What’s old is new again, almost magically. Back in 2009, the people around me were falling in love with Pathfinder–particularly for the slimmed down rules contained in one core book. It felt like a reset–a chance to get back to the core of D&D adventure in a way that had been obscured by D&D’s extensive publishing throughout D&D 3.5.
Pathfinder’s trying to capture that feeling again, with a new Core Campaign that resets player options to the core rule book. It’s a chance to create characters and go through modules again without extensive cross referencing and feat lookup. It’s also a slick way to extend the life of older Pathfinder Society modules, opening them up to play by another character for each player. I’m interested in seeing how the experiment works.
D&D 5e Publishing
The new edition of D&D is slimmed down to the core three rulebooks, a GM’s screen, and a few adventures. The only announced product for the next several months is Princes of the Apocalypse, an adventure scheduled for April. There was speculation about an Adventurer’s Handbook, but it was canceled. It sounds like Wizards is planning on publishing a lot slower in the new era–which should keep it “feeling core” a little longer.
D&D 5e and Pathfinder Core in your hands
While I’m looking forward to running some different games at our upcoming Bookwyrm Con (I’ll be tackling Kingdom and Psi*Run), I’m playing a lot of D&D and Pathfinder recently. I’m curious though: are the readers of Gnome Stew playing much D&D and Pathfinder these days? Will the Pathfinder Core announcement lure you back?
Specifically, I’d love to hear about the following things:
- Have you DMed D&D 5th Edition yet? If you did, have you run a published adventure or your own?
- Have you played D&D 5th Edition?
- Have you DMed Pathfinder in the last two years? Played?
- Does Pathfinder Core sound like something you’d like to run or play in?
My answers:
- Have you DMed D&D 5th Edition yet? If you did, have you run only published adventures or designed any adventures of your own?
I’ve been running a lot of D&D–but it’s almost all been prepared material, either Hoard of the Dragon Queen for Encounters, Lost Mines for both my home group and as an Encounters placeholder until March, and the D&D Expeditions. For some reason, I haven’t felt the doodle my own world and scenario call from 5e yet. - Have you played 5th Edition?
Yes, though I’ve run much more than I’ve played. I enjoy character generation and the backgrounds; Hogarth is my Adventurer’s League Warlock. - Have you DMed Pathfinder in the last two years? Played?
I’ve run barely any Pathfinder for the last few years–just specific scenarios, no campaign. I’ve played more often–a couple of short campaigns plus some Pathfinder Society games. - Does Pathfinder Core sound like something you’d like to run or play in?
Pathfinder Core is pretty well tailored to my personality. I’m enjoying a lot of game systems recently, sacrificing the system mastery that Pathfinder’s been good at encouraging with their extensive releases. Pathfinder Core seems to demand less mastery of rules, which might be more welcoming to new and casual players.
I’m very interested in hearing which branches of D&D have people excited these days. I’ve seen a few groups break out their old first edition D&D books and teach new players interested in exploring the older systems. One of the GMs who runs at the store is updating the Temple of Elemental Evil from 1st edition and running it for his 5e players before the new Elemental Evil adventure comes out.
Please let us know what you’re playing these days!
I have played both Pathfinder and 5E in convention/one-shot games. I’d play in either system again, as long as someone else is DMing, and there is someone else at the table to help me all the little fiddly bits.
I run Basic Fantasy RPG and have no plans to switch over to any newer systems. I bought the 5E PHB and it’s too much system for me. If they put out a MUCH more streamlined version, well, then I might look at 5E again. Not hating on the system, please don’t think that. Just not for me.
That’s interesting to hear! I guess that the rules of 3.5 permanently adjusted up my expectations, since 5e felt so streamlined against my expectations.
If 5e is still not streamlined enough for you, I’m surprised you can even stand to look at Pathfinder in any way. The system mastery requirement being so high.
Have neither run nor played 5E yet. I do have an active Pathfinder character. I’ve got no intention to ever run either game, actually.
