How happy are you with your regular ruleset?

[Dumnbunny]

I have a few regular rulesets:

• RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha: RuneQuest 2e was my favourite system back in the day, and I still have a great deal of fondness for it. So I was very excited when I heard Chaosium was going back to 2e and building from there to create the newest edition of the game. The end result scratches every RuneQuest itch I have, while introducing new systems (like the rune ratings borrowed from Pendragon, another amazing system).
• Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG: I don't think I've ever had more fun running a game as I do running this one. It's also a blast to play. Whenever I've run demos at the LGS, I've always had a full table. The system is also infinitely hackable, as evidenced by the vast array of 3PP products.
• 2d20: I backed the 2d20 Conan Kickstarter for PDFs only. It was my first introduction to 2d20, and while I've been a serious Conan aficionado since about 1980, I wasn't completely sold on this game, and going all it was expensive. On a whim I snagged a copy of the core book from the LGS (I like to occasionally make a purchase when I use a store's tables for gaming), and loved what I saw. So much so I contacted Modiphius and asked if I could pay to upgrade my backing level to get the physical books. Since then I've also picked up 2d20 John Carter of Mars and Dune, and just loved them.

I should probably add the main reason why I voted Very Satisfied. In fact it's almost backwards to say that I'm very satisfied with my regular ruleset(s). It would be more accurate to say that my regular ruleset(s) will only ever include systems with which I am very satisfied. I'm way too old to be wasting time running (or even playing, but especially running) games that don't excite me! So I don't. Simple as.

 

[Jadeite]

My only regular game is currently Pathfinder 2, but I'm really happy with it. Yes, losing iconic monsters hurts somewhat, but Pathfinder has been around for 15 years and created a menacing menagerie of its own.

 

[Distracted DM]

Somewhat Satisfied.

EN's Level Up A5e is great- for the Monstrous Menagerie and Trials & Treasures. And their dungeon delves book.

I like most of the Adventurers Guide as well! Except the origins and some of the classes/features result in much more powerful characters than you'd get from 5e- some of them brokenly so.

The good news is that a lot of these things are easy to house-ruled fixes for! The bad news is that one of the reasons I picked up A5e in the first place was to get away from the IMO bad design decisions made further into 5e's lifecycle... Having to house-rule A5e's classes and maneuvers etc. sort of defeats the purpose.

I could probably pick and choose from 5e and A5e's classes to make the "perfect" 5e experience for my table... But until then, I guess I have to stick to fixing issues as we find them. It's better than 5e.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I've been playing Level Up with light to moderate additions and modifications since it came out, and continue to be satisfied.

 

[Corinnguard]

I voted somewhat satisfied for 5e. It will be about three years next month since I started roleplaying in it with my friends.

 

[GrimCo]

Satisfied. 5e D&D is my main system and it does what it should do, plus it meshes well with play style i like. It would be higher, but i needed to do some solid house ruling for my DMing style.

 

[R_J_K75]

I chose "Somewhat Unsatisfied". I chose this because I think its the average of the games my group and I have played since 2015.

5E D&D - When it first came out and I read it I thought in theory it was a good, streamlined improvement on the d20 System, but as the years went on (starting around 2019) I became less satisfied. By 2021 I became "Very Unsatisfied" and stopped playing it and buying any products for it completely. Me and my players all read what we needed to play and DM when we needed to, but I felt the game was weighted too heavily in the players favor with class abilities, short and long rests, and the death saving throw mechanics, among other things. For 5Es simplicity it certainly can be pretty convoluted at times trying to piece together all the rules needed to resolve a particular situation; too much page flipping and referencing for my tastes. Creating adventures for a few sessions just seemed like more work than it should be to be fun, rewarding and challenging. I am disappointed that the 2024 releases will only be a 5E update and not a new edition, but I hope that maybe it will clean up enough to bring me back but I'm not optimistic. As things stand now I have absolutely no interest in playing D&D in any edition, which is too bad as I've always considered myself primarily a D&D player when it came to TTRPGs.

Modern AGE - "Somewhat Satisfied" with this one. We started playing this a year ago. It was fun but had some short comings and was a little too different from what we were used to for us to get a good grasp on it. I'm sure if we played it more and continue to play it more the games would run smoother. So, some blame lies on the games design and some on us to invest more time learning and playing it.

Shadowdark - "Somewhat Unsatisfied". This is another one that I liked after reading in theory and it did streamline the basic 5E system and added some interesting innovations. It still felt like 5E to me, but I only played it so my opinion might be different had I DM'd it. One thing I noticed was that the DM and the players wanted to cling to the 5E mindset and rules and forgot some of the things that separated Shadowdark from 5E. I wanted a rules light system, but this was a little too light for me, although I will say the writing was very clear and concise.

Our group is on hiatus for a bit, kind of in limbo at the moment but I have a few new games I want to try, but I have to get in gear and do some reading and prep to do so, but with summer coming Fall seems like a good estimate when this will happen.

 

[Wofano Wotanto]

Satisfied. 5e D&D is my main system and it does what it should do, plus it meshes well with play style i like. It would be higher, but i needed to do some solid house ruling for my DMing style.

It's nice when a system fits your style like perfectly, but honestly I don't think I've ever run into that except as a Platonic ideal. I might even be slightly less satisfied with a game where I didn't feel the need to tinker a bit. It would be as though something were missing, and I'd be on tenterhooks waiting for some terrible flaw to rear its ugly head.

 

[Corinnguard]

When I was trying to decide how to rate how happy with the ruleset used by my group, I wasn't sure about whether I was Somewhat Satisfied or Satisfied. Like I mentioned above, it's been almost three years since I started role-playing in 5e with my friends. At the same time, however, I have backed and have been collecting some Level Up books. I have yet to role-play in Level Up. What I have seen of Level Up though was enough to make me select Somewhat Satisfied with 5e.

This poll ought to be redone in a couple of years, just to see how everyone feels about role-playing in D&D2024.

 

[GrimCo]

It's nice when a system fits your style like perfectly, but honestly I don't think I've ever run into that except as a Platonic ideal. I might even be slightly less satisfied with a game where I didn't feel the need to tinker a bit. It would be as though something were missing, and I'd be on tenterhooks waiting for some terrible flaw to rear its ugly head.

It's not perfect, but it's good enough and things i want from system, it delivers out of box. Only thing it lacks is options for grimer and deadlier game, but that i can do with some easy tweaks. And to be honest, d&d, no matter what edition, isn't my favourite system.