5 reasons why you should stop playing WotC’s D&D

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I will never forget when I was an Uber driver and I was driving this girl to her DND session and I was talking to her about the games I play. I said that i play other ttrpgs besides dnd 5e, and she was like, "So like, other worlds? like homebrew?" and we got to her destination before I could explain that there were more games than DND 5e. I think about that girl from time to time. I hope she learned about how big the world of TTRPG's really is.

Reason #6: The Leaks of OGL 1.1 which are draconian, anti-competition tactics that would kill third party publishing and legitimately in the leaked form basically kills Kickstarter projects.

Many of these problems have always plagued D&D. I started out with 1e, and my group used the three main core books. DMG, Players Handbook, and Monster Manual. We had SO MUCH fun playing with those books, then people started buying all the add-ons and it ruined the game. Not everyone was willing to buy endless books, and even fewer wanted to read them all. The group fell apart basically because the extra books were introduced. A few of us stuck together and moved to 2e, and the book bloat was literally insane.

My main complaint as a DM is the fact that I have to do most of the design work. Nowhere is this more important than what they've done with skills. Basically, the skill system is a few descriptors, followed by "and the DM will set all the Difficulty numbers". I don't WANT to be designing hazards and traps and skill tests. I want a 5E version of 3.5 where skills were detailed and laid out EXACTLY what you could do on a convenient table. Also, the rules are scattered all over the place throughout the Player's Handbook, the Dungeon Master's Guide, and several other supplemental materials. If you don't have this stuff memorized, you can easily chew up half of your playtime flipping through books looking for rules. Organizationally and visually, this version is a MESS.

A necessary video in a hobby where the culture, media and people are extremely focused on a single game. We don't need for DnD to become more popular, but for RPG in general, in all their variety and possibilities.

The point of "Trusting the players (and the DM)" by a given rule set and it's approach to gaming is so key!

I loved Advanced Dungeons and Dragons 2nd edition, the players handbook with the man on a horse on the cover....the art and lore from a variety of worlds like Krynn, Oerth, Faerun, as well as the novels that came out under that umbrella....still bring back fond memories of my childhood in the 90s...... I used to love going to the D&D section of a bookstore....now, it resembles a mini-toy store with all kinds of cheap made in china plastic crap and lots of books with bland artwork.....

Dave: "D&D 5e is a pain in the neck to run." Me, who will never abandon PF1: "Ahaha yes it is." /looks around nervously

I agree 100%. I went from playing 5E (It's okay, just D&D on easy mode), to DMing 5E this summer. I now hate 5E. Being on the other side of the DM screen showed me all of the flaws in the game; boring combat, power creep, and too many rules which leads to rule lawyering on a scale I have never experienced in 30+ years of gaming. And I won't even get into the player base. I'm moving to OSR and praying there is a home for me there.

I'm beginning to move away from 5E slowly but surely. While I have enjoyed playing games with a small group over discord, and I will credit it for introducing me to TTRPGs, it is still flawed at the end of the day and it's becoming increasingly difficult for any of us not to notice those issues. I'm glad for stumbling across this channel as it's introduced me to a wide range of RPGs and RPG systems. I'm beginning to take the dive into other systems, looking at forged in the dark, or powered by the apocalypse games.

You get bonus points for suggesting Old-School Essentials twice, it is my favorite RPG by far and as I imagined D&D was supposed to be. But your general point of trying other RPGs is also great and I think people should be more open minded. Great video!

I was a video gamer that picked up D&D just after 3.5 dropped. I had gotten into tabletop when CRPGs were in a bit of a rut (mind you, this was before the Mass Effect series and before indie developers really took off on Steam) and have been in both worlds ever since. I had been watching how Wizards is handling 5E and keeping getting flashbacks to the business practices of Electronic Arts and Ubisoft. For those not familiar with the antics of the video game space... you do not want that. Trust me, you DO NOT want that.

I started in the tabletop hobby through a local D&D event because it was the only one I'd heard of and knew about. After a couple of years, we decided to check out Call of Cthulhu and instantly fell in love. After about 3 years of D&D, we finally had enough and branched out to other games and I've since sold all of my 5e books and used the money to add more awesome games to my collection. You make a LOT of valid points, particularly that it is hard to run and balance at higher levels because players become demigods once you hit level 13 or so, and it just gets worse from there. Great video as always! We'll see you in the new year, Dave

Dave Thaumavore coming in hot with a spicy D&D take! Good points.

2nd addition AD&D was the greatest version for me. PathFinder the improvement of 3.5 was great as well. Champions, CyberPunk 2020, and Star Wars D6 are all great games too.

The problem I have always experienced is I wanna play a TTRPG that isn’t DnD5E, but when you mention TTRPG everyone else wants to play DnD5E because it’s the most well known. It’s even more funny because I actually want to be a GM, but everyone wants the Matt Mercer experience which I am 100% sure is an experience I cannot deliver. I’m hoping 2023 is my year where I get it all running, instead of endless procrastination searching for a system that isn’t 5E.

Just like you mentioned in your amazing video, my issue with 5e is that it tries to be a lot and have mass appeal, but ends up not doing anything great. It’s not thought out enough to be highly tactical. It’s not rules light enough to be quick and fast. I at first found it strange how I love games like Pathfinder 2e or Blades in the Dark, 2 games that are at the polar opposites. Then I realized it is because both focused on what they are good at. PS: thank you for helping me introduce to new systems and worlds, I smile at all your new videos

I switched to Pathfinder 2E earlier this year and so far I really enjoy it

Agree with you 100%. Whenever a corporate hegemony starts using terms like 'under-monetized" it's time to find new outlets. I was astounded that they were so open about it. It will be interesting to see how WotC plans to strangle third party content creators with a 'new and improved' open gaming license'.