My current GMing plans are to run TimeWatch as soon as I can get people together, and Lords of Gossamer and Shadow and Razor-Edge of Fate (the latter an ADPRG reskin designed for playing demigods in the modern world done by Kit Kindred and John Lees) in March at Ambercon.
Ambercon–I’m jealous! I always vaguely wanted to go, but never scrambled to make it happen.
Is Razor Edge published, like on DriveThruRPG or in print? Or is it more a notes type conversion?
Ambercon is loads of fun!
Razor Edge is not published. Kit and John made beautiful handouts for the session I played in (Ambercon 2012) — a one-page sheet that explains how the rules are different from standard ADRPG / LoGoS, and a 20 page booklet which explained the background of the world. Kit once told me that he and John did a 2.0 version of the rules before John died in 2013, but I’ve been happy with the version I have. I’m still hoping that Rite Publishing will make it available as a LoGoS mod at some point, I think it’s an elegant system and wish more people were using it.
Totally lied about that, I have the 2.0 rules and used them last time I ran the game. Stupid brain.
Sounds like a good booklet. Is it passed around in person only, or available somehow?
I got them straight from Kit, and still get his permission to use them each time I run the game. As far as I know I’m the only other person who has run it.
But as I said, I’m still hoping it gets published!
I’ve become a slow-adopter in my middle age. I am currently running a Pathfinder campaign, which we only started playing 2.5 years ago. Some of that group (but not me) are dedicated PFSociety players/GMs, so it’s possible that I would get roped into PF Core sometime. Society somehow doesn’t light my fire, so it’s not something that appeals to me at all.
I have played 5th D&D just twice, and I am definitely intrigued with that. I haven’t bought any of the books, but I might sometime this year or next.
How many books are you using for your Pathfinder game? It’s possible that core has little appeal because your group never went crazy with the supplements.
Are you thinking of GMing 5e, or do you have someone who’ll run for you?
Have you DMed D&D 5th Edition yet? If you did, have you run a published adventure or your own?
I’m running two home-brew campaigns in 5th Edition and I am a huge fan.
Have you played D&D 5th Edition?
I have also played 5th edition, and starting a new campaign as a player this Saturday.
Have you DM’d Pathfinder in the last two years? Played?
I have also both played and DM’d Pathfind in the last two years. Once 5E came out, I can’t see myself playing Pathfinder again. There are way too many mechanics and rules and it has been my experience that mechanics-heavy games tend to attract players who want to spend most of their time manipulating the mechanics. Whereas, I prefer a more Role playing experience where the mechanics support the role play.
Does Pathfinder Core sound like something you’d like to run or play in?
I wouldn’t necessarily be opposed to it; although, I would have to be talked into it. I am of the opinion that 5e just flows better.
I’m glad to hear that you’re running your own 5e game; I haven’t met a lot of people playing their own game. I know that I never bought modules in 1e/2e days, so it’s go to hear that some people are keeping the world and adventure building side alive.
I’ve DM’d 5e since the Basic Rules came out. During that time I’ve not run any of the published adventures; however, I’ve taken bits & pieces from them – a few encounters – to use in our home campaign, set in Eberron.
I’ve not yet played 5e, although I would like to and will when presented with the opportunity. I am my group’s GM most of the time, and I was the one who brought 5e and 13th Age up as options I’d run in place of Pathfinder, and the group chose 5e.
I’ve played and GM’d Pathfinder extensively since it came out. Our group used it exclusively for years, running multiple home campaigns and Adventure Paths. Half of our group got so burned out on the rules and rules-bloat that we split to go with 5e, while the others, more fans of that style of play, are still using PF.
I think PF Core is a really good, and simple, idea. I remember when we went with PF in 2009 after choking on 4e for a while and experiencing a great sense of “wow!” around the table. One of my players put it well when he said that it “felt like DnD again.” Sadly, as we all played PF over the years and our characters added levels and the rules grew and grew, everything at the table slowed down. Some of us really hated that; others loved those fiddly bits.
