When comparing Heroes Against Darkness vs Basic Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition, the Slant community recommends Heroes Against Darkness for most people. In the question“What are the best tabletop RPGs?” Heroes Against Darkness is ranked 33rd while Basic Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition is ranked 47th. The most important reason people chose Heroes Against Darkness is:
The game uses a single "d20 + modifier ≥ target" mechanic for everything. Characters can be created in less than 5 minutes. The writing is concise and clear.
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Focuses on simplicity
The game uses a single "d20 + modifier ≥ target" mechanic for everything. Characters can be created in less than 5 minutes. The writing is concise and clear.
Pro Deep, without being cluttered
A lot of meta-tools such as templates, etc, that make combat encounters incredibly simple to construct. Great tools for creature-building. A lot of good information on world-building. You can make any type of game efficiently, from hack-and-slash to role-playing. If you have played in a D&D campaign, this is a great choice for your first outing as a GM.
Pro Bounded Accuracy
Bounded Accuracy is a core design ideal of 5th Edition. In short, it means the numbers don't get too big; this lets weak challenges remain relevant for longer, and strong ones become survivable sooner. In practice, it also places more focus on a character's inherent abilities and less on magical equipment than has been the case in recent editions.
Pro Easiest tabletop RPG to find someone to play with
As D&D is the largest tabletop RPG franchise and played by most people, it is the easiest tabletop RPG to find players for.
Pro Encourages character immersion
Numerous core aspects of 5th Edition exist solely to encourage thinking in-character, including mechanical rewards for good roleplay and detailed character backgrounds with lasting effects in the game.
Pro Minimal but versatile rules
5th Edition strikes an impressive balance in keeping the rules simple without limiting the creativity of players.
Cons
Con Requries prior knowledge of RPGs to completely understand
Some knowledge will be required to understand the rules as there are some unexplained conventions that are presumed to be understood.
Con Lacks variety in various areas
In order to make the character creation fast and relatively simple in-depth customization options have been excluded from the basic ruleset. There's also a limited selection of character options (just 4 classes with a single sub-class), monsters, magic items, etc. The variety is to be found in the full game.
Con Still puts too much emphasis on spellcasters
The sword and sandal brigade, as well as the ever undervalued and undersupported Ranger class (Arcane Archer is under Fighter, not Ranger, where it belongs!), are still second fiddle to the magic slingers and rogues who are always overpowered.
Con Too easy to fall into the meatgrinder trap
Roleplaying falls by the wayside too easily as the murder-hobo set are catered to! Of course, it's also about the DM, however, majority of players want combat and that is exactly what D&D likes to provide - along with the archetypal and archetypical meat-grinder dungeon fest.