I am a long time fan of D&D, playing on and off since about 1980. Over the years I have taken an interest and kept an eye on the changes, and been skeptical about many of them. I was playing during the "satanic panic" which was much more real a thing than players these days ever admit. In the late 70's I actually met a pair of kids who were later locked up because they decided to act out their fantasies, and gang raped their younger sister. It's absolutely true that left with no moral boundaries, D&D promotes the worst in a person. I often feel alone in my opinions on this matter.
Hence why I am so very disappointed with what has been done to the Paladin character. No change in the game has been so radical as to take the Holy Knight of Gary Gygax--easily the most powerful character designed into the game--and made it every form of evil. If you watch Critical Role or any of the other TTRPG games available online, you'll see one of the most striking things is there are never any "good" characters. None. There are plenty of Paladins to be sure, but players choose them exclusively so they can smite, and then refuse to play the parts of the character that hitting so hard and healing were designed around. I've watched more than 20 groups over the last few years, and not one of them includes a single good character. Why is that, I wonder? There are Clerics with no gods. Every group always includes a Warlock. No groups ever include even a single character committed to doing what is good, right and just.
I really like some of the changes over the years. The advantage/disadvantage game dynamic is an obvious improvement. I have to wonder though, how we got to the point we are at that simple morality is no longer a thing. Ethics has been discarded as too cumbersome to cope with. Monks used to be required to be lawful. Critical Role had their Monk dump acid down the throat of a sleeping guard for laughs--something that is as chaotic evil as can be. How did this happen?
While I'm asking about the changes in the game, I'll note one other thing, though it is not so much a change in the characters as a change in the players. I am enticed by the IceWind Dale setting since it is a survival setting, where players need to cope with the dangers of exposure each day. I grew up winter backpacking and know a great deal about such things. What I can tell you is there is a complete dearth of understanding about that mechanic. I've watched more than a dozen attempts at the FrostMaiden campaign, and not even a single DM understands simple exposure. I'm accustomed to observing players that don't understand climbing gear and can't pronounce "piton" correctly. Okay. Most players don't know a bridle from a yoke, nor how fast or far a mount can carry them. They don't understand any of the nuances of archery, nor swordplay, nor even how to cook. They can't tie a knot, so they can't explain what they're doing when handling rope. They can't sail, so are useless aboard ship. They can't ski, and in what is supposed to be a nordic setting, that's a serious problem. They all walk through several feet of snow everywhere they go and seldom have snowshoes, yet their DMs don't treat the terrain as difficult. They think sitting atop a 2-wheeled cart superior to riding horseback, this in every setting; which is utter madness. They presume they could pull 2,000 lbs of steel ingots 10 miles on a wheeled cart or wagon through 10' of fresh snow. I get it. They don't really understand the simplest real world analogs to the things they're portraying. I also get every one of these players is a candidate for a Donner Party type demise. (Despite what Wiki says, the cannibalism is well documented.) They navigate by map, on featureless terrain, with no access to the sun nor stars, nor a compass, nor any other aid, in and out of blinding whiteout conditions. This is stuff you would get lost by moving three feet off a guidance rope and die ten feet from your toilet. What I don't get is why their DMs can't be bothered to do a simple online search and figure out how these things work. So here is my second question: why are today's DMs so very much more inept than they were forty years ago? It's not like Boy Scouts don't play D&D.
Hence why I am so very disappointed with what has been done to the Paladin character. No change in the game has been so radical as to take the Holy Knight of Gary Gygax--easily the most powerful character designed into the game--and made it every form of evil. If you watch Critical Role or any of the other TTRPG games available online, you'll see one of the most striking things is there are never any "good" characters. None. There are plenty of Paladins to be sure, but players choose them exclusively so they can smite, and then refuse to play the parts of the character that hitting so hard and healing were designed around. I've watched more than 20 groups over the last few years, and not one of them includes a single good character. Why is that, I wonder? There are Clerics with no gods. Every group always includes a Warlock. No groups ever include even a single character committed to doing what is good, right and just.
I really like some of the changes over the years. The advantage/disadvantage game dynamic is an obvious improvement. I have to wonder though, how we got to the point we are at that simple morality is no longer a thing. Ethics has been discarded as too cumbersome to cope with. Monks used to be required to be lawful. Critical Role had their Monk dump acid down the throat of a sleeping guard for laughs--something that is as chaotic evil as can be. How did this happen?
While I'm asking about the changes in the game, I'll note one other thing, though it is not so much a change in the characters as a change in the players. I am enticed by the IceWind Dale setting since it is a survival setting, where players need to cope with the dangers of exposure each day. I grew up winter backpacking and know a great deal about such things. What I can tell you is there is a complete dearth of understanding about that mechanic. I've watched more than a dozen attempts at the FrostMaiden campaign, and not even a single DM understands simple exposure. I'm accustomed to observing players that don't understand climbing gear and can't pronounce "piton" correctly. Okay. Most players don't know a bridle from a yoke, nor how fast or far a mount can carry them. They don't understand any of the nuances of archery, nor swordplay, nor even how to cook. They can't tie a knot, so they can't explain what they're doing when handling rope. They can't sail, so are useless aboard ship. They can't ski, and in what is supposed to be a nordic setting, that's a serious problem. They all walk through several feet of snow everywhere they go and seldom have snowshoes, yet their DMs don't treat the terrain as difficult. They think sitting atop a 2-wheeled cart superior to riding horseback, this in every setting; which is utter madness. They presume they could pull 2,000 lbs of steel ingots 10 miles on a wheeled cart or wagon through 10' of fresh snow. I get it. They don't really understand the simplest real world analogs to the things they're portraying. I also get every one of these players is a candidate for a Donner Party type demise. (Despite what Wiki says, the cannibalism is well documented.) They navigate by map, on featureless terrain, with no access to the sun nor stars, nor a compass, nor any other aid, in and out of blinding whiteout conditions. This is stuff you would get lost by moving three feet off a guidance rope and die ten feet from your toilet. What I don't get is why their DMs can't be bothered to do a simple online search and figure out how these things work. So here is my second question: why are today's DMs so very much more inept than they were forty years ago? It's not like Boy Scouts don't play D&D.
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