My Last 5E

There are times I wonder, "Why would I ever go back to 5E?"

I have far better fantasy games, and ones that speak to me more than 5E's soft, power fantasy, super heroic, broken past level 10 mush. I have Dungeon Crawl Classics, which does that power fantasy far better, and with much less predictability. I have GURPS Dungeon Fantasy for the fantastic character builds. I have Rolemaster for the crit charts, and HARP for a version that actually plays smoothly. I have Swords & Wizardry for the 0e game, and I have Adventures Dark & Deep as my classic first-edition style game. Castles & Crusades and 3.5E are good games.

I have enough fantasy games.

If I had to keep one before selling the eight storage crates, what would it be?

It would not be Wizards D&D. That is getting sold. I can understand wanting to stay with 5E, but not D&D.

Tales of the Valiant is also being sold. Despite this being the best-supported and produced Open 5E versions out there, the game is too cartoony for me. Additionally, there are very few differences between ToV and 5E; the two are essentially the same game. This was done for maximum compatibility, which is a plus for some with a lot of 3rd-party content. This may be the game for you if you fall into that category.

It still has the same flaws! I can't support a game that is very similar down to the things I dislike about 5E. What is the point? A slight difference in character options and a CL+1 power level? It isn't made by Wizards? That is enough for many, but I wanted more. I am still holding onto my library and hoping things change for the better.

I wanted structural improvements, drawing on past versions to incorporate the best features in terms of rules, classes, content, and systems. There are still excellent rules from past versions of the game that could be incorporated into 5E. Why do we have to lose all that hard work and progress?

The quality level of the ToV books is fantastic, and there is a wealth of content to enjoy. Thousands of monsters and spells await your use. The only issue is that character creation requires electronic tools, and there is a lack of player options in the core books.

I love you ToV, but you are not for me. I have a better version of 5E in my hands today. Despite the fantastic quality and support for ToV, my heart is with a better-crafted version of 5E.

And no, it isn't Shadowdark. I am keeping this because it is an S-Tier game in its own right.

This is a 5E to me, but the small shelf space is not a question. Additionally, it boasts the best "pick up and play" ability among all 5E games. The game has a great community, heart, and is well-supported. Shadowdark, I can play with anyone, and I can do so instantly, with about 5 minutes of prep.

Shadowdark is more of a competitor to "B/X OSR clones" for me at the moment. Having a game that plays like 5E, yet has the simplicity of OSE, is a winner, especially for pick-up games with new people. I am not describing the OSR, OSE, or any other conceptual "buy-in" sort of theory to new players.

This is a simplified, fast-playing, 5E version.

That is all I need to say.

Most of them will give Shadowdark a chance.

And we have a winner.

Level Up Advanced 5E is the only one that would make me dig through my "sell crates" again to pull just it out, plus a handful of the best third-party books, and I would sell the rest of my 5E collection. The designers dared to fix 5E, which they got roasted for at the time, but it turned out to be the right choice. There is a much drier balance to Level Up A5E; the math is fixed, martial classes have many great options, and the three pillars of play are supported and work well.

They incorporate many of my favorite rules from earlier editions, such as a warlord-style battle commander class and rules for sleeping in armor. If there is something about 5E that makes you say, "Isn't it silly...?" then chances are A5E fixes it.

I'm disappointed that I didn't back their second monster book or collected gazetteer hardback Kickstarter; I'll have to wait for that. I thought I was done with the game.

The game is deadly. They polled the play-testers, and they said, "Make the game deadlier." Turn up the challenge. Give us a sense of accomplishment when we complete a battle, like our characters could die. Don't let combats turn into boring "dice rolling dance breaks" from the roleplaying.

Drawing spell and steel matter. It is a dangerous choice.

Easy combat makes roleplaying meaningless.

You need a ranger for exploration play, and they don't suck here. The exploits have been mostly fixed. Martial classes are insanely fun and have fighting-style customizations. The monsters are scary and deadly. I do not have to multi-class. The characters have depth. The world is exciting and dangerous. Characters feel powerful, but not broken. I don't have much experience with high-level play, but the team made fixes there as well.

