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Message: <blockquote data-quote="el-remmen" data-source="post: 8333813" data-attributes="member: 11">To get back to the mainstreaming and "feel" - one thing that doesn't jibe with me personally is the comparison of D&D to an action movie (or certain kinds of anime) and the expectation it play out that way. This is not necessarily "new" (lots of people played "story-forward" D&D as far back as the early 80s, if not earlier) I just hear it as a point of comparison more often it seems when describing the game to newer players.[If you're feeling tl;dr-ish just jump down to "But here is the important part"]I mean, I like action movies fine (I love Die Hard - nearly perfect movie and when it comes to anime I prefer something like Grave of Fireflies) and I think certain elements or encounters can have an action movie or over the top anime feel and be hella fun, but I don't play or run the game to feel like I am in an action movie (my guess is other systems would be better for that anyway), I play/run to experience a world and make changes to it if (as a player) I get powerful and influential enough but am happy to just survive it and do the best I can in the process OR to mediate that experience for others (as DM) and just see what happens - so for me, I don't want any kind of "plot protection" in my games, I don't want cut scenes flashing back to the past or having scenes the PCs are not present for described to me (don't cut away to the BBEG plotting). If Luke, Han, Leia and Chewy are escaping the Death Star we know they aren't going to be shot and killed (most likely - might be why I have never much enjoyed licensed franchise games much), but if Redgar, Alhandra, Krusk, and Eberk are trying to escape the Dark Lord's palace, I expect there to be a decent chance one or more will be killed or captured. I want things described as our characters would sense them, not as if on a screen we are watching (I don't want close-ups or aerial views or tracking shots - DMs using film language to describe a scene irks me - on the other hand using comic book language to describe a Supers game feels right), let us go totally off the rails and be wrong and never even get to adventure climax if our choices drive us there. If we didn't bring enough rope and there is none to be found, I don't want to handwave if there is rope. If we find 20,000 cps, I want to actually try to figure out if there is a convenient way to carry it all out or if it is even worth trying - a puzzle is a puzzle and our characters decide which puzzles are worth our time. If I decide to leap off an exploding tower tied to fraying remains of what rope we have, I want there to be a decent chance I actually die or am grievously wounded from doing something desperate and unlikely, rather than happen to find a window to leap into clear of the blast because of "coolness" factor. There is no narratively appropriate time for a PC to die in my eyes. Or if there is, it is because in-game someone took the opportunity to craft the story so it sounds good to NPCs being entertained at the inn, not because it necessarily played out that way.But here is the important part:I've been running my current 5E games like this and it has been great - but I also know that I am vastly in the minority.If this thread is about our personal feelings about the feel of the game and its expectations that is where I am at.If this thread is about how D&D should be designed and marketed by WotC then what I want and what I like shouldn't really matter. I already play and I am gonna keep playing some version of the game. I am also of the belief that while WotC may technically own D&D, no one actually owns D&D and there will be lots of different people playing with lots of different approaches themes, expectations, and results no matter what the current edition of the game was intended to be like - and leaving every other detail aside, that is what I want out of D&D.</blockquote>

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