Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="knottyprof" data-source="post: 6102708" data-attributes="member: 6715607">I understand some of the frustrations of the multiple editions of the games and (as someone that started in the mid-80's as well) the ruleset hasn't necessarily grown in a direction that makes the game any more fun than the original white box.  The bottom line is whatever game you play, you play for fun and when it no longer becomes fun then there really isn't a reason to play.  I started out with 1st edition AD&D in the 80's and ran a campaign several years using the Rules Cyclopedia and my own material gleaned from 2nd edition materials (I liked the simplified rules in the basic set) then took a hiatus for about 10 years.  I came back to 4th edition and honestly could not make heads or tails of it from my earlier experience and ended up with a group playing 3.5.  I loved 3.5 and honestly loved all the options available to characters (compared to earlier editions).  Since then I have moved on to Pathfinder more or less though I run a 3.5 game with some pathfinder benefits.  However, the plethora of character options for a d20 version is a double edged sword.  Sure it allows you to make a very unique character (not to mention the ability to design super characters) but it was obvious towards the end that WotC was just throwing stuff out there with little regard to actual game balance or playability.  As a reult when playing a 3.5 game (and to an extent the same seems to be true with Pathfinder) there are times where play comes to a virtual stop while obscure rules or powers have to be looked up and verified.  Combat should be fast (relatively speaking) and fluid and with all the options available in 3.5 it rarely works out that way (at least in the games I am in).I just recently purchased the hero lab program because at my age (43) I don't have time to store all the possible options and various classes available, but at the same time I like the fact they are there.  I think we are just at the point in time with this particular game that effectively playing the game without electronic assistance is difficult if not impossible unless you limit resources to a core set.  Personally, when I DM I use a laptop to track initiative (thanks MS for Excel) and actually prefer to use PDFs to paper copies for quickly accessing book and rules questions.  Whether this is a good thing or not is a question of personal preference I think, but I remember hauling a gymbag full of books back in the nineties and a laptop case is a lot lighter.So has the game changed over the years and will it continue to change to match the times?  I am sure it will and in a world where most of our 'friends' are connected through social media I hope there is always room for table top games even if we need electonic assistance to speed things along.</blockquote>

Verification