D&D General What Is Your D&D Survivor Edition?

[AmerginLiath]

Keeping 1st edition AD&D means keeping the original Gygax DMG, the greatest RPG book ever created. The answer was simple…

 

[Marc_C]

None. I would keep Fantasy AGE.

 

[Oofta]

Let's see, pre-3.x it would be mostly a nostalgia vote for me. The ideas were there, but the execution was uneven and some of the ideas just didn't hold together. With 3.x they tried to hard to make a "precise" game. I preferred the ascending math, and enjoyed the benefits you could get from doing effective builds (although I never looked at optimization templates). But it was just too finicky and started to fall apart at higher levels. With 4E they continued trying to fool proof the system and for me I think they went too far while rushing the game's release. For me, it lost the spontaneity that makes D&D what it is. That, and it just took far too long at higher levels; single rounds could easily last an hour or more.

With 5E I feel like we're given a more solid basis than older editions, while still maintaining that sense of flexibility and freedom. No game is perfect of course, but 5E checks a lot of boxes.

 

[Richards]

This isn't just a hypothetical for me: I'm still playing 3.5 and have no desire to change. I literally have enough 3.0/3.5 material to keep me gaming for the rest of my natural lifespan, so I'm sticking with it.

Johnathan

 

[TwoSix]

4e, because I can play any other style of D&D with it and the combat is more engaging.

 

[aco175]

I also chose 3e. Mostly I remember when it came out and changed everything leaving me thinking why they did not do this earlier. It was such a refreshing system that left a mark on me.

I think if I picked 1e/2e it would be just from a nostalgic point of view. 4e was fine and 5e works fine as well, but in a survivor war, I feel 3e was it.

 

[Eltab]

Basic. Because I want a simple ruleset I can teach to grade-school kids, get them interested in the game, play an adventure or two, and sow the seeds for the next generation of D&D players.

 

[jgsugden]

Basic. Because I want a simple ruleset I can teach to grade-school kids, get them interested in the game, play an adventure or two, and sow the seeds for the next generation of D&D players.

I taught my 5 year old son the basics of D&D - using 5E. He is in kindergarten. I think the 5E might be a bit more complex, but they're also a lot better written. The ease of understanding the rules is probably very close to eqivalent.

 

[Musing Mage]

1e here for me. I have some appreciation of each of the various editions for different reasons, but 1e just has 'something' that the others lack. It's more than merely nostalgia, it simply has a magic to it that I can't quantify, and no other edition seems to manage. (For me, at least)

 

[Ath'kethin]

I'm another vote for the Rules Cyclopedia. It's super easy to play, easy to learn, and easy to just swap in other rules (like dis/advantage) as desired.