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Message: <blockquote data-quote="talien" data-source="post: 8562983" data-attributes="member: 3285">Dungeons & Dragons is often about the increasing power of heroes who start out capable and get stronger from there. But it wasn't always that way.[ATTACH=full]152814[/ATTACH] <a href="https://pixabay.com/illustrations/vintage-book-illustration-literature-1721959/" target="_blank">Picture courtesy of Pixabay.</a><h3>Welcome to the Meat Grinder</h3>Characters in earlier versions of Dungeons & Dragons had ability scores that were rolled randomly. Players could select where the statistics went, but a poor score would inevitably bedevil starting characters, which certainly contributed to their likely death against frequently overwhelming odds.Advanced Dungeons & Dragons' restrictive requirements for certain classes like paladins required minimum ability scores, so if a player wanted to play a certain class they had to get lucky with their rolls. To get around this, players would roll over and over until they got the right combination of scores to succeed. Eventually, programs were created to mass generate these types of scores. And that led to point buy systems, where the player would just pick scores and not leave anything to chance.This change meant that players started out more capable than they did in the past. <a href="https://www.enworld.org/threads/worlds-of-design-which-came-first-the-character-or-their-backstory.678369" target="_blank">And that changed how players role-played their characters</a>.<h3>Playing a Loser</h3>It was rare in the AD&D days to put too much effort into a new character who might die anyway. Instead, role-play emerged from characters as they leveled up. Once they reached a high enough level to be raised from the dead if they died, players got more comfortable investing in their characters by role-playing them. <a href="https://www.enworld.org/threads/worlds-of-design-which-came-first-the-character-or-their-backstory.678369/" target="_blank">Additionally, role-play came about from the character's longevity</a>. They didn't have in-depth backstories because the character wasn't fully formed until the player played them for a while.This is where early Call of Cthulhu branched off from traditional D&D. Call of Cthulhu ability scores were originally similar to D&D's, but rather than fight the vulnerabilities of characters, Call of Cthulhu embraced them. Weakness was a virtue, and heroism was role-played rather than being built into the character. It's not uncommon to find characters with stats of 6 or lower in early adventures for the game.My ill-fated <a href="https://www.enworld.org/threads/modern-delta-green-the-beginning-of-the-end-completed.214026/" target="_blank">D20 Modern/Call of Cthulhu</a> game was a perfect example of the collision between expectations ("I'm a hero, I should feel like it!") vs. the game's setting ("you are insignificant and you can only hope to die heroically"). Of all my players in that game, only my brother ever role-played his character Hank as being actually frightened of things. He enjoyed role-playing Hank's terror, running screaming at the slightest provocation; the rest of the party would roll their eyes and have to rescue him. That vulnerability made for a great horror game.But that's not typical D&D. At least not anymore. And for evidence of how gameplay has changed, we have a more recent example.<h3>We Need to Talk About Keyleth</h3>Keyleth is a half-elf druid from Critical Role who has gotten even more publicity in Amazon's new animated series, <a href="https://www.enworld.org/threads/the-legend-of-vox-machina-bawdy-bloody-and-funny.685626/" target="_blank">The Legend of Vox Machina</a>. There are several moments in the cartoon where Keyleth, a capable druid (and potentially the most powerful caster in the group), freezes up. She doesn't always cast the right spells or any spells at all. A little digging revealed that this is also true to the streaming series, <a href="https://www.polygon.com/22939528/critical-role-legend-of-vox-machina-justice-for-keyleth-vax-kiss" target="_blank">as Polygon recounts</a>:This choice, to play a character who is complicated and uncomfortable with her powers, made her a less effective party member. She's doesn't enter the stage as a fully-formed hero, more a young character struggling to live up to the enormous expectations on her shoulders. It's a narrative choice, but not necessarily one optimized for party survival. In the cartoon, this makes for interesting in drama. But it frustrated critics of the streaming series, who were very harsh on Keyleth and her player, Marisha Ray. And in case it's not clear, Ray is quite capable as a cast member and the company's creative director:<h3>New Players, New Play Styles</h3>In the continual push-pull between role-play and combat, squad-like efficiency are no longer a baseline assumption for all players. <a href="https://www.enworld.org/threads/worlds-of-design-the-ways-of-war.677927/" target="_blank">Traditional D&D came out of military historical roots</a>, but new players without that background are bringing narrative-first characters, character who are flawed because it's fun to role-play and grow. And that's no less a valid choice than Hank's terror or Keyleth's insecurity. It's just different, and as new players join D&D, we're going to see a lot more of it.Your Turn: Have you ever played a deeply flawed character who intentionally didn't use their abilities to the fullest?</blockquote>

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