Supplies matter. Shelter quality matters. You can't comfortably sleep in your armor, like your character was some plastic action figure who can't ever remove it and wear comfortable, everyday clothing.

There is no such thing as infinite "pop-up healing."

Fatigue will kill you, and it won't be an easy resurrection. The spell is 7th level, takes an hour to cast, requires 2,500 gold in components, and requires approximately four long rests to recover from. Even the "death within one minute" revivify spell requires 300 gold in components to function and is only an in-combat option. The doomed condition requires 7th-level magic to remove it.

You can always house-rule in a hardcore death option and require a system-shock roll on resurrections. Make a DC 5 CON roll, with a result of 1 always indicating a failure. Failing means the soul never wants to return to the living and is happy in the afterlife, roll a new character. Increase the DC by one for every death after the first, and by one for every close friend or loved one you have lost in the mortal world.

You are not taking long rests in a closet in the Tomb of Horrors. Even short rests are not something you can depend on, nor will they restore fatigue. You can break down mentally. Obviously, some of the more egregious 5E tropes have been discarded. Dumb things people feel they have to defend "because it's D&D" are a thing of the past.

You can get "expertise dice" for skills. Destiny replaces alignment and controls inspiration, making it matter again. Inspiration has weight to it, and it isn't a meaningless flippable toggle that other classes can set on your character due to "mechanics."

Orcs and humanoids are still monsters here. Yes, EN World is very progressive, but they respect the hobby and its traditions. You can play an orc, if you want, and they can still be the bad guys. I wish forums and gaming sites could be less divided, but this is the world we live in, sadly. The game itself remains true to the hobby and gameplay, which I appreciate.

The fixes and improvements here render Tales of the Valiant unappealing to me.

Level Up is, hands down, the better-designed version of 5E.

Many LUA5E players skipped ToV, saying, "There's nothing new here. I don't see a reason to switch."

Third-party subclasses do have compatibility issues, but then again, LUA5E offers enough depth and options that I do not really need them. 5E NPCs and characters can "play alongside" characters built with this system, but to get the most out of the game, it is recommended to create them according to the rules.

Level Up A5E also has an excellent character sheet on Roll20. This works nicely with my "all digital" conversion going forward. I am no longer using a part of my house for maps and pawns. My home is cleaner, my shelves have more space, and I'm playing more using an all-digital format.

Level Up did a better job fixing 5E than the D&D 2024 rules do. They bring a game back to the table.

If I do keep a version of 5E, this one and Shadowdark will be the only two. Most of my third-party books, and those that distract from the core experience I want to craft, will be removed. What I keep will be a more focused, better game with fewer distractions, and nothing that makes the game "cute and stupid." I want a serious game.

Too many options can also be detrimental to a game. I don't need thousands of spells or monsters to play 5E. Too many books can kill a game. All I want is one-half shelf of the absolute best.

I own far too much 5E.

Owning less, with the best core game possible, will make me like it more.

Rolemaster FRP, The Best Version?

Sometimes, the Rolemaster FRP system was one of the most bloated games ever created; other times, it was the best-put-together version of  Rolemaster ever made. In every section, they provide the formulas, offer relevant charts, and clearly explain them on the page.

This isn't obscure. Nothing is hidden, like in the paragraphs of Rolemaster 2nd Edition. It is on a page if you need to find a rule or know what a chart and formula do. The 2nd Edition is straightforward and simple, but RM FRP is laid out like a fantasy wargame.

There may be a LOT of it, but nothing is hidden.

I first reach for the FRP books if I need clarification on a Rolemaster rule. There are times when I play 2nd Edition, and I simply default to the FRP rule because the 2nd Edition rule is either nowhere to be found or is intentionally overlooked. RM FRP will clarify it; the procedure will be straightforward, even if the math is slightly different.

Yes, characters need four pages of skills. It's insane, but GURPS has hundreds of skills as well. GURPS Dungeon Fantasy and this game share many similarities, including their shared "detailed characters and gritty combat" genre style. Rolemaster has more class direction and adjusts skill point costs depending on the chosen profession, whereas GURPS has a flat cost that remains the same for everyone.

Is there a difference between GURPS and Rolemaster?

