D&D 5E Why is "whimisical and dark" humour needed to offset the dark and depressed theme of Out of the Abyss?

[Paraxis]

The irony here is that the person doing most of the complaining, in another thread, complained about the level of whimsy and "Alice in Wonderland"-ness in OotA, and then in the same post suggested that it would've been better if written by Tim Burton.

That is odd, as Alice in Wonderland invokes many things to me with Tim Burton being near the top of that list.

American McGee's Alice pc video game, the latest Alice in Wonderland movie by Tim Burton, and Red and Pleasant Land rpg setting for Lamentations of the Flame Princess rpg. This video is a good example of creepy dark Alice.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwoNqkflF7k

 

[Umbran]

I just wish I could DM a Terry Gilliam level of madness in a campaign and successfully pull it off.

Even Terry Gilliam cannot maintain a Terry Gilliam level of madness for that long. Moreoever, I think he has the understanding that he shouldn't try, because madness is very, very useful as a *contrast*, but loses the audience in what seems to them to be pointless surrealism if maintained for too long.

 

[Kramodlog]

I do not remember finding lots of whimsy in Ravenloft and no one in the groupe committed suicide.

 

[Mephista]

Why? Here's your answer -

"'Make it dark, make it grim, make it tough, but then, for the love of God, tell a joke.'" - Joss Whedon.

I know not everyone likes Whedon, but he's right on for this. Dark and depressing gets old FAST. Especially for something we play for escapist relaxation. I game to have fun, and humor is fun.

 

[Minigiant]

I do not remember finding lots of whimsy in Ravenloft and no one in the groupe committed suicide.

That's because it has Horror themes. And we PC killed a corrupted PC in my group.

That's the thing. You can have Dark + Whimsy, Dark + Horror, Dark + Madness, Dark + Comedy, Dark + Politics, Dark + War, Dark + Survival...

But Dark alone is very niche and hard to sell. Add in the nonsense of the Underdark and the book sell few copies once reviews set it.

 

[ItsWarren]

Others have said it elsewhere but I think it's great that they are adding variety. It is easy enough to use just about any module for any edition in the current rule set. There is plenty of standard available, let's try something new.

 

[The Grassy Gnoll]

Imagine if the Internet had been around while Gygax was still at TSR.

Imagine how many modules, now seen as classics, might never have seen the light of day for fear of rage from the community.

I may well be wrong, but I imagine fairly few people played every single module in sequence. Which means that some, if not many, were missed.

It's a new edition, so there aren't that many modules yet (LMoP, ToD, PoTA, plus RoD...), but they are all APs rather than the skinnier 32pp modules from back in the day, all released within a year of the edition coming out...so maybe not so few after all.

The creative team who write these modules/APs are, importantly, both creative and writers. Creative people are going to come up with ideas that some may feel drawn to, which repel others. That's ok, because (come close, let me whisper in your ear), they are not anyone's bitch (ok, possibly Hasbro's).

For me, PotA doesn't appeal, and I have to say neither does RoD, much.

But, am I going to slam WOTC for hiring creative people who come up with new ideas (and after 40-odd years of D&D, "new" is key), even though those ideas may not all be to my taste? Hell, no. I applaud them for doing interesting things (some of which I can even nick...).

 

[jayoungr]

American McGee's Alice pc video game, the latest Alice in Wonderland movie by Tim Burton, and Red and Pleasant Land rpg setting for Lamentations of the Flame Princess rpg.

Those are all transformations of/riffs on Lewis Carroll's original Alice, though. So when people hear "Alice in Wonderland," some think first of the original (surreal, satirical, even with a few dark jokes, but far from grim or horror-ish), some think of the Disney version (still surreal, but with much less satirical bite) and some think immediately of the Burton, McGee, or LotFP versions. Thus, being told "It has an 'Alice in Wonderland' vibe" can cause a variety of reactions depending on which "flavor" of Alice people are thinking of.

 

[Corpsetaker]

The irony here is that the person doing most of the complaining, in another thread, complained about the level of whimsy and "Alice in Wonderland"-ness in OotA, and then in the same post suggested that it would've been better if written by Tim Burton.

I'm afraid your conclusion is incorrect and I would kindly appreciate it if you didn't further misconstrue what I have said with regards to Tim Burton in order to make your argument sound correct.

Thanks

 

[Uchawi]

I believe railroad is the question in regards to any adventure. Do the adventure writers have enough savvy to mix in a generous portion of whimsy, darkness, or anything else they deem important so the adventure can be written for the widest audience; or at least fantasy. I guess all they have is room for improvement. It is an art more than a science.