D&D General Let's list/complain about things we don't like

[Gus L]

Greyhawk and all the official mechanical changes stemming from it: variable weapon damage, variable HD and polearm smut.

 

[soviet]

The flat mechanisation of 'make a skill check' replacing detailed exploration of environments and conversations.

 

[Alzrius]

Another thing I find annoying is the ubiquity of various anachronistic assumptions underlying most game worlds. While I understand that the game isn't trying to perfectly trying to recreate medieval life, and that ease-of-play is held to be paramount, there's a point where the aggregate "modernisms" become too much.

Everyone is literate. Germs (and not evil spirits, imbalanced "humors," or miasma) are known to be the cause of disease. Virtually all mundane goods are not only understood to be available in inhabited areas, but are presumed to be of at least average quality, with standardized pricing, etc.

I get that the medieval setting is a coat of paint, but when the paint's so thin that I can see through it, it needs a thicker application.

 

[Remathilis]

Another thing I find annoying is the ubiquity of various anachronistic assumptions underlying most game worlds. While I understand that the game isn't trying to perfectly trying to recreate medieval life, and that ease-of-play is held to be paramount, there's a point where the aggregate "modernisms" become too much.

Everyone is literate. Germs (and not evil spirits, imbalanced "humors," or miasma) are known to be the cause of disease. Virtually all mundane goods are not only understood to be available in inhabited areas, but are presumed to be of at least average quality, with standardized pricing, etc.

I get that the medieval setting is a coat of paint, but when the paint's so thin that I can see through it, it needs a thicker application.

I've always reconciled that magic has done what technology did to the modern world. It has propelled civilization beyond medieval limits of thinking. Germ theory is nothing to people who have knowledge of other realms of reality and how to get to them. A small amount of druidic involvement keeps the crops from failing. Artisan Guilds enforce pricing on a national level. Etc.

Frankly, a more medieval world would be depressing. Rampant ignorance, corrupt elites terrorizing their populace, the price of goods rapidly fluctuating, witch hunts, superstition replacing science, the Church controlling all aspects of society, rampant racism and sexism. Who would want to live in a world like that?

 

[Alzrius]

I've always reconciled that magic has done what technology did to the modern world.

Prevalent magic, large numbers of monsters, and interventionist deities will absolutely change aspects of the game world; but if they've changed it to where it feels like living in the modern world, then at that point you're playing urban fantasy rather than medieval fantasy, and I'd like for the two to have more than just cosmetic differences.

Frankly, a more medieval world would be depressing. Rampant ignorance, corrupt elites terrorizing their populace, the price of goods rapidly fluctuating, witch hunts, superstition replacing science, the Church controlling all aspects of society, rampant racism and sexism. Who would want to live in a world like that?

 

[DEFCON 1]

The stuff that most of the other posters here on EN World seem to think is actually important.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I've always reconciled that magic has done what technology did to the modern world. It has propelled civilization beyond medieval limits of thinking. Germ theory is nothing to people who have knowledge of other realms of reality and how to get to them. A small amount of druidic involvement keeps the crops from failing. Artisan Guilds enforce pricing on a national level. Etc.

Frankly, a more medieval world would be depressing. Rampant ignorance, corrupt elites terrorizing their populace, the price of goods rapidly fluctuating, witch hunts, superstition replacing science, the Church controlling all aspects of society, rampant racism and sexism. Who would want to live in a world like that?

I'm a history buff, an interest I got into as a child directly as a consequence of D&D. Now it is a genuine subject of scholarship for me. I just can't ignore stuff like that.

 

[Remathilis]

I'm a history buff, an interest I got into as a child directly as a consequence of D&D. Now it is a genuine subject of scholarship for me. I just can't ignore stuff like that.

Even in its infancy it wasn't very medieval (polytheism alone changes that dynamic). Personally, if part of the fantasy is a world where people are decent to one another more often than they are brutal, I'm willing to accept a lot of anachronisms.

 

[grimmgoose]

It's not just D&D that does this, but I really hate the concept of 'multiattack'.

It only barely solves the swinginess problem of the d20, but moreso just bloats hit points and encounter time. Instead of giving you cool things to do, it's just "do the same thing, but this time - twice!" It's a tension killer and a time waster.

In this essay I will

 

[Micah Sweet]

Even in its infancy it wasn't very medieval (polytheism alone changes that dynamic). Personally, if part of the fantasy is a world where people are decent to one another more often than they are brutal, I'm willing to accept a lot of anachronisms.

I am less willing if it makes less sense to me logically.