D&D 5E Planescape shows up in the wild. Tease from Chris Perkins.

[Alzrius]

It's really weird claim that a number of people have made over the last 10 years, and I've never seen a shred of actual support for it.

Indeed, on the precise contrary, I've seen a ton of evidence that a lot of players get in D&D "lore-first", rather than because they think the rules are cool or something. People don't become obsessed with Critical Role despite the lore - it's a big part of why they do. Even before that, novels and games and so on, often interest people in D&D settings because of the settings and the lore, not because of the D&D rules.

I don't think everyone does - but I don't think anyone has made any kind of logical or supportable case that "kids today" or "new players" don't like lore. I would continue to suggest the contrary, based on the people I've seen wanting to play D&D. It's about the same proportion as ever.

I'm honestly always confused by all of the "new players hate lore" posts that I see, because it contradicts seemingly everything about not just D&D, but contemporary fandom altogether. We're living in the age of the wiki, when lore has never been more prevalent and accessible, and it seems like every media property is gung-ho to define their own universe, and fans eagerly take it all in. Hence why tie-ins among various big name series (Star Wars, Star Trek, Dr. Who, the MCU, and about a thousand others) putting out limited series for easier consumption, but which still reference other limited series of the same brand, are all the rage today.

Even the Forgotten Realms, WotC's default setting, became the default setting in the first place because of all of the novels and sourcebooks that were made for it, beating out other "generic high fantasy" D&D worlds such as Greyhawk and Mystara. Less is not more where lore is concerned; more is more, and that's what the majority of people seem to want.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

This may be true, I'd have to look at what I'm listening to right now and see where it was at 10 years ago. There was a dip though in the 2010's I think...

The 2010’s were odd, because they didn’t so much have a sound, as they had bits and pieces of ideas that floated around and eventually became good music elements in the last several years.

However! If you look at the 2013 top 40, you’ll see a lot of still iconic hits, alongside a lot of absolute garbage no one remembers or only remembers as a joke.

I still hear Counting Stars by One Republic on the radio fairly often, 10 years later. Get Lucky is an eternal hit.

But mostly, pretty meh.

 

[DarkCrisis]

This may be true, I'd have to look at what I'm listening to right now and see where it was at 10 years ago. There was a dip though in the 2010's I think...

After watching the VMAs, yeah music has dipped in quality IMO. But hey I can admit “it’s not for me”. If the kids love it, rock on.

 

[Umbran]

Mod Note:

Folks, remember where the thread is. If you want to talk about music, please take that to the Geek Talk & Media Forum. Thanks.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

After watching the VMAs, yeah music has dipped in quality IMO. But hey I can admit “it’s not for me”. If the kids love it, rock on.

Ah man IMO the music is much better, but the strictly top 40 music is a little worse.

 

[Vaalingrade]

I am not sure who has said new players are not interested in the setting lore. But I don't think it's true.

Yeah, this is a weird claim considering this is the generation that made the tangled nightmare sadness of bad vague writing for Five Nights at Freddy's and Mascot Horror as a whole a financial juggernaut specifically because they want to dissect the lore. Franchises continually crash due to lack of myth arc.

They don't dislike lore, they might just not like this lore.

Edit: And Planescpae in particular seems like it would do BETTER now, what with all the weird chaos that's been recently popular like Adventure Time and Gumball.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

I'm honestly always confused by all of the "new players hate lore" posts that I see, because it contradicts seemingly everything about not just D&D, but contemporary fandom altogether. We're living in the age of the wiki, when lore has never been more prevalent and accessible, and it seems like every media property is gung-ho to define their own universe, and fans eagerly take it all in.

Absolutely. If you see discussions of BG3 for example, the FR wiki just constantly appears where relevant, and most of those people have never played tabletop D&D.

Yeah, this is a weird claim considering this is the generation that made the tangled nightmare sadness of bad vague writing for Five Nights at Freddy's and Mascot Horror as a whole a financial juggernaut specifically because they want to dissect the lore. Franchises continually crash due to lack of myth arc.

They don't dislike lore, they might just not like this lore.

Edit: And Planescpae in particular seems like it would do BETTER now, what with all the weird chaos that's been recently popular like Adventure Time and Gumball.

Yeah all of this! People saying "Oh kids today don't like lore!" (and I think WotC themselves said something like that a few years ago, which is... concerning) stuff is just wild. Even WotC should know it given the thousands of tons of MtG lore that pour out every year.

Agree re: Planescape being a better fit now too - admittedly it was also a good fit for the 1990s (which also gave us stuff like Neverwhere, for example), but wouldn't have been as good a fit for the 3.XE/'00s audience/aesthetic.

 

[Reynard]

Absolutely. If you see discussions of BG3 for example, the FR wiki just constantly appears where relevant, and most of those people have never played tabletop D&D.

Yeah all of this! People saying "Oh kids today don't like lore!" (and I think WotC themselves said something like that a few years ago, which is... concerning) stuff is just wild. Even WotC should know it given the thousands of tons of MtG lore that pour out every year.

Agree re: Planescape being a better fit now too - admittedly it was also a good fit for the 1990s (which also gave us stuff like Neverwhere, for example), but wouldn't have been as good a fit for the 3.XE/'00s audience/aesthetic.

I think they like lore, but they don't care what it's provenance is. That is, they don't care when a modern book contradicts some old crap only GenXers even remember, let alone consider important.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

That is, they don't care when a modern book contradicts some old crap only GenXers even remember, let alone consider important.

Provenance has never been vital - it's not new - I mean, I know I was perfectly fine with 1990s FR books contradicting 1980s ones, so long as I had read the 1990s ones first and the seemed of at least roughly equal quality. That's the thing though - it depends which you see first, and if they look like they're similar quality. Even the little nooblets of today will frown at half-arsed lore.

 

[Vaalingrade]

I think they like lore, but they don't care what it's provenance is. That is, they don't care when a modern book contradicts some old crap only GenXers even remember, let alone consider important.

I mean, a lot of people today just straight assume 'multiverse' when things don't add up. It's the easiest way to avoid 'Well Actually in the comics/book/popscicle stick jokes..."