Salamandyr
Adventurer
I think I'm okay with "Superhero D&D" and I'm okay with non-super, or let's call it "Action hero D&D" to differentiate John McClaine from Batman. What I'd like though, is for the designers to recognize that these are two different styles of play and shouldn't necessarily mix at the same table.
For instance, let's consider Conan and Li Mu Bai from "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon". Both are great swordsmen. Both have trained long and hard One is so powerful he can do some improbable things, the other has trained long and hard to the point he can fly. Now the difference between Conan and Li Mu Bai isn't that one is a fighter and the other is a monk. The difference is...one's based on Western pulp fiction and the other is based on Wuxia fiction. If Conan were written as a wuxia character, he would be able to fly and balance on bamboo too.
This is a different dichotomy than "mundane/magical". Magic is explicitly about doing physically impossible things, usually in fiction, with a price attached that makes the doing a dangerous enterprise. Li Mu Bai's abilities are explicitly something that if you train long and hard enough, you can do.
That's why I'd like for a DM to be able to say "this is a Conan style game" or they could say "this is a wuxia style game" and that would modify every class.
Disclaimer: While my example hews to the dichotomy between Easter/Western fiction, this isn't about about culturally Asian vs Culturally Eastern mythology or fantasy. One could as easily write a Western style story with Wuxia style martial arts (as has been done a time or two), or an Eastern tale in the Western style. If East & West is an uncomfortable comparison, consider as an alternative "comic book" vs. "action movie".
For instance, let's consider Conan and Li Mu Bai from "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon". Both are great swordsmen. Both have trained long and hard One is so powerful he can do some improbable things, the other has trained long and hard to the point he can fly. Now the difference between Conan and Li Mu Bai isn't that one is a fighter and the other is a monk. The difference is...one's based on Western pulp fiction and the other is based on Wuxia fiction. If Conan were written as a wuxia character, he would be able to fly and balance on bamboo too.
This is a different dichotomy than "mundane/magical". Magic is explicitly about doing physically impossible things, usually in fiction, with a price attached that makes the doing a dangerous enterprise. Li Mu Bai's abilities are explicitly something that if you train long and hard enough, you can do.
That's why I'd like for a DM to be able to say "this is a Conan style game" or they could say "this is a wuxia style game" and that would modify every class.
Disclaimer: While my example hews to the dichotomy between Easter/Western fiction, this isn't about about culturally Asian vs Culturally Eastern mythology or fantasy. One could as easily write a Western style story with Wuxia style martial arts (as has been done a time or two), or an Eastern tale in the Western style. If East & West is an uncomfortable comparison, consider as an alternative "comic book" vs. "action movie".
