My grievances concerning 5th edition Dungeons and Dragons: a final statement

Let me start with some background about what “fantasy” means to me and hence what I generally look for in fantasy role-playing games (FRPGs).

I saw The Lord of the Rings animated movie when I was 9 or 10 at a repertory theatre. Then I read The Hobbit. That got me really interested in fantasy stuff. It’s what motivated me to then ask my parents for the Dungeons and Dragons Basic Set for my birthday. (It was the one written by Dr. Holmes – hence it had those annoying chits instead of dice.)

As an adolescent I became interested in other works of fantasy – especially, in the early-mid 1980s, Michael Moorcock and Robert E. Howard (along with a lot of related pastiche “Conan” stories) – because of D&D and AD&D. The “Melnibonéan Mythos” in the Deitites and Demigods was one of my favourites in the book even before I read anything by Moorcock. 

 

Given these influences, I would say that Tolkien, Moorcock, and Howard had the most influence in shaping how I interpreted D&D/AD&D when I got into FRPGs in the early-mid 1980s. (I eventually would go on to play games directly based on the writings of Tolkien and Moorcock; indeed, these eventually supplanted AD&D in my high-school group.) Perhaps this is why – more than any particular set of rules – the more recent Wizards of the Coast versions of the game leave me cold. Over the past 25 years the game has felt more like “fantasy superheroes” than the kind of fiction that I had associated with it – and, I suppose, still do, when I think of “classic D&D.”

Turning to my experience running a “World of Greyhawk” campaign using the fifth edition rules – and leaving aside the game’s overall “ethos” and “aesthetics” (including its unfortunate recent turn towards “twee”) – there are three elements of the game that especially came to vex me:

a. Its “superhero” “no-wounds-are-serious” system of rest and recovery; 

b. Its “unmagical” magic system; and

c. Its flavourless, often tedious combat system.

(For further explanation of each of these points, go to the posts to which I’ve linked above.)

I recently managed to sell most of my WotC 5e D&D collection (I kept the core rules and a few books I liked, such as Saltmarsh and Yawning Portal). I used a local used bookstore for the sake of convenience. It felt good to free up the shelf space. I don't know why I bothered getting most of those books originally – even when I was playing 5e, I barely used most of them. (I stopped buying WotC stuff years ago when I realized this, as well as the declining quality of the line.)

I will say this for 5e D&D: it’s far better than 3e was. I mean, if 5e D&D were the only FRPG available, I would play it – whereas I would just abandon the hobby if 3e was the only option. And I would not rule out occasionally playing 5e D&D in the future (say, running a game for a friend’s kids or something like that). And I would be happy to play the Middle-earth variant, The Lord of the Rings RPG (indeed, I greatly enjoyed that game’s predecessor, Adventures in Middle-earth, having run a successful campaign about seven years ago).

But as for my “main” FRPG, I’ll never use 5e D&D again. Hence, I don’t have any interest in the new 2024 books. There are just too many superior alternatives (including, of course, earlier editions of D&D/AD&D, and related “retro-clones” and “near clones”).

My RPG Foci: Fantasy and Eldritch Horror

Recently someone over at the RPG Pub asked what genres people preferred in their gaming. Reflecting on this question, I realized that over the past twenty-five years or so, almost all of my role-playing activity has been focused in two genres: fantasy and horror. 

Fantasy

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the vast majority of my gaming has involved various flavours of fantasy, especially the following sub-genres.

High Fantasy

By “high fantasy” I mean the kind of fantasy that you find in the writings of J.R.R. Tolkien and the like. High fantasy worlds have a clear distinction between “good” and “evil” – even if there are morally ambiguous characters and difficult situations between the two extremes. 

I’ve mentioned before here that I was an avid player of Middle-earth Roleplaying back during the 1980s. Indeed, I probably played as much MERP as I did AD&D during my high-school days (it eventually became my group’s “main game”). And when I first started playing RPGs semi-regularly again, around 1999, I naturally started with MERP (before, unfortunately, moving to the Rolemaster Standard System, which despite its obvious mechanical relation to MERP [MERP was derived from an earlier version of Rolemaster], was not nearly as smooth or fun to use in practice).

