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Is a more OD&D feel game the natural evolutionary endpoint? Is OD&D actually AD&D?
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<blockquote data-quote="Remathilis" data-source="post: 4740898" data-attributes="member: 7635"><p>This may come off as a tangent, but it may not...</p><p></p><p>Probably since about 2003*, there has been a growing rumbling across the internet (and in game stores and such) that has began to grow dissatisfied with D&D's current trajectory. The players who grew up in the 80s playing AD&D and running the classic modules have grown disenchanted. It started slow; Castles & Crusades, OSIRIC, Goodman Game DCC's, and a slow revival of AD&D (and B/X D&D and OD&D) games. </p><p></p><p>Everyone has a different reason why; 3.X's complexity, emphasis on PC power vs. DM power, splatbooks and powercreep, spikey armor, and anime hair, design decisions, marketing decisions, etc. But there is a large and growing group who see 4e as the ultimate expression of a trend that (I believe) began in 1989 with 2nd edition in the changing of "the game I knew and loved".</p><p></p><p>Each person, of course, can point to a different point in D&D's evolution as "the point it all went south." The current favorite is 4e's release, but the 3.5 revision, D&D 3rd edition, Skills & Powers, and 2nd edition all have garnered blame and scorn (some even blame AD&D for ruining OD&D, and Dialgo blames Supplement 1: Greyhawk for ruining the White Box). </p><p></p><p>So the general pushback has been to "go home again". To get those old books and modules, to create OGL versions of the classic games**, to find the game's roots. Its really no different than other fandom's, such as Doctor Who fans who will not discuss the show post 1990, or Star Wars fans who do not accept the Special Editions, etc. </p><p></p><p>Sadly, I think its a natural reaction to growing up surrounded by something we knew as children that has grown up with us, but not the way we like. We want to find those childhood friends again, waiting for us with our crayon-dice and cardboard chits. We want fantasy based on Vance, Leiber, Moorcock, or Howard rather than on Salvatore, Hickman & Wiess, Rowling, or Jordan. </p><p></p><p>Is it a trend? Perhaps. I still think its more a vocal minority than a trend (this board alone is full of 3.x and 4e players, probably more people play a post-2000 version of D&D than a pre-2000, but that's just a guess). There is a trend, its been here for a while, and its not going away anytime soon, but I don't think its epidemic of a larger trend. </p><p></p><p>* More of less. I noticed a trend toward "old school-flavored D&D" even before then, but it seems 3.5 cause a lot of backward's glances as people began to deconstruct the flaws of the 3e system. </p><p>** Notice there are retro-clones of OD&D (1974), B/X D&D (1976) and AD&D 1e (1977-79) but none of BECMI (1980~1994) or 2e (1989). This, of course, discludes the idea Pathfinder is a 3e clone....</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Remathilis, post: 4740898, member: 7635"] This may come off as a tangent, but it may not... Probably since about 2003*, there has been a growing rumbling across the internet (and in game stores and such) that has began to grow dissatisfied with D&D's current trajectory. The players who grew up in the 80s playing AD&D and running the classic modules have grown disenchanted. It started slow; Castles & Crusades, OSIRIC, Goodman Game DCC's, and a slow revival of AD&D (and B/X D&D and OD&D) games. Everyone has a different reason why; 3.X's complexity, emphasis on PC power vs. DM power, splatbooks and powercreep, spikey armor, and anime hair, design decisions, marketing decisions, etc. But there is a large and growing group who see 4e as the ultimate expression of a trend that (I believe) began in 1989 with 2nd edition in the changing of "the game I knew and loved". Each person, of course, can point to a different point in D&D's evolution as "the point it all went south." The current favorite is 4e's release, but the 3.5 revision, D&D 3rd edition, Skills & Powers, and 2nd edition all have garnered blame and scorn (some even blame AD&D for ruining OD&D, and Dialgo blames Supplement 1: Greyhawk for ruining the White Box). So the general pushback has been to "go home again". To get those old books and modules, to create OGL versions of the classic games**, to find the game's roots. Its really no different than other fandom's, such as Doctor Who fans who will not discuss the show post 1990, or Star Wars fans who do not accept the Special Editions, etc. Sadly, I think its a natural reaction to growing up surrounded by something we knew as children that has grown up with us, but not the way we like. We want to find those childhood friends again, waiting for us with our crayon-dice and cardboard chits. We want fantasy based on Vance, Leiber, Moorcock, or Howard rather than on Salvatore, Hickman & Wiess, Rowling, or Jordan. Is it a trend? Perhaps. I still think its more a vocal minority than a trend (this board alone is full of 3.x and 4e players, probably more people play a post-2000 version of D&D than a pre-2000, but that's just a guess). There is a trend, its been here for a while, and its not going away anytime soon, but I don't think its epidemic of a larger trend. * More of less. I noticed a trend toward "old school-flavored D&D" even before then, but it seems 3.5 cause a lot of backward's glances as people began to deconstruct the flaws of the 3e system. ** Notice there are retro-clones of OD&D (1974), B/X D&D (1976) and AD&D 1e (1977-79) but none of BECMI (1980~1994) or 2e (1989). This, of course, discludes the idea Pathfinder is a 3e clone.... [/QUOTE]
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