D&D 5E How has your gaming style evolved over the years?
- Thread starter Sacrosanct
- Start date
Depends on the system, I use to be a very story first type of guy during 3e days, but Pathfinder and 4e taught me to respect the RAW, and I have taken that into 5e.
Fun first, which for me is rules being a close second, then story and all that BS.
So back in the 80's we played 1e and didn't understand/read/use a majority of the rules and had a blast because we were kids, 90's were more about White Wolf and heavy focus on story but still min/maxed the crap out of the dot system, then came 3e and a return to D&D tried to recapture the old don't care about the rules but with forums, optimization builds, and such the dawn of RAW is KING was born and it has slowely gained momentum over time.
l loved 4e except, well it was a bit too much mini tactics game but only a smidge, loved 4e essentials for trying to fix that a bit, 5e is great because it brings back what 4e was missing but the baby got thrown out with the bath water and I want a return to more codified rules when they do 6e.
Yes the signature quote on my profile here is from back in the 3e days when I was fighting against the RAW, but now I have embraced it, and when I get into rules discussions the irony of it seems to infuriate some which brings a smile to my face, as does remembering when I was the DM that did think that way.
Fun first, which for me is rules being a close second, then story and all that BS.
So back in the 80's we played 1e and didn't understand/read/use a majority of the rules and had a blast because we were kids, 90's were more about White Wolf and heavy focus on story but still min/maxed the crap out of the dot system, then came 3e and a return to D&D tried to recapture the old don't care about the rules but with forums, optimization builds, and such the dawn of RAW is KING was born and it has slowely gained momentum over time.
l loved 4e except, well it was a bit too much mini tactics game but only a smidge, loved 4e essentials for trying to fix that a bit, 5e is great because it brings back what 4e was missing but the baby got thrown out with the bath water and I want a return to more codified rules when they do 6e.
Yes the signature quote on my profile here is from back in the 3e days when I was fighting against the RAW, but now I have embraced it, and when I get into rules discussions the irony of it seems to infuriate some which brings a smile to my face, as does remembering when I was the DM that did think that way.
ccs
41st lv DM
As a DM I don't think I've changed my style all that much. I've gotten much better at it though.
My games are still largely all about fighting monsters & finding loot. Especially magic items.
I've just gotten better at weaving stories around those things....
PC deaths - my games have always featured a high mortality rate. This won't change because I allow the dice to lie as they roll. Afterall, if we're rolling dice to determine success/failure it'd be defeating the purpose to fudge them to yield a certain outcome. If I wanted a specific outcome, then that's what would've happened & there'd be no dice rolling.
This has led to many a surprise ending.
RAW - long long ago I took the advice in the forwards of my Basic & then 1e books to heart. It was recommended that I change rules as needed. Know the printed rules & how they work, but change things if that'll add to the game.
We've tried a lot of stuff over the years. I'm much better at tinkering with it/just eyeballing it than I was.
Improved RP of NPCs & descriptions.
Miniatures. I LOVE miniatures. Including those made for D&D. I'm very much a miniature war-gamer. Many genres, & tons of $ invested. But I DON'T like my D&D/RPGs to descend into evenings of minis combats. If I wanted that I'd be playing Warhammer, Bolt Action, X-Wing, WWII, Battle-Tech, Drop Zone, Heroclix, or any # of other skirmish based games.
So even though my games feature a lot of monster killing, you won't see many minis in use. And even less tactical play with a grid.
Rules (and to some degree setting) - this is where I've changed both as DM & player. I used to love more & more rules/setting (90's-about 2005, numerous RPGs & minis games). But I've been doing this a long time. Somewhere along the line I've just grown tired of reading rule books. Especially books that cover the same topics (for ex; there's ALOT of WWII rule sets out there.)
I mean I like PF/Paizo well enough, but not enough to give a damn what's in 1/2 their books.
So 5e not pumping out more books? That's fine.
