Why do people still play older editions of D&D? Are they superior to the current one?

[billd91]

"Why do people still play older editions of D&D? Are they superior to the current one?"

YES---but that is strictly my opinion. I bought the three core books of 5e...mainly because people said it was like 2e. I started reading 5e..it felt good, brought some nostalgia...then it veered off quickly and I completely lost interest. Mainly because it's hard to teach an old dog new tricks I suppose. A half hour of reading is not a fair assumption for 5e--clearly people dig it, and heck, I might even dig it if I found a group or had the patience to re-learn rules....

Hopefully you'll get a chance to give it a good test. It is, by far, the most 2e-ish D&D since 2e and we've been able to settle back into our 2e-style of play with it fairly easily.

 

[Malrex]

Hopefully you'll get a chance to give it a good test. It is, by far, the most 2e-ish D&D since 2e and we've been able to settle back into our 2e-style of play with it fairly easily.

Maybe one day. I'd be open to it. But I am VERY skeptical about it being like 2e. The reason is I have tried 4 different people now who play 5e to try and convert my 2e adventures to 5e. All gave up...one said it was 'impossible'. So if it's impossible to convert an adventure, not sure how it would still feel the same.

 

[5atbu]

It's not at all impossible to convert, just don't try to make it an exact fit.
Look at the options in DMG to dial the grittiness of the game a little.
Practice balancing encounters to your players, 5e does softball things a bit, so dial up the opposition until you get the sweet spot.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

It's not at all impossible to convert, just don't try to make it an exact fit.
Look at the options in DMG to dial the grittiness of the game a little.
Practice balancing encounters to your players, 5e does softball things a bit, so dial up the opposition until you get the sweet spot.

Hmmh... I am not sure this is good advice in general. Instead you should look at each encounter and compare how the monster has changed. I converted night below and just used every encounter as is. I made some npc´s that tried to be faithful to 2nd edition npcs regarding class and equippment.

Here is what I´d do now:

- ignore the npc levels and class. Instead find matching npcsin the book. They are easier to run and more balanced for a single encounter
- at level 1, don´t use plate armor on the opposition. Too high AC makes the game stale/swingy. Instead embrace the slightly higher HP as main enemy defense. Same goes for saving throws.
- divide every magical item bonus by 2 and round up.

- monster´s might be quite different in power level. A death dog of 5e is worth several death dogs in 2e for example. So adjust numbers to make it a good match for your party´s power level if you think the combat in the adventure was also a beatable challenge.