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<blockquote data-quote="Marandahir" data-source="post: 8555918" data-attributes="member: 6803643">Relevant: [MEDIA=youtube]W-Uc1EUTBcE[/MEDIA]Return to Oz is a classic, perhaps because, as the Nostalgia Critic speaks to in his video, when he saw this as a kid, it was the first time he realised that maybe not all adults have his best interest in mind, and the movie doesn't talk down to him or try to hide the bad things from him. It's weird, creepy fantasy that treats kids like human beings who are living in this world. Dorothy isn't a Conan the Barbarian or Iron Man or Gandalf the Grey, like Frodo Baggins, she's a normal person, a child even, who is caught in very unnormal and dangerous and scary circumstances. D&amp;D needs to lean more into that. I think they can do so and approach a setting like Dark Sun with nuance without turning it into a machismo chainmail bikini Conan-esque fantasy and without encouraging and propping up racist ideas and slavery institutions. You can have everything out to kill you in a horrific world, and yet still steel yourself and press on in the face of adversity, even if you have very little power to fix the underlying problems of the world. It takes the power of friendship, and not a good deal of luck, but most of all, the courage to act even when doing so paints a target on your back or puts in you harms way. These are lifelong lessons that D&amp;D teaches, and Dark Sun is a fantastic setting to teach them with, if the designers have the courage to wield the tropes and motifs of Dark Sun for good. And such a product can be good business too. That takes good marketing though, since I'm sure some grognards will still say &quot;they changed it now it sucks&quot; and some moral panickers will still say &quot;EGADS! It's got demon dragons and is godless and teaches kids about slavery! It should be banned!&quot; But there's a line they can walk and still make oodles of cash on it. I think this team can walk that line. They did a lot better with Van Richten's Guide, in my opinion. I think they'll do better with each product they release, too.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Marandahir, post: 8555918, member: 6803643"] Relevant: [MEDIA=youtube]W-Uc1EUTBcE[/MEDIA] Return to Oz is a classic, perhaps because, as the Nostalgia Critic speaks to in his video, when he saw this as a kid, it was the first time he realised that maybe not all adults have his best interest in mind, and the movie doesn't talk down to him or try to hide the bad things from him. It's weird, creepy fantasy that treats kids like human beings who are living in this world. Dorothy isn't a Conan the Barbarian or Iron Man or Gandalf the Grey, like Frodo Baggins, she's a normal person, a child even, who is caught in very unnormal and dangerous and scary circumstances. D&D needs to lean more into that. I think they can do so and approach a setting like Dark Sun with nuance without turning it into a machismo chainmail bikini Conan-esque fantasy and without encouraging and propping up racist ideas and slavery institutions. You can have everything out to kill you in a horrific world, and yet still steel yourself and press on in the face of adversity, even if you have very little power to fix the underlying problems of the world. It takes the power of friendship, and not a good deal of luck, but most of all, the courage to act even when doing so paints a target on your back or puts in you harms way. These are lifelong lessons that D&D teaches, and Dark Sun is a fantastic setting to teach them with, if the designers have the courage to wield the tropes and motifs of Dark Sun for good. And such a product can be good business too. That takes good marketing though, since I'm sure some grognards will still say "they changed it now it sucks" and some moral panickers will still say "EGADS! It's got demon dragons and is godless and teaches kids about slavery! It should be banned!" But there's a line they can walk and still make oodles of cash on it. I think this team can walk that line. They did a lot better with Van Richten's Guide, in my opinion. I think they'll do better with each product they release, too. [/QUOTE]

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