Tagged "d&d"

After deciding I wanted to go OSR I was left with a few tempting options. As you probably know there are more than a few retro-clones and OSR style games and then there are just old TSR games. Others have said it before and I tend to agree, OSR style games try to capture what gaming was like in the 70s and 80s but those games are still available to play.

Back in January I replied to a Reddit post asking about Point Buy vs. Rolling 3d6 for determining ability scores. For the sake of brevity I kept my reply short and targeted toward how dice can model rarity since it had not been covered elsewhere in the post. But now the subject of rolling to create characters is on my mind and I'd like to explore it more in depth here.

I've been reflecting a lot about what I'd like to do next in gaming. As much as I wish it were otherwise I still struggle a bit with playing 5E vs going OSR. In part I still really want to like 5E despite finding it entirely tedious to run. But more than that I'm afraid I'm being influenced by the specter of nostalgia. I'm afraid I'll run an AD&D game, that it will not live up to my memory and in the end I'll be as discouraged with that as I am with 5E.

I've been running 5E since its release and to be honest it has never really scratched the D&D itch for me. I've tried to explain why on several occasions but every attempt has devolved into a rant. It's easy to rant but rules nitpicks aren't the core issue. The core issue is play style which in turn is directly informed by rules.