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

[cbwjm]

From most played to least played, my list probably looks like this:

2e
Basic
5e
3e
4e

I started on basic but moved into 2e fairly quick, used to play both of these in high school. 5e I've played a fair bit but I'm not sure if it would be equal to the first two yet. I played 3e a bit, not as much as I would have liked and 4e I only had a few games.

 

[pming]

Hiya!

1)
5) 1st Edition. I think this is what the original Hackmaster was based off of, so I'll go with that? I ran a handful of Hackmaster sessions. They were awful, because the original Hackmaster was virtually unplayable (it was more a parody than something meant to actually be played). I heard the newer edition was actually a pretty neat game, but I never got a chance to check it out.

Whoa there, Tex! Them's fightn' wurdz!

I'd say 1st Edition AD&D / Hackmaster 4th are easily my most played game. By far. I just started a new Hackmaster 4th Edition less than 24 hours ago.

Hackmaster 4 is a double edged game. It's got a lot of parody stuff sprinkled throughout, for sure, but those bits are just part of the 'fun read'. You can take those as serious as a crit to the head...or you can take them for what they were; things to make you laugh. Some of the parody stuff I initially saw as 'silly', but after playing HM for so long now (off and on since it was produced back in, er...wow. Since 2001), some of it actually adds a lot to the game. Used "correctly", a lot of these parody-based things help lighten the mood and can be used as "comic relief" when the players need a laugh. And, on occasion, some of the rules that are seen as 'parody' are actually disguised "serious" rules.

IMHO, the tone of the game is set by the players and GM. We always played HM as an enhanced version of 1e/2e AD&D, with a side order of laughs when we needed them. The general "randomness" of a lot of the mechanics are right up my ally and have produced some memorable...er... "incidents". No other game in recent memory has as many memorable moments for me/us. From epic success...to epic failure, Hackmaster has the capability to provide that in SPADES! I'm so psyched for this new campaign! I can't wait to get hackin' again (well, I'm GM, so by that I mean walking that fine GM line between love and hate from my Players...).

PS: (btw, the "new" version of Hackmaster is the "5th"; the "3rd" edition was only played in the comic book series)

^_^

Paul L. Ming

 

[KirayaTiDrekan]

Let's see...

BECMI - I started D&D with the Mentzer "Red Box" Basic Set and continued playing it for around 5 years.
AD&D 2nd Edition - I skipped 1E and went straight to 2E from Basic. This one I played for about 4 years before taking a break from D&D to play World of Darkness and Palladium games.
D&D 3rd Edition (and 3.5) - This one probably has the most play time for me at around 8 years (pretty much its entire run).
D&D 4th Edition - By the time this rolled around, I was volunteering for and later working for WotC but I only actually played this for about 2 years altogether.
D&D 5th Edition - Counting the playtest period, I have been playing D&D 5E for nearly 7 years.

I have gone back and dabbled my toes in AD&D 1E and OD&D a few times but couldn't really enjoy them.

 

[dave2008]

1) 1e/BECMI - we didn't realize there was a difference back in the day

2) 4e

3) 5e

 

[Ath'kethin]

I only played 2e for maybe 5 years (1995-2000), but man, I played a LOT - often 3-4 times a week. So even though it was a shorter stretch of time than I played 3.X, it probably accounts for more than twice as much actual play.

Technically there was some 1e in it too; I didn't realize there was actually a difference for a long time.

 

[Tinker]

I only played 2e for maybe 5 years (1995-2000), but man, I played a LOT - often 3-4 times a week. So even though it was a shorter stretch of time than I played 3.X, it probably accounts for more than twice as much actual play.

Technically there was some 1e in it too; I didn't realize there was actually a difference for a long time.

It seemed like there was at the time, but looking back from here I count AD&D as one, with a long and sprawling evolution (something like core 1e, UA, survival guides, core 2e, complete handbooks, S&P).

Sent from my [device_name] using EN World mobile app

 

[Shiroiken]

Based on hours played:

1) 1st Edition AD&D - was a teenager, and we had lots of free time. In addition, when 2E came out, we were hesitant to switch, playing 1E for quite a bit longer.

2) 2nd Edition AD&D - played this one mostly in college. Not as much free time as a teenager, but played at least 5 hours every week, with the occasional epic 12-16 hour sessions. Came back to it for a while after 4E lost it's luster.

