D&D General How Long Did You Play the Different Editions of D&D? (+)

[Charlaquin]

3.5e: 2004-2007, but pretty sparsely during that time.
4e: 2008-2012, plus a few one-off sessions between then and 2014 when 5e came out.
D&D Next 2012-2014. I jumped in on the playtest immediately, switching back and forth DMing between me and my roommate’s partner at the time so we could both get a chance to try it from both sides of the screen. Kept DMing with the final packet even after the playtest ended, right up until the release of 5e.
5e: 2014-present.

 

[Monayuris]

For me:

B/X - 1983-1988, 2012- present
AD&D 1st Ed - 1991-1993
D&D 3.5 - 2000-2005
D&D4e - 2008-2012
D&D 5E - 2014- present

 

[Lanefan]

Ignoring one-offs and convention games:

1e and our ever-evolving homebrew variant - 1982-present, unbroken
3e - 2001-2006
3.5e - 2006-2007 (or 2008?) (same campaign as the 3e one, after an on-the-fly system changeover)

Yes, those years overlap: in the 3.x period I was playing 3.x and DMing 1e.

I've played 4e and 5e at conventions and in at least one other one-ff, but that's it.

 

[Bravesteel25]

2e: 1999-2003(?)

• Intermediate School and most of Middle School. Not sure exactly when I picked up 3rd Edition, but I remember having just the D&D Adventure Game boxed set from 1999 for several years.

3e: 2003-2008

• Late Middle School and all of High School. By the time 4E was released my group was ready for something new.

4e: 2008-2010

• 4th Edition was great for the first year but began to show its flaws (flaws to us) as we played a longer campaign.

PF: 2010-2014

• We went back to the cozy familiarity of 3.X with Pathfinder, like many other D&D groups.

5e: 2014-Present

• By 2012 I was ready for a new version of D&D, as 3.X was starting to really get long in the tooth for me. Participated in the Playtest by reading and providing feedback, but was not in a position to play much as I did not have a group in college.

I'm fine playing 5E, but I do miss the optional stuff that WotC promised during the playtest to tweak the game to your tastes (low magic, high lethality, etc.). In terms of being a DM, I've moved on to learning the rules to be a Judge for Dungeon Crawl Classics. Such a great system!

 

[GuyBoy]

1976-1979: Original White Box. From age 13, mainly at school.
1980-1985: 1E. Through the end of school and during university
1985-2001: Didn’t really play much at all. Not a conscious decision to not play, but career, sport and family kind of took over all available time.
2001-2008: Got back into gaming and discovered that 2E had happened. Played that for a bit then really liked 3e and 3.5 in a new group.
2008-2014: Pathfinder. None of our group took to 4e at all. Quite enjoyed Pathfinder, at least until bloat became an issue
2014 onwards: 5e.

Love the game now, just as I did in 1976

 

[Shiroiken]

Total about 31-32 years

• 1E: 5-6 years (1990 - 1995) Final year was 1E/2E mashup as this group resisted 2E as long as possible
• BECMI: 3-6 months (1994) Didn't fit for my high school group
• 2E: 6-ish years (1995 - 2000; 2011) First year was 1E/2E mashup, but fully 2E in college and after 4E
• 3E: 7-8 years (2000 -2008) Played only 3E during the edition, despite having issues with it later
• 4E: 2-3 years (2008-2010) Looked forward to it after falling out from 3E, but didn't fit my style
• 5E: 8-9 years including Playtest (2012-present) Loving 5E, although losing interest in the direction WotC is taking it. Likely will continue to play without changes after 5.5/6 (as I did with 1E)

 

[Skayaq]

3e: 2002-2007
4e: 2009-2012 and 2018-2020
5e: 2019-present

 

[Ath-kethin]

1e/2e: 1993 - 2001
3.x: 2000-2007
4e: a handful of games in 2008-9
5e: since the NEXT playtest
D&D Rules Cyclopedia: 1994-present

I list 1e and 2e together because while I technically started with 2e, I actually didn't realize there was a difference between the two for ages and used sourcebooks and materials from both. The Player's Handbook and DMG were 2e though.

 

[DarkCrisis]

2E: About a year
3E: Full run
4E: Full run, but got into other games heavily
5E Full run up to now
1E: a couple of one shots
2E: Back to it a year now
Basic: I want to try it...

 

[schneeland]

2e: a handful of sessions (but many hours of video games based on this edition), ~1992-2001
3/3.5e: the edition I played most, ~2001-2015 (with a break in 2007, and after that it was mostly PbP)
5e: significantly less than 3e, IIRC a couple of sessions in 2016, then again a new campaign this year
0e/1e: didn't play yet, but will probably do so once the Dolmenwood books are out (will probably play with B/X, but Swords&Wizardry is an option)

I have also played Dungeon Crawl Classics a couple of times and am looking forward to play either Beyond the Wall or Whitehack. But nothing set in stone so far for the latter two.