Wednesday, February 11, 2015

D&D 5: The Past Ain't Really Better

One small thing that bothers me about how D&D 5 is being sold is the over reliance on nostalgia. Yes, I like old-school gaming. But there is a nostalgia that dungeons such as the venerable Tomb of Horrors or the Temple of Elemental Evil were somehow great dungeons that stand up to the test of time. I also like the classic settings like Grayhawk and Faerun, but another part of me feels these settings just don't hold up very well today. Do they have any cultural impact or relevance today? Are they places that speak to today's fantasy stories, or just yesterday's?

It is the danger of nostalgia. We have strong feelings about it, since this is what we grew up with. Of course the Tomb of Horrors is great, because it was great. Right? Does it speak to anyone today? Is it something the thousandth play through is as exciting as Skyrim or Minecraft is to today's game players?

I will take Skyrim and Minecraft over a deathtrap dungeon that has seen its better days in older versions of the game. The new games speak to me. They provide new challenges, force me to look at the world in different ways, and in the case of Minecraft, give me unbounded shared creativity with others. They are relevant, and they are the canvases where stories that mean things to people are told today.

Now yes, you make your own stories with D&D 5. You don't have to use the old settings and modules, and that is great. There was also a classic sense of 'role balance' in the older versions of the game that is brought up-to-date in the current edition. There is a lot of good stuff and great ideas there, and the new creative team tried to update that while still keeping a sense of creative continuity in the game's feeling. It's good, and a nod to the popularity of the OGR games that kept the faith and the original spirit of D&D alive.

So why am I restless? I guess because I want something that speaks to me. I want a new campaign setting like Planescape that shakes up how I think of D&D, and the stories I can tell with it. I want a creative team that challenges my preconceived notion of D&D being a game that is the best way to re-play nostalgia like a classic 80's arcade game collection, to something that speaks to me as a fantasy gamer today.

There's a line in the new DMG that says Game of Thrones is an inspiration, but to me, the world of Westeros isn't D&D. It just doesn't feel like it, not in this version which feels more like Pathfinder light and a greatest hits of D&D 1-4 to me - and both of those are good things, mind you. But Game of Thrones isn't everything I think a new D&D could be. It is so much more.

I feel that D&D 5 is a good game without a great setting. It is missing something, a sense of place and adventure unique to the rules and built by a creative team that challenges our assumptions of what D&D can be, and what it can mean to us.

Take a look at computer games. There was sandbox gaming and fantasy roleplaying before Minecraft and Skyrim, and sandbox and fantasy roleplaying after those games. They made such a huge impact they changed their genres forever, everything before and after will be compared to them. This is cultural impact. This is what I want in a fantasy setting.

I feel it isn't enough to redefine the past with a new set of rules and a new coat of paint on classic modules and settings. I want a game and setting that defines the future and how we speak about fantasy gaming for years to come.

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