Rolemaster features critical hit charts and a degree of role protection in skill costs per profession, enabling rapid progression in a few favored areas. GURPS features tactical hex combat, an open-ended skill system that allows you to develop your character however you want, and a detailed system for building advantages and disadvantages.

Both feature complex characters and intense combat.

If you think of RM FRP as "Advanced AD&D" that only uses a 1d100, you will be better prepared to understand it. It has less in common with GURPS than with a massively mutated, house-ruled, and extra rules-added version of AD&D that leans into Tolkien and classic fantasy novels.

Once you complete character creation, the in-game systems are more straightforward than those of D&D. It's all just 1d100. The charts are easy. Download the PDF and print out your weapon tables and critical hit charts. Every player is responsible for their own.

Best of all, the first book is all you need to play the basic game. They took the best of the best, including combat, magic, and spells, and you just need the first book to get started and support campaign play. Spells only go up to level 10, but then again, Rolemaster games rarely reach that point unless it is a hardcore group.

Rolemaster United is a bit wordy, much like the HARP expansion books, which often write essays on a subject and worry about the rules later. I appreciate the clarity and straightforward nature of RM FRP; it provides the charts and game rules, keeping the chit-chat to a minimum. I do not want a term paper or an explanation of "why this is" - I want the rules because I am in the middle of a game, and please do not waste my time.

RMU needs an editing pass by people who do not play the game and understand nothing. Every page needs a "top 10" question list written, and we must ensure those are answered before moving on. I've read the books, and I still have questions; it's tough to find answers quickly.

I like the new Rolemaster United, but it needs improvement in terms of clarity, conciseness, and artwork. It needs a "tightening up" pass, and all the formulas and charts should be pulled out and placed on the page first, with a short box explaining the rule and how it works, similar to RM FRP's 250 pages of tightly organized game rules. Writing a great rulebook is a lost art, and so far, only Shadowdark and Old School Essentials have managed to knock it out of the park.

I have high hopes for this version; I need to see the bestiaries and others. Until then, my heart is with RM SS/FRP. RM FRP is a complex system, but it is also very transparent about everything. I still have a few questions as I read through the book, but most everything is well laid out.

The Gamemaster Law book is excellent and included rules for "kingdom events" decades before other games recognized their existence. Like HARP, the RM FRP game contains numerous books and things to discover. This is a GM book written before the modern era, and it delves into many great world-building subjects and ideas. The GM book also includes race creation, perfect for building your campaign worlds with unique cultures and character backgrounds.

A hidden gem in the series is the book At Rapier's Point, which offers roleplaying in classic 17th-century Europe during the era of the Three Musketeers. The game's combat system and even HARP are ideally suited to this sort of swashbuckling game.

Whenever I pick up Rolemaster, I am conflicted. I like to support the new version and that vision. I like RP FRP and how complete and well-supported this version is. I get that "Unified" is trying to bring together fans of both versions and have one core, supported game. I also understand that the 2nd Edition is the easiest to play (once you know it) due to the lack of skills, in-depth calculations, and sub-calculations.

Rolemaster Classic will always be my AD&D of the system, the best-supported, earliest edition.

HARP has always been my B/X version; it is simple, fast, and fun. It is a complete game and a worthy D&D replacement, as the systems are simple yet offer an authentic Rolemaster experience. It features a ten-book core collection, all presented in hardcover editions. This is the game closest to Against the Darkmaster, but it's more suited for generic dungeon adventures. The "stuff collection" in this game is significantly more expansive and complete.

RM FRP is akin to my AD&D 2nd Edition, where the game offers more options and is complex, yet it still retains its charm and expanded play options. This is the "roleplaying" edition of the game, as its extensive skill coverage and numerous templates and build options allow you to play any character you can imagine. It is a comprehensive game with multiple books to purchase, so support is excellent and superior to HARP. This includes a 21-book core rulebook collection, but none of the books are in hardcover or print.

That is my wish: to see a Kickstarter campaign to collect all these books in hardcover, perhaps even premium editions with leather covers. This is also my first version of the game, which introduced me to Rolemaster, so it will remain one of my favorites.

