Comparing D&D Editions and CRPG Discussion
(Apologies if there is a better subsection to post this. I’m posting it here based on discord feedback. Feel free to move it.)
I’m gonna do a bit of conflating crpg versions and table top simply due to my experience with them.
I wanted to make a thread for discussing the different editions of D&D, how they compare/contrast, and possible applications of the rules.
AD&D, 2e (2e is more or less a moderate revision of 1e), has some kind of special merit to it seems, since it’s been around since what the 80s? 20 years without massive overhauls. 1979-1999 is a long time for minor revisions. Why is that? Why did they need to move to 3e, and considering 3e revised to 3.5 in maybe 2 years, doesn’t that mean 3.0 was a bit broken?
4e seems to have gone a bit off the rails. I’ve spent a bit of time playing the MMO Neverwinter, but I’m not sure if it even remotely is accurate to 4e. I really like Forgotten Realms lore, and it’s “free” to play, so I’ve spent some time playing it. I’ve seen the comment 4e was almost itself mmo-ized. But I wonder if the Neverwinter mmo took that even further.
What are Table Top veterans’ opinions on AD&D vs 3.x vs 4e vs 5e. Furthermore, for those of you who’ve played D&D based video games, how faithful do you think they are to their respective versions?
My impression is that 5e is a modest or moderate revision of 3.5. Is this accurate?
Having beaten Baldur’s Gate and Siege of Dragonspear recently, I’m impressed at how well the large-scale battles were handled. I do not know how much rules were fudged, or additional spell slots / ability slots were required for the npcs. Anyway, I can almost see how a strategy-ish AD&D rules game might work. Large battles, but the npcs fight individualistically more or less. Same would apply to 3.x and 5, (probably 4 as well.)
Please feel free to comment on anything you’d like. All comments welcome!