D&D (2024) My wishes for 6e: less dark vision and spellcasting classes

[Vaalingrade]

Well if you liked the World Axis, that's fine. I was a Planescape fan. So.

But I do remember a lot of gnashing of the teeth about the World Axis and simplified alignment.

There was a lot of gnashing of teeth in general. Mostly over lies like square fireballs, shouting arms back on, 'everyone is casters', 'It's an MMO for having elements D&D invented' and other dross people still try to spread.

I remember a thread called 'The Tyranny of Fun'. They were angry that the game was fun.

 

[James Gasik]

I liked square fireballs. Sure a "firecube" may sound silly to some, but it made it easy to figure out who or what was blasted by it. And why not a cube? It's magic! Heck, if memory serves, back in 2e there was a spell that let you make firecubes- Squaring the Circle!

EDIT: wait, what? Angry that a game is fun? Oh you mean like how game developers are mad about Elden Ring?

 

[Vaalingrade]

I liked square fireballs. Sure a "firecube" may sound silly to some, but it made it easy to figure out who or what was blasted by it. And why not a cube? It's magic! Heck, if memory serves, back in 2e there was a spell that let you make firecubes- Squaring the Circle!

It wasn't even a cube. It was acknowledging that abstraction exists and making AoEs not annoying.

EDIT: wait, what? Angry that a game is fun?

Yup. There was a thread with this long OP article about how Players were spoiled by having an expectation of fun and how the game trying to be fun is not what D&D is about. It was wild.

Oh you mean like how game developers are mad about Elden Ring?

Assuming Elden Ring is fun. I'm not a fan of the Rhythm Game with Swords genre.

 

[James Gasik]

Boy. I always thought D&D was a game. I play games to have fun, I must be doing it wrong!

EDIT: Ok, I remembered RISK is a thing. Maybe not all games are fun...

 

[Vaalingrade]

Boy. I always thought D&D was a game. I play games to have fun, I must be doing it wrong!

EDIT: Ok, I remembered RISK is a thing. Maybe not all games are fun...

You play D&D to learn to D&D better.

I am not kidding. This was a point in the 'discussion'.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

Well if you liked the World Axis, that's fine. I was a Planescape fan. So.

But I do remember a lot of gnashing of the teeth about the World Axis and simplified alignment.

I personally vastly preferred the World Axis, and I was already quite familiar with the Great Wheel--and how unbearably crufty and overstuffed it is.

Like, honest to goodness, has the difference between Gehenna, Hades, and Carceri ever really mattered for your games? Have you ever actually used the para-elemental or quasi-elemental planes?

 

[James Gasik]

No to the first question, EzekielRaiden, to be honest. Yes to the second. I don't mind if we cut some planes, I just felt the Axis removed some I really liked. : )

 

[dave2008]

I remember when they tried to simplify the Great Wheel, and we got 4e's cosmology, and I don't think anyone particularly cared for it if they were used to the old lore. I liked 4e a lot and I completely ignored most of that (other than incorporating the Shadowfel and Feywild into my games).

Yikes! The 4e cosmology was one of my favorite things about the edition (and I fantasized about the great wheel in the 1e Deities & Demigods for many years as young man/boy). The 4e cosmology was a breath of fresh-air and I loved the Dawn War as well.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

Boy. I always thought D&D was a game. I play games to have fun, I must be doing it wrong!

EDIT: Ok, I remembered RISK is a thing. Maybe not all games are fun...

It's also possible that someone isn't the best spokesman for whatever that argument might have been.

The trouble with "fun," is that different people have fun in different ways; if this wasn't both true and banal, then we would all have the exact same hobbies and preferences. Which, last I checked, wasn't the case.

So, for example, some people prefer things that provide immediate feedback and gratification; others prefer things that have more delayed gratification - and neither is "right."

To use an example I'm familiar with, I've run groups that had no "mapping" at all, and I've also run groups that absolutely had someone mapping- because that person found mapping to be fun. They loved mapping, and recording treasure, and that made them feel more of a part of the game. Different people, different preferences.

(I think that this is also one of the reasons that 5e generates so much ... conversation. It's because people are playing it in very different fashions, so there tends to be disputes at the high level of granularity over issues that are really about approaches to the game, and are instead masquerading as rules questions.)

 

[dave2008]

Well if you liked the World Axis, that's fine. I was a Planescape fan. So.

But I do remember a lot of gnashing of the teeth about the World Axis and simplified alignment.

I think you can mesh the two fairly well.