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Why is tradition (in D&D) important to you? [+]
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<blockquote data-quote="EzekielRaiden" data-source="post: 8452393" data-attributes="member: 6790260"><p>Tradition, most of the time, gives rise to that feeling of "familiarity," but it need not always do so--sometimes "traditions" sprout out of misremembering or a sudden change that "just seemed natural."</p><p></p><p>Consider, for example, the trope of giving Barbarians and Fighters fewer skills than other classes. It never existed prior to 3rd edition. In fact, as I recall, it was even common for them to have <em>more</em> skill-equivalents (e.g. NWPs) than other classes, because the origins for these classes were Conan (who had tons of different skills) and various main characters spread across fiction (e.g. John Carter of Mars) who needed to survive by a mixture of thews <em>and</em> thinking. Yet as soon as 3e put the reduced-skill-point Fighter and Barbarian (the latter being <em>illiterate</em> unless you paid extra skill points!), it became instant tradition--several successor games, <em>including 4e</em>, preserved some of that BS, and even 13th Age, a game designed by 4e's lead designer, almost included it too, but changed their minds due to playtest feedback that vehemently said <em>no</em>.</p><p></p><p>Tradition has honest, legitimate value; I don't mean to paint it as something pointless. But I often find that people portray it as inherently better than trying to investigate <em>why</em> things are done the way they are done, and what ways might achieve the same ends but more effectively. For primarily aesthetic things, it makes no difference, there's nothing really to <em>test</em>, so those should generally do whatever the creator things is best--the value of tradition there becomes the evoked feelings, as is the case with all aesthetic things. But for mechanics, it's a different story.</p><p></p><p>I mean, consider the following comment from above:</p><p></p><p>In other words, tradition is valuable <em>in and of itself</em>, and you need not just good reason, but a <em>very</em> good reason (emphasis added) for it. And that leads to a big problem: A lot of people are very unwilling to even <em>consider</em> changes to traditions they currently like, even if those changes would actually be <em>useful</em> to them.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="EzekielRaiden, post: 8452393, member: 6790260"] Tradition, most of the time, gives rise to that feeling of "familiarity," but it need not always do so--sometimes "traditions" sprout out of misremembering or a sudden change that "just seemed natural." Consider, for example, the trope of giving Barbarians and Fighters fewer skills than other classes. It never existed prior to 3rd edition. In fact, as I recall, it was even common for them to have [I]more[/I] skill-equivalents (e.g. NWPs) than other classes, because the origins for these classes were Conan (who had tons of different skills) and various main characters spread across fiction (e.g. John Carter of Mars) who needed to survive by a mixture of thews [I]and[/I] thinking. Yet as soon as 3e put the reduced-skill-point Fighter and Barbarian (the latter being [I]illiterate[/I] unless you paid extra skill points!), it became instant tradition--several successor games, [I]including 4e[/I], preserved some of that BS, and even 13th Age, a game designed by 4e's lead designer, almost included it too, but changed their minds due to playtest feedback that vehemently said [I]no[/I]. Tradition has honest, legitimate value; I don't mean to paint it as something pointless. But I often find that people portray it as inherently better than trying to investigate [I]why[/I] things are done the way they are done, and what ways might achieve the same ends but more effectively. For primarily aesthetic things, it makes no difference, there's nothing really to [I]test[/I], so those should generally do whatever the creator things is best--the value of tradition there becomes the evoked feelings, as is the case with all aesthetic things. But for mechanics, it's a different story. I mean, consider the following comment from above: In other words, tradition is valuable [I]in and of itself[/I], and you need not just good reason, but a [I]very[/I] good reason (emphasis added) for it. And that leads to a big problem: A lot of people are very unwilling to even [I]consider[/I] changes to traditions they currently like, even if those changes would actually be [I]useful[/I] to them. [/QUOTE]
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