All that said, I think I’ll stick with DnD. It’s the original. I’ll probably pick up some of Paizo’s fluff books for story ideas – they’re great at that – but I don’t see going back to a ruleset that is at its core more crunchy than what I prefer.
Is your Eberron game a continuation of a game (set in the same world) you started back in 3rd edition?
Good luck–I hope that you do get someone to run 5e for you so you can play.
A friend was telling me about 13th Age earlier this week and it sounds interesting–very streamlined, with cool story hooks. I’m sorry that, at least locally, Numenera’s release overshadowed it so badly.
Have you DMed D&D 5th Edition yet? If you did, have you run a published adventure or your own?
I’m running a 5e game right now that has been going for about 6 months. I just finished Lost Mines and am about to go on to self generated material.
Have you played D&D 5th Edition?
A couple of Expediitons modules for AL. I have a paladin for that.
Have you DMed Pathfinder in the last two years? Played?
Neither.
Does Pathfinder Core sound like something you’d like to run or play in?
I don’t have any interest in Pathfinder anymore. Still a fine game, but too heavy for my interests these days.
Very cool. When the starter box came out, I thought I’d follow your path, but got derailed by Encounters and finishing up some other games.
Good luck with your own material now that you’ve hit the end of Lost Mines. I’m curious to see how long term play and GM scenario development goes–it seems like they’ve given us great tools.
my group just wrapped up a two-and-a-half year Pathfinder campaign, set in a custom setting, wherein i played an elven inquisitor. it was tremendously fun, but we’ve decided that pathfinder is just too weighty for us.
i’m running the next campaign in D&D 5e, in a custom setting known as the welded world. we’ve poked at 5e enough over the last year via the playtest and a few one-shots to like the system, and the first three sessions of the new game have been good. combat moves fast, its easy for the DM to adjudicate on the fly, and there’s plenty of room for fun role-playing.
Sounds like fun! Does the Welded World have the stock classes in the PHB, or did you have to do a lot of adjusting to get the world specific feel you were aiming for? Were you able to keep most of the changes to the backgrounds section of the rules?
I’m glad you’re enjoying the roleplaying–it’s one of my favorite bits. It’s easy to lose and great when it’s active.
the elevator pitch…
Last year, a party of adventurers sought to prevent a cult of insane archmages from completing a dark ritual. Known as The Weld, the purpose of the ritual was to bring all the worlds and planes of the multiverse together and fuse them into a single domain.
The adventurers falied. Four of the Seven Heavens of Celestia came to rest where the Whitecrown Mountains once stood, across the Fen of Sunken Tombs from the Infinite Abyss. The Nine Hells now lie upon the Desolation of Nazara, south of where the City of Brass burned a sea of molten glass into the desert. Vast seas of elemental water flooded the Underdark of the world, raging through caverns and tunnels until they met the Howling Pandemonium and the continent above was shattered.
The campaign begins in the small town of Bakerstone, near the Free City of Greyhawk.
the campaign includes everything in the PHB, plus several races (genasi, modron, warforged) and backgrounds (planescape factions) which i converted for 5e.
First off…**yoink!** Consider that idea stolen!
Second, out of curiosity, was Welded World inspired by the “just one plane” cosmology idea in the 5e DMG?
Third, it might be fun to run a version of that in which the world that was welded was our Earth.
its actually a second campaign concept which i started laying out a year ago, in case the group didn’t bite on my first concept (they didn’t). the welded world is a much more chaotic place than the ‘one world’ vision; there’s not just one domain of elemental fire, but thousands of intrusions of varying size scattered across the world.
That’s even cooler, actually.
I agree, it’s a fun concept. And if the intrusions wax and wane, you can have burning desert one month, followed by it dissipating into a perfectly level plane as Modrons manuever around.
Have you DMed D&D 5th Edition yet?
No, but I’ll be beginning Hoard of the Dragon Queen with my regular group this weekend. I’m likely to stick with published adventures for the time being.
