D&D 5E New D&D Survey, with some in-depth setting questions

[ART!]

Huh. I…can’t relate, but I guess I’ll just have to accept that, in this case, I’m just not gonna really get it. It get it’s a thing, but I don’t get why. Our Star Wars games have rarely been anywhere near as epic as the Skywalker Saga, and only some of the DL games I’ve been in or run have been on the scale level of the Chronicles. Usually it’s more the Legends scale, or even the smaller more local stories that don’t rise to that level.

This has been my experience, too. Maybe some players are more interested in playing in the setting because they grok it, and less because they want to be Luke Skywalker, or [whoever a big character is in Dragonlance]? Dunno.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Rogue One and the Mandolorian showcase this as they only minimally intersect with the Skywalker Saga.

Yet there is always the fan service pressure for Deux Ex Skywalker.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

This has been my experience, too. Maybe some players are more interested in playing in the setting because they grok it, and less because they want to be Luke Skywalker, or [whoever a big character is in Dragonlance]? Dunno.

Yeah maybe. It’s definitely a big difference in expectations.

 

[Lanefan]

I’ve met many.

Sure, it’s all fine, I just wish it made any sense at all, to me. Es

Agreed, though I know some folks enjoy resetting a world and going “those characters don’t exist, your characters will be at the center of the story instead”.

Without the characters that made the setting what it is, though, is it even still the same setting?

I mean, take a Star Wars game. The very first question anyone's going to ask is "What era is it set in?"; and for many, if it's not set in the Palpatine/Vader/First Order era it's not a 'real' SW game as none of the famous elements and-or characters are ever likely to appear.

How can the PCs or story be overshadowed if it doesn’t happen in game?

Thing is, many players will take a game that's set in a milieu they're fans of and expect to be able to Mary-Sue their PC into the story that made the setting famous; either to change that story somehow (e.g. killing Rand in the WoT game) or to simply be a part of it.

I mean, in my case if anyone ever told me I had to run in a full-canon FR campaign I'd make sure I rolled up a character who could - and would, eventually - kill off Drizz't and send him to the worst afterlife the setting has.

 

[Bolares]

I mean, in my case if anyone ever told me I had to run in a full-canon FR campaign I'd make sure I rolled up a character who could - and would, eventually - kill off Drizz't and send him to the worst afterlife the setting has.

I know this is a joke but... why do people hate drizz't so much?

 

[Mind of tempest]

I know this is a joke but... why do people hate drizz't so much?

I hear he had far too many rip-offs end up in games.

 

[ReshiIRE]

I know this is a joke but... why do people hate drizz't so much?

My understanding is that Drizz't led to a stereotype of players playing very similar characters to him, and indeed the archetype of the dual wielding ranger.

 

[Lanefan]

I know this is a joke but... why do people hate drizz't so much?

Because Ranger used to be a great class, which was then utterly ruined by the two-weapon animal-companion archetype for which Drizz't was and remains the poster boy.

 

[Bolares]

hmmm got you, thanks. I would have never guessed that, I started playing in 3e, long after drizzt and dual wielding rangers were already staples of D&D. I still think dual wielding rangers are really cool (except in 5e were dual wielding mostly sucks)

 

[billd91]

I hear he had far too many rip-offs end up in games.

Drizzt caught on like anything cool for a while, entertaining some and irritating others. But that‘s how it goes. How many people trotted out Wolverine or Batman clones in their superhero games? The whole Ranger class was based on making an Aragorn clone because people wanted to play him too. So I just relax and don’t worry about it.
And from a book perspective, some of the Drizzt stories were decent fantasy fiction, but there‘s a certain amount of overstaying your welcome with that series.