There and back again....

To know me is to know that I am a gamer. A big one. Take that for what it's worth, but I don't hide it. I am passionate about games and gaming and make time in my busy schedule to game. And one of the games that is near and dear to me is Dungeons and Dragons. That game has been with me since I was about 12 years old and I have played most of the varied incarnations of the game from the "Red Box" basic set all the way through to play-testing the latest version, currently known as D&D Next. Of all of those, I have played 1st Edition the most, (safe to say hundreds and hundreds of games) but only played one game of 4th Edition and a handful of 2nd Edition. And of all the versions, I feel that 1st Edition was my favorite. First impressions last and that version of the game is the version I like the most. That being said, it is version 3.5 that I currently play as it is the most accepted form by D&D adherents prior to the game rules system being taken up and turned into the Pathfinder game rule set.

But I digress. Home games (when I play them) are mostly 3.5 edition with a bit of 1st Edition influence. And that works for me. I never really embraced 3.5 like I did 1st edition but that is because I was an adult when I picked up 3.5 and had things like a home, a family, and a job. I am part of a D&D group that meets every other Tuesday (well, at least they do. I am more of an irregular part of the group) at the local game store and we usually have a go at the game for the better part of 4 hours. But of late something has changed for me. The luster for the game has worn off.

While I truly enjoy the time spent with the people I play with, am find myself becoming bored with the "game". Too often it becomes a grind to go through the rules to find the "magic number" you need to roll to succeed or things get bogged down with too much attention to little details that while might be helpful to the characters of the game, make it downright tedious for me to figure out, listen to, or simply care about. What I never really noticed before was how much "roll playing" there was in 3.5 and how little "role playing" there is.

I really try to encourage the role playing aspect in the games I run and I think I succeed to an extent. I have always tried to play by the rules of the game system, but I have never forgotten the words of Gary Gygax in the introduction of the 1st Edition of Advanced Dungeons and Dragons. To summarize, he said the books were not actually rule books but rather guidelines on how to play the game. And it is with that idea etched in my brain I approach my playing style of D&D. I don't care about some of the finer details or rules and stats. If they get in the way of the game play, then I do away with them or deal with them in such a way that it still allows the player to do what he/she wants to do but doesn't bog down a game.

So I am thinking of letting go of version 3.5 and whole heartedly embracing the newest version of D&D, which is in reality is not even complete or even published. D&D Next is still in the play test mode but I have been following it since the beginning and do some work with it and find it very satisfying. The people in charge of D&D Next want to make this new version more about what made the game fun in the early days of the game, and that is less concern about hard and fast rules and more about role-playing, adaptability, flexibility, and improvising. (They admit to using the best parts from all previous versions.) This new edition, whatever it will be called, sounds a lot like what 1st Edition was! And that makes me happy! The designers are taking the word of what the play-testers, gamers that love the D&D product, have to say and are using what they say to make the game better.

So just like in the past, a new version of the game has come into view and I find it appealing. I will work some way of out of letting players continue to play their characters from 3.5 in the Next edition but I am going to start phasing out my involvement with 3.5 and wait for the full release of D&D Next (or version 5.0 if you will) to arrive. I can only do one version at a time... and that not very often.

I am hoping that the others that have been with me in the 3.5 world will come along for the Next world. After all it is about getting together with friends, rolling some dice, and having some fun.