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

[Minigiant]

Have you seen those old letters from the Dragon magazine or read any of Jon Peterson's books on D&D history? The arguments were just as fierce and nasty and dealt with the same issues: GM power, fights over role play and rules, speed of levelling, magic items, and yes entitled players.

I'm not saying there were not arguments.

I'm saying we have 2 and a half generations of gamers trains to complain and insult the Dev/Publisher/DM before the game starts. Especially with designers not only listening but changing based on responses. I haven't sat at a 5e table yet where players don't question and inquire about the DM's game before a single dice is rolled and PC is crafted. Even the times when the DM set up a wiki for it.

Last week, my cousin called a DM's world "pure butt" and opted to barhop instead of even feeling it out.

 

[Stefano Rinaldelli]

It's not the method of expression I'm cracking on, it's the idea being expressed: that color and cute are bad.

Sir, I surrender but not to see my corpse spoiled. So: it is not BAD, it is simply uninspiring to me.

 

[Vaalingrade]

Sir, I surrender but not to see my corpse spoiled. So: it is not BAD, it is simply uninspiring to me.

Uh... that was posted before your 'I surrender' post.

 

[Micah Sweet]

It's not the method of expression I'm cracking on, it's the idea being expressed: that color and cute are bad.

Okay, maybe the method of trying to find something one assumes everyone is against (My Little Pony) to hold up as 'I say it's like this, so you hate it now too, right?' is something else I'm cracking on, but I have to applaud the use of something creative like MLP instead of just WoW or anime that is typically used as D&D's unrequited crush.

The idea that color and cute are bad in relation to D&D art is an opinion, one which should be allowed to be expressed. Feeling that way isn't in itself a problem. I also feel the art in some gaming materials goes too far in that direction for my taste.

 

[Vaalingrade]

The idea that color and cute are bad in relation to D&D art is an opinion, one which should be allowed to be expressed. Feeling that way isn't in itself a problem. I also feel the art in some gaming materials goes too far in that direction for my taste.

And the opinion of that opinion should also be allowed to be expressed.

 

[Thomas Shey]

4e had daily powers as well, though, right (AEDU)?
Pretty much all games have something along these lines (games like Champions/Hero tend to have the default being everything recharges in 5-10 minutes, which has its own issues).

Well, Champions was designed originally for a genre where fatigue and injury only exist as occasional (and I mean occasional) plot devices. Its notable that most superhero games don't even bother with a resource mechanic unless its part of a specific design done as a limitation.

 

[Guest 7034872]

The idea that color and cute are bad in relation to D&D art is an opinion, one which should be allowed to be expressed. Feeling that way isn't in itself a problem. I also feel the art in some gaming materials goes too far in that direction for my taste.

And the opinion of that opinion should also be allowed to be expressed.

I agree with both of these propositions. If even the gods are not immune from criticism, why should any of us ever be?

 

[Lanefan]

It never mattered how long it took for hp to recover, since however long it took, it was always "We rest until our hp recover." "Okay, X time passes, on with the adventure."

Even so, having X time pass is a) more realistic and b) allows the game world to progress a bit during that time - highly relevant if the scenario is at all time-sensitive and-or if other things are happening elsewhere and-or being done by other parties in a multi-party setting/campaign.

If resource management is at all important then having X time pass also depletes basic resources, e.g. food and water, unless replacements are easily available via either magic or foraging.

 

[Lanefan]

Wing it mode = when the players say "we go north" and the DM decides what is north = procedurally generated hexcrawls (with a slight variation of randomly rolled vs pulled out of the DMs kiester and squares vs hexes). It eliminates any preplanned material like stocked dungeons, modules and APs since there is no guarantee the players will take the hook.

Or the DM has already decided what is north before the players go there, just in case they someday do.

I've long since learned to throw out a variety of hooks and have several different possible adventures on their ends, and see what if anyhting gets any traction.

 

[overgeeked]

It never mattered how long it took for hp to recover, since however long it took, it was always "We rest until our hp recover." "Okay, X time passes, on with the adventure."

Only if the players refuse to risk anything (if so, why are they adventuring?) and the DM refuses to enforce dramatic consequences in the fiction (if so, whither verisimilitude?).