D&D General What do you actually like about D&D?

[Micah Sweet]

OD&D.

I like the fact that it gives me a simple set of basic mechanics and gets the hell out of the way. "Here's basic character generation, a simple combat system, some spells and some monsters and some treasure. Add imagination and go apeshit." Remember, the spell research rules came BEFORE the spell list.

AD&D 1E - I loved all the world building stuff in the DMG. (The Random Harlot Table makes perfect sense to anyone who ever read Fafhrd and the Mouser.)

Hated everything since.

I can respect that.

 

[Guest 7042500]

A young friend who cut his teeth on 3rd edition played in my OD&D world half a dozen times and went out and bought the PDFs.

When I asked him why, he said, "if I say I want to sneak up behind the guard and knock him out, you roll dice, it happens or it doesn't, and we get on with the damn game."

 

[Lanefan]

For Level Up, I appreciate the effort that has gone into giving DMs the tools to build awesome worlds in 5e, particularly the exploration and travel rules .....

If you like the travel rules there, have you checked out the Middle Earth version of 5e (I forget who put it out)? That system goes quite deeply into travel, downtime, and so forth; and expects a much slower narrative pace where you briefly go adventuring maybe once or twice per in-game year and the rest of the time is downtime and-or travel.

 

[Micah Sweet]

If you like the travel rules there, have you checked out the Middle Earth version of 5e (I forget who put it out)? That system goes quite deeply into travel, downtime, and so forth; and expects a much slower narrative pace where you briefly go adventuring maybe once or twice per in-game year and the rest of the time is downtime and-or travel.

I have, and I love it too.

 

[mamba]

I have, and I love it too.

Which one are you talking about, this one?

The Lord of the Rings™ Roleplaying - Free League Publishing | The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying | DriveThruRPG.com

The Lord of the Rings™ Roleplaying - Return to Middle-earth with The Lord of the Rings™ Roleplaying, a brand new adaptation of the works of J.R.R. Tolkien

www.drivethrurpg.com

 

[pogre]

I like the large player base.

It's my favorite zero to hero rpg.

It's easy to build a long term campaign.

Those are the ones specific to D&D - my rpg list of things I like would be much longer.

 

[Eyes of Nine]

I wish I had the time to read through this entire thread so far. I appreciate @Warpiglet-7 said "like" about D&D. I don't love the game, but there's lots I like about it, which is why I am running 2 games, and playing in a 3rd and 4th.

For me:

• Lots of different ways to play (with minis, totm, vtt, paper/pencil, and probably other styles I don't even know)
• Network effects - there are lots of players, which means it's probably the one I'd play more of any way
• Lots of support in the form of many adventures/campaigns across all editions including OSR et al
• Speaking of OSR, Lots of different versions of D&Ds to fit pretty much any flavor (note, I consider most OSR and NSR some variant of D&D, at least in spirit and mechanics if not in name)
• I like the lore of the D&D-type fantasy of things like Forgotten Realms and Golarion and Greyhawk.
• I like the multi-planar cosmology

 

[Vael]

Specifically about 5e ...

I do like that this is the most accessible version of DnD I've played (started with 3.5). Compared to 3.5 and 4e, the system plays faster and lighter and is way easier to manage. Less modifiers and lack of flanking means Theatre of the Mind works better here, I was always pulling out the minis in earlier editions. And in general, I've found this a way easier version to bring new players in.

 

[jmartkdr2]

For me, 5e DnD makes all the right compromises. It isn’t great at much on the surface, but it does a pretty good job at a bunch of different things, like being crunchy enough and narrative enough and having enough gonzo and enough detail.

But the secret brilliance of the game is that it can do all of these things at once. Not just ‘it can be several different games in different campaigns’ - it canbe all these things in the same campaign. That’s amazing when you think about it.

Also it’s robust: you can mess with it a lot without breaking it.

 

[payn]

For me, 5e DnD makes all the right compromises. It isn’t great at much on the surface, but it does a pretty good job at a bunch of different things, like being crunchy enough and narrative enough and having enough gonzo and enough detail.

But the secret brilliance of the game is that it can do all of these things at once. Not just ‘it can be several different games in different campaigns’ - it canbe all these things in the same campaign. That’s amazing when you think about it.

Also it’s robust: you can mess with it a lot without breaking it.

There is something to be said for everybody's second favorite RPG.