Posted by Dalfort on 2014-09-11 16:52:43

I started with AD&D 1st Ed, fought with a player about moving to 2nd Ed (which was foolish as it was fundamentally the same just had better indexing and layout) so after that I embraced 3E and its upgrade to 3.5. I downloaded a pdf of 4th Ed "Preview" that they were trying to sell for £20 and the first 17 pages that I read were 60% "I am really grateful to work at WotC and on D&D..." crap! and then came the things like "At Will" "Daily" powers that bore no resemblance to the game I had being playing for 20+ years...

So I signed up for the D&D Next and received the play packs, read them and gave my feedback when I was asked for it... Ashamedly, it basically said why did you change 3(.5)E? (there was more detail, but not much!) So if the new system proves to be worthy of investment then please thank the other 17,000 odd people that gave real feedback and let me know so I can find a pdf eventually... (I found that I really enjoy Pendragon a lot when 4th Ed came out so it wasnt all bad!)

Posted by mister__joshua on 2014-09-11 17:21:50

I picked 5th edition up last week. I've not been following the playtest stuff (we dropped DnD after one session of 4th edition and haven't been back since).

What I've read so far seems really positive and I'm loving it. It's moved away from the (to me) horrible board and figures approach and gone back to 'theatre of the mind' which is how we always played anyway.

We won't be playing it for a few weeks most likely as I need to read all the rules. By then I'll have the MM as well. I'll send you some feedback if you like?

Posted by Verminardo on 2014-09-11 18:39:09

Well I'm more of a Drama Queen, er, Dramatist, I moved on from (A)D&D to Star Wars d6 and then WoD and onwards from there, never looking back, but on the RPG forums I see the following responses: It's really well done; it is simpler than 3E or 4E; some things are reminscent of OD&D and an obvious nod to the OSR guys; the Lost Mine of Phandelver is a very good scenario; it's still too much like 4E; it's not enough like 4E. ;o)

Posted by JackassRampant on 2014-09-11 19:34:25

Haven't seen it yet, waiting for the community to settle on a perspective TBH. Happy with 3.5, was horrified by 4. Will go to 5 eventually if it's more like 3.5 than like 4.

Posted by mister__joshua on 2014-09-11 20:19:19

It is. Already it is. If anything its further from 4th than 3rd was. We were really disappointed with 4th. Didn't even play one full game before knowing we didn't like it.

Posted by the_Sage on 2014-09-11 20:22:06

4th was a great combat system (and very little else). Introducing a decent tanking mechanic made fighters useful. I'm much more a fan of 3.5 myself. Haven't tried out 5th yet.

Posted by pythrr on 2014-09-11 21:38:03

4th was nonsense -- the very fact you use the term 'tanking mechanism' indicates that you have no idea what real RPGing is.

made me want to ehume GG and whine to him about the young people ...

Posted by Verminardo on 2014-09-11 22:38:19

Oh oooh, somebody knows what "real" RPGing is like, hear, hear.

Posted by Loew on 2014-09-11 23:51:02

Yea, let's fight about real RPG! /me fetches popcorn (and I don't even like popcorn much)

What I heard / read sounds like a strange blend of oldschool AD&D and modern story-oriented systems like FATE.
It is supposed to make munchkin / Min-Maxing of charakters more difficult, generally character shouldn't become half gods as easily as in the previous editions.

Oh, and the art and layout get a lot of praise, which may be enough reason for me to pick it up, even if it is unlikely that my group(s) will start playing D&D again soon

Posted by Foad on 2014-09-12 00:19:58

This thread to me reads "My whore of a wife murdered my beloved child a few years ago and I left her. I have been happy since, and have found someone new who is supporting and wonderful, but now she said she's changed and wants money, so I'm probably going to leave my current partner and go back. Can anyone who was screwing her when I was with her, and is now screwing her again offer advice as to if I'm doing the right thing?"

Posted by mister__joshua on 2014-09-12 00:51:24

Haha. I love that. But, in-keeping with your analogy, I'm only with the new person cos she sort of reminds me of my wife, the good bits at least. She has her own flaws but is overall a nicer person. BUT the ex-wife really HAS changed, it's not just talk. You still love all the same things about her, only now she's less murdery.

Posted by Arktoris on 2014-09-12 01:52:45

I pretty much moved on to Stormbringer and Pathfinder. However, if I were to write modules, I'd suppose I'd go with D&D to maximize sales.

Posted by pythrr on 2014-09-12 04:57:25

less murdery is a good thing

Posted by SvenS on 2014-09-12 06:38:09

It seems ok so far. The main drawback with 4th was the focus on tactical combat was taken too far (and thats me liking tactical combat saying it!), making RP and story forgotten.

5th is so far much more basic (though they will add optional rules for more complex fights etc later) which makes it more fun again.

As always its up to you what you make of it though! ;)

Posted by Tymless on 2014-09-13 03:25:36

I started back in 2nd Edition. It has always been my favorite. But lately I found a site where I could download all the books and manuals for free. So I have been downloading every 1st through 4.0 books. So I have been reading an amazing amount lately. I think all but 4.0 have been great and would play any of those. Reading random things from each edition has been fun lately. It has been making me want to try an online version on irc with a dice bot and the ability to side message your dm. But I just can't figure out enough time for me to do it. Maybe my idea can get attention and I could help someone else do it. And finally, I just started reading 5.0 and it looks great to me even though I can't afford to buy them so I have only got so far into 5.0.