innerdude
Legend
So I've been ambivalent-to-mildly negative towards D&D Next to this point. It's had some interesting ideas, but haven't been able to play it with a group yet, to really put it through its paces. But I'm coming around to the idea that maybe this really WILL be a "D&D" worth playing--insofar as I'm actually interested in "D&D" as a game / genre / trope.
I'm pretty much DONE with "bog standard" D&D 3.x, including Pathfinder, though I love the Golarion campaign setting and Paizo's adventure paths. Had a great Pathfinder campaign in 2011, but really have no desire to run it ever again (if I'm going to bother with the 3.x "chassis" at all it's going to be Fantasy Craft). And though my earlier feelings of disdain for 4e have considerably lessened, at this point it's just too much of an investment to even get started--$100+ to either get the PHB 1 and 2, DMG 1 and 2, Monster Vault, Essentials, etc.--and I'm just not willing to commit that to a game that I might run once. If I want a 4e-style, "heroic" D&D fantasy vibe, 13th Age or a modded Radiance RPG are much more likely candidates.
But the more I think about what D&D Next is trying to accomplish, the more I realize that the final rules themselves are almost irrelevant at this point. It's clear by now that D&D Next is most DEFINITELY its own thing now. It's NOT 3e. It's NOT 4e. It's not 2e or 1e. And strangely, right now that's pretty much good enough.
When I think about it, I still WANT a "D&D" in my life, but I'm not really interested in what has come before. Though I still have my original Rules Cyclopedia on my shelf, I'm not a grognard. I'm not nostalgically attached to 1e or 2e. I've played out 3e as much as I can handle. 4e isn't really a consideration at this point.
But I want "D&D," because sometimes you just want to have the option available to you. It's . . . comforting, somehow, to know that it will always be there as a fallback, and right now I don't have a D&D system that does that for me. There's no existing version of D&D, Pathfinder included, that I think about running for a group without going, "Yeah, I guess I could run this, but . . . ."
When my current Savage Worlds group finishes this campaign, I'd love to pull down my D&D 5e handook and say to the players, "Hey let's give this a shot. It's D&D! You guys know D&D, right?" And my group would jump on it in a heartbeat, because---it's D&D. They know D&D. They get it. It's the literal ancestor of nearly every RPG, CRPG, and MMO that has ever existed.
I don't think it's ever going to be my "go to" system. With each passing week of my current Savage Worlds campaign, SW more firmly entrenches itself in that regard. But I DEFINITELY want D&D Next as a viable alternative, heck, even a good-to-great alternative when I want a "true D&D fantasy experience." Pathfinder is great in its own right, but it's no longer my preferred system, or even my "preferred D&D."
It seemed a bit of paradox at first, but the more I think about it, D&D Next makes a whole lot of sense to me as the "Not Yet Anybody's D&D" edition. If D&D Next manages to straddle the line between editions even moderately well, then I'm okay playing a D&D that ISN'T anything that came before it, and just manages to be "D&D" on its own terms.
I'm pretty much DONE with "bog standard" D&D 3.x, including Pathfinder, though I love the Golarion campaign setting and Paizo's adventure paths. Had a great Pathfinder campaign in 2011, but really have no desire to run it ever again (if I'm going to bother with the 3.x "chassis" at all it's going to be Fantasy Craft). And though my earlier feelings of disdain for 4e have considerably lessened, at this point it's just too much of an investment to even get started--$100+ to either get the PHB 1 and 2, DMG 1 and 2, Monster Vault, Essentials, etc.--and I'm just not willing to commit that to a game that I might run once. If I want a 4e-style, "heroic" D&D fantasy vibe, 13th Age or a modded Radiance RPG are much more likely candidates.
But the more I think about what D&D Next is trying to accomplish, the more I realize that the final rules themselves are almost irrelevant at this point. It's clear by now that D&D Next is most DEFINITELY its own thing now. It's NOT 3e. It's NOT 4e. It's not 2e or 1e. And strangely, right now that's pretty much good enough.
When I think about it, I still WANT a "D&D" in my life, but I'm not really interested in what has come before. Though I still have my original Rules Cyclopedia on my shelf, I'm not a grognard. I'm not nostalgically attached to 1e or 2e. I've played out 3e as much as I can handle. 4e isn't really a consideration at this point.
But I want "D&D," because sometimes you just want to have the option available to you. It's . . . comforting, somehow, to know that it will always be there as a fallback, and right now I don't have a D&D system that does that for me. There's no existing version of D&D, Pathfinder included, that I think about running for a group without going, "Yeah, I guess I could run this, but . . . ."
When my current Savage Worlds group finishes this campaign, I'd love to pull down my D&D 5e handook and say to the players, "Hey let's give this a shot. It's D&D! You guys know D&D, right?" And my group would jump on it in a heartbeat, because---it's D&D. They know D&D. They get it. It's the literal ancestor of nearly every RPG, CRPG, and MMO that has ever existed.
I don't think it's ever going to be my "go to" system. With each passing week of my current Savage Worlds campaign, SW more firmly entrenches itself in that regard. But I DEFINITELY want D&D Next as a viable alternative, heck, even a good-to-great alternative when I want a "true D&D fantasy experience." Pathfinder is great in its own right, but it's no longer my preferred system, or even my "preferred D&D."
It seemed a bit of paradox at first, but the more I think about it, D&D Next makes a whole lot of sense to me as the "Not Yet Anybody's D&D" edition. If D&D Next manages to straddle the line between editions even moderately well, then I'm okay playing a D&D that ISN'T anything that came before it, and just manages to be "D&D" on its own terms.
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