D&D 5E Are you RETURNING to D&D

[Michael Long]

I returned to D&D, but returned to it by starting D&D 4th edition.

 

[WayneLigon]

I am back after playing Pathfinder. During the initial days of 4E, we were doing Mutants and Masterminds for 18 months or so and thus when we came back to fantasy we picked up Pathfinder. None of the the groups I played with or talked with ended up going with 4E. We've played Pathfinder ever since then with our standard change-ups to other games. Now, I'm playing 5E and Pathfinder, and running both as well.

 

[sgtscott658]

Hi-

Yup, I am a returning D&D'er. Quit D&D due to group splitting up over 4E, some wanted to play others did'nt and I did not want to play 4E because it was not D&D. It was a totally new system that WoTC came out with to squish the Third party producers for 3.5. Well obviously that did not work since 4E tanked.Anyway glad to be back and 5E is turning out to be pretty good and it actually resembles D&D where as 4E did not.

This is a question specifically for those currently playing 5E. Not for those not playing 5E.

I was wondering how much of a return to D&D there was, either from other games or from a place of no RPG-ing at all, as opposed to continuous play through editions. I know a lot of people played 1E, 2E, 3E, 4E, and now 5E, or jumped on along the way. Others jumped off along the way and may now be coming back.

So if you're RETURNING to D&D from another game or from no gaming at all, let us know! What were you doing before? What brought you back?

 

[sgtscott658]

There are a few wankers on this forum, so take what they say with a healthy grain of salt. Obviously these are not happy people.

Nope. Just answering the man's question. Didn't realize I had to check with you before posting. I'll do so in the future.

 

[Faradon]

I'm back playing D&D. I've always played a few different systems, but after the release of 4e and playing it a few times I gave up on D&D. Mostly I'd been running Shadowrun, Rifts, and pathfinder as well as playing a friend's homebrew system. We toyed with starting back up a hybrid 1e/2e game like we used to play back in the day, but 5e has renewed our group's hope/faith in D&D products.

 

[Animus]

I left d&d in 2011 after giving 4e a good three years. Played some Pathfinder, but that was unsatisfying. Now I'm playing 5e and loving it, as well as other games.

 

[drjones]

I came back with 4th as did my whole group.

 

[DMZ2112]

I came back with 4th as did my whole group.

Morrus , I think you might need to complexificate this poll a bit -- if folks like drjones are voting, "I'm back," I'm not sure you're getting the data you are looking for.

For my part, the last D&D I enjoyed without reservations before D&D5 was D&D3. I suffered through D&D3.5 for the sake of my FLGS until D&D4 released, and ran D&D4 for six months before re-evaluating my commitment to the hobby and taking a year sabbatical from all tabletop roleplaying. Then I bought a house and started a regular club that plays a bunch of different games (including Pathfinder and AD&D2 but excluding D&D4).

I /do/ consider Pathfinder an edition of D&D, but for the purposes of your poll I think I am "back after playing other games."

 

[Arcaneshield]

I never stopped playing 4e, my bread and butter. There is nothing about 5th edition that interests me, whatsoever, as the developers have tried to turn back the clock and pretend my favorite game system never existed.

Both 13th Age and Dungeon World do what 5e is trying to do better, but I guess brand name sells more than actual validity of rules.

 

[Hannerdyn]

I never stopped playing 4e, my bread and butter. There is nothing about 5th edition that interests me, whatsoever, as the developers have tried to turn back the clock and pretend my favorite game system never existed.

Both 13th Age and Dungeon World do what 5e is trying to do better, but I guess brand name sells more than actual validity of rules.

So, option 4 then?

All these people jumping on the 5E bandwagon are going to be pretty disappointed when they find out the rules for their new favorite game system are invalid. /s

 

[Arcaneshield]

Poor word choice. I should have said 'quality'.

 

[Sacrosanct]

So, option 4 then?

All these people jumping on the 5E bandwagon are going to be pretty disappointed when they find out the rules for their new favorite game system are invalid. /s

Indeed.

I also find statements like, "...and pretend my favorite game system never existed." to be really odd. They are not pretending 4e never existed. They're just focusing on the new edition. Same thing that happens with every new edition. It's not like they scoured their websites and kept all references to 1e, 2e, and 3e while erasing anything that had to do with 4e.

 

[Arcaneshield]

Except they specifically said they'd be making 5e with all previous editions in mind, and they'd have rules that would appeal to everyone. An impossible claim, but it seems that they threw 4e under the bus in their development and backpedaled hard, losing nearly all the innovations 4e had going for it.

