D&D General Are You There D&D? It's Me, J.R.R. Tol-KEEEEN!

[Parmandur]

Thing is, for someone in their 20’s, Harry Potter is old. It’s something their parents probably read. It was rather eye opening to realize nearly none of my uni students had actually read the books.

But DnD’s influences are always a bit older. Just because that’s the age of the writers of the game.

The designers are both too young and too old for that, however: they are Gen Xers and Zoomers.

 

[Joshua Randall]

But DnD’s influences are always a bit older. Just because that’s the age of the writers of the game.

Damn lazy babies not writing anything as soon as they are born. This is why we can’t have nice things!

 

[Hussar]

The designers are both too young and too old for that, however: they are Gen Xers and Zoomers.

You really think Gen X'er's weren't part of the Harry Potter boom?

 

[Parmandur]

You really think Gen X'er's weren't part of the Harry Potter boom?

I don't get thwt vibe from Crawford, Perkins, Wyatt, etc....no.

Sorry, not trying to belabor the example too much, I just don't see a lot of Harry Potter in particular I'm recentD&D, aside from Strixhaven specifically.

 

[Hussar]

I don't get thwt vibe from Crawford, Perkins, Wyatt, etc....no.

Sorry, not trying to belabor the example too much, I just don't see a lot of Harry Potter in particular I'm recentD&D, aside from Strixhaven specifically.

For me, it's primarily the prevalence of magic in 5e. When nearly every single character is a caster, it's hard not to see the influence. Is it the only influence? Nope. Of course not. The specific source isn't really what I'm looking at anyway. You're fixated on the specifics of the books to a degree that I'm not. The fact that the game isn't set specifically in schools doesn'T really matter to me.

 

[Lanefan]

For me, it's primarily the prevalence of magic in 5e. When nearly every single character is a caster, it's hard not to see the influence. Is it the only influence? Nope. Of course not. The specific source isn't really what I'm looking at anyway. You're fixated on the specifics of the books to a degree that I'm not. The fact that the game isn't set specifically in schools doesn'T really matter to me.

While I don't disgree with the bolded, I'll throw in another potential (and IMO very likely) influence: Magic: the Gathering. Why? Because a) everything a player does there is (or at one time was, anyway) couched as a "spell" and b) it's where WotC's roots lie and even though D&D is a separate division the in-house cultural influence would be hard to ignore.

 

[mamba]

You really think Gen X'er's weren't part of the Harry Potter boom?

no, that was after Gen X, the youngest Gen Xers were 17 when the first book was released

 

[Parmandur]

For me, it's primarily the prevalence of magic in 5e. When nearly every single character is a caster, it's hard not to see the influence. Is it the only influence? Nope. Of course not. The specific source isn't really what I'm looking at anyway. You're fixated on the specifics of the books to a degree that I'm not. The fact that the game isn't set specifically in schools doesn'T really matter to me.

That's fair, that's why I threw out Wheel of Time as a likely major influence, between it being one of the best selling High Fantasy series of the late 20th/early 21st century, and particularly big enough at WotC that they licensed it and made a D&D variant thart changed d20 spellcasting in ways that presaged the 5E approach remarkably closely.

I'll cop to notpicking about the exact source, which is why I suggested an alternative that would maybe fit your case better.

 

[Parmandur]

no, that was after Gen X, the youngest Gen Xers were 17 when the first book was released

Well, obviously a lot of Gen Xers were into it.

 

[mamba]

Well, obviously a lot of Gen Xers were into it.

some read it sure, but it was mostly people younger than Gen X from my understanding. I am pretty squarely in Gen X rather than the tail end, and no one cared about it. 10 years or so younger, there were some. I consider it YA, and given that the youngest Gen Xers were 17 when the first novel was released, they were just exiting that category.