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Why so few 5e games?

   
Just judging from the OP. Most of the people who seem to have the same question have effectively said 'hear hear' rather than stating it themselves, so it's hard to tell what their exact stance is.

In all honesty, I do not feel like paying for all those books AGAIN.

A lot of systems have a significant ebb-and-flow style when it comes to ads. 3.5e, Pathfinder, and 5e all follow the same trend of fluctuating between being the "most popular". Right now 3.5e is leading the pack, but give it a week or two and you'll see 5e and Pathfinder both jump up to the top spot for a while. Then 3.5e will jump back up, and so on. If memory serves, I've seen Pathfinder have something along the lines of 11 ads open all at once, and I believe the highest number I've seen for 5e is around 8 or 9. The games will come, and like PolkaBear mentioned several 5e games just started so it may be a week or more before more ads get posted.

Also, a friendly reminder to please avoid system bashing, thanks.

RPGs on a whole have moved a lot towards the smaller indie game style for a while now. The emergence of self publishing and digitally available games have tremendously increased the variety and breadth of possible RPGs. And while they haven't actually dislodged the bigger names out there, they have carved their own niche large enough to offer more competition as a whole. One indie system will not topple D&D, but having multiple systems out there, many of which are either free or extremely cheap, have eroded D&D's position quite a fair amount especially among online communities where there is more exposure to other people's gaming habits - and thus other games.

Face to face gaming groups are, overall, fairly isolated. You have a bunch of friends who play a game they know and have fun with. Occasionally someone suggests a new game. Online, you have a massively increased selection of games to choose to join, many of which will give you more ideas of what you can play beyond just D&D and WoD.

A note for people who are concerned over the price of 5e:

There are SRD documents available freely from WotC, who puts out PDFs of them and updates them regularly. There are also fan-made (and officially permitted) easy-reference versions of the SRD--here's the one done by the same guy behind the popular d20pfsrd for Pathfinder.

Also, WotC publishes additional content--for free--nearly every month in their "Unearthed Arcana" series. It gives a lot of expanded options and customizations for character building or for modifying the ruleset. Many 5e DMs allow UA content in their games, or at least state that they'll give permission if requested (as long as it passes review).

I like the list that 5esrd has collected of most of these resources, since it makes them easy to access: Here's the list (though I think 5esrd could give the link a more helpful name). Notice that most of the links there go to official WotC sources that aren't behind any kind of paywall.

So the cost barrier wouldn't seem to be a matter of accessing the rules or building a character. It seems to be a matter of all the accompanying text that's left out of an SRD or wanting to hold a physical copy in your hands.

Quote:
Originally Posted by PolkaBear View Post
So the cost barrier wouldn't seem to be a matter of accessing the rules or building a character. It seems to be a matter of all the accompanying text that's left out of an SRD or wanting to hold a physical copy in your hands.
The 5e SRD does have fewer character options than the PHB, notably in feats and differentiating class features (cleric domains, warlock patrons, etc)

Quote:
Originally Posted by Nathan View Post
A lot of systems have a significant ebb-and-flow style when it comes to ads. 3.5e, Pathfinder, and 5e all follow the same trend of fluctuating between being the "most popular".
Anecdotally, it seems to me that 3.5 has been leading the way "overall" in terms of ads, with PF having bursts of high activity too. Recently 3.5 has actually been down a lot, and it's only just started to get a few more ads. But really, this is a poor measure. It's also just MW; it may well simply be that the crowd here just tend to prefer 3.5/PF. I recall another PbP site I tried way back when where it was mainly 4th Ed, with 3.5 being a lot rare - that was much smaller, though.

System-bashing aside, there's a point in that different systems will not appeal to everyone. That doesn't necessarily explain numbers unless the system is just worse, but there are always going to be people who prefer 3.5 (or 1, 2, or 4) to 5th.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Tedronai View Post
The 5e SRD does have fewer character options than the PHB, notably in feats and differentiating class features (cleric domains, warlock patrons, etc)
That's true, but a lot of people have already allowed for the idea that they don't need every splatbook in order to play. Not having the full set of feats available is perhaps the most limiting factor, since they're a common option in games (and several DMs allow a free starting feat even if you're not a variant human).

Still, that's not a thing that prevents someone from jumping into the game without a $100 investment.

So if people haven't tried the system (or tried to run a game) because of a daunting cost, there's help for that.

Also, WotC has also put out rather simple (really!) conversion tools so that prospective DMs can use resources created for earlier editions of D&D in a game of 5e. They're straightforward enough that the basics of conversion can be done on the fly--though most serious DMs spend time customizing any adventure to their group anyway. The links for those resources are toward the bottom of the 5esrd page I linked.

People tend to adapt to new ideas in three different ways. Some just jump in and go, even if the new idea isn't fully formed. Those who jumped in and started DMing 5e when it was still in the play testing stage. Then you have the largest group, those who are more cautious. Those who play in those games but until they feel comfortable will run the games they know, this process can take years for some people. And the traditionalists who have to be drug kicking and screaming to the new idea. Which in gaming there is really no force to drag them beyond the peer pressure of friends, not something you usually see in PbP.

I ran 2e games for the entirety of the 3.0 era, only switching once 3.5, the improved rules came out. Two years is still a pretty short amount of time for people who have refused to switch to the last version to accept the new one, whether it is better or not. Given the number of running games it would seem 5e is very nearly as popular. Given a couple more years it is hard to say what will happen.

Polkabear the SRD is fine to create characters with and play, but most people are not going to run games without having full versions. The number of players doesn't seem to be an issue. It is a matter of what system people choose to run their games in. Cost and time are certainly barriers to that. It usually doesn't take as much time to be comfortable to play in a game as it does to run it. The SRD helps get players involved and some of those will choose to adopt, but it is a process that takes time.




 

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