Are our tastes set?

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Are you saying you found the 1E pummeling and grappling rules...

...overbearing?

I sure hope you have a good score in Bend Bars and Lift Gates, because you're going to pun jail for that one.

 

[KYRON45]

I would say ... partly, yes.

I think that the first version of D&D that you played the heck out of is the version will always be your first love. In much the same way that studies tend to show that people have attachments to things that they remember at a younger age.

For me, while I have some memories of OD&D, AD&D (1e) is the game that I played so many hours of, and it will always be my first true love in D&D. But that's because I know it like the back of my hand, and I can run it (with all the knowledge and experience and with my own more free-form style) so easily, and even use anything I want from all of TSR-era D&D, since they are all inter-operable.

If I could only play a single version of D&D, it would be 1e. That said, 5e is, by far, my second favorite.


ETA- and I would add that one of the reasons I like 5e so much is that while it has a better and more forgiving system, it is also fairly easy to tune to make it more 1e-ish, when I need to scratch that itch.

I started with AD&D and wouldn't go back even if you threatened to set my pineapple pizza on fire.

 

[Voadam]

I started and played heavily with B/X and 1e.

I would go with 5e for my current choice, though 4e would be OK.

I would say my tastes are mostly the same for D&D 40+ years later. The things that bothered me then as a player and DM: easy death, one and done magic, energy drain, thieves sucking/character combat imbalances, tracking xp, all would bother me now.

I still like immersive play, first person roleplaying, player skill approaches, and D&D combat. I still like running modules in a sandbox style with a lot of player freedom.

 

[CleverNickName]

Speaking only for myself? The rules aren't the meal, they're the plate it's served on.

You need a plate in order to support the food, meals are messy without one and you can only eat very specific things without a plate. A good plate is strong enough to hold lots of food, is flexible enough to not shatter when you drop it, and doesn't affect the flavor of the food you put on it. When you sit down to dinner, you should be able to focus on the meal and the people you're sharing it with...you shouldn't be worrying about the plate.

The 5th Edition D&D rules system is a good plate. You can serve up classic Dungeons & Dragons, you can serve up some sci-fi Esper Genesis, or you can serve up some space opera Star Wars on it, and it works great! It's a good, versatile, strong plate...you can wash it, reuse it, you can microwave it and put it in the dishwasher, you can bend it in half and it won't break. But it isn't going to work for every meal--superhero soups shouldn't be put on a plate to begin with, and it isn't big enough to carry an entire buffet all at once. And some games don't even need a plate--Dread, for example, can be played with your fingers (it's just Jenga with a story attached.)

My tastes in games are just as varied as my appetite at lunchtime...they can change by the day, or even by the hour. But no matter what game I'm enjoying at the moment, I'm probably using the 5E D&D rules to carry it.

 

[GuardianLurker]

In terms of RPGs I "love the one I'm with". (And we don't count what happens at conventions.)

 

[Quickleaf]

I sure hope you have a good score in Bend Bars and Lift Gates, because you're going to pun jail for that one.

Is pun jail better than dice jail because they roll with gangs?

 

[Richards]

Jail time would be worth it for that pun!

Johnathan

 

[Edgar Ironpelt]

If you you had just one D&D version you could play the rest of your life, with the group of your choice, would it be the one that brought you to the dance, or would it be a different version?

A different version. Specifically 3.5e (with a certain amount of curation and house rules, of course - but that would be true of any system, D&D or otherwise).

I started just before/at the start of 1e: The 1e PHB and MM had come out, but the DMG hadn't yet, and most of the games were pre-1e D&D.

And on the third hand, if I didn't have to choose D&D specifically, my first choice would be another system, something that wasn't D&D and probably wouldn't have D&D style class-and-level mechanics.

 

[Maggan]

If you you had just one D&D version you could play the rest of your life, with the group of your choice, would it be the one that brought you to the dance, or would it be a different version?

I started with Red Box Basic, added Expert, Companion and Master sets.

After that I've played AD&D1, AD&D2, D&D3.x, D&D4 and D&D5. And some OSR clones, last being Old School Essentials.

So, from all these version I'd chose the first I played, BECM, both due to nostalgia but also because I love Mystara as a campaign setting.

 

[Warpiglet-7]

My genre tastes are pretty set.

D&D at an early age blew my mind and captured my imagination. I remember sitting in my room and rolling up characters I would never play.

But even before that, there was a big shift. Suddenly I am wondering about Conan, and comparing characters on screen, wondering what level fighter they are so it just really shaped the lens I saw entertainment through.

There were other influences. My dad taught me chess and Risk…and so a general love of strategy crept in. Don’t worry about the luck portion

When we got way into D&D, there was a dabbling and expansion. I got buck rogers battle for the 25th century on sale at Kmart. This led my friend to get axis and allies. Then came some fasa? Star Trek ship to ship battles and battletech.

But cook all of this down and we have a love of fantasy gaming with strategy. There is an expectation that losing everything is possible, just as losing a capital in a strategy game is usually the he end.

Your character can die. And it’s ok. Raise dead is only 9 levels away and some light do it for hire in the meantime. Resources are part of war. Mark off your expenditure. Using the right thing at the right time, getting enemies into choke points and distractions can overcome a lot.

Shake it all up and I am very unlikely to play a story game or something with minimal strategy or tactical choice. To that end most of the games I like center on conflict, so no fighting for more than a session is not desirable.

The question in the OP…

I played a little becmi as a kid but really went nuts for and stayed with AD&D 1e through 2000. It set my expectations so much that I rejected 2e.

We play 5e with as much 1e expecting to approach as possible. 1e will always be my baseline for comparison. I prefer to stick with 5e now, but keep looking for ways to inject more 1e. Really want to reevaluate grittier options while keeping the color and options of 5e.