When comparing GRIN vs Basic Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition, the Slant community recommends GRIN for most people. In the question“What are the best tabletop RPGs?” GRIN is ranked 36th while Basic Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition is ranked 47th. The most important reason people chose GRIN is:
GRIN uses a a standard deck of playing cards instead of dice.
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Pros
Pro Zero dice required
GRIN uses a a standard deck of playing cards instead of dice.
Pro Narrative focus
With no intrusive dice or math players can focus on the story, with every action being resolved by the simple draw of a card.
Pro Creates excellent tension
GRIN uses a a standard deck of playing cards to create a fast paced and deadly feel that evokes modern horror films. One of the best horror games made, its ideal for Halloween or horror movie nights.
Pro Its great for single session games
Like any horror film, characters will die. Grin lends itself to deadly games and rally shines with 4-6 players and narrative arcs lasting 3-4 hours.
Pro Easy to improvise
With the intrinsic arc of a classic horror narrative built into the core mechanic, Grin can be an intuitive framework for improvised play.
Pro Unique mechanic
In true horror movie style, death becomes increasingly likely as the game's story moves irrevocably forward.
Pro Easy to pick up
The game has just one page of rules. It can be explained in a minute -- even to people who have no rpg experience.
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 Can be seen as too simple for some
Because each encounter has just two possible outcomes - success or death - there's little wiggle room in terms of roleplaying.
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.