D&D 5E The Mainstreaming of D&D

[Reynard]

I honestly don't see any difference in the material with regard to being more "safe, kid friendly" or having a different direction than it always has. Could someone elaborate on these things?

The main difference I see in content is that the game, and to some extent the player base, has grown. As much as I appreciate Gygax and Arneson for creating D&D, it is easy to see today that they came from a place of simplistic tropes and stereotypes, and fairly unimaginative (by today's standards) "Fantasy" gaming. That is just my opinion. Gygax specifically was very focused on keeping the game grounded in a romanticized medieval European aesthetic.

Emphasis mine.

Wait, what?

 

[Reynard]

Try Cypher System. We play 5E and 3E and 1E modules as well as homebrew, and it is much more satisfying than DnD for me and my 1980s grognard group. Fixed everything I had houseruled. It is SO not vanilla.

That said, I do remember in the 80s during the Panic a sense of coolness for being in that outside nerd/freak group lol

While the aesthetic of Numernera is right up my alley, the Cypher system is definitely not for me after multiple tries.

 

[Reynard]

Can you elaborate on the shape you see it taking?

If I see one more happy bunny person in a Hogwarts uniform, or another cutesy tiefling making a "oopsie" face...

 

[el-remmen]

For me at least, this feeling has nothing to do with the rules of 5E or any edition, but more to do with game culture and expectations. I am running 5E and loving it for the most part but for me D&D is at least as much a DIY hobby as it is a game - but that former perspective is kind of at odds with the idea of consistent game experience/expectation of a mainstream game.

That said, I mostly get that OLD feeling in online spaces - when I actually run the game for folks who love it but could not care less about message boards or DnD twitter or whatever, they look to me to set the tone and expectations and enjoy the heck out of it.

Edit to add: This thread reminds me of one I started a while back.

 

[Oofta]

So D&D was cool before it went lamestream like your favorite band?

 

[BookTenTiger]

If I see one more happy bunny person in a Hogwarts uniform, or another cutesy tiefling making a "oopsie" face...

Huh?

Where are you seeing this?

 

[Reynard]

So D&D was cool before it went lamestream like your favorite band?

Dookie is still their best album.

 

[Reynard]

Huh?

Where are you seeing this?

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Uninspired. It feels like TMNT on saturday mornings compared to its origins. It feels a lot like teh 2E transition, in fact, with everything glossy and clean and, well, safe.

I mean, maybe it's because I started with 2E, but I've kind of always felt this way about D&D. I don't see it changing at all because of the mainstreaming. In fact, most of the stuff mainstreaming is showing up is stuff I'd seen as tendencies in D&D for 30 years.

I do get the analogy - my bro and I briefly got to read TMNT before it reached UK TV and became TMHT and so on, the original, edgy comics, but I don't D&D has been that since 1E, and I don't think D&D was that even the '80s, even if AD&D was - the B/X stuff has a much more safe vibe, and RC D&D (which is awesome) is completely in-line with modern D&D.

 

[Marc_C]

You should play one of the TSR editions if you want to be part of an obscure group of people again. It's not mainstream, lots of weird stuff going on and it's 'edgy' because of all the colonial political underpinnings.