BTW, we finished the Phandelver campaign this weekend…the Black Spider encased our toughest fighter (the noble pre-gen character) in webbing. The fighter worked a hand free and used all the charges remaining in a wand of magic missiles. A stream of magic arrows thudded into the Drow’s sternum, and he slumped to the floor with a shocked look on his face.
Have you played D&D 5th Edition?
Yes, I played through the Phandelver campaign as the Dwarf cleric. My son ran it; he and I plan to stick with D&D for awhile and trade DM duties back and forth. If we switch, it will be to something quite different from D&D (both in ruleset and genre) such as a FATE espionage campaign we’ve discussed with our other players.
Have you DMed Pathfinder in the last two years? Played?
I’ve played through the starter set one shot. I liked the system, but wasn’t in love or anything. Definitely preferred the mechanics to the mechanics in Star Wars Saga Edition, which I was running for a regular group at about that time.
Does Pathfinder Core sound like something you’d like to run or play in?
I wouldn’t run it, but would probably play if invited.
It sounds like you brought your son up right; it’s good to have a new generation of GMs ready to entertain us. 😉
Good luck with Hoard; that first night is a doozy. It may be hard to balance all of the heroism they want to accomplish with the limited resources of first level.
We started with WEG Star Wars when he was 11, I think. He’s an aspiring worldbuilder, which is why he handed me this campaign after he bought it.
And yeah, Greenest In Flames is a tough one. I won’t be playing it exactly as written and plan to have the Sanctuary encounter occur early so that if they’re successful they’ve rescued a life domain cleric (albeit a low level one) who can provide additional healing. I may also just ditch the rats.
– I’ve been running a 5E game since the Starter Set came out and used the included Lost Mines adventure as a springboard. The system is pretty streamlined, especially compared to 4E. I’ve used some old TSR and WOTC modules from older editions as well as some homemade adventures. Having fun and the party just got to 6th level.
– Hoping to play some 5E when another player takes over DMing for a couple of months and let’s me rest and recharge.
– Haven’t played an Pathfinder in over four years, don’t really miss it.
– Nope, 5E is doing great. If not 5E, then I’ll offer to run 13th Age or Numenera for my group.
Sounds like your campaign is going great. It’s good that you’ve got a player lined up to give you a break–too many GMs don’t have that luxury.
Hope it keeps going well! How much are you adjusting the old modules? Just replacing monsters with their equivalent in the Monster Manual, or not even that?
For old modules, I’m substituting monsters to keep the challenge about right, then reskinning.
So, in the Eye of Gruumsh (3E module), I used 5E yeti for Orogs (underdark orcs) as the 5E orogs weren’t quite the right challenge.
Sorry, I’m just tired of buying new books and trying to absorb small rule changes. I’m sticking with 3.5 and am just going to incorporate interesting parts of 4.0, 5.0, Trailblazer and Pathfinder – at least the rule changes I incorporate I can remember easier, and if they don’t work we just go back to the original rule(s).
Sounds like you’ve got something that works great for you and your group. Are you playing other non-D&D derived games too (so the differences are large), or mostly fantasy via D&D 3.5?
Have you DMed D&D 5th Edition yet? Not yet. I still need to purchase the game but it is at the top of my to do list.
Have you played D&D 5th Edition? Nope. At the top of my roleplaying to do list though.
Have you DMed Pathfinder in the last two years? Played? No for both and I probably won’t in the future. While I liked 3rd Edition and liked Pathfinder when it first came out, I have completely fallen out of love with both and find them to be needlessly complex. While I think the core mechanics of the systems are pretty solid and a lot can be done with them, I would need to rip out too much and/or rewrite too much for it be worth my time.
Does Pathfinder Core sound like something you’d like to run or play in? Actually, YES! About a year ago I had looked at joining and playing in the Pathfinder Society and the rules system pretty much turned me off from it. Being able to play in a Core only game will make me reconsider playing in Pathfinder Society.
