Thread by @madpierrot

Okay, let's get this thread rolling. Let's chat about D&D, 5e's slow tonal shifts, actual plays, and how all this has changed expectations of what a campaign of D&D looks like.

As always, mute this if you're uninterested while I write the actual body of the thread.

Let's begin with what D&D had been about for a pretty long time to many people: serious high fantasy with high-powered characters who have been tasked with saving the world. Premise a bit thin? That's because it's unimportant to what the game is actually about: shoot-loot-scoot.

At its core, all that D&D promotes with its mechanics and gameplay is killing monsters that over time are worth more arbitrary points so you can be better at killing the next big thing. When you can't murder it, you get out before dying. That's about it.

The most obvious place to see this the old con dungeons, which were made to be run through swiftly and efficiently and, most importantly, competitively. It's also deeply impeded in the DNA of 5e Tomb of Annihilation.

So let's move forward some, to what eventually evolved from that somehow: actual plays on Twitch and Youtube. While these may have first focused on what D&D is made to be about (extreme ronin bullshit), audiences shifted this with their pure presence.

Audiences of a media product that centers characters will attach to and associate not with the product but with the characters first. For most things, this is a benefit because it helps with marketing merch in the long run. But for actual plays, it presents a conundrum.

The problem is that the characters in D&D can die. Not often or easily after low levels but it can happen, quickly and unexpectedly. Critical Role is a great example of this. Even though they did so cinematically, it's not something that can be planned for.

A TV show, dramatic podcast, movie, etc can be planned for and allow death to truly advance the story. In D&D (specifically, because other ttrpgs can handle it better), death just happens. Sometimes, it can be undone. Sometimes, it can't. But that's it according to the game.

So what do you do when you're producing something like an actual play, where character attachment is a thing you want but the system has no stakes in it? You hack it, change the stakes, shift where focus is to where you need it to be.

Actual plays have done this in a major way. The story is highly emphasized (because you need something to capture and keep your audience) and social interactions become infinitely more important (because audiences show enjoyment of them, because of story).

D&D wasn't built for this but it's been trying, over time, to make itself capable of supporting these stories along with the ones that have existed before. It's likely not possible. But I can't see the future so, hey, maybe one day.

It's still changed the preconceived notions of what a D&D campaign looks like. Stories of campaigns are less likely to be about some epic fight and more to be about some interaction that spiraled into something more.

And that's because the example given to home players (who are often the audiences of actual plays then take what's shown to their own games) is one of intrigue, collaborative storytelling, banter, and interpersonal in-game relationships.

D&D doesn't really support those but they make up the public image of what D&D is and how it's played now. It has even affected how adventures are written, however slowly it may be happening.

If you look at, say, Princes of the Apocalypse, it's a very straightlaced and serious sort of adventure. If there's comedy within it, it's a slightly raised eyebrow and a discrete wink. Social interactions are simply doors to a fight and not a way to avoid it entirely.

Conversely, look at Dragon Heist. DH doesn't take itself too seriously on any level. It allows for easy comedy. It wants you to talk to anyone and everyone. It tries, sometimes desperately, to allow you to do more than just shoot-loot-scoot your way through its story paths.

Dungeon of the Mad Mage, while definitely closer to traditional D&D, also has its moments of absolute ridiculousness and absurdity. There's a goddamned rock opera in the middle of it.

The Acquisition Inc sourcebook is, honestly, probably the biggest sign of this. It's almost purely social interactions and character-focused with very little fight-mechanics meat. To a lesser extent, there's also Xanathar's.

So yeah. D&D is not capable of doing what a lot of people think D&D is at the moment. That could change but I don't know that you could really keep both the serious mechanical crunch game and the more character/social-focused game.

I'm open to chatting in this thread, just hit me up.

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