L
lowkey13
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*Deleted by user*
I'll start off by saying that I think the DIY attitude is something that's key to the D&D identity. If the PHB was integrated with a single setting, say, using a model like Shadowrun*, I probably wouldn't play it. That's just not D&D. It wouldn't matter which setting; I'm just not interested in a fantasy system tightly coupled to a setting. More than any other genre, other than maybe sci-fi, fantasy is about unique worlds.So, I've read numerous threads where people have argued that something isn't acceptable unless it is an official, WoTC product. And this very much goes against the grain of how I learned to play and run D&D. While I sometimes call it a DIY thing, I really think of it as more of a punk aesthetic.
I had literal reams of home brew material for AD&D, plus several Role Aids products and Dragon Magazines. I still have a couple folders of home brew and six magazine boxes (about 2 linear feet) full of Dragon.So, a bit of grognard history. D&D (OD&D) was originally a confusing mismatch of rules and supplements that required a fair amount of work and houserules just to, well, get it to work. It was the definition of a "hobby." With the advent of BECMI (Holmes first) and AD&D a lot of this was systematized ... and yet, it was still a punk hobby.
I'm a BECMI/AD&D grognard, too. Even several years into the 2E run, I was "officially" running 1E AD&D with cherries picked from 2E. Specifically, I thought (and still think) TWF Rangers were stupid, so you played 1E Rangers with 2E Ranger stealth. On the other hand, Priests completely replaced the 1E Cleric. Most expansions worked with either edition and, by the time I took a break from D&D, I think we were probably more playing 2E with cherries picked from 1E. Regardless, it was almost totally transparent and clearly the same game.Well, there was a lot of mixing and matching between rule sets. BECMI and AD&D were largely compatible, and many tables used rules and books from them interchangeably.
I think there are a number of factors in play. A certain amount of it comes from aspects of 3E and some of it is just being in a different phase of life.Now, the pendulum began to swing, certainly by the 3e era. And I can understand why people are more comfortable with branded material. But in essence, this is a hobbyist's game still. It is about creation, not just consumption. Or, to put it in the punk parlance, about being given the basic tools to create your own band, not about listening to ELO.
So, I can understand and sympathize with the desire to have WoTC release products. Roughly, this can be boiled down to the following factors-
1. Convenience. I'd rather have someone else create it than me. (But this shouldn't apply to the wealth of material on the DM's Guild or, more importantly, that is freely available on the intertubez).
2. Brand. WoTC has a brand, and an interest in protecting same. As such, their products will be a higher quality in order to protect it. I will pay a premium for that assumed protection.
3. Consistency. I would like my product to be the same as that used by others.
4. Emotional support. I enjoyed X from the past; since WoTC is not "officially" supporting X, they are not supporting something I liked, and therefore, they do not like me. WHY DON'T YOU LIKE ME?
5. Moar Product. I just want WoTC to release more stuff, because I love 5e; it just happens that I want them to release more of what I want.
I am sympathetic to all of these claims (even (4)). But what I guess I don't understand is what happened to hobbyist/DIY/punk aesthetic that animated D&D? It's not missing; look at the threads and you can see people recounting their own, highly modified, campaigns. And I'm not arguing that "back in the old days," everyone did it right and customized the heck out the system. Naw; it wasn't born out of desire, but out of necessity; many "table rules," were often because of convenience or not reading all the cross-references and asides that Gygax buried, and the adoption of additional materials was because, TBH, you had to.
But still ... I like 5e because it is so highly adaptable. What do you think?
First reaction: Jeez, that's a lot of words.My last campaign had over 90 000 words of notes...
Careful, some folks get really upset when you point out how unlikely it is that the people that wrote what they don't like would end up writing something they do like if they just took a second crack at it.What I find most baffling is that so much of the demand for "official" product is coming from folks for whom it seems WotC hasn't done anything right since the launch of the edition.
So, I've read numerous threads where people have argued that something isn't acceptable unless it is an official, WoTC product.