It sounds like they hit the mark for you with their new Core idea. I suspect it falls in a weird space–people who like Pathfinder, but fell out of like as the rules spiraled into complexity. Finding those people, and hoping they’re still receptive to Pathfinder developments, seems tough. I hope it works!
As far as Pathfinder Society goes, yeah, it will make a huge difference. I was honestly hoping they would do more with Pathfinder Basic but it doesn’t look like they will.
Have you DMed D&D 5th Edition yet? If you did, have you run a published adventure or your own?
I have not run D&D 5e, but I own all the books and have reviewed the DMG.
Have you played D&D 5th Edition?
Yes, I have been playing in a 5e campaign for a number of months now. We’re moving through RoT.
Have you DMed Pathfinder in the last two years? Played?
Yes, I also play in a Pathfinder campaign, and before that ran for years.
Does Pathfinder Core sound like something you’d like to run or play in?
I could care less about Pathfinder Core and D&D 5e both. I don’t need less in my RPGs, and if I do, I can rule which books are in use myself. (I do see the value for con and organized play, it’s just not my thing.)
I’m also currently running a game of The Strange as my main improv campaign, which I would put a bit further over on the story-gaming continuum than 5e. This is for context before my statements below.
I’m going to voice an unpopular opinion here. In my opinion, 5e is the Honda Civic of RPGs. It goes from A to B, does what you need, but is pretty damn uninspiring.
They’ve done an excellent job of simplifying the game for new players, but they’ve also failed to seed much originality in the process. 5e brings almost nothing new to the table, but it DOES bring many newer things to the community at large, which is a good thing. I look forward to welcoming all these new gamers, but I hope they will take a good look around and realize how much else is out there that came before. We’re in an RPG renaissance right now and D&D 5e is just the tip of the iceberg.
Personally, I will stick with Pathfinder with all its options for our crunch based fantasy, and games further over on the story continuum like Cypher System games and Dungeon World for that type of gaming.
D&D 5e is like a Goldilocks porridge.. not too hot, not too cold… but I think it really needs some salt, syrup, or something.
It also very much seems that they have increased the power curve in the lower levels with all the buffs to spells, short rests, etc. I can’t help but think this is to lure Pavlovian-trained MMO players into the field. I can’t really fault them, but it felt tired very quickly to me. This is an age of having everything we want right when we want it, and I see this reflected in 5e.
All just my opinions. We’re all here to play games and have fun – I’m not trying to start a flame war or anything, just represent my demographic. Game on! 🙂
Glad you’re enjoying 5e, Pathfinder, and more. I agree that there’s never been a better time to scratch almost any gaming itch you have; Kingdom and Microscope are collaboration on a scale that still impresses me. (I’m getting very excited about Primetime Adventures returning too!)
Thanks for the heads-up!. Hadn’t heard of those! Microscope looks especially interesting.
John has a nice writeup of playing Microscope. My experience with Kingdom has been positive–I really want to try out a few sessions worth of linked story.
Have you DMed D&D 5th Edition yet? If you did, have you run a published adventure or your own? – I’ve DMd Lost Mines of Phandelver, and it was great. I think it’s the best Starter Set module yet created, and overall was more enjoyable than Hoard of the Dragon Queen (although I haven’t finished Hoard yet…see below).
Have you played D&D 5th Edition? – Currently playing Hoard of the Dragon Queen. It’s been good…we’re enjoying it…but so far I like LMoP better.
Have you DMed Pathfinder in the last two years? Played? – I’ve played in one ongoing Pathfinder campaign over the past year+. It’s currently winding down (one final wrap-up session).
Does Pathfinder Core sound like something you’d like to run or play in? – Probably not. Since I just took up 5e, and like it a lot, I won’t bother trying yet another new system. All future home games will be 5e.
I also really liked Lost Mines as a module; I’ve got two different sets of players working their way through it. Hoard had a few tricky scenes–I get as a GM what they were trying to do, but it didn’t always match the format [Encounters] very well.