As a player: I make/play much better characters than before. Not necessarily from a rules optimization PoV, though I can do that as well.
My games are still largely all about fighting monsters & finding loot. Especially magic items.
I've just gotten better at weaving stories around those things....
PC deaths - my games have always featured a high mortality rate. This won't change because I allow the dice to lie as they roll. Afterall, if we're rolling dice to determine success/failure it'd be defeating the purpose to fudge them to yield a certain outcome. If I wanted a specific outcome, then that's what would've happened & there'd be no dice rolling.
This has led to many a surprise ending.
RAW - long long ago I took the advice in the forwards of my Basic & then 1e books to heart. It was recommended that I change rules as needed. Know the printed rules & how they work, but change things if that'll add to the game.
We've tried a lot of stuff over the years. I'm much better at tinkering with it/just eyeballing it than I was.
Improved RP of NPCs & descriptions.
Miniatures. I LOVE miniatures. Including those made for D&D. I'm very much a miniature war-gamer. Many genres, & tons of $ invested. But I DON'T like my D&D/RPGs to descend into evenings of minis combats. If I wanted that I'd be playing Warhammer, Bolt Action, X-Wing, WWII, Battle-Tech, Drop Zone, Heroclix, or any # of other skirmish based games.
So even though my games feature a lot of monster killing, you won't see many minis in use. And even less tactical play with a grid.
Rules (and to some degree setting) - this is where I've changed both as DM & player. I used to love more & more rules/setting (90's-about 2005, numerous RPGs & minis games). But I've been doing this a long time. Somewhere along the line I've just grown tired of reading rule books. Especially books that cover the same topics (for ex; there's ALOT of WWII rule sets out there.)
I mean I like PF/Paizo well enough, but not enough to give a damn what's in 1/2 their books.
So 5e not pumping out more books? That's fine.
As a player: I make/play much better characters than before. Not necessarily from a rules optimization PoV, though I can do that as well.
Azurewraith
Explorer
Started in 3.5e (i know my beard is short) oped the living daylights out of it then moved on to 4e and once again oped it into a coma. As a DM i ran very combat heavy games with only small inklings of story and it was great, my monsters were all sun tzu and my goal was to kill the PCS.
5e hit im less of an Op guy now a concept Oper, i will pick a concept and make it the best character it can be. As a DM im now much more story driven, my monsters run in fear eat OA attacks and fall to bits unless they have strong leadership there also no longer out to get the PCS if a pc dies well they died but i wasn't trying! i have also moved on from zero to hero in 1 week to zero to those guys that can handle dire rat issues to hey they protected a caravan etc
5e hit im less of an Op guy now a concept Oper, i will pick a concept and make it the best character it can be. As a DM im now much more story driven, my monsters run in fear eat OA attacks and fall to bits unless they have strong leadership there also no longer out to get the PCS if a pc dies well they died but i wasn't trying! i have also moved on from zero to hero in 1 week to zero to those guys that can handle dire rat issues to hey they protected a caravan etc
I find I'm less competitive now. I used to push to be the top dog in the game with the most powerful character. I no longer worry about it. I'm content to simply be one of the powerful heroes in the adventure.
I micromanage the game less. I worry less about tracking everyone's statistics, magic items, and abilities to maintain some semblance of balance. I let the players have fun playing their concepts. I'm more relaxed about the rules. If a rule is missed, I don't worry about it. I try to make to sure it is followed next time rather than try to ensure every rule is followed to the point I'm breaking out the books during the game. I prefer to keep the game flow going.
I find I'm more focused on role-playing at this point. The mechanical challenge is no longer particularly interesting. It's so easy as a DM or player to game the mechanics that I find doing so leads to boring play and outcomes. I'd rather focus on the interactions and role-playing scenarios that force players to develop their character's personalities as well as their mechanical powers.
