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Message: <blockquote data-quote="payn" data-source="post: 9364587" data-attributes="member: 90374">I've done a post similar to this a number of times and its always fun. Imma go with a mostly rambling diary than a strict mechanical breakdown.1EMy old man was a very active type. Active in not being inside that is. He was an avid hunter/fishermen and is in the fast pitch softball hall of fame. Video games baffled him and he only watched sports on TV. The reason this is important to note, is that I always had an interest in fantasy novels and gaming, but I had zero role models to help me make sense of them. Just my little brother who also had an interest in fantasy novels and gaming. We got a box set at some point but we couldn't make heads or tails of it. What we did play the ever loving crap out of was Heroquest and im baffled to this day there is no D&D equivalent. So, I had mere rules exposure to this era, but no real play experience.  2EIn this era I had a series of short experiences that always ended in failure. Others my age that didnt have a full grasp on the game. A single session during a sleep over here, a summer camp session there. Still no role models and not a lot of friends to play the game with. During high school there was a group but they very much treated it like a secret organization and they were not welcoming to others. Particularly others that were on the football team and sat at the cool table. Id occasionally get a conversation in class about the games they were playing, but never any invites. During college I got an invite to some folks who played at a pizza shop where we smoked cigs and a drank coffee into the wee hours. Those games were just chaotic. The players characters never trusted one another and eventually devolved into PvP over a handful of coins or some other trivial matter. Simply not serious play and groups just not built to last.3EDidnt play at all for a number of years. I finally found some cool cats to play with around 2005 and began to learn about this 3E that was now in its 3.5 edition state. The MMO was a fertile training ground and spurred a lot of interest in table top again. The system mastery required was daunting, but exciting all the same. My group finally played the game and stopped chuckle heading around and killing each other. There was lots of growing pains as I learned a very complex system as both player and GM. I had some older folks in my group that had a lot of old school baggage that made playing 3E sort of weird. At the time it could be frustrating, but now I look back at this era as an education period. I finally had a handle on the system and was really interested into getting into game mastering and designing my own adventures when 4E was announced.4EIt was at this point I was working a third shift job that gave me copious amounts of time to surf the net. Thats when I stumbled onto places like EN World and started to put my ear to the ground on D&D and TTRPGs. 4E was not a welcome announcement for me as I finally felt like I had a handle on 3E. Though, it kind of felt like gaming history and was excited to finally be on the early stages of it. The more I read though sounded like tossing the baby out with the bathwater. The "fixes" seemed extreme to me. The greatest sin though was taking away 3E leggo style character building, multiclassing, etc.. I found myself very bummed that I couldnt make a striker, defender, controller, leader fighter. I had to choose entirely different classes to do that. Each one had path A or path B. It was stifling. Also, I was not happy about no barb, bard, or sorc which became my favorites in 3E. I know eventually PHB 2,3,4,5,6,7 would come along, but launch was not a good first impression for me. My group did not want to go through another learning period like they did with 3E. Since I was nonplussed by 4E, we simply didnt adopt. Out of curiosity I did eventually play in a 4E campaign. I could see why a tactics minded group would like it, but combat was too slow and ionvolved for my taste, but im greatful for learning a lot in this period about what type of gamer I am and the things I desire. PF1So, im sitting here still playing 3E. All I needed was adventures. Paizo adventure paths enter the chat and blew my mind. These campaign kits were like four course meals to a starving man. I ate them up and served many great campaigns to my play groups. We loved the familiarity with 3E and a couple adjustments. We could dive right in and enjoy the pace. Golarion being a single setting allowed us all to learn about that too with out drowning in a sea of options. Paizo took what they learned from years with D&D and applied it smartly and profricently. Setting, mechanics, gaming products, it was the cats meow. I could have played this edition forever...5EAnnoucnemnt droped that the 4E was tossing in the towel. A massive E war, lofty economic expectations, and a series of errors made WotC call it quits on 4E. After seeing the community reach out and playtest success of Paizo, it would seem WotC took note for once and made their own journey with the D&D community. Polls, playtests, the NEXT edition. I was pretty happy with PF1, but also really interesed in giving my opinions to WotC. What dropped seemed like a very streamlined 3E with a few 4E treatments. Unlike previous editions, it didnt look daunting to learn, but at this point it didnt look exciting either. I kept with PF1after launch, but have to admit, bounded accuracy was something I was very jealous about missing in my PF1 game. I did play in two campaigns of 5E over the years. One was to learn the system, and it just wasnt exciting. I did get its causal vibe though and certainly think its a good look for D&D. My next campaign was to see how WotC was doing with adventures. Seemed rather pale in comparison to what I was used to. 5E is fine, ill play a game with a trusted GM who will bring an exciting campaign. If im in the GM seat, looking in a different direction.  PF2Well, it had been 10 years with PF1 and nearly 20 with 3E, it was bound to happen. I started having some deja vu during the playtest and reveal of 4E days. I wa ssaddened that many of the items I liked, got axed during playtest, and everything I didnt got expanded on. I eventually just dropped out. I still had plenty of PF1 adventures to run. I did come back and kick the tires a little because of that damn curiosity of mine. PF2 is a solid game, but maybe too solid for my tatses. That tactical combat bit that I didnt like in 4E is present here too, which makes this not something I want play. I do keep my eye on developments and adventure paths though as I still very much admire Paizo. Also, covid killed my gaming group. Not any of the players, just cut us apart and we havent been able to put it all back together again since.5E continued...Well, its super successful so why mess it up? Seems WotC is going to fine tune and stay the course. Not exciting, but for once, seems like a solid decision for D&D (not those who hate it of course). I am interested in the Vecna adventure. I might try and run it if I can find a group. Not a super high priority though. Most iof my gaming is elsewhere in Traveller, Call of Cthulhu, and Battletech these days.Honorable mention; DCCSomewhere in there DCC dropped. I had a blast revisting old school skill play. I was also able to bond with some of my older gamer firends. I dont consider this a long term option at all, but ill oneshot anytime for fun and palate cleanse between other TTRPG options.</blockquote>

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