So I have a question for all of you Tabletop Roleplaying fans out there, especially those who play “Dungeons & Dragons”… which, let’s be honest here, will be most of you…
Why do you play D&D?
I’m not trying to sound judgmental here, I’m a longtime D&D player too! What I’m trying to achieve with this question is basically find out the why, when there are so many other TTRPGs out there on the market. But despite the absolute glut of games on the market, D&D, especially 5th edition, absolutely dominates in the TTRPG space.
Thus my question. I would appreciate it if you dropped your reasons in the Comments space at the bottom of the page.
As for me, I play D&D5e primarily because this is the game my brother has been running for our group. Well, in actuality we are on a pandemic-forced break, since our DM chose not to run his games online. But we plan to get together again soon, and we will be playing D&D5e, when we do.
That said, if I were running games for the ol’ group again, I would not be running D&D. Not because I dislike the game… far from it… but simply because I personally own over 100 different TTRPGs, and I would likely choose one of the many others I prefer over D&D.
I could make you a list, but that would be a bit gauche, no?
My point is that D&D (especially 5e) is a perfectly fine TTRPG, especially if you enjoy combat, but I have many other games that I prefer over it. Yes, D&D is the big grand-daddy of TTRPGs, and it deserves some extra respect for that alone, but it is far from the best game on the market.
Hell, D&D5e isn’t even the best version of “Dungeons & Dragons”! It’s good, and many people prefer it overall, but having played and ran every version of D&D (aside from 4th, because eww!), I’m going to say that 5e is just too much of a Superhero game.
Yeah, I went there.
5th Edition is not so much a story about plucky adventurers working their way through the land, facing off against dangerous foes, and looting their corpses. It is more about plucky adventurers that quickly become extremely powerful, then dominate their way through the world, and have to face extremely powerful foes, just to keep things challenging.
They are superheroes, simply put.
Now, there is nothing wrong with that, not at all. But it just isn’t D&D, not really. Unless your character gets wasted in the first couple of levels, permanent death becomes rather rare for player characters as they level up in 5e. A Dungeon Master can kill off moderate to high level characters, but they have to vastly overpower their group to do so, which really isn’t fair, and quickly drives away their players.
No, in my opinion, the best version of D&D is “Basic/Expert”, specifically the version presented in “Old School Essentials”. It is the exact same game at B/X D&D, just the book is laid out is a much more usable format. So in my mind, the best version of D&D isn’t even officially D&D… It is OSE.
Anyway, like I said before, please leave your comments on why you play D&D below. I would really like to hear your thoughts on this.
