I love D&D.....but.

[Ilbranteloth]

This is hard to write. I may have to break up with D&D. Maybe I don't love it anymore. Perhaps I never loved it. I think this because every time I think of the rules, they bother me. Like initiative, I use it but what choice do I have? Six second rounds eww. High level world changing spells and multiple planes of existence aren't my cup of tea and never were.

The rules for each edition were slightly/heavily modified rules taken from a previous game. Sometimes they were easier to use or understand, sometimes not. As a result, they are simulacra or perhaps more accurately an eidolon. (See what I did there?) I feel like today's D&D is a bit like heavily processed food. After a while I kinda crave something a little less processed. If they built a game from scratch to simulate(?) fantasy heroism(adventuring) I doubt it would resemble D&D. I understand why WotC wouldn't do that though. I will definitely still play, because people play it, also I can and do still love the following.

Swords and armor
Magic and Fantasy
Heroism and adventuring
Pretending
Dice
Solving puzzles and riddles
Scenarios
Miniatures
Worldbuilding
Monsters and characters from the various fantasy creators especially ones from or adjacent to D&D.

And I can find all of that in D&D and I haven't found or made a replacement.

So I am right back where I started.

Am I alone in this sentiment? Is this a symptom of being a player of rpgs? Is there a cure? Must I endure this sense of wrongness? Should I seek professioal help?

I end up tweaking the rules heavily over time to fit out old-schooling sort of AD&Dish approach while taking what we like from the new mechanics. It’s come to the point where it is quite different and yet oddly still feels like D&D and even 5e. We don’t use initiative or 6 second rounds, movement is constant and not part of your turn, and combat itself is not our focus. Although the system supports exciting duels a la movies. Combat and adventuring is gritty and dangerous, but the majority of the rules can be summed up in a few core mechanics. The campaign focus is exploration.

One of these days I’ll have it finished enough to put on DM Guild, but if you don’t mind a work-in-progress PHB replacement I’m happy to share.

Oh, if it’s not obvious, I’m from the good old days where Dragon was full of alternate ideas and rules, and home brew wasn’t just an option but seemingly expected.

 

[Afrodyte]

[MENTION=5100]Mercule[/MENTION]

Been thinking about this for a couple of days, and I think I should offer some real examples about what I mean when I talk about thinking conceptually.

Here's a sample of how you can do the work of "translating" D&D magic to Fate without having to create separate skills or stunts for every spell.

ASPECTS
To be able to use magic, a PC needs an aspect that describes the nature of that magic. Some examples:

• Magic in My Blood
• Sorcerer's Apprentice
• Chosen by the Sun Goddess
• The Archfiend Grants Me Power
• When I Play Music, The World Listens

STUNTS
Because magic is so potent, it's a good idea to link magic stunts are linked to the appropriate Aspect and require invoking that Aspect to limit how often it gets used. Some examples:

Healing Touch. Because you are Chosen by the Sun Goddess, once per scene, you can make an Empathy roll to reduce the severity of a consequence for another character by one level. For each additional level of consequence you wish to reduce during each scene, you must spend a Fate point.

Arcane Ritual. When you invoke Sorcerer's Apprentice, you can use Lore instead of Will to create an advantage or overcome an obstacle with magic for that scene.

Inspiration. When you invoke When I Play Music, The World Listens, you can grant an ally a +2 bonus to overcome an obstacle.

War Mage. When you invoke [Aspect], you can use Will to attack and defend using magic for that scene.

Hocus Pocus. When you invoke [Aspect], you can use Will to use magic to create an advantage or overcome an obstacles for that scene.