D&D General My Favorite Edition of D&D is...

[CleverNickName]

It's a strange poll. First-impression bias is a very real and well-studied phenomenon. And if something is your favorite, you are going to enjoy it as often as you can (so in the case of a game, it will be the one you play the most). But both are very different ways of measuring a "favorite," and they don't always overlap. So I predict a large number of "neither" votes.

My favorite version of D&D is BECM. It was the version I was first introduced to, but it isn't the version I've played the most of (which would be 3.5E) nor the version I am currently playing (5E). So I'm going with the first one I played.

Curse you, first-impression bias!

 

[Tyler Do'Urden]

Started with Black Box/Rules Cyclopedia in 1991, but my parents took away all my D&D stuff a year later (they thought I spent too much time reading D&D manuals and it was teaching me racism).

AD&D 2nd Edition and 3E are just about tied for the most played. I ran the former from 1998-2000 and the latter from 2001-2004.

But 5E brought me back in and is my favorite to date. I can convert material from any of the previous editions, and love that it's as easy to run as 2E but has the more intuitive design of 3E. I have my quibbles with it (particularly Dex and Int game balance issues), but nothing any greater than my issues with previous editions.

 

[Salamandyr]

Introduced with B/X.

In mass of years, it would be 1st edition AD&D, if number of total hours played, probably 3.5. Favorite edition definitely 1st edition AD&D.

 

[atanakar]

My favorite edition is 5e. Not because it is the current one but because it is very flexible thanks to the DMG options. But I long for simpler decluttered classes as in Holmes and B/X. I can't resolve myself to play these old editions because there are many things I am glad to have left behind. My only option is to do my own version of «D&D5e Lite». Which, coincidentally, I started doing today.

 

[jmartkdr2]

Just to add a data point: started with BECMI, favorite is 4th (which is also my second least played - I've never actually played 2e).

 

[TwoSix]

Started with 2E, played the most of 3E (in all its incarnations) but 4E is my favorite narrowly over 5E. (It's a tough call, but if I could run any one game, it would be a 4E Dark Sun game with enthusiastic players, so that's the tiebreaker.)

 

[atanakar]

It's a strange poll. First-impression bias is a very real and well-studied phenomenon. And if something is your favorite, you are going to enjoy it as often as you can (so in the case of a game, it will be the one you play the most). But both are very different ways of measuring a "favorite," and they don't always overlap. So I predict a large number of "neither" votes.

My favorite version of D&D is BECM. It was the version I was first introduced to, but it isn't the version I've played the most of (which would be 3.5E) nor the version I am currently playing (5E). So I'm going with the first one I played.

Curse you, first-impression bias!

My parents made me eat generic industrial mustard during my childhood. I love it, until I tried Dijon mustard. I have no love or nostalgia for industrial mustard.

 

[DND_Reborn]

Started with AD&D and B/X together, but played AD&D for over 20 years. First 1E only, then a 1E/2E-hybrid.

 

[Enevhar Aldarion]

First D&D product I bought was the Basic(Red?) box in 1981, but everyone was playing 1st Ed AD&D, so I tossed the box and bought the books and played 1st, and then 2nd, or a combo of the two, for the next 15 years. I didn't really do much at all with 3rd until the 3.5 books were released, but the game had become too complex for my tastes and I did not play much of 3.5. And then came 4th, which I did not like at all from the previews and avoided that edition completely. Tried Pathfinder for a while, but still too complex for the time I had available to put into it. Then 5th finally came along and I started playing D&D again. I will take 1st/2nd and 5th pretty equally, but probably 5th, just because of the ease of finding players for it. But if I were to get together with gamers with experience across the editions, I would go with the one I played the most, 1st/2nd Ed AD&D.

 

[CleverNickName]

My parents made me eat generic industrial mustard during my childhood. I love it, until I tried Dijon mustard. I have no love or nostalgia for industrial mustard.

Good point, first-impression bias varies by topic and person but it's still common. I bet you could think of a handful of examples of other things that you still prefer from your childhood. (Maybe it doesn't apply to mustard for you, but it does for me.)

Spoiler: The One True Mustard, accept no substitutes

Seriously, why even bother with French's mustard, when pure vinegar is so much cheaper and tastes the same? Get yourself a real mustard. I love this one so much that I won't even bother trying other brands. "No thank you, Fancy Mustard salesman," I will say, "I already have sixteen bottles of Gulden's at home. Go find someone else to disappoint."