D&D General What Should Today's Archetypes Be

[Aldarc]

Wrong age

Older millennials and young Xers were kids during the HeMan through Transformers era.

Sorta. I'm an older millennial. A lot of the He-Man, Transformers, and GI Joe toys had already been out for a number of years by the time that I was actually old enough to really play with them as a kid, and they could be found in yard/garage sales or flea markets. The episodes were either on reruns or you would watch some of these episodes by renting them from Blockbuster. But in terms of new episodes and new toys coming out fresh? Not so much.

With Transformers, it was mostly the tail end and decline that I experienced: e.g., Micromasters, Powermasters, and Action Masters. Likewise, Generation 2 Transformers was a failed attempt to revitalize the series. It was not really until Beast Wars in the mid-90s that Transformers swung back up in popularity. He-Man really was already dead by this point, and the New Adventures of He-Man was an absolute forgettable dud.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Also, anime outside of some space opera stuff wasn't commonly available in the late 80s to mid 90s.
Especially not more available than The Hobbit movie, The Princess Bride, Conan, Highlander, Excalibur, Chronicles of Narnia, Robin Hood and dozens of other fantasy shows, movies and books.

I know my peers were watching Sailor Moon and DBZ. Maybe Naruto? Idk I didn’t watch anime until well after high school.

I definitely think the underlying ethos of the game would be totally different from early D&D. Less imperialistic biases, more anti-capitalist biases. Less “you can always kill gobbo childrens and be a good guy!” crap, more “maybe the right thing to do is murder the local lord and help the towns and farms he rules over form a new independent state that their neighbors won’t risk invading.” And “we’re going to try to parlay with the dragon, and find out why it’s rampaging.”

 

[Reynard]

Because reasons, if created today, the D&D creators would be mid-late 30s or older. Likely 40s.

Why? I can't think of a reason for that assertion.

 

[Reynard]

Also, anime outside of some space opera stuff wasn't commonly available in the late 80s to mid 90s.
Especially not more available than The Hobbit movie, The Princess Bride, Conan, Highlander, Excalibur, Chronicles of Narnia, Robin Hood and dozens of other fantasy shows, movies and books.

This strikes me as odd. You think that cohort was more interested in 10 year old media than what was in front of them?

 

[doctorbadwolf]

This strikes me as odd. You think that cohort was more interested in 10 year old media than what was in front of them?

Based on my experience as part of that cohort, yeah.

We rewatched Labyrinth and Legend and such over and over.

 

[TwoSix]

This thread stipulates a world where D&D didn't exist until today, and then asks what the archetypes would be.
So, yes, the order of inspiration matters.

That's too much speculative history for me. Trying to unwind what current fantasy would look like if D&D had never been invented is a really complicated question.

I took the OP's question to be more of "Assuming we hold everything else to be the same, what would the inspirations of a D&D of 2024 be, if it was unencumbered by the past 50 years of its own history?"

 

[TwoSix]

Sorta. I'm an older millennial. A lot of the He-Man, Transformers, and GI Joe toys had already been out for a number of years by the time that I was actually old enough to really play with them as a kid, and they could be found in yard/garage sales or flea markets. The episodes were either on reruns or you would watch some of these episodes by renting them from Blockbuster. But in terms of new episodes and new toys coming out fresh? Not so much.

With Transformers, it was mostly the tail end and decline that I experienced: e.g., Micromasters, Powermasters, and Action Masters. Likewise, Generation 2 Transformers was a failed attempt to revitalize the series. It was not really until Beast Wars in the mid-90s that Transformers swung back up in popularity. He-Man really was already dead by this point, and the New Adventures of He-Man was an absolute forgettable dud.

Yea, the exact timeline really matters for what your formative influences end up being. Like, I'm a tail Xer (1978), and He-Man and Transformers were huge between 1984 to like 1987. That was when for me between ages 6 and 9, so yea, huge influence on me. My brother, who was born in '84, barely remembers them.

 

[deganawida]

Based on my experience as part of that cohort, yeah.

We rewatched Labyrinth and Legend and such over and over.

Anecdotal support for this: My wife is a millennial, and five years younger than me. The only 80s properties that I to which she has no attachment are Thundarr and Thundercats. She actually gets excited when I put on my old Filmation He-Man episodes, if she isn’t asking me to put the on already,, and Labyrinth is her all-time favorite movie.

I experienced similar with a former colleague who’s 8 years younger than me.

One thing to remember is that, though cable usage increased in the 90s, there were still plenty of people without cable, and syndication was still big.

 

[CreamCloud0]

just picking my 13 archetypes, what are people's thoughts on my picks?
1, The Battlemaster - Fighter+, excells at combat, provides additional combat buffs and support
2, The Spy - greater lean on information gathering and infiltration than the classic rogue
3, The Supporter - it's what it says but not just a healer, works with buffs and boosts as well as limited ability recovery
4, The Wizard - uses formalised magic systems, emphasis on systems, casters usually oriented around a theme
5, The Sorcerer - uses and directs wild or natural energies, psychic powers, channelling spirits or powers of gods/demons
6, The Hunter - the child of the ranger and the paladin, very knowledgable in specialised areas
7, The Artificer - a jack of all trades who specialises in 'upgrading' gear, tools and whatever's available
8, The Shapeshifter - put wildshape, the changeling and the playtest sorcerer in a blender and this is what you get
9, The Brawler - the child of the monk and barbarian, unarmed fighting and uses combat stances
10, The Ninja - fights smart, a more combat oriented rogue, a good amount of stealth and mobility too though
11, The Pilot - builds and operates some kind of specialised vehicle or mini-mech, be that a batcar or a gundam.
12, The Summoner - different subclasses focus on different types of companion and the dynamic with them
13, The Empowered - uses some unique weapon or item that is the focus of their powers, magical girl/magic sword/ect

 

[bedir than]

This strikes me as odd. You think that cohort was more interested in 10 year old media than what was in front of them?

Yes, I think things that were still on tv were more popular than shows that required you to go to a specialty video store and pay 5 hours of wages for one VHS tape were.