Tell Me About These Three RPGS (D&D 5e being one)

Ok, it's highly unlikely I'll run an RPG anytime soon, but I haven't bought or read a new one in awhile, so the itch is forming. I was at the game store last weekend as my son played in some pre-release pokemon tournament, and a few jumped out at me.

First up...D&D 5e. What the hell is going on here? It looks like the same 5-6 hardbacks that I've seen for the past two years. Seems to be the three core and two adventures (the dragons and the elemental ones). Is D&D even a thing anymore? Did this bomb out? What are WotC plans here...just let Pathfinder be the king of fantasy rpgs and publish D&D solely for some sort of copyright retention?

The new Middle Earth game, The One Ring, looks gorgeous. I guess I never really looked at it in the past as it was in a box, or sleeve, but there seems to be a new edition that is just a hardback book and damn...I almost bought it on the spot. Anyone play it? I'm not a big Tolkein nerd, but know the setting from only reading The Hobbit and watching LotR movies. Would I be able to get into this game?

On a similar note, from the same company, was the Lone Wolf rpg boxset. With illustrations from the same artist as The One Ring, the esteemed Jon Hodgson, it too looks amazing. More nerd failings here, but I've never read a Lone Wolf book so don't know anything about this game. The price was very affordable at about $30 for a complete boxed game, but again I know nothing about it. Anyone play this or know something about it?

Mr. White wrote: On a similar note, from the same company, was the Lone Wolf rpg boxset. With illustrations from the same artist as The One Ring, the esteemed Jon Hodgson, it too looks amazing. More nerd failings here, but I've never read a Lone Wolf book so don't know anything about this game. The price was very affordable at about $30 for a complete boxed game, but again I know nothing about it. Anyone play this or know something about it?

If you're talking about the recent box they Kickstarted a couple of years ago, as far as I know those were based off the last LW rpg Mongoose published a few years earlier. Compared with the previous d20 version of the RPG from a dozen years ago (which I own and have played online via forum), this was much simpler and closer in rules density to the original game books. I never managed to grab the rules, but I do have the Terrors of the Darklands adventure and read through that. They were a smaller booklet size than regular RPG formats.

This one wasn't Mongoose, but Cubicle 7.

cubicle7.co.uk/our-games/lone-wolf-adventure-game/

Jeff, the only new RPG you need is the upcoming Mutant Crawl Classics. www.goodman-games.com/6200preview.html

Mr. White wrote: This one wasn't Mongoose, but Cubicle 7.

cubicle7.co.uk/our-games/lone-wolf-adventure-game/

Yes, and they're pretty much the same thing. It seems the box set adds cardboard sheets and handouts, perhaps a bit like Warhammer RPG 3rd ed.

I can't speak to the profitability of the line, but I've run two sessions of D&D 5e so far (using the $20 starter kit with the pre-made characters) and I've been having a good time. The biggest change from 3e (4e seems to not really exist) is that there's this new advantage/disadvantage system that makes it so in the right situations you roll 2 d20s and take the higher (or lower) result. This seems to take the place of the many small modifiers you can have to doing various activities. Sneaking in Chain Mail? Disadvantage. Attacking a target that can't see you? Advantage. Etc. Cover still has some flat +'s to armor class, and checks still have a target DC. My biggest complaint for this being a true starter is that you only have one of each die... and rolling 2 d20s is a core mechanic of the game, and Burning Hands, a 1st level spell, involves rolling 3d6. I had some more dice lying around, and most veteran RPG players will too, but I thought it was sparse.

My PCs are only level 2, soon to be 3, but we're already talking about wanting to pick up an adventure book (and then the three core books would have to be picked up as well), once we're done here. They say they'd rather fight dragons than elementals, and I'm not a big fan of the Underdark, so that one's out. I'll wait til we finish this and get to level 5 before I drop a bunch of money on the books though.

5th edition D&D is FANTASTIC, and it didn't bomb out at all (my wife regularly works for WOTC, did two pieces for the Monster Manual, and can confirm that they're doing VERY well with this edition). Right from the get-go WOTC said they would be doing a ton of books like they have in the past, just focus on making those initial 3 core books as good as they can make them (which they did). The campaign books aren't terrific, I've never been a big Forgotten Realms fan so I'm really not the target audience on the Sword Coast book, but the core books are wonderful. Even the DMG, which has in the past been something I've not read thoroughly since I've DM'd enough to know what I'm doing, is packed with cool stuff.

