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<blockquote data-quote="Mark Hope" data-source="post: 9376202" data-attributes="member: 27051">This is more or less my feeling on the proposed definitions. The style described as New School here is mostly how our games ran since about 1986 (4 years into playing D&amp;D for me). Absolutely we played games that had high-lethality, a sense of very real danger, and other hallmarks that are often called &quot;old school&quot; but we ran those with intentionality, not as a default. Our default since those early days has always been to have narrative-oriented play that emulate the fiction we love with characters linked to and enmeshed in the setting and the overall job for the DM being to make sure everyone is having a good time. It's bemusing to see these elements described as &quot;new&quot;.I do think, however, that there's a common view of &quot;how games were played back in the day&quot; vs &quot;how games are played now&quot; and those common views can be described as &quot;old school&quot; or &quot;new school&quot; or &quot;trad&quot; or whatever. I just don't think that those views are necessarily representative of reality on the whole. They may reflect explicit advice in D&amp;D books - the 5e Gencon video made a good point with this, in that the 5e books put advice on playing this way front and centre - but I think that reflects the books catching up with how many groups have actually been playing for quite a while now, rather than reflecting a new school of play.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Mark Hope, post: 9376202, member: 27051"] This is more or less my feeling on the proposed definitions. The style described as New School here is mostly how our games ran since about 1986 (4 years into playing D&D for me). Absolutely we played games that had high-lethality, a sense of very real danger, and other hallmarks that are often called "old school" but we ran those with intentionality, not as a default. Our default since those early days has always been to have narrative-oriented play that emulate the fiction we love with characters linked to and enmeshed in the setting and the overall job for the DM being to make sure everyone is having a good time. It's bemusing to see these elements described as "new". I do think, however, that there's a common view of "how games were played back in the day" vs "how games are played now" and those common views can be described as "old school" or "new school" or "trad" or whatever. I just don't think that those views are necessarily representative of reality on the whole. They may reflect explicit advice in D&D books - the 5e Gencon video made a good point with this, in that the 5e books put advice on playing this way front and centre - but I think that reflects the books catching up with how many groups have actually been playing for quite a while now, rather than reflecting a new school of play. [/QUOTE]

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