Disdain for new fantasy

[delericho]

For me, it's about an uncomfortable admixture of styles and expectations. I actually like a lot of the anime I've seen, and I like much of the wuxia I've seen, and so on and so forth. However, I don't really want those elements in default D&D, because they just don't fit what I want in the game.

(I do think that, just as much of D&D comes from blending Lord of the Rings, Elric, Conan, Newhon, and so forth, so to could a great game be created by blending Pokemon, Harry Potter, Eragon, and similar modern fantasies.)

I can't really comment on WoW - I gave up computer games after Civilisation II, when I realised I'd just lost a full fortnight when I should have been studying. However, I am absolutely certain that it would be a bad idea for D&D to try to emulate WoW, because the things that that game does it does far better than D&D can hope to. Instead, D&D really needs to focus on its strengths, notably the social benefits of a group gathering in the same place, and in particular the ability of the DM to adapt to a changing situation. In that regard, I agree with Ryan Dancey's recent blog entries, although I disagree with a great many of his proposed solutions.

 

[I'm A Banana]

Something that can include

Grave of the Fireflies...

...Cowboy Bebop...

...FLCL...

...Berserk...

...and Pokemon...

Is at least as diverse a genre as "American Animation"

And it's quite a bit more diverse than "Action Movies" or "Dramas"

Yeah, there are stylistic similarities between them, but they're as distinct as country music, bluegrass, and jazz, the blues, and rap.

I think videogames and anime are mostly grognard-speak for bad wrong fun. The D&D game and the fantasy genre as a whole have come a long way from the Grey Mouser, Conan, and Lord of the Rings, though plenty of people would be very happy if D&D were to basically keep playing in those same realms. I can't say I would be, but I'm hardly a grognard.

 

[Kaodi]

Damn it, I really wanted BESM 3e... Can we please have a second print run, somebody?

 

[thedungeondelver]

I guess that would make 1st edition the original Coca-Cola with the extra ingredient, and 2nd edition Coca-Cola from Mexico.

That is PRICELESS dude.

2e is coca-cola from Mexico.

 

[thedungeondelver]

The Lodoss OVA is a better D&D movie than the actual D&D movies.

More accurate too.

Would that be the part where the party thief throws a dagger into the eye of an henceforth-untouched dragon and kills it with that single shot, at the beginning of the first episode?



No, seriously, I have much love for RECORD OF LODOSS WAR if for no other reason that because it was from DUNGEONS & DRAGONS.

(and you're right - they're better D&D movies than WotC's offerings!)

 

[Lurks-no-More]

I think it would be fair to say that many people [who perceive themselves to be] over a certain [mental] age (16? 18?) believe anime, WoW and such to not only be part of the same general [backward] trend in culture/society, but also to be something designed primarily for the youth of today, and thus a thing likely to be entirely irrelevant and useless to themselves.

There's a famous quote from C.S. Lewis that seems very appropriate, in regard of that mindset:

When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up.

 

[JoeGKushner]

Anime...

People who lump anime into one thing have no idea what they're talking about. Anime is a medium.

For example, Berserk, either the anime or the manga, would be far more at home in 'standard' D&D and perhaps more prototyped for older versions due to the lack of magic within it. Others, despite being a little... silly, like Slayers, do a good job of showcasing high fantasy. Still others are based on D&D in many ways like Record of the Lodoss War.

But you'd probably want to stay away from things that didn't fit the genre of D&D like Dragonball Z, Last Exile, Ghost in the Shell or Gungrave, not because they're not entertaining, but because they're not appropriate to the genre.

 

[JoeGKushner]

Damn it, I really wanted BESM 3e... Can we please have a second print run, somebody?

I'll sell ya mine for $40 including s & h if in America.

 

[w_earle_wheeler]

For me, it's about an uncomfortable admixture of styles and expectations. I actually like a lot of the anime I've seen, and I like much of the wuxia I've seen, and so on and so forth. However, I don't really want those elements in default D&D, because they just don't fit what I want in the game.

Yes, I really like wuxia... it just doesn't fit in D&D.

Now, as far as anime goes, when I watched Princess Mononoke, I remember thinking "this is pretty cool, he's fighting a huge dire warthog!"

But when I saw "aura" like abilities for clerics and paladins in a D&D splatbook, I thought, "this is kinda lame -- they're just trying to emulate Diablo 2 and it isn't working."

 

[Kesh]

When I describe D&D as "anime", I'm generally referring to:

Quasi-furry half-something template races

a-HEM, sir!