D&D General Explain 5(.5)e to me

[Stormonu]

In my "What I would do differently" doc. from the last 5e campaign I ran (like two years ago), I have "players must narrate bonus actions" as a (future) house rule.

5E (I'm not quite sure about 5.5) had a lot of encouraging to come up with your own description of how a certain ability worked or looked.

For example, I could easily imagine playing a 5E Barbarian who is a sword rake duelist. His "Rage" wouldn't be a Conan-like battlecry of gusto, but instead a flurry of slashes, thrusts [giving the extra damage and hit bonus] and parries [giving him the damage reduction] (think of the dueling scene in James Bond Die Another Day).

 

[GothmogIV]

And that is literally a dad telling his kid what's wrong with music today.

And, more importantly, it's what your dad thought about your music.

There's no getting round it. There's no secret hidden answer which makes you different to the other 2 billion dads on the planet. You don't like the music kids listen to today. Breaking news at 11!

If you're hoping to find some other hidden insight in this thread, I suspect you're out of luck. Because, like I said before, it's not the game. It's you.

I am actually finding much to consider in the thoughts of those who love this version of the game. So, I guess it's just regular insights, not hidden ones.

 

[Stormonu]

I am actually finding much to consider in the thoughts of those who love this version of the game. So, I guess it's just regular insights, not hidden ones.

I think with as many games, getting the right group who is positively invested makes a huge difference in attitude. Bad attitudes often come with poor play experiences.

One of the things about 5E that really made me happy was that I was able to play with my parents (who were in their 70's), me and my wife (~45 at the time), my brother and his wife (~42 at the time) and our own kids (who were about 15 when 5E first came out) all playing together at the same table and having a great time with it.

 

[DrJawaPhD]

That's interesting. I used that analogy because--in my observation--you just press a button (or some combination of buttons) in a modern video game and you get an effect of some kind for your character. With some of the class bonus actions I've seen--rage, second wind, for example--there is no narrative component. You simply say "I am raging" and get an effect. Those kinds of powers didn't exist in older versions of the game.

I get what you mean here and I agree that 5e is much more "video-gamey" than previous editions. You can clearly see the influence of MMORPGs like World of Warcraft in the way modern DnD is played. It's also still totally a TTRPG and so on the surface level it's absolutely nothing like a video game, even if certain aspects do bear a resemblance. Both sides here are 100% correct depending on what they mean by "like a video game"

One trend I've observed is that the old school nitty-gritty survival realism TTRPG style is still really popular in video games, which handle all the bookkeeping details so much better (easier) than pen/paper. So you're seeing that TTRPG style slowly die out among new players who don't have the nostalgia motivating them to play DnD this way. But where TTRPGs absolutely blow video games away is in the "I can do anything I can imagine" collaborative storytelling aspect, which is why you see modern DnD moving so strongly in that direction. Just look at how Baldur's Gate 3 was widely touted as the best video game of all time for the complexity of how many options the player has in front of them, and yet that's just a tiny fraction of what you could do at a standard DnD table.

 

[jayoungr]

I agree that 5e is much more "video-gamey" than previous editions. You can clearly see the influence of MMORPGs like World of Warcraft in the way modern DnD is played.

What makes you say this? I actually think it is less that way than any of the other previous WotC editions.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

One trend I've observed is that the old school nitty-gritty survival realism TTRPG style is still really popular in video games, which handle all the bookkeeping details so much better (easier) than pen/paper.

Darkest Dungeon, which is a real love letter to grimy old school dungeon crawling, would be a real pain in the ass to try to perfectly replicate at the table. I don't want to track all of those states for each character and how long it takes for them to recover, etc. (It's almost overwhelming in the game, where it's all automated.)

 

[billd91]

Another whose been playing since forever (Holmes Basic was my first) who really enjoys 5E. It feels like it has the right level of mechanics and story of all the different flavors of D&D I've done over the years. I'm not slavenly devoted to it though, it does have its warts - but it's easy enough to replace or change out those flaws where they appear.

I think my general path is similar. I started with Holmes as well, went quickly to 1e AD&D and moved up through the versions, side tracked to Pathfinder during 4e's run since it didn't sit well with me, and am thoroughly enjoying 5e.

For my money, 5e is more akin to AD&D's feel than any of the prior WotC versions of D&D - mainly because they reduced the emphasis on magic item crafting/buying/selling and returned more of the items to AD&D-style terms and effects. And that's been adding to my enjoyment of the edition as well.

 

[Charlaquin]

This is not a troll post. I am asking legitimately out of curiosity, and maybe a bit of wistfulness: why is 5e (and the newest iteration, 2024...5.5e) fun?
Background: the other day I looked on D&D Beyond and saw their new(ish) map feature. Since I play online with my friends pretty much exclusively, I was impressed to see how workable the VTT is. The map. The tokens. The turn order. The encounter builder. It's all just done for the GM and players. So freaking cool.
But: my crew and I, a bunch of grogs in our 50s, played 5e a few times and didn't find it to our liking. Characters were too powerful too quickly, the action economy is... let's say busy (readied action, action, bonus action, reaction), and the character options just an endless parade of race, subrace, class, subclass, with an inexhaustible list of mechanical stuff PCs could do just by rolling a die (vs. role playing, or having to think about what they wanted to do). It all felt like a video game to us.
But, people love it. Just love it. So my question is...why? What is it about this particular rule set and edition that makes it so fun? Is it because this is the only edition many people have played, and don't know any of the old ways? Or is it because so many people play video games, and 5e is sort of analogous?
I love Dungeons&Dragons as a concept, and I have since I was 11 years old (a very long time ago!) I feel like I am missing out on something because I am either too set in my ways, or missing some critical concept(s) in 5e. Help a brother out, friends.
And to reiterate: NOT looking to fight, or explain to anyone "why I am right." Just help me see it through the eyes of those who love it.
Because I want to love it, too.

This probably isn’t what you want to hear, but… the things you dislike about it are exactly what make it so popular. Most people who want to play D&D like having characters that grow powerful quickly. They like having a lot of things they can do each turn. They like having a lot of classes, subclasses, races, and backgrounds to choose from. And they like having lots of mechanical stuff their characters can do just by rolling dice. Maybe it feels like a video game to you, but, uh… video games are incredibly popular.

I wouldn’t worry about trying to understand 5e. The general 5e player base’s tastes are just diametrically opposed to yours. And that’s ok! Enjoy the games you enjoy, don’t worry about whatever nonsense the kids are into these days.

 

[GothmogIV]

It's all good. Different doesn't mean worse, or bad. It's just... different.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

It's all good. Different doesn't mean worse, or bad. It's just... different.

Obligatory comment about how we are in a golden age of old school gaming, with tons of systems, settings and so. many. adventures.