D&D General What if D&D 5E Was Released in 1974?

[Willie the Duck]

5e is such a product of its time, it is leveraging a lot of DnD's history, without that, a few of the choices will seem, well, weirder.

That's a good point. For example, the paladin, as it is now, is a product of the paladin coming out originally and then things like antipaladins, 'paladins of another alignment' Dragon Magazine articles, people playing paladins as 'lawful stupid' or 'good but not nice' or a bunch of other things. Without having gone through the connected dots of that evolution, people new to the game might wonder what this weird Oath more than religion divine half-caster martial class was or why it was worth making one of the main classes. Same with why there are Sorcerers and Wizards (something modern gamers sometimes question).

 

[Sacrosanct]

In 1974? I would vote more. D&D, despite claims it was the first ever TTRPG, was not the first in the wings. People were coming up with RPG ideas outside of just Gary and Dave. so the market of people interested in such a game was still there.

But the main reason I voted more in 1974 is because back then you couldn't play unless you had someone already experienced teaching you. You had to have and be familiar with Chainmail. There was no way someone new to RPGs would pick up the OD&D box and know what to do. It was a giant mess.

Whereas the 5e Basic rules are easily read and understood. You wouldn't need work of mouth and existing experienced players to learn it. Anyone could pick it up and start playing.