3) 3rd Edition D&D (including 3.5) - played this one from beginning to end of the edition, but only played every other week because we played Legend of the Five Rings on alternate weeks. This pushed it behind 2E, despite playing it for more years.

4) 5th Edition D&D (including D&D Next) - signed up for the playtest day 1, and tried to convince everyone to playtest it with me. Since the release of Ghost of Dragonspear Castle I've regularly played 4-5 Hours a week, and see no signs of stopping.

5) 4th Edition D&D - played it until Essentials came out, but mostly because I didn't like Pathfinder. I missed a lot of sessions, and due to life circumstances the sessions were usually short anyway, lasting 2-3 hours at most.

6) BECMI - played around with this back in high school, mostly one shots and mini-campaigns. Eventually incorporated aspects of it into our 1E game rather than deciding between the two.

7) Pathfinder - not really D&D per say, but others have included it. While it fixed several problems from 3E, the core mechanics of 3E were my issue. Played maybe a handful of sessions, just to give it a chance, but it wasn't for me.

I never played OD&D, but would have been willing to if I found a group.

 

[AriochQ]

BECMI - I owned both Holmes and Moldvay since I bought anything that had "D&D" on it, but we never played them. We started with AD&D and actually just made stuff up while waiting for the release of PHB and DMG. We were 11 years old, so things were pretty fast and loose rules wise.

1st Edition - Played from 1978 to 1987 and those were mostly high school and college years, so we game A LOT. We would have D&D weekends where we would play for 36 hours straight. The crazy things you can do when you are a teenager!

2nd Edition - 1987 to 1993. I don't have a clear memory of the divide between 1st and 2nd edition, we just played AD&D and used whatever books had come out. I was in a weekly campaign with a DM who eventually ended up working at TSR, so I know we must have morphed the game from 1st to 2nd edition since that campaign ran 1986-1991ish. I also ran several games, so probably averaged around 2 games/week.

3rd Edition - 2000-2002 After a break, I started playing a 3/3.5 game with some guys at a video game developer I worked at. We only played about once a week since we also played a bunch of video games lol. Life and career took over when I left that job and I took a long hiatus from D&D, mostly scratching my gaming itch with MMORPG and other video games.

4th Edition - Got remarried in 2010 and my 11 year old step-son wanted me to introduce he and his friends to D&D. Struggled through the occasional 4th edition game and I wasn't invested enough to mind the warts on 4e.

5th Edition - Truly reconnected with the hobby with the release of 5th edition. Immediately regretted selling all my original D&D stuff on ebay 10 years prior (full line of Grenadier miniatures, all TSR modules published through 1986, a autographed EGG PHB advertising poster, etc.). Been playing a lot of 5th edition, currently average at least one game a week.

In terms of the time spent playing each edition for me:
1st
2nd
5th (at current rate, this will eventually surpass 2e for time played).
3rd
4th

 

[Jer]

1st - B/X and BECMI - we didn't differentiate between these when I was younger. Easily the D&D version I played the longest because it was the version of D&D that I DMed from 1983 until 3rd edition came out.
2nd - 3e. Started running it when it came out, ran it until 4e appeared
3rd - 13th Age. Have been running it slightly longer now than the 4e campaign that I ran
4th - 4e. Ran it for a few years - it was probably my players' second favorite version of D&D, after 13th age. Honestly I'd probably still be running it for them if we hadn't found 13th Age.
5th - 5e. I only run it for the kids I'm teaching how to play D&D. I'd use BECMI, but I want them to be able to buy their own books and run their own games and it's easier to do that with material that's in print.
6th - 2e. I had a buddy who would occasionally DM 2e games and I ran a bit of Dark Sun and Ravenloft under 2e (but to be honest it was probably more "BECMI with 2e classes and races" for the most part).
7th - 1e. I played it a few times as a kid before I got the basic set (an older brother of a friend ran a campaign for us). I eventually owned the books, but could never find anyone who wanted to DM (and my preferred game for DMing was B/X or BECMI). So I never really played it much (did get a lot of use out of the modules and supplements once I converted them over to BECMI though).

 

[Gardens & Goblins]

2nd, started with and learnt from during secondary school.
3rd towards the end and through uni times.
5th since its release.

..yup, seems about right.