Have you DMed D&D 5th Edition yet
I have! As I mentioned in the comments for “Fifth Edition D&D, a few months in,” this is my first time ever running a game.
If you did, have you run a published adventure or your own?
I’m currently running a group through The Lost Mine of Phandelver, and we’re having tons of fun! (Well, I am, and the players at least say they are.)
Have you played D&D 5th Edition?
I started out playing the D&D Next playtest with a different group and have continued with them through the release of the final rules.
Have you DMed Pathfinder in the last two years? Played?
I have never played or GMed Pathfinder.
Does Pathfinder Core sound like something you’d like to run or play in?
Honestly, D&D 5e scratches my fantasy RPG itch, so I feel no compulsion to seek out Pathfinder. If, say, the group I’m currently playing 5e with (as a player) decided to switch to PF for an adventure, I would do it just because I like gaming with them, but I certainly wouldn’t be the one to suggest it.
Not that you asked, but if I’m going to play or run another game, I’d rather it be something in a different genre. Number one on that list would be the superhero genre, and I’m most interested in trying Icons, BASH!, and/or Supers!
Switching genres is important; it helps me avoid burnout when I’m GMing. I find that switching rules types (from something complex to simple or vice versa) also helps. From the games you list, it sounds like they’d be that kind of a switch.
Congratulations on joining us as a GM! I’m glad that that your game is going well, that you’re not finding it hard to continue.
I haven’t run or played 5e.
I have run Pathfinder in the last two years. I have not played in any Pathfinder games. Pathfinder Society is an excellent way to meet new players but the format is not to my liking for long-term play.
I like keeping the rules bloat down in my games as much as possible. Core works for me in that regard. I’ve trended towards rules lighter in my last ten years and it’s a trend I see continuing.
That said, I am completely fried on High Fantasy, Epic Fantasy, or whatever else you want to term D&D and all its offshoots as. I certainly loved it for a very long time but after 30+ years we are on a trial separation.
I’m much more into sci-fi right now, along with some other uncommon genres like pulp, westerns, and historically based role-playing settings. Savage Worlds of Solomon Kane is about as close as I can come to fantasy right now and it is definitely in the Sword and Sorcery mold. Something like Conan’s Hyboria might work for me as well.
Did you read a lot of Conan? I’ve heard good things, particularly about the ones that Howard wrote (instead of his imitators), but never settled in to read him. My new book list is so long…
Original Conan and Solomon Kane are well worth reading. The stories are rather cliche now, but they still have a great vibe and feel to them that I find is great for recharging your mental batteries for RPGs, fantasy or not.
Primeval Thule looks like they are trying to capture a lot of that feel also.
http://www.sasquatchgamestudio.com/
Howard’s original Conan stories are some of the best fantasy fiction in existence, and the three Del Rey trade paperback collections are the best way to read them all. Rather than follow the format of the original pulp editors or the later mass market paperback compilers, they went back to Howard’s original manuscripts and placed them into the order he wrote them. The new art is gorgeous, and the extras are nice.
I’ve also read their release of Solomon Kane, which I enjoyed to a slightly lesser degree, but I have yet to read the others (Kull, Bran Mak Morn, etc.).
I have read the Del Rey trade paperback collections. Robert E Howard was an excellent writer. Some of the inferences found in his stories are certainly a product of his times. Some have called him a racist. I prefer to think of him more as prejudiced and sexist in his viewpoints. Great stories though. I’ve read a lot of fantasy/sword and sorcery writers and I’m not sure anyone captured the essence of heroic fantasy better than Howard did.
It’s really unfortunate that so many stories from that era contain the culturally ingrained prejudices of the time. (H.P. Lovecraft and Ian Fleming are two of the other worst offenders I’ve read.) It’s easy enough for me to shrug through my embarrassment and say, “Well, they’re products of their times,” but I can only attempt to imagine how non-white and/or non-male audiences must feel when they read them.
That said, they’re still really fantastic, and that’s the only real caveat I can give to someone before checking them out.
