{"id":43794,"date":"2014-07-23T23:14:50","date_gmt":"2014-07-24T05:14:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2014\/07\/23\/the-chaotic-horror-of-dd.html"},"modified":"2014-07-24T10:28:06","modified_gmt":"2014-07-24T16:28:06","slug":"the-chaotic-horror-of-dd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2014\/07\/23\/the-chaotic-horror-of-dd.html","title":{"rendered":"The chaotic horror of D&D"},"content":{"rendered":"
Huh.<\/p>\n

Yeah, thinking back on those early modules — or, for that matter, a lot of the early games I played (coughCollegecough), there was a lot of "Is this a village of non-humans? Kill them! Is it a village of humans? Wait for any sign they are going to attack us, then kill them!" And we were playing generally "good" characters. \u00a0It was tribalistic Darwinism at its extreme, and nobody every batted an eyelash about it.<\/p>\n

(Though today it's at least roundly parodied by comics like "Knights of the Dinner Table.")<\/p>\n

Reshared post from +Yonatan Zunger<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

D&D holds a special place in my heart: it was my very first exposure to the idea of role-playing games, many long years ago. But as time went by, it became clearer and clearer that this was a game of Fridge Horror (http:\/\/tvtropes.org\/pmwiki\/pmwiki.php\/Main\/FridgeHorror<\/a>): if you back away from the game's conceits for a moment, you realize that it's all about playing roving bandits and murderers, with lots of heroic tropes stacked on top of it. (Which is to say, it's surprisingly similar to the Middle Ages. Seriously, knights are something you run away from.)<\/i> I'm glad to see that the upcoming 5th Edition — of which a sample below — is keeping up the tradition.<\/p>\n

The fucked-upedness of this was driven home to me several years ago, when my group of friends decided that it would be fun to pull out an actual D&D module<\/i> — an adventure-in-a-box — and play it, as a lark. The effect of pointing some fairly Narrativist players at Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil<\/i> was kind of amusing. I can tell you, for example, that the authors of this module pretty much assumed that if you came across a village of hobgoblins — large, muscular, hairy humanoids — you would simply wipe them out, and so the module gave you plenty of information about combat — including in their nursery — the loot you would find afterwards, and so on. It turns out that if you simply think "hey, there's a village of people here, maybe we can talk to them and figure out what's been going on" then the storyline starts to break considerably, and when the adventuring party starts to make peace treaties with them and get regular intelligence updates, a lot of later "OMG SURPRISE MONSTERS!" moments become less surprising. That's a good illustration of Fucked Up Trope #1: everyone you encounter, if they don't have a Special Plot Helmet, is presumed to be someone you're going to murder and rob, probably in that order.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Consider, for example, the illustration from the upcoming 5.0PH that you see below, demonstrating the "cloudkill" spell. This spell, which dates back a few editions, "generates a bank of fog, similar to a fog cloud, except that its vapors are yellowish green and poisonous." (Technical details of its effects follow) You may be more familiar with this spell if you know the history of World War I: it has the distinctive color of a 50\/50 chlorine\/phosgene mix, first used by Germany against the British at Wieltje in 1915. Chemical weapons FTW!<\/p>\n

Some of the weirdness is more subtle, e.g. in the description of the new "Warlock" class, this being the type of spell-caster who learns their magic by apprenticing to some kind of powerful, but non-divine, being. (AFAICT they decided to take Jack Chick tracts literally in 5.0) Consider this quote:<\/p>\n

"Stories of warlocks binding themselves to fiends are widely known. But many warlocks serve patrons that are not fiendish. Sometimes, a traveler in the wilds comes to a strangely beautiful tower, meets its fey lord or lady, and stumbles into a pact without being fully aware of it. And sometimes, while poring over tomes of forbidden lore, a brilliant but crazed student's mind is opened to realities beyond the material world and to the alien beings that dwell in the outer void."<\/i><\/p>\n

Yes, that's right. D&D5.0 has decided to write Call of Cthulhu<\/i> crossover straight into the canon.<\/p>\n

Now, don't get me wrong: this isn't actually a criticism of D&D. It's batshit insane, and it's a solid mass of fridge horror, but once you realize and accept that horror, you actually have an opening to play a fantastic game — either straight, or with deconstruction. You just have to realize that a standard adventuring party, no matter how lawful or good it claims to be, is basically a force of chaos and destruction in the world which would cause the army to be called out under ordinary circumstances. In fact, the party which is convinced of their dedication to the ideals of Truth, Justice, and the False Medieval Way can actually be quite a fascinating study, especially if the consequences of their morals start to show. When you GM these games, by all means, let the horror shine through.<\/p>\n

