It's hip to hate D&D
Quite often, when I decide to check out some online discussions, I see people hating on D&D. And it seems to be very common amonst GURPS players, in my experience. But is it really justified? In the majority of cases it is not, as people bring up problems that are not unique to D&D or have nothing to do with D&D at all, and are a result of bad DMing or bad players instead. Many of described situations can happen in GURPS, so all that criticism should apply to their favorite generic system as well. For example, I've seen people complain about DMPCs (well, in GURPS they would be called GMPCs), and this is not setting-specific at all. Caster superiority is another such example - it can happen in GURPS too.
The second type of complaints I've seen is even less reasonable. For example, "Why would you separate sorcerers and wizards (or demons and devils, etc.)? That's just stupid!" or "There's so many high-level NPCs, I just lose my suspense of disbelief or sense of agency." These people cannot separate system from one of its settings and blame the system for what is not the system's fault at all.
Don't get me wrong, I got into GURPS because I was dissatisfied with D&D 3.5/PF as systems (but I'd still love to play those with a good group), but many of the complaints I've seen about those systems just do not seem valid to me, but seem like something like virtue signaling. "Look how cool I am, I hate D&D, I love GURPS so much!"
In particular, 5e has a lot going for it. It's slimmed down the basic mechanics to only a few types. You can get rolling with first level characters in minutes. And you can ALWAYS find a group. The published material is nigh-on uniformly gorgeous, if sometimes of uneven quality (that becomes true for any large game line over time, I think - not everything can be a hit).
ReplyDeleteBut I find the 5e engine very robust, advantage/disadvantage instead of a giant list of penalties is a fantastic time-saver, etc.
At low levels ... say level 1-7 or so, the power creep is still in check, and you can just have very satisfying play.
I mean, I love me my GURPS too, but I have played and enjoyed a lot of D&D. Though I'll admit I prefer either the OSR of 5e flavors.
I think that too many people tend to believe that if you simply dislike something, you have to hate it as well.
ReplyDelete