Do you play DnD? Or as they just call the current version, 5E (fifth edition of the rules)? My TTRPG love began with AD&D way back in my freshman year of high school. Once I got into it...I didn''t like it. It was just one fight after another, no real storytelling, no true roleplaying unless you chose to (I did, and got ridiculed for trying). Gameplay of breaking into dungeons, killing everything in existence that's 'out to get you' and carrying on like the Crusades seemed way too colonizer for a Black mixed race person like me raised to distrust the Fed, white supremacy, and nationalism. I was too aware of race, class, and capitalism to enjoy what my white friend couldn't get enough of. I thanked God when my DM bought Marvel Superheroes Advanced RPG from TSR and put it in my hands. Me, a GM for the first time. And heroes! Not...mercenaries. The only parts DnD developed later I loved were Spelljammer and Dark Sun. The former I got to play for a bit, and it was great. It felt more exploratory, at least that was a +1. The latter none of my friends would touch with a +5 ten foot pole. 'Too hard, where's the glory?'. They wanted white male power fantasy. I wanted compelling story and characters that grew, like the ones I read in novels. Didn't happen. DnD and I never saw eye to eye. I moved on.
That negative attitude persisted for a long time. Especially as TSR, later WotC, put out POC cultures into their worlds, to literal stereotypical effect. Chult, supposedly African. Maztica, a mishmash of Indigenous. Oriental Adventures, which one of my friends at the time adored. I stared blankly at it, cuz, why? Just, why? Anyway, I avoided DnD, never played in a single session of it after 1992.
Almost two years ago, a mate began DMing 5E, and asked me to play. I had never read DnD past 2E, and honestly wasn't interested. What got me to say yes was his excitement to do a module, Descent Into Avernus. I read 5E, fist time in almost 20 years. And...I didn't mind it. Print was small, but the artwork, layout, even the rules seemed a tad better. I found the DMG helpful later when I ran a brief Eberron campaign. Now, I don't like how classes are kept to the same number but are broadened by the choice of Paths, Circles, etc. they seem to only add a drop of flavor or divergence rather than fully developed options. However, I had fun. In both campaigns. 5E was better to me than 2E, but still needed work.
Now, back to Dark Sun. I loved it, and thanks to a brief game in it run by a Native mutual, I got thirsty for it again. In a talk we had one night I learned the last time it was updated was for DnD 4e, the one I heard so many DnD stans loathe with a passion. Me, I got no dog in that fight, other than to say an opinion that shouldn't matter to anyone other than me that DnD is a good game that never quite seems to be as expansive (mechanically/socially/diversity) as it could be, so knowing this material was on DrivethruRPG, I dove in.
2nd edition Dark Sun big book. Check! 4E Players guides, all of them, DMG, check!
And...I'm still newly into them (insomnia, new job schedule stuffs) but...I love this version.
the classes. Battlemind, Psion, Warden, Avenger, and so on are incredibly cool. Powers being broken into Martial, Arcane, Divine, and Primal is very nice, and confirms my hypothesis that DnD was just 'superheroes in extreme vintage cosplay'. I mean, fantasy novels often regale that magic has a cost, is wild, untamed, whatever. In DnD, Vancian magic seems like Superman comics. They just do things. At least in 4E they don't pretend it's anything else.
The books are some of the cleanest in design, setup, font, and help I've ever read. It looks like some real attempts were made to make the game more than what it once was, and to ad in new layers and textures. 5E gave those up? I find that sad.
Now, I'm a theater of the mind kind of cat and I see this emphasizes miniatures, maps, etc. Not my bag. Always sucked at it. But I can see how this can work. It's making me excited to do DnD, even more than 5E. I am now thinking of TWO campaigns using it. Just gotta find time once my schedule solidifies to know when. But one game will be private, amongst mutuals. The other will be public. Chult for 4E, with Southlands tossed in to enhance the African vibes, retool Tomb of Annihilation, make an entire Sword & Soul campaign. Take a stand against the mercenary, colonial, racist stance fantasy (DnD) tends to slump into and plant a diverse crop plus show players a good time in another land. Too often we get TTRPGs as power fantasy. I think they should be promoted as learning devices, relaxation, cultural exploration (not appropriation), and travel.
I love DnD 4E. That's that. Let's roll.