D&D (2024) What innovative elements from Baldur's Gate 3 would you like to see implimented in 2024 D&D?

[Reynard]

The lack of bear member… no pun intended… doesn't make this scene ok.

It’s just naaaasty.

It fine for you to not be okay with it, but you are being extremely judgemental whether you realize it or not.

But aside from that: so it is not a game for you. Ask WotC to make a sanitized family friendly game. If enough people do, they will, because they like money. But if the thing that makes money is the one with wildshape sex...

 

[Vaalingrade]

It is NOT sex with a bear, as has been pointed out many times.

And that's why people are so upset!

They were all ready for a Big Daddy Bear and then were left holding their Rod of Lordly Might with no charges left.

 

[Scribe]

So, yeah its over the top. Nobody but Halsin has been forward after I declared my interest for a different character. I believe this will insulate me from the bear issue.

Speaking of which I think it says more about the character or player. He's a Druid. He's all about that shape shift life. To him, he's just being himself.

It's a weird question but I prefer my games ask questions.

 

[TheSword]

It fine for you to not be okay with it, but you are being extremely judgemental whether you realize it or not.

But aside from that: so it is not a game for you. Ask WotC to make a sanitized family friendly game. If enough people do, they will, because they like money. But if the thing that makes money is the one with wildshape sex...

I’m not sure that’s how appreciating a product works. As has been said many times people are allowed to say the ways something could be better - in their opinion - without being told that they should try something else. Larian are custodians of this IP as much as WotC are of DnD and I’m allowed to say what I don’t like in the hope they or somebody else does it better next time.

Surely as a group we’re not so jaded that there isn’t a spectrum between no romance of any kind and bear on elf action.

I also think you’re putting the cart before the horse to say the game is successful because of the bear sex and the doggy style bugbear/ogre ambush, and not in spite of them. I’m all for writing for a niche but are you honestly saying these two scenes make the game a better product? They improve the experience?

By the way I’m totally fine with being a little judgemental about thinking it’s cool for bears to be making sweet sweet love to elves. To be clear this wasn’t some anthropomorphic bear man… he actually said he was going ‘big’ and transformed into an actual bear. I struggle to see how you get round that. I get the Overton window has shifted on this but surely not that far.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

The lack of bear member… no pun intended… doesn't make this scene ok.

It’s just naaaasty.

You know what they say, once you go bear, you'll never stop spitting out hair.

 

[Scott Christian]

I think we can look at the Vox animated series and see the same sexual/crass humor. I mean, if I remember correctly, it starts out with the halfling bard's head between some giant orc or ogre's legs. And while I don't watch them, I know from clips many of the streams offer some pretty sexually explicit humor.
Perhaps it's a spin off from those 80's and 90's fantasy movies that always intertwined sex?

From a tabletop perspective, it has always seemed odd when sex is never mentioned (provided people are at the age to hear it). It doesn't need to be detailed, but a slight nod that at the end of tavern night this new couple is stealing your room for a moment of togetherness or some druidic full moon celebration or whatever. It has always seemed natural to the players I've sat down with to have it slightly incorporated into the game world. (PS - The same goes for love, which seems to be left out of sooooo many campaigns. And considering it is one of the biggest motivators for people in the world, it seems silly to not have it be present and pronounced.)

 

[TwoSix]

I also think you’re putting the cart before the horse to say the game is successful because of the bear sex and the doggy style bugbear/ogre ambush, and not in spite of them. I’m all for writing for a niche but are you honestly saying these two scenes make the game a better product? They improve the experience?

Yes, absolutely. It demonstrates a commitment to really thinking through the mindsets of the characters, and not just having them be combat fodder or standard tropes.

By the way I’m totally fine with being a little judgemental about thinking it’s cool for bears to be making sweet sweet love to elves. To be clear this wasn’t some anthropomorphic bear man… he actually said he was going ‘big’ and transformed into an actual bear. I struggle to see how you get round that. I get the Overton window has shifted on this but surely not that far.

It's not about being titillated by the bear sex.

At one level, it's just the surprise/shock factor that they went there, which makes it fun to talk about. ("Did you see that?") But secondly, it's about appreciating that the makers of the game understand that in a fantasy world with myriad races, myriad deities and codes of conduct, and readily available shapeshifting magic and healing magic, of course standards around sex would be widely different than the real world. There's a commitment to the verisimiltude of the fantasy setting, on top of just the sheer enjoyment of prurience.

 

[Reynard]

Even as sanitized as it is, D&D:HAT enjoys a little nod toward fun deviance with the gnome with the giant barbarian woman fetish. It's almost as if we expect human characters to have human feelings, including sexual desire.

 

[TheSword]

Even as sanitized as it is, D&D:HAT enjoys a little nod toward fun deviance with the gnome with the giant barbarian woman fetish. It's almost as if we expect human characters to have human feelings, including sexual desire.

Note they didn’t put that the other way around, for good reason, unlike BG3.

 

[TheSword]

Yes, absolutely. It demonstrates a commitment to really thinking through the mindsets of the characters, and not just having them be combat fodder or standard tropes.


It's not about being titillated by the bear sex.

At one level, it's just the surprise/shock factor that they went there, which makes it fun to talk about. ("Did you see that?") But secondly, it's about appreciating that the makers of the game understand that in a fantasy world with myriad races, myriad deities and codes of conduct, and readily available shapeshifting magic and healing magic, of course standards around sex would be widely different than the real world. There's a commitment to the verisimiltude of the fantasy setting, on top of just the sheer enjoyment of prurience.

It’s salacious and unnecessary. Prurience isn’t generally seen as a good thing. The sum total of bear sex, ogre sex, constant hit ons, multiple party members repeatedly trying it on, and a sexual relationship being the capstone achievement of a characters interaction adds a fairly sleazy dimension to a game that didn’t need to be there. Which is off putting in what is otherwise an excellent story.

I totally accept that some folks may enjoy that stuff for whatever reason. Just that there are lots that don’t. Life would be very dull if every human interaction of significance boiled down to whether it got you closer to sex or not. I would have liked to see more significant NPC relationships that didn’t revolve around sex which seems more ‘Mature’ than an interaction system that plays like it was written and directed by a 15 year old boy.