Beoric
8, 8, I forget what is for
Well, sure, but the modules WotC has been pushing for years ALSO is filled with fetch quests and preprogrammed events. Like, seriously, read Dragons of Despair, which was published in 1984. Or better yet, listen to the gg no re playthrough, which is at least entertaining.If I may, I think there's a valid point to be made about the change in society being at the root of some of this. Most modern gamers come to tabletop RPGs after having grown up with video games that have NPCs only programmed to reply to certain answers and expecting to run fetch quests, etc. and my 20 something son has reported he's met GMs that run their games like that -- they can't improvise well if they can't see an answer to the question in the list of stuff the NPC is supposed to say.
And then there's the fact that there's SO MUCH MORE cool spec fic stuff available to watch than there was when, if I am inferring correctly, we were kidlings. Not to mention the video games. No wonder kids aren't reading as much (although don't get me started on them being force fed problem lit novels rather than being encouraged to read anything that will excite them about reading, as happened with both my children). Why read about a hero (or about mopey mopers who are powerless and selfish, as my kids were forced to do again and again by their schools, but I digress) when you can BE a hero in a video game?
So yeah, things have changed and will continue to do so and sometimes change is liberating and nifty at the same time it also can lead to new problems.
It's swell that the people who dig story games can go play them. I just hate to see other fantasy shoved aside, but maybe there's still room at the table. Seems like there is. I'm reminded of the way big fat fantasy has so dominated the fantasy book market that there's been no room for sword-and-sorcery for... decades, and that a whole bunch of modern readers don't know that fantasy doesn't HAVE to be glacially paced and info dumpy.
It's true that there being only a handful of decent fantasy movies back in the day, most of which aren't nearly as well done as the current stuff, left us hungry to create and play. But OTOH, I think seeing more fantasy that is well written makes my game better.
Sure, there are lots of ways of scratching the fantasy itch. But Classic TTRPG play is unique in the amount of agency it gives players. I am reluctant to assume that changes in pop culture are driving changes in playstyle, when new players don't really have the opportunity to try Classic play.
As you pointed out, the old modules themselves don't do a good job of teaching it. The new modules certainly aren't teaching it. WotC has no interest in teaching it (and doesn't eve seem to understand it). The only way to learn it is if your DM (read, parent, usually) teaches it to you, or if you get intrigued enough to do a lot of searching and reading grognards - much of which content is pretty negative, and often not particularly instructional.
Since the gateway is usually WotC marketing, to you or your DM, most new entrants to the hobby are going to learn gaming the WotC way. And if it feels a little flat, will they search out different styles of gaming? They would have to know those styles exist first.
We can't know if general changes in pop culture would discourage new gamers from Classic gaming, because (for the most part) new gamers have been given no opportunity to accept or reject it. My hypothesis is that people are more accepting of both fantasy and gaming in general, and there would be more acceptance of it than back when we started playing (1979 for me, I think). But until somebody actually starts doing studies, we just aren't going to know.
Anecdotally, I know when I talk about my game to gamers who started on late edition play, they are very interested in my game. And I may get a chance to to run a campaign for a bunch of people who started out with Trad games, so we will see how they enjoy it. This is actually why I am revisiting N1, since it has elements of both, and I think it will be a good tool for teaching skills for Classic play.