el-remmen
Moderator Emeritus
I too have been feeling bummed about all this. For me and my group, who only started with 5E in 2020 (well, technically we made characters in 2019, but didn't have our first actual play session until January 2020), 5E hardly feels old. Heck, we are about to start our second campaign using these rules and for the first time are exploring options beyond the core books! Double heck! I just started a new website with 5E material with the idea it'd be compatible with OneD&D even if I didn't pick up those books or adopt those rules. Now that project feels ill-timed.
But all that being said, I am still looking forward to actually playing because I enjoy it and enjoy the people I spend time with doing it. I have to remind myself, the hobby is not buying D&D, it is playing D&D.
I took a break from running D&D from 2009 to 2019 and didn't play at all from 2016. I had a lot of other stuff going on at that time and I had fallen out of love with 3.xE and Pathfinder did not seem different enough for what I wanted. But ultimately, it wasn't a ruleset that brought me back, it was new friends who asked me a run a game for them because they wanted desperately to try it. I doubt I would have felt so refreshed to guide them through a great D&D experience without that break.
I don't feel like I need a break again right now but a break can be good and doesn't need to be that long.
And lastly, I know I say this all the time but. . . D&D is not what WotC does, it is what we play, with or without the rules they (or anyone else) prints. Furthermore, my guess is that in the spate of new rule sets that emerge from this fiasco more than one will be close enough to 5E to allow for pretty easy adaptation if you really need that or want that.
But all that being said, I am still looking forward to actually playing because I enjoy it and enjoy the people I spend time with doing it. I have to remind myself, the hobby is not buying D&D, it is playing D&D.
I took a break from running D&D from 2009 to 2019 and didn't play at all from 2016. I had a lot of other stuff going on at that time and I had fallen out of love with 3.xE and Pathfinder did not seem different enough for what I wanted. But ultimately, it wasn't a ruleset that brought me back, it was new friends who asked me a run a game for them because they wanted desperately to try it. I doubt I would have felt so refreshed to guide them through a great D&D experience without that break.
I don't feel like I need a break again right now but a break can be good and doesn't need to be that long.
And lastly, I know I say this all the time but. . . D&D is not what WotC does, it is what we play, with or without the rules they (or anyone else) prints. Furthermore, my guess is that in the spate of new rule sets that emerge from this fiasco more than one will be close enough to 5E to allow for pretty easy adaptation if you really need that or want that.