It's weird that people keep saying this, when I have not only played a bunch of different RPGs in the 35 years I have been gaming, but I've written for a pretty wide variety, too.Maybe try some other TTRPGs?
It's weird that people keep saying this, when I have not only played a bunch of different RPGs in the 35 years I have been gaming, but I've written for a pretty wide variety, too.Maybe try some other TTRPGs?
It's weird that people keep saying this, when I have not only played a bunch of different RPGs in the 35 years I have been gaming, but I've written for a pretty wide variety, too.
Admittedly, those games are harder to find players for.Oh, it's just about the particular thesis that D&D is no longer weird and transgressive for you.
There's always something weirder out there, if you turn over enough rocks!
To be fair, you did tag this as D&D5e, so I imagine the conversation is going to be based around that context.It's weird that people keep saying this, when I have not only played a bunch of different RPGs in the 35 years I have been gaming, but I've written for a pretty wide variety, too.
The Saturday Morning Cartoon version was on the air when I was 2, so it's primary to my mind, and awesome.Yeah, TMNT was a very cool, strange, quirky, kinda punk rock black and white comic that I knew primarily through the Palladium RPG. Then it morphed into something for kids. I mean, I was a kid, but I liked it because it wasn't for kids, you know?
I was also a kid with a subscription to Daredevil at the time, so the parody was right in my face.Yeah, TMNT was a very cool, strange, quirky, kinda punk rock black and white comic that I knew primarily through the Palladium RPG. Then it morphed into something for kids. I mean, I was a kid, but I liked it because it wasn't for kids, you know?
Can you elaborate on the shape you see it taking?First and foremost: I am glad D&D is having a renaissance, and I am glad lots of new people are coming into the hobby. I am glad there is a robust 3rd part of semi-pro support ecosystem out there. I am glad there are YouTube channels, streamers and tik-toks aplenty on the subject of running and playing the game. I am glad celebrities are "coming out" as fans.
All that said, if I am honest, I liked it better when D&D was a nerdy little hobby that felt a little weird and a little transgressive. I'm not lamenting exclusion -- it is great that everyone gets to discover D&D -- nor am I missing the unfriendly stereotypes of old school sword and sorcery -- although you can take Frazetta from my cold dead hands. It's more like as I see what is emerging for D&D in this new mainstream environment, I am... bored. 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.
Anyway, just thinking with my fingers, really. Like I said, it is good that D&D is popular and mainstream for any number of reasons. But the shape it is taking in the mainstream leaves me cold, a little sad even.
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.I agree completely.
DnD is pop music. It's vanilla.
Maybe it's time to dig deeper into the scene and play other stuff.