D&D 5E How do you hope WotC treats the upcoming classic settings?

[Argyle King]

Couple of things.

1. Train Your Dragon 3 is PG-13. It has, apparently, drugs, sexual content and naughty language. IOW, it's more adult content than Dragonlance.

2. Dragonlance at the time was marketed to the YA fantasy crowd. DL was never intended as an adult series. The primary audience for DL was the same as Harry Potter, or, now, How to Train Your Dragon. I'm frankly rather baffled how you came to the idea that DL was meant for an older audience.

So, with that in mind, why do you think that DL is a mature audience series?

I haven't followed the whole exchange, but the last part of what you said here caught my attention.

I would dare say that Young Adult books from that time period were open to exploring themes which might be viewed as inappropriate for contemporary YA.

I'd be surprised to see Black Cauldron made into a Disney film today -despite it being toned down from the books.

 

[Hussar]

I haven't followed the whole exchange, but the last part of what you said here caught my attention.

I would dare say that Young Adult books from that time period were open to exploring themes which might be viewed as inappropriate for contemporary YA.

I'd be surprised to see Black Cauldron made into a Disney film today -despite it being toned down from the books.

I'd say you have it backwards actually.

YA fiction now is far, far more open to exploring themes than it was back then. Again, pointing at Harry Potter, you have multiple on-screen deaths, romance, drug use, racism, and a host of other themes you would never have seen back then. It's actually gotten to the point where the line between YA fiction and A fiction is far more blurry than it used to be.

 

[Argyle King]

I'd say you have it backwards actually.

YA fiction now is far, far more open to exploring themes than it was back then. Again, pointing at Harry Potter, you have multiple on-screen deaths, romance, drug use, racism, and a host of other themes you would never have seen back then. It's actually gotten to the point where the line between YA fiction and A fiction is far more blurry than it used to be.

If that's the overall trend, it's surprising to me.

A lot of the books I read while younger (and shows I watched) now have warnings attached to them. Heck, in terms of D&D, I think all of the topics you mention were in the books I read.

But that's anecdotal experience, so it probably just comes down to what I had access to versus what others have read.

 

[Steampunkette]

If that's the overall trend, it's surprising to me.

A lot of the books I read while younger (and shows I watched) now have warnings attached to them. Heck, in terms of D&D, I think all of the topics you mention were in the books I read.

But that's anecdotal experience, so it probably just comes down to what I had access to versus what others have read.

Compare the Heroes of the Lance trilogy to The Hunger Games.

In the latter you've got love triangles, systemic oppression, implausible societal structures, a capitalist superclass who literally kills off teenagers for people's amusement, and just. So. Many. Senseless. Deaths.

From one of the teens committing suicide to Rue's end they're gut-wrenching and pretty horrible. And then, of course, the protagonist decides to let herself be used and pulled into the "Survivor's Circle", basically, for propaganda and... Yeah.

It's comparatively horrendous to what the War of the Lance contained.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I'd say you have it backwards actually.

YA fiction now is far, far more open to exploring themes than it was back then. Again, pointing at Harry Potter, you have multiple on-screen deaths, romance, drug use, racism, and a host of other themes you would never have seen back then. It's actually gotten to the point where the line between YA fiction and A fiction is far more blurry than it used to be.

Even so, referring to a novel as YA when not labeled as such can be seen as a diminutive. Like telling someone that the thing they like is just for kids (and implying that the fan is immature for enjoying it). Maybe people are just defending a story they like.

 

[Argyle King]

Compare the Heroes of the Lance trilogy to The Hunger Games.

In the latter you've got love triangles, systemic oppression, implausible societal structures, a capitalist superclass who literally kills off teenagers for people's amusement, and just. So. Many. Senseless. Deaths.

From one of the teens committing suicide to Rue's end they're gut-wrenching and pretty horrible. And then, of course, the protagonist decides to let herself be used and pulled into the "Survivor's Circle", basically, for propaganda and... Yeah.

It's comparatively horrendous to what the War of the Lance contained.

I suppose it depends in how you look at it.

Most of what you mentioned wouldn't be out of place in books I read.

Love triangles, oppression, death, and such isn't out of place for even just Dragonlance.

I think it's fair to say aspects of Dragonlance are more whimsical in parts. Though, that would also be true when comparing DL to other books I read around the same time.

Hunger Games doesn't seem particularly worse to me. The ideas being presented are just different and in a different genre.

 

[DarkCrisis]

They will change things to be more agreeable. IE Dark Sun may not have massive slavery. Dragonlance may not have that all Kender are kleptos or all Gnomes are Tinker Gnomes. Takhisis isnt an evil goddess, shes just misunderstood.

 

[Faolyn]

Dragonlance may not have that all Kender are kleptos or all Gnomes are Tinker Gnomes. Takhisis isnt an evil goddess, shes just misunderstood.

One of these things is not like the other.

Takhisis is an individual. She can be as evil as you want her to be.

But kender and gnomes are races of people. Even if you ignore that they're both pretty dumbly written (kender claim to not understand private property or experience fear but steal everything for themselves and lie about it if asked; gnomes think any gnome who makes something that works is insane), they're still entire groups of people, and it's ridiculous to assume that they're all exactly the same.

 

[tetrasodium]

They will change things to be more agreeable. IE Dark Sun may not have massive slavery. Dragonlance may not have that all Kender are kleptos or all Gnomes are Tinker Gnomes. Takhisis isnt an evil goddess, shes just misunderstood.

I think that you are might far off base lifting kender up so far as to insult mere kleptos with that comparison.

 

[DarkCrisis]

One of these things is not like the other.

Takhisis is an individual. She can be as evil as you want her to be.

But kender and gnomes are races of people. Even if you ignore that they're both pretty dumbly written (kender claim to not understand private property or experience fear but steal everything for themselves and lie about it if asked; gnomes think any gnome who makes something that works is insane), they're still entire groups of people, and it's ridiculous to assume that they're all exactly the same.

There are actually lore reasons why Gnomes are all tinkerers (in a fashion) and all Kender feel wanderlust and "borrow" things and why Dwarvesa ll like to create things etc.

You can't say it doesnt make sense when the in game lore reason is literally "god magic makes them do it".