Yet another great opportunity to branch out and try some other RPGs. I switched to Pathfinder 2e at the beginning of this year and it has been so much better than 5e.
Same! I don't regret switching one bit. Now that I got back in contact again with the system through Baldurs gate 3, I notice all the flaws it has and can't help but wish it would use another system
I've certainly found myself sliding into that group of people who feel dirty financially supporting WOTC at this point.
I was writing a book to be published on their site before they threatened to change the terms.
Even though that fell through I don't want to market it through reddit and Twitter any longer. THEN the damned Pinkerton incident happened.
Still want to finish the book and put it out there but when it comes time to jump, it'll be to Pathfinder.
I can't wait for my groups to move to pf2e. Was prepping for a 1 shot where we have a few hundred gold to provision.
Trying to price items in 5e is like pulling teeth. The prices are all over the place, others simply don't have official prices and it's completely nonsensical if they do.
For curiosity I plugged in one of the items in question into the pf2e app and it gave a simple and succinct price list for rarity.
it has been so much better than 5e.
How so?
As a DM, it just feels like the system supports me so much more. Whereas in 5e it often felt like I was fighting against the system to do what I wanted, or else the system just told me to figure shit out for myself.
When I played, it was "advanced edition" and the rules were whatever the DM said they were. It worked fine.
It still works that way, the newest editions just make it easier for new people to get rolling faster. No ruleset will ever make up for a bad DM.
I mean the rules still revolved around dice rolling. thaco and all that.
Great history of dnd type ramble video which is also great advice for all the current edition change.
I came into dnd end of advanced 2e and really got into it with 3e. I was there when half my friend group left for wow and the other half didn't like 4e. I went to pf1 back then and to more other systems like shadow run, arkane Kodex, fading suns and the Dark Eye. I came back to dnd 5e late but before pf2e was announced. But I never truly dug 5e. It's a perfectly fine system but I'm not passionate about it. Only recently with the OGL betrayal I jumped ship and went to pf2e which I absolutely love.
It was fun to hear how Matt experienced this era. Changing editions and games isn't all that bad or hard as some people make it out to be. At least from my experience.
I also never understood edition warriors or even system warriors. Everyone should play what they like. Systems are different and some are better suited for certain groups or players than others. All I advocate for is people try a few different systems when they can. Often I find people to be surprised that they like other systems way better and that those rules can do things they never thought a TTRPG could do.
As an old D&D player, I've been through multiple editions, and I honestly don't get the hate for 5e. It's not needlessly complex as 3 was, and not as brain dead as 4. It's accessible to everyone, with enough complexity for those of us that liked 3. Pathfinder was fine, but trying it again after 5e is like watching extra work just appear on your table.
If you really want a good time, where the system is truly different for the better, then try Star Wars Force and Destiny. Best system around in my opinion.
The dice are a pain to read, but if you use an app it's moot. The system is great otherwise. F&D /Edge of the Empire is really amazing, with the success/failure, advantage/disadvantage, triumph/despair axes giving a TON of opportunity for collaborative story telling.
A good actual-play podcast with this system was Campaign: Star wars from the One Shot network. https://oneshotpodcast.com/
I want a Matt Coville community on Lemmy or Kbin. I guess I can make it on this ttrpg instance I'm on, but I'd prefer if I could get one of their moderators to mod it instead of me lol.
Overall, a good video. I'm definitely opinionated about rpgs and editions of DnD, and don't share his blanket love for each edition, but he's right that the vitriol over edition wars are silly.
I don't really agree with his WoW take; of just, being able to hop from DnD to WoW for a few months to have fun. I hate WoW, from a personal enjoyment level. I don't knock anyone for enjoying it, but I'd rather do just about anything else. My friends jumped onto it on launch in highschool, and I joined them for a week or so, and I genuinely do not see the appeal. I'm not trying to be bitter or anything, so much as saying I am not able to just, go and have fun with WoW, or frankly any MMO I've tried.
But, there's no RPG I've ever touched that I feel that way about. I don't really like 4e for several reasons, but overall, if my group otherwise really wanted to play more of it, I know I could have fun playing or running it. Outside of truly dogshit 'games' like FATAL, I'm sure I could have fun playing just about any RPG, and even a FATAL one-shot could be fun, despite the rules (though, it'd veer awfully close to just laughing at a live-reading of the rules than really 'playing the game')
Still, I have no real interest in 5.5. Frankly, I currently have no real interest in 5e at the moment, though that's more from 'edition fatigue'. Like, I have many complaints about 5e (I'm not sure if you could play a lot of 5e and not notice it's mechanical flaws), but I played it enough to get tired of it, which is a compliment in a lot of ways.
But I love playing new games. I've fallen in love with PF2e recently (though with 2 campaigns hitting level 14-ish, some fatigue is creeping in), and we've giving ICON a run. I'm looking forward to trying Exalted Essence and the new WoD stuff when a rpg slot opens up (running 3 games right now as it is). And I'll probably return to DnD at some point, but nothing from 5.5 feels like it really 'fixes' the issues I have with 5e, or otherwise 'sparks excitement' in me. But also, it looks fine.
Though, if the really do centralize it to an official platform, I definitely won't be touching it; I hate DnD beyond as it is, and how there are no PDFs for the 5e books (officially), which is a bummer but able to be worked around. And, even if they try to centralize 5.5 digitally, there will definitely still be books, and probably still be PDFs able to be found, though I'll probably want to avoid the edition on principle anyway if that is the case.
