Greg Benage
Legend
I suspect the colonialist mockery of Hindu religious traditions might be among the first to go.
D&D General Which Sacred Cow Will Be The Last To Slaughter?
Leatherhead
Possibly a Idiot.
The name "Dungeons & Dragons".
Weiley31
Legend
The DM will be the first to go: They are the ones who force the PC's to slay innocent Orcs, Drows, and twist the whims of fate and folly via the use of Chaotic Incarnations pretended under the benign image of the dice. They conspire against their players and proceed to take part within the horrors and twisted reality brought upon countless worlds via the actions of the PCs.
Worse still, the PCs are strangely, innocent in this, as they are falsely led to believe that they are the only thing that matters within the world and that the laws of the world itself are supposed to bend themselves to their whims. Should they try to question this, they risk total abandonment, erasure, and the splitting of friendships as the DM brings about calamity against such questioners. Sometimes, completely replacing one of the actors within this unending Dramatis Personae that is constantly churned out, with an exact duplicate. And should the PCs even try to play the part of the DM's twisted game in order to bring about change, subconsciously the PCs will end up "ignoring" such helpful routes, or roads if you will, to pursue their own greed or twisted desires. Yes noble some of them are, but the languishing darkness or hunger for treasure or whatnot will be brought about via the DM slowly exerting their Eldritch Aura over the PCs, bringing out the primal insecurities that lay hidden within the heart of the human unconsciousness.
To truly bring about change, the PCs of the various tables must band together and ban the DM's from their own Eldritch Dwellings, locking the door within and stemming the tide set forth as the wrath of red and blue solar lights, summoned forth by the angered DMs, draw ever closer, while contending with the DM's servants who take on the guises of Eldritch Caretakers. Always making sure to pet the dog and cat along the way. They will perhaps fail and be forever removed from the existence of society, but the unity will bring about the slower, ever present change, that will finally, years from now, or post 2024, become the reality that the DMs were finally casted from power.
And then, that's when The Numbers 2/1 strikes.
But that is another story....
Worse still, the PCs are strangely, innocent in this, as they are falsely led to believe that they are the only thing that matters within the world and that the laws of the world itself are supposed to bend themselves to their whims. Should they try to question this, they risk total abandonment, erasure, and the splitting of friendships as the DM brings about calamity against such questioners. Sometimes, completely replacing one of the actors within this unending Dramatis Personae that is constantly churned out, with an exact duplicate. And should the PCs even try to play the part of the DM's twisted game in order to bring about change, subconsciously the PCs will end up "ignoring" such helpful routes, or roads if you will, to pursue their own greed or twisted desires. Yes noble some of them are, but the languishing darkness or hunger for treasure or whatnot will be brought about via the DM slowly exerting their Eldritch Aura over the PCs, bringing out the primal insecurities that lay hidden within the heart of the human unconsciousness.
To truly bring about change, the PCs of the various tables must band together and ban the DM's from their own Eldritch Dwellings, locking the door within and stemming the tide set forth as the wrath of red and blue solar lights, summoned forth by the angered DMs, draw ever closer, while contending with the DM's servants who take on the guises of Eldritch Caretakers. Always making sure to pet the dog and cat along the way. They will perhaps fail and be forever removed from the existence of society, but the unity will bring about the slower, ever present change, that will finally, years from now, or post 2024, become the reality that the DMs were finally casted from power.
And then, that's when The Numbers 2/1 strikes.
But that is another story....
overgeeked
B/X Known World
Sure.
Some, maybe. Which ones did you have in mind that are roughly comparable?
Blue Orange
Gone to Texas
I kinda feel that dice are one of those tactile elements that make the game different from playing a computer game.
I voted for class, though I think there are several that won't ever go: Class, Race, Level, DM*, Hit Points.
*The DM assumes we're talking about ttrpgs. I could envision a future where Hasboro drops the ttrpg, but still put out a D&D video game, which would probably have classes and levels.
*The DM assumes we're talking about ttrpgs. I could envision a future where Hasboro drops the ttrpg, but still put out a D&D video game, which would probably have classes and levels.
EzekielRaiden
Follower of the Way
Honestly, despite the centrality of the DM in the D&D gaming milieu, I voted classes.
Because, while it's possible to run a game without either thing, classes are kinda the one truly, deeply D&D thing that has caught on and spread to the wider world of gaming. Levels? Nah, not all class-based games have levels, many have you spend XP to buy abilities within your class, or use milestone-type advancement. HP? Hardly, many games offer multiple layers of personal defense or use some other metric of staying power. Races? Definitely not, many offer no choice, or do offer choices but ones that blur the lines (and we're already seeing 5e move in that direction too). Even D&D hasn't perfectly adhered to ability scores working in one singular way (nor to always having just 6!) so that's kinda been slaughtered more than once before.
