D&D General Did You "Return" because of some Edition of D&D?

[Reynard]

Just curiosity.

Did you stop gaming for a while (years, i mean) and then return to the hobby because of some edition of D&D? If so, which edition? Note that if you did but not when that edition was current, please answer "other" and explain in the comments.

Also, it shouldn't need to be said, but PLEASE no Edition Warring. Your battles are over, my friend. Find peace now.

 

[CleverNickName]

I played the BECM boxed sets and the Rules Cyclopedia (but never made it to 'Masters' level) all through the 80s and 90s, and then took a hiatus for about 5 years when I went away to university. I'd play a game every now and then, but I was usually too busy with my studies to commit to any kind of regular gaming schedule.

It was 3rd Edition that brought me back to the regular gaming scene, in 2000. I wrote a bit about it in my Edition Experience surveys I did a while back (here and here.) So BECM is my favorite version, and 3E/3.5E is the version I've played the longest, but 5E is rapidly catching up to both.

 

[el-remmen]

I returned but only because of 5E from the perspective that the people that asked me run a game for them were interested because the recent wave of popularity had reached them via other media that 5E helped facilitate to some degree. But if it had not been 5E it would have been BECMI, if I'd been asked.

For the record I had stopped running 3.xE in 2009 and playing in such a game in 2016. I started again (with 5E) in 2019/20.

 

[Charlaquin]

Not for a period of years, no. I played some 3.5e between like 2005 and 2007 and thought I didn’t like D&D. Then in 2008, 4e came out and a friend convinced me to try it. Haven’t quit playing since, though there have been stretches where I haven’t been able to run or play in a regular game.

 

[jmartkdr2]

I stopped some time in the late 80’s in order to play World of Darkness games. I was playing a mix of BECMI and AD&D before branching out into a slew of other games (Cyberpunk and Rolemaster/MERP offhand). When I found Werewolf: the Apocalypse that became my go-to game though I played a bunch of Vampire, Mage and some Hunter as well.

3.0 was a nice breath of fresh air to return to fantasy gaming.

I sorta left in the 4e era but mostly because I didn’t have a lot of time and online gaming wasn’t an option yet - but once I discovered roll20 I’ve been playing consistently since.

 

[Retreater]

There was a time I didn't play as often as I do now and when gaming wasn't as big in my life.
1989-1997 Games were very irregular because I couldn't find a regular group
2005-2010 My regular group slowed to biweekly and didn't start weekly gaming until I found D&D Encounters

 

[Ulfgeir]

Started playing in 1984, and never went away. D&D though was not always the game of choice. 2e is probably the version I have played most.

 

[Burnside]

I stopped playing regularly in 1994 (when I graduated from high school) and then stopped completely from 1999 or 2000 until 2017. When I returned to the game, it was with 5E but not because I had been "lured back" by hearing about 5E.

I came back because my wife and some friends asked if I would DM for them, and my life circumstances in my 40s had settled down enough to the point that playing regularly was a viable thing, which it wasn't really in my 20s and 30s.

But I didn't return because I heard 5E was this great thing - I would have tried to run whatever the current edition was in 2017 because I knew the brand but not what had really happened with the game since 2000-ish. However, if I didn't enjoy 5E so much, my return to the game in 2017 would likely have been very brief instead of leading to D&D being a huge part of my life in middle age.

 

[beancounter]

D&D was my life from 1979 to about 1987. Then life happened and I didn't play again until 2008 for a few sessions before I stopped, and then in 2016 I started playing 5E with a group that I'm still playing with today.

 

[GuyBoy]

I didn’t really return because of an edition, though I did return.
Played loads of Original and 1E at school and university, but then life, career, mortgage, sports, marriage etc kind of relegated D&D to fond memories.
Once all these were fairly sorted, I came back just as 2E was being replaced by 3E and have played fairly regularly since.