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QuoteEverything Wrong with D&D 5e, and Society, in one Tweet
Let me explain...no it will take too much time..let me sum up:
Problem with 5e is: Too easy; not enough PC death.
I would argue that it can be fun to play D&D 5e where the characters are the focal point and almost never die. However I do not think that it's appropriate to call that kind of game Dungeons and Dragons. WotC should really stop capitalizing on something that is no longer giving credit to Dave Arneson and barely gives credit to Gary.
They own the license for D&D, so legally they get to define what D&D is, "now". That doesn't prevent us from living in the past, if we so desire. It's a chance to lay claim to being, "Old School".
I'm older than OD&D; so I AM Old School, period!!!
I'm actually 23 and I am probably among the youngest of grognards. Regardless of my age I still love Old school games. It helps that New Games force diversity on every game and don't care if it's patronizing.
I literally LOLed at the part where the character was immediately raised from the dead the day after, and kept laughing pretty much the video afterwards. It truly cements how utterly pointless character death is in 5e, and even the pointlessness of the tweet itself. If death in D&D 5e is such an unlikely eventuality it took you two whole freaking years to finally kill your first PC, and then they immediately got ressed the day after then WTF is there to cry about? It's almost like he never died.
Jeses Christ! WTF does it take to truly kill a character in 5e? LOL
Quote from: VisionStorm;1142468I literally LOLed at the part where the character was immediately raised from the dead the day after, and kept laughing pretty much the video afterwards. It truly cements how utterly pointless character death is in 5e, and even the pointlessness of the tweet itself. If death in D&D 5e is such an unlikely eventuality it took you two whole freaking years to finally kill your first PC, and then they immediately got ressed the day after then WTF is there to cry about? It's almost like he never died.
Jeses Christ! WTF does it take to truly kill a character in 5e? LOL
Evidently, a TPK.
So what was the Tweet? I don't feel like watching a 22 minute video to find out the punchline.
Quote from: arcanuum;1142463I would argue that it can be fun to play D&D 5e where the characters are the focal point and almost never die. However I do not think that it's appropriate to call that kind of game Dungeons and Dragons. WotC should really stop capitalizing on something that is no longer giving credit to Dave Arneson and barely gives credit to Gary.
Yeah, "D&D" doesn't mean the same thing to everyone anymore. And that's ok ... except when you are looking for players. :)
I have this belief that old D&D is closer to an actual boardgame than not, and that's not true of newer editions. It's more of a "game", where newer editions (and indie RPG's in general) are more like activities instead of games.
I'm no fan of 5e but I've seen enough PCs die, including my own, that I assume it must largely come down to individual GMs/groups and their preferences. Which is how I remember it being even when I was first playing with AD&D... some groups were happy with Monty Haul and cheap/easy resurrects, others weren't.
It is harder to die in 5th edition, but, I do not think it is THAT hard. I do think the characters are considerably stronger, and what the rules say is a tough encounter, is not always a tough encounter per se. I have always played all RPGs where players are fully capable of stumbling across challenges they are not ready for, or would require an EXTREME amount of luck to prevail in. I leave it on them to know when to flee and when to fight. I think the tweet was not so much purely because of rules and more because of mentality.
I think this is because some GMs want to weave a story, and have the characters tell some of it. I think if the GM and the players like that, it is all well and good. It is not my preference. I prefer to put a sandbox out there, and the players tell all of the story, because the world is going to react and change because of them. I am also not there to aid with the story telling, I am there to call balls and strikes (that being said, If the party is being smart and runs then they should or shows smarts at an opportune time, or even role plays what their character would do in a given situation, I try not to let horrible bad luck streaks sink them) not to determine an out come. I prefer this to telling a story as a GM, and I prefer as a player to be able to tell the story, with actions and deeds (even if that means a horrible death to be used as a tavern tale later).
I feel what is most fun is the best choice for the group. I also think the players will go with whatever a good, and FAIR GM puts to them. Fun is the point in the end, and I think knowing your players well is also very important...and I tend to be flexible based on players to a degree. They just come in knowing I have no issues with wiping out the party if they do something foolish, and if they do something risky, well it is RISKY, and consequences are there.
