payn
He'll flip ya...Flip ya for real...
I thought there was 1-10 and 11-20 APs now? Has the module line also ended?
Do TTRPGs Need to "Modernize?"
Yes. I think there are more 1-10 than 11-20, but I wouldn't say that the system overall has a satisfying finality to character growth at Level 10 (or a beginning at Level 11.) For example, you don't get a climactic capstone ability at 10th level and get to face an especially epic end. It feels like you just cut off the campaign with a thud.
There's a module line as well, kind of as an after thought. By all reports I've heard, they're mostly not very good.
What I would like is an RPG that's designed from the ground up to play like most of the data suggests we play them. Most campaigns don't go from 1-20 and don't last years. How about designing a game that lasts months (not years)? Let players actually enjoy the capstone abilities and epic encounters?
Aldarc
Legend
It's not as if that critique doesn't apply to a fair number of new modern games either. They can get complicated in their rules for setup and play with lots of moving parts, pieces, and construction.
Sepulchrave II
Legend
"I love chess, but I wish I were better at it." The fact that this statement is made by literally everyone who plays chess says something about the power of this game.
I also love this game, and it's the only game I have seen induce actual nervous breakdowns.
SableWyvern
Adventurer
You don't have to wait for someone to design these things. They exist. Check out Shadow of the Weird Wizard/Demon Lord for a game designed to fit a campaign (and "capstone abilities") into 10 adventures.
Check out dozens upon dozens of games designed to be completed in a single session, or a handful.
I strongly suggest you start taking a proper look at what games are out there, because everything you claim you want is pretty much already available -- and I strongly suspect that there are many things you don't know you want yet that are also out there waiting for you to find them. The fact that you think a game even has to have "capstone abilities" tells me that your understanding of the TTRPG field is extremely limited.
MichaelSomething
Legend
It's because of modernization that we lost gold for exp, racial level limits, 3d6 stats rolled on order, the commoner class, material components, d4 hit dice, and true Vancain casting. How much more lost can we stand???
SableWyvern
Adventurer
They may not be in 5e, but they're not lost. My current game has four of seven.
GrimCo
Adventurer
As said, good movies are good movies. Same with any form of entertainment. People still enjoy books that are now centuries old. Good things stand test of time, bad tend to be forgotten and left in dustbox of history.
I heard term "modern sensibilities", but no one can clearly define what those are. FE, my friend and long time DM has new group of newbs. They are all early to mid 20s, he is "old man" ( just turned 30 this year). They play PF1. PF1 is 15 years old game ( and if we are being precise it's 15 year old update on 23 year old game). They are having a blast playing it. It suits their play stlye and his DM style.
On the other hand, i play with other group, we are all mid 30s to early 40s. 5e is our jam mostly for right amount of simplicity and complexity. I run some Mork Borg, Knave and Cairn. They liked it for fast one shots, but they all said it was to bare bones for longer games.
I'll gladly admit, i haven't played tons of games, and most of them i played back in college ( we played decent amount of 7th sea, Houses of the bloodied - by John Wick XD, oWoD, nWoD). My group just doesn't really have time to learn more complex systems. We are happy if we can scrounge up 3-4 hours per session and playing week after week consistently is already a win for us.
If by modern it means easy and logical plus decently fast char creation for starting characters, rulebooks with good layouts where rules are clear and concise and sorted in logical order, system is easy to learn ( not necessarily easy to master, just easy to learn without sharp learning curves), then sure, i'm for it. But i know there are groups who like rules heavy, crunch heavy, complex systems with lots of options to tweak around.
mamba
Legend
Nijay
Explorer
It is hard to talk about modernization of TTRPG'S as a single thing across all the different experiences people want from TTRPG'S. When we talk about modernization, we are talking about trends in design. We might say there's a general trend towards reducing the learning curve, or not tying race to stat bonuses. Maybe inside more specific experiences there are additional trends geared towards solving problems that may only be problems for that particular experience. These different design choices impact the feeling of a game, with any individual mechanic colored by the rest of the system around it, so the same design trends can't be expected across all TTRPG'S.
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