[colinrand]

I played sometimes as DnD as a kid growing up, and remember it was pretty straight forward to plunk down with friends in and afternoon and just have fun with it. I tried playing with my kids last year during lockdown and OMG...it took me 2 hrs to read the basic rules, 4 hrs to set up the characters, and then another 2 hrs to find where my kids had run of to because they got so bored with it!!! In the end, one loves it but it takes so much effort to set up and play that it can be overwhelming.

[ygjb]

I think you are probably misremembering the ease of play with older editions. I have been playing D&D in various iterations, and have older books going back to the original AD&D 1st edition and BECMI box sets and 5e was far easier to pick up and play, and is way more accessible to young children than previous editions.

[com2kid]

You already knew how to play 2nd ed, so it seamed simple to you.

Any RPG system, if the DM knows the rules really well, is easy to sit down at a table and play. Back when I DM'd a lot I'd run one shots for people all the time, so long as I knew the rules (or subset of rules for what we'd be encountering that session), everything was smooth.