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What D&D reflects today, media wise...
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<blockquote data-quote="TheAlkaizer" data-source="post: 8522282" data-attributes="member: 7024893"><p>I started with 3E, and to me D&D never really reflected much of <em>Lord of the Rings</em>. There's obviously a huge and undeniable part of the DNA of D&D and fantasy as a whole that comes from it. But D&D was always too pulpy to feel <em>Lord of the Rings</em>. To me, <em>Lord of the Rings</em> always felt very coherent and muted. If it was a painting, it'd have low saturation, greys, beiges, browns with specks of color at specific places. D&D always felt like an overwhelming deluge of ideas. The amplitude between the tamest and wildest ideas is huge. If it was a painting, it'd have clashing colors all over the place. But once again, I didn't play 2E (I did once) and didn't experience that era (and the previous ones) of D&D.</p><p></p><p>The Witcher is definitely much closer in tone to my concept of D&D. It's still rooted in something a bit realistic and historical, but it has a scope that's closer to what I experienced as a player. And most things that are magical are explained; spells have words, there's a method to it, there's recipes to mutagens, etc. Where in Lord of the Rings it's all very mysterious and unexplainable.</p><p></p><p>I think where the relationship to DOTA is interesting is that DOTA is also highly ecclectic. It's characters are all very different, weirds and not much is explained. It's common throughout many video game franchises: APEX, Dota, League of Legends, Overwatch. Humongous casts of colorful character. Coherence is not the goal.</p><p></p><p>I'm a huge fan of history, so I tend to base myself on some historical realities and I lean towards low-fantasy or grimdark settings. But most of the players that are my age or younger (I'm 31) lean towards these colorful and eclectic characters that could come out of one of these franchises. To them, D&D is making a character that's very unique. It'll have pink hair, weird contraption as glasses, or look/garments that could come out of anything historical period or more modern esthetic (leather coat). They really seem to pull heavily on popular culture and mix things (Steampunk, 18th century gothic, Renaissance, Bronze age, etc). I don't mind it, but I notice the difference in mindset and approach.</p><p></p><p>So, the distinction I'd make is that I don't think the way D&D presents itself has changed much since the 3E (it has in many ways, but no in the ways you describe) but I think there's been a shift in the playerbase and they're bringing different influences and it has became of vessel of mixing up any creative ideas people want to play with. I also think the eternal debate of "homebrew D&D to play any genre or setting VS learn a new RPG adapted for it" is also related to that shift in some ways. The rules of D&D are good enough to create fiction, and people just want to jump around and experience other things.</p><p></p><p>The interesting question could be: do we think D&D <em>will</em> change how it presents itself to cater to this new perspective on the hobby?</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="TheAlkaizer, post: 8522282, member: 7024893"] I started with 3E, and to me D&D never really reflected much of [I]Lord of the Rings[/I]. There's obviously a huge and undeniable part of the DNA of D&D and fantasy as a whole that comes from it. But D&D was always too pulpy to feel [I]Lord of the Rings[/I]. To me, [I]Lord of the Rings[/I] always felt very coherent and muted. If it was a painting, it'd have low saturation, greys, beiges, browns with specks of color at specific places. D&D always felt like an overwhelming deluge of ideas. The amplitude between the tamest and wildest ideas is huge. If it was a painting, it'd have clashing colors all over the place. But once again, I didn't play 2E (I did once) and didn't experience that era (and the previous ones) of D&D. The Witcher is definitely much closer in tone to my concept of D&D. It's still rooted in something a bit realistic and historical, but it has a scope that's closer to what I experienced as a player. And most things that are magical are explained; spells have words, there's a method to it, there's recipes to mutagens, etc. Where in Lord of the Rings it's all very mysterious and unexplainable. I think where the relationship to DOTA is interesting is that DOTA is also highly ecclectic. It's characters are all very different, weirds and not much is explained. It's common throughout many video game franchises: APEX, Dota, League of Legends, Overwatch. Humongous casts of colorful character. Coherence is not the goal. I'm a huge fan of history, so I tend to base myself on some historical realities and I lean towards low-fantasy or grimdark settings. But most of the players that are my age or younger (I'm 31) lean towards these colorful and eclectic characters that could come out of one of these franchises. To them, D&D is making a character that's very unique. It'll have pink hair, weird contraption as glasses, or look/garments that could come out of anything historical period or more modern esthetic (leather coat). They really seem to pull heavily on popular culture and mix things (Steampunk, 18th century gothic, Renaissance, Bronze age, etc). I don't mind it, but I notice the difference in mindset and approach. So, the distinction I'd make is that I don't think the way D&D presents itself has changed much since the 3E (it has in many ways, but no in the ways you describe) but I think there's been a shift in the playerbase and they're bringing different influences and it has became of vessel of mixing up any creative ideas people want to play with. I also think the eternal debate of "homebrew D&D to play any genre or setting VS learn a new RPG adapted for it" is also related to that shift in some ways. The rules of D&D are good enough to create fiction, and people just want to jump around and experience other things. The interesting question could be: do we think D&D [I]will[/I] change how it presents itself to cater to this new perspective on the hobby? [/QUOTE]
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