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I dunno -- there's a lot of people in the core demographic, and each of them is an individual with individual opinions. I'd like to see an actual study of the demographics, with accurate data of what people think.

I totally agree with you -- I'm just leery about WOTC taking away stuff from the game, which potentially reduces the value. I think they should provide the materials, and then publish a good separate book (better than what's in the current DMG) with tutorials that support players trying out DIY...

But given that D&D is basically a fantasy construction set, why not just modify them in your home game to suit your personal preferences, rather than get WOTC to impose a change on hundreds of thousands of players who might not share this opinion?

I think D&D uses stereotyped "templates" for character races for several practical reasons: 1) It provides new players with a simple template to latch onto when playing the character. In no way are they forced to follow this, it just gives newbies some guidelines on how to get into character...

I agree -- villains who are human beings with understandable motivations, who really believe they are doing the right thing, even though it's the wrong thing, are the most dramatically engaging, IMHO. Most people who do evil in real life are like this -- even some gangsters can be charming...

What these writers need is to get a hold of the best D&D magic item: a "Libram of Quality Content Creation", along with a set of "Lenses of Maximum Viewing".

Just a side comment -- in the original G1-G3/D1-D3 Giant/Drow modules, (spoiler) it turns out the Drow stirring up all the trouble with the Giants are actually a heretical faction that are worshiping the Elder Elemental God. So the players in the Vault of the Drow, can actually ally with rival...

No man, you're not too old. Older people like ourselves have lived life a bit, and often have a better big picture perspective than angry young people on a moralistic crusade (not that they'll stop and listen to us). We've all seen censorship before, and not just in D&D. It's always the same...

No assumptions, I've just read most of the posts on this site, and what WOTC said. It's a pretty consistent messaging pattern. Also, other posters here, who are pretty pro-change, have been saying it's newer players who want the changes, so I'm following their lead. I don't want to talk much...

The stance some of the new players are taking is that the old game was morally deficient. By implication, that's kind of calling all the old players morally deficient to, via guilt-by-association, which given the moral failures being implied, would be pretty insulting to anyone. Naturally...

I guess we'll find out in the next couple of years. I would argue that it's not just some grumbling grognards, but most people get turned off by fighting. We should consider that if the moral reformers are in error about even some of their assumptions then it could potentially backfire. What...

The changes seem to be driven by some kind of moral obligation to take a public stand vis a vis contemporary politics, which tends to cause arguments and conflicts. This stance seems to be appealing to a minority of very vocal new players who seem to be picking fights with the old players, who...

Yeah, and another thing to think about with the older players, is that 5e wasn't just catering to nostalgia. They did a lot of playtesting and market research to find out how gamers wanted the game to play. They ended up fusing ideas from 1st & 2nd edition, with the best bits of 3rd and 4th to...

I hope not, as I love the game, and love the hobby. But yeah, they could see sales drop. People also play games to relax and have fun, and some of the changes come across as a little politicized and preachy sometimes. This can suck the fun right out of a game for a lot of people. Most people...

I don't doubt the fandom (though there's always a small percentage of people who claim to be fans who aren't). You could argue that the act of problematizing, critiquing, disrupting and dismantling D&D (and the claim that these actions are always good and virtuous) is the methodology of a new...

I don't have any market research to immediately post, but this is pretty much common sense. You want new players; you want them to pick a character they like, and start playing with a minimum of work so they get hooked on your game. You don't tell them "make it up yourself" and then ask them...

Well, races in D&D are kind of like aliens in Star Wars. What's the point of playing a Wookie, or an R2 Droid, or a Jawa, or a Hutt gangster, if they aren't different from one another? They are meant to be exaggerated archetypes. Sure, you could play a Wookie who scavenges droids in a...

Now, now--we both know I didn't!

I can see that, but given that pretty much all the humanoid monsters are archetypes of human foibles, every single one of them would need to be edited for content. It starts with orcs and drow, but somebody, somewhere can always find something problematic with every monster in the manual...

Yes, but can't mythical monsters be metaphors for humanity's capacity for good and evil? Like how western Dragons represent human Greed, or Goblins often represent human envy. They aren't supposed to be real people. They're archetypes for telling universal stories about the human condition...