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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Whizbang Dustyboots" data-source="post: 9215713" data-attributes="member: 11760">I've been playing almost as long as you (summer of 1979) and I'd say this version does a good job of enabling a lot of that old school feel without feeling as mechanistic as 4E and even 3E could feel, while benefiting from modern design. Characters aren't as fragile as they were in the TSR era but character building is much more sane and rational than it was under 3E, which felt like an arms race towards the end.It is much more on the rulings rather than rules side of design than previous WotC D&D systems are; whether that's a good thing or a bad thing is up to you. (I like it, myself. I didn't like the idea that I had to find the official answer for every adjudication in some 3E book or other.)5E is not the system I would choose for gritty dungeon crawls, as characters are too robust and everyone but humans and halflings can see in the dark (which it's super-weird that WotC hasn't rolled back in the 2024 books), but for heroic adventure, it's pretty great.If you are not 100% sold on WotC's take on lore or them as a corporate entity, I would also take a look at Kobold Press' Tales of the Valiant, which is their fork of the system, using the Creative Commons versions of the rules. Monsters hit a bit harder, some of the quirks of WotC's version of 5E are smoothed out and it's got its own lore and flavor while still being very broadly compatible with general fantasy adventures, just with different minor details than the WotC take.If you can find it, pick up the original Starter Set (the Lost Mines of Phandelver), which is often incredibly cheap (under $15, sometimes much less). It lays out the modern rules well and has, IMO, the best starter adventure the game has ever seen. That box sold me on 5E after several years of running Castles & Crusades during the 4E and early 5E era.</blockquote>

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