Friday Game Night, Fifth Edition Style!

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It's an off-week for the group but we still decided to try to get a game in, not the least of reasons being that next week's regular game night is a bust.  Since it was an off week and two of our regulars couldn't make it, we decided to try out the latest edition of Dungeons & Dragons for a brief one-shot.  I also invited two new people who had expressed an interest in playing: Tony and his daughter.  Tony had played D&D years before but hadn't been able to find a group, and he especially wanted to introduce his daughter to gaming.  I'm a big supporter in getting new people into the hobby, so I was happy to help out.

I can see why the OSR grognards like Fifth Edition.  It has a lot of early edition elements to it--low hit points, limited healing, no more "just make an Arcana check" stuff--while at the same time having some "modern" game aspects, including ascending Armor Class.  We used miniatures because I find it helpful with a big group to understand what is going on, but my players (used for 4E) were asking about flanking, etc. which isn't in the rules anymore.  Everyone like the Advantage/Disadvantage rule as an easy way to reflect situational modifiers.

The problem?  I'm already running Firefly, and that group is already too big for that system, IMHO.  D&D handles a larger group better (because of the PC role differentiation) but nine is way too many even for it.  I'm back to my considering an open-world two-group model for gaming again, or as I call it Mi Gran Sueno.

Comments

  1. WQRobbNovember 8, 2014 at 4:14 PM

    Ha! I don't think the guy playing the pilot in my game would appreciate that. Nine's too many for any game, so I'm once again thinking about trying to run them in two groups.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Adam DicksteinNovember 10, 2014 at 5:59 AM

    Oh, I don't know about that. I've run numerous campaigns with very large groups, to the point where I'm so used to it I find running with less than 4-5 very difficult.

    Some games do make it easier than others. D&D, while not a favorite of mine, does handle large groups better. West End Games' Star Wars D6 is another that does a great job of tackling numerous PCs in a group at one time.

    ReplyDelete
  3. WQRobbNovember 10, 2014 at 6:22 AM

    Please, we all know that's because you're jonesing for a Star Wars game right now.

    ReplyDelete
  4. BlacksteelNovember 10, 2014 at 1:41 PM

    That is priceless!

    I would think running alternating games of Firefly and D&D would scratch a variety of gaming itches - you just have to come up with some creative scheduling.

    ReplyDelete

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