D&D 2E Yup, it's confirmed, 5E is the easiest version to run since 2E.

[Icon_Charlie]

Funny, my grandfather said the same thing about the 50's and 60's. Told us youngin's the 70's and 80's needed to slow down. Disco?

I'm probably closer to your Grand Father's age. So yea They indeed made a similar quote. But then again Things to me did not sped up until 1976 when we had a massive recession + economy similar to what is going on today. I can look back on the 60's, 70's, 80's, (and so on) and see the changes to our USA lifestyle. Thing really sped up when society got plugged into the internet, then again cell phones, then smart phones and so on.

Add the cost of living of today and compare it to past and now and you will find that people in this time period need to put in more hours to live their lifestyle. This means less leisure time.

To be honest generally speaking when people now want to rp, they want a casual game, not a crunchy one.

Back then we had crunchy games. Like Chart Master! (Role Master) Chivalry & Sorcery, The Fantasy Trip (one of my favorites) Traveller, (very crunchy) and so on.

But you have to remember that IMHO the beginnings of the game mechanics of RPG games derived from Miniature Board Games of that era, when I played Napoleonic Miniatures on a actual 4x8 sand table!! We contoured our hills dug out our roads and lightly sprayed it with water to pack it firm. Very cerebral, in rules and in tactics.

Then over the years RPG games evolved to what you have now. Nothing wrong with that as well.

5ED game mechanics are very easy to learn and if it brings more new blood into the realm of RPG games then I'm all for it.

Added. I wanted to post this URL here. In a nut shell it is about productivity vs pay for that productivity.
This is important as money can = freedom = leisure time = to do as you damn well want to do. This supports my comment. People working in this era do not have the buying power as in the past. and this means you have to work more to keep what you have.

You guys are essentially overworked with less time on your hands. Generally speaking, the last thing that most people wants to do on what is left of their leisure time is something that reminds them of work.

5th ED is casual gaming like board games. Casual gaming, not cerebral crunchy gaming.

And I am a proponent of anything that brings in more people into the realm of RPG's, since I believe it builds imagination and character.


The article is from the Atlantic web site.
The name of the article in question is - Why the Gap Between Worker Pay and Productivity Is So Problematic
The URL is - http://www.theatlantic.com/business...ay-and-productivity-is-so-problematic/385931/

This is just informative reading. Enjoy.

 

[GX.Sigma]

Now, if you didn't devote half your adult life to running D&D before 5e came out, running it is very, very hard. Running 4e, as a newbie, for instance, is night-and-day easier than trying to run 5e out of the box, if only because the encounters balance so neatly in comparison (and that is far from the only reason).

As someone who started DMing 4e as a total newbie (and then didn't DM again until the D&D Next playtest), I strongly disagree. Encounter balance has nothing to do with it; we didn't even understand the 3 types of actions, 3 types of powers, 4 defenses, healing surges, second winds, action points, cover modifiers...

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

it's the first edition since 2e that I've bought ;-)

so yeah, enjoying it myself for the same reasons

Ditto for me.

 

[Gizmoduck_5000]

I haven't run 5E, only played. But I can already tell that it will be much quicker and easier than 3 or 4E. Converting old adventure modules has been a breeze so far.

 

[Tony Vargas]

As someone who started DMing 4e as a total newbie (and then didn't DM again until the D&D Next playtest), I strongly disagree. Encounter balance has nothing to do with it; we didn't even understand the 3 types of actions, 3 types of powers, 4 defenses, healing surges, second winds, action points, cover modifiers...

So having already learned those things in 4e, you find it easier to re-learn the subtly (and not so subtly) different 3 types actions, 7 or so types of powers (spells, slots, attacks, cantrips, ki powers, totems, manuevers, etc), 7 defenses, Hit Dice, second wind, action surge, arcane recovery, expertise, mastery, adv/dis, proficiency, &c of 5e?

Sure, there's a learning curve for entering the hobby. If you think 4e strained you a bit, be thankful you didn't start with AD&D or 3e or Rolemaster or something....

 

[Mark CMG]

That is because back there society and lifestyle was a LOT slower. People had time to work and create with whatever gaming system that they had on hand, which in many cases were far more complex then they are now.

Most people today's society do not have the leisure time as they had back in the 70's - 80's.

Today it is the too fast paced, always on the go mentality.

I was born in the early 60s and have been a gamer (of all stripes) since the early 70s, yet I do not find this to be true. I'd have to also say that advancements in technology have made things easier by far: wrangling games, creating setting elements, running games, etc. I have more time now but in any given hour of time I can get hugely more done in regard to learning games, running them, and creating stuff for RPGs.

And 5th ED is easy to use.

I agree with this though, in and of itself. But I've mostly been a core rules guy who used almost no house rules ever, and I have never found any system all that tough to run. I've almost always used my own setting since (O)D&D and I guess it is easier now to do so than ever because 40 years of work has already gone into it.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

I agree it is easy to run, as that is one of the design focuses. There is no way for 2nd edition, or AD&D to compete as those games did not have the huge advantage of hind sight.

I prefer something like 4E that was also simple to run, but had more depth and a consistency to the rule base.

More or less exactly my perspective on the matter. 4e was very simple--and also ported a lot of the complexity to the player side--if a DM took advantage of all the tools available, especially the Monster Builder. Yes, this meant paying for a subscription, but the tools were worth the money. Once we got the MM3-on-a-business-card, you didn't even really need the MB, except as inspiration for special abilities (and I'd hardly call that a need).

5e simplifies a lot of different things than 4e simplified. It also plays faster and looser with a lot of things--DCs are just scaled by 5s, monster balance is substantially more approximate, class balance is substantially more approximate, etc. I see it as the difference between two numerical solutions to a problem: one has more inner workings but is more precise (like an RK4 approximation) while the other is less resource-intensive but also has wider error bars and higher sensitivity to things like step-size changes. Both work; both will get you comfortably close to the "correct" answer. One is just more...rigorous than the other, and with something as aesthetic and personal as gaming, not everyone wants rigor.

My Pathfinder games would run as quickly as my current 5E games. Though I do think that less "system mastery" is involved in being able to maintain quick running.
The possible downside of this for 5E is I'm still not sure if 5E will continue to offer fresh experiences 18 to 36 months from now.
The narrative, of course, will be just as diverse. There is no difference whatsoever because that part isn't between the covers of any game.
But if the game doesn't deliver enough mechanical diversity to satisfy making a vast range of narratives constantly feel distinct, then it will wane for me. I've seen hints going both ways, so far.

Yeah, this is a concern of mine as well, if I ever get invited into a 5e game. I'm big on mechanical hooks and exploring a mechanical space. (For example, I love the fact that many races work in substantially different ways in the game Endless Legend--even bog-standard humans have special tricks.) I've played Dungeon World for a long time now, and playing in such a light system has sharpened my preference into hunger. I'm not sure 5e would prove satisfying, mechanically, in the long term. Just as you say, the narrative satisfaction would probably be just fine--but that's not defined by (though it might be informed by) what's written in the books.