Has That Good Old Feeling Returned?

I think I like 5E more as I see more of it.

When I first started playing Basic D&D, I was hooked immediately and it only grew from there.

It slowed down during the middle era of 2E. They released so much stuff that you couldn’t keep up unless you played a campaign every other day and had a job that would pay for all the books and still somehow had the time to read those books.

Then 3E came and reinvigorated the game.

And then 4E hit and ruined the game for me. And no one can tell me I didn’t give it a fair chance. I ran a campaign from level 1 to 15 (I think, it’s on the blog here somewhere), so I gave it a good try.

5E has not undone all that damage.
I still don’t trust Hasbro/WotC, nor do I care for Mike Mearls’s style, but the path they’ve currently set for the game I’m seeing some positive things.

They are not making a new sourcebook every 1-3 months.
And I am totally ok with that.
1E only released modules every month. Heck, unless I’m getting my 1E & 2E books confused, they released less than a dozen 1E AD&D hardcover books.

With 4E they glutted the market with a new hardback book way too often. In fact, it gave players so many damn options some players would want to switch PCs every few weeks.

Release player options too slowly and players get bored. Release them too fast and some DMs will get frustrated when their storylines get shredded from constantly changing PCs. (Yes that has happened.)

(Side note: 5E definitely needs some monster manuals. We need some variety in foes badly.)

As for the 5E hardback modules, I’m not particularly impressed.

This isn’t nostalgia talking, but I’d rather have a small paperback module with a basic premise and plot given, and let the DM fill in the rest as needed, than a $50 hardback module full of art and options and sweet looking maps.

Give me just what I need and I’ll do the rest. Not a novel that fills in every nook and cranny of information.

(Unless it’s a starter adventure that helps new players and DMs figure the game out.)

“Didn’t you run a giant module called the World’s Largest Dungeon?”
Yes, but it was 15 modules combined into one super-module, each with its own personality and feel. And those regions were filled with little more than basic guidelines to get you going. You fleshed out the rest in the manner you saw fit.
Some of the best times we had in the WLD were when I modified a region to fit my style of DMing.
You really can’t do that with a novel module. They’re set up a certain way, and if you change one thing, it may impact other things.
I’d rather just make up my own stuff.

So 5E modules aside, the potential for 5E is looking very good.

The rules themselves so far have not detracted from the game.
With 4E you had to work your game around the rules all the time. If you changed one rule, it impacted everything. (Want to remove sliding? That kills probably half powers in the game.)
With 3E you had to work your game around the rules at higher levels. If you changed one rule, you had to be careful how much it would impact other rules and options. (Want to nerf a feat? Be careful it’s not going to impact other feats and abilities.)
With earlier editions, the rules were there, but not in your face. If you changed a rule, you had to maybe slightly adjust another rule. (Wave your hand and the rule goes away. It’s only a problem if a player doesn’t like it.)

5E is giving me hope that the rules are back to being malleable, and that is refreshing.

While 3E was fun, and even aspects of 4E were too, it’s time for the rules to step aside again and allow us to run our own games as we see fit.

A couple weeks ago, after my first 5E campaign session, everyone seemed happy and that there was potential there in the game. It was a different kind of energy that hasn’t been at the table in a while.

I want to keep that going. I hope 5E helps.

I’m feeling positive about D&D again, and I want it to stay that way.

I hope the higher levels work, whereas they broke down in previous editions.
I hope they don’t release too much, or too little. (I don’t count modules that I won’t buy.)
I hope they release an SRD equivalent to allow smaller companies to support this game like with 3E. This would really help unite the gamers into one system again.
I hope they release a new monster manual once a year.
I hope they release new player’s options every other year.
I hope they don’t release a 5.5E. That will undermine trust in them.
I hope they keep their release of information for previous game worlds limited to a 20 page free pdf online. A decade later I still loathe Eberron, but there will always be a soft spot for Dragonlance even though I haven’t played it in nearly 30 years.
I hope that when they do release new material, they keep to their modular D&D idea so we can keep or dump what they give. Some people love psionics, but I still dislike it.
I hope they keep the game in a status where a battlemap is not needed, but the rules aid it if there is one. I want to switch between using one and not.
I hope they understand that we older gamers are more into the grim and gritty high-fantasy D&D and the younger are more into the anime style D&D, so the designers can strike a balance between the two. I don’t want to see certain things in the game, yet I don’t wish to have it taken away from others, so long as it doesn’t impact me.
I hope that 5E and Pathfinder can exist alongside one another. Ok, this one is me being selfish. I want PF to keep all the wargamers/munchkins so 5E can grow without their input, yet still have a competitor to keep it on its toes.