D&D General D&D Editions: Anybody Else Feel Like They Don't Fit In?

[Mind of tempest]

Because the actual game you're playing will be full of magic, because all the PCs cast spells. I don't care much about power creep. I care about what the game looks like, both in play and as the setting relates to the PCs.

elaborate I feel like I walk in half way to the conversation.
I do hate the endless spell caster-based subclasses as that makes it feel like magic is the only thing that matters

 

[CleverNickName]

They want GM fiat, but don't want to feel like they are making up rules. Those are opposed desires.

And what's really going to cook your noodle: The rules say that you can make up rules.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

I guess what I want is that lower-magic old-school vibe without the killer dungeons, quirky subsystems, and having to rely so much on DM fiat.

And I say that as the guy who usually ends up as the DM. It'd be nice if I didn't feel like I was having to make up new rules every session.

So I have similar tastes to yours.

My primary games that I run are 5e (for the kids!) which is pretty much "base 5e."
5e for the olds, which is a streamlined and modified 5e that plays more "old school."
A heavily modified and streamlined AD&D.
A variety of rules-lite games (usually for one-shots).

The biggest complaint I have had about 5e is that it is "too magic," in the sense that every character has magic all the time- starting with attack cantrips. Magic is both ubiquitous, but also less special that it was in the TSR days ... yes, you had fewer spells, and those spells might also kill you or fizzle out, but when they worked ....

And I've discussed some thoughts about it. A poll about whether spellcasting is unbalanced in 5e (unsurprisingly finding that most people like it). An explanation about why Magic Users in 1e were not all that.

And a proposal to adopt the Lankhmar rules to 5e!

D&D 5E - Too Much Spellcasting in Your D&D? Just Add a Little Lankhmar!

There are two types of people in this world: 1. Those who think there is too much spellcasting in 5e. 2. Those who are wrong, and probably like elves, bards, and elven bard. 3. The innumerate. Given that I am not wrong, nor a lover of elves nor bards, I have often thought about how to reduce...

www.enworld.org

But here's the thing- most modern players... they like the spells. So this is what I would say:

1. Check with the table. Is this something the players want, or that you want?

2. Try playing B/X or an OSR clone. See how that goes, and if you really want to go back to low magic.

3. If you want to go back to low magic, see if you want to use an OSR system, modify 5e, or use a 3PP 5e variant. I can't personally comment on it, but I've heard people say that LoTR 5e (the Lord of the Rings TTRPG using the 5e system) is both familiar and also low magic, so that might hit the sweet spot for you.

 

[Minigiant]

I never fitted in.

I am more experimentally creative than most of the community. And I'm a worldbuilder.

My natural disgust for copying another's idea without my own major stamp leaves me an outsider who code switches when I play RPGs.

Friend: That's because you're a Pisces.

Astrology isn't real, Lisa.

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

I migth suggest 2 things here:

- use one of the version of Middle Earth for 5e (Cubicle 7 or Free League) as your base system, even if you dont use Middle Earth as a setting. The classes are way less heroic than base 5e ( FL version only goes to 10th level). It also has detailed rules for exploration and social segments.

- Use 5e basic rules: 2 martials, 2 spellcasters, no feature overlap. No feat. Prettry simple archetypes. It gives you more space to go wild on magic items or boons since the power budget of the classes is lower.

 

[Stormonu]

These statements seem to be at odds.

I don't really believe they are. Rules broad enough to handle most general cases without being too complex. Having a skill system that isn't too much (1E's Overbearing rules) or too little (1E's lack of skills prior to Dungeoneer's/Survival Guide) - something akin to 3E's or 5E's skill list.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Shadowdark speaks to my tastes a little (I love "roll to cast"), but I'd have to houserule some additions and alterations to it to really get the game I want.

Do it! House-ruling has been a part of D&D since 1974. It's not wrong to do so -- it's expected you will want to tweak things. (Kelsey Dionne has given people explicit permission to do so, in fact.)

The only game that matters is the one at your table, with your group. Make it what you want.

 

[Desdichado]

Yes. I ultimately wrote my own kitbashed game (while not claiming to have invented anything within it, it's the combination that's unique is all) because nothing else met my needs.

 

[JohnSnow]

I think that "without" carries applies to the list, including "having to rely so much on DM fiat."

That was the intention of my post, yes.

I can (and do) make rulings when I need to, but I don't enjoy feeling so much like I'm winging it all the time.

 

[JohnSnow]

I just want to say that I appreciate the conversation, even where people don't agree. Just knowing that it's "not just me" is helpful.

I'll ponder some of the ideas and suggestions and may eventually share my heavily kit-bashed Homebrew rules as I hammer them out. Just in case anyone would be interested.