D&D 5E Playing the Game vs. Reading the Rules of the Game

[Mistwell]

I've noticed an awful lot of people concluded D&D Next (5e) is not the game for them, without ever playtesting the game.

I wanted to see if this was simply a few isolated instances, or a common thing.

I also wanted to see if there could be a correlation between those who play the game, and those who decide they like the game.

So, let me know how many times you've played 5e, and whether you know it's not for you, you're unsure if it's for you, or if you think it's likely for you!

And if you answer Lemon Playtesty, please do let us know what you're thinking.

Oh, and this is a public poll!

 

[TwoSix]

Honestly, there hasn't been anything in there exciting enough to go through the effort of getting one of my playgroups to digest a new set of rules and try it out. The last time Next excited me was the sorcerer/warlock packet last year.

Doesn't mean I won't get it, I think it might hit a good spot for one of my groups. But I don't think it's for me, personally.

 

[Li Shenron]

Played (DMed actually) 3 times.

70% likely at the moment.

"The last time Next excited me" was the most recent update to Wildshape. I was already a fan of previous takes, and somehow I was expecting they would roll back to some insane calculation-heavy version. Instead they made it even simpler.

But mostly, I am interested in it because it's at least as flexible as 3e, but it seems to be much easier to DM.

I don't own any other RPG books than for D&D 3.0, and everything else so far looks either too cumbersome for me, not close enough to the D&D tradition, not flexible enough, or out of print.

 

[Ahnehnois]

At this moment, I'm into CoC and interested in working with Cortex generic. I'm also traveling and working. I'm struggling to even find the time for D&D. When I do, I've seen nothing in any of the early playtest docs or associated commentary from WotC that would suggest 5e is better or even close to as good as the 3e/d20 mishmash I'm somewhat happily working with now.

I look at all my gaming systems as works in progress but 5e never seemed to make any progress while I was actively reading and commenting on it.

 

[jrowland]

I've DM'd three encounters seasons, each with a new playtest (murder in baldurs with two) for a total of 4 playtests, and played in 2 encounters seasons (one overlapped).

I am currently starting a campaign that will begin at the end of this current encounters season and hopefully last until D&D next is released.

So far, for someone who cut their teeth on the Mentzer boxed set, this edition seems to fit my style of DMing quite well. Are there issues with the playtest? sure. It feels closer to 2E, which was a favorite edition of mine. I liked a lot of the unification that occurred 3E, I like the "set-peice encounter" approach of 4E, but I miss the faster playstyle of 2e and earlier. I feel 5E captures that fast play of older editions, the unification of systems in 3E, and allows for set-peice battles in 4E (although we haven't seen much of tactical rules, I've been winging 4E style tactical combats with the playtest just fine in encounters).

So yeah...played it several times and concluded it was for me.

On a side note: The OP is on to something. It does play differently than it reads. Maybe its my inner DM grognard filling in the gaps subconsciously that makes it a better play than read, I can't say for sure. If it is, that could be a problem.

 

[Dausuul]

I also wanted to see if there could be a correlation between those who play the game, and those who decide they like the game.

Of course there will be such a correlation! Some people will look at the rules and conclude instantly that they won't like the game. Most of those people will not then play the game, because that would be silly. So, regardless of whether that instant judgment is correct, the "never played" group will contain a larger percentage of folks who say they don't like 5E than the "played once" and "played lots" groups.

If your goal is to determine whether 5E is an example of "plays better than it reads," the thing to do is look at the set of people who did play the game, and see whether and how their opinions changed as a result.

(For what it's worth, my impression of 5E is that it plays pretty much the same as it reads. What you see is what you get. Fortunately, I think it both reads and plays well.)

 

[Mistwell]

Of course there will be such a correlation! Some people will look at the rules and conclude instantly that they won't like the game. Most of those people will not then play the game, because that would be silly. So, regardless of whether that instant judgment is correct, the "never played" group will contain a larger percentage of folks who say they don't like 5E than the "played once" and "played lots" groups.

If your goal is to determine whether 5E is an example of "plays better than it reads," the thing to do is look at the set of people who did play the game, and see whether and how their opinions changed as a result.

(For what it's worth, my impression of 5E is that it plays pretty much the same as it reads. What you see is what you get. Fortunately, I think it both reads and plays well.)

I think a lot of people who are not interested in 5e, don't click on 5e polls to begin with.

 

[JamesonCourage]

Of course there will be such a correlation! Some people will look at the rules and conclude instantly that they won't like the game. Most of those people will not then play the game, because that would be silly. So, regardless of whether that instant judgment is correct, the "never played" group will contain a larger percentage of folks who say they don't like 5E than the "played once" and "played lots" groups.

If your goal is to determine whether 5E is an example of "plays better than it reads," the thing to do is look at the set of people who did play the game, and see whether and how their opinions changed as a result.

You're right, of course; this is exactly what I thought, too, when I saw what the poll was.

 

[tuxgeo]

I voted Lemon Playtesty. (I like lemons.)

Also, I want to say, "Foghorn Bloghat" about this whole Poll idea in this regard. (Elaboration would be pointless.)
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Details follow: I played many sessions of 5E Next using PbEM on "Yahoo! Groups" (run by the estimable Dice4Hire in Nagoya, Japan), and we ran PCs ranging from 1st-playtest Pre-Gens from the 1st packet up through 12th-level characters of our own devising, based on the March, 2013 packet -- against a dragon or two in the final fight. The game played OK. (It took weeks to get anything done using PbEM, though.)

I've already spent money on 5E Next: I preordered "Ghosts of Dragonspear Castle": and I paid an EN World user to pick it up for me at GenCon and to ship it to me -- from Florida to Oregon, so that's 3,000 miles by post.

I still have complaints about 5E Next. I want to express my complaints in the (perhaps vain) hope that WotC will become aware of my concerns and change things for the better (with "better" meaning "more to my liking") before the finished product is actually released.

Specifically: (1) I rarely play fighters, though I do have one 4E Essentials Slayer (Greataxe) that I have created and have played a bit; the current Greatweapon debate on this board does interest me, but I'm not taking sides in that thread. (2) I have tried comparing 4E with 5E versions of one Cleric character, and I found that 5E didn't translate backward into 4E very well; however, my 4E Elf Bard might be nearly as good when recast as a 5E character. I'm still thinking about it.

None of the provided Poll answers fit well enough for me to choose them.

 

[Celebrim]

There is a mistake in logic here.

I admit that is more than possible that I'd play a game of D&D 5e and enjoy it. For one thing, do you know how rare it has been that anyone has been willing to run a game for me? Being a player is refreshing.

But that doesn't me the game is for me.

For it to be the game for me it would have to be a game I'd want to run and a rules set I'd preferentially use. I can enjoy just about any game system in the hands of a good GM. That doesn't mean I want to run out and spend $100 on it.