D&D 5E 5th edition driving people back to 1st/2nd edition.

[Corpsetaker]

Something I've noticed in my area is that people are dropping their 5th edition games and going back to playing 1st/2nd edition games. I've noticed on the Dungeon Master's Guild site that the top 7 most popular books are the 1st and 2nd editions of the game. People in my own game are wanting to drop 5th and go back to 2nd edition.

Is this becoming a trend? It's like playing 5th edition is sparking an interest to go back and playing those older editions.

 

[Guest 6801328]

Huh. I haven't seen any evidence of that at all. What I see (much to my disappointment) is people dropping every other RPG and playing 5e. I mean, I like 5e and all, but I also like other games.

 

[Rhenny]

That's interesting. I don't think it is a either/or phenomenon. I think 5e players (and more importantly for WOTC the consumer buying product) may be playing 1e and 2e as well. Who knows.

In my group, we predominantly play 5e, but we have run sessions of 2e. We even ran a level 0 2e session to get back to basics.

Overall, I think 5e is energizing D&D any edition.

 

[trentonjoe]

Huh. I haven't seen any evidence of that at all. What I see (much to my disappointment) is people dropping every other RPG and playing 5e. I mean, I like 5e and all, but I also like other games.

That's funny but I have just recently started playing games other than D&D for the first time since the 80's. I think, from my experience, it's because 5E has brought a few people back into my D&D group. They had given up on D&D but have come back and brought with them their interest in non D&D systems. In this case, the rising tide has risen all boats.

With that being said, no one is talking about going back and playing 1E or 2E.

 

[Zardnaar]

We recently started a C&C game but its in addition to not a replacement.

 

[jayoungr]

Is it time for our monthly forecast of doom for D&D5E already?

 

[Corpsetaker]

Huh. I haven't seen any evidence of that at all. What I see (much to my disappointment) is people dropping every other RPG and playing 5e. I mean, I like 5e and all, but I also like other games.

Now I'm seeing the exact opposite here. I'm seeing a big increase in Shadowrun and Old World of Darkness. I asked a few people and they said it was a combination of things but the main two are "Don't like the WotC AP's" and "Tired of medieval fantasy".

 

[Corpsetaker]

We recently started a C&C game but its in addition to not a replacement.

We don't have time for multiple games because my group likes long campaigns so we have to pick either or.

 

[Caliban]

Haven't heard of anyone doing that here in Arizona. I suppose it's possible, but it hasn't happened in my gaming circles.

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

I've cannibalized a lot of 2nd edition material for my 5E game. Monster ecologies/diets/organization structures/etc. It's relatively easy to do.

5E has some interesting things about it that I would miss if I went back to 2nd edition (e.g. reactions), and 2nd edition has some great things about it that I miss and haven't yet imported into 5E (e.g. Magic Resistance %), but my life is busy enough that I haven't yet been tempted to teach any of my players 2nd edition. Besides, I'd have to re-invent all of my old house rules.

Perhaps at some point I'll get bored with 5E and move on to something else, 2nd edition or GURPS or Shadowrun or something. But it hasn't happened yet. We did take a break from 5E for several months and that was nice but now we are back on and that's nice too.