The End of a Long Fantastical Journey

TheAlkaizer · May 5, 2026

If by D&D you mean the official D&D line (i.e 5E, etc). I had stopped playing it out naturally out of disinterest for a system I had ran for like six years or so. Then the OGL debacle happened and it just confirmed my time doing business with WotC was over.

Now, if by D&D you include the whole ecosystem of hacks, retroclones and other such games. I'm still in it as much as I've been for the past two decades!

ART! · May 5, 2026

Over the course of my life of gaming, I have given up on quite a few games that I had played the bejeebus out of for years:

Villains & Vigilantes, because Champions came along.

Champions (and the Hero System in general). I would play in a game, I guess?, if someone handed me a pregen?, but I would never run it again in a lifetime of Sundays. My brain has never been able to retain enough of it to master it.

Rolemaster, for all the reasons one would imagine.

And now D&D 5.X - I still play in remote games with old friends, because familarity makes it relatively effortless. It just does - or doesn't do - too many things that would be easy for it to do if it wanted, but I guess to be "D&D" it has to keep doing some things I've lost patience for, and not doing things that other games do really well.

Fenris-77 · May 5, 2026

I've played an awful lot of D&D in my life. It's by far the game that sits at the center of my RPG experience but I don't play it voluntarily anymore at all. I played a little 5E but it just didn't do anything for me, and I had avoided 4E. I still so some 5E stuff, but only because that's what my lads play so I need to speak the lingo.

The Soloist · May 5, 2026

TheAlkaizer said:
If by D&D you mean the official D&D line (i.e 5E, etc). I had stopped playing it out naturally out of disinterest for a system I had ran for like six years or so. Then the OGL debacle happened and it just confirmed my time doing business with WotC was over.

Now, if by D&D you include the whole ecosystem of hacks, retroclones and other such games. I'm still in it as much as I've been for the past two decades!

Yes, I meant the whole ecosystem, including games like Shadow of the Weird Wizard, Hyperboria and 13th AGE.

The Soloist · May 5, 2026

FitzTheRuke said:
I'm working on a hybrid D&D that combines all the things I like best from various offshoots. Primarily simplifying magic, removing character sheet clutter, and making gear a bigger part of the game. Oh, and adding a simple wounds system, for a slightly grittier feel.

Interesting. I've been there. Reducing social media by 95% has allowed me to finish concocting my own 12 page rpg. It started like you but I kept getting frustrated by D&D stuff, so I decided there were no sacred cows. My group will test it in May. Fingers crossed.

FitzTheRuke · May 5, 2026

The Soloist said:
Interesting. I've been there. Reducing social media by 95% has allowed me to finish concocting my own 12 page rpg. It started like you but I kept getting frustrated by D&D stuff, so I decided there were no sacred cows. My group will test it in May. Fingers crossed.

Yes. I keep moving it further and further away from its D&D roots, but I'm worried that the more I do, the less acceptance I will get from my group. We shall see if they put up with some of my more "radical" ideas. I'm making it modular, in that each system that replaces its D&D equivalent can be subbed-individually, or all at once, to "regular" 5e. For example you could just use my Equipment in an otherwise 5e game, or you could use my Skills, or my Wound system, Or my Classes, or my Monsters, or all of them, or any single one. I've been using my Initiative & Monsters in 5e games for a few years, and most people don't really notice it. (I mean, they spot that I "houserule" initiative, but they get how it works quick enough and don't seem to object).

The Soloist · May 5, 2026

FitzTheRuke said:
Yes. I keep moving it further and further away from its D&D roots, but I'm worried that the more I do, the less acceptance I will get from my group. We shall see if they put up with some of my more "radical" ideas. I'm making it modular, in that each system that replaces its D&D equivalent can be subbed-individually, or all at once, to "regular" 5e. For example you could just use my Equipment in an otherwise 5e game, or you could use my Skills, or my Wound system, Or my Classes, or my Monsters, or all of them, or any single one. I've been using my Initiative & Monsters in 5e games for a few years, and most people don't really notice it. (I mean, they spot that I "houserule" initiative, but they get how it works quick enough and don't seem to object).

Luckily my group is not into D&D. I'm creating the RPG for me first. It's classless, uses only a d12 and d8. When I'm satisfied it's done, I'll put it on itcho and possibly Drivethru. Maybe in the September.

DrunkonDuty · May 5, 2026

None of my groups have ever been married to any one system.

Over the years DnD has had it's time, but it's been forever since I played it. Even my last DnD-alike (PF 1e) game was over 3 years ago. Can't say I miss it. Quite the opposite. There are so many better games out there.

aramis erak · May 6, 2026

The Soloist said:
And you? Have you put aside a game that was super important to you for years, decades, but that has become uninteresting?

Like so many others, D&D. Especially 5E. And, like a few others, the OGL debacle told me "WotC doesn't respect the 3pp providers who actually value-add the game"... and the AI comments by HasBro's president tell me I don't want to support any HasBro brands.

I've been a polygamer since September 1983... in that month, I tried Star Frontiers and Traveller. And no single game would hold my attention like Traveller over the years. The new gamers just don't seem to like MegaTraveller, I don't care for Mongoose Traveller, TTNE, T4... and while I like parts of T20, char gen is a no-go. I don't have players who can cope with Hero Traveller, and I don't care for GURPS anymore.

I was an early adopter of GURPS... and have since found there's nothing I want to do that can't be done better in other games. It was a favorite for about 3 years... and then it wasn't.