D&D General How has D&D changed over the decades?

[Minigiant]

And there are many who don't. It's just something happens and "bam" you are a superhero. You can have a highly trained 1st level character, but there is no requirement that they be highly trained.

Fluff and class features.

The Farmhand goes from:
1 HD commoner (2 HP, proficiency with club)
to
2 HD guard or warrior (11 HP, proficiency with light armor, medium armor, shields, all weapons)
to
level 1 Fighter (12 HP, proficiency with all armors, all weapons, shields, 2 saves, 1 Fighting style, Second Wind)

 

[John R Davis]

I’m not talking rules or mechanics. I mean in terms of theme, tone, and aesthetic.

To you, what are the main ways D&D has evolved it’s tone, theme, genre, and aesthetics since you first started playing?

[Note — keep any rants about how you hate inclusivity or diversity out of this thread; not interesting in the slightest].

It’s hard to pinpoint how, but I feel that the implied ‘setting’ or ‘genre’ constantly evolves. I’m not an OSR style gamer generally, and my memories of play way back then are mixed in with being a kid, so everything was different just because I had a different lens. It feels more cartoony or modern American 'Ren Faire' to me than it used to rather than anything European/medieval (which is fine — it is it’s own genre, not a documentary). In other words, the emphasis is more on fantastic heroics than 'dark ages'. I guess player empowerment is a big theme.

-A lot more player empowerment now because more is hard written into the rules, so less GM input.
-Definitely more full of win, a lot less PC death, even threat. PCs are super golden heroes.
-The published adventures are more complete / in-depth so more work for the GM in some ways.
-i don't see the Med/Ren theme, unless you mean less grimdark
-I haven't purchased a single WOTC thing since Candlekeep so I may no longer be its target audience, I still spend a lot on RPG stuff

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Fluff and class features.

The Farmhand goes from:
1 HD commoner (2 HP, proficiency with club)
to
2 HD guard or warrior (11 HP, proficiency with light armor, medium armor, shields, all weapons)
to
level 1 Fighter (12 HP, proficiency with all armors, all weapons, shields, 2 saves, 1 Fighting style, Second Wind)

There is no such progression in the rules.

A player might have a character like that, but you might also go with farmhand picks up sword and becomes a fighter, just like Ripley in Aliens.

Commoners are forever commoners, warriors are forever warriors. they will never get any better because their role in the narrative is cannon fodder.

 

[Minigiant]

There is no such progression in the rules.

A player might have a character like that, but you might also go with farmhand picks up sword and becomes a fighter, just like Ripley in Aliens.

Commoners are forever commoners, warriors are forever warriors. they will never get any better because there role in the narrative is cannon fodder.

You can't just pick up a sword and be a fighter in 5e.
Same way you can't be a veteran of 12 wars and master duelist at level 1.

 

[MGibster]

That increased survivability can only go so far , eventually it turns into defacto IDDQD & there's no reason to care about the plot any longer. Imagine the next superbowl/world cup the champion team vrs some nothing sixth grade pickup game team where the outcome is so certain that it's pointless to care about. In the past players needed to pay attention & pull out at least a few stops to help ensure things go their way or ensure that they had the tools needed to stack the odds... "we showed up" doesn't require that anymore though.

Yeah, I'm in agreement. I think in a lot of D&D games these days the PCs just expect to win most encounters because the game is kind of designed with that assumption which just ends up making a lot of combat scenes dull and unnecessary. And during the first 5th edition campaign I ran, tried using CRs and was frustrated by how little they helped me build encounters. I ended my first campaign once I had the PCs fight an ancient dragon and they ended up defeating it quite easily. I don't remember what level they were, but according to the CR the dragon was supposed to be a significant challenge and it just wasn't. (Some of that could have been a combination of DM error and players who are good and building characters and tactical play.)

 

[Helldritch]

There is no such progression in the rules.

A player might have a character like that, but you might also go with farmhand picks up sword and becomes a fighter, just like Ripley in Aliens.

Commoners are forever commoners, warriors are forever warriors. they will never get any better because their role in the narrative is cannon fodder.

Really?
I thought the MM was full of monsters and NPC progression.
For me from commoner to soldier to veteran is a progression.
A CR: 0, 1/8 and 3 respectively.
How our farmboy gets there is irrelevant. It does follow a progression.
And nope, they're not forced to be forever what they started to be.
Our veteran could become a Gladiator in an arena. He'd just change stats. I see it like levels.
Same with any humanoid monsters in the MM.
Hobgoblin ===> Hobgoblin captain ====> Hobgoblin warlord. repeat ad nauseam with all humanoids in the MM.

 

[Azzy]

Not so much too old or too young but more that I've never been the least bit interested in anime.

You'd still have to have lived under a rock to to not know what these anime are.

 

[MGibster]

As another example, consider the movie Aliens. In which a junior freighter officer proves more badass than a whole company of highly trained marines. The difference being, Ripley is a hero/PC whereas the marines are not.

In Aliens, the writers went out of their way to place the Colonial Marines at a significant disadvantage when initially facing the xenomoprhs. Namely they were being led by a green commander who, despite decent intelligence on the capabilities of the xenomophs and evidence the colonist encountered one or more, decided it was a good idea to disarm his warfighters and send them into hostile territory blind to what was there. It didn't help when Dietrich accidentally torched the marine holding all their ammunition.

Anyway, once the remaining marines were able to retreat and regroup they were all pretty badass. Even Gorman died like a boss trying to save Vasquez.

 

[MGibster]

You'd still have to have lived under a rock to to not know what these anime are.

If you're not into anime and you don't have any friends who are into anime, it is surprisingly easy not to know a particular anime even if it was fairly popular. At least most anime that isn't Pokemon or Dragon Ball Z.

 

[Azzy]

If you're not into anime and you don't have any friends who are into anime, it is surprisingly easy not to know a particular anime even if it was fairly popular. At least most anime that isn't Pokemon or Dragon Ball Z.

I suppose I'm just used to fandom being uh... ultra-intersexual, as it were. There's no escaping even the bits you don't care for. No matter how much you try.