D&D General What Is D&D Generally Bad At That You Wish It Was Better At?

[James Gasik]

I get what you're saying and I agree, but "Hundreds of Beavers" is a black and white silent film that was released in 2022 and it won multiple awards.

Hundreds of Beavers - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

Never say never, I guess?

I was going to mention Silent Movie, but that came out in 1976, lol.

 

[pemerton]

And that's what I do. But what about all the folks who insist that only WotC can fix D&D?

What about them?

 

[Micah Sweet]

What about them?

They'll...be sad?

 

[pemerton]

They'll...be sad?

Well, I do feel that they mostly bring that fate upon themselves. As I posted above, it seems completely irrational to me to wish for the biggest commercial publisher of RPGs, the publisher of the best-selling RPG, to have the ethos of an artisanal or hobbyist enterprise. It seems almost self-evident, at least to anyone who understands how contemporary publication and sales work, that that would be impossible.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

1979 was a pretty different place. Not only that, there were no other alternatives.

Runequest, published 1978.

Traveller, published 1977.

 

[James Gasik]

Runequest, published 1978.

Traveller, published 1977.

Tunnels & Trolls, 1975

 

[Lanefan]

Runequest, published 1978.

Traveller, published 1977.

Judges Guild had their own system pretty early as well, though I'm not sure as far back as into the 70s.

The biggest alternative to 1e D&D in 1979 was actually D&D, in its 0e and B/X forms. They did OK too, but nowhere near as well as 1e did in that 1979-1983 run.

 

[Autumnal]

Chivalry & Sorcery and Superhero 2044, both 1977

My personal grip of the moment: Magic. No magic in fantasy fiction worked like this until we got fiction copying from D&D. It’s system doesn’t actually reflect the Dying Earth stories, and it’s a lousy starting point for anything else. Almost any kind of magic since offered in RPGs would be better. It’s as idiosyncratic as Gygax’s polearm fetish and a lot more consequential.

 

[Professor Murder]

For me: Gear. D&D wants to make gear matter, but it still refuses to invest any gaming technology into gear systems to get that across.

 

[SkidAce]

Runequest, published 1978.

Traveller, published 1977.

Rolemaster 1980.

Man those crit and fumble chart....00 slip on an invisible turtle and decapitate yourself.