A lot of the games that I’ve run over the years have been in this subgenre, including past and present Middle-earth games. My current “Court of Urdor” also falls within this category. 

The brilliant Against the Darkmaster FRPG – which is heavily inspired by MERP – is designed for precisely this kind of fantasy campaign. Indeed, it builds the “Darkmaster” conceit into some of its core mechanics. As the name indicates, the struggle against the Darkmaster is assumed to be a central feature of any campaign, even if only in the background. 

Swords and Sorcery 

Another familiar sub-genre. Robert E Howard’s Hyborea and Atlantis, Michael Moorcock’s Young Kingdoms (and “multiverse” more generally), Fritz Leiber’s Nehwon, Karl Edward Wagner’s “Kane,” and the like, are all exemplars of this sub-genre. I would include Jack Vance’s Dying Earth corpus, and many of Clark Ashton Smith’s stories (especially those set in Zothique, Averoigne, and Hyperborea), as members of this family as well.

After rereading REH’s Conan stories – and reading for the first time his Kull and Bran Mac Morn tales – fifteen years ago (when they were republished in nice volumes by Ballantine), I came up with a number of house rules for Swords & Wizardy in order to run some “swords and sorcery” flavoured games. Those house rules are still available here – and seem to attract regular visits to this day. Many of them were later integrated into D101 Games’ Crypts & Things role-playing game, which I highly recommend. 

In addition to running my modified version of S&W (and later C&T), I also was a player in a wonderful campaign set in the Young Kingdoms (of Moorcock’s Elric tales), using the Mongoose Runequest II system (the grandfather of the excellent Mythras RPG). 

Dungeons & Dragons

Blend the above two sub-genres together – and add some quirky monsters (e.g., beholders, mind flayers), novel twists on old ideas (e.g., drow elves, planar cosmology), and some innovations (e.g., dungeon-delving, wandering monsters) – for the singular “Dungeons and Dragons” sub-genre. I regard “D&D fantasy” as its own thing, even though it obviously draws heavily on a wide range of sources (not just fantasy). 

However, my experience running and playing post-TSR D&D has not been that great. I ran two 3rd edition games – one 3.0e and one 3.5e – just over two decades ago. The system was new and shiny, and seemed to “fix” all the purported “problems” with the earlier versions of the game. Both campaigns lasted about a year but became quite tedious to run once the characters reached 3rd or 4th level. I came to find that being a DM for 3rd edition D&D was simply a chore. After the second campaign, I vowed to never run the game again. I subsequently ran a few sessions of Castles & Crusades, AD&D, and played a bit of the Warhammer RPG (2nd edition). All of those games I enjoyed far more than 3rd edition D&D (although I probably would only bother with AD&D again today).

I skipped 4th edition D&D altogether. After reading halfway through the Player’s Handbook in fall 2008, I realized that it was just not for me. 

Years later, I ran a few one-shots of 5th edition. At first, I thought rather highly of it – at the very least, it seemed to be a vast improvement over 3rd edition. I quite liked some of the books that were published for it (namely, Tales from the Yawning Portal, Ghosts of Saltmarsh, and Goodman Games’ updated versions of classic TSR modules – not coincidentally, books that all contained a lot of “Gygaxian" Greyhawk material). 

More recently, I ran a campaign set in the World of Greyhawk, much of which took place in the legendary area around the village of Hommlet. It was great fun! But it was fun despite the system (at least for me as the Dungeon Master). The ubiquitous, often “free” magic, and almost absurd “superhero” quality of the characters, came to grate on my nerves. I’ve explained some of my problems with 5th edition D&D before (see here and here) so I won’t say any more about that here.  