I micromanage the game less. I worry less about tracking everyone's statistics, magic items, and abilities to maintain some semblance of balance. I let the players have fun playing their concepts. I'm more relaxed about the rules. If a rule is missed, I don't worry about it. I try to make to sure it is followed next time rather than try to ensure every rule is followed to the point I'm breaking out the books during the game. I prefer to keep the game flow going.
I find I'm more focused on role-playing at this point. The mechanical challenge is no longer particularly interesting. It's so easy as a DM or player to game the mechanics that I find doing so leads to boring play and outcomes. I'd rather focus on the interactions and role-playing scenarios that force players to develop their character's personalities as well as their mechanical powers.
AaronOfBarbaria
Adventurer
I started out in the mid '90s with the black cover AD&D 2nd edition books, and ran as close to the advice in the book as I felt was fair (basically following every bit of advice besides the "go ahead and cheat because you are the DM" bit) and not using any of the optional rules.
The next game I moved into, and each game after that, added something to my style or refined something.
Shadowrun's karma pool taught me to relax on the issue of PC death; give the player a resource they can elect to use to stay alive/come back from the dead, and it doesn't matter how deadly the challenges they face become.
3rd edition got in me in a trend of figuring out when and how to ignore and alter the book (there were a lot of rules changes relative to AD&D that just struck me as terrible ideas, and since that was the version of the game my players wanted to play, I had to adjust to make it bearable for me).
Then I got into the World of Darkness, Deadlands, and Call of Cthulhu and learned how to evoke feelings of genre other than pure action.
The overall trend is that as I have mastered more systems and run more campaigns, I've moved towards the process of putting the group's fun above everything else, so I'm loose with the rules (i.e. my ability score generation rules are "get scores you want to play, I don't care how you decide them") and focus more on the game aspect than any of the other aspects, while letting the players as a group determine as much of what is going on as is possible (i.e. I am more likely to have a loose outline of a campaign or no prep at all, and fill in the details at the table by improvising with the players, reacting rather than designing/planning).
The next game I moved into, and each game after that, added something to my style or refined something.
Shadowrun's karma pool taught me to relax on the issue of PC death; give the player a resource they can elect to use to stay alive/come back from the dead, and it doesn't matter how deadly the challenges they face become.
3rd edition got in me in a trend of figuring out when and how to ignore and alter the book (there were a lot of rules changes relative to AD&D that just struck me as terrible ideas, and since that was the version of the game my players wanted to play, I had to adjust to make it bearable for me).
Then I got into the World of Darkness, Deadlands, and Call of Cthulhu and learned how to evoke feelings of genre other than pure action.
The overall trend is that as I have mastered more systems and run more campaigns, I've moved towards the process of putting the group's fun above everything else, so I'm loose with the rules (i.e. my ability score generation rules are "get scores you want to play, I don't care how you decide them") and focus more on the game aspect than any of the other aspects, while letting the players as a group determine as much of what is going on as is possible (i.e. I am more likely to have a loose outline of a campaign or no prep at all, and fill in the details at the table by improvising with the players, reacting rather than designing/planning).
Iosue
Legend
Back in the day, it was all theater of the mind. It wasn't that I disdained miniatures, but back then being into miniatures meant buying lead, unpainted minis, and then painting them yourself. I simply didn't have the time, money, or inclination to get into them. And even if I had minis, I was never sure how to use them in play.
Experience with 4e made me much more confident playing with a map and minis, and the existence of pogs mean I don't have to try and maintain a big collection of them. Further, I play with my old group via Roll20, so having a map and tokens is a given. Conceivable we could just do theater of the mind via video chat, but it's just not quite the same.
I'm also more amenable to letting players interact with the game via the rules, rather than just telling me what they are doing. I tried running a B/X game in the old style, encouraging players to just declare their actions, and I would say whether they succeeded, failed, or needed to roll dice. I found that even if I did that, they tended to couch everything in "can I?" questions, and if I happened to use a houseruled mechanic, they'd ride it for all it was worth. I still prefer the older style, but I roll with it depending on the player. 5e just feels particularly good for this, since it's light enough that wing it with a clear conscience, but there's enough player-side mechanical meat that players who want that structure can have it.