I have been playing 5e, first time I have played D&D since I was in middle school, I love the system! I was a D6 guy for a long time because I like simplicity could bring new players in very easy. I am no playing a weekly game of rise of the dragon whatever and it’s ok, the DM isn’t the best which really is the big reason but its also very linear when the game allows for SO much player growth, we’ve been puttering for months now (real time) and I still haven’t been able to get to a decent town! I started running a home-brew campaign using 5E and the first session was awesome, one of the best experiences I have had, as a DM i loved how quickly I could get new players in the mix and push things forward with out getting bogged down.
That sounds wonderful–I’m glad 5e is hitting the right marks for you! It’s also good to see you building your own world; I like Lost Mines and enjoyed Hoard well enough, but it’ll never be tailored to the characters at the table as much as a story a GM at the table crafts.
Good luck with your campaign!
Have you DMed D&D 5th Edition yet? If you did, have you run a published adventure or your own?
Yes I have. I have done both, but am mainly running my own city-scale adventure in a bustling and bureaucratic port city called Port Hyacinth being assailed by a mysterious, dead-god worshipping cult.
Have you played D&D 5th Edition?
Just once. I want to play more. A lot more.
Have you DMed Pathfinder in the last two years? Played?
No. Pathfinder is far too crunchy for my tastes.
Does Pathfinder Core sound like something you’d like to run or play in?
Though it does make the game sound more appealing than a bog standard game, I would still rather stick to other systems principally.
Another home campaign, excellent! Port Hyacinth sounds like an interesting place. Do your heroes get licenses to adventure?
Thank you. I actually decided against giving adventuring licenses in the setting, but that is due in no small part to the fact that a majority of the plot has revolved around allying and working with the constabulary.
Probably getting in on this a little late, but what the hey.
Liked the basics of 3.5, but hated how all the crunch felt like legal briefs. It’s why I never picked up Pathfinder, which seems to need one to retain the services of a Rules Lawyer Firm (Gnome and Gnome, Rules Attorneys at Law?).
Was excited for 4E, but quickly became not excited when I learned it was basically an MMO for the tabletop. I don’t like MMOs, like, at all, so I never bothered with this edition.
Having said all that, I’m super happy with 5E. I’ve only played it once, haven’t had a chance to run it, but I have the PHB and MM and I’ve read them both a lot. I was skeptical, but they really seem to have combined the best parts of all the previous editions and given people room to do their own thing. It is so good I am seriously considering starting a new campaign. I’d have to find/build a group from scratch, and remake all the tiles I gave away, and probably buy some minis too. So I’m not in a rush. Still, it has me tinkering (and writing some stuff too).
Welcome to 5e. I’m glad that you found a game worth tinkering on–and hope a new group coalesces so you can show it off.
I was out of gaming since 1991, when a friend suggested starting up a 5e game a few months ago, right as the starter set was coming out, so I’ve been playing in that group since then. We can’t meet very often, so we’re still going through the starter set adventure 🙁
However, I had so much fun getting back into D&D I started DM’ing a session for my wife and kids at home and we play almost weekly. I’ve used mostly published adventures – old 1e, 2e and 4e stuff that I’ve converted. I’d love to see more published adventures for 5e.
I was out of gaming for a long time, so I missed the whole 3e, 4e, and Pathfinder releases. Based on some friends’ comments, I really wasn’t interested in going back and trying 3e or Pathfinder – it just seemed like way too much system bloat with all the splatbooks. Besides, I am having fun with D&D 5e and if I try a new game, it will be in a different genre like superheroes, Star Wars, Shadowrun, etc.
That being said, if I was going to get started in Pathfinder, I would definitely go with the new Core rulebook.
Welcome back! Congratulations on bringing the game to your family. The next release is another big adventure, in early April, so they’ll have you well supplied.