After these experiences, I conclude that I definitely prefer “old school” D&D within this genre – specifically, the more challenging and flavourful 1st edition Advanced Dungeons and Dragons and Basic/Expert Dungeons & Dragons (and related “clone” systems, like OSRIC and S&W). I like magic to be at least somewhat rare and at least somewhat costly to use. (Endless cantrips and ritual spells? No thanks!) It’s clear to me that the post-TSR versions of the game just are not my thing. I certainly have no interest in the recent offerings from the Wizards of the Coast.

There is one honourable exception regarding 5th edition D&D: the Middle-earth adaptations of the 5e system, as presented in Adventures in Middle-earth and The Lord of the Rings RPG. I thoroughly enjoyed the AiME campaign that I ran a number of years ago. But those games don’t feel like “D&D” at all – the magic system is entirely different, the classes are entirely different, etcetera. They also import a number of mechanics from The One Ring RPG. And of course, those games belong to the “high fantasy” genre discussed earlier.

Historical Fantasy

As a player, the bulk of my gaming over the past decade has been in historical fantasy settings. I suppose that this is unsurprising, given that I’ve played a lot of Mythras (and its predecessors, RuneQuest 6 and MRQII) during this time.  So, I’ve played in long-running Mythic Britain and Mythic Babylon campaigns, as well as some one-shot sessions in other settings. 

Both Mythic Britain and Mythic Babylon are excellent and highly recommended!

Horror

After fantasy, I’ve mainly run and played in “Horror” games. But in this category, it’s been exclusively “Lovecraftian” horror, that is, “Cthulhu Mythos” stuff. 

I’ve run a couple of short Call of Cthulhu campaigns set during the “classic” period, in Toronto and Massachusetts, as well as a number of one-shots. I have material for other eras (e.g., Rome, medieval, and modern, including “The Laundry”) but have never run a campaign or even a one-shot outside of the default 1920s-30s period.  

As a player, I recently took part in a long-running Mythras campaign, using the classic Beyond the Mountains of Madness sourcebook. (Our last session was today. My character survived – and was even more-or-less sane!) I’ve also taken part in one-shots of Trail of Cthulhu, Delta Green, and other related games over the years. 

Other genres?

 

I took part in a few Mythras sessions years ago set in the Luther Arkwright universe. I’m not sure how to categorize that setting (“science fantasy”?). They were fine but not the kind of thing I’d likely run myself. I also have played a few other one-shots here and there, but nothing really worthy of mention.

I haven't been remotely interested in playing in a “superheroes” game in recent decades (unless you count 5th edition D&D – I joke). It’s a genre that simply doesn't appeal to me. I’d be open to a “modern” game (say, espionage) but I have no idea how to run one myself. Likewise for science-fiction.

Back in high-school, my group tried all kinds of different games – including superheroes (Villains & Vigilantes, Marvel Superheroes), historical (Gangbusters, Bushido), and especially science fiction (Traveller, Star Frontiers, and even Space Opera – or at least I bought and tried to read Space Opera). We had a lot of time and energy back then!

Wrapping up...

These days, now that I’m an old man, I generally try to stick to what I know I like. So, I guess I’m a pretty limited gamer: I play and run almost exclusively fantasy and horror games. Maybe I’ll broaden my horizons when I retire. 

Looking back, I regret all the time I spent trying to get myself to like 3rd and 5th edition D&D. I should’ve just spent that time playing MERP or Stormbringer or Crypts and Things or whatever. At least I’ve learned my lesson: life is too short to try to force myself to like a game when there are other games available that I much prefer. So these days I’m happy to focus on Mythras and Against the Darkmaster – although, of course, I still pick up the occasional new system that catches my eye. 

 

Art credits (from top to bottom): Angus McBride, Andrea Piparo, Michael Whelan, Dave Trampier, David Benzal, Erol Otus, Angus McBride (again).