One way I've changed is I'm much more amenable to random results. Back in the day, I often ignored random rolls because they didn't "make sense", eventually doing away with them altogether. Now I see unusual random results as opportunities.
Experience with 4e made me much more confident playing with a map and minis, and the existence of pogs mean I don't have to try and maintain a big collection of them. Further, I play with my old group via Roll20, so having a map and tokens is a given. Conceivable we could just do theater of the mind via video chat, but it's just not quite the same.
I'm also more amenable to letting players interact with the game via the rules, rather than just telling me what they are doing. I tried running a B/X game in the old style, encouraging players to just declare their actions, and I would say whether they succeeded, failed, or needed to roll dice. I found that even if I did that, they tended to couch everything in "can I?" questions, and if I happened to use a houseruled mechanic, they'd ride it for all it was worth. I still prefer the older style, but I roll with it depending on the player. 5e just feels particularly good for this, since it's light enough that wing it with a clear conscience, but there's enough player-side mechanical meat that players who want that structure can have it.
One way I've changed is I'm much more amenable to random results. Back in the day, I often ignored random rolls because they didn't "make sense", eventually doing away with them altogether. Now I see unusual random results as opportunities.
SmokingSkull
First Post
For me I started back in 3E though I didn't play that much until many years later when 3.5 became a thing. Back then I was a concept driven power gamer, still am now though I've relaxed a good bit on that. I didn't used to enjoy the RP aspect of it and was more into killing stuff and taking loot, now I absolutely love to RP (I still like to kick ass and loot though not as much as I used to). Still not big into social interaction though I think I'm warming up to the idea a little. I am definitely a guy who enjoys consistency in my games, I don't mind if the rules are fast and loose just don't change 'em (Unless fun is the goal, then I relent).
I can say I've definitely changed a bit over the years.
I can say I've definitely changed a bit over the years.
Started way back in the day as while a mixture of D&D and AD&D 1e played that with a little mixture of Marvel Super Heros when it came out and Star Frontiers (TSR Hobbies space foray still have a copy). In College played some off and on a little 2e mainly 1e but a bit off both. Long long gap like 20 years. Teen son finds my old books gets a group together we buy a 3.5 book and some pdf's I found I start to run a campaign for them soon after 5e is coming out so we make the jump Glad because 3.5 was as much of a pain in the arse as the old 1e days with all the charts and tables and 30 minutes determining a hit lucky for me I did not use squares etc on 3.5 I stuck to the old way from the old days.
Funny thing is that seed has exploded from my son getting a group of friends together that love it and now they have a school club that boast enough players to split into two group he is part of it funny thing is my son is a jock football/trak almost Eagle Scout and has several football guys playing now.
Funny thing is that seed has exploded from my son getting a group of friends together that love it and now they have a school club that boast enough players to split into two group he is part of it funny thing is my son is a jock football/trak almost Eagle Scout and has several football guys playing now.
Ralif Redhammer
Legend
As a kid, things were definitely loose and ad-hoc, with adventures being made up on the fly when they weren’t dungeon crawls. Then I got much more scripted, with extensive notes. Now I am more of a mix, in that I have my adventures planned out mostly, but I call on that improv element to provide greater freedom to the PCs.
One thing that’s changed is my relationship with modules. I used to hate them (in no small part because I just wasn’t good at running them). In recent years, I’ve really made the effort to do them justice, and have come to enjoy running them quite a bit.
One thing that’s changed is my relationship with modules. I used to hate them (in no small part because I just wasn’t good at running them). In recent years, I’ve really made the effort to do them justice, and have come to enjoy running them quite a bit.
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