D&D 5E So who played 5E D&D recently?

[Sadras]

Still doing Temple of Elemental Evil (post Zuggtmoy release) and after a few successful missions by the PCs destroying the teleportation circle at the moathouse ruins which was feeding the Temple humanoids, and a nearby stonequarry which too was supplying the Temple - the now militarised village of Stallanford (Hommlet) suffered an assault by Demons, Elementals and a Big Red.
Just over 50 captives were taken (for the Temple rituals) and triple that were injured/killed.
Due to confusion, politics and character egos the 5 member party became 3 parties on the day, I wont bore you with the details but I will add that I was told by one of the PCs that I really do not have to plan much with them, they will escalate the difficulty of the adventures I set all on their own.

We are playing RAW (including monsters, except for XPs) until the DMG comes out, afterwhich we will sit down and discuss what houserules we would like to incorporate. In a span of a 7 hour gaming session the split party participated in reasonable length of social and explorative scenes as well as 6 skirmishes, with no rests.
We have had a great stint of roleplaying with the playstest material and now 5e.

 

[Magistus71]

I am playing in a homebrew campaign a friend is running, we just recemt;y started.

 

[Evenglare]

We played saturday. A simple dungeon crawl since my narrative self has been occupied by Nanowrimo. Just used one of those generators online. Level 3 party. I like to put things in dungeons that are far above their level (but pose no actual threat unless they risk it). For example I had a beholder frozen in a green gel stasis. Of course they figured out how to let it out, then ran away. They also encountered a medusa statue that was frozen by it's own gaze holding a reflective chalice. They removed it, it came to life, one of the members failed on the gaze stare hard, so that was it for him. Eventually they figured out how to repetrify it. They kept going, eventually some enemied blocked their way, the beholder caught up and completely messed up their day. One person died instantly, aaaand again they ran away.

Those were the 2 big highlights. They all had fun. I really noticed the lack of a DM guide in regards to giving out treasure. that can't come quick enough.

 

[Dasem]

Had the 2nd session of a friends campaign, set in Sigil, with a few liberties taken.

My Half-Orc Barbarian managed to solo an Ogre and become "King" (in his own mind) of a group of goblins, even fashioning a cheap crown to wear and demanding to be addressed as if he were nobility. It's lead to some hilarious RP moments.

We played 4E before this, and we're having a lot more fun with 5E. Combat is flowing much smoother.

 

[The_Gneech]

We played the fifth session of my Starter Set campaign on Saturday, and a good time was had by all. You can read a play report here if you like:

http://the-gneech.livejournal.com/2364663.html

My players don't know that this recurring "female drow" baddie they keep encountering is actually a doppelganger, it should make for a fun surprise when it finally comes to light.

-The Gneech

 

[ExploderWizard]

I have been running a sandbox 5E game based in Hommlet at our FLGS since early September. Tomorrow will be session # 11. This coming Friday I'm going to start running a SECOND 5E campaign for our regular group. This game will be set in Mystara with the campaign starting off in Threshold.

Even converting older material and doing all the prep work myself, 5E has been super easy to prepare and run. My wish list for prep tools right now would consist of a printer friendly PDF of the MM to copy and paste statblocks from. That's it.

 

[ranger69]

I have now played in 4 sessions. The scenario is from the starter set.
I was pleasantly surprised at the rate of levelling up from first to third level, achieving third after 4 games. I do realise that it is now going to take longer to level up.
I am playing a tiefling warlock. By and large I have used only Eldritch Blast with the Agonizing Blast Invocation, and Thaumaturgy.
As a long time player, over thirty years, I am very pleased with the flow of gameplay, and the way this edition allows fun.
It seems that whatever a player wants to do the answer is yes, within reason. Often with automatic success.
Most of the other players are new to the hobby and they all seem to enjoy the game. Character creation is fun for both newcomers and veterans.
The quick level up at low levels I think encourages newcomers interest with quick rewards.
This version is probably the best for newcomers to learn

 

[Gilladian]

We are going thru LMoP and my players just got Gundren from the goblins, but have lost his map. They managed to capture the goblin shaman and then ended up fighting the goblin king one-on-one for the dwarf.

Since they were only 2nd level, this was quite an achievement. A blast was had by all!

 

[Grainger]

I'm running two campaigns (one has two third-levels PCs, the other has four 2nd-level PCs). In terms of play during the session, it doesn't feel any different from when I used to run BECMI, except for stylistic differences due to me trying to be more chilled-out and modern as a DM. Oh, and the fact that low-level PCs aren't about to die if they trip over a loose flagstone.

I haven't tried it as a player, so I can't comment what it's like from the other side of the table, but my players (all long absent from RPGs) have basically "got it". The system is pretty straightforward, what with everything being D20 checks. It only gets complicated when they level up, and have tons of choices, but that's a good thing.

No-one seems to use their Inspiration, in either game, which is interesting. I don't think they've twigged that they can't get more Inspiration unless they use it, so they may as well use it.

The bottom line? As with any decent RPG, it's less about the rules, and more about the DM and the combination of players. All I can say is that 5e lets the rules sit nicely in the background, and lets the players do what they want to do*. If you've got a good DM and a group that meshes well, then you'll get a good game. In addition, there's plenty of well-thought-out flavour to help the DM, such as the cost of living material, the largely great illustrations, and of course the rich monster line-up.

So, 5e gets full marks from me.




*I do wonder how the game would run if I had rules lawyers in my group, especially ones from recent editions. Or min-maxers. But for a group of relaxed gamers, 5e works really well, much in the same vein as BECMI or 2e.

 

[Plaguescarred]

Been recently adventuring in Dales investigating a certain dream fever curse and helping Randal Morn against Zhentarims. (Yes we'e playing a 5E conversion of AD&D 2dn edition module Doom of Daggerdale ! )