Editions of D&D you have played the most in your life

[Azzy]

1. 2nd Edition AD&D. Played since it came out in 1988 until the late 90s. Usually played as a hybrid of 1e/2e.
2. 3rd/3.5 Edition D&D. Played off and on sine it came out in 2000 until the D&D Next playtest.
3. 1st Edition AD&D. Played concurrently with BXCMI, then migrated to 1e in 1986, and played until 2e AD&D came out.
4. 5th Edition D&D. Played some of the playtests, and since played since it came out.
5. BXCMI D&D. This is where I started (in about 1986), but my group quickly moved to 1e AD&D.

 

[Charlaquin]

I’ve played 4th the most, though it will likely be surpassed by 5th before long. After that is 3.5, which I played a little of but found too fiddly. That’s all I’ve played.

 

[pukunui]

I honestly can't say for sure, but I'm pretty sure that 5e's at the top.

I got my start with 2e in the 90s, but I honestly can't recall how often we played or for how long (in years). I do recall that I continued to buy 2e books long after I actually stopped playing the game.

In college, I briefly played a hybrid of 2e and 3e, but then I stopped playing D&D all together for a few years around the time I moved countries and got married, so I ended up coming a bit late to 3.5e and ran one campaign centered around Red Hand of Doom before burning out just around the time 4e came on the scene.

I started running a 4e campaign after it came out but didn't even make it all the way through Keep on the Shadowfell before giving up on it. I did continue to play (just not DM) 4e for a while after that, though, including jumping into a campaign that was already in the mid-20s, so it's possible I played 4e more than 3.5, and maybe even 2e.

When that campaign finished, we did a short 1e campaign, which is the one and only time I've ever played that edition, followed up by a short 3.5e campaign set in Dark Sun, before getting stuck into D&D Next. I've been running and playing 5e weekly+ ever since.

Oh, and I played Pathfinder once but really didn't like it.

 

[Lanefan]

1e, or modifications thereof - thousands of sessions both played and DMed, and still at it
3e - two or three hundred sessions played; DMed exactly three.
3.5e/PF - a few dozen sessions maybe, when the 3e game I was in converted over on the fly
0e/BECMI - maybe a dozen sessions total, all one-offs at conventions or the pub
5e - played in maybe two sessions, each was a one-off
2e - never
4e - never

I own and have read through the core books for all of these except 3.5 and PF, and as DM I've converted adventures (and stolen rules ideas) from all of the above.

 

[Sorcerers Apprentice]

At this point I'm not really sure if it's 5e or AD&D 2nd ed. It feels like I played 2nd ed. nearly forever, but it might just be my mind tricking me to make events in my teens seem bigger than they really were.

 

[TwoSix]

2e was certainly the most, as it encompassed my high school and college years. A decent amount of 3e, PF, and 4e overlap from 2000-2014, multiple campaigns in each system. All of our games have switched to 5e since 2014. Never played 1e, and only done a tiny amount of any OSR stuff, but not TSR brands.

 

[Wiseblood]

I was thinking about this last night, trying to work out which editions I have played the most. I'd be interested in seeing what others have played.

While I think that 5E will eventually take the top spot, it hasn't been out for as long as I played some other editions for yet. But it has all the time in the world to catch up. That said, here's my estimated ranking, although I'm not 100% sure.

1. 2nd Edition. Definitely the one I played most, and the one I had most material from. I played this for 10 years at least, pretty much solidly, and really had a ton of stuff.
2. 1st Edition. Another long one, but I was a little young to start it when it first came out. I started playing this at school in the early 80s, until 2E came out.
3. 3rd Edition. Including 3.5, I played this for about 5 years, I think. I'm not completely sure! But again, mainly solidly, although there may have been a couple of short campaigns from other games in there. I ran the entire Age of Worms adventure path from Dungeon Magazine, plus two home-brew campaigns.
4. 5th Edition. It's been out for 3 years, and I ran Curse of Strahd, and am currently running a 5E Middle Earth campaign, plus I ran the Starter Set when it came out. I suspect this one will eventually catch up with 2nd Edition, but sheer longevity will mean it'll take time. It probably ties for Pathfinder right now.
5. Pathfinder. I've included this, as it took over the tail end of 3E before we tried 4E, and then we went back to it between 4E and 5E. I'd say I've played about 3 years of Pathfinder in total, at a guess.
6. 4th Edition. I played this for maybe a year.
7. OD&D & Variants. Too young for these, I have played them since, but not for more than a few months.

A lot of this is based on hazy memory, and I could be wrong. And, of course, there are other games mixed in there.

This tracks almost exactly whith my history. It really is uncanny.

 

[Raith5]

I tend to play one campaign per edition:

1. 4th Edition: I played the most hours of this edition largely because the campaign went to 30th level! Also its my favorite edition, despite its bad press and some of the real issues.
2. 1st Edition: I played a lot in the 80s - always set in GreyHawk.
3. 2nd Edition: I DMed a long home brew campaign which ran about 5 years
4. 3rd Edition: I DMed a long campaign that ran out of puff at about 11th level (wrecked by over the top spell casters). Probably my second favourite edition.
5. 5th edition: I have only played low level 5th ed D&D. I like it and it will climb up this list, but I do have mixed feelings about this edition.

I only every played a few sessions of OD&D before 1e took over and I never played Pathfinder.

 

[Harzel]

1e: Certainly the longest calendar time - 1978-89, but # of hours and sessions is hard to assess. It was certainly substantial for the first four years (grad school - hard to decide whether that degree was in CS or D&D), but last eight were really spotty (wait, what? I have to show up every day and actually work?)
5e: 2016-present, certainly approaching 1e in terms of sessions and hours; will certainly surpass if the group lasts another 6 months.

 

[Satyrn]

3rd edition the most, by far, followed by 5e for a couple years now.

There was a couple years of 2e way back around '89/'90 and ao I might actually have played it more than 5e, but the new edition will go ahead soon now anyway, so I put it second.

And then there's 4e, which I played for a couple sessions when it came out then another few months when I found my current group.

There were also a couple sessions of character building in Pathfinder.