D&D General Anyone else notice this?

[Gorg]

Not sure I agree that modern mechanics (as published by WotC) are what the old-school dungeon crawler players would've asked for. If this forum is any indication, they are absolutely NOT.

Also I disagree that modern mechanics are somehow out of sync with the way that RP has become more important. Personally I think they work very well and game designers have generally (though not always) done a great job at matching game mechanics to the modern style of DnD.

As someone who WAS one of those old school players, we definitely would have loved this version- and do.

The grumpy old DM's who thought their job was to crush the dreams of players, frustrate them at every turn, kill as many as they could, and be as harsh and pernsnickity with rules as possible notwithstanding. They were annoying then, and are annoying now.
It's amusing to hear how much they hate the modern versions of the game, lol.

 

[Gorg]

The responses here are hillarious.

so, YES, we ARE that contrary and ornery, lol.

 

[TaranTheWanderer]

Or are we players just THAT contrary and ornery?? lol

Yes.

No!

 

[Charlaquin]

I guess the reason may be because now the roleplayers are more focused into story because to kill bugs they can play videogames like Blizzards' Diablo. And the Storytelling System used in White Wolf's World of Darkness also could be a serious influence.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

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[Theory of Games]

So I was thinking today... about how out of sync the games as designed seem to be with how people play.

TSR era D&D actively punished action oriented/ combat heavy play- but everyone played it like that. (And just ignored the punative/restrictive parts.)

Modern D&D mechanically is everything we could have asked for in those heady days of dungeon crawling, monster bashing, and hoard looting- in particular characters that can actually do things right out of the box, and have durability at low levels. But "Everyone" now seems to prefer the RP side of the game most of all.

Are the game designers THAT far out of the loop,

Or are we players just THAT contrary and ornery?? lol

 

[Micah Sweet]

There’s designing TTRPGs and then there’s designing a D&D edition.

When a change happens to D&D, it’s a “Big Deal” with a lot of people who will be very much for and very much against what changed. Other games simply don’t have that issue.

Agreed. IMO, WotC's enormous influence on the hobby and the industry has to be taken into account. Every move they make is endlessly scrutinized, and what they choose exerts a strong but not insurmountable pressure on publishers making similar product to follow their lead, which is why it's hard not to care about their doings even if you want nothing to do with them.

 

[Steampunkette]

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[TiQuinn]

Agreed. IMO, WotC's enormous influence on the hobby and the industry has to be taken into account. Every move they make is endlessly scrutinized, and what they choose exerts a strong but not insurmountable pressure on publishers making similar product to follow their lead, which is why it's hard not to care about their doings even if you want nothing to do with them.

I don't agree with the bolded part at all. I think people who want nothing to do with D&D have a large number of options across many different genres and many different types of systems that are not beholden to WotC decisions.

 

[GMMichael]

... about how out of sync the games as designed seem to be with how people play.

Full heal on rest, negligible chance of perma-death, roll to solve all problems, Ooh Shiny classes out the door . . . WotC is just going after its market. I'd call that N'Sync.