Retro Post: Took It Too Far

From 5-21-12

[Holy crap! I wrote two of these blogs on the same day. I must have been positively constipated with opinion for some reason.]

White Wolf took the role-playing too far (still not sure how, since it’s really only the setting and not the rules that somehow demands it). It didn’t last, thankfully.

Dragonlance took the story aspect of adventures too far and legitimized railroading.

Pathfinder is doing well with their story adventures, but Pathfinder is almost a complete system (setting integrated with rules), which they have taken too far.

Forgotten Realms took setting too far. Tekumel did it first, but so few people have actually seen it or understand it, that it’s no where near the same level of influence. The boxed setting, supplements, adventures, novels, and comics (franchises within franchises), all created in such a way that (at least theoretically) all connects and is integral and impenetrable to new comers.

4e took the combat system too far and turned D&D into a tactical mini’s game with video game-like cut scenes (the role-playing and story stuff).

3e took character creation and enhancement and stat block creation too far to the point of fetish. The purpose of an adventure wasn’t to have an adventure, but to provide opportunities for XP to level up and play with your character build. Statting out monsters is the bane of many a DM. Then each encounter becomes a tiresome, battle of the stat blocks, becoming ever more onerous with each increasing level.

Planescape took the multiplicity of settings to the extreme by actually being a setting of other settings.

Old School took character creation and enhancement too far to the opposite extreme. Your character isn’t what you want, it’s what you roll. [Actually Old School took mega-dungeons, sandboxes, and blogs too far.]

Any of these extremes is distasteful to many players, but also enticing to maybe just as many. It perhaps all has to do with when you entered the hobby.

[I think I just ran out of room on the page that this was hand-written on, and wanted a quick conclusion. RPG’s may still be evolving and thus extremes in play styles are developed. Will it be a good thing, or a bad thing when these wild swings finally die down? D&D Next seems more like a step backward, or at best an accommodation of these different styles, rather than an innovation. This version may truly answer the question of whether RPG's have become a mature stable game or not.]