D&D 5E 5th edition Dungeons and Dragons: "There's a "Mod" for that!

[Scribble]

I don't know about his favorite, but in interviews he mentions he went back to Basic D&D, which is not OD&D.

Where Is D&D Headed Next? An Update with Mike Mearls ... And the Public Playtest Begins | GeekDad | Wired.com

But regardless of what 4e fans think, 5e (so far) bears little to no resemblance to old school D&D or AD&D. At least IMHO and most other old school fans I've read express an opinion.

Depends on the particular fan you ask though I think.

I would say I'm a fan of oldschool, but I've also been a fan of D&D in all of its forms.

There are some out there though who would say it doesn't bear any resemblance unless it literally was just a reprint of 1e.

 

[I'm A Banana]

But regardless of what 4e fans think, 5e (so far) bears little to no resemblance to old school D&D or AD&D. At least IMHO and most other old school fans I've read express an opinion.

That's weird to hear, since 5e so far is super-stripped-down and minimal, and the Caves of Chaos is very old-school.

What would it take to bear a resemblance to old-school D&D for you and those fans? THAC0? Errol Otus? CHAINMAIL rules? Removing feats and skills? What changes would need to be made?

Personally, I don't think it's out of the realm of possibility that the 5e PHB & DMG contain all the info you'll need to run a game a lot like OD&D and also a game a lot like 4e and also a lot like 2e and also a lot like 1e and also a lot like 3e and also something not like any of them. The playtest isn't the final release, so what we're seeing now is a selected assortment of what they want to put through the wringer.

 

[Viking Bastard]

I don't know about his favorite, but in interviews he mentions he went back to Basic D&D, which is not OD&D.

As far as I can tell, OD&D has two (most common, anyway) definitions: Meaning either the original '74 set or just anything older than AD&D*.

(* Which was how I commonly remember it being referred to as before my multi-year D&D/ENW hiatus.)

 

[Iosue]

In this post, Mearls talks about rolling up OSRIC characters for fun, and in this post he talks about not liking 2e.

In Legends & Lore he talked about starting a B/X campaign, but that seems to be more work related -- proof of concept and messing around with house rules rather than his personal preference. His mention of it in the Wired.com interview is along those lines: the simplest form of D&D -- complete game in only 64 pages -- and the conceptual basis for the simple core over which they want to layer other modules. So I think the best guess we have is that Mearls personally likes 1e best.

Personally, the playtest gives me a BD&D feel and a 4e feel. I don't so much see 1e in it, but that's probably because I associate 1e with many and varied subsystems and tables, which was obviously not going to be in the playtest.

 

[Lokiare]

I hear the whole "There's a Mod for that." thing touted around everywhere right along with "wait and be patient." What we have seen is only two Mods they have talked about which is the tactical combat module and the narrative combat module.

I think a lot of people are reading too deeply into what WotC is saying and making stuff up at this point.

 

[thecasualoblivion]

The issue I find with the current application of core + modules as 5E has presented itself so far is that it is being built on a fixed core, with modules only adding to the core and not changing the core. This limits the game to those who don't have fundamental issues with the core, as those issues won't be solved by optional modules since there are no options to change that core.