D&D General What editions of Dungeons & Dragons do you like?

[NaturalZero]

I mostly want to take the pieces I like from the editions I've played and slap them onto 5e.

 

[DemoMonkey]

I mostly want to take the pieces I like from the editions I've played and slap them onto 5e.

I know! It's just so frustrating that The High Council of Gaming prevents us from doing that.

 

[Shiroiken]

I'd say 5E is by far the best edition. I grew up with and played both AD&D during childhood, so they'll always have a place in my heard. I liked 3E and 4E initially, but they had fundamental flaws that I just couldn't overlook.

While I wasn't a huge fan of it, BECMI really should have been included. It's technically the longest running edition of the game.

 

[Weiley31]

I mostly want to take the pieces I like from the editions I've played and slap them onto 5e.

I know! It's just so frustrating that The High Council of Gaming prevents us from doing that.

I'm pretty much doing this with Pathfinder 1st Edition/3.5 by slapping some 5E esque House Rules into it.

 

[Umbran]

So, if someone I felt was a good GM invited me to play in a game of any of those editions, with a decent group, sure, I'd play. Insofar as that's the case, I like them all.

 

[aco175]

A lot of the games, mostly in older editions depended on house rules to make them work better for every home game. I do not know many people that played 2e with death was at 0HP and not -10. Even 5e has had some older house rules creep in over the last few years.

 

[Alzrius]

While I wasn't a huge fan of it, BECMI really should have been included. It's technically the longest running edition of the game.

It's not quite the longest-running edition, but it's very close.

BECMI began with Frank Mentzer's Basic Set (the "B" in "BECMI"), which, presuming I have my dates correct, came out on May 1st, 1983. After this, the absolute latest I can find a BECMI-compatible product coming out from TSR is Troy Denning's The Classic Dungeons & Dragons Game: Epic Adventures with Wizards, Dragons, and Magic!, which came out on either May 2nd or May 4th, 1994 (I've seen conflicting listings). So BECMI lasted almost exactly eleven years.

(If you don't count that introductory boxed set as the ending point, then the last BECMI product would be the Poor Wizard's Almanac II, published on December 1st, 1993.)

By contrast, the AD&D 2E Player's Handbook came out in February of 1989, with the Dungeon Master's Guide following in May of the same year and the MC1 Monstrous Compendium Volume One following in June (I can't find exact release dates). Since the last AD&D 2E product was Die Vecna Die! (June, 2000), that means that if you start counting from when the PHB was released, AD&D 2E just barely edges out BECMI by a few months.

Please note my use of affiliate links in this post.

 

[Ath-kethin]

<snip>I'd be hard-pressed to ever play 2E or AD&D again because I find the negative AC system to be too much of a roadblock to any sort of enjoyment. 3E cleaned up just so much rules kludge that I just wouldn't be able to go that far back anymore.

I should clarify that I play Rules Cyclopedia mostly with my 7yo and occasionally my neighbor or their kid. I replaced the combat matrix and AC system with an ascending AC and hit bonus system derived from it's numbers.

So even though my 7yo can add (and subtract) negative numbers, I decided to make it easier on everyone.

Frankly, changing that matrix is less impactful of a house rule than many I've employed.

 

[Azzy]

I've liked all the editions od D&D that I've played (which includes every edition except OD&D, Holmes BD&D, B/X BD&D, and 4e D&D). There are some that I look back upon less favorably (like 3.5), but I'd play any edition given the right group of people.

 

[loverdrive]

4E was hands down best edition ever. It felt like it was actually designed by people who had a vision and knew what they are doing and also it had the best default setting ever.