New Edition Nerf

Some years ago, we were happy to hear a number of RPGs we liked were getting new editions. The games had been stagnant (or 'dead') for quite some time, so any chance to see them grow and inspire new campaigns was a good thing. For some, the initial engine had a few weak points, for others, the initial game was 'perfect' for our needs, and for some, they'd run through some iterations we were enjoying less and less.

So, we were looking forward to seeing what was to come.

The results were... mixed, to say the least.

One game used an engine we'd had no interest in, but when we looked at it, it was incredible. It sold us on the game engine, and we'd backed it on KS, because it was a game we loved when it had first come out. The art was amazing, the feel of the game was awesome, we were quite happy to have it and run it.

One game used an engine we'd had no interest in, and essentially killed the game for us. It had the same 'flaw' we'll mention in a moment, on top of a proprietary dice system, on top of missing the point of the initial game in its entirety. It wasn't the game that drew us into the world, and in fact was the complete opposite.  Hey, if someone enjoys it though, good. Like what you like, we won't yuck your yum.

A few games, however (including the one just mentioned) did something that drives us bonkers. They took a game which had variety, that gave players choice in what they wanted to play and how they wanted to go about doing it - and removed it.  Choices you could make in earlier editions were simply gone, or retconned out of existence, or just not possible anymore.  If you had a PC you wanted to bring into the new edition while continuing the same campaign? It was just not going to happen.

For the sake of simplicity, they nerfed the game. Some more than others, but in every case it was simply 'you can't do that' anymore, or 'that never existed'.

To use a parallel example. 3rd edition D&D to 5th edition D&D. You make a character with a specific feel, even just using the CRB. 5e comes out, and you want to make your character there.  The things that made your character stand out simply don't exist anymore - or if they do exist, it's in a way that doesn't function like it used to.  (The sheer number of out-of-combat spells that were removed from the game in 5e is atrocious).

For one game, a class in the CRB, a staple through every edition to date, was removed from the latest edition.

 

To use D&D again.  You open the CRB, and the Cleric isn't there.

For one game, part of the core premise was the flexibility on what you could make.  You could take elements from one place, and another place, and you could blend them into an interesting character that had built-in disadvantages while being an interesting person who had a vested interest in the goings-on in the setting.  They removed it - and if you did switch from one place to another place, you lost anything that made you unique in that first location.

 

D&D: You could multiclass Fighter-Magic User in an earlier edition. Now, if you want to take levels in Magic-User, you lose every level you took in Fighter. And while we disliked 3rd edition's take on multiclassing, it wasn't that bad.

One game, which we adored for how it allowed us to progress our characters the way we wanted, made character creation modular. (As did the one we mentioned just above, actually). You had 'pick X, pick Y, pick two of Z, add one or two choices, you're done'. Made for very fast character creation (which isn't a bad thing), but you were confined to little boxes. You couldn't make a character outside those little boxes.

D&D:  Choose Race, Choose Background. Choose Class.  You get these specific abilities, and can only choose from ... oh, wait, that's 5th edition. One thing 3.5 had going for it is two source books which allowed for some incredible flexibility in character creation.  Pathfinder 1e did that too, in fact.  2e... not so much.

Perhaps it's an evolution of RPGs - that in the current age people want a simpler game, don't want to have to think their way through chargen, want to just make the character and go. If that's what they want, hope they have fun, but it just isn't the kind of game we enjoy, if the previous edition of the game was more flexible, allowed for more dynamic character creation, and opened up all the doors, as opposed to replacing them with walls.

Out of all the games we mentioned above... one, we feel, did it right.  Simpler game engine, but a lot more room for deciding who and what your character was.