Great review. I feel a little the same but I do think that this version is far more rules light than any version of the Advanced D&D game. The only thing that comes close is the basic version of D&D out of the early 80’s.

But you are right. I think it is a little too late and too little to bring me back to the system.

I really wanted D&D Next to bring back the ‘good old days’ of my AD&D playing in the 80s and early 90s, and it just seems to be getting further away with each iteration of the rules now.

I’ve decided to go with 13th Age for my fantasy RPG. Rules that have a teeny bit of crunch but a game that is story and character focused.

Fear not! Gamer. I’ve been active in the playtest since it was first opened to the public. And while there is probably a bit more complexity in base 5E, the way it’s organized and centralized, it’s probably easier to understand and play, even than OD&D. What you may or may not know is that the playtest rules is an amalgamation of a lot of different “modules”. The basic understanding is that they’re testing multiple pieces at once. When the rules are finally finished and release, there will almost certainly be a baseline game very much like what you’re looking for. Fewer options, fewer moving parts, just your race, class and stats if that’s what you want. Then, as you gain experience, you can add backgrounds, feats, skills, whatever you liked from other editions of the game. The best part is that the game is designed to work even if one player wants to user a certain character module (feats for example) while another player chooses not to. One thing you’re simply mistaken on though, is the character sheet. I’ve built half a dozen characters from scratch for this latest iteration and it’s not been this easy to do so since basic. They’ve made HUGE improvements in that area. I very much liked 4E but building characters in that edition was pretty painful (but fun if you liked that sort of thing). Not nearly as painful as 3.5/Pathfinder, but bad. In 5E, it’s the first time you could roll up a character in under 15 minutes since the 80s. My level 1 characters never even rolled over onto the back side of the sheet of paper (Graph paper of course!). This game will do great with just pencil and paper. I promise you that. I’m begging you to give this game a chance, because I’m like you and enjoy a similar kind of game (by the sounds of it). And they have listened to you/me in making 5E. They’ve seen the OSR explosion, great games like S&W, LL, Castles&Crusades, Dungeon World, Joseph Bloch amazing work, etc. They’ve ripped all the minutiae out and put it safely out of sight into optional modules. They’ve made feats completely optional. They’ve streamlined and minimized the bevy of mathematical bonuses so you rarely have to add more than a single digit number to your rolls. They’ve flattened the power curve so that even at high levels, the numbers you’re working with are relatively small. If they make all those changes in answer to our requests and people like us are STILL not interested, then they’re screwed. D&D will die. Die dead. Dead dead. Don’t get me wrong, I support the OSR (I own a ton of S&W hardcopy, just bought Monstrosities and its AMAZING!). If you want to play S&W, that’s great. I love Matt and FGG and all of them. I want them to do gangbusters. But don’t forget the game that made it all possible. Give 5E a fair shake. Pretty please?

I’ve found myself rather disappointed with D&D Next as well. The first few playtest packets had me rather excited. However, as the game started to develop and the playtest feedback started to come in, my enthusiasm for the game began to dwindle, mostly because the game didn’t really seem to have a clear design goal beyond “unite the D&D fan base” and the system started to slowly resemble a “franken-system” to me. I know some people really love what WoTC is doing with the game and that’s perfectly fine. However, I doubt I’ll actually purchase the game when it comes out and will probably stick with Pathfinder and some of the retro-clones I’ve grown attached to.

I’ve been disappointed in some things, though others I genuinely do like. However, it’s things like removing the skill system entirely that annoy me the most, particularly when combat is left as complex as it is. It’s feeling more and more like a combat simulator with some utility spells bolted on, and that’s a deal breaker. On the other hand, I’ve never particularly liked any edition of D&D, and of the lot of them this is currently the most appealing.

Seems like they have a wide spectrum to care for. I found it too simple, too few character customization options, too less tactics and such. These things should come as modules, but for a base I was unable to test. I’m not looking forward to the outcome for me personally.

Yeah I’m not hopeful, but I’ll probably still give it a look when it releases.

I’m actually really liking it so far. Especially the current iteration with skills completely removed.

Honestly, I don’t think D&D is relevant anymore. They made a huge mistake by basically handing the 3.x franchise to Paizo. Pathfinder is thriving, while D&D4 failed. And D&D 5 basically has to fight against Pathfinder for market dominance. They gave away their market position, and I don’t see them recovering it.

Thanks for the review. I haven’t had a chance to try it yet but will at least sit down at a con table and give it a shot. I agree on wanting a one page character sheet and keeping the story going without bogging down on rules. Hopefully they can clean things up before the release, but there are plenty of older editions and retro clones available if they don’t!