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How Old-School is 5th Edition? Can it even do Old-School?
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<blockquote data-quote="DND_Reborn" data-source="post: 8497083" data-attributes="member: 6987520"><p>I really like [USER=86653]@overgeeked[/USER]'s summary. I think it is pretty spot on!</p><p></p><p>One thing I would like to add, which might or might not have already been expressed, and is related to this point:</p><p></p><p>(bold added)</p><p></p><p>IME, old-school games were about <em>THE ADVENTURE</em>, not the PCs. Now, 5E seems (IMO) to revolve too much around the characters, what stuff they can get, etc., in other words, "how cool they are." Because advancement was (generally) slower in than in 5E, when you finally did level it was great, but often you might have just gotten more hit points and little, if anything, else. In 5E, PCs are virtually guaranteed to get <em>something cool</em> each and every level. It seems to shift the focus to leveling up the PC instead of enjoying the adventure. <img class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" alt="🤷♂️" title="Man shrugging :man_shrugging:" src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f937-2642.png" data-shortname=":man_shrugging:" /></p><p></p><p>That's just my take on it.</p><p></p><p>EDIT: Something I thought of that I would like to add, but <em>PLEASE</em> don't take this as an invite to an edition war or anything, just an observation:</p><p></p><p>In AD&D, the PHB was a scant 128 pages. The DMG was 239 pages. And if you want to include Unearthed Arcana, you add roughly 72 pages of player content, and 56 pages of DM material. So, total is 200 pages for players and 295 for DMs. About a 40/60 split almost. The DM has about 50% more content.</p><p></p><p>By comparison, for 5E, the PHB is 317 pages and the DMG is 320 (much of which is really fluff IMO...). Adding XGtE, and players get another 101 pages and the DM 91. So, over all its about 418 pages for players and 411 for DMs. Roughly even.</p><p></p><p>Just something to consider. Draw your own (if any) conclusions.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="DND_Reborn, post: 8497083, member: 6987520"] I really like [USER=86653]@overgeeked[/USER]'s summary. I think it is pretty spot on! One thing I would like to add, which might or might not have already been expressed, and is related to this point: (bold added) IME, old-school games were about [I]THE ADVENTURE[/I], not the PCs. Now, 5E seems (IMO) to revolve too much around the characters, what stuff they can get, etc., in other words, "how cool they are." Because advancement was (generally) slower in than in 5E, when you finally did level it was great, but often you might have just gotten more hit points and little, if anything, else. In 5E, PCs are virtually guaranteed to get [I]something cool[/I] each and every level. It seems to shift the focus to leveling up the PC instead of enjoying the adventure. 🤷♂️ That's just my take on it. EDIT: Something I thought of that I would like to add, but [I]PLEASE[/I] don't take this as an invite to an edition war or anything, just an observation: In AD&D, the PHB was a scant 128 pages. The DMG was 239 pages. And if you want to include Unearthed Arcana, you add roughly 72 pages of player content, and 56 pages of DM material. So, total is 200 pages for players and 295 for DMs. About a 40/60 split almost. The DM has about 50% more content. By comparison, for 5E, the PHB is 317 pages and the DMG is 320 (much of which is really fluff IMO...). Adding XGtE, and players get another 101 pages and the DM 91. So, over all its about 418 pages for players and 411 for DMs. Roughly even. Just something to consider. Draw your own (if any) conclusions. [/QUOTE]
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How Old-School is 5th Edition? Can it even do Old-School?
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