Change of Opinion: Flexibility not Limitation

I have been complaining since Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition came out that many of the features that I relied on in Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd Edition had been removed. I have now not only come to accept that this information will never be added to D&D, but have actually come to see this lack as being beneficial to the game.

One of the chief things that I have missed was the ecology section in the monster listings. In AD&D, I could quickly figure out how the monster fit into its ecosystem, what you could do with its corpse, if it was worth anything dead, etc. However, in D&D 4th edition, I have the flexibility to decide what role this creature plays in the environment that I create. Also, players can come up with their own uses for the a creature that they have slain. Does its hide make good armor? Does it taste fantastic? Can its blood be used as a poisonous coating for weapons? Can its teeth be used as a spell component? This encourages role-playing and involves players in helping to create the world that they are playing in.

Another element that is not in D&D, but was in AD&D, is the society information in the monster descriptions. This lack of information also removes rigidity from the game and provides dungeon masters with more options. Maybe orcs are mostly solitary in my world, live in small tribes in someone else’s campaign, and are civilized, creating enormous metropolises in a third dungeon master’s game.

Finally, the removal of "chaotic good", "lawful evil", and the neutral alignments in D&D 4th Edition allow for more freedom. Even though I still feel that this breaks the "rule of threes" laid out in older material, I have come to believe that fewer alignments allows for more freedom in playing a character. For instance, if I choose to play a "good" character, I can shift between being chaotic and neutral without the harsh penalties imposed by AD&D 2nd Edition. However, I would rather see all of the alignments removed for player characters instead of taking away some and leaving others. This change would allow all characters to fluctuate with each situation without worrying about alignment; in essence, all characters would be what used to be termed “True Neutral”.

Don’t get me wrong, I still miss the ecology and society sections, and would love to see a book of ecology released that would give suggestions – either for specific creatures, or in general – but I have come to accept that these are not as vital to the game as I once had believed.

What do you think? Did these elements add to or detract from the game? Is there anything that you wish had not been removed in newer versions of the game?