D&D 5E New Vs Old

[Krachek]

On a wargame perspective DnD is an awful evolution.
Combat grossly favor one side,
balance is crappy,
the referee also control one side,
I wonder why wargame lover would play dnd?

 

[Crimson Longinus]

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.

Yep. It has high production values and they're professional actors, but in style and essence it is basically how I've always played.

 

[Sacrosanct]

I don't like to watch CR, because I just can't get into it. I get distracted and start doing other things after a half hour. But I love CR for what it's done, and doing, for the hobby. I don't care if you (general you) hate everyone involved in CR, there can be no denying our hobby is better with them. A bigger hobby helps us all.

 

[Charlaquin]

I personally think (and I think this dates back to the late 90's) that over time players have wanted more out of combat scenarios and more out of combat rules.

You should hyphenate out-of-combat when you use it like this. I thought at first that you meant they wanted to get more from the combat rules and scenarios. Your point seemed incoherent to me until I re-read and realized you meant they wanted more rules for and scenarios focusing on things outside of combat.

 

[Ancalagon]

So... I don't think you make a lot of generalization about older vs younger players. There is going to be people who like all sorts of ways of playing.

However, I think we can make one somewhat solid generalization. Older players (as in people who have been playing for a long time) have the opportunity of having their opinion be better informed - they have tried several different systems, different groups etc etc, so they understand what works for them better.

Of course, there is no guarantee this will actually happen, but at least there is a possibility for it to have happened.

Anyway, I strongly recommend that people who have played only one system try others - even if you return to 5e, you will have gained a better appreciation for it.

 

[Campbell]

On a wargame perspective DnD is an awful evolution.
Combat grossly favor one side,
balance is crappy,
the referee also control one side,
I wonder why wargame lover would play dnd?

This shows a pretty fundamental misunderstanding of the type of wargame that D&D was descended from. There were often unbalanced scenarios, referee adjudication based on knowledge of the scenario and warfare, and multiple engagements strung together in campaign play.

It was nothing like a 40K tournament.

 

[teitan]

New to me just means anybody who has started in the last 5 years. I don’t have anything against. The ones I grit my teeth about are the ones who say “you don’t need to read the DMG” and then don’t understand optional rules or what the DM’s job is and accuse people of being “bad DMs” who are excellent DMs because they said no you can’t take a feat because we aren’t using feats in this campaign or one shot. There has been a disconnect with some newer players and I don’t blame the critical role crowd because a lot of my players are the critical role crowd type players and they get it. But I’ve seen horror stories or experienced them online and they really do not get the vibe of CR and “love each other”.

 

[Lyxen]

The game was LITERALLY adapted from a war game.

And did it remain a wargame ? Do the rules have a lot left in common with that of a wargame, even early editions ? Not even a little, from all the wargames I've played.

 

[Lyxen]

Which does not change the fact that the game was created primarily for combat.

I'm sorry but no. There is no proof of that, so if you think you have some, please show it.

Even modern D&D we can go through the PHB and DMG and MM and see how much of each is devoted to combat in some way vs not combat.

And I've posted the page count, do you know that the combat section of the PH is only 3% of the pages, and that it's even worse in the DMG ?

And yes, combat is more complex and would require a bit more explanation than the rest of the game, technically, but even then, there are no claims whatsoever that it's "primarily for combat".

 

[Horwath]

Currently playing 2 campaigns(both 5E), and the players year of birth is from 1981 to 1998,

And I can say that all enjoy roleplay and exploration part, MacGyvering around various obstacles, traps, terrain problems, etc... Talking with NPCs and interparty brainstorming on a plot is always cool, but...

There is something when DM says "roll for initiative", it's like instantly in a completely new game. Everyone go from casual, relaxed position to anticipating tension, awaiting next result of the dice roll.

And no matter the age of players, this reaction is similar in all of them.