The Hydra and the Quiet Walking Away

Combat should be fun and not a failure state. We don't want magic forcing a 15-minute adventuring day. Supporting a game should not feel like a job. The table's attention should stay focused on the adventure rather than books and character sheets. We are the huge middle-ground audience, the gamers who care more about fun than worldview, ideological noise, or orthodoxy.

What is the Hydra? It is the eleven shelves I have devoted to D&D (three shelves), Tales of the Valiant (three shelves), generic 5e (three shelves), and Level Up A5E hardcovers (two shelves). You have these games that start out as three core books, already too big a game at nearly a thousand pages just for the core rules, and you start piling on option after option and book after book. You can play with "just the core books," but that creates a social problem when someone comes in with their favorite design, and a logistical one sorting through the chaff.

Session zero is now required and a barrier to entry. For most tables, it involves a website signup and learning how an online character creator works. I go to social events with the Society for Creative Anachronism and ask myself a simple question: if people are taking a break and want to get involved with a game right there in the park, could I do that with D&D 5.5E? No. With an OSR game or Shadowdark? Yes.

That portability is real. But it is not the whole answer. Some players do not want to play a one-shot caster. Others want combat that still feels fun rather than like a failure state. Most of the middle-ground audience comes from games like Diablo 4, World of Warcraft, and console RPGs. They do not care much about tradition. They care about having fun.

So we are in a world where many will reject the system advocates and quietly walk away from the game, either moving on to easier games or other hobbies entirely. Few people want to fight the Hydra or its adherent disciples, deal with the coded language, purity tests, the enforcement of aesthetic conformity, or other social glue that is meant more for loyalty and cohesion than gameplay and fun.

And the Hydra will push back against the mainstream alternatives. Players fear losing their investments as other games become popular, and those loyal to the old ways criticize modern alternatives that are more about gameplay improvements than social conformity. Many don’t even choose to throw in with a side, leaving the opposing camps to argue while the mainstream grows tired of watching. They join the multitude of those quietly walking away for better alternatives, positive, creative spaces, and communities more focused on fun than advocacy.

They don’t have time for the shelves full of rules, nor do they have the interest in watching the conflict anymore.