But classes? Something about them seems to really tickle the imagination of players. We'll probably see further subclass-type stuff, where each class becomes an umbrella containing multitudes, but that doesn't fundamentally change the nature of the beast. If anything, this particular sacred cow has only gotten more sacred with time, unlike nearly anything else you could pick (including DMs)--3rd edition introduced the idea of "a la carte" multiclassing, and that was a near-instant, runaway memetic success, directly spawning new terms (like "took a level in badass") and getting incorporated into the nebulous wider-culture understanding of what "D&D" (and tabletop) is.
It doesn't hurt that people love archetypes like "Paladin" and "Druid" and "Rogue." Sure, classless games can almost always let you build those archetypes yourself, but a lot of folks just want to be able to point to the archetype and say "YEAH, THAT ONE!"
Because, while it's possible to run a game without either thing, classes are kinda the one truly, deeply D&D thing that has caught on and spread to the wider world of gaming. Levels? Nah, not all class-based games have levels, many have you spend XP to buy abilities within your class, or use milestone-type advancement. HP? Hardly, many games offer multiple layers of personal defense or use some other metric of staying power. Races? Definitely not, many offer no choice, or do offer choices but ones that blur the lines (and we're already seeing 5e move in that direction too). Even D&D hasn't perfectly adhered to ability scores working in one singular way (nor to always having just 6!) so that's kinda been slaughtered more than once before.
But classes? Something about them seems to really tickle the imagination of players. We'll probably see further subclass-type stuff, where each class becomes an umbrella containing multitudes, but that doesn't fundamentally change the nature of the beast. If anything, this particular sacred cow has only gotten more sacred with time, unlike nearly anything else you could pick (including DMs)--3rd edition introduced the idea of "a la carte" multiclassing, and that was a near-instant, runaway memetic success, directly spawning new terms (like "took a level in badass") and getting incorporated into the nebulous wider-culture understanding of what "D&D" (and tabletop) is.
It doesn't hurt that people love archetypes like "Paladin" and "Druid" and "Rogue." Sure, classless games can almost always let you build those archetypes yourself, but a lot of folks just want to be able to point to the archetype and say "YEAH, THAT ONE!"
Gnosistika
Mildly Ascorbic
I can only hope.
Vaalingrade
Legend
Alignment - Instead of a quick and honorable death, 4 and 5e have just been lopping off chunks of flesh off this bloated monster was it thrashes obscenely, causing so much more trouble than it's worth. the end is near, we just don't know how near that blessed day might be.
Ability Scores - Not so much a problem as a vestigial think that's a bug bear to streamlined game design. Probably going to last a long time.
Classes - I can say from first hand experience that they're so helpful to the lazy game designer that they shall go nowhere.
Races - Won't be called races much longer, but so many in this sector of the industry has been working to improve them that they'll become more cemented, not less. Racial ASI will be gone soon though.
Hit Points - HP will remain, but designers are going to start speaking reaaally slowly and cleeearly to make it clear what they are.
Vancian Magic - Elements will hold on tenaciously until we finally kill off daily attrition as a balancing factor and that's just not going to happen sadly.
XP - Already dead. There is the occasional Elvis sighting, but very very few people use it anymore.
Levels - See classes. So helpful for us lazy designers.
The DM - DM is Lord And Master is dying. DMs will remain, but the power dynamic had its last hurrah in early 5e.
So levels and classes.
Ability Scores - Not so much a problem as a vestigial think that's a bug bear to streamlined game design. Probably going to last a long time.
Classes - I can say from first hand experience that they're so helpful to the lazy game designer that they shall go nowhere.
Races - Won't be called races much longer, but so many in this sector of the industry has been working to improve them that they'll become more cemented, not less. Racial ASI will be gone soon though.
Hit Points - HP will remain, but designers are going to start speaking reaaally slowly and cleeearly to make it clear what they are.
Vancian Magic - Elements will hold on tenaciously until we finally kill off daily attrition as a balancing factor and that's just not going to happen sadly.
XP - Already dead. There is the occasional Elvis sighting, but very very few people use it anymore.
Levels - See classes. So helpful for us lazy designers.
The DM - DM is Lord And Master is dying. DMs will remain, but the power dynamic had its last hurrah in early 5e.
So levels and classes.
CleverNickName
Limit Break Dancing
I think the term "sacred cow" will actually be the last to be slaughtered, although I certainly hope it's first on the list. The idea that something needs to be removed only because it's old is just...silly.
Offensive or harmful elements should definitely be excised, sure. But I doubt anyone is getting into ethical debates over Experience Points.
Offensive or harmful elements should definitely be excised, sure. But I doubt anyone is getting into ethical debates over Experience Points.
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