Grognard view of One D&D?

[haakon1]

I'm not sure if I'm a grognard, though my user name is pretty close!

I started my D&D experience with 3.5. I loved it, problems and all. I eventually switched to 1E Pathfinder, which is now my preferred set of rules.

For what it’s worth, I think you’re a Grognard. Neither criticism nor congratulation, just observation of: stuck with an Older Edition.

I have only played PF1 at Paizocon (from the first in Redmond to the last pre-pandemic in Seattle) and on Xbox in Pathfinder: Kingmaker. But I read and use PF1 ideas and adventures in my 3.5e campaigns.

I always wonder “what’s up with PF2”, but honestly, I haven’t checked it out at all. I don’t even buy PF2 stuff, because I’m not sure if it works with 3.5e/PF1 or not. Which makes me a bit sad/amused - to be out of current with both WotC and Paizo.

 

[payn]

For what it’s worth, I think you’re a Grognard. Neither criticism nor congratulation, just observation of: stuck with an Older Edition.

I have only played PF1 at Paizocon (from the first in Redmond to the last pre-pandemic in Seattle) and on Xbox in Pathfinder: Kingmaker. But I read and use PF1 ideas and adventures in my 3.5e campaigns.

I always wonder “what’s up with PF2”, but honestly, I haven’t checked it out at all. I don’t even buy PF2 stuff, because I’m not sure if it works with 3.5e/PF1 or not. Which makes me a bit sad/amused - to be out of current with both WotC and Paizo.

As a big PF1 guy, I can say the PF2 is an entirely different animal. Not likely compatible on most levels.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

This is the best time in history to be a D&D gamer, of any edition. More 1E material is released every year than TSR did in their entire run, to say nothing of OD&D, BD&D and more.

If you aren't a fan of 5E or whatever version, great! You have so many choices, some of them super-finely differentiated from other products reprinting previous editions of rules. As far as I can tell, everything outside of 2E Players Option rules are out there somewhere, and in that case, you just have to settle for the original rules (not cleaned up and better organized copies), which are also now widely available.

Honestly, whatever version of D&D you enjoy, I have a hard time seeing any reason for complaint.

 

[DragonBelow]

8 years between editions isn’t much when your campaigns last decades … yup, I’m definitely not the audience,

5e came out in 2014, the next one will come out in 2024, that's 10 years. That's more than 3 times the amount of time between 3.0 (2000) and 3.5 (2003).

 

[Grogg of the North]

For what it’s worth, I think you’re a Grognard. Neither criticism nor congratulation, just observation of: stuck with an Older Edition.

I have only played PF1 at Paizocon (from the first in Redmond to the last pre-pandemic in Seattle) and on Xbox in Pathfinder: Kingmaker. But I read and use PF1 ideas and adventures in my 3.5e campaigns.

I always wonder “what’s up with PF2”, but honestly, I haven’t checked it out at all. I don’t even buy PF2 stuff, because I’m not sure if it works with 3.5e/PF1 or not. Which makes me a bit sad/amused - to be out of current with both WotC and Paizo.

And I take 3.5 ideas and use them for my PF1 campaigns! Are we an ouroboros yet?

Now if you excuse me, there are young whipper snappers on my lawn that I need to chase off. Dang kids and their advantage, and short rests, and ... and um ... what was I talking about?

 

[Volund]

I guess I'm a grognard. Started with Holmes Basic in 1979 and was playing wargames before that. The Tower of Zenopus and B1 were the first modules I ran. I have enjoyed playing and running 5e, but my reaction to 1D&D is that I don't really care. Nobody in my 5e group is talking about it either. I'm curious to see the new core books, like I was when 2e came out, but I don't know that I'll buy them. I remember seeing 2e in the bookstore, skimming through them, and deciding there wasn't anything there I needed.

The main reason I don't care is that I just don't like the kind of adventures WotC publishes, so I don't need new rules to play them. There are enough players who like playing D&D as a dungeon delving, treasure finding game, more every year, and I have enough 5e, 1e, B/X, and OSE content to last the rest of my life. The last thread of hope connecting me to the new edition was that there would be an updated Greyhawk setting in 2024 for the 50th anniversary, but that doesn't seem to be happening.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

The last thread of hope connecting me to the new edition was that there would be an updated Greyhawk setting in 2024 for the 50th anniversary, but that doesn't seem to be happening.

We know nothing about what's happening in 2024, other than them issuing a new PHB, MM and DMG. For all we know, they'll be releasing a new setting every week. (JAKANDOR LIVES!)

I think we're almost defintely going to get either a big Forgotten Realms setting book or a Greyhawk one.

 

[CleverNickName]

Just a few months ago, I ran a Roll20 game of D&D for some of my high-school buddies back home, using the B/X rules. (I was the only person at the virtual table who was familiar with more than one edition of the rules, so I decided to just use the same rules that we played with in High School.) It was just as easy to set up and run as any other RPG on that platform...the hardest part was converting the map from PDF to JPG format so that I could import it. In other words, not really all that hard.

It was a lot of fun crawling around through Castle Amber and reliving some old memories. More fun--and less work--than the Internet had led me to believe, anyway. Thanks, Internet!

So my advice to all of my fellow Grognards:

 

[MGibster]

I suspect WotC has absolutely no interest in Older Edition fans, so I don’t suspect it’ll bring us back into the fold (whichever Older Editions we prefer), but whatever One D&D is, I’ll buy the PHB and presumably play it occasionally with someone else DMing … and learn to convert some of the avalanche of new material backwards.

I'm cool with that. People in their twenties were raised on Dragon Ball, Pokemon, World of Warcraft, and other properties that didn't exist when I was a kid and they have different expectations than I had. For D&D to remain relevant, WotC needs to cater to the changing desires of their audience. What worked for me in 1992 might not work for as many gamers in 2022. (And honestly, what worked for me in 1992 might not work for me today.)

 

[Cruentus]

I'm cool with that. People in their twenties were raised on Dragon Ball, Pokemon, World of Warcraft, and other properties that didn't exist when I was a kid and they have different expectations than I had. For D&D to remain relevant, WotC needs to cater to the changing desires of their audience. What worked for me in 1992 might not work for as many gamers in 2022. (And honestly, what worked for me in 1992 might not work for me today.)

As a grognard, it takes me a very long time to realize that things aren't aimed at me anymore (games, TV, music, movies, technology, even DnD). Once I finally realize I'm not the target audience, everything makes sense and then I can settle into what I want to do/enjoy doing, rather than fighting against it. And its the same with DnD. I started back in Basic into Ad&d, played 2nd, life got in the way of 3rd, 4th didn't stick, and I picked up 5th with my old gaming group (the one from Ad&d) as Covid got rolling. So it was a long stretch of time between times I had actually played. Played 5e a lot for a couple of years, liked it okay, but then didn't. Started looking backward, testing things, and found my happy place back in Basic/OSE, and that's where I'm going to stay. I have limited time/energy to play games, so I might as well do what I enjoy, and let those who enjoy 5e do their thing.