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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Shardstone" data-source="post: 7866107" data-attributes="member: 6807784">I think a more true statement is that 5E is more accessible because of its very heavy promotion on stories and fantasy archetypes. 5E makes no qualms about what it is - that being, it is Dungeons & Dragons, a fantasy game where you emulate heroes and other cool characters and do fun, adventurous things. Speaking as someone of this current generation, who was exposed to 3.X and 4.X, neither of those games had the same effect.The intent was always there. Every version of Dungeons & Dragons has attempted to do the above. But they have always bogged things down in a lot of very minute rules and, more importantly, a lot of math. When I say a lot of math, I mean a lot of +1s and +2s and -1s and -2s that you had to do for every die roll (in 3.X). This is very inaccessible; having to have a running sheet of modifiers and video game-style builds takes a lot out of the immersion, and thus gets in the way of D&D's core premise: being a game where you make adventurous fantasy stories.4E itself, the rulebook I mean, lacked a lot of flavor. It was a great game for character builds and all that, but I don't think the average tabletop gamer - or even the average person, if I may - is very interested in builds. They're more interesting in making a cool character and doing cool things.5E has the advantage in that every ability is given some kind of fluff, the packages don't take much thought, the math is very simple/quick, and it is very upfront about what it is trying to do.I think the only time Dungeons & Dragons was this accessible was Moldvay Basic, where the game was even more simple. But I think the complexity of modern D&D is more attractive to a wider audience; it makes you feel as if you have more agency and pitches a bigger tent all around.TL;DR - 5E has adopted story game philosophies to become the biggest edition in the game's history.</blockquote>

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