the grey sludge tsunami of mediocrity

I generaly avoid politcal or contentious issues these days. I really want to focus on the joy that RPGs bring to our lives. Yet, I feel  the gradual destruction of D&D is now nearly complete and I would like to clarify my views in this regard.

As caretakers of the IP WOTC has been changing things. For the most part this is irrelevant to me as I play the old game. Yet, D&D is a cultural institution which has great impact on our society, just as sports and popular music do. Thus with the latest iteration of the Monster Manual some changes have occurred which do not sit well with me.

Something I have griped about for some time is how D&D used to be based in a tradition of fantasy literature and ancient myth.

Fantasy RPGs rely on certain archetypes. Sometimes they do not make complete sense, yet we can agree it comes from myth and if you study ancient religions a lot of things do not make sense. That is part of the wonder of these things. Yet, they have been handed down through millennia to us today largely unchanged.

When D&D was being created, as the story goes, Gary Gygax had a book on fantastic creatures from myth and legend. He went through the book and created stats for everything that looked useful.

This is why D&D has creatures which come from all over the world used in a European medieval setting. i.e Djinn, Sphinxes, and Minotaurs, and so much more.

All of these things follow in old traditions coming from varied cultures. They may not follow an exact copy of how the creatures were in literature, but in the 70's you couldn't just look up articles on the web. Gary was doing the best he could to imbue the game with wonder using the source he had at hand.

Well, with later RPG editions, and not just D&D, the designers many of whom were actually programmers doing paper code, didn't have that point of reference. Core concepts about the design were lost or forgotten. Things in the paper game began to reference video games of RPGs. This is quite ironic since video game RPGs originally referenced paper D&D. I know this because I was there at CERL when the computer dnd was first created. With no sense of the lineage for the overall mythos of Fantasy RPGs the original references sources were simply forgotten.

While some may say it's just a game, so changing what creatures are doesn't matter, I feel it speaks to a general dumbing down of the game. Some of these 'creatures' come from ancient sources and there is something about antiquity which can speak to us even today.

i.e. If you want to have Legba in your campaign, he better be a black man who meets you at the cross roads. Though in this case I might avoid using this deity, as many Americans still practice hoodoo and it might be disrespectful, but I hope you get my point. Legba is not a woman.

When you play around with the context and meaning of these ancient archetypes, you are destroying our collective culture, both within RPGs and within what we can know about ancient myth.

I am not angry over what WOTC does to D&D. I am just sad about it. WOTC seems to have zero institutional memory and thus is eroding away at the powerful old magic of ancient cultures in order to produce mindless grey goo.

They should feel ashamed - they likely are too full of hubris to care.

There is hope though. RPGs aren't merely a product, they are a lifestyle. Just like 'Rock and Roll' no single company can own the lifestyle.

My advice is to explore the old games to see what nuggets of wisdom can be found there, and then import those ideas into your own current game. I also advise checking out the indie game creators. I feel the real passion for gaming is in the small house publishers. Most of all, Stay Postive, Keep Gaming, and have Fun!