D&D 5th Edition: Thread #7

[TheOOB]

They have flaws, but I would call them neither fundamental nor glaring. For example it takes a fair bit of knowledge of the game before you realize the superiority of spellcasters in 3.5. Or an internet connection, but just because someone else pointed it out to you doesn't make it a glaring flaw.

And even with all of it's flaws, the systems (both of them) have large fanbases with tons of people playing and enjoying them. You can say that they only get players "because they're DnD", but you don't become DnD by being incompetent, slobbering fools. If other RPGs were really that much better than DnD, then they would be the big name brands. Brand loyalty only goes so far.

D&D 3.5 is a deeply flawed system, as is 4e, but they are both good systems. Someone may not like what they do, but they obviously do something well. Anyone who says either system is "bad" is flat out wrong. That's like saying Shakespears works are bad because you don't like Elizabethan English.

Remember that D&D 3/3.5 brought D&D into the mainstream and started an RPG revolution that created literally hundreds of new games, and dramatically improved the quality and variety of RPGs available, and 4e has created an environment where you can go to nearly any gamestore Wednesday night and play a game with people you've never seen before and have fun. That's downright amazing, and it didn't happen by accident.

That said, D&D does get a lot of players because of it's reputation and marketing. I've seen a lot of people playing D&D who really should eb playing a different system for their game, but they stick with D&D either out of ignorance of other systems existence, or an unwillingness to learn a new system. D&D is like a pair of pliers, it works for many jobs, and some times it's even the best tool for the job, but sometimes a box wrench just does it better.