D&D 5E Help me understand & find the fun in OC/neo-trad play...

[Micah Sweet]

You can feel how you want, but I've seen it enough times with different groups I'm unwilling to write it off.

Though as noted, there's some loading in "disingenuous" that I don't think usually applies, as it implies deliberate manipulation and I don't think that's what's going on.

You can deliberately manipulate someone with the motivation to not be a jerk to them, to not hurt their feelings about something they like, or to avoid conflict. People do it all the time. I just prefer not to assume it.

 

[Thomas Shey]

You can deliberately manipulate someone with the motivation to not be a jerk to them, to not hurt their feelings about something they like, or to avoid conflict. People do it all the time. I just prefer not to assume it.

Again, your choice, but its not something I'm going to assume isn't happening either, semantic loading on your choice of term notwithstanding.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Again, your choice, but its not something I'm going to assume isn't happening either, semantic loading on your choice of term notwithstanding.

You used the phrase "deliberately manipulate", I believe.

 

[FrozenNorth]

Fair enough - I note we didn't use Lobelia or Rorimac, so didn't run into those issues there in play - I agree that those two do create a bit of a dissonance.

What about Primula? She’s Rorimac’s sister, so she is currently living in Buck Hall, which you visit in adventure 6 and talk to her dad, the current Master of Buck Hall.

 

[Thomas Shey]

You used the phrase "deliberately manipulate", I believe.

After you'd used disingenuous, which I don't believe is an appropriate term for a lot of the people not telling GMs about problems. That's the problem with it; being disingenuous implies manipulation, and I don't think that's what's going on.

 

[prabe]

After you'd used disingenuous, which I don't believe is an appropriate term for a lot of the people not telling GMs about problems. That's the problem with it; being disingenuous implies manipulation, and I don't think that's what's going on.

There are so many reasons not to tell your GM you're not 100% digging the game--many of which are not being disingenuous--that I wouldn't be inclined to leap at any one of them as being the primary reason in all cases, let alone presume bad faith. In many instances, it's the same sort of courtesy/politesse that leads to people not telling the person who cooked that they, for example, used too much salt.

 

[gban007]

What about Primula? She’s Rorimac’s sister, so she is currently living in Buck Hall, which you visit in adventure 6 and talk to her dad, the current Master of Buck Hall.

Yeah I think they did play Primula, though with Bilbo coming in and out of play, can't be sure she was there for that last bit. Yep, can talk to her Dad there, and the adventure notes for the person running it calls out that if Rory or Primula there then the encounter with the watchman should go a bit differently, and calls out that the Master / Dad is keenly interested in the party as likely Rory, Primula or Drogo will be there.
It again also points out the relationship between Saradas, Rory and Primula for the next bit that happens for the Lore Master, and if Drogo is in the party there is also a bit extra that can be said to emphasize the upcoming relationship.
So it felt like the bits were there to help call out that the relationships there could have an impact on the adventure (such as earlier if Lobelia was in the party, then the party doesn't need to ask for directions to her mother's house) but does leave it somewhat open to the Loremaster to use this, with no strong direction / requirement to use them as such.

***Editing to add that as I go through this, rereading some of the contents / looking at character sheets to determine which were used - it does bring back memory that one call out for the adventure was that being all hobbits outside of one brief exception, they do feel somewhat samey in terms of strengths and weaknesses - so the group did agree with your concern on that front - a better one to showcase the variety possible would have been to set outside the Shire in an area where you could see a mixture of races (Bree or Rivendell or in between those two could be reasonable there) - but at same time I can see why potentially a Shire based starter set may appeal to some prospective players.

 

[zakael19]

LOTR Online has a fantastic Shire starting area that's super thematic and a joy to play through, but has a much better premise (and is about external forces moving within the shire slowly trying to filter darkness in). Sounds like something along those lines would've been a more interesting spin!

 

[TiQuinn]

There are so many reasons not to tell your GM you're not 100% digging the game--many of which are not being disingenuous--that I wouldn't be inclined to leap at any one of them as being the primary reason in all cases, let alone presume bad faith. In many instances, it's the same sort of courtesy/politesse that leads to people not telling the person who cooked that they, for example, used too much salt.

This was me a few times this year. We decided we were going to try a variety of new TTRPGs, and there were a few I was not a fan of, and gave my solicited feedback on, but there were others that I could tell the rest of the party was enjoying and I was the only one not clicking with them. I held my tongue primarily because I wanted to give the system a chance, didn’t want to spoil the game for others, and give the DM a chance to iron out the kinks.