I never technically stopped, but I did switch from 4E to 2E until the playtest started. I wanted to like 4E, since I found I had some fundamental issues with the core 3E mechanics, but I just couldn't. If 5E hadn't turned out as well as it had, I probably would have left for good.
D&D General Did You "Return" because of some Edition of D&D?
- Thread starter Reynard
- Start date
I had a Red Box as a kid, but only played a couple basic adventures. During the 90's I did the WEG Star Wars game instead of AD&D 2e. 3e is really what pulled me back D&D. I mostly missed out on the 4e era and got back in for 5e, but that was more about my personal life than the game edition.
I've been gaming almost continuously since 1983, so no edition of D&D brought me back to gaming.
HOWEVER - I did mostly stop playing D&D and played other games between 1997 and 1999. I'd pretty much given up on D&D at that point as it was a lot easier to convince people around me to play literally anything else. People I knew wanted to roleplay, but not D&D. It wasn't until 3e was released that I came back to D&D and was able to get people to play it by saying "no really - they've cleaned the game up and it isn't the D&D you remember."
HOWEVER - I did mostly stop playing D&D and played other games between 1997 and 1999. I'd pretty much given up on D&D at that point as it was a lot easier to convince people around me to play literally anything else. People I knew wanted to roleplay, but not D&D. It wasn't until 3e was released that I came back to D&D and was able to get people to play it by saying "no really - they've cleaned the game up and it isn't the D&D you remember."
I had my first exposure to RPGs in elementary school. I played heavily through middle and high school. I did not have a gaming group in college (which I regret). I was in my late 20s when 3E hit the shelves. They rekindled the old flame. I collected a lot of 3E and 4E books but rarely played -- I tried and failed to get a regular group off the ground. However, about 5 years ago I connected virtually with my old friends from middle and high school. We've been playing 5E and other RPGs ever since. And now I'm DMing two other groups, as well. I've played close to 250 sessions of 5E.
Sacrosanct
Legend
I started in 1981 and never really left, but I did pretty much skip 3e and 4e and kept playing AD&D. Then I did move to 5e when it came out (with occasional AD&D). So 5e was the first edition that pulled me current since 2e.
Stormonu
NeoGrognard
I put away my D&D books at the tail end of 2E to play the likes of Vampire for a while, picked back up when 3E came out.
Similar through 4E; switched to Pathfinder and a variety of other RPGs for the edition, and had some pretty great games with some fantastic people. Came back to D&D with 5E, but I still on occasion play other RPGs as one shots or short campaigns.
Similar through 4E; switched to Pathfinder and a variety of other RPGs for the edition, and had some pretty great games with some fantastic people. Came back to D&D with 5E, but I still on occasion play other RPGs as one shots or short campaigns.
I strongly doubt it. Because the people I played with never bought any games themselves - I was always teaching games to people and they'd be using my books.
By 1997 even people I'd taught to play D&D were saying "can't we play something less confusing" when I'd ask about it. They would rather play Torg or Vampire than D&D because both of those systems were consistent and "made sense" to them. And even folks who played D&D before I got to them and taught them other games - after they learned other games they never wanted to go back to D&D.
There was just something in the water around me over those years. Did a whole lot of roleplaying, but nobody wanted to touch D&D. But some of those same folks became voracious 3e players once the new edition dropped. Because it was a system that was consistent and "made sense" to them.
