Have you decided to change systems?

[S. Baldrick]

They'd drop your campaigns? If they enjoy your GMing and they're not already playing other 3.5e GM's games, that seems unlikely, surely?

At least some of the players would. I know that for a fact. A round a year ago, the group that I am DMing Ptolus for was running a GURPS game under another GM having switched from D&D 3.5. The other GM is rather good and he put together a very good campaign. Despite that, eventually 4 out of 8 of the players dropped out of the game. The reason why was due totally to the game system switch. Two players quit and eventually, their spouses went with them. That is why I am trying to subtlety convert them to at least trying C&C.

 

[Philotomy Jurament]

Wow, players bailing because of the system is very odd, to me. I've been running RPGs since the late 70s, and can only think of one time when players rejected a game because of the system (it was right after 2E came out -- I wanted to continue running 1E, but the players wanted 2E. I ended up running BECM, instead, which turned out to be being a really good thing.)

These days, I pretty much run whatever I want to run, and nobody seems to have a problem with that, so it's all good.

 

[Ry]

By and large, my experience is players are more likely to reject something due to genre or theme, than system. But there have been times where one player has been very stubborn about the games... but then, he's kind of a stubborn guy.

 

[francisca]

Yeah, I've ditched 3.x when behind the DM screen, in favor of 1e AD&D and B/X, RQ2, Gamma World 1e.

3.x and me just weren't a good match, and my players are more about getting together to game than the system.

I still play in a 3.5 game, and it's an unbelievable perfect storm of stuff I'd thought I'd never do:

• it's 3.x
• it's in DragonLance
• I'm playing a Wizard
• not only that, I'm taking prestige classes
• all party members are elves

Sometimes I look in the mirror and don't recognize myself anymore.

But I'm having fun with the game, because it's a good bunch of guys, the DM doesn't quote canon or railroad, and makes "common sense" decisions rather than trying to lawyerese his way through the RAW.

But I still don't like elves and prestige classes.

 

[RFisher]

Of course, these players aren't leaving the group, they're declining to play in one ongoing game, either in favor of another game or of taking a break from gaming. Perhaps the reason it's vanishingly rare in your experience is because the two are considered synonymous?

That's part of it. After all, the game (just like poker or Monopoly or Magic the Gathering) is really just an excuse to hang out with friends.

Still, I've seldom known a RPGamer to choose not to participate in an RPG because of the system. Because of the people? Sure. But, IME, different RPGs with the same group tend to not be that different.

On the other hand, I've definately known people to bow out of other kinds of games. We only play munchkin when one player isn't around because the "everybody else gang up on you" aspect bothers him. A have a friend who can't stand Kingmaker. I've never known either of them to turn down an opportunity to play an RPG, though.

At the risk of sounding three years old: BUT WHY?

I think answering the question "Why do you prefer X?" can be very difficult to answer because the answer depends upon the questioner. If I list 100 reasons that I prefer classic D&D to 3e, I may still not have hit upon one that really means anything to you.

It might be easier to list the things you don't like about oD&D & let diaglo tell you why they aren't a problem for him. If he were up to that.

Anyway, here's one of his previous attempts:

i was a wargamer before i ever played D&D. but when a friend introduced me to the idea of playing an individual character. the idea just stuck with me. i wanted to get away from the combat heavy side of wargaming. D&D to me is the perfect way to play in a world of fantasy. where dragons and magic exist. where evil is as real as good. so why OD&D? b/c it was what i played first. it was open to what i wanted to do with my game. and my friends enjoyed it.

 

[diaglo]

Sometimes I look in the mirror and don't recognize myself anymore.

i'm gonna have to see the scars from your lobotomy mang.

 

[Ashrem Bayle]

In a word: Yes

I mean, I'm still playing in a weekly(ish) D&D game, but I may never run a D&D campaign again.

About a year ago I sat down to write an extensive set of house rules that would tailor D&D more to my tastes. More realistic combat, called shots, more flexible spells, classless characters, skill based combat, etc. After about a week of work, I tossed it all away. I simply came to the conclusion that the end result simply wouldn't be D&D anymore. So why go through all the work?

I started looking around at other game systems and some lovely people on these very forums pointed me towards GURPS 4e.

I'm LOVING it. Best game system there is IMHO.

 

[MoogleEmpMog]

I'm glad I waited to respond to your other post, because I think the above statement is very telling. You are in, what I would consider anyway, a situation that is not common to most gamers. I know I am the GM in my group(unless we're playing C&C and then everyone is willing to take a turn GM'ing...guess that's another reason I like it.). The others in my group aren't interested in absorbing the amount of rules, in most rpg's, that it takes to run a game. So the unwritten compromise is I usually suggest a few systems I enjoy, along the genre I want to run, and the majority vote wins. I've never had a player decline to play, because I think for my group they trust and know that if I'm suggesting something or want to run something, I'm going to do my best to make sure they are having fun...and for us that's the point. I'm sure some players prefer certain systems to others, but for us it's a social activity for family and friends. I guess I draw a comparison to zombie movies. My boy B. Lovin(Yeah that's his real name ) ) loves em, while I'm more meh, on most. I will go see them just to hang out with him though, cause in the end it's still fun.

I suspect a lot of the difference is the SIZE of the group. The largest D&D games in my extended group routinely draw 10-15 players excluding the GM, and other systems pull in anywhere between four and fourteen. Indeed, it's normally impossible to play in all the games; someone will be running, say, Exalted on Friday night, someone else is running D&D, another group is playing Friday Night Magic competitively, and some of the players will have commitments to work/family/other friends.

You couldn't really call the group casual about gaming in general, or say it's just a social get together - most of these people play an RPG, board game or CCG at least twice a week and several play CCGs at the tournament level. On the flip side, I wouldn't say any of us put a premium on RPGs vs. other types of games, which is probably unusual for ENWorld.

 

[RFisher]

Actually, i don't quite understand when people complain about DMing 3.5. What is the hard part? (really, i'm not being sarcastic)

I don't know that I really know why I find it hard, but I'll take a guess...

Making sure that the players feel like the time spent mechanically crafting their PC was worthwhile & that their choices of feats & spending of skill points makes a difference.

 

[Mycanid]

I agree with Umbran's original post ... I have begun doing C&C. D&D isn't out the door totally as a result. Not necessarily an either/or situation, but rather a both/and.