D&D General Why Enworld should liberate D&D from Hasbro

[Micah Sweet]

I mean, are you assuming that there is a majority of players who have a metaphorical gun-to-their-head and are being forced to play 5.5 against their will?

I don't believe that. First, I think the buy in level for 5.5 is far greater than the number of people who frequent Enworld or Reddit or other forums. But even so, I've been told on MULTIPLE occasions that mismatches between DM and player expectations can and should end in one or the other leaving. I mean, if the DM won't let me play a dragonborn or is running Dark Sun or is rolling 3d6 in order and I don't like it as a player, I'm expected to acquiesce to the DM or find another group (because the DM can always replace me with someone who will). Yet, when it comes to finding a game that isn't 5.5, those tyrannical DMs are just not being fair and forcing you to play an edition you don't want! Won't somebody think of the grognards!

I was told on this very board that No D&D is better than Bad D&D. If you think 5.5 is Bad D&D, your choices are the same as mine when the DM won't let me play my Dragonborn Paladin in Athas: acquiesce or don't play.

I never said a majority. Smaller groups still matter.

 

[Lanefan]

A serious question -

For those of you who indicated that you talked your way through every single encounter in 1E - exactly how did you do it?

Did your DM handwave languages?

No.

Did the DM just assume every monster and his uncle spoke Common?

Not in the slightest. We assume creatures speak their racial language and after that it's random what if anything else each one might speak.

Did you ensure that at least a few PC's had Comprehend Language prepared?

That would be up to the players running mages that happened to have the spell in their books. That said, devices of translation are and always have been in high demand.

With 5 players, you could probably get up to 10 languages on average, but that wouldn't cover every monster you'd come across.

Highly variable. An Elf with Intelligence 18 could know a bunch of languages on its own. That, and some monster languages could be considered similar-ish yet not the same (e.g. Goblin and Hobgoblin), thus allowing limited communication. Failing that, there's always sign language and body language.

So how did you communicate with every single monster?

Well, first off we didn't - and still don't - talk our way through every encounter; if the monster comes in hot and leads with an attack then talking obviously goes out the window. If the creature is something we want to talk to anyway we'll strike to subdue rather than kill, defeat it in combat, take it prisoner, and go from there.

Also, some creatures are just too dumb and-or hungry for talking to get anywhere useful.

 

[Older Beholder]

Your larger point is indisputable (and I apologize for trying to dispute it), but you specifically gave an example where no reasonable options or middle ground is possible. There are IMO plenty of cases where there is. 5.0 used to provide options for different rule systems. 5.5 doesn't. Do you see that as a good thing?

There entire 2014 rules are optional in the 2024 revision.
So, to me it feels like there are even more optional rules then before.

 

[Lanefan]

Have we given up on the central premise of the thread that EN World needs to liberate Dungeons & Dragons from Hasbro?

I think that's where we really should be taking things... start setting up and planning a Mission: Impossible-style heist into the Wizards of the Coast offices in Renton to grab all the D&D stuff from them and then fly it all out to Russ in England. Then and only then is D&D truly free. 9/10ths of the law and all that stuff.

We're using Blades in the Dark rules for this heist, right?

 

[Zardnaar]

There entire 2014 rules are optional in the 2024 revision.
So, to me it feels like there are even more optional rules then before.

Not strictly true. RAW sone parts of 5.0 are allowed and it was sold as backwards compatible.

It kinda is if you squint/results may vary.

 

[Remathilis]

I never said a majority. Smaller groups still matter.

You're still claiming tyranny of the majority and that your preferences should be catered to. I may want a DM to run Eberron for me instead of Dragonlance, but they have as much obligation to cater to that as a DM running Level Up for you instead of 5.5. if I know 100 DMs and none will run Eberron, either I accept what is available or I stay home. If you know 100 DMs and all of them run 5.5, either you play what's offered or you sit home.

 

[The Firebird]

You're still claiming tyranny of the majority and that your preferences should be catered to. I may want a DM to run Eberron for me instead of Dragonlance, but they have as much obligation to cater to that as a DM running Level Up for you instead of 5.5. if I know 100 DMs and none will run Eberron, either I accept what is available or I stay home. If you know 100 DMs and all of them run 5.5, either you play what's offered or you sit home.

I don't read @Micah Sweet as demanding that anyone cater to his preference. Just that it is sad that the network effects of rpgs make it hard for people with preferences outside the mainstream to find the games they want to play.

 

[Micah Sweet]

You're still claiming tyranny of the majority and that your preferences should be catered to. I may want a DM to run Eberron for me instead of Dragonlance, but they have as much obligation to cater to that as a DM running Level Up for you instead of 5.5. if I know 100 DMs and none will run Eberron, either I accept what is available or I stay home. If you know 100 DMs and all of them run 5.5, either you play what's offered or you sit home.

I'm claiming that more preferences than just the majority can be catered to simultaneously, in some cases. Please stop turning my opinion into a binary.

 

[Zardnaar]

You're still claiming tyranny of the majority and that your preferences should be catered to. I may want a DM to run Eberron for me instead of Dragonlance, but they have as much obligation to cater to that as a DM running Level Up for you instead of 5.5. if I know 100 DMs and none will run Eberron, either I accept what is available or I stay home. If you know 100 DMs and all of them run 5.5, either you play what's offered or you sit home.

Run your own group and train a DM?

 

[Micah Sweet]

Run your own group and train a DM?

I do run my own group, and far prefer to GM than play. Actually, of late I've enjoyed design, worldbuilding, and imagining game rules for existing fiction more than either. I'm not thinking about me really. Just musing on things I liked in the official game better in the past than today, and speculating. It seems to do nothing but irritate people though, so I'll try to stop.