And when there's a natural, or even unnatural, opportunity to deconstruct with a bit of genre crossover, don't fear it. I've run a great game where it turned out that the world of D&D was a post-apocalyptic wasteland, and the players gradually started to find the fallout shelters and so on of the ancient civilization which their world supplanted. I've played in a game where one of my characters was killed — and then the GM called me aside, and my character's next clone was activated and sent back into the simulation. 5.0, apparently, is basically calling out to be played with +<\/span>Charlie Stross<\/a><\/span>' The Laundry Files<\/i> in mind.\u00a0<\/p>\n

So don't fear the madness: embrace it, extend it, deconstruct it. Because the complete lunacy of the tropes many of us grew up with is kind of fascinating, if you step back and look at it for a bit.\ufeff<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\n \n <\/div>\n

An exclusive look at the new D&D Player\u2019s Handbook\u2014and The Warlock<\/a>
\n Ethan Gilsdorf gets a first-look at some incredible high-res art from the latest edition of the classic pen-and-paper role-playing game.\n <\/p>\n

View this post on Google+<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Huh. Yeah, thinking back on those early modules — or, for that matter, a lot of the early games I played (coughCollegecough), there was a lot of "Is this a village of non-humans? Kill them! Is it a village of humans? Wait for any sign they are going to attack us, then kill them!" And … Continue reading “The chaotic horror of D&D”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[106,22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43794","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-plusposts","category-gaming"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4792,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2004\/01\/05\/it_isnt_just_fo.html","url_meta":{"origin":43794,"position":0},"title":"It isn’t just for geeky losers any more!","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 5-Jan-04 10:55am","format":false,"excerpt":"A nice article here on how not only has D&D (etc.) evolved into something that grown-ups play, but successful adults play, too. Who'd'a thunk it? Role-playing games aren't just for...","rel":"","context":"In "Gaming"","block_context":{"text":"Gaming","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/gaming"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5851,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2004\/07\/09\/underworld.html","url_meta":{"origin":43794,"position":1},"title":"Underworld","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 9-Jul-04 9:45pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Hey, whaddayknow, I can check out DVDs from the local library. Keen. And while Margie's off playing D&D, it's a great opportunity to pick up Underworld. Or it would be,...","rel":"","context":"In "Media & Culture"","block_context":{"text":"Media & Culture","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/media"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4380,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2003\/09\/12\/if_its_an_alter.html","url_meta":{"origin":43794,"position":2},"title":"If it’s an alternate Friday …","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 12-Sep-03 11:14pm","format":false,"excerpt":"... then it must be \"Margie is off playing D&D and I'm watching movies and doing fun stuff\" Night. Jeez, The Mummy was a fun movie. Action, horror, humor, romance,...","rel":"","context":"In "Media & Culture"","block_context":{"text":"Media & Culture","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/media"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":207,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2003\/05\/29\/evil_evil_evil.html","url_meta":{"origin":43794,"position":3},"title":"Evil! Evil! Evil!","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 29-May-03 4:35pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Brought to you in Living Color, direct from the Pit of Hell!!! Periodically, I run across some news snippet about How Awfully Evil and Mind-Twisting Role Playing Games (such as...","rel":"","context":"In "Gaming"","block_context":{"text":"Gaming","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/gaming"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":46067,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2014\/10\/25\/origins-of-the-human-species.html","url_meta":{"origin":43794,"position":4},"title":"Origins of the Human Species","author":"***Dave","date":"Sat 25-Oct-14 4:44am","format":false,"excerpt":"DNA analysis of Siberian humans 45,000 years ago tells us all sorts of interesting things. The tapestry of human development and civilization is richer than we appreciate.I mean, this was a person. He lived. He struggled. He loved. He had a life. He died. And there are tens of thousands\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":49690,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2015\/02\/25\/tabletop-rpgs-with-background-music.html","url_meta":{"origin":43794,"position":5},"title":"Tabletop RPGs with background music","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 25-Feb-15 5:47pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Sharing so that I can check this out next time the opportunity arises. Originally shared by +Scott Randel: I've been setting up my own playlists for games (the Twilight Zone 40th Anniversary set minus the themes is ideal for horror games), but this site will let me quickly pick appropriate\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43794","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43794"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43794\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43804,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43794\/revisions\/43804"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43794"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43794"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43794"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}