Before 5E, the last D&D campaign I ran had been in the early 2000s, mostly 2E with 3E combat mechanics. I'd been very interested in 3.0, but my interest cooled during 3.5 and died out altogether with 4E. The only D&D I played during the next several years was a 3.5 one-shot run by a friend.
By 2012 I'd been running Mutants & Masterminds as my go-to system for years. I was also paying attention to Pathfinder, and generally liked what I was seeing... but when the D&D Next playtest was announced, I jumped right in. I ran a few playtest games with my friends in 2012 and 2013, including games for M&M friends who'd never played D&D before. (I managed to preserve
some of my playtest experiences on the Internet Archive after I heard the Wizards forums were going away, but unfortunately failed to save my second post - though you can see the title on
this forum list.)
When 2014 arrived, I was good and hyped for 5E. I had started playing in some Pathfinder Society games at a then-new (and now defunct) FLGS, but my interest didn't last once 5E products were on the shelves. I even made a point to go to my first (and so far only) Gen Con that year, in the hopes of participating in some launch events (and I did manage two DDAL sessions). My friends and I started a multi-DM 5E campaign by the end of August 2014, and it ran until Covid put it on hiatus in 2020. During the course of the campaign we introduced many new people to D&D, and even persuaded some of them to DM! It was a good run, and I will always remember 5E fondly.
