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Author Topic: Just How WEIRD is D&D?  (Read 6938 times)

tenbones

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Just How WEIRD is D&D?
« on: January 11, 2022, 11:12:29 AM »
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

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Re: Just How WEIRD is D&D?
« Reply #1 on: January 11, 2022, 11:27:41 AM »
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

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Re: Just How WEIRD is D&D?
« Reply #2 on: January 11, 2022, 11:37:03 AM »
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.

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.
Or, "you can run it like Stalker with Misery mod, or like Fallout 3 with Wild Wasteland perk".  ;D
« Last Edit: January 11, 2022, 11:38:45 AM by Itachi »

VisionStorm

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Re: Just How WEIRD is D&D?
« Reply #3 on: January 11, 2022, 11:45:20 AM »
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

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Re: Just How WEIRD is D&D?
« Reply #4 on: January 11, 2022, 11:53:58 AM »
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.”

Rob Necronomicon

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Re: Just How WEIRD is D&D?
« Reply #5 on: January 11, 2022, 12:00:08 PM »
To me, 5e seems completely insane from a world building perspective. It seems to have very little internal logic. It feels like a crazy supers setting or something where everything goes.

Even our old D&D basic games when we were kids were a lot less stupid. Then again, I'm drawn to low fantasy settings ever since I played WFRP 1e.

Those 5e races are so childish and cheesy, like Tiefllings, etc. It's basically a fun park and melting pot for twee gamers to masturbate in.

That said, you could always strip out all that crap and just do your own thing with it. But why give Ha$bro the money?
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Lynn

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Re: Just How WEIRD is D&D?
« Reply #6 on: January 11, 2022, 12:18:17 PM »
I think in many ways, it is a slightly more subtle 'wokism' in that tropes aren't fitting a fantasy flavored medieval Europe, and more Seattle-dipped anime.

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BoxCrayonTales

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Re: Just How WEIRD is D&D?
« Reply #7 on: January 11, 2022, 12:36:58 PM »
Even D&D-inspired anime isn't that crazy. It is fairly strange to an OSR audience because it's undergone largely separate cultural evolution, but multiculturalism isn't a common feature. Race wars and race-based slavery are much more common.

Wrath of God

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Re: Just How WEIRD is D&D?
« Reply #8 on: January 11, 2022, 01:08:24 PM »
Quote
Those 5e races are so childish and cheesy, like Tiefllings, etc.

You mean 2e races?
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Rob Necronomicon

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Re: Just How WEIRD is D&D?
« Reply #9 on: January 11, 2022, 01:12:03 PM »
Quote
Those 5e races are so childish and cheesy, like Tiefllings, etc.

You mean 2e races?

Sure. Any of that weird shit... In whatever edition.

TBH, I've not played any official D&D in decades. I only really like the OSR. I was always a big WFRP 1e fan when I discovered it in the late 80s.
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Wrath of God

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Re: Just How WEIRD is D&D?
« Reply #10 on: January 11, 2022, 01:19:36 PM »
I generally speaking like idea of planetouched, I just dislike how they clearly turned to be sexual fetishes in modern D&D.
I'd rather make a random d100 or d1000 table of various planar traits (both cosmetic and mechanic) and make player who picked planetouched roll randomly for them and apply it to his basic race.
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jmarso

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Re: Just How WEIRD is D&D?
« Reply #11 on: January 11, 2022, 01:26:02 PM »
My first experience with this was last year, when I joined a drop-in 5E game playing the Rime of the Frostmaiden campaign. I rolled up a Northerner human fighter, sort of styled after Herger the Joyous from the 13th Warrior. He'd fit right in, right? (This was the fighter who was sort of also a rogue that I mentioned in a different thread, based on his build)

Well, the other two 'main' players (as in they showed up every session) played a damphir(?), half-vampire something warlock, and his girlfriend was playing some sort of turtle character- I can't even remember the name of the race. Another guy who played a couple sessions brought his dog with him (literally) each time, and changed his character every game to something different.

I lasted about 4-5 sessions, and finally just subtly bowed out. I tried, I really did, but the fun factor was ZERO. 

In terms of trying to put new campaigns together in the future, I'm feeling like the only real choice is to abandon 5E completely and go OSR, probably back to 2E, which I really enjoy, and then house-ruling out the glitches in that system.

Rob Necronomicon

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Re: Just How WEIRD is D&D?
« Reply #12 on: January 11, 2022, 01:29:52 PM »
I generally speaking like idea of planetouched, I just dislike how they clearly turned to be sexual fetishes in modern D&D.
I'd rather make a random d100 or d1000 table of various planar traits (both cosmetic and mechanic) and make player who picked planetouched roll randomly for them and apply it to his basic race.

I do like a bit of weird S&S, especially with some Lovecraftian elements thrown in. I guess I like more humancentric games that are not so high powered. I don't like elves but I'll tolerate them for the sake of my players, but I'd rather them not be there tbh.
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Rob Necronomicon

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Re: Just How WEIRD is D&D?
« Reply #13 on: January 11, 2022, 01:31:37 PM »
I rolled up a Northerner human fighter, sort of styled after Herger the Joyous from the 13th Warrior. .

Noice! My kind of character.
Attack-minded and dangerously so - W.E. Fairbairn.
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Ghostmaker

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Re: Just How WEIRD is D&D?
« Reply #14 on: January 11, 2022, 01:33:29 PM »
My first experience with this was last year, when I joined a drop-in 5E game playing the Rime of the Frostmaiden campaign. I rolled up a Northerner human fighter, sort of styled after Herger the Joyous from the 13th Warrior. He'd fit right in, right? (This was the fighter who was sort of also a rogue that I mentioned in a different thread, based on his build)

Well, the other two 'main' players (as in they showed up every session) played a damphir(?), half-vampire something warlock, and his girlfriend was playing some sort of turtle character- I can't even remember the name of the race. Another guy who played a couple sessions brought his dog with him (literally) each time, and changed his character every game to something different.

I lasted about 4-5 sessions, and finally just subtly bowed out. I tried, I really did, but the fun factor was ZERO. 

In terms of trying to put new campaigns together in the future, I'm feeling like the only real choice is to abandon 5E completely and go OSR, probably back to 2E, which I really enjoy, and then house-ruling out the glitches in that system.
I once rolled up a guy who was a straight up expy of Edgtho (sp?) from that movie. Although trying to figure out his fighting style was a pain.

It's a fun popcorn flick. A double feature of 13th Warrior and Knight's Tale is a great way to burn an evening.