Moria Kickstarted x30

Not that the Free League needs any additional support for this – the project (at the time that I’m writing this) has exceeded its funding goal more than 30 times over – but since I’m a Middle-earth fan and write about it regularly here, I thought that I would mention the Moria Kickstarter.

The Free League is coming out with versions for both The One Ring (2nd edition) and The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying. The latter game (LoTR) is a revised version of Cubicle 7’s earlier Adventures in Middle-earth system. That system is based upon 5th edition D&D, but helpfully introduces many “Middle-earthy” elements from TOR – and thankfully replaces entirely 5e’s standard “rest” and magic systems (among other things).

The TOR 2e version is called Moria: Through the Doors of Durin, whereas the LotR version is called Moria: Shadow of Khazad Dûm. (For some reason, different names are applied to all the books in the TOR and LotR lines, even though the non-rules contents are identical, as far as I can tell.)

The One Ring 2e looks interesting. I have the core rules and the introductory box set. (I also have the LotR versions.) Going forward, though, I plan to stick simply with the LotR 5e line, so I’ll be getting Moria: Shadow of Khazad Dûm. I don’t have any deep system-related reason for doing so. It’s just a matter of familiarity and convenience. I ran a great campaign using AiME a few years ago, so I know the system reasonably well, and am happy to stick with it for my Middle-earth gaming. (At least when I’m not using Against the Darkmaster to run my old MERP stuff. Oddly, Moria is one of the few ICE Middle-earth books that I don’t have in my collection.)

The TOR 2e books do have better covers than the LotR books for some reason…

The Unmagical Magic of 5th Edition Dungeons & Dragons

Time for another “airing of grievances” with respect to 5th edition Dungeons & Dragons!

I previously complained about the way resting and healing work in 5e – as well as noting some options for ‘fixing’ these problems, including options from the 5e Dungeon Master’s Guide and the Into the Unknown 5e variant. (I suspect that 99% of 5e players either ignore or are ignorant of these options in the DMG. But it’s only fair to note that they are indeed there; the designers of 5e were not oblivious to the possibility that some groups might not like the default “cartoon superhero” mode of the 5e rules.)

My other big complaint about 5e D&D concerns the magic system. Magic, and spellcasting in particular, is laughably common and easy. Spellcasters can cast cantrips without end, as well as the “ritual” versions of spells, including ones like “Identify,” “Detect Magic,” and “Alarm.” Moreover, magic-users … er, wizards, recover a number of spells following a short rest (one hour in the standard 5e rules) thanks to their “Arcane Recovery” ability.

The upshot of this is a game in which spells are ridiculously common. In my experience, no magic item goes unidentified for more than a few minutes, characters communicate via magical iPhones (the “Message” cantrip), campsites are surrounded with “Alarm” spells (making it almost impossible for the party to ever be surprised, except for attacks from the air or from below), and so forth. I certainly don’t blame my players for using their characters’ spells in these ways – they’re making intelligent use of the resources available to them! I applaud their excellent playing of the game – it’s the game itself that annoys me.

Hence its spell system is another reason why 5e D&D does not resemble at all “old school” D&D or AD&D, wherein spells were a precious commodity (at least until characters were of very high level) and “short rests” did not exist. 

If I were to “fix” 5e D&D so that it had more of a classic feel, I would: 

• Either eliminate cantrips altogether or allow them to be cast only a limited number of times per day (perhaps equal to the character’s proficiency bonus).
• Require that spells with the “ritual tag” be cast as “rituals” (i.e., take 10 minutes to cast) and take up spell “slots” (so no endless casting of Alarm, Identify, etc.). 

I note (yet again) my positive experience with the Adventures in Middle-earth roleplaying game based upon 5e D&D (the second edition of which is called The Lord of the Rings RPG). That experience led me to have a high opinion of the 5e core mechanics. And I do think that the core of 5e can make for an excellent game. But the way in which 5e D&D handles rest, recovery, and spells – all elements entirely reworked by AiME/LotR – has made me conclude that I never want to run 5e D&D RAW again.

