Drifter Bob
First Post
I have seen frequent arguments on this and other forums, as to how DnD has changed since 'the old days', whether the new generations of players and the influence of CRPG's and card games have 'dumbed down' DnD or not. Whether the changes within each subsequent generation of rules have perhaps unwittingly tended to support this trend, and encouraged "roll playing" and munchkinism at the expense of actual old-school role playing, leading to a decrease in the sophistication of plot in favor of better balanced rules.
Regardless of whether things were actually worse in the old days, when perhaps a majority of players didn't really understand the basic concept of a role playing game, or now when the majority seem to be influenced by the various more mainstream spin-offs of RPG's, I think you could certainly say that there is a kind of culture war within RPGs, DnD, (much as there is in the nation and the world!) with some preferring the high powered, balanced mechanics, and others perferring role playing, realism, and more mature themes. An important sub-text of this 'struggle', if you will seems to be the tendancy to make DnD 'politicially correct', to always please and cater to the least common denominator, whether those are the anxious munchkins with regard to balance and rules tinkering, or generally with a general appeal to a younger audience in terms of themes and subject matter.
I am from that generation of people who were around with the first game, who got into RPG's from reading fantasy and science fiction literature such as Jack Vance, Michael Moorcock, HP Lovecraft, Lord Dunsany, Fritz Lieber, Clarke Ashton Smith, Stanislaw Lem, Philip K Dick, and others, all of whom had escapist elements, but many of whom wrote serious books which had fairly adult or at least darker and more 'mature' themes. I expect I'm not alone here. I actually think a lot of people who play DnD, other RPG's, and even a lot of CRPG's (especially the online pay-subcription games) are actually in my age group, and even many younger players get tired of the way things are. I wonder how many people from any age group would like to see the game, or some part of the game (or a larger part) aimed at a more mature audience.
My poll is, how old are you, and do you think DnD should at least partially reflect a more mature theme. By mature, I don't mean more gratuitous sex and violence, but I'm not ruling out more sex and violence either. Let say, less of a Disney cartoon feel or a "Xena, Warrior Princess" feel, maybe more of an HBO soap opera feel, like "Sopranos" or "Deadwood" or "Carnivale". More adult themes, believable adult motivations for characters and NPC's, life and death issues, romantic issues, mundane day to day issues, the kinds of things dealt with in all real literature.
DB
Regardless of whether things were actually worse in the old days, when perhaps a majority of players didn't really understand the basic concept of a role playing game, or now when the majority seem to be influenced by the various more mainstream spin-offs of RPG's, I think you could certainly say that there is a kind of culture war within RPGs, DnD, (much as there is in the nation and the world!) with some preferring the high powered, balanced mechanics, and others perferring role playing, realism, and more mature themes. An important sub-text of this 'struggle', if you will seems to be the tendancy to make DnD 'politicially correct', to always please and cater to the least common denominator, whether those are the anxious munchkins with regard to balance and rules tinkering, or generally with a general appeal to a younger audience in terms of themes and subject matter.
I am from that generation of people who were around with the first game, who got into RPG's from reading fantasy and science fiction literature such as Jack Vance, Michael Moorcock, HP Lovecraft, Lord Dunsany, Fritz Lieber, Clarke Ashton Smith, Stanislaw Lem, Philip K Dick, and others, all of whom had escapist elements, but many of whom wrote serious books which had fairly adult or at least darker and more 'mature' themes. I expect I'm not alone here. I actually think a lot of people who play DnD, other RPG's, and even a lot of CRPG's (especially the online pay-subcription games) are actually in my age group, and even many younger players get tired of the way things are. I wonder how many people from any age group would like to see the game, or some part of the game (or a larger part) aimed at a more mature audience.
My poll is, how old are you, and do you think DnD should at least partially reflect a more mature theme. By mature, I don't mean more gratuitous sex and violence, but I'm not ruling out more sex and violence either. Let say, less of a Disney cartoon feel or a "Xena, Warrior Princess" feel, maybe more of an HBO soap opera feel, like "Sopranos" or "Deadwood" or "Carnivale". More adult themes, believable adult motivations for characters and NPC's, life and death issues, romantic issues, mundane day to day issues, the kinds of things dealt with in all real literature.
DB
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