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Why I’ll Be Playing 5E D&D for the Foreseeable Future

Hey folks Nerdarchist Dave here and I’ll be discussing Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition today. We have already done several articles on D&D 5E this one is going to be more about my experience with Dungeons and Dragons over the years and why I’m really loving 5th edition. As of right now I only have the players handbook, the Basic Starter Set, and some free PDF downloads from Wizards of the Coast which can be gotten- here

Below is the first video Nerdarchy did about the Dungeons and Dragons 5th edition PDF download.

5th Edition Dungeons and Dragons Is Here, Let The New Edition Wars Begin!

OK I admit it we sensationalized the title a wee bit with the edition wars thing. I am not an advocate for edition wars in D&D or any other table top role-playing game. Frankly I’m just going to say it EDITION WARS ARE BULLSHIT! Honestly I’ve been gaming with D&D since I don’t know when. I always say I started when I was 11, but it could of been earlier. My first experience was either with the Red Box basic set or Gamma World. The thing that makes me think I started gaming even earlier than age 11 was the fact I modeled my Gamma World character off of the Flash Gordon movie.

He was basically a hawkman, but one problem he had a mutation that made him like 30 ft tall. With that info in hand I Googled the release of that movie well it came out in 1980, 34 years ago I would of been 5. I remember watching the movie on HBO so it would of been out for a while. Long story short I could of been gaming for more than the 28 years that I claim, but hell who’s counting anyway.

Now to the Dungeons and Dragons Red Box Basic Set. My Neighbor Ian Wilson an older kid who probably doesn’t even know what he started that day. He came banging on my door with this bright red box in hand. I remember us being in my living room sitting on the floor using the couch for a table. He opened the very first D&D box set I ever saw there were a couple of books and a hand full of funny shaped dice.

Here is release time line D&D over years with it being sectioned of according to were I am in my D&D journey.

Such a small insignificant encounter. Who knew it would shape me for the rest of my life. Now back to why I say Edition Wars are so stupid. Years later I’d start gaming regularly with 1st edition dungeons and dragons. At some point we shifted to 2nd edition AD&D not even sure how or why that came about. Bare with me it was a long time ago. What I do remember was the build up to and launch of 3.0 Dungeons and Dragons and I was in awe at what I was seeing.

 

I loved the snippets Wizards of the Coast was releasing in their Dragon Magazine at the time. The game looked so new and exciting. We were going to have character creation choices like never before. One problem very soon after the release WOTCs was saying they screwed up some things you guys are going to have re-buy your books. I know this made a lot of folks unhappy.

I kind of just took it with a grain of salt. They realized there were some things that needed fixing so they were going to fix them.We enjoyed this version of the game for quite a few years

Next we have 4th edition Dungeons and Dragons which again I was excited to see the next evolution of the hobby I so love. At first I really liked what 4e was, but I started playing it and after while there was a certain kind of sameness to everything in the game that left me feeling a little lack luster at the time. Grant it 4e introduced some great concepts into the game- getting rid of dead levels, combining skills, passive checks, ritual magic, and mages that never ran out of magic to name a few. This version while I played it and had fun was missing something for me.

(Here is the D&D wiki timeline for easy reference or you can go to the actual web page here)

This completely opened the door for our group to move away from D&D completely. We discovered another game system and started running all kinds of games in Mutants and Masterminds.

I was only even vaguely aware of this thing called D&D Next. Before I go any further let me point out one important fact I had fun playing every version of the game. There were different parts I enjoyed from each one and I never felt like I had wasted my time.

Now this brings us back to Dungeons and Dragons 5th edition if not for this launch, if I’d gone back to D&D it would of been as a Pathfinder player I’m sure. But WOTC has saved the game for me with 5th. This Edition of the game feels like an amalgamation of every version I’ve ever played of Dungeons and Dragons and some how WOTCs has managed to cherry pick the best parts of each edition. I’m amazed at how well they’ve put it all together.

You get the simplicity of earlier editions with out losing the choices and customization I’ve come to love from 3.x or Pathfinder. They’ve even managed to add in a couple of new mechanics that really enhance the game-

Inspiration- A mechanical reward for role-playing your character

Advantage/Disadvantage– A new and unique way of mechanically adding a little suspense to die rolling. Replacing static +/- bonuses for circumstances

Backgrounds– A great way to flavor your character and determine things like a minor feature/benefit, starting gear, and proficiencies

I believe every thing else has been ported from earlier editions of the game. Feel free to weigh in down in the comments on your favorite edition of the game.

Remember no matter what version of D&D you are playing just go roll some funny shaped dice with your friends and have fun.

 

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