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Why is tradition (in D&D) important to you? [+]
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<blockquote data-quote="overgeeked" data-source="post: 8452274" data-attributes="member: 86653"><p>I think of it like Chesterton's Fence. If you don't know why something is there, don't remove it. If you know why something is there and you can come up with a better way of doing it, go ahead. But removing something without reason simply to remove the thing isn't a great idea. Nor is changing things for change's sake. I'm not a neophile. I don't chase the new. Old things that still work, still work. Especially in regards to RPGs. It's an elfgame. There's smoother and easier, rougher and harder, better and worse...only in regards to producing a particular outcome. Not in objective terms. Rule X is good; rule Y is bad. It just doesn't work that way. Rule X is good for producing Z style results; rule Y is bad for producing Z style results.</p><p></p><p>For me, that's where a lot of my criticism of WotC D&D come from. If they change X, it just doesn't feel like D&D. Trouble is, I came in in the early 80s with B/X and AD&D. So most of the changes WotC made to D&D means that modern D&D just doesn't feel like D&D. Things like zero to hero characters in the old days compared to superheroes to gods in the WotC version of the game. They've changed things that I find foundational to the game experience I want. So it just doesn't feel like D&D anymore.</p><p></p><p>That was the first house rule I ever made. Any race, any class, any level. Well, second. After dropping gender-based modifiers. Yikes guys.</p><p></p><p>If I like the change, I think it's invigorating. If I don't like the change, I think it's a pointless break with tradition simply for the sake of chasing the new or diluting the game experience.</p><p></p><p>Continuity and Chesterton's Fence. My brothers introduced me to D&D when I was a kid. Probably too young for all the T&A in the old books (there's really not that much). I grew up playing. We all had kids and we've since brought all our kids into playing D&D with us. But their experience with D&D is wildly different than ours. Hell, mine was wildly different than my brothers'. They started before the Satanic Panic. I started <em>during</em> the Satanic Panic.</p><p></p><p>But there's something lost in those changes. Back in the day, the player had to outsmart the trap or puzzle. Now, it's just another button on the character sheet. Back then, the player had to think and plan and strategize to overcome obstacles. Now, the game is so safe for PCs that they can literally charge headlong into basically any fight and assume a rather large chance of winning...unless the DM intentionally stacked the deck against the players. Back then, you had to deal with the loss of a character and the frustration that brought, but also the joy of simply throwing "Jr" at the end of your character's name and continuing on. Now, the game is so safe for PCs that the DM really has to go wildly out of their way even to threaten PC death, to say nothing of actually following through with it. Back then, you did your utmost to avoid every fight you possibly could because fights were dangerous and deadly. Now the game is balanced around the idea of needing 6-8 fights a day to properly challenge the PCs' resources. To me, those old things are a large part of what the game is. Definitionally. Without those, it's just not D&D anymore. That's why tradition is important. Because I want more of that old-school play and I want to pass that on. Not whatever this new fantasy superhero game is.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="overgeeked, post: 8452274, member: 86653"] I think of it like Chesterton's Fence. If you don't know why something is there, don't remove it. If you know why something is there and you can come up with a better way of doing it, go ahead. But removing something without reason simply to remove the thing isn't a great idea. Nor is changing things for change's sake. I'm not a neophile. I don't chase the new. Old things that still work, still work. Especially in regards to RPGs. It's an elfgame. There's smoother and easier, rougher and harder, better and worse...only in regards to producing a particular outcome. Not in objective terms. Rule X is good; rule Y is bad. It just doesn't work that way. Rule X is good for producing Z style results; rule Y is bad for producing Z style results. For me, that's where a lot of my criticism of WotC D&D come from. If they change X, it just doesn't feel like D&D. Trouble is, I came in in the early 80s with B/X and AD&D. So most of the changes WotC made to D&D means that modern D&D just doesn't feel like D&D. Things like zero to hero characters in the old days compared to superheroes to gods in the WotC version of the game. They've changed things that I find foundational to the game experience I want. So it just doesn't feel like D&D anymore. That was the first house rule I ever made. Any race, any class, any level. Well, second. After dropping gender-based modifiers. Yikes guys. If I like the change, I think it's invigorating. If I don't like the change, I think it's a pointless break with tradition simply for the sake of chasing the new or diluting the game experience. Continuity and Chesterton's Fence. My brothers introduced me to D&D when I was a kid. Probably too young for all the T&A in the old books (there's really not that much). I grew up playing. We all had kids and we've since brought all our kids into playing D&D with us. But their experience with D&D is wildly different than ours. Hell, mine was wildly different than my brothers'. They started before the Satanic Panic. I started [I]during[/I] the Satanic Panic. But there's something lost in those changes. Back in the day, the player had to outsmart the trap or puzzle. Now, it's just another button on the character sheet. Back then, the player had to think and plan and strategize to overcome obstacles. Now, the game is so safe for PCs that they can literally charge headlong into basically any fight and assume a rather large chance of winning...unless the DM intentionally stacked the deck against the players. Back then, you had to deal with the loss of a character and the frustration that brought, but also the joy of simply throwing "Jr" at the end of your character's name and continuing on. Now, the game is so safe for PCs that the DM really has to go wildly out of their way even to threaten PC death, to say nothing of actually following through with it. Back then, you did your utmost to avoid every fight you possibly could because fights were dangerous and deadly. Now the game is balanced around the idea of needing 6-8 fights a day to properly challenge the PCs' resources. To me, those old things are a large part of what the game is. Definitionally. Without those, it's just not D&D anymore. That's why tradition is important. Because I want more of that old-school play and I want to pass that on. Not whatever this new fantasy superhero game is. [/QUOTE]
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