Did I discover the Left Wing and Right Wing of D&D gaming styles?

[Aaron L]

When has D&D ever followed the "traditionalist" model?

I certainly wouldn't want to play in a game bound by what someone thinks "fits" into a certain model of Earth of a certain period. This is fantasy. I want entirely NEW cultures, not cheap rip offs of Rome or England or what have you. I want a world where the existance of magic has altered society, not a set of exscuses for why it hasn't made life any different than what it was in medieval Europe.

If you really want to limit yourself in this way go for it, but all these arguments lately about how wrong or silly a truly fantastic setting is are getting old real quick.

 

[Belen]

World cuisine, as much as I can manage to retain enough of a coherent explanation to maintain willing suspension of disbelief.

It's the DM's (Castle Keeper in my case - I switched to Castles & Crusades) JOB to allow the players to be who they want to be. Otherwise, you're restricting their fun. So, you have to be creative enough to tie it all together in such a way that the world around them has an internal logic into which they fit.

The DM's role is to take what the players give him and mesh it into a campaign world. I think FR does a pretty decent job of providing the DM (CK) these tools - about as well as a product for general consumption can manage. There are things to dislike about FR, but in terms of providing the DM/CK with options, it's well done. Stretched, but internally consistent.

Telling a player that he MUST play something that works with a Viking or Celtic or whatever culture? Meh. Bad DMing - I don't care how much you think it adds to the willing suspension of disbelief, it's a cop-out as far as the game's concerned.

Do you allow any and all races too? If someone wanted to play a bugbear, do you allow it?

There is a line. Chances are that no player is going to be 100% happy and neither will the GM. Allowing a player whatever they want sets a bad precedent. The player has to be willing to work with you just as you have to be willing to work with them. If a GM says that he wants to run an Egyptian game in a desert setting and a player wants to play a medieval knight in full plate, then there is an issue.

 

[Remathilis]

I play Eberron, where does that leave me?

Personally, I love World-Cusine Style Games, and unless you have a heavy hand in creating PCs and go through your books with a sharpie, I fail to see how D&D can create anything BUT mixed flavor PCS.

That said, I also play Star Wars, and we are VERY careful about keeping it traditional. So it depends on the game I suppose.

As I said eariler in the Monster's Poll: Viva Diversity.

 

[Desdichado]

The DM's role is to take what the players give him and mesh it into a campaign world. I think FR does a pretty decent job of providing the DM (CK) these tools - about as well as a product for general consumption can manage. There are things to dislike about FR, but in terms of providing the DM/CK with options, it's well done. Stretched, but internally consistent.

Telling a player that he MUST play something that works with a Viking or Celtic or whatever culture? Meh. Bad DMing - I don't care how much you think it adds to the willing suspension of disbelief, it's a cop-out as far as the game's concerned.

Uh... yeah. One could also argue that it's the DMs JOB to provide a coherent setting, and the players have to take what's presented from the setting and adapt their character concepts from that. One could easily push your idea to absurd extremes. I had the husband of a girl that gamed with me in college say he wouldn't play a Lord of the Rings game unless he could be an ent and sit around philosophising. You may claim that I'm a bad DM for saying, "no thanks" but I'll file that claim in ye olde rounde file.

 

[Remathilis]

When has D&D ever followed the "traditionalist" model?

Didn't they have the Historical "Greenback" books during 2e (Celts, Vikings, A Mighty Fortress)

Closest I've seen. Well, maybe Dark Sun...

 

[Eosin the Red]

I like my tradtions. Never was one given to enjoying strange foods that did not seem to go together. I do eat salsa on my eggs but I eat salsa with most things. Still, starange concoctions assault my palate.

I salute those of you who do enjoy such exotic tastes.

PS - my traditionalist menu

BIRTHRIGHT
Wheel of Time
7th Sea

 

[Desdichado]

Everyone had diverse groups in college.

I've seen a lot of specious declarations in this thread! I was the closest thing to representingt diversity in my college group; I'm 1/16th Portuguese.

 

[Flyspeck23]

Guess I must be left wing

-- Anything that tries to reflect with some consistent degree of accuracy a European (or Arthurian, or Oriental, or Antique, etc.) medieval setting. In this case, ahem: no magic shop, no out-of-place class, no riddles on the magic gate, etc., etc.

So basically what you're saying is: either the campaign is a mix of different flavors not going well together, or it's a historical setting?
And, as a sidenote, what's your point? It can't simply be a case of "My campaign is better than your campaign", could it?

(Don't meddle with a French's food)

Guess those French are a little stingy for not having the best cuisine on the planet, because that'd be the Italians (followed by the Japanese)

 

[Desdichado]

Guess those French are a little stingy for not having the best cuisine on the planet, because that'd be the Italians (followed by the Japanese)

How come nobody ever claims that the British have the best food?

 

[Dagobert]

When I make a new campaign setting, I try to create the big idea behind the world first and build everything else around that. That can lead--but not necessarily--to a one-demensional kind of place and the place can be very restrictive about what kinds of classes and races exist and how much magic is available. So I try to think of reasons to introduce other elements into the setting and that adds dimensions to the place. I usually select a certain set of rules and supplements to use in the game and make as much of that material available as logically (and fantastically) possible. (Although it is possible, I suppose, to make a game that logically includes every element--races, classes, prestige classes, magic, feats, the-list-goes-on--that is available in all the supplements. Most of us don't have the time, money and energy for it.) In this way, I try to achieve a balance between the two extremes. You want to have a world that is coherent and makes sense, but you want to include as much of the stuff that your players want to see and use as possible. It's more that way. And if you don't use the material between the covers of all those supplements on your shelf, I think you go blind or something.

Dagobert

5 points for the first person who can tell me where Pure Strain Human comes from -- it's pretty easy if you're an old fool from the old school.)

Gama World. I know I wasn't the first but it brought back a little wave of nostalgia. (Just a little one. We're talking about Gama World here.) And I just wanted to show off.