Rolemaster United still needs to prove itself, and the game is incomplete. I support this, but I am holding off for now. Once the monster books are out, then we will see. All of these are offered in hardcover.

HARP SF is an anomaly. I have this, but I don't know what to do with it. It is sort of like B/X science fiction and exists as its own thing. You can get these in hardcovers.

Spacemaster is an SF game closely related to Rolemaster Classic. We actually played this back in the day, and it was a strange, fun, out-there experience. This is the more expansive "space opera" game style with battleships, tanks, power armor, and all sorts of tech and science fiction tropes. These are PDF-only.

Spacemaster Privateers is the RM FRP version of science fiction, and it is better suited for those who are more comfortable with RM FRP and the design concepts used in that game. I discovered this one recently, and I wish we had played it. It diverges in its own direction regarding the universe, and there is a recommendation to use Silent Death as the ship combat game for SM Privateers, which would be interesting since this would limit ship tonnage in the universe to 10,000 tons or under, with a focus on starfighters and small ships. Most are offered as PoD, with two exceptions.

We were big into Silent Death, and the rules are still available on DriveThruRPG. This would be fun to play on VTTs. It is also very playable with any Spacemaster or HARP SF games. The universe here is fascinating and varied, and many sleep on this for both a "Battle-tech style" divided universe and an interesting science fiction setting in its own right, with a faction for everyone. There are 22 books here, but they are all in PDF format.

I need to follow my heart in this regard, as I watch the new books and support them as they come out.

RM FRP is my game.

HARP is always a strong second choice.

Mutant Epoch Quick Start Rules

Some games defy explanation. Mutant Epoch is one of them. The game is essentially the work of a single creator, encompassing both the art, which helps define the setting. The game is ugly, unhinged, insane, freakish, crazy, and a work of art in gaming.

At times, I wonder, what did I just read? And then the brilliance of that pure honesty and "just say it" moment hits me. The game feels like a psychedelic drug trip mixed with a classic 80s or 90s Heavy Metal magazine subscription. This is not a game for everyone, as it tackles mature themes. If you come in expecting to have your feelings protected and coddled by cute, cozy game animals or pastel fantasy races, just walk away.

This is the roleplaying equivalent of starting out sleeping under a bridge and becoming a post-apocalyptic murder hobo, lord of battle, and spiked baseball bat-wielding cyborg auto-battle gladiator.

In a way, this game is more accurate to modern, on-the-street 2025 city life than today's pandering role-playing games, which often simulate present-day fantasy worlds, usually mirroring the suburban enclaves of the rich in which the games are played. Mutant Epoch is "living in the combat zone" if the combat zone encompasses the entire world. Every tactic of surviving on the mean streets of 2025 is a valid play style here. The local warlord's enforcers may show up in riot gear with gas and batons, just to beat the stuffing out of the discontented, including your characters, for their own amusement.

Does it matter that you are "the rules-anointed heroes" and "adventurers so always right?"

No, you are still getting the tar beaten out of you.

This isn't 5E.

People despise honesty and tend to gravitate towards groups that lie to them the most. We live in an era where power is defined by how hard you fight to make outright lies ...truths. The rich want to keep pretending they are influencers and cosplaying fakeness. Wall Street needs to keep selling you the lies of nostalgia and fantasy to keep the opiate entertainment flowing, lest you realize what is really going on.

And the world of Mutant Epoch sucks. It is filthy, random, broken, filled with hate, do anything to survive, and violent. This isn't some author's "perfect world" written into the adventure to reinforce a personal belief. Everything can kill you. Civilization...isn't.

I grew up in rural Appalachia, a place so impoverished that we created our own games out of cardboard boxes that would have otherwise been sent to recycling, drawing on them with ink markers. We made our own hand-drawn maps using pencils and colored pencils. We ate government food, which consisted of giant blocks of cheese and butter, bread purchased at the thrift store, and had very few healthy options provided by that system.

Violence, hooliganism, crime, and even the threat of nuclear apocalypse were everyday things.

We rented VHS tapes. We read paperbacks and comic books. We got our TV over the air. We did not have cable, streaming, or the Internet. We watched shows as they were broadcast, and there was no option to "see them later." We listened to the radio, waiting for our favorite songs to come on.

