Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Akrasia" data-source="post: 1821571" data-attributes="member: 23012">My frustrations with 3E have to do with the following: (a) The long and tedious "prep time" (this is my main irritation).  It takes forever for me to write up the stat blocks, research the relevant feats, spells, special abilities, etc.  Indeed, prepping for sessions has become a complete chore -- I dread it.  With earlier editions, I used to really enjoy planning adventures; now it just feels like work.(b) The number of different variables I have to keep track of as a DM during the game itself (viz. the many different monsters' and NPCs' various skills, feats, special abilities, spell effects, etc -- things get really cluttered behind my DM screen sometimes!), which only get worse as the level of play increases (a level 12 campaign must be a logistical nightmare; I found myself burning out around level 7 during my first 3.x campaign).(c) The frequent slowness of play (mainly during combat -- I have come to have a passionate hatred of AoOs, 5-foot steps, etc. -- but at other times as well, e.g. often when spells or special abilities are involved, or some rule that specifically deals with a rare situation that we have run into needs to be looked up). (d) More generally, by quantifying everything, and leaving so little to DM judgement, I sometimes feel as though all the rules in 3.x D&D get in the way of the story.  (And of course, for players who enjoy the tactical aspects of 3E, that may be just fine; but I guess I am closer to the "narrativist" camp here than the "gamist" one, or whatever.) As a player, only (c) and (d) would be significant factors, but with a DM who was sharper and more knowledgeable than myself, these problems could likely be overcome. I used to play Rolemaster back in the day, and IMO 3.x D&D is every bit as cumbersome as that system.  Indeed, with its reliance on feats, it seems even more cumbersome.  Now if I were still in high-school, with loads of spare time to study the rules and prepare for gaming sessions, that would be fine.  But as someone who loves FRPGs (mainly for the role-playing and story-based aspects of the activity), and who has a full-time job, I have had it with DM'ing 3.x D&D in the future.  Now I certainly would be willing to play 3.x D&D again with a good DM.  I can imagine that it would be great with another DM far more into the "crunchy" aspects of 3.x D&D than I am (e.g. someone who enjoys statting up NPCs, applying new templates, etc.).  But I have to realize that, as a DM, I am a 'rules lite' person, and so will never run a 3.x D&D campaign again.   :\   (And in fact, I am in the process of "converting" my D&D campaign to a "rules lite" system right now -- in this case, Castles and Crusades, or actually C&C but with some 3.x D&D elements thrown in.)</blockquote>

Verification