Speaking of Princes of the Apocalypse, I have a question. My group is nearing the end of their first adventure, and so I’m trying to figure out where to go from there. I don’t feel confident enough yet to come up with my own adventure, so I was thinking of using either Tyranny of Dragons or Elemental Evil. That said, both of those adventure paths are intended for PCs starting at level 1, and my players will be at level 4 or 5 by the time we’re done with The Lost Mines of Phandelver. Providing they most definitely want to continue on with their current characters, can anyone point me to any tips on how to adjust adventures accordingly?* (I know that Hoard of the Dragon Queen has one encounter in the beginning that is supposed to be unwinnable for the party due to their low level.)
*Obviously, I know there is nothing specific yet for the as-yet-unreleased Princes of the Apocalypse, but perhaps some more general tips could help.
Either manually level the enemies, swap out monsters for monsters with appropriate CRs for the party’s current level, or just assign quick and dirty bonuses for attack rolls, HP, and damage.
I suggest the following:
The only problem with skipping to Episode 4 is the fact that the PCs would completely miss out on the events in Greenest, if I’m not mistaken. I’ve read/heard about the Cyanwrath encounter, and it’s absolutely one of the things I’d love to see how my players would react to it.
Hmm… in Encounters, that was a very tricky encounter, since it’s not really intended to be a fair fight at all.
To adapt it to 4th level characters, if you wanted the same feel, he’d have to be upleveled pretty crazily to make the same impression.
In general, you could probably jump into the first three encounters and not change a lot–just eliminate the rests and breaks, stacking difficulty on difficulty.
For guidance on taking Hoard in a less structured direction, check out Sly Fourish’s Greenest in Flames, Raider’s Camp, etc.
For a bold, “inspired by” take on Hoard (that might work even better for your experienced characters), check out Detect Magic’s hdq Remixed. The specific post on Factions has ideas that you could raid for the transition between Lost Mines and Hoard.
I have no desire to play or run 5E, but people I know say they like it a lot.
I am currently playing in The Rise of the Runelords. This was a campaign that was supposed to be solely based in characters in the rulebook but from day one was infested with player characters from various supplements. It has made the mechanics of the game much more complex and requires lengthy on-line rule searches for ephemera in-game that was supposed to be not an issue.
So I would be all over a Core Campaign like nobody’s business.
It’s all about what you’re into/used to. From what I understand, Pathfinder has a much crunchier, more rules-heavy system than D&D 5e, which makes it good for people who really enjoy simulationist games. I started off playing a homebrew that was very roleplay-heavy and not as concerned with the mechanics before moving on to Vampire: The Masquerade. (Let’s be clear; the combat in Vampire is really not one of the main draws.) D&D 5e tries to split the difference, and I think it does a great job. However, if you love Pathfinder as it is, I don’t think you’ll get anything out of 5e you aren’t already getting.
Roxysteve: It does sound like they promised an essentially core campaign, but it’s slipped. I suspect that’s the reason Core will work–it’s not that GMs can’t say no, but that many don’t want to. Adopting a more limited format, you can gesture at the rules.
Sorry that the mechanics have turned more complex than you’re enjoying! How far along are you? A parallel campaign (maybe of something wildly different…) might keep the roleplaying enjoyable, while giving you a break from the unexpected crunch.
I’ve DM’ed a couple of games, all pre-made content. Loved the Lost Mine as an introduction for some new gamers.
I haven’t been able to play yet, though I’d jump at the chance.
I haven’t DM’ed for Pathfinder at all, though I play online with an old group from college because it is still their system of choice.
Core only matters for organized play, which I have no desire to try again. I can’t say I really see the point in restricting choices in a game all about system mastery. It sounds like the worst of two worlds to me.
I really can’t get myself to care about D&D anymore. Now that I’ve actually really looked at some other games, I really can see that D&D never was really a good game to begin with and that whole d20 idea was clearly a step into completely the wrong direction.
I would play probably any edition of D&D if invited to a game, but I don’t think I’ll ever going to run it again. If I am to run again, I will pick the game. And it won’t be D&D or any of its clones.