The 3.5E Era

The D&D 3.5E era inspired many fantastic games. In addition to D&D's "last best" version, we have a collection from that era and are still keeping tables playing some incredible games.

The most obvious is up first, Pathfinder 1e. This is still an S-Tier game, but I have learned to appreciate the original D&D 3.5E rules. The two are the same game, but their focus is entirely different. D&D 3.5E is purely a dungeon-crawler, whereas Pathfinder 1e is a fantasy story path game. This seems like splitting hairs, but once you look at the skill list of each game, plus the GM guides, you will see the differences clearly.

D&D 3.5E is still the best version Wizards of the Coast has released. The fully supported campaign guides seal the deal for me. If I want to play in Eberron, with Eberron-specific character options, 3.5E is the only way to go. The same applies to the Forgotten Realms, Ravenloft, and the other settings supported during this era. In comparison, 5E is a generic fantasy game. At best, it does rules-light emulation of these settings, though rules-light seems arguable these days.

I can't play the original TSR settings with Pathfinder 1e; the game feels too Golarion-focused, and the unique character setting-specific options are manual imports and unsupported in Hero Lab. I would rather play the OG settings with the OG 3.5E books.

OG Golarion, as it existed in 2010, was still awesome before the PC changes came in. However, the world has been on a downhill path ever since, becoming more steampunk, cute, and too modern for my tastes.

If there were any setting I would play, it would be D&D 3.5E Eberron. I can't get all the special classes, toys, tech, options, and flavor as the original game running the original sourcebooks.

Another game from this era is Castles & Crusades, which is still going strong. This is my 5E-style "simplified emulation" game, but it feels throwback and retro in its style and vibe. C&C feels like old-school AD&D, but it is far easier with near-zero charts to reference during play. This game can be hacked to feel like 5E or an AD&D-style game. The characters are balanced, and you must play with old-school sensibilities.

This was the last game Gary Gygax played and was involved with, so it has his approval. It makes sense, especially for older players who have little time. C&C lets you have a full dungeon-crawl and character-building experience without needing online character sheets, complex rules, action types, or books full of charts. It just "does what it says" without too much fuss.

Any game where I can run characters off 4x6 index cards is a winner. The above is my current design, and I laser print these and have hundreds in a file box, ready to go. If I wanted to emulate a classic setting, such as Forgotten Realms, Castles & Crusades would be my go-to game. The characters are d20, while the rules emphasize simplicity and pulp-action.

Why take all the scaffolding of 5E, the action types, the heavy characters, the strange resting mechanics, the invincible characters, and all these MMO-inspired rules?

C&C does all the d20 I need.

Also, Amazing Adventures is built off this game engine, and it is an entertaining pulp-style modern d20 adventure game. This game needs more attention; it could play any TSR boxed set games (Top Secret, Gangbusters, Star Frontiers, Boot Hill) from back then and still feel like an authentic d20-type game in those genres.

AA is a new game that was published this year, too. So, the 3.5E Era games are still alive and well, and a new version of C&C is on the way, too, devoid of the OGL. AA seems like the beta test for C&C minus the OGL, and the next version looks promising.

OGL-free 3.5E Era games are incredible.

Mutants & Masterminds (3rd Edition) is another game from this era. A d20-based superhero game? This works well and is supported by an excellent line of books and Hero Lab support. M&M is the superhero game everyone forgets. Did you hear about that new Marvel game? The latest DC game? Every few years, the license for "licensed IP" heroes jumps again, and we still have Champions and M&M to use for super-powered gaming.

The superhero genre as a pop-culture phenomenon is stuck in a vast rut these days, as the IP is farmed, and 90% of what Hollywood makes for movies and TV is worthless as a source of inspiration. I suggest buying a few graphic novel collections from your favorite superhero eras, using those as your "team books," and creating the characters yourself. 

Don't look for other people's interpretations of heroes; start small. Choose street-level heroes to start, make them just starting out, pick your favorite two or three characters, choose one villain, and begin there. Also, you don't need to follow a comic story or quickly assemble an entire team. Let them pick the powers they want, and don't follow the official character guides for their builds.

Perhaps in your world, Batman and Captain America reluctantly team up, and the Justice League, Shield, the X-Men, or the Avengers will never be groups. Ban existing groups, factions, and teams, but use the characters and let them find each other, fight, team up, or never meet. Treat the characters as "players who log into a superhero MMO" and let them develop characters and form teams organically. Bad guys may not be bad guys; the books have yet to be written here.

You can write your own stories and comic books with a "new world and cold start," you will have more fun being creative with hero pairings and villains. Use your own heroes, licensed IP ones, or an entertaining mix. Drop everyone into "today's world" a few at a time, with nobody knowing what is going on, and begin the game fresh.

I pick up any "superhero encyclopedia" and instantly get overwhelmed. I am lucky to have the pre-Disney Marvel one, the last one they did as Marvel before the sale in 2009. While these are a good source of heroes' powers, the amount of plots, groups, and stories will overwhelm you.

Another fun 3.5E-aligned game is Dungeon Crawl Classics. This game leaned more towards the B/X and zero-edition style of play, but the Fort/Ref/Will saves give this game away. This is a 3.5E derivative game and goes hard on the gonzo, unpredictable, crazy, and mind-blowing style of fantasy where nothing is familiar, the world is on its head, and characters are larger than life.

DCC feels more like classic Greyhawk than any of these other games, especially the S-series modules, in which characters navigate deadly deathtraps built by liches, a mad wizard's volcano labyrinth, or the inside of an alien spaceship. Many of today's fantasy games have gotten too stale and predictable, with characters feeling set in stone and the same old product-identity monsters occupying differently shaped rooms. Magic has become MMO DPS in 5E, which is also far too predictable and reliable.

DCC is strange; the dice are bizarre, the game is a collection of random charts, and you have no clue what comes next. Even using this to play through 3.5E modules is a fun experience, and the entire "zero to hero" path for a collection of random no-names is like nothing in gaming. No "pet characters" exist here; this is chaos and emergent storytelling.

Mutant Crawl Classics and several other sister games fill out the line and give you a bunch of settings and base characters to choose from, all compatible. You have post-apocalyptic, science fiction, combat sports, superheroes, westerns, and many other "zine games" supported by this system that gives you near-infinite options.

And there are many other 3.5E games out there, including the Conan-inspired Hyperborea, a Traveller 20 clone, and others. You don't need to leave the 3.5E era to have a fantastic library of D&D classics, Pathfinder 1e, Gonzo Fantasy, Traditional Fantasy, Pulp Adventure, Science Fiction, and many others.

The 3.5E Era, and all the games derived from it, are the heart of gaming. There is a sphere of B/X-aligned games in the OSR, but when you just look at 3.5E, there is a lifetime of fun to be had here, both with classic and new systems, all having their roots in that early 2000s era of gaming, and the last, best-supported version of D&D ever published.