I have been holding out on 5e. I only ever heard folks complain about it and I have been happy with my 3e core set for decades. Finally scored the entire set for 35 bucks on ebay, virtually brand new.
Looking forward to engaging in the online reindeer games.
My personal journey went 3.5 -> Pathfinder -> 5e. I would be happy as a pig in poop to play any one of the three at this second. For me, the table’s more important than the game.
" the table’s more important than the game." 100%. Thats really the reason I wanted this set. Because it opens more options to play with more people. After reading through the PHB, its still just D&D.
I absolutely love 5e. However, I’m sure that’s because I’m so comfortable in it. I have books upon books of resources and literally hundreds of gigabytes of resources for it. I can run any kind of game I want at any time.
As someone who’s first TTRPG was 4e: people just like to complain. 5e is a perfectly fun game, as is 3rd, 3.5, PF, or PF2e
The real issue I noticed is that people tend to expect D&D to be the "best " system for THEIR game. And D&D (and by extension Pathfinder) have never been the “best” system at anything besides BEING D&D and Pathfinder.
I look at it as the traditional system. D&D has a ton of old, basically unusable rules that simply exist because… We expect them to exist. We remember these rules existing in old editions so they basically HAVE to exist in the new edition. And this expectation has led to a system that is just really good at emulating itself and not much else.
People who expect D&D to be the best for their horror game, or their survival game, or their political game often complain because that’s not what it’s for. People who expect D&D to be the best for their old 1st edition game complain because it’s that’s not what it’s for.
It’s just meant to LOOK like the old edition.
You’ll definitely enjoy playing 5e! A good group of friends and a solid starting adventure will get everyone rolled back into the swing of things quickly.
D&D has a ton of old, basically unusable rules that simply exist because… We expect them to exist.
It’s good you were able to get them at such a bargain as WotC is in the process of updating the rulebooks for 2024. As far as I know, there will be new players and DMs guides. Though, as they’ve stated that the adventures should not be impacted in use by either 5e or 5.5e (or whatever they call it), it may not have that much of an immediate impact on the player base in general or your play group specifically.
I only ever heard folks complain about it
If you only talked to 3e players, maybe that’s why. Most people are critical of 5e because it has its faults, but it’s not actually bad.
Tbh it’s not a bad game… People just like to complain. Especially about D&D. Everyone has their own specific (and houseruled) idea of what D&D is or should be, and as a result no version is ever good enough.
5e has plenty of good content you can have plenty of fun with.
I started with 5e, so I’m obviously lacking context and experience, but I’ve always loved it.
