Well, 5e is pretty impressive.

So last week I played (GM’d) 5e for the first time, my first return to a d20 system since 1983. I even bought two sets of chessex dice for the occasion, and I’m not a big dice consumer, have used dice rollers on my phone for the last few years.

While the combat system is still based on what I remember from the brown books and 1E, the advantage/disadvantage system is very handy, and I liked that instead of specific rules by creature, damage is codified as a weakness for, or advantage against, certain types of attacks, resulting in the target taking double or half damage.

I particularly enjoy the emphasis on resource management, forcing the players to weigh taking rests to restore abilities against the sure knowledge that the GM will have NPCs busy preparing for the intruders.

The skill system is a bit bare bones, but there is still enough there to make scenarios based on role-playing viable. That was always a sticking point for me with the older versions of D&D: I’m not against combat, but I enjoy GM’ing investigative scenarios as much or more.

Having MapTools virtual table top is also a big plus; every one of my players has a laptop at the table, and gone are the days of trying to draw a battle map on a plastic-coated hex map (I have zero artistic ability; in fact, I’m pretty sure if the visual arts had a measurable weight I would actually have a negative number).

One session hasn’t made me a complete convert yet, but the campaign stretches ahead of me, and I expect to give the system a full and thourough workout before it is done.