Your education was the only thing they could not take from you.

Politics and online debates over beliefs, hot-button topics, and lies were never a thing. The government never helped, was rarely present, and played a minimal role in our lives.

We were poor.

We never mattered to anyone.

If you could find any advantage out of your 'lousy start in life,' you took it. I don't care what it was - your smarts, a trade skill, or your looks - if you had something, you leaned on it hard to escape. If you didn't, then you still hustled and made the most of what you had. You could never truly escape, but the battle became between how you helped yourself versus how you helped others. And there were times when nothing you could do would make it better, so you fought hard to minimize the loss.

I get where this game is coming from.

This isn't OSR, this is a new game. The rules are elementary at their core, just a straightforward percentile system with a resistance chart, but they are surrounded by charts so deep that it is like sorting through a city landfill. And it is not an unpleasant task to sort through them, every one of them is another character creation option for truly unique individual characters.

The character creation process has a vast gulf between the most powerful and least potent characters. You may start out as a special forces combat cyborg or as a hairdresser android. You could start out as a mutant behemoth gladiator or a lowly mutant servant farmer with a passive sensory power.

The definition of who you are should not start with power; it should be your story and what you do with what you have. There is an "anti-5E" sort of design ethos at play here, where no two characters will ever start off being equally balanced and powerful. However, if you can't make the best of a strange set of skills, make lemonade out of lemons, you are not an imaginative and genuinely great role player.

That hairdresser android? Give me that character and watch me become the hairdresser of a giant Mad Max-style highway gang, and convince them that they can't indeed be awesome without 80s hairband levels of mullets, hairspray, coloring, and volumizer. I now have a whole highway gang at my disposal. If I tell them an ancient installation has a ten-year stockpile of mousse and hair gel for our greasers, you can be sure we are heading in there to grab everything we can. Who was talking about character power again?

The game is a "direct-to-video" simulation of 1980s and 90s post-apocalyptic movies, comics, graphic novels, fiction, and popular culture. The game is raw, uncut, and unhinged, so far removed from PC publishing culture that it shines as a masterpiece of gaming and a reflection of today's zeitgeist in the fight to survive another day.

No April Fools

I never participated in April Fool's Day, as society constantly lies the other 364 days of the year; why do we need a special day to do it again? I view this as an "Internet Vacation Day" since I'm cautious about the information I read online, so I take the day off from my sources and step away from it all.

Additionally, all the April Fools' stories persist for a week or more, allowing confusion and misinformation to linger online and contribute to the chaos that defines our age. The holiday used to be a fun surprise, but these days, most of what we read is carefully crafted misinformation and deliberate omissions. Just look at any Wall Street company's quarterly reports.

Gotcha stories these days don't make me laugh; I just feel that the whole day ends up being wasted time and brings more confusion. What we need is a Day of Truth. Then again, who can say what that is anymore?

The best I can do is to avoid contributing to it and refrain from consuming it.

ADAD vs. DCC

Of the two games competing for my time, Dungeon Crawl Classics and Adventures Dark and Deep are my favorites. DCC is designed in the typical 3.5E style: Give the players toys, silly powers, and lots of funny dice, and watch them cause havoc and panic while trying to avoid dying. The whole design theory of "classes give the players table toys" is embraced by this game, and this is a classic 3.5E design style.

Is DCC a serious game? It can be, but for the most part, it is embracing the mantra of old-school gaming while standing on the back of a pterodactyl while shooting a las-rifle at rampaging muck men. DCC is always supposed to be over the top on the player side, and also how deadly the dungeons are. Forget a poison needle on a treasure chest; a swarm of flesh-devouring beetles comes out of the chest; save or be left a kneeling skeleton with lockpicks still in your hands.

ADAD hits differently. I sit here in front of giant tomes of knowledge, like fate has bestowed two mighty spell books into my possession, letting them rest on the table before me, and it is up to me to unlock their secrets. Characters don't get toys; they have tools. You are judging your weight allowance. You are kitting out your equipment. You don't have a "class toy" that will kill those goblins on the road ahead; you have limited resources and the choice to wade in and fight, avoid them, or deal with them another way. Spells are to be saved as a last resort, and magic is not used flippantly.

