If I were a grognard....

[Storm Raven]

I rejected 2E as well. No big deal. I still played 1E, and a bunch of Palladium, and a bit of this and that. Even played a few sessions of 2E because a friend asked me to.

Yeah, that was mostly my experience with 2e too. Except that I played mostly Traveller, GURPS, and Rolemaster/Spacemaster instead of Palladium.

 

[Tewligan]

It isn't like moving to California and leaving all your friends behind, or anything.

Heh, that's exactly what I did a few years ago, actually! That'll teach my group to change editions on me...

 

[jdrakeh]

I agree with Crothian; we're talking about a fun game, not a lifestyle choice here.

For most people. There are some people who identify themselves by what RPGs they play, much as others identify themselves by religious creed, political party affiliations, or sexual identity. There are people for whom roleplaying is not just a hobby pursuit. These are people whom I try desperately to avoid. While they aren't "Im a real life White Wolf Vampire!" creepy, they're just off enough to make my skin crawl.

The best reason I can think of to change from a loved game system is when you're having trouble finding players for it.

Yep. That philosophy pretty much governs what I buy or what I retain, these days. If I can't find players I either don't buy it or (if I already own it) I give it six months and then sell it. The only real exception to this rule for me are games that cover genres which others that I own don't cover at all (or well). For example, I will always own a copy of Fantasy Wargaming, simply because D&D and most other fantasy games provide little (if any) coverage of honest-to-god Medieval Europe.

 

[Eccles]

So the upshot of this thread is that the even numbers of D&D are causing people concern in the same way as the odd numbered Star Trek films?

 

[Darrin Drader]

So the upshot of this thread is that the even numbers of D&D are causing people concern in the same way as the odd numbered Star Trek films?

Sure, just as long as the even numbered editions are not analogous to the Trek movies that are divisible by five.

 

[Korgoth]

I'm asking for advice from people who have rejected an edition of dungeons and dragons before. What was your experience with that choice? Did you feel like you handled it well? Did it have particular positive or negative impacts on your gaming? Was it liberating? Did you feel left behind? Did you feel old?

I'm asking because I'm not really considering going ahead with adopting 4e, but I'm rather concerned about the issues raised above.

Don't be so concerned with feelings! Just make a rational choice: is this game (whichever one we are talking about) going to be fun for me, insofar as it meshes with my gaming philosophy and play style and is something worth investing my time, effort and possibly money into? If the answer about a particular game or edition is "no, the way this game approaches tabletop gaming is not the way that I approach it" (because it is too complicated, not complicated enough, de-emphasizes dungeons, emphasizes dungeons, whatever) then find one that does. You have a lot to choose from.

If you are interested in thinking about D&D and what D&D is about, I suggest that you look into OD&D... the original 1974 edition. Looking at that edition and 3.x and thinking about the differences will really help you formulate your approach to D&D and what you want the game to do and to be about.

Over the last several years I think I've become pretty sophisticated in my thinking about role playing games. And the result of my sophistication is that I realize that the games I like best are the ones that most people think are the least sophisticated, like OD&D (1974), Classic D&D, Gamma World 1st edition, etc.

 

[Pbartender]

If I were a grognard,
Ya ha deedle deedle, bubba bubba deedle deedle dum!

All day long I'd biddy biddy bum.
If I played OD&D(1974).

 

[PapersAndPaychecks]

I remember it clearly. This was around the Skills & Powers era... the group was getting leerier and leerier of T$R products in any case, having decided several of the later 1e hardbacks were a complete waste of money, but we used to pick and choose bits of 2e to bolt onto what was still essentially a 1e game.

Anyway, one of my friends picked up S&P and we all sat around and read it. The nine of us voted unanimously that we weren't going to play that rubbish. My friend returned the S&P book to the shop, and we simply stopped buying D&D products.

For a long time--four or five years, at least--the group played alternately BRP CoC, WHFRP, Rolemaster II, and Runequest II (that later morphed into a RQ2/3 hybrid).

Then we were starting to get the D&D bug again, so the same guy bought a 3e PHB. We passed it round at the start of the next session. There was no vote about whether to play it--my wife read various sections of the rules aloud, and we all fell about laughing.

So we returned the 3e PHB to the shop, and picked up our 1e D&D games pretty much where we'd left off.

I think if we were considering trying to attract new players, there might have been an issue, but my gaming group's been in almost its present form since 1984. (Two additions--the lady who's now my wife joined the group in 1987, and my son started playing with us in 2003.)

 

[awayfarer]

If I were a grognard,
Ya ha deedle deedle, bubba bubba deedle deedle dum!

All day long I'd biddy biddy bum.
If I played OD&D(1974).

Drat! You beat me to it!

[Edit: And by quite a large margin apparently.]

 

[dmccoy1693]

Nonsense!

That's why we have kids.

(If I can't find players - I'll make them!)

QFT!!!

I'm getting my 5 year old interested in Dragons and fairies. That's the way to always have a gaming group.