FNF: Why I left the D&D Facebook Groups

 On this edition of Friday Night Fights, I want to write about a "fight" that is a little more personal.  This time, it is between my love of the game called Dungeons and Dragons and my perceptive view of others' views on the game.

First, I want to make one thing perfectly clear:  I love this game.  It has allowed me to accomplish so much on the social levels that as a social outcast most of my life I would have never been able to do otherwise.

It has encouraged me to allow my imagination to flourish.  From that imagination, a massive homebrew world was created, each continent, zone, region, biome, city, state, small town, run-down village, barbarian camp, past cultures, past histories, and the like to be fleshed out, little by little, over the course of 20+ years.

However, in the light of Dungeons and Dragons becoming "maintstream," I have developed a bit of internal conflict I cannot resolve with myself.  It is this conflict that I will address and the reasons why I left these Facebook groups, have avoided certain people in my life, and are becoming more closed off from Dungeons and Dragons - the reverse of what it's all about.

The first reason is the "overpowerness" of it all.  We see things in media and as humans go "wow I wish I could be like that."  From that thought alone, we have Cosplay, movies becoming broadway plays, halloween costume trending, and so forth.  This sense of needing to feel overpowered - aka "Superhero Complex" - has led me to stop watching any mainstream superhero shows.  The last Avengers movie was a super huge eyeroll to me.  

Circle this first point back around to Dungeons and Dragons, and you have these gamers who insist on having this Superhero Complex and bringing it to the table.  In my opinion, a Superhero Complex is detriment to a Dungeons and Dragons game.  Its the "nerd becoming the bully" in a sense.  Most roleplayers will act out some inner concept at the table, especially newer players.  This comes in correlation with little kids reenacting scenes in movies, TV shows, video games, etc.  

With a Superhero at the table, its not fun for anyone in my opinion.  As a DM, the person who expends his brain, imagination, and free time for the expense of his friends, I shared my opinions about this on said pages.  Some liked my comments, but most gave me serious negative feedback.  The biggest negative feedback is "i'm a bad DM for stifling my players creativity."  

Sorry to you for thinking like that, but allowing my "friends" to antagonize a situation and ruin not only the story where everyone is supposed to have their time to shine, and to throw an "adult-fit" about it is not very conducive to a social gaming environment.

The second reason piggybacks off the first reason.  There are many different streamers out there that share their gaming experiences, and some have made some considerable shows about it.  This feeds to the other reason for building an OP game.  "The Winner."  Yes, Dungeons and Dragons is a story-based, group effort, work-together, combat game.  In my opinion, 70-80% of the rules involve some kind of combat.  HOWEVER, just because you "win the fight" does not mean you "win the story."  

There is no "winning" in D&D.  There is being "successful" and "finishing the story as intended" but never "winning."  

However, characters will get built to maximize EVERYTHING.  Certain rules are bent, combined, or otherwise twisted to maximize the "winning" concepts.  Certain class features, racial traits, job functions, etc.  In a normal game, with someone who understands its a group game, I'M ALL ABOUT A GREAT CHARACTER BUILD - BUT SOMETIMES GREAT CHARACTER BUILDS HAVE SHITTY PILOTS (the player).

Combine both of my two previous points and you have what's called the "METAGAMER."  This is the person that goes out to the internet, watches these streamers and their awesome ideas, or finds "the perfect build" and then attempts to replicate what they read or see into their games.  There is no vested interest.  They don't care about whether or not their characters die, because they can just make a new one...... or their party for the same reason.  "its just a game" they say or "it worked on <insert streamer's channel, show, video game> so it should work here."

If one more player asks me about a Blood Hunter one more time and why it will always lose to a Swashbuckler Rogue I'm going to scream.

The final reason that I left these social media groups is the "wokeness" of the game.  Again, I hear "i'm stifling my player's creativity" and "I feel sorry for your players" from this.  

What do I mean by "wokeness" you ask?  The game itself and the "hardcore supporting players to the game" catering to the newly growing mainstream population.  

** The mainstream thinks because something is "sentient" that it should be a "playable race" 
** The mainstream thinks because it should be a "playable race" that everyone should "co-mingle"
** The mainstream thinks that because all the races should "co-mingle" that "everyone should get along, speak the same language"
** Genetics be damned, your "race" is only a video game skin and your stats and skills can and will reflect that.

Because of these "new trains of thought" i'm now a racist, bad DM, a horrible person, and so on.  Why?  Because of the following:

***** I BELIEVE WHATS IN THE MONSTER MANUAL SHOULD STAY IN THE MONSTER MANUAL!!!!  GOBLINS AND ORCS AND BUGBEARS AND DRAGONS AND FAIRIES AND MIMICS AND BIRD-MEN AND LIZARDFOLK ARE THE BAD GUYS, MONSTROUS, AND NOT PART OF THE SOCIETAL ASPECTS OF DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS!!

***** BY ALLOWING THIS, YOU REMOVE SOME MUCH-NEEDED REAL WORLD STRIFE AND TENSION FROM THE GAME AS A WHOLE!!!!  NOT EVERYONE GETS ALONG IN OUR OWN WORLD.  FORGOTTEN REALMS IS MUCH BIGGER THAN EARTH.  NOT EVERYONE GETS ALONG THERE EITHER.  BY SAYING THEY GET ALONG IS AN INSULT.

***** THERE NEEDS TO BE DIFFERENCES.  BY SAYING A DWARF AND AN ELF HAVE NO RACIAL DIFFERENCES IS SIMILAR TO SAYING A POLAR BEAR AND A PENGUIN HAVE NO RACIAL DIFFERENCES.  RACE IN DUNGEONS IN DRAGONS TERMS DOES NOT MEAN RACE IN A MODERN DAY GEOPOLITICAL SENSE.  

With all of that said, will I change the way I continue to play Dungeons and Dragons?  Not one bit.  Do my friends and family that I play with know where I stand with this?  Yes they do.  Will they continue to explore this massive world I've created and enjoy hours and hours of amazing adventures?  Yes, yes they will.

When someone new joins our table and brings some OP, internet-fueled shitstorm of a character to the table, only to realize that's not how the world works, will they get butt-hurt and leave?  Most likely.

When the creature with wings walks up to the remote village and I start dropping dice to check for fame/infamy before deciding to have the village go on the offensive "because a demon is coming with its humanoid slaves" - will my party react appropriately in a mature manner?  Yes they will.  Will they understand the scenario the minute I start slinging slurs across the table?  Yes they will.  Will they get butt-hurt and leave?  No they wont.

If my wife of 15 years, who runs a draconic bloodline high elf sorceress on the regular, can tank taunts, slurs, and other RP insults because of the "scales on her elven skin" or "the wings on her back" or "she's a witch she throws magic" - then I really question these Gen Y and Gen Z players who can't.

If one of my closest friends, who has some very strong left leanings, can tank being picked out of a crowd and targeted in and out of combat because his go-to character is a drow or some odd-duck race 90% of the populous has never seen before - then I need to question this concept.

If people go to RAVENLOFT and don't get the "outsiders aren't welcome" treatment, my rant is valid and my questions about this newer generation stand.

And thats all I have to say about that.