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

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Where, exactly, do you think those videogames got their ideas for classes, levels and hit points from?

Keep reading my post, then you'll know what I believe. The answer might surprise you!

 

[AlViking]

Keep reading my post, then you'll know what I believe. The answer might surprise you!

You said it felt like a video game because of classes, levels, hit points. As far as Vancian casting, that has more to do with Vance's work and the idea that wizards were basically artillery, a hold-over from the wargames D&D grew out of. I'm not saying you're wrong, I'm saying you put the cart before the horse. If felt like a video game to you because many video games take many of their ideas from D&D. D&D has, of course gone full circle and borrowed some ideas from video games as well.

Whether Shadowrun was more "advanced" than D&D is subject to opinion, I would say they just took a different approach. Much like some games have talent trees, others rely on gear for advancement, others remain committed to the idea of class levels being a big part of how characters grow. Meanwhile, as much as it is derided, hit points of some sort (sometimes split between regenerative armor and physical damage) are pretty ubiquitous to video* games that are combat oriented. Meanwhile I don't remember an FPS that didn't have some kind of healing potion by another name.

It was just an observation of the ongoing evolution of games of all sorts, not a criticism.

*EDIT - added clarification.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

It was just an observation of the ongoing evolution of games of all sorts, not a criticism.

*EDIT - added clarification.

Yeah, but it was an observation that I also made in the post you quoted, so I suspected that you might not have completed reading it.

Obviously, I went a long way from there, and grew to like (and then hate again) D&D 3E and D&D, and my thoughts on this have become more... complex, so to speak. But it is fun, and I think it's not an accident that people not immediately in love with any edition of D&D make video game comparisions - even though we also know the truth is probably that those video games simarilities exist because those video games were inspired by D&D originally...

 

[GrimCo]

It wasn't until many years later the cracks in the system began to show up.

Tasha's was pivotal point. But core 5e (PHB, DMG, MM) has nice blend of TSR era simplicity and WotC era class options. Specially with feats and MC being optional rules, not standard. Playing PHB only style 5e can be very simple and streamlined experience. 5,5 on the other hand is again going to more complex and codified system (not 3.5 level, but close).

 

[Autumnal]

The “probably” part goes away if you check the names of TSR (and other) early RPG creators and the names of early computer gam designers. They’re…not exactly the same, but close. It’s not at all exaggerating to say that a bunch of the folks who left the tabletop biz continued to write RPGs as they had, just in a new medium, adapting as they had to do its constraints.