[Trampier's classic "Emirikol" picture from the 1e AD&D DMG]

[2023-08-01: Edited to add the reference to wizards’ “Arcane Recovery” ability in the third paragraph.]

Tales of the Variants

As I noted back in February, following the great “OGL Crisis” of Janurary 2023, a couple of companies that produce materials for 5^th edition Dungeons and Dragons decided to produce their own versions of the game in order to avoid being subject to any future deleterious decisions by the Wizards of the Coast (even after WotC backed down on scrapping the old OGL).

 

One of those companies, Kobold Press, recently announced a kickstarter for its 5e variant, Tales of the Valiant. If you’re curious about it, there is a free preview PDF that you can download from the kickstarter page (available even if you don’t want to be a backer).

 

The name is terrible in my opinion (I think I preferred its previous name, “Project Black Flag”), but the company is solid. I'm mixed on what I’ve seen of the system so far. (I mean, it’s 5e with tweaks, but I'd rather have something more stripped down.) Nonetheless, I’m more likely to use it as a resource in the future than the revised 2024 version ("5.5e") of D&D that WotC is currently working on. 

 

Cubicle 7 is also coming out with its version of 5e later this year. C7 did very good work on Adventures in Middle-earth – indeed, in terms of the rules, I liked running it a lot more than standard 5e. And I’m going through C7’s Uncharted Journeys book now (which adapts the AiME travel rules to standard 5e fantasy). It also is very good, and I’m thinking of using it in future games. So I’ll be interested in checking out “C7d20” whenever it’s released.

 

(Regarding AiME: as mentioned last year, the game is now the Lord of the Rings 5e. The system has been revised and is now published by the Free League, just as the Free League also has taken over publishing The One Ring 2^nd edition. I just got my "physical" version of the LotR 5e core book, and it looks excellent. AiME/LotR shows how 5e can be used to create something better than the original WotC 5e game. But I digress…) 

For 5e D&D, I remain very happy with my version of it: Into the Unknown with some houserules. However, I do sometimes wish that ItU had similar production values to TotV and the like. But, well, it's only an “indie” game. The kids these days sadly prefer fantasy super-heroes to gritty old-school dungeon delving.

C7d20 and Black Flag: the coming 5e Clone Wars?

 

During the recent “OGL Crisis” – caused by WotC’s recent, almost cartoonish, avarice and arrogance – a number of third-party publishers announced plans to create systems “fully compatible” with 5th edition Dungeons & Dragons – but not dependent on the OGL (instead, alternative licenses would be used, such as the forthcoming ORC).  

 

Kobold Press is pursuing what it calls “Project Black Flag.” The system will be compatible with 5e while refining elements of it: “Kobold plans to revise and sharpen familiar mechanics while offering new, streamlined options for a core tabletop game.”

 

While 5e is a vast improvement over 3e in terms of reducing its “fiddliness” (and overall gratuitous complexity), it definitely could use some further streamlining in my view. So I’ll be interested to see what the Kobolds come up with.

 

Cubicle Seven also is developing a 5e-compatible system: “C7d20” (not the most evocative of names, alas). Their announcement mentions the version of 5e that they designed for their excellent Adventures in Middle-earth game (now in the hands of the Free League, revised and renamed The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying 5e). As I’ve mentioned before here, I am a huge fan of AiME – I ran what I thought was a very successful campaign using AiME a few years ago – and think that it’s a better system overall than “core” 5e. I expect that C7 will incorporate elements of AiME into C7d20 (I read somewhere that C7 already has revised the excellent “journey” rules from AiME for their forthcoming “Broken Weave” setting).

 

Among the growing family of 5e compatible systems I should also mention ENWorld’s Level Up: Advanced 5^th Edition system. It’s been out for at least a year now, I think, so it was not created in reaction to WotC’s recent mischief. However, since it introduces additional complexity to 5e – hence the “Advanced” part of its name – it is not something in which I’ve been interested. Nonetheless, it’s a freestanding system, compatible with 5e, and seems to have its supporters.

