The party is over for modern D&D, at least for me. I got into this trap with 5E of thinking, "Just one more book will fix it," or "Maybe someone else making it will make it better."
Both of those were lies I told myself.
The truth is, nothing is fixing 5E. It is a software-as-service platform disguised as a role-playing game. The new-book art could be better; it does not speak to me or classic fantasy feelings. I don't see anything I want to emulate in the art of these books; most of the pieces look like people walking around the streets downtown. It is a corporate, barista, Harry Potter wannabe, identity gaming, with modern people smugly walking around a fantasy setting with a permanent smirk.
Wizards and the D&D team walk away from Gygax and the Appendix N greats that they will never live up to, and I walk away from them. They have even walked away from the problematic 2014 books. They print warnings on old books like we are children. Preserving older books is the only thing they do right, but more could be done here.
Wizards did some cool things back then, so it is sad. 3.5E was cool. This is not anger; this is a realization that Wizards of the Coast is past its prime, like a Mike Tyson fight hyped up to be something it wasn't and can never be. The IP is now owned by a toy company and a wannabe social network; let that sink in.
I feel a little taken for a ride. The third-party books I bought are only useful if they are in software packages I can use to build 5E characters. Most will never be usable. They will be Kickstarter darlings, Drive-Thru hardcover fantasy heartbreakers, page after page of great ideas, and a pile of unusable data taking up boxes in my garage. I feel "had," and I bet many others do.
The only way out - is away.
People still play 5E, but the platform and game are D&D Beyond, and the best alternative is Shadowdark, or finding an old-school game that knows its audience. If you play full-compatibility 5E, it is D&D Beyond or lots of manual work and pain. I have tried creating characters by hand in Tales of the Valiant and Level Up A5E, and it takes a lot of time and reference work.
I have other games that deliver the same experience or better, and they are much easier to play.
I still have the older versions, like 3.5E, but at this point, they are more for memories than playing. If I want a version that plays like my ideal 3.5E, I will grab my Zocchi dice, play Dungeon Crawl Classics (the best 3.5E alternative), and use my OSRIC books as inspiration. DCC gets me to where I want to go faster and gives me tables full of unexpected results.
Everything in DCC shakes my preconceptions; even all the dice mess with my mind and break me out of my comfort zone.
I love 3.5E, but DCC is the purest implementation of the idea and the entire Appendix N vibe. It is the difference between generic classic rock and Queen or the Beatles.
Oh, and OSRIC is the best AD&D 1e alternative out there. This game never gets enough love, and it deserves serious attention. The Adventures Dark and Deep expansions are a massive, well-supported game. I could be playing a far easier-to-use first-edition game instead of 5E.
If I want to eliminate every table and chart and have a game that works, something that feels like AD&D without all the fuss, I will play Castles & Crusades. This is hands down the best 5E alternative. Still, 5E (and Pathfinder) take far too many books to do the same thing one old-school game does in a few books.
The Amazing Adventures game is the modern counterpart to C&C, published in an OGL-free version this year. The whole C&C universe of games covers a lot of ground, and you could play every game TSR published, even the 1d100 ones, Gangbusters, Top Secret, Star Frontiers, and Boot Hill, with just this game.
Swords & Wizardry is equally remarkable. They have an expansion and monster book out now, and this three-volume set is a lifetime of gaming. I have five games here that do five different flavors of fantasy better than D&D, and one is a version of 5E. I could put OSE in this group, too, and have six in the fantasy group and one in the modern.
Mutants and Masterminds is a d20 superhero game that is amazingly easy while retaining various options and in-depth character building. I can put together a starting-level Batman-type character in five minutes and be out fighting crime in the time it takes to set up a scenario. These games are easy enough to run without software, though M&M has Hero Lab support.
I have game after game that does the same thing and better.
D&D 3.5E is still fully supported and is the last version of the game for which campaign setting books that work with the rules are available. Ignore 4E and 5E; play this if you want the real deal of Wizards D&D. Nothing got better than this for the TSR fantasy worlds, as Pathfinder 1e may have had fixes; that game is tied to Golarion by the hip. Plus, Hero Lab, with the 3.5E module, is a complete character generation system. The designers in this edition are among this generation's greats. Seriously, check out the authors; this game has pedigree.
Pathfinder 2E is out there, published for, and supported exceptionally well. The rules are free online. Why do I need to "rent books" for the PDF again? I prefer to support a game that lets me own my PDFs and puts the rules out there for everyone to share. Book rental is a scam. Those who pirate D&D books to "own the PDF" still support an economy that forces people who choose to be honest to rent and refuse to support more ethical companies. You are taking business away from good people and helping the bad by rolling those dice for the monopolists.
I have too many other better games. The party is over, 5E.
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