D&D General D&D Assumptions Ain't What They Used To Be

[aco175]

People are talking like they never had to have their elf thief sneak through a harem bedroom of near naked women having a pillow fight while he was being chased by guards. I mean all 80s sleepovers had pillow fights with near naked girls to us 12 year-old boys. He was almost spotted while invisible because of all the feathers flying about.

 

[Charlaquin]

Sure, but we are talking about the year 1986 here. Lots of entertainment in 1986 looked just like this. It wasn't great then and certainly not now, but we shouldn't pretend to be shocked that people 40 years ago did not hold the values we have today.

I don’t think @el-remmen was saying they were shocked, just that they’re glad the culture has shifted since then.

 

[Charlaquin]

People are talking like they never had to have their elf thief sneak through a harem bedroom of near naked women having a pillow fight while he was being chased by guards. I mean all 80s sleepovers had pillow fights with near naked girls to us 12 year-old boys. He was almost spotted while invisible because of all the feathers flying about.

No, I’ve definitely never had that happen in a game…

 

[Alzrius]

The one good argument I heard for this is that artists would check secular sources on what a phylactery should look like and would get references to tefillin, so instead of an amulet they'd draw them as little leather boxes with straps.

Personally, I don't think that's a very good argument.

 

[leozg]

man people in the past where strange

If you get lucky you'll live long enough to be considered strange too.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

Things have certainly improved from where we were. Looking at a lot of the 80s screwball comedies, these sorts of attitudes were rife in mainstream culture at the time.

 

[Reynard]

Things have certainly improved from where we were. Looking at a lot of the 80s screwball comedies, these sorts of attitudes were rife in mainstream culture at the time.

It's not even the obvious stuff like straight up sexual assault made "commendable" in Revenge of the Nerds. The 80s and 90s are just rife with microaggressions against everyone that was not a straight white dude. I cringe often when I revisit some of my favorites.

 

[leozg]

It's not even the obvious stuff like straight up sexual assault made "commendable" in Revenge of the Nerds. The 80s and 90s are just rife with microaggressions against everyone that was not a straight white dude. I cringe often when I revisit some of my favorites.

The culture of a time. A lot of things we do today will also be considered agressive in the future. We are not better than the ones in the 80s and 90s in a relative analysis made 30-40 years after.

 

[billd91]

The one good argument I heard for this is that artists would check secular sources on what a phylactery should look like and would get references to tefillin, so instead of an amulet they'd draw them as little leather boxes with straps.

In a way, it's worse. The lich's phylactery went from being any sort of object to being a close variation of tefillin. While that may sound like someone was trying to make them closer in nature to the source (though, in this case, I suspect the source may have been a thesaurus handy to Gygax's desk more than Jewish religious paraphernalia), it's really not ideal because it ties a particular religion's devotional items to a sacrilegious soul cage, of sorts.
So, yeah, I can see people not being keen on the lich's phylactery and changing it to a reliquary or soul cage or soul repository/jar or whatever.

 

[Distracted DM]

I'm starting to understand why @Snarf Zagyg frequently posts his threads and then walks away and doesn't engage anymore.

It's like throwing a bunch of kindling and a matchbook out in front of a bunch of firebugs and then walking away whistling.