I’m winding down this two-year campaign I’ve been running and then ditching 5e for some other system. I made that decision back when the whole OGL shitstorm happened. I just don’t trust them to not screw around with things anymore, and, anyway, every time they come out with another UA for One D&D, I read it and get pissed off again.
So they can bundle deez nuts. I’m moving to (probably) FATE or Blades in the Dark.
I’ve run a few sessions in Blades on occasions where a member of the group has been away for an extended period of time. It’s definitely a different mindset to DM than 5e, and I don’t feel like I’ve really gotten the hang of it yet, but everyone’s had fun and they all unanimously agree that they’d enjoy moving over to that system once this campaign is done.
The biggest learning curve is getting a handle on the players having so much more story agency. It’s hard to explain; a lot of the time, Blades puts the DM into the reactive role, whereas 5e very much has the players in the reactive role in a lot of situations (even though it doesn’t feel like it in the moment). So there are times in Blades when the players are supposed to be telling me what happens next, but they’re waiting for me to tell them what happens next. It’s hard to get over some of 5e’s deeper training.
For example, in Blades, the players tell me what action they’re attempting and what stat they’d like to roll for it, and I set the difficulty based on that; however, it’s difficult for them to not ask me what stat they should be using to roll for an action. So if a player wants to get through a door, they would say “I want to break down this door using Wreck” or “Tinker” or “Finesse” or “Attune” or whatever stat their character is good with, and describe what that looks like, then I’m supposed to tell them “Ok, that will be a Risky action with a Standard effect” or “That’s not going to be the best way to do this; it going to be a Desperate action with a Limited effect” or whatever, and then they either roll for it or choose another approach. But what typically happens in game is the player will say “I want to break down this door. What do you want me to roll for that? Is that Wreck? Oh, I don’t have any points in Wreck. Is anyone else good at Wreck?”
There are a lot of things like that, where 5e has trained my players to look to me when the Blades systems puts it in their hands to choose. And I’m not much better about it; for example, it’s super hard for me to remember that I’m supposed to tell them how difficult and how effective their proposed action will be before they roll. The 5e convention of “Roll Dex for that. Oh, so close, you didn’t hit the DC” has a strong grip on me, even though I’m supposed to say “You want to roll Finesse? Ok, if you roll finesse, that’s going to be [difficulty] and have [rating] effect; do you want to go with that?” and they can say “Yes, I want to do that” or “No, I want to try something else instead” or “How can I make my odds better?”. I LIKE that change, it’s just hard to incorporate after so many years of 5e.
I’m winding down this two-year campaign I’ve been running and then ditching 5e for some other system. I made that decision back when the whole OGL shitstorm happened. I just don’t trust them to not screw around with things anymore, and, anyway, every time they come out with another UA for One D&D, I read it and get pissed off again.
So they can bundle deez nuts. I’m moving to (probably) FATE or Blades in the Dark.
Yup, I just bought (FATE based) Legends of Anglerre and it seems pretty awesome… can’t wait to run it :)
Both pretty different systems than 5e. Would be interested in your opinions when you run them.
I’ve run a few sessions in Blades on occasions where a member of the group has been away for an extended period of time. It’s definitely a different mindset to DM than 5e, and I don’t feel like I’ve really gotten the hang of it yet, but everyone’s had fun and they all unanimously agree that they’d enjoy moving over to that system once this campaign is done.
The biggest learning curve is getting a handle on the players having so much more story agency. It’s hard to explain; a lot of the time, Blades puts the DM into the reactive role, whereas 5e very much has the players in the reactive role in a lot of situations (even though it doesn’t feel like it in the moment). So there are times in Blades when the players are supposed to be telling me what happens next, but they’re waiting for me to tell them what happens next. It’s hard to get over some of 5e’s deeper training.
For example, in Blades, the players tell me what action they’re attempting and what stat they’d like to roll for it, and I set the difficulty based on that; however, it’s difficult for them to not ask me what stat they should be using to roll for an action. So if a player wants to get through a door, they would say “I want to break down this door using Wreck” or “Tinker” or “Finesse” or “Attune” or whatever stat their character is good with, and describe what that looks like, then I’m supposed to tell them “Ok, that will be a Risky action with a Standard effect” or “That’s not going to be the best way to do this; it going to be a Desperate action with a Limited effect” or whatever, and then they either roll for it or choose another approach. But what typically happens in game is the player will say “I want to break down this door. What do you want me to roll for that? Is that Wreck? Oh, I don’t have any points in Wreck. Is anyone else good at Wreck?”
There are a lot of things like that, where 5e has trained my players to look to me when the Blades systems puts it in their hands to choose. And I’m not much better about it; for example, it’s super hard for me to remember that I’m supposed to tell them how difficult and how effective their proposed action will be before they roll. The 5e convention of “Roll Dex for that. Oh, so close, you didn’t hit the DC” has a strong grip on me, even though I’m supposed to say “You want to roll Finesse? Ok, if you roll finesse, that’s going to be [difficulty] and have [rating] effect; do you want to go with that?” and they can say “Yes, I want to do that” or “No, I want to try something else instead” or “How can I make my odds better?”. I LIKE that change, it’s just hard to incorporate after so many years of 5e.
FATE is similar. Very collaborative. Very different feel from 5e.