Mearls claimed if you liked 4e, there would be rules in Next that would appeal to you. I'm still waiting for that, but I won't hold my breath.

 

[Loki-lie-Smith]

After 4e I played a lot of OSR games but I never played my favorite iteration (DCC) more than twice in a row.

Now I have been playing 5e steadily since the starter came out. I haven't even backed a KS since then. For now, it got my gaming ADD under control.

 

[Truth Seeker]

Gavc two decades to D&D, time to give to someone else.

 

[Sacrosanct]

Except they specifically said they'd be making 5e with all previous editions in mind, and they'd have rules that would appeal to everyone. An impossible claim, but it seems that they threw 4e under the bus in their development and backpedaled hard, losing nearly all the innovations 4e had going for it.

Mearls claimed if you liked 4e, there would be rules in Next that would appeal to you. I'm still waiting for that, but I won't hold my breath.

Then you haven't read or played 5e, because there are lots of 4e elements in it. Every time someone says 5e totally forsaked 4e, someone more familiar with 4e than myself ends up putting out a list of all 4e things that are in 5e. Things like at-will powers/spells, non-magical healing capability, etc.

It seems to me that a lot of people taking your position fail to realize that just because your favorite interpretation of a 4e rule(s) aren't in there, doesn't mean there aren't any elements of 4e in the game.

*Edit* I'll also note that what you call 'innovations' others call "problems". A lot of people actually, judging by the success of 4e compared to the previous version, and the survey results.

 

[Grainger]

I ran a BECMI campaign in the late 80s and early-mid 90s, and played in BECMI and 2e games. I got out of D&D due to personal circumstances (group broke up, and then I had a child). Modern board games just seemed a better fit with my time available, and I regularly game; just not RPGs.

Now, my life has settled down again, I've moved back to D&D. I've adopted 5e (rather than going back to BECMI) because:
1. I fancied a change.
2. I thought 5e would be more palatable to potential players.
3. 5e looked really good. What I'd seen of 3e (I actually bought the PHB and was horrified) and 4e made me run a mile, but this new edition seems in line with my tastes, both in terms of game design and graphic design. It had got rid of a lot of the horrible design elements of old-school, while retaining much of the flavour. As my partner, a staple of my old gaming group, was also impressed with 5e, it seemed the logical thing to do.

I've been a running a 5e campaign for a few weeks, for my partner and our daughter, and it's gone really well. I'm getting my DMing mojo back, and it's great to see our child being really creative and logical when overcoming challenges in the game.

And now I am here, trying to inject some old-school sensibilities into what is an excellent iteration of D&D.

My board gaming group is now going to start playing 5e. All five of us have played at least once in older editions (2e being the most recent!). I don't know if we will be able to find time to run a solid campaign (work, kids), but we'll give it a good go.

I'm also going to give Star Wars RPG a try, if I can persuede them to play, and I'm also going to dabble with some indie RPGs like The Quiet Year. Board games are booming, in terms of design and popularity, but it's also an exciting time to be an RPG player, from what I can see.

 

[Hannerdyn]

Except they specifically said they'd be making 5e with all previous editions in mind, and they'd have rules that would appeal to everyone. An impossible claim, but it seems that they threw 4e under the bus in their development and backpedaled hard, losing nearly all the innovations 4e had going for it.

Mearls claimed if you liked 4e, there would be rules in Next that would appeal to you. I'm still waiting for that, but I won't hold my breath.

Hey, if you don't like 5E, that's cool. 4E has a lot of good things and right now has more content. It's just weird to put complaints about 5E in the 'Why are you returning to 5E thread'.

There must be a better place for that discussion.

Or maybe (just maybe) you're looking for a new audience.

 

[Iosue]

Morrus , I think you might need to complexificate this poll a bit -- if folks like drjones are voting, "I'm back," I'm not sure you're getting the data you are looking for.

I suspect drjones voted as I did (if he/she voted), for "I never stopped."
Chris Perkins and Acquisitions Incorporated got me back into D&D with 4th. I enjoyed it, but it didn't scratch the same itch as B/X and BECMI. Now with 5e, I get a game that scratches both!

 

[DM Howard]

My group and I, during the very few times we actually get to play, have been playing Pathfinder, The system has grown stale with many of us and is even starting to get old with our resident "power gamer" (for lack of a better term). We are all very excited to get some 5th Edition games going, and one out of the three other players has already picked up the Player's Handbook. For myself, I have both the Player's Handbook and the Monster Manual, and I await the Dungeon Master's Guide with much excitement!