D&D General What are underused-but-iconic D&D elements?

[LoganRan]

Traps and puzzles. With sessions of only 3 hours I no longer use them. Takes too much gaming time to resolve.

Personally, solving riddles/traps/puzzles was always my favorite part of the game. An adventure that was primarily focused on these types of encounters would be my ideal adventure and I would not feel as though I was "wasting" table time by engaging in them.

My preferred encounter types:

Exploration encounters (traps, puzzles, riddles, etc)

(noticeable gap)
Combat encounters




(huge gaping chasm)
Social encounters

Different strokes and all that...

 

[Lakesidefantasy]

Spell research.

In OD&D, the spell research rules appear before the spell list. This was not an accident.

I have to agree. Spell research is potentially something that could take a lot of gold off of Characters' hands. Instead of them complaining about not being able to buy magic items.

 

[Lakesidefantasy]

Castles and strongholds. Building them, defending them, laying siege to them, all that.

Yes. Again something to spend gold on.

 

[Lakesidefantasy]

Alternate rules/making up your own rules/experimental rules.

I actually think the developers encourage this, particularly with the latest version of the game. I hear a lot about it in this forum, but I don't see much of it at tables. Unearthed Arcana has become a way of introducing and play testing new class variants. I would like to see more rules experimentation in Unearthed Arcana.

 

[Marc_C]

Personally, solving riddles/traps/puzzles was always my favorite part of the game. An adventure that was primarily focused on these types of encounters would be my ideal adventure and I would not feel as though I was "wasting" table time by engaging in them.

My preferred encounter types:

Exploration encounters (traps, puzzles, riddles, etc)

(noticeable gap)
Combat encounters

(huge gaping chasm)
Social encounters

Different strokes and all that...

My group loves relevant social encounters (no useless shopping around with random NPCs).
_____
Logan's Run is one of my all time favourite movies!

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Non-heroic adventures. Classic D&D seldom used "noble quests" as the motivation for PCs, often relying on self-interest or greed (treasure hunting). One of the best 1E adventures was Pharaoh, which starts with the player's exiled into the Desert of Desolation. The motivation was simply survival, but there was still a lot of story within. Most modern adventures seem to assume the party is noble/heroic, and not everyone wants to play that kind of PC.

I mean, I think a lot of much older (pre-late-'80s) adventures just did the reverse, and assumed all PCs were basically mercenary types who were out for what they could get. Sometimes it was hard to see why a non-horrible (I use this in a "horrible histories" sense) character would even be there.

Your definition of "modern" vs "classic" here begs some questions, though, given most stuff from about 1988 onwards is "modern" in this sense, and quite a bit of stuff before it is, even. That's 33 years of "modernity", meaning D&D was only "classic" for what, 14?

That said I broadly agree that it'd be nice to see more adventures which are set up outside of assuming a "noble quest". They don't need to assume murderhobos either (who tend to ruin any adventure which has much meat to it), but it'd be nice to see more adventures of the kind that might lure types "out for gold and experience" as it were, rather than just "out to help people".

 

[LoganRan]

My group loves relevant social encounters (no useless shopping around with random NPCs).
_____
Logan's Run is one of my all time favourite movies!

I'm a big fan of classic 60's and 70's dystopian sci-fi.

If I was really creative, I would have come up with a moniker that was a mish-mash of Planet of the Apes (Charleston Heston version obviously), Logan's Run, THX 1138, The Omega Man and Soylent Green. Classics one and all.

 

[Seramus]

The IP monsters, and the spells to a lesser degree.

 

[schneeland]

Not nearly enough Owlbears

But more seriously: I also feel that the Dungeon as a habitat of many groups and powerful entities, with potentially opposing interests that can be leveraged by players, could see more use.

 

[guachi]

Underused and iconic?

Halflings.