 

Finally, at the other end of the spectrum from Level Up, is Into the Unknown. Inspired by the Basic and Expert rules for D&D from the very beginning of the 1980s, Into the Unknown simplifies and streamlines many elements of 5e while introducing a few mechanisms (especially concerning dungeon and wilderness exploration) that resemble those from earlier editions.  Like Level Up, Into the Unknown has been out for a while now (it was released in 2019). But it’s a freestanding 5e-compatible game that (hopefully) will continue to be available in the future. (I’m using a house-ruled version of ItU for my current Greyhawk campaign.)

 

Even though WotC has abandoned its attempt to “de-authorize” the OGL 1a (which is good news for ItU) and has “CC-ized” the 5e SRD, the projects by C7 and Kobold Press are set to continue. I’m genuinely curious to see how they turn out. 

 

 

OGL Apocalypse: WotC goes full Chaotic Evil

By now I assume that most people who visit this blog are aware of the raging storm over the changes that the Wizards of the Coast (part of Hasbro) are seeking to make to the Open Game License (OGL).

 

The current OGL (v. 1.0a) has been around for over two decades now and has facilitated a number of important developments in the role-playing hobby. In addition to all the material produced for Dungeons & Dragons by third-party publishers (mainly for 3e, 3.5e, and 5e), it enabled the creation of a number of role-playing games that draw upon some of the core mechanics of D&D (e.g., Mutants and Masterminds). The Old School Renaissance (OSR) probably would not have happened (at least not in the way that it did) without the OGL. The original retro-clone, OSRIC, restated the 1e AD&D rules, using the OGL for cover. (It was a brilliant insight on the part of Matt Finch, aka “Mythmere,” that this was possible.) Likewise, the first edition of Pathfinder used the OGL to repackage (with some tweaks) the 3.5 edition D&D rules in order to cater to gamers dissatisfied with 4^th edition. No doubt WotC was not happy about that! But ultimately it pressured WotC to rethink 4e D&D (as did, I think, the OSR to some extent) and produce a far superior product, 5e D&D.

 

Anyhow, it looks like WotC aims to try to revoke OGL 1.0a and replace it with a new one (v. 1.1) with rather draconian conditions. For a helpful (and brief) overview, see this Inverse article, or this Forbes (!) one, or this Ars Technica one.

 

As a side note, legally speaking (but keep in mind that I am not a lawyer) the OGL was never actually necessary and in fact imposes conditions stricter than those imposed by standard US copyright law (let alone the laws of other countries, which tend to be more generous with “fair use” than the US). The reason for this is that game rules cannot be copyrighted. So a product that dryly restated the rules of AD&D, for instance, would be perfectly legal. However, artistic and literary expression can be copyrighted. Given the literary nature of role-playing games, a lot of the specific descriptions of classes, spells, monsters, settings, and so forth can (arguably) be legitimately copyrighted (but not their underlying mechanics). So one would have to tread carefully in restating a set of rules. And of course, even if one has the legal right to do something (e.g., indicate compatibility with another company’s game), one nonetheless may be subject to legal harassment or bullying by a company with deep pockets. One thing that the OGL did was remove any uncertainty about potential legal harassment or worries about whether some element of the game was copyright-protected or not. (For an excellent overview of this matter, see this Electronic Frontier Foundation article.)

 

A lot of RPG publishers are now abandoning the OGL. Even if WotC backs down and allows OGL 1.0a to continue (or modifies 1.1 so that it is far less restrictive) many gaming companies are sensibly deciding that they do not want to be vulnerable to future Hasbro corporate whims. (And it very well may be the case that WotC does not back down and pushes on with OGL 1.1.)

