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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ColonelHardisson" data-source="post: 3608794" data-attributes="member: 363">I would never even think of going back to 2e.OK, first, I think absolutes are kinda silly. Of course if I ran across someone running a 2e (or earlier edition) game, and they were cool and the game looked fun, I’d play. Being hard-nosed about playing a game, which is essentially just a way for people to socialize, seems fairly antisocial. But bear with me. Absolutes seem to work better in getting a discussion going here on the internet.That said, given my druthers, I’d rather not play 2e again. This is just a counterpoint post, not intended as a heated argument.Anyway, when 3e was first being previewed, I realized I’d been tired of 2e for years for a variety of reasons. Some of these things were mentioned in the thread above, and I thought I’d get started by discussing them.1. Class/race restrictions - I never understood these. Dwarves wielded magic in many legends and books, so why they couldn’t do so, or did so at great penalty, in D&D made no sense. Halfling paladins? Check out the “Scouring of the Shire” and see if Pippin didn’t give off that knightly air, clad in his Gondorian armor and wielding a sword as he made Sharkey’s men back down. Seems pretty paladin-y to me. Besides, if such restrictions make sense to you, simply follow a time-honored D&D tradition and house-rule them in. Simple enough. Anyway, the fact that 3e not only did away with them, but factored such race/class combos into many of its assumptions in subsequent supplements and adventures, was, and is, a big draw for me.2. The miniatures issue is kind of a non-issue, in my opinion. Sure, 3e requires a bit more precision when it comes to combat, and it definitely helps make it clear to use some type of representation for the characters and monsters. But I recall that keeping track of combat in earlier editions could be very confusing, especially as the number of combatants increased. And while I realize that everyone else played with paragons of virtue or those with very good spatial visualization, I have had experience with gamers who seemed to never quite know where they were in a combat, or who were apparently under a blink or displacement effect everytime they were directly threatened in combat. So 3e helped clear up such discrepancies. And you don’t have to buy minis. Legendary film director Akira Kurosawa was said by his wife to use salt and pepper shakers to help visualize where he wanted characters to be in the frame when he was thinking about a new movie. If it was good enough for Kurosawa, it’s good enough for you.3. A rule for everything – I just don’t see that 3e has a rule for everything. At least, not in the sense that there is a separate mechanic for every possible action. There is the basic core mechanic, with a variety of DCs set for different circumstances. But when it comes down to it, DM fiat still rules. I recall the “DM’s best friend” from the DMG, and the implications of it for the game overall.That’s a few of the things about 3e that would keep me from playing 2e again if I had a choice.</blockquote>

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