Sunday Chat: What New Editions Were Upgrades? Which Ones Were Downgrades?

[Tonguez]

I enjoyed BECMI more than AD&D. 3e was a fun new direction, 4e a strange tangent that has managed to prove itself by comparison to 5e - 5e is in the weird place of being useful but uninspiring, is that an upgrade?

 

[Proxii]

Speaking for D&D, I'd say 4e was the only one that felt like a genuine downgrade to me. There were some good ideas in there but broadly they just didn't get it.

I don't consider 5.2e a different edition as the rules are almost identical and virtually all content made for one is fully compatible with the other. If I had to pick one side I'm leaning upgrade.

Pathfinder 1e → 2e has been a mild downgrade for me. Paizo genuinely does not seem to understand what made PF1 special. Maybe because they didn't make most of it.

Knave 1e → 2e was a huge upgrade.

I can't say I've extensively played multiple editions of any other TTRPG.

 

[cbwjm]

For my part, one of my favorite edition upgrades is Mutants and Masterminds 2E. It is superior to 1E in nearly every way (there is some hero point wonkiness), and the game got prettier and better supported in the 2E era, finally really replacing Champions for me and my supers gamers.

I thought the 2e upgrade of M&M was great for sure, I think the 3e update was fine, I'm not sure if it was strictly necessary but I did appreciate the DC versions with all of the heroes and villains.

For DnD, I started with BECMI before moving to 2e which I thought was an upgrade. 3e when it came out I thought was an upgrade, 4e was too different as a game for it to be an upgrade or downgrade, rather it felt like a similar but different game, but it did provide a bridge which helped 5e which felt like an upgrade of what came before. 5.5e I don't really feel was an upgrade, more of a sidegrade, but since it seems to have pushed me to look at the earlier editions again, maybe it was a downgrade... Perhaps in a few years I'll move from BECMI/OSE to 2e and so on.

Star wars d20 had a revised version which felt like an upgrade, feeling better than the original version, then Saga came out which felt like a definite upgrade over the older d20 version with a lot more customisation (though the way the force worked felt like a downgrade since they were largely encounter powers, at least you didn't need to put skill points into every force power you wanted to use).

 

[innerdude]

Ironsworn: Starforged is an ever-so-slightly better game than Ironsworn, and the Sundered Isles supplement makes it even better.

A revised Ironsworn 2.0 that backports the rules changes and updated oracles would be an insta-buy for me.

 

[Voidmoji]

I thought the 2e upgrade of M&M was great for sure, I think the 3e update was fine, I'm not sure if it was strictly necessary but I did appreciate the DC versions with all of the heroes and villains.

Add me to the list of folks who count 2e M&M as an upgrade. This is especially true with Ultimate Power.

I like the changes to the powers in 3e, overall. But I didn't like some other things, like skills and adding attributes.

From what I have seen of 4e, I will be adding it to the upgrade list. It has a bit of 2e beating in its heart.