 

As a player, most of my time has been spent using Mythras over the past twelve years, with occasional forays into other systems (e.g., The One Ring, Trail of Cthulhu, Delta Green, etc.), none of which have been dependent on the OGL. Among other things, I’ve been a sorcerer in a Young Kingdoms campaign (which used Mythras’s predecessor, Mongoose’s RuneQuest II), a Roman mystic in a Mythic Britain campaign, an aristocratic messenger in a Mythic Babylon campaign, and a paleontologist in a Return to the Mountains of Madness campaign.

 

But as a creator and gamemaster, I’ve been heavily involved with Dungeons & Dragons and related systems. Years ago, I got into the OSR in a big way and developed a set of house rules for modifying Swords and Wizardry (the 0e retro-clone) to give it more of a “swords and sorcery” flavour. Many of those rules appeared in articles in Knockspell and Fight On! All of those rules remain available at this blog (and were never offered here under the OGL). Many of those rules were incorporated into D101’s Crypts and Things game (which does use the OGL). (I hope that C&T rides out this storm and continues to be available. It’s a great system!)

 

Also, despite some problems here and there, overall, I like 5e D&D. It’s not perfect – it still has too many fiddly (“exception-based’) rules for my taste – but it’s the first “official” version of D&D since the TSR era that I’ve been happy to run. (Making feats optional was huge improvement over 3e.) I’ve been using it for my current Greyhawk campaign. And I thought that the 5e-derived Adventures in Middle-earth game was quite good. The Mirkwood campaign that I ran using AiME a few years ago remains one of my all-time favourites.

 

But this latest action by WotC has left a foul taste in my mouth. I already was put off by the movement toward “D&D One” (or is it “One D&D”?), which struck me as undermining some of the strengths of 5e D&D – among other things, by “hardwiring” certain elements that I prefer to keep optional, e.g., feats and inspiration, into the core game. Changing the OGL and wreaking havoc with 3^rd party publishers is just plain malevolent.

 

So … I’ve had it with WotC. I won’t be buying anything from them for the foreseeable future. (Not that I was buying much anyway – it’s been almost two years since I last purchased a book from WotC. Most of my recent 5e purchases have been from 3^rd party publishers like Goodman Games.) 

 

I’m not going to abandon my current Greyhawk campaign. It’s been too much fun – and the characters just made it to level 4! But I think I’ll be using Into the Unknown as the rules base going forward (supplemented with a few 5e options for the sake of continuity).

 

Aside from my current Greyhawk campaign, my focus (as a GM) lately has been on the Against the Darkmaster system. I hope to run a sporadic VsD campaign set in Eriador (Middle-earth) over the next few months. Aside from that, I plan to develop my own setting over the coming year. We’ll see how that goes. (Of course, VsD never used the OGL – and has a generous license for other publishers.)

 

Well that’s all for now. It’ll be interesting to see what happens once OGL 1.1 is unleashed on the world. 

 

The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying 5e (Dungeons & Dragons)

I was wondering whether the Free League would be revising and re-releasing Adventures in Middle-earth (AiME), the 5^th edition Dungeons and Dragons rules developed by Cubicle 7. In addition to incorporating many elements from The One Ring (TOR) roleplaying game into the 5^th edition D&D framework, AiME also radically reworked a number of core elements of 5e to fit Middle-earth (most notably the magic system and classes). I used AiME for my “Spider Cult of Mirkwood” campaign a few years ago and think quite highly of it – in fact, I think it’s better than “core” 5e DnD, at least for “low magic” settings.

 

 

Wisely deciding not to leave money on the table, the Free League is coming out with their version of AiME, now called The Lord of the Rings 5e. Here’s their description:

Middle-earth is opening up for new adventurers! The pre-order for the 5E adaptation of the award winning second edition of The One Ring™ RPG, entitled The Lord of the Rings™ Roleplaying, alongside the Shire™ Adventures compendium and a 5E Loremaster's Screen, has been launched today. The pre-order gives immediate access to complete PDFs.

