.

 

[Talath]

From the live Q&A today, the Basic Rules will only have 5 or so spells for each level, fewer at the higher levels of play. That does not sound like a complete game to me. No feats, 4 classes, 4 races, 4 backgrounds, no choices beyond that, again looks like a lost leader or teaser version of the game. Not some core rules system everything else will hang on, he said multiple times it is just a few things they plucked from the players handbook, it is not the foundation of anything just a few samples of the core rules.

You would have not thought of OD&D as a complete game. It only had three classes (cleric, fighting-man, magic-user), and dwarves and hobbits could only be fighting-men. Elves could alternate between fighting-men and magic-users.

But seriously, they say it's a complete game, WotC. Can't you just take them at their word? They're not lying to you. Hell, they are going to give it to you, for free.

 

[Paraxis]

Sounds like a complete game to me!



First he did not say 4 backgrounds. Second, yes, just like OD&D, and B/X, and BECMI, and Rules Cyclopedia. You know, only some of the most popular and longest running versions of the game ever!



That's not what he said at all. He said it IS the core game in fact. He said it's not "just a few things" but that it's "the most iconic things". I think you're experiencing confirmation bias. It's not what you want out of the game, but to an awful lot of people, that IS what we want out of the game, and it's what the game used to be.

He did in fact say only 4 backgrounds. One iconic background for each class, like soldier for the fighter class.

I ran a 3 year campaign using Rules Cyclopedia, it has 8 classes not including druid and the fighter sub-class like things at higher levels. The cleric gets about 8 spells per spell level, and the wizard gets 13 per spell level.

He talked about picking things from the players handbook and monster manual to put into Basic, that does not sound like Basic is the foundation at all. They finished the PHB and cherry picked a few things out to share for free.

I think you all are the ones experiencing confirmation bias. I have shown you in Mearls own words that the 3 core books are the core books. He has said today in the Q&A that they were the core books. I don't understand your overwhelming desire to make a meal out of a free sample.