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Difference From 10 Years Ago?
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<blockquote data-quote="Ahnehnois" data-source="post: 6175325" data-attributes="member: 17106"><p>To cross threads for a moment, the other thing that seems different-and perhaps this is just from my perspective-is ownership.</p><p></p><p>When I was a regular at the WotC community back in those days, it was assumed that anyone discussing anything on those forums was running their own game. There was a lot of great troubleshooting discussion, a lot of great ideas (of course, there was also plenty of chaff to separate that wheat from). Everyone ran their own setting. Everyone used extensive and individual houserules. In fact, that was the reason you were online in the first place. If you wanted to discuss FR, there was a special forum for that. If you wanted to discuss Dungeon magazine, there was a forum for that. Those forums were not high traffic, and it was assumed that if you were not posting there, you were running a game with an original plot in a homebrewed setting with ample houserules to meet your needs, and you wanted to discuss those things. That's the default. And that was when I was on WotC boards and meeting people at their store.</p><p></p><p>And the same in my personal experience. My own group tried something with a published adventure in a published setting once, and dropped it quickly, with prejudice. All of the dozens of people that I played with in those days held essentially the same opinion on the subject: that we're playing our game and that published material detracts from our ownership of it. Even slavish adherence to the rules detracts from our ownership of it. My current players are basically people that I taught to play (starting around ten years ago); I don't know if they're even familiar with the concept of a published adventure, and Forgotten Realms is just the place where Baldur's Gate 2 was set. If you're playing, say, the Dragon Age rpg, the setting of Ferrelden is implied. If you're playing D&D, that means homebrew; either putting in some work and creating material in advance, or improvising on the spot. That's what D&D is. It's the game where you make stuff up. And as a DM, your job is to create a game experience, and you're judged on how well you do that.</p><p></p><p>It's only within the last few years and only on ENW that I see the term "module" used to describe something in D&D rather than a part of the Apollo spacecraft, or people talking about "OP" as a venue for playing D&D, rather than the original poster in the thread. People use proper nouns referring to old D&D material as if the reader is expected to understand the reference. And more recently, I see claims that it's actually common or even normal for a DM not to create his own game. All of which is just <em>weird</em>.</p><p></p><p>I don't know what the reason is. Maybe it's just because I gradually went from WotC to ENW, and this is an older and different crowd. Maybe it's a generational or regional thing. Maybe it's because WotC cancelling the magazines drove a bunch of angry Dungeon fans out of the woodwork. Maybe it's just because some people like arguing. If someone is actually out there buying Paizo's "adventure paths" (what does those two words together even mean?) and using them to run a game, I don't begrudge them that, but I don't understand it at all, and I wonder why that same person did not, as far as I can tell, exist ten years ago.</p><p></p><p>All of which is part of a larger philosophical shift, in my opinion. Instead of giving examples of what you do in your own game, people seem to have moved towards discussing a "standard" game experience, ceding some of that sense of ownership of one's own game in the process. Maybe it's a 4e thing or even a 3e thing or a WotC thing in general. I mean, trying to design a "balanced" game around the assumption of four characters of equal level covering the four basic classes fighting thirteen and a third battles against opponents with an EL equal to the part level, all while adhering to the RAW in every way, is absurd. No one (virtually) does that. It would be like making public policy around the assumption that everyone is a middle-class white suburban family with 2.5 kids. They aren't. There isn't even such thing as half a kid.</p><p></p><p>All of which is why I think the level of discourse has dropped. Don't get me wrong, ENW is still notable for its overall stability and civility. But I've read at different times that "everyone's D&D game is basically the same" (it isn't), or that "houserules aren't normal" (they're the norm) or that because I don't play the game in the "standard" way that my opinions on it are invalid (they aren't). The inability of some people (and companies) to acknowledge diversity in the D&D gaming world plays into a lot of other negative things and has, to me, been a change for the worse over the last decade.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Ahnehnois, post: 6175325, member: 17106"] To cross threads for a moment, the other thing that seems different-and perhaps this is just from my perspective-is ownership. When I was a regular at the WotC community back in those days, it was assumed that anyone discussing anything on those forums was running their own game. There was a lot of great troubleshooting discussion, a lot of great ideas (of course, there was also plenty of chaff to separate that wheat from). Everyone ran their own setting. Everyone used extensive and individual houserules. In fact, that was the reason you were online in the first place. If you wanted to discuss FR, there was a special forum for that. If you wanted to discuss Dungeon magazine, there was a forum for that. Those forums were not high traffic, and it was assumed that if you were not posting there, you were running a game with an original plot in a homebrewed setting with ample houserules to meet your needs, and you wanted to discuss those things. That's the default. And that was when I was on WotC boards and meeting people at their store. And the same in my personal experience. My own group tried something with a published adventure in a published setting once, and dropped it quickly, with prejudice. All of the dozens of people that I played with in those days held essentially the same opinion on the subject: that we're playing our game and that published material detracts from our ownership of it. Even slavish adherence to the rules detracts from our ownership of it. My current players are basically people that I taught to play (starting around ten years ago); I don't know if they're even familiar with the concept of a published adventure, and Forgotten Realms is just the place where Baldur's Gate 2 was set. If you're playing, say, the Dragon Age rpg, the setting of Ferrelden is implied. If you're playing D&D, that means homebrew; either putting in some work and creating material in advance, or improvising on the spot. That's what D&D is. It's the game where you make stuff up. And as a DM, your job is to create a game experience, and you're judged on how well you do that. It's only within the last few years and only on ENW that I see the term "module" used to describe something in D&D rather than a part of the Apollo spacecraft, or people talking about "OP" as a venue for playing D&D, rather than the original poster in the thread. People use proper nouns referring to old D&D material as if the reader is expected to understand the reference. And more recently, I see claims that it's actually common or even normal for a DM not to create his own game. All of which is just [I]weird[/I]. I don't know what the reason is. Maybe it's just because I gradually went from WotC to ENW, and this is an older and different crowd. Maybe it's a generational or regional thing. Maybe it's because WotC cancelling the magazines drove a bunch of angry Dungeon fans out of the woodwork. Maybe it's just because some people like arguing. If someone is actually out there buying Paizo's "adventure paths" (what does those two words together even mean?) and using them to run a game, I don't begrudge them that, but I don't understand it at all, and I wonder why that same person did not, as far as I can tell, exist ten years ago. All of which is part of a larger philosophical shift, in my opinion. Instead of giving examples of what you do in your own game, people seem to have moved towards discussing a "standard" game experience, ceding some of that sense of ownership of one's own game in the process. Maybe it's a 4e thing or even a 3e thing or a WotC thing in general. I mean, trying to design a "balanced" game around the assumption of four characters of equal level covering the four basic classes fighting thirteen and a third battles against opponents with an EL equal to the part level, all while adhering to the RAW in every way, is absurd. No one (virtually) does that. It would be like making public policy around the assumption that everyone is a middle-class white suburban family with 2.5 kids. They aren't. There isn't even such thing as half a kid. All of which is why I think the level of discourse has dropped. Don't get me wrong, ENW is still notable for its overall stability and civility. But I've read at different times that "everyone's D&D game is basically the same" (it isn't), or that "houserules aren't normal" (they're the norm) or that because I don't play the game in the "standard" way that my opinions on it are invalid (they aren't). The inability of some people (and companies) to acknowledge diversity in the D&D gaming world plays into a lot of other negative things and has, to me, been a change for the worse over the last decade. [/QUOTE]
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