 

The Lord of the Rings™ Roleplaying is 236-page hardback volume that contains what you need to create 5E adventures set in the world’s most popular fantasy setting: six original heroic cultures from the land of Eriador, six new classes, a host of terrifying adversaries, and comprehensive rules for journeys, councils, wondrous artefacts, and the subtle magic of Middle-earth.

 

Shire™ Adventures is a 104-page hardback volume that describes the Shire in great detail, as well as five short adventures and seven pre-generated characters, including famous Bagginses, Tooks, and Brandybucks! The contents of Shire™ Adventures are adapted from the Starter Set for The One Ring™ RPG.

 

The official retail release of all items is planned for early 2023, but the pre-order in the Free League webshop gives immediate access to complete PDFs of The Lord of the Rings™ Roleplaying and Shire™ Adventures. You can even report your feedback on these PDFs on our forums before they go to print!

 

Note that PDFs of the 5E Loremaster's Screen and Rivendell Compendium will be shared at a later date.

The art is stunning – I would buy this book for the pictures alone!

 

It can be pre-ordered here.

 

Fictional worlds and the RPGs that I would use for them

Below I list some of my favourite settings from fantasy fiction that I think could serve as viable RPG settings and the rules that I would use if I were to run adventures in them. 

Fictional setting: Middle-earth (as described by JRR Tolkien in The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, The Silmarillion, Unfinished Tales, and so forth).

 

System: Adventures in Middle-Earth (a 5^th edition D&D variant, heavily revised with ideas from The One Ring RPG) for the Third Age (I had a very positive experience using the system).

Possible alternative: Against the Darkmaster (VsD)—for earlier eras or if I'm drawing a lot on my old Middle-earth Roleplaying (MERP) collection, since it’s easy to convert MERP stats into VsD.

(Why not MERP? In my view, VsD keeps everything that is great about MERP and makes some helpful improvements.)

 

A further thought on Middle-earth: I'd like to try The One Ring (2^nd edition) system sometime—I have the book and box set, and they’re gorgeous. I played a couple of games of 1^st edition TOR years ago and didn’t care for it—something about it just didn’t “click” for me. But that may have been because I didn't really understand the system (or I was just too tired or something). AiME imports a lot of ideas from TOR, so there must be something there.

Fictional setting: The Elder Isles of Jack Vance’s Lyonesse trilogy.

 

System: The Lyonesse RPG (a version of Mythras).

One of my favourite FRPGs (Mythras) adapted specifically for one of my favourite fantasy settings—what more could I ask for?

(I think that this system also could be used for a “Cugel-level” Dying Earth campaign.)

 

Fictional setting: The Eternal Champion multiverse, including especially the worlds described in Michael Moorcock’s Elric (the “Young Kingdoms”) and Corum stories.

System: Mythras, especially with the (now out-of-print) RuneQuest II (MRQII) Elric supplements. Since Mythras is a direct descendant of MRQII, conversion would be a non-issue. (I played in an excellent Young Kingdoms campaign using MRQII a decade ago.)

 

Fictional settings: The Hyborian Age (as described in Robert E Howard’s Conan stories) and the Atlantean Age (as described in REH’s Kull tales).

 

System: Crypts and Things if I want something fast and furious; Mythras for detailed bone-crunching action.

 

Fictional settings: Clark Ashton Smith’s “Averoigne,” “Hyperborea,” and “Zothique.”

 

Systems: Again, either Crypts and Things or Mythras, depending on what style of game I want to run.

 

Fictional setting: The “First Law” world, as described in Joe Abercrombie’s original trilogy, and the post-trilogy stand-alone books (I think that the regions covered in Red Country and Best Served Cold would make excellent campaign settings). (Note: I haven’t read the “Age of Madness” trilogy yet.)

System: Either Mythras or Against the Darkmaster.  

 

Fictional setting: The “Cthulhu Mythos” universe (as described by HP Lovecraft and others).

 

System: Call of Cthulhu (naturally)—or possibly a modified version of Mythras (I'm playing in an excellent Mythras “Return to the Mountains of Madness” campaign now).