Forum > Pen and Paper Roleplaying Games (RPGs) Discussion
Just How WEIRD is D&D?
tenbones:
One of the observations I have about 5e, which has been talked about at LEAST since 3e, but possibly earlier is the freakshow factor of D&D. Snowflake races/classes always existed, and it's a tried-and-true baby GM right of passage to learn how to reject such characters at the table.
But now? 5e games I see online, generally resemble *nothing* of what I run. Tieflings, Aasimar, and other non-contextual or setting specific weird shit all mished mashed up and running around with Warlocks and Paladins whee!
Obviously not all games are like that, but there certainly seems to be... "more" of the freakshow. So this gets me to eyeballing people of my vintage that play in the OSR...
Do others look at D&D as being as weird? I spent decades running Spelljammer - so weird shit is par for the course for me, but context is context - Spelljammer (and Planescape) is SUPPOSED to be weird. Are their OSR games that do contextually weird stuff? And if 5e collapsed - could the OSR reclaim these young players that play this way?
Ghostmaker:
And the proper answer is 'as weird as you want it to be'.
You can run it straight, or you can run it like the equivalent of Fallout 3/NV's 'Wild Wasteland' perk is in effect. Or somewhere in between.
Itachi:
Yes, I think official D&D is getting "weirder" by the day, and I think Planescape and Spelljammer actually influenced the game to this direction. Tieflings, Aasimar, Dragonborn, etc are more common by the day. I personally prefer things fit context, as you say, so I don't always like rubbing shoulders with a Tiefling. But in some games they fit.
--- Quote from: Ghostmaker on January 11, 2022, 11:27:41 AM ---You can run it straight, or you can run it like the equivalent of Fallout 3/NV's 'Wild Wasteland' perk is in effect. Or somewhere in between.
--- End quote ---
Or, "you can run it like Stalker with Misery mod, or like Fallout 3 with Wild Wasteland perk". ;D
VisionStorm:
I've always been open to weird shit, as long as it fits the setting or type of campaign we're playing, but I don't like seeing the huge mishmash of weird shit hanging out right up front. Keep your weird shit sparing and in the options section where it belongs, not right in the open where normal family folk are walking with their younglings. :P
Svenhelgrim:
Wierd is the new normal now. I played in a 5e game and got teased for playing a human paladin (Vanilla: Oath of Devition). I just smiled and said to the player (who’s character was a tiefling warlock):”Laugh all you want, just don’t let me catch you doing any wierd devil shit on my watch.”
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