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So this video attracted some attention in one of the online groups I frequent, and I watched it, and I don't know what I think
To a certain extent, I think a lot of it is complaints I've heard for the last 20 years - "D&D used to be hardcore, now every character is a special snowflake", and there is a general air of "Boomerism" to the whole rant. And I'm not certain how he goes from optional rules from magical pets in a supplement to thinking 6th edition D&D is going to be all about superpowered furries (maybe he was just making a lame joke, repeatedly,).
Now, I don't really care about 5th edition D&D (or 6th edition for that matter). Having played it, I can say it's a system I'd never want to GM, but for whatever flaws it has (subjective or objective), at least its recognizeable as D&D, unlike 4th edition. But D&D is no longer solely in the hands of a corporation who get to define the be all and end all of the game. The OSR exists. Reprints and secondhand copies of previous editions exist. People can play the type of game that they want and aren't beholden to WoTC or Hasbro. In fact, my only strong negative feelings towards the game negin and end with people repeating the mistakes of the D20 era and treating it like a universal system to adapt completely inappropriate IPs (*cough* Hellboy *cough*).
But he makes one point I found interesting, when he theorizes that what D&D 5th is providing is not what players (in this case specifically calling out millenials) want. That by making characters OP, with no sense of struggle or capacity for failure, that they are robbing players of the experience that presumably classic D&D provided. going so far as to name drop the popularity of such games as Dark Souls and Kingdom Death to make his point. I couldn't say how universal this sentiment is. Dark Souls and Kingdom Death both have their hardcore fans (myself included in regards to the second one), but I don't think they have mass appeal. I think KD specifically would probably be a frustrating experience for your "average gamer". It almost fetishizes failure. But does modern D&D go to far in the other direction, so that the "easy win" conditions will likewise leave a large portion of the audience unsatisfied?
Anyways, just thoughts I'm turning over in my head.
To a certain extent, I think a lot of it is complaints I've heard for the last 20 years - "D&D used to be hardcore, now every character is a special snowflake", and there is a general air of "Boomerism" to the whole rant. And I'm not certain how he goes from optional rules from magical pets in a supplement to thinking 6th edition D&D is going to be all about superpowered furries (maybe he was just making a lame joke, repeatedly,).
Now, I don't really care about 5th edition D&D (or 6th edition for that matter). Having played it, I can say it's a system I'd never want to GM, but for whatever flaws it has (subjective or objective), at least its recognizeable as D&D, unlike 4th edition. But D&D is no longer solely in the hands of a corporation who get to define the be all and end all of the game. The OSR exists. Reprints and secondhand copies of previous editions exist. People can play the type of game that they want and aren't beholden to WoTC or Hasbro. In fact, my only strong negative feelings towards the game negin and end with people repeating the mistakes of the D20 era and treating it like a universal system to adapt completely inappropriate IPs (*cough* Hellboy *cough*).
But he makes one point I found interesting, when he theorizes that what D&D 5th is providing is not what players (in this case specifically calling out millenials) want. That by making characters OP, with no sense of struggle or capacity for failure, that they are robbing players of the experience that presumably classic D&D provided. going so far as to name drop the popularity of such games as Dark Souls and Kingdom Death to make his point. I couldn't say how universal this sentiment is. Dark Souls and Kingdom Death both have their hardcore fans (myself included in regards to the second one), but I don't think they have mass appeal. I think KD specifically would probably be a frustrating experience for your "average gamer". It almost fetishizes failure. But does modern D&D go to far in the other direction, so that the "easy win" conditions will likewise leave a large portion of the audience unsatisfied?
Anyways, just thoughts I'm turning over in my head.