Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition

[Andrew Hackard]

Originally Posted by ULFGARD

I really haven't been fond of DnD since AD&D 2e.

What I saw of Next felt very much like 2e to me, with some rule refinements. It's a much simpler game than 3e/4e, at least in the playtest version.

[Anders]

But will it have fifteen kinds of polearms and rules for different weapons against armor? :)

[Astromancer]

What kinds of Demi-humans will be availible? What character classes? What combos? And how do munchkins set up an ubergroober of their very own?

[ULFGARD]

Originally Posted by Andrew Hackard

What I saw of Next felt very much like 2e to me, with some rule refinements. It's a much simpler game than 3e/4e, at least in the playtest version.

That IS encouraging. I often use AD&D (or OSRIC, etc.) to introduce new players to RPGs, at least if they're interested in fantasy. I prefer GURPS for most things, but for simplicity of play and character generation, the "old ways" are great, especially for lower level characters.

That said, AD&D has lots of clunky bits that could stand improvement.

[Andrew Hackard]

Originally Posted by Anders

But will it have fifteen kinds of polearms and rules for different weapons against armor? :)

I'm sure someone will step in to fill that void.

Originally Posted by Astromancer

What kinds of Demi-humans will be availible? What character classes? What combos? And how do munchkins set up an ubergroober of their very own?

No idea. I didn't actually PLAY Next, I just read through the playtest docs -- and not super closely, either.

Originally Posted by ULFGARD

That said, AD&D has lots of clunky bits that could stand improvement.

Totally agreed. I think this version knocks a lot of rough edges off AD&D by selectively choosing ideas from 3/4e that worked well without adding complexity.

[ak_aramis]

Originally Posted by Andrew Hackard

What I saw of Next felt very much like 2e to me, with some rule refinements. It's a much simpler game than 3e/4e, at least in the playtest version.

Felt more like 3.0 to me. Especially with the up-powering of 1st level MU and Clerics. But that's from read and CGen; I don't know anyone who actually wants to give it a go.

[SCAR]

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin

To take your gaming material to your game when said game is not conveniently held in your computer room.

A tablet works much better for this than even a small laptop. Though we d have one guy who's using what looks like one of those hybrid Surface things.

Rulebooks at the gaming table can be a distraction. Once you're familiar enough with the rules, don't open the books at the table. Have them accessible in some form for reference should be sufficient - and with laptops, netbooks, tablets, e-readers, smartphones being all but ubiquitous these days, access to quick reference PDFs is simple, and unlike physical books they can make use of a Search which can be pretty handy for quick reference

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin

As to printing out your pdfs I'd have to say absolutely no. I own a _lot_ of paper gamebooks but I want those professionally done and not DIY.

That's your opinion, and would doubt its the majority.
I have several file folders with printouts of part or all of various PDFs for GURPS and other systems, although I don't do that so much these days, I just print the pages I might want to reference, or cut and paste short sections into word and print those for reference.
I wasn't suggesting printing out all of those books - maybe just a copy of GURPS Lite for rules reference at the table, copies of the Templates for character generation, some blank character sheets and that should be sufficient.

[Anders]

Originally Posted by Andrew Hackard

I'm sure someone will step in to fill that void.

Yeah, you can make quite a few polearms with the rules in LTC2.

[Anaraxes]

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin

I own a _lot_ of paper gamebooks but I want those professionally done and not DIY.

SJ Games grants permission to have the PDFs printed. It's easy enough to take one to a service to print and bind them in the manner of your choosing.

For example, http://www.lulu.com/publish/books/?cid=nav_bks

The GURPS 4e books look like the "casewrap" binding. The 3e ones were "perfect-bound" paperbacks.

[Andrew Hackard]

Printing PDFs is getting way off-topic. Let's bring it back to D&D 5e.