D&D 5E 5e Players: How often have you been allowed to use 3PP?

[Hussar]

Got an odd corner case, not sure how to vote it.

DM: If you want any 3pp, bring it to me and I'll review it for approval.
3 campaigns pass (4+ years): No players bring 3pp to get evaluated.

That group is just not as interested in mechanics as the default ENWorldian.

I wouldn’t call that a corner case at all. That’s certainly my experience.

 

[Irlo]

I can't respond to the poll because, as a player, I've never asked to use third-party resources. As a DM (in 5e) I've seen only one player ask about a third-party character class (swordmage). I declined that one, not because it was third-party, but because it was unbalanced with other classes.

 

[Hussar]

This poll and experience mirrors (but is in no way actually related to in any way) what I find are people's experiences with bad DM's. Every time it's polled, you see about 1/3 or so of respondents say that they have had a lot of bad DM's. Or, that they have had poor experiences with DM's (whether the DM is actually bad or not is obviously up for debate) is perhaps a better way of putting it.

But, what that means, is when we start talking about the game, it really skews how people view things. If you've been playing with the same people for umpteen years, obviously you're pretty happy with things. But, if you've had a string of bad experiences with a variety of DM's, it's not all that much of a jump to start blaming the system.

Problem is, it's probably a little of column a and a little of column b and a little of something else.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Well, likelihood I’ll agree with. The 79% mandate will keep out any larger changes.

But it would be nice for 5e to live up to the modular promise.

You won't find anyone at WotC who'll admit they made any such promise.

 

[MrTemplar]

Almost never, as I mainly DM Adventurers' League at the LFNGS. I have started a second game outside of AL with some regulars that always play at my AL table, and I am using all Keith Baker's stuff since it is an Eberron Campaign. I am open to other 3pp if it makes sense and also will allow the latest playtest content, but no takers on that option yet. I myself am using some Midgard/Kobold Press stuff for monsters and NPC encounters in the new game.

 

[SableWyvern]

I tried forums (four different ones, including ENWorld), I tried PbP, I tried Roll20 and one of its competitors that I no longer remember the name of (mostly because it was a complete dud), I tried pitching concepts, I tried Reddit, I tried Discord. (Discord produces a lot of games, but not a lot of hits, if you get my meaning.) Started out looking for 4e, loosened that to 4e-adjacent (e.g. 13A), loosened that to other systems I wanted to see (e.g. Shadowrun 5e), loosened it again to "alright anything that isn't D&D 5e that I've actually heard of, and isn't a horror game," then to "alright, fine, I guess I'll look at 5e games and be picky about them," and finally to just looking for any 5e game that might, possibly, maybe play like something I could enjoy.

What, exactly, was I supposed to do better/different? I haven't the money to pay to play, nor would I do so even if I could. I don't have reliable transportation, and even if I did I have terrible social anxiety, so physical in-person games are essentially impossible for me (doubly so once the pandemic hit).

I tried. I got nothing, out of more than a year of searching, regularly, multiple times a week, consistently. Applying to at least one game every week, consistently. The games I got into? They died before they hit six sessions (or the equivalent for PbP.) Often before they even hit four. I put up "looking for DM" pitches. Zero replies. I entered my name in "player looking for group" lists. Zero messages. I even rustled up a group of folks I knew from various forums, but we...didn't gel, shall we say.

And all of this was after I'd already found and lost two actually fun, great groups, the former (4e D&D) to IRL family disaster taking the DM away, the latter (13A) due to the PbP DM ghosting us right as our adventure was about to go somewhere new.

I tried.

Stop looking for gamers, and start making them.

 

[Zardnaar]

Stop looking for gamers, and start making them.

Usually how I get to play.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

Stop looking for gamers, and start making them.

I already did. I run a game (currently on hiatus as I prepare to bring in some new players.) I have introduced at least three new folks to the hobby, and here soon will have brought at least two more back into the hobby after they bounced out for personal reasons.

I want to play in addition to running. Is that really so much to ask?

 

[SableWyvern]

I already did. I run a game (currently on hiatus as I prepare to bring in some new players.) I have introduced at least three new folks to the hobby, and here soon will have brought at least two more back into the hobby after they bounced out for personal reasons.

I want to play in addition to running. Is that really so much to ask?

"I want to have a group of friends (or at least decent, compatible acquaintances I met online) all of whom are invested in the sorts of games I like, that is large enough to run two separate, simultaneous, ongoing campaigns (or series of shorter games), able to allocate blocks of time that are convenient for me, and including at least one other GM who wants to run their own game, and not have either of these groups significantly impacted by the vagaries of life" isn't necessarily 'too much to ask', but it is certainly 'quite a bit to ask'.

I wish you best of luck, but I would think your best course of action is to play the long game and create at least one GM out of your stable, growing, friend-based group.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

I wish you best of luck, but I would think your best course of action is to play the long game and create at least one GM out of your stable, growing, friend-based group.

Not happening. I can tell you that with absolute certainty. The only reason they play at all is because I offered to run. None of them would do so unless I was running for them. Full stop. (And that statement may even be true in the most extensive sense for some of them. I'm not sure they would be interested in playing if I, specifically, weren't the GM. Some would, some have played other games. But some have said things quite close to "I wouldn't want anyone else to run games for me," albeit not those exact words.)