D&D 5E Why do you play 5e? What game did you come from?

[sleypy]

As a DM I followed the path of 1e/2e -> 4e -> 5e. As a player it 4e -> 5e -> 3.5/PF/5e. I actually started playing PF and 3.5 after 5e. One group voted for 3.5 when I wasn't there. The other, I was the only person who didn't vote for PF. Most of my 5e fix comes from online gaming.

Edit: Only answer part of the question. The reason I play 5e (or want to play 5e) is because it is the best version of D&D I have played. There is very little I dislike. Feats have been the most unpalatable thing about newer version of D&D, but I like how 5e has handle them.

 

[ChrisCarlson]

Garfield: "You talk funny Nash. Where you from?"

Nash: "Lots of different places."

I've played countless systems over more than three decades. You name a popular (and some not so popular) system, and I've probably given it a twirl.

 

[Shiroiken]

I've played every edition of D&D except OD&D. I cut my teeth on 1E AD&D, dabbled in BECMI, moved (reluctantly) to 2E, then 3E, 3.5, and 4E. Touched on Pathfinder and OSR Retro-clones, but nothing quite did it. I would say the system I came from was D&D Next, which was the playtest. I stopped all other RPGs so that I could concentrate on the playtest. I would easily say that 5E is the best system for me, but even then I modify the hell out of it (giving it more OSR feel).

As for why I play D&D, it's because it was my first RPG. It has name recognition, so it's easy to pick up a game either at a con or a new city. I like a few other systems better, but they don't have the broad appeal, and at least one is long out print (making gettin new players a real pain in the...).

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

Before 5E, I'd been on hiatus since the waning days of 2nd edition. Quit around the Skills and Powers era because I didn't like the direction TSR was taking their books. Dabbled with GURPS in the meantime, played a couple of 3E computer games, played some Shadowrun, but for all intents and purposes, until I tried 5E I hadn't played any (A)D&D since 1997ish. Obviously they did a good job from my perspective, good enough to reel me back in.

There are things I like about GURPS (especially the GULLIVER ruleset), but the thing that attracts me to D&D is twofold: classes and levels, and powerful magic (Fireball!). I've tried building those things into GURPS but it never really worked out right.

The thing I like about classes and levels is that it constrains your choices. In a completely point-buy system, it's too easy to optimize. You can make a 50-point GURPS character (think 0th level) who can practically destroy the world if you let her spend points freely; in practice the suggestion is that the GM constrain how you're allowed to spend your points, charging Unusual Background costs for weird abilities... what happens in practice is by the time you create formal structures for how point-spending is allowed, you've recreated the idea of classes, poorly. To put it in computer science terms, 0/1 knapsack problem is more interesting than the unbounded knapsack.

Practical example: look at 5E wizard specialties. Not all specialties are created equal, and if I could freely choose abilities from any specialty, I'd probably take Portent at level 2, Undead Thralls at level 6, Focused Concentration at level 10, and Illusory Reality at 14th. Not only is that kind of incoherent from a roleplaying standpoint, but I didn't have to make any agonizing decisions! If I pick Portent in 5E by RAW, I have to be a Diviner, which means I can't get Undead Thralls, but I could focus primarily on being a Battlemaster fighter and just use Diviner 3 for some extra defense and a familiar and Portent, etc. Not only do class limitations (vs. point-buy) enforce flavor, they also make chargen more constrained and therefore a more interesting optimization problem. Point-buy systems don't, so that's one draw of D&D.

I don't think I need to say anything about magic and Fireball. D&D has strong and interesting magic, and GURPS does not, and that's that. (My experience with Shadowrun probably made it easier for me to accept the 5E concentration mechanic though.)

 

[S'mon]

When I started my 5e game I was running 4e and Pathfinder, this is still the case though the PF game will end soon. Subsequent to starting my 5e game I also started a Classic D&D game. The 5e game is a successor to past 4e & Labyrinth Lord/Classic campaigns set in the same area.

 

[the Jester]

I play 5e because it's sweet and sexy and fast. Came most recently from 4e.

 

[Psikerlord#]

Came from 13th Age, after getting sick of 4e (played 4e for about 3 years?), before that 3rd, and before that 2nd edition. This is on and off over the years of course. Played a fair bit of Shadowrun in between, and some other systems in the 1990s (Werewolf and so on).

I have fondest memories of 2e and 4e and Shadowrun. But 5e is my new favourite. I have come full circle, back to "theatre of the mind" style play (with no minis or tile sets), quick fights inc random encounters, easy improv/rulings and most important of all - custom rules (eg: we use expanded injuries table, customised feats) - and it's wonderful!

 

[Agamon]

That's an interesting history- and you wrote WotC-era... were you around for the TSR times?

I have to ask, why the skip from 4e to 1e to 5e?

Not that unusual, I don't think. The OSR movement picked up a lot of steam in the late 00's. Like I stated in my post, I went from ACKS, which is a B/X clone, to 5e, having played 4e and PF before that (and 3e before that, 2e before that, 1e, blah, blah, blah).

 

[JohnLynch]

I "came from" Pathfinder. The reason "came from" is in quote marks is because I do still play Pathfinder. 2 years ago I moved interstate and left two gaming groups. One played 4th edition while the other played Pathfinder. After moving I played various different games, none of them regularly. Pathfinder is the one I've kept abreast of and potentially played it the most. When 5th edition came out I started playing that regularly. However I'm now moving back to my old city and will resume playing with both of the gaming groups from 2 years ago. The 4th ed group has moved onto 5th ed while the Pathfinder group has continued playing Pathfinder. I'll be playing both.

Why 5th edition? Technically because it's what one of the group's will be playing. But it, along with Pathfinder, are my games of preference. I enjoy it because it is rules light and is easy to quickly throw something together to run a session with. The rules are fairly robust and are also quite right which means a lot of character concepts can be realised with a minimum of rules. It's also a modern ruleset and uses modern sensibilities (unlike some OSR clones which are more faithful to the older styles of rules) but with a ruleset that helps engender that old school feeling. That said I do still enjoy Pathfinder as a rules heavy game.

 

[thalmin]

I started with the Holmes Basic D&D set, then moved to AD&D 1st Ed., 2E, 3e, 3.5, 4e, Pathfinder, Alpha testing Next Ed., Beta testing, further alpha testing, then 5e.
My campaign world started with the beginning of 2e, revised and restarted each time for 3, 3.5, Pathfinder, Beta test, further alpha, and finally 5e.

Along the way I've dabbled in Runequest, Dragonquest, Chivalry and Sorcery, Paladium, OD&D, and a few more systems whose names I have forgotten. I also played for a couple years in Islander using some unpublished rules.

Why 5E? It captures a lot of the flavor of 1E, with a smooth, simple set of rules.