30 years for what?

[Piratecat]

For me? 30 years of incredibly smart and creative friends. Of laughter around a table, of brilliant solutions to ridiculous problems, of heroism and sacrifice, of high art and (very!) low comedy.

I was running a playtest last night for a time travel game I'm writing. I looked around the living room, and said, "Damn, I love gaming with you guys. Thank you." Then they mocked me and we went back to the game.

That's why I love this hobby. If you're burned out, it's time to shake things up a bit.

 

[amerigoV]

I've not lost interest in gaming, but D&D's stock has dropped pretty far in my eyes. 1e is my nostalgia - but the system itself was not very good so I have no interest in playing it or something that pretends to be it. I left the fold at 2e but went whole hog into 3e. Eventually I burned out under the heavy crunch. 4e was pretty much a no-go for my groups and I thought it was "OK" at best. 5e holds no interest for me - I'm not in search of a system*, I want fun ideas (campaigns, modules, settings, concepts). 5e will be the first edition since I started gaming for which I do not get the PHB.

* I am all Savage Worlds all the time now - I could not be happier other than I wish I had more time to actually game. It has given me the rules that flow naturally and everything made for it just oozes with fun, creative ideas.

 

[Piratecat]

I'm a non-monogamous gamer. I love D&D with all my body, including the naughty bits, but I've played something like 30 different game systems in the last year. Loving one game doesn't mean you can't love another as well.

 

[billd91]

I love D&D with all my body, including the naughty bits

I'm so not borrowing any of your books.

 

[Piratecat]

I'm so not borrowing any of your books.

...you know, I don't think you should borrow any of my dice, either.

Just sayin'.

 

[haakon1]

The other option I can suggest is this:

- Pick the edition that most closely resembles the game you want to play
- Develop a minimal set of house rules for that game to fix anything you feel you absolutely can't live with (oh, and strip out any supplements except for those you can't live without)
- And make that the basis of your D&D games going forward.

Honestly, there is absolutely no reason to give the ongoing edition cycle a moment's thought if you're not enjoying it. Just find something that fits reasonably well, and go from there.

Nod. I've done that twice. For me, it was:
-- AD&D (1st Edition), with core books only (PHB, DMG, MM's/FF, and Legends & Lore) from 1996-2003
-- 3e/3.5e, with same core books only, from 2003-now

I'm pro-fluff, anti-crunch, so too many "alternative" and shifting rules gets in the way. Pre-defining a published set of rules that are out of print and therefore won't be altered works best for me.

I also use a published campaign setting -- Greyhawk -- but it's heavily modified for home use, some combination of the Gygax Boxed Set, the WOTC 3e era Living Greyhawk Gazeteer, and my own editing out/rewriting of "canon events of the Greyhawk Wars/From the Ashes" that annoy me from the 2e era.

You don't really need to use rules/fluff you don't like.

 

[pjs37]

I will echo what some others have said: it sounds like you are just burnt out and if taking a break helps there is nothing wrong with that. Exploring other things can be inspiring too. So a healthy break might be just what you need.

 

[TwoSix]

I don't know what's spawned my RPG apathy of late, but I almost feel as if I have an aversion to them right now, and it somewhat bothers me - having devoted so much of my life to them in the past.

That's a bit of sunk cost fallacy right there. Doesn't matter that you spent lots of time on the game in the past. All that time is in the past. It's irretrievable. Don't spend more time on stuff you don't like now in order to feel that time was worthwhile. It was worthwhile when you did it. And now you can do something else. If the love comes back, your stuff will still be there. If the love never comes back, well then, there was your answer.

 

[adembroski]

Gotta agree with TwoSix, well said.

My own two cents as far as my experiences; I use the rules for one purpose and one purpose only- consistency. The rules systems I enjoy are the ones that are light enough to be manageable but complex enough to keep my game consistent. If I'm making too many on-the-spot rulings, then my players can't make educated decisions. When you let the rules become more than that, the game ceases to become a role playing game. It becomes a competition... the players vs. the rules. Breaking the system becomes the win condition.

To me, the only way to measure 'winning' in D&D is the amount of Mtn Dew snorted through noses in fits of laughter. That's what the game is about to me. My current group are mostly amateurs... they couldn't munchkin to save their own lives. They just like the story, they like being big goddamn heroes, they like mystery and intrigue, and they never take the game to seriously.

Hey, maybe that's what you need... a group of wide-eyed newbs who know nothing. People who can go through 4 encounters and not wonder why they haven't leveled yet, and still run for cover when a red dragon flies overhead.

 

[Greg K]

We tried out over a dozen systems, and in the end two systems seemed to resonate with the group. One was nWoD - primarily Vampire: The Requiem and the other was Savage Worlds. What struck me was that, compared to the complexity of the 3.5E D&D rules, these systems seemed to do more, with less rules. "Rules lite", but definitely not story or game lite..

Savage Worlds had become my default game for non-supers exactly because I feel it does more (for me) than 3e or 4e despite having less rules. I still have my 3e core books, Unearthed Arcana, two monster supplements (for monsters from 1e and 2e), and several third party supplements for my house ruled 3e for those times that people will only play D&D. However, my first choices for fantasy are Savage Worlds and True20. Barbarians of Lemuria, Warrior Rogue, Mage (a free online game), and the Fantasy Hack someone did for Marvel Heroic (now, that I received the pdf as a gift), look interesting enough to at least give them a try.