Our group is considering switching from 5e to Rules Cyclopedia.
The way I’m selling it is like “Oh, no, it’s absolutely gonna suck. Most of the things that were good in 1e, 2e and RC, we’ve already been using in our 5e game via house rules, so we won’t really be adding anything good or cool. And things like that ghoul fight we had today? In 5e, a ghoul paralyzes you, you’re out for ten rounds but eot save ends. And they only have one paralyzing attack per round. In RC, those ghouls have three chances per round to paralyze you, there’s no eot save ends, and the paralysis lasts for 2d4 turns—each turn is a hundred rounds!
And the system is way fiddlier and more complex in many ways and less streamlined.
The one saving grace is this:
It’s what most of the modules we’ve been playing these past ten years have been written for. I’ve been converting them to 5e. Playing modules with RC will be a challenge for you. And that’s the appeal.
There are two more things but they’re pros and cons. It’s one book. No need to carry a whole shelffull of books. We can more easily play in the park or a café. But that’s not to say that all the richness of all those other books have been all bad. Second, it’s an old book, 1991, WotC aren’t messing with it, it’s a closed loop. We’re burned out on all the playtesting and UA. The downside to that is missing out the value of a shared experience with the global 5e community and all of the celebration of 5.24 when it comes out. But in the end D&D is still D&D.”
That’s what I said.
I’ll update this page with notes on our experiences if we do make the switch.