D&D (2024) Pulse check on 1D&D excitement level

[DEFCON 1]

I spent 35 years heavily invested in a game that cumulated in something that in recent years has deeply disappointed and saddened me. I guess catharsis is as good an explanation for venting my pain as any.

Heh... more like you spent 35 years heavily invested in FIVE games in that time. Or seven/eight/ten games, depending on how people categorize things like 2E Skills & Powers, 3.5, BECMI and so forth.

Quite frankly, I'd be shocked if anyone actually thought BECMI, AD&D, Unearthed Arcana, 2E, Skills & Powers, 3E, 3.5E, Rules Compendium, 4E, and 4E Essentials were ALL equally wonderful games and it was only 5E where everything fell apart. I'd chalk that up to recency bias if that was the case, LOL!

 

[Micah Sweet]

Heh... more like you spent 35 years heavily invested in FIVE games in that time. Or seven/eight/ten games, depending on how people categorize things like 2E Skills & Powers, 3.5, BECMI and so forth.

Quite frankly, I'd be shocked if anyone actually thought BECMI, AD&D, Unearthed Arcana, 2E, Skills & Powers, 3E, 3.5E, Rules Compendium, 4E, and 4E Essentials were ALL equally wonderful games and it was only 5E where everything fell apart. I'd chalk that up to recency bias if that was the case, LOL!

It's not 5e. It's WotC version of 5e in the last few years, and what they intend to continue making of it.

I loved 1e and 2e best. 3e and 3.5e were decent. 4e was good for a while, but after a year or so of running and playing it I got tired of its assumptions. I went back to my 1e group mostly after that. When 5e came out I loved it. Played the heck out of it for years, and followed it closely. Then a few years ago my best friend and long-time fellow gamer of 25 years passed away, and my old group broke up. I formed a new 5e group since then and have had a lot of fun, but recently the "official" game has been irritating me more and more, and my old friends with whom I played the old stuff I like best are gone. Level Up is the best compromise I can make, and I do love it, but I really miss the continuum of TSR/WotC D&D, and wish WotC hadn't taken the game across a line I don't want to cross.

The whole thing is very frustrating for me. My D&D was mid 90s, where you could read the new Dragon magazine and try to convince your 1e/2e hybrid GM to let you play the latest ridiculous NPC class, and pour over the new Ecology article. I can't even pretend that's what D&D is anymore.

 

[Bill Zebub]

The whole thing is very frustrating for me. My D&D was mid 90s, where you could read the new Dragon magazine and try to convince your 1e/2e hybrid GM to let you play the latest ridiculous NPC class, and pour over the new Ecology article.

You mean like a Half-ogre Cavalier?

Ah, those were the days.

 

[mamba]

That's fine for a person.

It's terrible for a RPG game company if you design a game that a ton of your customers abandon your product once they learn the game.

not if new ones pick it up at a faster rate than you lose players

5e is more dominant than any version before ever was, so they do not seem to overly struggle because of this

 

[Minigiant]

not if new ones pick it up at a faster rate than you lose players

With the worldwide disaster clearing up and recent OGL drama, I don't know if that will happen anytime soon.

A nice chunk of 5e's rise in popularity was time, place, and the states of various technology. Any edition that was the mainline of D&D at the time e existed would have a boom via outisde sources. Different levels of boom due to mechanics and support.

 

[Bill Zebub]

With the worldwide disaster clearing up and recent OGL drama, I don't know if that will happen anytime soon.

A nice chunk of 5e's rise in popularity was time, place, and the states of various technology. Any edition that was the mainline of D&D at the time e existed would have a boom via outisde sources. Different levels of boom due to mechanics and support.

It’s going to be fun to dig up some of these posts in 2025. One way or another.

 

[mamba]

With the worldwide disaster clearing up and recent OGL drama, I don't know if that will happen anytime soon.

pretty sure this is happening right now already

 

[Uni-the-Unicorn!]

Nothing to see here

 

[Uni-the-Unicorn!]

Sure, it's just a question of how much time I want to spend explaining things vs. just playing the game

With my children we explained on a need to know basis only. So we started playing right away after covering the basics. Then just answered questions or explained things as they came up.

 

[Uni-the-Unicorn!]

I spent 35 years heavily invested in a game that cumulated in something that in recent years has deeply disappointed and saddened me. I guess catharsis is as good an explanation for venting my pain as any.

I know you feel this way, i just don’t get it.