First Age thinks of me as his OSR reference point, which is concerning, as my deep dive into the OSR started with scenarios and modules and thoughts of running them with first Dungeon World and then later the Black Hack or Heroic Fantasy. Nostalgia propelled me to reacquire Holmes Basic D&D, and then Blueholme. I grabbed Labyrinth Lord to reference against some campaign material, and Swords & Wizardry languishes somewhere on a hard drive. Recently, my head has been turned by the svelte and extremely well laid out and put together Old School Essentials. I've even run it recently. And yet the D&D that I am running most is Fifth Edition, which I rather like.
So, in essence I'm comfortable with most versions of D&D. Except for D&D3.5 and 4e, which passed me by. They're unknowns to me. I know First Age is in love with fourth edition, which is a great recommendation. 2nd edition AD&D and earlier are the deadly but rewarding games, 3rd Edition on are the heroic games, with better character survivability and more coherent rules engines.
Dipped into a discussion on an OSR forum (which one doesn't matter) when someone was discussing a homebrew rule, which was fine right up to someone saying it was a bit like 5e. So the knives came out.
I really detest edition wars. Liking the OSR does not make liking a more modern take on D&D impossible. Cross pollination is viable, and even good. Angrily attacking because it doesn't match your ideal system is childish; there's space for everyone.
I survived the Traveller: The New Era and Marc Miller's Traveller (T4) wars. The honest truth is that both editions had something to offer (and I had loads of fun with T4); disliking something about them or loving another edition doesn't give you the right to rant and have a go at someone else's choices.
Take your edition wars away and come back when you've grown up.
13 October 2021
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