Hell, even the starter kit is pretty damned good, and I kind of like the adventure in it. Took my group 3 months to finish, so it's good value.

PS - I am the human cultist in the Monster Manual.

If this turns out to be quality, I'm interested.

dnd.wizards.com/products/tabletop-games/...roducts/curse-strahd

Josh Look wrote: Right from the get-go WOTC said they would be doing a ton of books like they have in the past, just focus on making those initial 3 core books as good as they can make them (which they did)

"Would" or "would not" be doing a ton of books? I thought you meant "would not," which matched my recollection.

Anyway, I do like 5e, at least in the couple of sessions I've played. It feels more like a streamlined 2e than 3e, certainly. Can't really speak to 4e, though I had the "essentials" books and did skim them.

jpat wrote:

Josh Look wrote: Right from the get-go WOTC said they would be doing a ton of books like they have in the past, just focus on making those initial 3 core books as good as they can make them (which they did)

"Would" or "would not" be doing a ton of books? I thought you meant "would not," which matched my recollection.

Anyway, I do like 5e, at least in the couple of sessions I've played. It feels more like a streamlined 2e than 3e, certainly. Can't really speak to 4e, though I had the "essentials" books and did skim them.

My mistake. Yes, "would not."

Josh Look wrote: PS - I am the human cultist in the Monster Manual.

This dude?

I can't speak to the ........r

I want this fucking expression banned. Its an abomination unless used in cases where you actually mean you are physically speaking to someone

eg.
I can't speak to the headmaster today as that twat is on his holidays.

you do NOT speak to the issue of this or that unless you are (in your own words) one of BGGS most influential reviewers


If you do not look like this, you should not be using fucking stupid constructions like "I can't speak to the issue of whether this game is too random or not",

AND THAT GOES FOR YOU TOO BARNES!

OK. I don't know how successful the game is, but it has been successful for me. My girlfriend's mom (who played around 1980), and her son (5) have both been able to dive right in to 5e. Cutting down goblins within 20 minutes of opening the box* was refreshing. We'll have our third session this weekend, most likely.

*For them. I read the rules over a few times before our first session.

I don't know anything about the Lone Wolf RPG. But for the others:

D&D 5e has a weird release schedule, yeah. It seems that WOTC is trying to thread the needle. If they release a ton of product, then they probably don't meet Hasbro's expectations, because RPGs simply don't justify their existence on the scale that corporate America needs -- too many resources with too little return. If they release very little product, then Pathfinder continues to dominate. If they open up the property a la 3.x OGL, then there's a slew of crap that WOTC doesn't make any money on and devalues the brand. So they are trying to release a small amount of high quality product, while letting third party sellers release things via the Dungeon Masters' Guild. That's a collaboration with DriveThruRPG that lets anyone sell stuff set in the Forgotten Realms, but WOTC owns it and takes half of your profits. Which seems crazy but if your labor of love has no independent commercial viability, then making 50% of something rather than 100% of nothing is pretty good.

That said, D&D 5 is a good game at its core. Whether it will be good for you depends on your group. Personally, I like the core game but hate the ephemera around it. I was playing in a 5e hexcrawl up until three weeks ago. Every single character (other than me) could use some kind of magic and was a special snowflake with kewl powerz. If I ran 5e at this point, I'd do 3d6 in order, and limit the PC choices to the classic four races and classic four classes. But if I'm doing that, I can run labyrinth lord for free. So that's what I'd do.

The One Ring is a great game. It's the best Tolkien game and totally captures the core of LOTR. Those types of stories are not about being powerful and getting magic items, they're about friendship and sadness and loss, and what will you sacrifice to keep the light alive for the free peoples. The mechanics do a great job of backing this up. They are kind of crunchy, but not any more than, say, Agricola.

Mad Dog wrote:

Josh Look wrote: PS - I am the human cultist in the Monster Manual.

This dude?

That's the one. Heavy embellished, mind you, but modeled for it.