D&D General Things That Bug You

[Charlaquin]

Can a youngun define "LFG" for me?

Looking For Group. It comes from MMOs, where you often need specific roles filled in your party (usually healer, tank, damage dealer, and sometimes crowd control) to be effective in high-level content. So, if you planned to go into a dungeon and didn’t have a ready-made group, you would LFG - sometimes through an app or other matchmaking service, sometimes by standing outside the dungeon and spamming “DPS looking for Healer!” until someone responded. Also, because everyone and their mom wants to play a DPS character (that’s Damage Per Second), it’s generally very easy to find a group as a healer or tank, and very hard to find one as DPS.

 

[Charlaquin]

That was precisely the problem. It was a puzzle game but the pieces were random. If your group rolled 2 fighters and 2 thieves, you had no wizard or cleric and most settings lacked caster hirelings. So fighting, thievery, and magic was slowly handed to other classes.

This is why this system is/was popular in single player CRPGs. One player played the whole party and could reroll as many times they wished.

Yeah, like I said. I think point buy or similar systems work better in this old-school LFG context so you can create a character specifically to fill a needed role in the party. In the new-school context where everyone can fill any role and party composition doesn’t really matter, rolled stats are much more fun. Either way gives you a combination of restrictions and flexibility, which in my view are key components to fostering creativity. They are just each flexible and restrictive in opposite ways from the other.

 

[Minigiant]

Can a youngun define "LFG" for me?

Ohhh me. I'm young (is in thirties)

LFG meaning Looking For a Group. It's a thing from MMORPGs where players would look from players of specific classes to fill in "required" roles in their party. AKA 3 damage dealers and a crowd control would look for a tank and a healer and use the game's matchmatching system or shout LRG or Looking for Healer in chat.

However, some classes were more popular that others and some roles were filled by many classes.

So the problem is that you'd have an abundance of one role (DPS, CC) and scarcity of another (healers, pullers, and tanks). Sopeople would begrudgingly play classes they didn't like just to get a spot to play.

Eventually to combat this, many designers started giving every class access to multiple roles.

 

[Reynard]

Eventually to combat this, many designers started giving every class access to multiple roles.

From a tabletop perspective, the better answer is to have enough avenues of engagement that there is no such thing as a "missing role."

 

[el-remmen]

From a tabletop perspective, the better answer is to have enough avenues of engagement that there is no such thing as a "missing role."

Speaking of things that bug me! The MMORPG descriptors of striker, tank, etc (and their variation) making their way into D&D.* I have no issue with describing common roles that emerge in game play, but when the roles become prescriptive instead of descriptive and playing the game without certain roles appears "impossible" instead of "how can I use what is available to me in different ways to overcome this challenge?" it strikes me as limiting, esp. to newer players who adopt that framework.

*at least that is how I remember it. It could be these roles pre-date stuff like WoW, but I never heard them until after - and certainly MMORPGs helped spread that nomenclature.

 

[Reynard]

Speaking of things that bug me! The MMORPG descriptors of striker, tank, etc (and their variation) making their way into D&D.* I have no issue with describing common roles that emerge in game play, but when the roles become prescriptive instead of descriptive and playing the game without certain roles appears "impossible" instead of "how can I use what is available to me in different ways to overcome this challenge?" it strikes me as limiting, esp. to newer players who adopt that framework.

*at least that is how I remember it. It could be these roles pre-date stuff like WoW, but I never heard them until after - and certainly MMORPGs helped spread that nomenclature.

I think the degree to which it is prescriptive depends on the avenue into D&D. In the 3.x era I think you are right: many players (new and returning) came from MMORPGs and it was more of a problem. I think that is less the case with 5E, where lots of players are entering the hobby by way of streaming.

 

[Reynard]

Have I mentioned cutesy art and comedy relief NPCs yet? Because AARGH. Yeah, I'm looking at you, Lulu.

 

[Oofta]

Speaking of things that bug me! The MMORPG descriptors of striker, tank, etc (and their variation) making their way into D&D.* I have no issue with describing common roles that emerge in game play, but when the roles become prescriptive instead of descriptive and playing the game without certain roles appears "impossible" instead of "how can I use what is available to me in different ways to overcome this challenge?" it strikes me as limiting, esp. to newer players who adopt that framework.

*at least that is how I remember it. It could be these roles pre-date stuff like WoW, but I never heard them until after - and certainly MMORPGs helped spread that nomenclature.

I had a PC in the early 90s called "Tank" because he was a heavily armor fighter. It seemed like the term was pretty wide spread, so at least some of it predates MMOs.

 

[Oofta]

I was curious about the origin of some of the other terms, and happened to google "striker" first. from EtymologyOnline

striker (n.)​

late 14c., "vagabond," agent noun from strike (v.). From mid-15c. as "coiner;" 1580s as "fighter;" 1850 as "worker on strike;" 1963 as a soccer position.​

So I guess the term striker does seem to precede MMOs just a bit. Like, by a little over 500 years.

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

8 stats would probably fix most of the balance issues: Strength, Dexterity, Agility, Constitution, Intelligence, Willpower, Perception, Charisma.

I'd go with a different list, with each ability:

• Prowess (strength + constitution, athetism etc), Save: M
• Agility (speed and finesse fighting),
• Willpower (mix charisma and wisdom)
• Precision (Archery, lockpicking)
• Perception (senses, Initiative etc)
• Cunning (bluffing, intelligence stuff, disguise etc),

and a Magic or Power stat only for spellcasters. All spellcasters have this for spellcasting ability.