Why play DnD 5e? Don't get me wrong...

Why play DnD 5e? Don't get me wrong, I can relate to the idea of wanting a relatively rules-light system compared to something like Pathfinder/3.5. But why not play an OSR game instead? What does 5e have to offer that OSR doesn't?

Because you have a hate-boner for old-school games, or because you want your PCs to never die and be super powerful.

New content that's been heavily playtested that has astounding visuals thanks to the efforts of WotC.

What does OSR have to offer that 5e doesn't?

>astounding visuals
?

WOTC's playtesting is how we got stupid shit like Fighters getting nerfed in the final product by having their superiority dice put into one archetype.

Honestly yeah, I can only see 5e's validity if you want a story where player death is discouraged.

OSR games came first. It's on 5e to offer something new.

>What does 5e have to offer that OSR doesn’t?

Players

>OSR games came first. It's on 5e to offer something new.
>it can first so that means you should use it
Okkay OP, here you go. And this is from someone who hates 5e
>characters who mechanically distrinct from each other outside of what loot the GM throws at you
>less shitty meta-gamey GOTCHA monsters, designed to deliberately mislead and kill/maim characters
>more focus on combat, which most people want. Surprisingly people want somewhat heroic adventures instead of autistic "5 foot step check for traps, send in the red shirts for the monster to eviscerate while we strip down the dungeon for copper wires like inner city youths" simulators

I think that in 3.x/PF there was a game model that needed refining, a game with a lot of fiddly bits that can be used to make a character that can feel and play a lot different from another, but the systems were plagued by excessivly imbalanced options. However, it never got a priper revision, because 4th edition was a whole different game model, and 5th tried something that approached that sort of refinement, but hewed too close to simplification for it to be that refined system.

>Surprisingly people want somewhat heroic adventures instead of autistic "5 foot step check for traps, send in the red shirts for the monster to eviscerate while we strip down the dungeon for copper wires like inner city youths" simulators

This is true. Fukken' cashewals git on muh levul!

I guess it's about accessibility. I mean, to begin with, when you hear about roleplaying, chances are you're hearing about 5e. You might even never know there are other games, seeing as even in the OSR we see people saying "D&D" to refer to roleplaying games in general.

But even if you know about the OSR. For the actual old games, I guess you don't want to search through used book stores and online archives. With 5e you know where you can buy the books, you know when they'll release more, you can easily find the people who do reviews and stream and produce their own content.

As for the Renaissance games, they don't get nearly as much exposition. How many people know about Critical Role? And how many know about, say, Questing Beast? In how many bookstores can you buy the Player's Handbook? In how many can you buy Dungeon Crawl Classics?

And then, even when you get to know those games, you've already bought the 5e books You bought the adventures, the minis, the dice. Learned the system? You don't want to go through all that again. So you hear about, Labyrinth Lord and it might sound neat and all, but are you going to waste the effort you put into buying and learning and teaching your friends to play and preparing a campaign and getting a group together for 5e?

At that point you're better off just playing 5e.

came to post this

Oooooooh!

Because it has the most players

>How many people know about Critical Role? And how many know about, say, Questing Beast? In how many bookstores can you buy the Player's Handbook? In how many can you buy Dungeon Crawl Classics?

I think you're underestimating both of these. RollPlay and Twitch have ran OSR series that were fairly popular, and most game stores I've seen have DCC books. That is, actual game stores, not just comic book stores with a D&D/Pathfinder section.

It’s funny you ask this because you know why but you asked it anyway.
Usually only retarded people do things like that and your posting style does not suggest mental deficiencies on your part.

I'll concede, maybe I don't have such a clear notion about streaming. I don't really keep up with the "scene".

But
>most game stores I've seen have DCC books
>actual game stores
That's part of my point, user. You don't even have to go to an actual game store to buy the 5e books.

Bigger number is always better, ALWAYS!

Because 5E is newer. It's the same reason why 4E was played more than other systems, and why 3.5 was played more than other systems, even though they are all bad games.

I don't want my PCs to never die, but I also don't want them to be hit with Death No Save because I'm not psychic.

From my experience, a huge trove of people wanting to get into the hobby by playing this game in particular.
All people want is all people know, and if people only scarcely know about tabletops, they only want the most surface-level thing; Dungeons and Dragons.

Saving throws date from 1974 with OD&D, though.

But there was still death no save stuff in published materials way, way after that, so narrative death from player statements is clearly intent even though saves existed.

The fuck? Are people in this thread stupid or something?

5e has more character building and general "content" in terms of the game itself. It has far more rules then 1st or 0 edition and more options, where as OSR games are much simpler. OSR games as a whole tend not to have character building at all.

>But there was still death no save stuff in published materials way, way after that,

Not really. I just skimmed In The Phantom's Wake, Treasure Hunt, and Village of Hommlet, three old TSR modules I have close to hand, and couldn't find a single example of a no-save player-dies entry. I can't recall seeing one, though I'll admit I haven't read a whole lot of modules.

Possibly. I mean they're both fine editions.

I personally prefer the older stuff, but I don't begrudge people for liking stuff I don't, much less liking stuff I can take or leave.

People think less complexity than 3.P means OSR levels of simplicity, I guess.

Tons of players who are just as new to the hobby as you are, and the pretense of legitimacy earned by having the D&D name.

As cheap as getting into OSR is (cost: $10 for a bag of dice off Amazon, access to a computer), it's also only visible HERE, and maybe somethingawful.

I was at the bookstore earlier today. Their shelf was 60% Paizo BS, 30% 5e, plus the Dark Eye corebook and the Dungeon Crawl Classics corebook.

Brand recognition is killer. Joe Shmoe knows what D&D is. Paizo tries to make up the institutional advantage by flooding the shelves with adventure paths and bestiaries and map packs and pawn sets and anything else. Anyone else gets word of mouth and nothing else.

5e has a guaranteed install base, sponsorship from e-celebs like Geek & Sundry, and the D&D logo on the front. Meanwhile, the last thread about OSR stuff on neoGaf was three years ago and tumblr has about a page per system for the best of OSR. If you're not here, reddit, or blogspot, OSR doesn't exist.

So popularity is the only real reason to play it? I suppose that was inevitable.

>What does 5e have to offer that OSR doesn’t?
>Players

Advantage/disadvantage

I suppose that's unfair to 5e.

OSR requires a certain mood to get into, just like 5e. 5e is good at running high fantasy campaigns, domineering bouts where the player characters are demigods who can beat the asses of any monster that looks funny at them. OSR tends to be more on the ground level, players dying and killing a lot easier.

5e also has another advantage: it's well supported. Every kickstarter, every third party publisher, even the competition like Goodman Games makes 5e content. That means there's a lot of good stuff built with 5e's advantages in mind.

>5e is good at running high fantasy campaigns domineering bouts where the player characters are demigods who can beat the asses of any monster that looks funny at them.
3.5 and 4e were good at those things. 5e is some strange bastard child that tries to go back to OSR style dungeon crawls but also tries to have players fight Tiamat, resulting in bipolar class design and hp bloated "epic" monsters that don't actually do much