D&D 5E What D&D Does That is So Good: A Celebration of 5e's Advantages

[Sithlord]

Yeah, its just one of those things man!

There is a big collector aspect to the RPG hobby as well. Why do you think Conan, The Lord of the Rings, and Star Wars rpg's sell well almost independent of what system they are being sold under. People love themselves their favorite IP!

D&D being the first set the tone for fantasy rpg's and is very much its own fantasy genre at this point. And people like it.

I do tend to agree that there is a more RAW culture amongst newer players than there has been in the past. But how much is debatable, and we could go back and forth forever on that subject.

Very true. We are online where the loudest voices and complainers are heard the most.

 

[Krachek]

One aspect that DnD do pretty good is allowing the possibility to play various play style for different tables, and even to switch easily within a single session.

 

[THEMNGMNT]

This thread isn't feeling like much of a "celebration".

Anyway...

As someone who has DM'd about 200 sessions of 5E, it plays really easily from my side of the screen. Adjudicating actions is so, so simple. Everything is basically an ability check (with a few minor variations). If a check is situationally easier or more difficult, you just declare advantage or disadvantage. It makes rulings at the table quick and easy.

Most of the complexity is in the character and monster abilities. Characters seem to be built at about the right level of sophistication. I've had a handful of instances where players feel their character is too complicated or too simple, but that's been the exception.

On the monster side, I have some gripes about the design of complex monsters -- they tend to give DM's a lot of suboptimal choices. I wish complex monsters had fewer, more impactful options. Regardless, the 5E Monster Manual is one of my favorite D&D books, and I have good feelings about the other monster books, too.

 

[Sithlord]

This thread isn't feeling like much of a "celebration".

Anyway...

As someone who has DM'd about 200 sessions of 5E, it plays really easily from my side of the screen. Adjudicating actions is so, so simple. Everything is basically an ability check (with a few minor variations). If a check is situationally easier or more difficult, you just declare advantage or disadvantage. It makes rulings at the table quick and easy.

Most of the complexity is in the character and monster abilities. Characters seem to be built at about the right level of sophistication. I've had a handful of instances where players feel their character is too complicated or too simple, but that's been the exception.

On the monster side, I have some gripes about the design of complex monsters -- they tend to give DM's a lot of suboptimal choices. I wish complex monsters had fewer, more impactful options. Regardless, the 5E Monster Manual is one of my favorite D&D books, and I have good feelings about the other monster books, too.

When they give dragons back their spell progression like in 2E and 3E i will agree. Dragons feel neutered to me and not versatile enough. Still bad ass damage but neutered. But other than that mostly everything else I agree with you. And it is an easy fix to me. I just give them the spell slots and abilities out of my 2E or 3E monster manuals. I am an advocate for bad ass dragons that are the fathers of magic that taught mankind the magic the the fae were smart enough not to teach mankind.

 

[Jaeger]

his thread isn't feeling like much of a "celebration".

The current cultural upswing in popularity D&D is experiencing might be quite different in tone if WOTC had double-down on the 4e design paradigm.

What is great about 5e, is that in spite of its flaws it seems to hit a sweet spot for the majority of the hard-core fan base, and its system doesn't get in the way of popular acceptance for casual fans.

 

[Sithlord]

The current cultural upswing in popularity D&D is experiencing might be quite different in tone if WOTC had double-down on the 4e design paradigm.

What is great about 5e, is that in spite of its flaws it seems to hit a sweet spot for the majority of the hard-core fan base, and its system doesn't get in the way of popular acceptance for casual fans.

I wish they would have just let the healing system. And the fighter class is the only class that i think could have been converted to 5E without ticking off too many fans. Sorry but the wizard had to be converted back traditionally. Most likely the cleric too. But the warlock could have been more like 4E, not that it doesn’t take A lot from 4E. Short Rest abilities are basically 5E encounter abilities

 

[Seramus]

I have no idea. I mean it. Popularity is probably the biggest attractor, since it's the game most people know when you are trying to find a group to play with. But why did D&D retain popularity over the likes of Shadowrun, World of Darkness, Battletech, etc? Mismanagement? TSR also had plenty of that. So what quality is it about D&D that keeps catching people's interest beyond popularity? Just a really lucky combination of factors that are just right, compared to competitors that are also just right, but not quite as often? Maybe those same factors are the ones that Video Games take advantage of? That's possible. We can see that Video Games are hella popular with most people when you get rid of the nerd stigma.

But mostly? It's just a big question mark to me.

 

[Sithlord]

I have no idea. I mean it. Popularity is probably the biggest attractor, since it's the game most people know when you are trying to find a group to play with. But why did D&D retain popularity over the likes of Shadowrun, World of Darkness, Battletech, etc? Mismanagement? TSR also had plenty of that. So what quality is it about D&D that keeps catching people's interest beyond popularity? Just a really lucky combination of factors that are just right, compared to competitors that are also just right, but not quite as often? Maybe those same factors are the ones that Video Games take advantage of? That's possible. We can see that Video Games are hella popular with most people when you get rid of the nerd stigma.

But mostly? It's just a big question mark to me.

Iconic name brand. We love name brands and the shared experience of doing what others are doing for some reason. I imagine hp and leveling are more popular to the masses than many would like to admit. And as has been stated before only having to learn a small subset of the rules at a time is probably helpful. Only need to know the rules of your class and level when u begin.

 

[Seramus]

Iconic name brand. We love name brands and the shared experience of doing what others are doing for some reason. I imagine hp and leveling are more popular to the masses than many would like to admit. And as has been stated before only having to learn a small subset of the rules at a time is probably helpful. Only need to know the rules of your class and level when u begin.

Those are things several other games at the time also had. There was a time when Battletech was the iconic name brand, and then a little later on where Vampire: the Masquerade was bigger than D&D (though Battletech won the video game war). Maybe they suffered from a less sustainable business model? The endurance prize certainly goes to D&D these days (though there are still Battletech and Vampire products floating around).

 

[Sithlord]

Those are things several other games at the time also had. There was a time when Battletech was the iconic name brand, and then a little later on where Vampire: the Masquerade was bigger than D&D (though Battletech won the video game war). Maybe they suffered from a less sustainable business model? The endurance prize certainly goes to D&D these days (though there are still Battletech and Vampire products floating around).

I pretty much agree except d&d blunderingly destroyed themselves in the video game market by not understanding it and driving away people that wanted to make a good video game for them. Battletech is awesome imho