[SamTwist]

Hi everyone!

So, Shadowrun 5th came out not too long ago, and, being an Earthdawn fan, I'm really looking forward the the 4th edition coming out.

The main ''concern'' I have with the new edition is what is going to happen to my current game. Looking at the development blog for Earthdawn 4th, major changes are coming for this game and I don't think a conversion will be doable, we'll have to start from scratch if we want to try 4th ED.

And actually, it's not much of a concern for me but more for my party.  We started a quest not too long ago and haven't accomplished much so far, it's mostly an excuse to meet up and have some fun.  However, discussing with the gamemaster, he doesn't want to let go of his campaign, since he apparently spent many many hours planning his quest (He's really been railroading the campaign since it started).

All the other players are fine with starting over with 4th ED, but the GM isn't.

I was wondering if you had similar stories where a new edition of an RPG meant dropping off the current campaign and starting over from scratch.

Thanks!

[Namikaze]

I saw this exact issue happen when migrating a group from D&D 3.5 to D&D 4.  The whole group hated D&D 4, so we just kept playing 3.5.  We knew we weren't going to get updates, but then Pathfinder came out which revitalized the whole thing.

[WellsIDidIt]

I didn't get into SR4 until the 20th Anniversary version because of the exact same reason. We had a four year campaign going when SR4 came out and it was too different to bother converting characters that high level over. Looking at the SR5 book that I picked up cheap at the FLGS, my group doesn't really want to touch it. They hate it, and the few redeeming qualities are overshadowed by the flaws in it.

I had the same story as Namikaze when it came to D&D 4. We had played the playtests and the things we didn't like about the playtest rules were made even worse, so we just kept on with 3.5 and then Pathfinder eventually.

The only game we ever actually started new for was Deadlands when they switched to Savage Worlds, but that didn't last long.

[Sendaz]

I remember when our group in the service playing AD&D changed over from 1st edition to 2nd edition.

Think the biggest change was Bard. One of our guys had worked his way up the ranks in 1st edition to make the bard, going fighter, then rogue, then druid.
He was proud of that character and when someone said they were a BARD, you knew it was a figure to be reckoned with.

Then 2nd ed had it so you could start off as a bard and it just felt.... wrong.  But we bit the bullet so to speak, making up new chars for the new edition.

Sure in the long run you came out with a fair skill set and spell capability, but it just never had the same sort of oomph character wise for him.

[Coengar2]

As the game master for a pack of raving anime otaku many years ago I had a long running campaign of Mekton (from R.Talsorian Games) going when the company suddenly released the new edition of the game as Mekton Z. There were enough changes to the rules to make conversions a bit of a pain and I recall at least one of my players having conniption fits when it was discovered that his bio organic mecha was no longer allowed in the new rules.
As I recall,all the complaints about the new rules had us just go back to playing the old edition.

Speaking of old editions, When it comes to D&D, my gaming group prefers 2nd Ed. We dabbled with 3rd Ed, but too few of us bought any of the 3rd Ed rulebooks to get everyone to really give it a try.These days i'm pushing for everyone to try Pathfinder especially since you can get the main core rulebook for like $35 bucks on Amazon.

By the way 4th Ed D&D was looked at closely and then rejected by everyone in the group.

I recently picked up SR5 and when you consider that the last time that I ran a SR game was back in SR1 days I will admit that I am a little stunned by how the game has evolved over the years. But I have been enjoying what I've read so far and I figure i'll get the hang of things again shortly.