D&D 5E Am I no longer WoTC's target audience?

[GreyLord]

Dwarves could be clerics in 1st edition.

Depends on the DM for PC races.

Page 14 of the 1e PHB says that those in parenthesis are NPCs only. Dwarf clerics were in parenthesis showing that they were NPC only. I believe UA relaxed the restrictions on that.

That doesn't stop a DM from allowing them in the game though, even in only using the core books. The same would also hold true for Elf and Gnome Clerics as well as Halfling Druids.

 

[Oofta]

Bah. Back in the day dwarves were fighters, halflings were thieves and elves were fighter-magic users. All we had for damage was D6s, after a while your D20 wore smooth because all the corners chipped off. We even had to color in one side of the die because we were too poor to have 2 digit number on our die. And we liked it!

 

[Fenris-77]

I had to roll my d20 uphill both ways to dungeon. Pit traps every 20', level drains, save or die, it was a time when manly men went adventuring and girlie men stayed home with their 3rd pillar interactions. A time of heroes!

 

[Doug McCrae]

However, coming from 1e, I think magic and cleric dwarves are an abomination. They were the original 'anti-magic' race with bonuses to save because they were so non-magical.

It wouldn't be unreasonable to regard clerical and wizardly magic as very different things, as the medieval church did. The early D&D cleric, especially in OD&D, is strongly Christian with spells such as Sticks to Snakes, Plague of Flies, Tongues, Raise Dead, and Part Water. Otoh D&D has never done a very good job at separating divine and arcane magic mechanically - both use spell slots that recover after a night's rest, both have material/somatic/verbal components, both operate according to the will of the PC.

 

[Oofta]

I had to roll my d20 uphill both ways to dungeon. Pit traps every 20', level drains, save or die, it was a time when manly men went adventuring and girlie men stayed home with their 3rd pillar interactions. A time of heroes!

Dang right! And we had poles! Real, manly, 10 ft long poles that you used to tap the floor because the DM was out to kill your PCs if you didn't! Not that it mattered, because sometimes the floor was the monster!

 

[Fenris-77]

Dang right! And we had poles! Real, manly, 10 ft long poles that you used to tap the floor because the DM was out to kill your PCs if you didn't! Not that it mattered, because sometimes the floor was the monster!

We carried enormous manly haversacks because everything was made of iron! Iron Spikes, Iron caltrops, iron rations! No namby-pamby STR dump Bard would be able to carry those packs. They'd be singing the Song of Eternal Rest before the second 10x10 room with an Orc guarding a cupcake.

 

[Doug McCrae]

Tolkien was the single biggest influence on D&D. The fantasy supplement for Chainmail was based on a Lord of the Rings wargame created by Leonard Patt. Chainmail is full of Tolkien references such as "hobbits", "nazgul", "ents", "balrogs", "werebears", and even "Orcs of Mordor" and "Isengarders" (another type of orc). Tolkien is one of three named authors, the others being RE Howard and Poul Anderson, and the only one to be mentioned three times. All of these made it into OD&D, and most had to be renamed after a 'cease and desist' letter in 1977.

D&D still contains the following elements derived from Tolkien:
PC races – elf, dwarf, halfling, half-orc, half-elf
Class – ranger
Monsters – orc, goblin, warg, wight, giant eagle, werebear, treant, type VI demon, red dragon
Spells – fireball, lightning bolt, light, hold portal, knock, produce flame, ventriloquism
Magic items – mithril, elven cloak, ring of invisibility

In terms of broader themes, the D&D adventuring party is Tolkien-esque, as is the 'racial geography' of D&D worlds - elves in the forests, dwarves/orcs/goblins in the mountains and underground.

 

[reelo]

And then we realize that "originally" is now just about "half a century ago", and that leaning on that may not be the strongest position to take. 50 year old things tend to be... arthritic

70s Sabbath/Zeppelin/Purple is still heavier than all of the modern crap on the radio these days combined.
Old doesn't necessarily mean bad!

 

[Umbran]

70s Sabbath/Zeppelin/Purple is still heavier than all of the modern crap on the radio these days combined.

Which only matters if you grew up in a time when "heavy" was a selling point. If it were still a selling point, the "modern crap" would be heavy. But it ain't, by your own admission. The world has moved on.

Old doesn't necessarily mean bad!

Well, musical compositions are not systems or technology. I'm guessing you don't drive a Model T, right? Not listening to music on wax (or probably even vinyl). Not building your home out of wattle and daub? And I suspect you have steel and ceramic knives in your kitchen, rather than knapped obsidian blades, amd I correct?

When talking about technology or designed systems, I'm sorry, but usually old means, "based on a less complete understanding of what can and should be done." While there are good bits still to be found in the past, "the original did it this way," is not itself an argument that we should do a thing this way now.

 

[HarbingerX]

And then we realize that "originally" is now just about "half a century ago", and that leaning on that may not be the strongest position to take. 50 year old things tend to be... arthritic

Get off my lawn!!!

Seriously, the game is what you make it. I've gone back and played OD&D and there's nothing wrong with it. The thing I like with it is that player's character sheets largely don't matter. It's what you do 'in world' that matters. I also love playing 5e but go into it accepting that it has way more crunch than is necessary for having a good time. I give players opportunities to use their abilities so that they feel it's worth having them. And the crunch is still way less that 3e or 4e, so I'm good with it.