D&D 5E New Vs Old

[Oofta]

And those characters did what? Went into dungeons filled with monsters to collect treasure.

It didn't take long for people to go from wargame to world building. A half century ago. Today, like always, D&D is to a large extent what you make it.

I've always had sessions where there was no combat and sessions where the dice were rolling constantly. I don't see any reason to pigeonhole people into one style of play just because of the origins of the game, their age, or any other external criteria.

 

[Vaalingrade]

It's less New vs Old and more Reformed vs Orthodox.

 

[DarkCrisis]

Yes, everyone knows all that.
This exact same argument appears on probably a dozen active threads on this forum at this very moment. And it's just as weak every single time it's brought up.

I honestly dont see the issue. In my original post I said RPing has almost nothing to do with the game system.

If you love RPing while playing D&D, great! So do I. I dont see why saying "D&D is designed with combat in mind" is such an issue, it has nothing to do with RPing at the table.

 

[J-H]

I have two players who are late 40s/early 50s and played D&D 1e back in the 1980s.
I have four players who are under the age of 25, and thus haven't played D&D for more than a decade at most. Two of them are new and have only played in games I'm running.

Everyone's having fun.

Problem is overblown by internet debates.

 

[Shiroiken]

"Old" players are generally products of their beginning edition and the times. OD&D and 1E players tend to avoid combat, focusing on exploration and gaining treasure. 2E players tend to focus more on story, with a bit less emphasis on hard coded rules. 3E players tend to focus on "builds" and often believe in RAW as the primary form of play, which I believe to be a product of the emerging commonality of the internet. While I don't have much experience with 4E players, the few I've known seem to enjoy over the top, superheroic, almost anime style gaming.

I don't really have much experience with "new" players, i.e. the ones who started with 5E. I've done several one-shots that introduced such players, but they seldom have much expectations going in. None of them came in from CR or other sources, so I don't know how common that really is. I've also not played any longer than that introductory adventure, so I really don't know how they eventually end up in terms of style and preference.

 

[Umbran]

what are your experences? old vs new?

I don't have experience with large numbers of new, young players. But, I do have one experience to talk about - a couple years ago, I taught my de-facto goddaughter and a friend of hers how to play D&D. She went on to become a huge fan of Critical Role, start running her own games with her friends, and her dad now runs a game we play in with her.

I have also, just for gaming-cultural literacy, started watching the new Critical Role campaign that started just a few weeks ago. I figured it was past time that I really got to understand this thing that gets talked about so much.

When I look at CR, and how my goddaughter plays, and how people talk about young players expecting a game "like Critical Role", I... don't think I know what they mean by "like Critical Role" because... it isn't really groundbreaking in its style. It isn't all that dissimilar from the game I ran for her myself, honestly. And I've been playing D&D since the 80s.

 

[Oofta]

I have two players who are late 40s/early 50s and played D&D 1e back in the 1980s.
I have four players who are under the age of 25, and thus haven't played D&D for more than a decade at most. Two of them are new and have only played in games I'm running.

Everyone's having fun.

Problem is overblown by internet debates.

I have the same experience. Our ages range from 20s to 60s. Some of my nephews played with me back when they were preteens but not since. Some have been playing nearly as long as I have (not sure), some are brand new to the game. I don't really see a big difference of expectations or styles.

There have always been and will always be groups of people that have different preferences and styles.

 

[Arilyn]

I'm old and I recall plenty of players in the 80s wanting games that are actually closer to Critical Role. I vastly prefer newer games and styles to the supposed old school gaming of the past. I don't thing it's a split between old and young, just players having differing play styles and preferences.

 

[Sacrosanct]

The game was LITERALLY adapted from a war game.

to be something a wargame couldn't: a world building role-playing game focusing on story and the world. If you don't believe me, just ask a guy named "Dave" who created this thing called "Blackmoor". The whole point of D&D coming about in the first place was not to be a wargame, but a world building role-playing game where you could emulate those fantasy settings in literature (and create your own).

This is reinforced by the rules. If worldbuilding and role-playing weren't so key to the game, the DMG wouldn't have devoted so much space to that, and the classes wouldn't have baked in features built around those ideas from day 1.

to the point, I agree with @payn, naturally, as we agreed in those other threads. The evolution of the game wasn't changed because of age of players, but with how our society has evolved and shifted trends. It's bad to stereotype someone based on race, gender identity, orientation, or religion, so we shouldn't do it on age either.

 

[TerraDave]

Its funny reading this, as you could have had this old vs new dichotomy in, say, 1985.

All this bits and pieces have been around for a long, long time. Mix and match as desired.