It’s by design. It’s just meant for more casual play, that’s all. I play Shadowrun (pre Anarchy) so I’m no stranger to crunchy systems, but 5e is nice for just getting together with friends, drinking some alcohol, and having fun role playing without having to pay too close attention or needing a group that’s really dedicated to learning the game deeply. More tilted towards friend groups and less towards gaming groups, if you will.
I’ll say as a GM, the low bar needed for learning and playing 5e is much easier to get people on board with and even then that bar isn’t always reached… I’ve had to kick people for just refusing the learn what dice to roll after months of sessions. 5e is a great gateway drug to get people into TTRPGs though, and then when you start finding out who is really getting into the hobby, you can spin that group off into crunchier systems and keep 5e around for the more casual role play enjoyers.
It’s kind of bad at that goal. It’s really fiddly and full of friction points. What bonus do you get for 16 strength? Why do they insist on keeping that mapping.
I’ve had to kick people for just refusing the learn what dice to roll after months of sessions.
Further evidence of it not actually being great at casual play.
Which leads me to
5e is a great gateway drug to get people into TTRPGs
Counter argument: it’s actually really bad at that. It’s so specific and idiosyncratic it pushes people away. Uncountable players just bounce off the whole genre because their first impression is fiddly “what does 15 strength mean again?” and “sorry, you can’t fit your cool idea into this class/level system”
Fate Core or Accelerated would be much more in line with how people think about this sort of stuff.
It’s by design. It’s just meant for more casual play, that’s all. I play Shadowrun (pre Anarchy) so I’m no stranger to crunchy systems, but 5e is nice for just getting together with friends, drinking some alcohol, and having fun role playing without having to pay too close attention or needing a group that’s really dedicated to learning the game deeply. More tilted towards friend groups and less towards gaming groups, if you will.
I’ll say as a GM, the low bar needed for learning and playing 5e is much easier to get people on board with and even then that bar isn’t always reached… I’ve had to kick people for just refusing the learn what dice to roll after months of sessions. 5e is a great gateway drug to get people into TTRPGs though, and then when you start finding out who is really getting into the hobby, you can spin that group off into crunchier systems and keep 5e around for the more casual role play enjoyers.
This is true. However,
It’s kind of bad at that goal. It’s really fiddly and full of friction points. What bonus do you get for 16 strength? Why do they insist on keeping that mapping.
Further evidence of it not actually being great at casual play.
Which leads me to
Counter argument: it’s actually really bad at that. It’s so specific and idiosyncratic it pushes people away. Uncountable players just bounce off the whole genre because their first impression is fiddly “what does 15 strength mean again?” and “sorry, you can’t fit your cool idea into this class/level system”
Fate Core or Accelerated would be much more in line with how people think about this sort of stuff.