Hi all. I haven't been able to post over the last few days due to work and family. I am becoming much busier by the day at my new job, so that unfortunately means that my blogging during the day will be slowing down/sporadic. I have to sacrifice something in favor of spending time to actually game/prepare to game. As always, I do what I can when I can. Anyway, enough of all that. On to the real topic of this post:
Has anyone read the "I'm with D&D" post over at The Other Side blog? Take a look if you haven't, and let me know your thoughts. What is your stance on the many editions of D&D? Are you an egalitarian, or a staunch partisan? I for one have a "play and let play" stance on things for the most part. Any kind of D&D is D&D, alright! What's most important to me is that people are actually playing! Now, does that mean I love the 4E incarnation? No. I am not a huge fan of editions 2 through 4 of D&D, actually. And I have just truly started to delve into OD&D, and find some issues with that venerable beast as well. Give me 1E any day! But if people are as passionate about other versions, so be it. Who am I to tell them what should be their game of choice? I could write posts that go on about what I find offensive about a particular edition, but always with the caveat of "this is my opinion." If you love it, play it.
I've been called "mealy" for my opinions. So be it. Mealy I may be, but at least I'm not a "flaming" uber-nerd who's sole purpose is to extend one's ire for a D&D edition to actually attacking those who play said edition. That's a level of meta-dorkness to which I will not descend.
Currently, I am playing using Castles & Crusades, which has been dubbed a 1E/3.5E hybrid. But I am also increasingly interested in Labyrinth Lord, a clone of Moldvay/Cook/Marsh B/X. I see C&C as a means to do more "story-driven" roleplaying, whereas LL to me would be used at my table for a more "traditional" version of D&D that focuses on the sandbox-y, dungeon crawl "slay and loot" approach. I know some of you are groaning right now at my mention of story in conjunction with D&D. I might need to do a separate post on my thoughts regarding the use of certain editions depending on what style of game you want to run. This post may also include my thoughts on playing strong archetypes versus more "individualized" characters, etc. I may have to rethink my stance on other editions, and accept that each has their merit based on what style of play you seek to foster.
Has anyone read the "I'm with D&D" post over at The Other Side blog? Take a look if you haven't, and let me know your thoughts. What is your stance on the many editions of D&D? Are you an egalitarian, or a staunch partisan? I for one have a "play and let play" stance on things for the most part. Any kind of D&D is D&D, alright! What's most important to me is that people are actually playing! Now, does that mean I love the 4E incarnation? No. I am not a huge fan of editions 2 through 4 of D&D, actually. And I have just truly started to delve into OD&D, and find some issues with that venerable beast as well. Give me 1E any day! But if people are as passionate about other versions, so be it. Who am I to tell them what should be their game of choice? I could write posts that go on about what I find offensive about a particular edition, but always with the caveat of "this is my opinion." If you love it, play it.
I've been called "mealy" for my opinions. So be it. Mealy I may be, but at least I'm not a "flaming" uber-nerd who's sole purpose is to extend one's ire for a D&D edition to actually attacking those who play said edition. That's a level of meta-dorkness to which I will not descend.
Currently, I am playing using Castles & Crusades, which has been dubbed a 1E/3.5E hybrid. But I am also increasingly interested in Labyrinth Lord, a clone of Moldvay/Cook/Marsh B/X. I see C&C as a means to do more "story-driven" roleplaying, whereas LL to me would be used at my table for a more "traditional" version of D&D that focuses on the sandbox-y, dungeon crawl "slay and loot" approach. I know some of you are groaning right now at my mention of story in conjunction with D&D. I might need to do a separate post on my thoughts regarding the use of certain editions depending on what style of game you want to run. This post may also include my thoughts on playing strong archetypes versus more "individualized" characters, etc. I may have to rethink my stance on other editions, and accept that each has their merit based on what style of play you seek to foster.
I have this theory that there are a lot of us out there that just plain love D&D, regardless of edition or rulesets. I primarily play 4e, but my 2e AD&D books share that shelfspace. And I use those books often in putting my 4e game together. It's really about having fun with your friends and trying to create an exciting fantasy adventure story in the process. Every edition of the game is useful for this. I have been itching it run a 2e game, but I doubt it'll happen. THAC0 will drive me crazy!
ReplyDeleteAnyways, play and let play.
I'm with you, as you know from my "Fun With Any Edition" posts on my blog. I'm partial to both 1E and 3.5/Pathfinder myself, but I don't begrudge anyone their choices.
ReplyDeleteIt's like drinking wine. I have my personal favorites and I know what I like, but I do try hard not to judge other people for their tastes, even when I see them drinking an overly oaked Merlot that tastes of green pepper. Some people like that kind of thing.
My main thing is, I have my preferences when I'm the DM, but if someone else is going to DM, then I seriously don't care what edition I'm playing. I'm just happy to play!
I'd say there are (at least) 2 issues here.
ReplyDelete1. Other People Are Wrong. This is just silly. Sure, I do it too, but my position is, if they're enjoying their wrongness, then they're right. Good for them. Sure, I may think my opera is better than their bubblegum pop, but if they don't want opera, me trying to force them to listen to it is just going to alienate them.
2. I Can't Find Anyone To Play My Favourite Edition With. That's actually a problem. Still, it's not the fault of pop that the people around you prefer it to opera. Maybe you can smuggle something cool out of the opera and show it to them. Maybe you have to strip right down exactly what you like about the opera and present just that, maybe in pop context. It's hard work. It would be nice if you didn't have to do that. But it's also choice, freedom, communicating.
Thanks for chiming in, everyone!
ReplyDelete