I killed two players in the first 20 minutes of the first session of D&D I ever ran. Of course, since I'd never seen anyone play D&D at that point, neither me nor my players knew that the characters were supposed to travel together. Each player wandered off on their own and died.
"I killed two players in the first 20 minutes"
Dude, no.
Quote from: hedgehobbit;1142526I killed two players in the first 20 minutes of the first session of D&D I ever ran. Of course, since I'd never seen anyone play D&D at that point, neither me nor my players knew that the characters were supposed to travel together. Each player wandered off on their own and died.
That's because they aren't automatically supposed to. The players at Gygax's table didn't.
Quote from: thedungeondelver;1142528"I killed two players in the first 20 minutes"
Dude, no.
Some DMs have a harsher take on PC death than others. ;)
Quote from: Shasarak;1142460Let me explain...no it will take too much time..let me sum up:
Problem with 5e is: Too easy; not enough PC death.
That's only the most superficial part of the problem.
Quote from: arcanuum;1142467I'm actually 23 and I am probably among the youngest of grognards. Regardless of my age I still love Old school games. It helps that New Games force diversity on every game and don't care if it's patronizing.
Awesome! Glad you found your way to old-school, like I was talking about in the vid.
Quote from: TJS;1142476So what was the Tweet? I don't feel like watching a 22 minute video to find out the punchline.
Then you don't deserve to know.
Quote from: RPGPundit;1142559Awesome! Glad you found your way to old-school, like I was talking about in the vid.
https://youtu.be/WtTQyogEIrk?t=306 listen from herem imho I like the risk of permadeath, but w/e if you don't. I have played games without that risk, kinda miss it.
Quote from: RPGPundit;1142561Then you don't deserve to know.
It's ok skimming the thread has given me the gist.
you want true danger play D6 on hardmode, no damage resist roll except for armor dice unless you spend fate. That means w/o armor or spending fate a mere 16 points of damage kills you outright.
Quote from: Shasarak;1142460Let me explain...no it will take too much time..let me sum up:
Problem with 5e is: Too easy; not enough PC death.
I did have the same player managed to lose 2 PCS in a single session, but as I'm thumbing through ACKS, which has clear rules about replacement characters, it occurs to me that I don't think 5e has any guidelines that I I've come across...
Because I have the characters all the members of The Guild and competing Guilds as a conceit of the setting, I've been letting them bring in guildmates has Replacements at the next tier down.
If it's not just for my lack of research and in fact that there's not a word about this in the rules, It kind of says something right there.
Quote from: LiferGamer;1142817It kind of says something right there.
All editione of DnD give you rules for replacement characters.
They are right there in the Players Handbook.
Quote from: Shasarak;1142820All editione of DnD give you rules for replacement characters.
They are right there in the Players Handbook.
I believe all systems give those to you in the Character Creation chapter. However, some games or settings expand on those to provide additional guidelines.
Dark Sun included the concept of Character Trees which allowed all players to create up to four interconnected characters that they could swap between adventures or bring in midsession if necessary to replace a dead character. Every time a character in the tree gained a new level you could increase the level of one additional character from the same tree, to ensure that different characters didn't get left far behind.
I think that type of system is better than a player doing nothing or rolling a character midsession cuz their one character got done in after the first fight and they didn't have a spare character to account for that eventuality.
Quote from: VisionStorm;1142829I think that type of system is better than a player doing nothing or rolling a character midsession cuz their one character got done in after the first fight and they didn't have a spare character to account for that eventuality.
I remember back in the day having a portfolio of characters ready to go if something was to happen in the game.
Of course then there was the Ravenloft campaign that rapidly chewed through all of those replacement characters.
Quote from: LiferGamer;1142817I did have the same player managed to lose 2 PCS in a single session, but as I'm thumbing through ACKS, which has clear rules about replacement characters, it occurs to me that I don't think 5e has any guidelines that I I've come across...
Because I have the characters all the members of The Guild and competing Guilds as a conceit of the setting, I've been letting them bring in guildmates has Replacements at the next tier down.
