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

[Tales and Chronicles]

Im working on streamlined 5e classes by removing ever increasing stats and the accumulation of new features at each level. Instead I pilfer from all published features to gather those I find the most iconics to build a light little package.

 

[mellored]

Are you sure it's the game?

I'm not saying it can't be the game, but in my experience, there's a lot of other things in life change that will have a greater effect.

Maybe you had a close group of friends you knew for years, and now you barely know anyone else in the group beyond what happens at the game table.

Or now you spend more time trying to schedule a game around everyone's jobs, kids, grocery shopping, doctors appointments, rent, and other responsibilities. And you just don't have the energy left to enjoy the game.

Or the friends you played with are spending time with other hobbies getting married, and are just less enthusiastic about gaming. Your taste could of also changed.

Or maybe your eye sight is getting worse and reading all the text is giving you a headache, or your hearing is and you miss out on what others are saying.

Again, I'm not saying it can't be because of the game rules. But it wouldn't be the first place I looked.

 

[CapnZapp]

I like a lot of what I see with DCC (I love roll to cast and "Mighty Deeds of Arms"), but I have three big issues with it:

1) The Zocchi dice: I'm not buying a whole bunch of new dice to play a new game system. Just not happening. I generally think Advantage is more elegant.
2) I can't stand having to constantly reference tables. DCC leans into that a bit too much for my tastes.
3) "Racial Classes" is something I hate with a passion.

I can sort of understand it when the game was brand new: "we have a snowball's chance in hell of making this game succeed so let's differentiate ourselves with wacky dice - maybe someone will notice and remember us!" but yeah, ouch is it a painful gimmick. And that's coming from someone that purchased several sets of official dice. The wacky dice are a completely unnecessary hurdle to player adoption.

2) this is what actually breaks the game for me. It's not funny. There's too much table lookup. Magic is mind-numbingly chaotic and random because of it.

3) I don't mind it terribly. It's an old-skool thing of nostalgia. Shrug.

 

[bmfrosty]

I kind of what to do these adventury dungeon crawls, not this whole role playing thing so much. B/X suits that pretty darn well.

 

[CapnZapp]

Are you sure it's the game?

I'm not saying it can't be the game, but in my experience, there's a lot of other things in life change that will have a greater effect.

Maybe you had a close group of friends you knew for years, and now you barely know anyone else in the group beyond what happens at the game table.

Or now you spend more time trying to schedule a game around everyone's jobs, kids, grocery shopping, doctors appointments, rent, and other responsibilities. And you just don't have the energy left to enjoy the game.

Or the friends you played with are spending time with other hobbies getting married, and are just less enthusiastic about gaming. Your taste could of also changed.

Or maybe your eye sight is getting worse and reading all the text is giving you a headache, or your hearing is and you miss out on what others are saying.

Again, I'm not saying it can't be because of the game rules. But it wouldn't be the first place I looked.

Or... we read what he actually wrote. It's not the rules, it's the flavor of fantasy that's too... fantastical.

There are plenty of AD&D modules that feel more like Games of Thrones. Down to earth. Players not expecting to be able to impossible things unless you're a high level spellcaster.

Not magic rays shooting left and right. Sword and arrow used to handle most situations. Stronger emphasis on looking like a fighter in order to be one - artwork depicting trained warriors as brawny muscular people in realistic-looking armor.

Don't look at his kids or his eyesight to find what he feels is lacking.

 

[CapnZapp]

To be honest I don’t get you at all.

Simple.

There aren't any games as polished as D&D 5E but with the low:ish fantasy of Dragonlance or Game of Thrones.

 

[mamba]

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

they wanted less reliance on GM fiat…

 

[Reynard]

they wanted less reliance on GM fiat…

I guess I'm confused. The original post I quoted says explicitly that they wanted more reliance on GM fiat (first paragraph) but also that they wanted to feel less like they had to make up new rules (second paragraph). These seemed at odds to me.

However, I can see a perspective from which they aren't at odds: if the game has a robust core mechanic, you can sort of have both. You don't have to make up new rules (subsystems) because the core mechanics is very broad, and at the same time that means in understanding the core mechanic you can GM fiat checks and DCs pretty easily.

 

[Malmuria]

Some possible suggestions:

• Index Card RPG
• Black Hack 2E: it is roll under attribute but it is pretty easy
• Dragonbane: only potential issue for you is that it is d20 roll under skill, but it's a very beer and pretzels game.

If you want to lean more into Sword & Sorcery but can tolerate some "outdated game mechanics," I would check out Flatland Game's Through Sunken Lands. It has classes like The Barbaric Conqueror, the Eldritch Sorcerer King, the Spell Thief, and the Cosmic Champion. All of which harken back to Moorcock, Howard, and Leiber. However, these are mostly roll under attribute.

You may also want to look into NuSR games:

• Into the Odd
• Mausritter: you play as mice but the game is solid
• Cairn: probably your best bet of the NuSR games

To add to this stack of games, The Black Sword Hack for sword and sorcery vibes.

 

[dbm]

@JohnSnow - there are whole families of RPGs which support great fantasy games and are nothing to do with D&D, some have already been mentioned.

If you give us a list of what you would like a system to do, what style of game you are shooting for, we might be able to give you more options to consider.