If there is one thing about D&D 4E and 5E that ruined gaming for me, it is those "infinite use" powers and spells that trivialize magic. I imagine a "Street Fighter" character infinitely casting fireballs or Hadouken, summoning forth "fire fist magic" with no cost or care. You could use this power at a restaurant to open a ketchup bottle. Cheap and easy magic ruins the magic, the world, the characters, and the game.

I don't know what those "always on" powers are, but they ain't magic. They are VFX, CGI, fake and dumb-looking. It is "empowerment" minus the power.

Magic assumes something is mysterious, has a price to pay, and is not well-understood.

DCC gives me that with its unpredictability.

ADAD gives me that with its scarcity.

Especially if you play "the spell game" in ADAD, where spell scrolls are not free, easy to find, buyable in shops, and freely traded. A fireball scroll? Spells and that knowledge locked in them are power, and wizards will not "pass that around" freely. There are no "public universities" with "free spells" to walk in and copy into your spellbook. If you find a rare and unique spell in a dungeon, you can trade that for something you want (if you can find someone to deal with), or you can keep that spell for yourself.

Imagine a world where anyone can buy a fireball scroll. Magic is power. Power is not handed around freely. Kingdoms, wizards, magic orders, and every other group would horde scrolls and spells to control these powers for their benefit. Just like today. Power must be tightly controlled and doled out to advance the group's aims, goals, and control of the world.

Even clerics should not be given the whole spell list for which to pray. You find a temple, serve them well, and then are granted access to the fonts of knowledge on how to pray for a new power or two. In every prayer, you need to learn to receive the blessing. A temple may be small and not have higher-level powers locked away; you need to seek a larger one. You may be given quests or expected to give tithes. Clerics learn their spells, too. There are pecking orders and hierarchies of the faithful in churches. Prove your faith in your god.

The whole assumption spells are like MMO powers and given to you when your character "dings" and levels up is another stupid trope of modern gaming.

The "video-gamification" of D&D has been going on since D&D 3.5E, and it sucks. I will play video games to get that hit, not tabletop games. Putting the rules before your world is lame, and it is another power grab by game designers away from referees, placing that power in a book and set of rules instead of a story and a world a group creates together.

"But the book says I get all these powers for free!"

Beware of those games. They take power away from your characters, referee, and group. They make every character in the world the same. That is real power if my wizard is the only one in 500 miles with a fireball scroll. If every wizard gets "fireball for free," there is no power or ownership of something unique or rare. For clerics, your faith may not be large enough to have powers above level 5, so you must help establish temples, seek ancient knowledge from similar lost gods, and build your church among people of the land.

Modern games divorce your character from the setting and story of the world. You are married to the rules and the game designer's whims. They take power away from you by pretending to give it to everyone for free.

ADAD is the real thing, where part of your character's story is acquiring knowledge, wealth, and power. None of this is given to you for free. You may have a few spells or a good to-hit, but most of your decision-making is driven by the story versus what you feel you are capable of, minus any notion of turn-based abilities or encounter powers that require short rests.

My ranger has no spells, just a sword and a limited quiver of arrows.

My fighter is a high AC and has a ton of hit points.

My magic user and cleric have a few spells saved for the right moment.

My thief is skilled, and those come up when I need them.

I am not thinking of feats, subclass powers, cantrips, short rest powers, or looking through my character sheet to "find something to do" on a turn. In DCC, I am sort of doing that at a lower level, like my fighter's "mighty deeds" die, but I prefer that "mighty deeds die" to anything that 5E offers me since it is designed as a "fun old-school themed mechanic" instead of a "character sheet lock in" one. DCC is very pulp and action-oriented, which appeals to me.

With ADAD, I have very little of that "character sheet interference" in my thoughts and actions. What I do is almost entirely controlled by my character and their motivations. This is a much more serious and gritty mechanic, harkening back to the days when rules were not as important as they are today.

DCC is my 3.5E game. It is also a direct replacement for 5E.

And ADAD is my 1e game.