Has D&D become less about the adventure?

[Piratecat]

You use 1st edition. Ergo, you don't count.

Wow. Not only is that rude, it's untrue on a couple of levels:

- He's playing 3.5e
- If he wasn't playing 3.5, he'd be playing OD&D, not 1e
- Even if the game he's referring to was OD&D, it would still be relevant to the conversation.

Be nice, folks, and if you can't be nice at least be polite.

 

[Storyteller01]

As a DM, I think sometimes we get confused on the difference between what the players want and what we provide. If the players want to run L&L "Loot & Levels" and you want to run D&D, you're not reading your players very well (and will be very lonely).

If it's LOOT & LEVELS that players want, shouldn't a DM give that to them? If they want a hamburger and you keep giving them pea soup, eventually your game will be considered "sucky." You're going to eat your pea soup and like it!

Thoughts?
jh
P.S. I run a low-magic, low-items CONAN game and I have trouble finding players who are interested after they find out they can't play Uber-Elf-with-Stormbringer..so I changed my advertisement and some of my house rules..guess what? Finding players became a lot easier..whether or not they'll still bite is the question.

P.S.S. The reason why I started this post is because of a couple of recent games that I ran regarding Living Greyhawk (I took a hiatus after I burned myself out on the County of Urnst Triad and had to put up with this very thing). Just like L.C. before it, too many LG players have become very much about burning through an adventure as fast as possible to get loot and levels.

Maybe, but there's a the rarity of folks willing to roleplay a situation as opposed to rolling dice to speed things along.

That, and although the DM is responsible for providing a good time, it isn't improper for the DM to want the same in return. I get to play the NPC's of the world. That is my reward for making a worth while campaign world; I have the means to interact with it as well.

During combat, I like to out-think the players (or at least make the players think on their feet), pretending I'm the enemy out to get them. NPC's stop being targets and become opponents. I'm not out top kill my players, and have implimented house rules to prevent it, but it's still fun on my part. The players seem to enjoy it as well; the actual risk involved makes the treasure that much more valuable. Players also tend to be a lot more innovative in that situation.

My players still run when they see a shocker lizard, which are now the parties hated enemy (if you say 'Meep!' eveyone cringes, and you get dice thrown at you).

Our gnome still has the record for most kills in a round and in the most unlikely of ways. The GNOME!!

During non-combat interaction, I enforce playing your part (not that it needs much enforcement). Don't just roll for info, go out and find it. If you want a contact, go out and make one. They get to and a bit of personality to their characters (we now have a trollkin addicted to coffee), and I get to roleplay the npc's for my own bit of fun.

 

[Hussar]

So, Storyteller, basically any player in your game should entirely ignore their character sheet and play whatever they feel. After all, if I have 15 ranks in Gather Information and Grungar the Barbarian has none, we both have the same chances of gaining information.

Me, I actually use the rules to enhance play. You want to try a gather information roll and blow it? Role play it out. I trust that my players are mature enough to play the results either way.

 

[Cadfan]

I tend to think that these sorts of complaints are...

Well, you know how old people are always moaning about how kids these days have lost all their values, don't know right from wrong, haven't got any class, listen to stuff that's barely even music, the kids these days just ain't right?

I think that complaining about how D&D has become too gear and loot oriented is the gamer version of old person carping.

The game has always had gear and loot and levelling and so forth, its just that way back in time when you were young, the adventures were all new and exciting as well. Now that you're older, you are jaded. The adventure doesn't have the same allure. You've demolished vampire crypts, hunted dragons, and saved kingdoms before. Now you're going to do it again. Woohoo. And so your focus drifts away from the adventure, and you find yourself asking, why? Why am I doing this? Am I just grinding the way to the next level and a better magic sword?

Its not D&D that has changed, its you.

 

[The Shaman]

The game has always had gear and loot and levelling and so forth, its just that way back in time when you were young, the adventures were all new and exciting as well. Now that you're older, you are jaded. The adventure doesn't have the same allure. You've demolished vampire crypts, hunted dragons, and saved kingdoms before. Now you're going to do it again. Woohoo. And so your focus drifts away from the adventure, and you find yourself asking, why? Why am I doing this? Am I just grinding the way to the next level and a better magic sword?

Its not D&D that has changed, its you.

That's quite a sweeping generalization. I couldn't agree less.

 

[buzz]

Its not D&D that has changed, its you.

I agree, in the sense that nostalgia plays a huge part in these discussions.

 

[buzz]

Your imaginary character is cooler than your...OTHER...imaginary character because it has numbers that represent the coolness of your imaginary character better than your imagination can imagine coolness?

Ow. I think I broke a synapse. :\

IOW... most of my enjoyment of my 1e PCs came out of elaborate backstories, which of course had zero impact on the game. In actual play, they pretty much did a lot of the same stuff, and 1e, being 1e, didn't do any of it as competently as I hoped, prior tp 7th-10th level.

With 3e, I find that my PCs are actually interesting to play in-game from level 1; the numbers alone are fun to fiddle with and produce cool results. I don't feel like I need to rely on a bunch of "imagined coolness" (i.e., "let me tell you about my character") to enjoy them.

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

Shackled City or Age of Worms are classics in the making, and objectively better adventures on a whole than anything produced in the early days.

Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight. That is quite the comment.

I prefer the more barebones adventures I can flesh out to mega-campaign adventures, which I will never run again after the last one.

 

[Emirikol]

The question still hasn't been answered: should the DM change to fit his players if they're L&L players?

Should I just face the music and start running L&L campaigns because that's what people want nowadays?

Jay H

 

[Kanegrundar]

The question still hasn't been answered: should the DM change to fit his players if they're L&L players?

Should I just face the music and start running L&L campaigns because that's what people want nowadays?

Jay H

Everyone should be having fun. It's a game after all. If you're not going to have fun running the type of game that your players would prefer, then it would be time to find a new group whose interests are more in line with your own.