D&D General Deborah Ann Woll Teaches Jon Bernthal D&D

[Umbran]

But it is the Community that decides that D&D gets that share of the business.

You say that almost as if "the Community" is a single organism, or has some sort of organization, or something.

It doesn't. In this context, the community is just a bunch of independent consumers who make their own choices. Criticism based on considering us a unit will be flawed.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

But it is the Community that decides that D&D gets that share of the business.

 

[Umbran]

How does D&D "stifle discussion and exploration of other systems"?

It can only be considered doing so by way of volume - the communication channels that much social media provides are flooded with D&D talk, and finding other games being discussed may be hard to do.

But I wouldn't say that is D&D stifling discussion. The game and its makers take no specific action to make it so - they just sell their product. This is just a natural consequence of fans chattering about their fandom. It is nobody's fault, and nobody should be taken to task for it being so.

 

[Scribe]

How does D&D "stifle discussion and exploration of other systems"?

The same way Google Search is a monopoly.

Are there other alternatives? Yes. Some of which may even be better or at least are not curating results? Maybe.

Does it matter, if near everyone just says 'Google it.'

Nope.

 

[Maxperson]

I think that your perspective is valid, but that @Charlaquin is also correct.

When dealing with people outside of the hobby, "D&D" is a term that they use to refer to all TTRPGs. To them, every game that involves people getting together and rolling dice that isn't a board game is "D&D."

It also applies to games individuals design that have their origins in D&D. One group I play with under the best DM I've ever seen(including streamers), uses his personal system. He started modifying 1e back in the late 70's and now you can see the roots of D&D there, but it has evolved into a very different game.

He added a stat. AC is there, but it's purely your ability to get out of the way of things. Armor is DR. Hit points are stamina and he uses personal body points which are assigned to each section of the body for when stamina runs out. It's a classless, skill based system. Everyone starts with levels(ranks) in a bunch of skills based on background and then the skills go up as you use them, not just because you make a new level.

Even with all of those changes, when he runs a game he lets us know that he's running a D&D game on X date and asks who wants to play.

 

[Mirrorrorrim]

You say that almost as if "the Community" is a single organism, or has some sort of organization, or something.

It doesn't. In this context, the community is just a bunch of independent consumers who make their own choices. Criticism based on considering us a unit will be flawed.

I am thinking of the Community as group of diverse individuals with a spectrum of interest. For the sake of my point, let's consider the Community as a whole pie of RPG gamers. Whether you measure it via money spent, or games/campaigns played, the D&D slice of the pie is the biggest, though that slice can shrink and grow over time. Every criticism of D&D's popularity (as opposed to the rules/marketing/Wizards itself) is a criticism of the people who love it and make it popular. Those are the people being told that their decisions are bad. WotC just made a thing. The people who bought it and/or play it are the ones who made that thing popular.

If one insults a game for its popularity, they're insulting the fans of that game because THEY are the metric by which popularity is measured. It is a direct critique of them. If someone were to bag on A5E, I would assume A5E fans would rise to defend and debate, not out of excited engagement, but due to umbrage. We shouldn't be surprised when fans rise to defend their choices and fandoms.

Now some things with large followings deserve critique based on morality and negative influences. But we should be prepared for resistance if it sounds like bellyaching due to sour grapes. (Even if the critiques are valid, there will be resistance.) I understand this because I AM critical of many very popular concepts in the world that I think are very immoral (not related to gaming). When I do, I get a lot of pushback. People identify with, and defend, what they value.

 

[Maxperson]

*Numbers are approximate, yet also completely accurate.

 

[Gradine]

Pretty great introduction to the game! My only critique is that when he asked, “why wouldn’t you just make yourself the best at everything?” she only answered that it’s more interesting if you have flaws. And like, sure that’s true, but it creates the impression that that’s the only reason to. I would have preferred if she’d mentioned there are some rules for how to build a character, so you’ll always have some things you’re better at and some things you’re worse at, and you usually have other players you can rely on and help each other to succeed in your shared goals.

I mean, this was definitely an actor's answer. It makes sense not just as her own perspective but also how the game might best appeal to Jon Bernthal, an actor who absolutely understands the appeal of playing a role with flaws.

I also think that it's the difference between answering why you can't make a character who's best at everything, and why you shouldn't. Maybe it's my past life in the theatre speaking, but I find the latter both more interesting and more appealing.

 

[Charlaquin]

I mean, this was definitely an actor's answer. It makes sense not just as her own perspective but also how the game might best appeal to Jon Bernthal, an actor who absolutely understands the appeal of playing a role with flaws.

I also think that it's the difference between answering why you can't make a character who's best at everything, and why you shouldn't. Maybe it's my past life in the theatre speaking, but I find the latter both more interesting and more appealing.

I mean, I understand pointing out that flaws make the character more interesting, but giving that as the only reason you don’t make your character great at everything is just misleading.

 

[Theory of Games]

The same way Google Search is a monopoly.

Are there other alternatives? Yes. Some of which may even be better or at least are not curating results? Maybe.

Does it matter, if near everyone just says 'Google it.'

Nope.

lol

Imma give Debbie her flowers for teaching the Punisher how to kill Orcs. It's also great marketing for the hobby because there's a LOT of people who started with D&D then shifted to other games. It's the responsibility of experienced gamers to expose newbs to the ttrpg world beyond D&D. I'm running multiple games for multiple groups online and NONE of them are playing D&D.

But it's a D&D world because nobody else is spending the cake Hasbro is ($350M, per '23 Annual Report) to draw people to their games. And I applaud Hasbro's effort to make money grow the ttrpg hobby. TBH, I put ALL of the "2024 D&D" threads on ig because the noise was annoying. If you think D&D is getting too much space on ENWorld, start threads discussing the games YOU like.