Dungeons and Dragons. A game that I shared a 40th birthday with on the weekend is due to come out with its new iteration in less than six months. I have declared openly that I am no longer interested in the game when I read all the Next play test material and then failed to get a game running due to lack of interest. But it is Dungeons and Dragons, an icon that shall forever be as long as tabletop RPG’s survive. We also know that my focus has largely been involved with Pathfinder RPG, the spin off from 3.5 D&D and I have invested heavily in it. Perhaps not as heavily as some but heavily none the less and as irritating as some of it is , it is a good RPG that everyone likes.
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| My go to game for the past three years… |
My in-person group is something that I have been trying to get to play new style games with. We had some success with Dungeon World of late but this week we went back to Pathfinder due to the familiarity of their characters and their interest in the story that is evolving for their mythic characters (our Skull and Shackles is on hold). I had a chat with one of the players that day and was told that they had been talking (the players) and they have all decided that they want to give D&D Next a go and that they are going to invest in it. This came as a bit of a shock to me and I feel a little let down. I do know that one of my players is running an on-line Next game and is enjoying it and I knew he would buy the books as he is a one eyed D&D fan from way back but it seems the bug is insinuating the group.
I of course wish them well with it all but in all honesty I do not want to be part of D&D any more. I bought third edition and it lost me due to the complexity of its rules and then I bought 4th edition and it lost me due to its dumbing down of rules (Note: I realise people like these games and please realise this is MY personal opinion of them). I spend too much money on games to invest again and be bitten by D&D. So what do I do?
I don’t really even have a desire to play D&D any more. I have plenty of games I would rather be playing (FATE, Dungeon World, Swords and Sorcerers of Hyperborea, Classic Traveller, Earthdawn, James Bond RPG, Star Wars d20, Shadowrun 5E, Kuro, Pathfinder, Super Squadron) so what do I do? When they move to the new system do I bow out of the in-person game? I feel this is rude as they have played a long time in my games but I am just not feeling Next any more.
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| Coming in Autumn? for Australia |
What would you do in this situation? How should I handle it? I am afraid it will look like I am snubbing them because they don’t want Pathfinder any more but I really don’t think it is that. I have read Next, it looked simple and elegant BUT it was not really progressive. It was like going back to a mixture of second edition and basic edition of D&D. I already have both of those and if I want to play something like them I will just play them.
Is anybody else facing this reaction? Have you a keen energy group that wants to play Next and you don’t? Let me know what you think in the comments. If you think I am being an unreasonable git, tell me so. You won’t hurt my feelings! Until next time, keep rolling!