When a game begins to give you everything to convince you to like it, something should fire off in the back of your head, telling you there is something wrong here. I ran a few 5E campaigns, and every time, my characters had piles of special abilities as if the game were begging me to "like this character" and "please level up for more!"
My characters had so many special powers and abilities it took me forever to decide which one to use.
I did not feel like a hero or like I was struggling. At about the sixth level, I was bored. Nobody dies, there is no risk or threat, we can rest off shotgun blasts to the face in 10 minutes, and the game feels dumb. No matter what version I switched to, 5E OGL, Tales of the Valiant, Level Up A5E, it was still that "pander bear" core gameplay. In these overcomplicated characters, the designers piled abilities on you you were forced to use.
At least in a well-designed computer ARPG, they know how the powers work together, how many to give, and how leveling should increase power without increasing complexity too steeply. In 5E, a slop bucket of powers is thrown at you. They "give you something each level," but very few classes have any sense of flow or well-thought-out design.
Your character feels like a plate of buffet food you piled on there that you don't want to eat when you get back to the table. I was rarely excited by 5E characters. They were all piles of junk. What is the 5E designer's answer to any design problem? Toss more powers and abilities at you. Give you toys like a child, and hope you stop complaining.
Level Up A5E characters felt the best designed of the bunch. That game is deep enough and has enough other systems in there that they can spread powers out and focus them on the new subsystems.
5E gives you so much power that you end up sitting around all session playing theater kids. Nothing can touch you, but your feelings can be hurt, so this is how you lose the game. It is fake.
ToV, I give you credit for trying to replace D&D. But you aren't competing with D&D these days. You are competing with D&D Beyond, the game and platform. You will never be able to compete with that. That is an entrenched software system; if it dies, all of 5E might as well be.
But why do I need subsystems or websites? Shadowdark works better than all of them. I can see why many groups are putting their 5E books in storage and just sticking with Shadowdark. You get "all the 5E" without drama or exploits. It does just enough 5E without taking up a dozen storage crates to get the options you need for a complete game.
You are immune from the min-max players, theory crafters, and level dippers. The game is the game, and the story is the story. The next room has something or nothing in it that could kill you. Get in and get out of the hole you wandered into, and try to stay alive.
I have not put this "5E book" in storage. This is my only 5E game. One small book, plus a few zines if I want, is all I need. Shadowdark does not go out of its way to anger people and stays neutral. The entire game pays respect to what has come before. The designer is brilliant and savvy and one of the best designers of this generation, up with greats like Monte Cook and others.
Shadowdark replaces D&D entirely.
If I want 5E, this is the one book.
If I want the actual D&D? I have my first-edition books and OSRIC as my guide. Why do I want Satanic Panic AD&D 2nd Edition or any other B/X-style game that lets anyone be in any class? I want my paladins to be rare and unique. I want to deal with the level limit charts. I want the allowed race and class combos. Descending AC is a part of the mystique. I want the original initiative system. I don't want a game designed for kids but repackaged for old-school gamers and simplified to the point of boredom.
OSRIC is a game that challenges you to determine how your character will live within this arcane maze of restrictions and combinations. You have to know something before you play. Most likely, your character will die, but a few will shine brightly.
You need to learn the rules, and you aren't given much. You must take what you get.
This is real D&D.
Everything that came after was fake D&D.
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