If it's not just for my lack of research and in fact that there's not a word about this in the rules, It kind of says something right there.
I don't think there really is. The DMG has a discussion on PC level disparity but it's very wishy washy, no "If you want X, do Y". And it doesn't mention the importance of the Tier breaks (especially 4>5) when it comes to groups of various levels.
Couldn't get through this. 5 minutes in and I'm suspecting that sans advertising your game, you have a one or two line hot take on a tweet that is somehow stretched across 22 minutes.
I hope your game system makes more conservative assumptions about people's time and attention span!
Quote from: bryce0lynch;1142498...
I have this belief that old D&D is closer to an actual boardgame than not, and that's not true of newer editions. It's more of a "game", where newer editions (and indie RPG's in general) are more like activities instead of games.
There might be something to this.
IMHO, we have always had some form of hero or fate points in RPG's since the early 80's. But there use tended to be that of Genre emulation; i.e. Giving your "00" agent the ability to shine like James Bond, while still keeping the game system 'not superheroes'.
The difference between that mindset and indie games is that they wish to have more 'player empowerment'. To take more 'narrative' control over the actual game session. So that something as "awful" as a character death will only happen if the player wants it to.
Quote from: bryce0lynch;1142498Yeah, "D&D" doesn't mean the same thing to everyone anymore. And that's ok ... except when you are looking for players. :)
Quote from: Simlasa;1142517I'm no fan of 5e but I've seen enough PCs die, including my own, that I assume it must largely come down to individual GMs/groups and their preferences. Which is how I remember it being even when I was first playing with AD&D... some groups were happy with Monty Haul and cheap/easy resurrects, others weren't.
In the overall direction of D&D since 3e it seems that the 'groups that were happy with Monty Haul and cheap/easy resurrects' are winning out.
To paraphrase myself from another post:
Personally I think that D&D's default playstyle has become far too informed by a generation of players who grew up playing computer rpg's and seem to subconsciously want to have similar play experiences in both mediums despite how contradictory that desire is given the differences between the two formats that only appear similar on first glance.
I think that computer/console RPG's have had a bigger effect on the 'player culture' of table top games than many realize. Especially when it comes to the game expectations of new players. You can 'save' your game at any point, if you screw up - no biggie just re-boot and try again! And a big selling point of these games are the 'cool storylines' that players get to collectively experience.
Gee I wonder how a PC's death becoming almost verboten, and talking about playing D&D as a 'telling a story' got so re-enforced? The forgists weren't that widespread...
I also think that the big 'player' surveys that WOTC has done have also contributed to this.
There were far more players answering those surveys than GM's. And no effort was made to separate player from GM responses, so the players voices reigned supreme. Which of course will skew the underlying assumptions of the D&D system if you are using the surveys to inform your game design.
Quote from: BlackHarbour;1142917Couldn't get through this. 5 minutes in and I'm suspecting that sans advertising your game, you have a one or two line hot take on a tweet that is somehow stretched across 22 minutes.
I hope your game system makes more conservative assumptions about people's time and attention span!
You can sum up 99.9% of anything Pundit says about RPGs into "OSR good. All other things me no likey are bad-wrong!"
Quote from: Alderaan Crumbs;1143692You can sum up 99.9% of anything Pundit says about RPGs into "OSR good. All other things me no likey are bad-wrong!"
Add in the obligatory "subscribe to my shit and buy my shit too" and you go well over 100%.
That said some of them are still enjoyable even if only in the manner of watching (listening to) a derailing train.
Quote from: Alderaan Crumbs;1143692You can sum up 99.9% of anything Pundit says about RPGs into "OSR good. All other things me no likey are bad-wrong!"
Except that he gave a very favorable review of The Fantasy Trip, which is not OSR by his definition as it has nothing to do with any edition of D & D. Of course, he hates the whole story-game movement but that is his right.
Quote from: HappyDaze;1143715Add in the obligatory "subscribe to my shit and buy my shit too" and you go well over 100%.
That said some of them are still enjoyable even if only in the manner of watching (listening to) a derailing train.
I (mostly) tease.