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

[FrozenNorth]

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.

Counterpoint: many movies in the ‘80s and ‘90s were pretty bad when dealing with black people, LGBTQ people and women, but they were by snd large better than the movies from the ‘40s and ‘50s.

So yes, we are better at dealing with sensitive topics now than 30 years ago.

 

[GMMichael]

They did? I must have missed that. Did they just change the name, or do liches have some other means of maintaining their immortality now?

Oh, sorry. It was Pathfinder that got rid of phylacteries. D&D went the other route, and made them permanent in the 5RD.

True. I rewatched the Princess Bride (which I had fond memories of) with my son. In the swamps of despair, Westley loses his sword fighting a Rodent of Unusual Size. My son piped in “I know what happens! Buttercup stabs the RoUS while it is busy fighting Westley!”.

“No, son. She stands there wringing her hands uselessly while Westley deals with it by himself.”

In fairness, I wouldn't go near an R.O.U.S. with a rapier, either. A broadsword is a different story.

 

[Micah Sweet]

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 modern era certainly seems like it really wants anyone who grew up back then to feel bad about themselves, yes.

 

[Micah Sweet]

This is something that I think is too often glossed over in these discussions. One of the major ways that people vent stress is by engaging in symbolic, performative, or otherwise harmless violations of moral values that they hold dear. It's why people yell something they know is an expletive when they're angry or upset, rather than something random like "toes!" or "corn!"

Doing so doesn't mean that they actually reject those values. They're just blowing off steam.

Good for everyone to remember this is all still make-believe.

 

[Micah Sweet]

True. I rewatched the Princess Bride (which I had fond memories of) with my son. In the swamps of despair, Westley loses his sword fighting a Rodent of Unusual Size. My son piped in “I know what happens! Buttercup stabs the RoUS while it is busy fighting Westley!”.

“No, son. She stands there wringing her hands uselessly while Westley deals with it by himself.”

Plenty of people of all genders can't handle themselves in an emergency situation. Cool that your son didn't assume the woman was one of them though.

 

[Undrave]

which micro celebrity is that?

Poparena, in his series Nick Knack about the History of Nickelodeon. poparena

 

[Reynard]

The modern era certainly seems like it really wants anyone who grew up back then to feel bad about themselves, yes.

I don't think that's it, but I do think "people today" are asking us to acknowledge that the world was in fact less kind and fair to women, minorities, the disabled, the neurodivergent and especially LGBTQ people than today. We can acknowledge that and behave differently without "feeling bad about ourselves."

 

[Stormonu]

The modern era certainly seems like it really wants anyone who grew up back then to feel bad about themselves, yes.

We didn't always get things right, but we were trying to be better people than those we saw came before us. I imagine that's the same way the new generation looks at us. It still hurts at times though, we weren't intending to be mean, that was just the way we saw that the world was.

Sometimes it is hard to understand now, but the older folks have lived through times where they acted the way they did because that was how you survived (or at least, were taught to). Being too different from the herd got you knocked down and trampled. If you felt differently, you kept quiet about it until things changed enough you could safely voice your real opinion. Sometimes you look back and wince that you were among the the herd, and you're just glad you know better now.

And every so often, you think the young 'uns have it all backwards, and they don't understand.

 

[Charlaquin]

True. I rewatched the Princess Bride (which I had fond memories of) with my son. In the swamps of despair, Westley loses his sword fighting a Rodent of Unusual Size. My son piped in “I know what happens! Buttercup stabs the RoUS while it is busy fighting Westley!”.

“No, son. She stands there wringing her hands uselessly while Westley deals with it by himself.”

I take that as a positive sign for the way similar scenes are being written and choreographed these days! Also for your son’s pattern recognition and predictive skills.

 

[Warpiglet-7]

The modern era certainly seems like it really wants anyone who grew up back then to feel bad about themselves, yes.

Honestly the bell curve describes so much.

The tail to the left has unrepentant bigots etc.

The tail to the right has radical people who hate anyone they can make guilty by association.

The rest are people that shudder at dumb stuff they said or did before and are trying to do better since they now know better or did pretty well to start with. They understand people are flawed but can change and learn.

Online, I fully ignore those I think are in the tails—literally and figuratively. Most people trying to do right don’t hate you. Of course there are some whack jobs. Don’t play games with them. Solved.