D&D General [rant]The conservatism of D&D fans is exhausting.

[Reynard]

Note: I DO NOT MEAN POLITICAL CONSERVATISM. This is not a thread about politics.

I mean "conservatism" as in resistance to change. You see it all the time -- people complaining about the new art or aesthetics, literally saying things like "if they used the old art I would be in." It is so mind boggling to me.

D&D is a living game. OF COURSE the new books etc are going to adapt to the new market. If you literally won't play a newer version because tieflings or whatever, then it isn't for you. Don't demand it regress to the era you discovered D&D because that is what makes you feel good; play the version you discovered.

I don't liek every artistic or design choice either, but it isn't up to me to demand D&D coddle my unchanging preferences. If I want to re-experience BECMI (the edition I grew up with) I can just play that. And so can you.

/rant

 

[Jaiken]

People like what they are going to like. Some like the old art, others do not. As for me I mainly want to stick to one system since learning multiple different editions would eventually confuse me. That and I am not made of money.

 

[Hussar]

Can’t really argue with you there @Reynard. People absolutely should like what they like.

But you don’t have to endlessly piddle in the pool about it.

 

[Lanefan]

Note: I DO NOT MEAN POLITICAL CONSERVATISM. This is not a thread about politics.

I mean "conservatism" as in resistance to change. You see it all the time -- people complaining about the new art or aesthetics, literally saying things like "if they used the old art I would be in." It is so mind boggling to me.

D&D is a living game. OF COURSE the new books etc are going to adapt to the new market.

I'd rather the market adapt to the game, but whatever.

If you literally won't play a newer version because tieflings or whatever, then it isn't for you. Don't demand it regress to the era you discovered D&D because that is what makes you feel good; play the version you discovered.

I don't liek every artistic or design choice either, but it isn't up to me to demand D&D coddle my unchanging preferences. If I want to re-experience BECMI (the edition I grew up with) I can just play that. And so can you.

Which sounds nice until the reality of pop culture kicks in, that people will follow the shiny newness wherever it leads them even if that ends up being off a cliff.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I'd rather the market adapt to the game, but whatever.

Which sounds nice until the reality of pop culture kicks in, that people will follow the shiny newness wherever it leads them even if that ends up being off a cliff.

Exactly. The word "new" has no positive or negative value. It just means, "did not exist in this exact form until recently".

 

[Reynard]

People like what they are going to like. Some like the old art, others do not. As for me I mainly want to stick to one system since learning multiple different editions would eventually confuse me. That and I am not made of money.

I'd rather the market adapt to the game, but whatever.

Which sounds nice until the reality of pop culture kicks in, that people will follow the shiny newness wherever it leads them even if that ends up being off a cliff.

My point isn't that people shouldn't liek what they like, but rather they should play the game they like rather than constantly complaining that the current game isn't the old game. Just play what you like.

This thread was inspired by a poster literally saying that they would give the current game a try if only it used the old art. Literally used the old art.

That is what is exhausting. Just play 2E or whatever.

 

[pukunui]

I would say this conservatism also applies to the open playtest "design by committee" aspect of 5e as well. They put out some really cool stuff in the playtests only to see it nerfed into oblivion by the people who insist on having things like resource management be a major part of the game. There seems to be a general shift away from resource management these days (look at the recent threads here about tracking ammunition, food, etc), and yet we end up with things like druids who can only turn into animals a paltry number of times per day and arcane archers who can only do their special trick arrows a paltry number of times a day.

I would love to see the game become more liberal with resource management. Back when I DMed 4e, I experimented with applying the recharge mechanic to PCs' encounter and daily powers. It worked great! The players loved it and it didn't noticeably overpower them. I'd love to do something like that in 5e as well.

 

[soviet]

I think for sure there's a weird consumerism thing in this hobby where people feel they must reflexively switch to the new edition when it comes out. No, if you like the old edition, keep playing it!

This is also the fault of publishers who continually put out revised editions for purely financial reasons.

 

[billd91]

D&D is a living game. OF COURSE the new books etc are going to adapt to the new market. If you literally won't play a newer version because tieflings or whatever, then it isn't for you. Don't demand it regress to the era you discovered D&D because that is what makes you feel good; play the version you discovered.

Change is one thing. But I sure wouldn’t mind if the change was managed incrementally like with some of my favorite Chaosium games like Call of Cthulhu and Pendragon. I’m quite OK with 5e.2024 being an incremental step from 5e.2014, just like I was for 2e being a step from 1e.
Bring me along, but don’t effing lurch around all over the place.

 

[rhythmsoundmotion]

There will always be someone who reviews a new edition of a game as okay, except for some of the changes which were in their eyes a mistake (and then complain about every single change made.)