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<blockquote data-quote="EzekielRaiden" data-source="post: 9270197" data-attributes="member: 6790260">Perhaps more precisely: The ToH/&quot;deadlier style&quot; (with a strong emphasis on logistics, heisting, and hirelings) was once hegemonic; if you wanted to play D&amp;D, you had to play that, it was the only game in town. Relatively quickly, though, other styles started to percolate up, and that's where derogatory terms like &quot;Monty Haul campaign&quot; (amongst others) came from. Then Dragonlance showed you could have a legit LotR-like, full-fantasy-epic story as part of gameplay, and that got a good number of people very excited.All of these styles have continued to contribute to the ongoing conversation that influences the currently-predominant style. &quot;Ultra Violence&quot; difficulty (as DOOM would put it) fell very hard out of fashion sometime in the late 80s or early 90s, only to get a huge shot in the arm from the OSR movement in the 00s. It's since retreated again, certainly not disappearing, but falling back to a niche position. The DL-influenced epic-adventure style has been augmented by heavy character-driven narrative and the lightest touch of &quot;Nar&quot;/&quot;Story Now&quot; gameplay interests, in part due to the influence of high-profile podcasts like The Adventure Zone and Critical Role (the latter especially so, where the player characters in IIRC the first campaign become straight-up chosen representatives of various deities working to defeat a cosmic-level threat.) I wouldn't be surprised if the rise of carefully-scripted network TV (pioneered by Babylon 5) is at least partially responsible for this.There's still appetite for high challenge...as a sometimes food, a supplement to a more epic-tale-of-adventure diet. Getting a boss fight here or there that makes the players think of Dark Souls or Elden Ring--legitimately difficult but fair and solvable--is a wise move for many parties. Likewise, I find many folks really do appreciate well-made logistic challenges as an occasional refreshing change of pace, or as the connective tissue between more &quot;zoomed in&quot; exploration/adventure/roleplay/combat. Of course, the &quot;well-made&quot; is often a sticking point, but nonetheless it's still there. It's just not the bread-and-butter anymore.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="EzekielRaiden, post: 9270197, member: 6790260"] Perhaps more precisely: The ToH/"deadlier style" (with a strong emphasis on logistics, heisting, and hirelings) was once hegemonic; if you wanted to play D&D, you had to play that, it was the only game in town. Relatively quickly, though, other styles started to percolate up, and that's where derogatory terms like "Monty Haul campaign" (amongst others) came from. Then Dragonlance showed you could have a legit LotR-like, full-fantasy-epic story as part of gameplay, and that got a good number of people very excited. All of these styles have continued to contribute to the ongoing conversation that influences the currently-predominant style. "Ultra Violence" difficulty (as DOOM would put it) fell very hard out of fashion sometime in the late 80s or early 90s, only to get a huge shot in the arm from the OSR movement in the 00s. It's since retreated again, certainly not disappearing, but falling back to a niche position. The DL-influenced epic-adventure style has been augmented by heavy character-driven narrative and the lightest touch of "Nar"/"Story Now" gameplay interests, in part due to the influence of high-profile podcasts like [I]The Adventure Zone[/I] and [I]Critical Role[/I] (the latter especially so, where the player characters in IIRC the first campaign become straight-up chosen representatives of various deities working to defeat a cosmic-level threat.) I wouldn't be surprised if the rise of carefully-scripted network TV (pioneered by [I]Babylon 5[/I]) is at least partially responsible for this. There's still appetite for high challenge...as a sometimes food, a supplement to a more epic-tale-of-adventure diet. Getting a boss fight here or there that makes the players think of Dark Souls or Elden Ring--legitimately difficult but [I]fair[/I] and [I]solvable[/I]--is a wise move for many parties. Likewise, I find many folks really do appreciate well-made logistic challenges as an occasional refreshing change of pace, or as the connective tissue between more "zoomed in" exploration/adventure/roleplay/combat. Of course, the "well-made" is often a sticking point, but nonetheless it's still [I]there[/I]. It's just not the bread-and-butter anymore. [/QUOTE]

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