History NeverLiveItDown / TabletopGames

** A rule from ''Advanced D&D 1st Edition'' penalized {{Demihuman}} female characters on their Strength score: -1 for dwarves, -2 for elves, and -3 for halflings and gnomes. While the rule was [[CommonKnowledge misremembered as all female PCs having their strength subtracted by four]], it remains a fact that female [=PCs=] of a few races still had their Strength reduced as a game mechanic. "Minus Four Strength" was even the former trope name for GameFavoredGender. TSR dropped this rule when they realized what a bad idea it was; starting with ''D&D 2nd Edition''[='=]s release, [[PurelyAestheticGender a player character's gender has had no effect whatsoever on their stats or abilities]]. The concept is now an OldShame for TSR and longtime fans of ''D&D'', yet it still gets brought up from time to time.
** "Bear Lore" in Fourth Edition is still remembered as [[{{Narm}} a bit of writing that's unintentionally funny]]. Most editions of the game have a mechanic where you can roll increasingly difficult checks to learn useful information about the monsters you're fighting. In Fourth Edition, the provided information on bears is things that anyone who's even heard of bears would know, such as "cave bears live in caves" and "bears attack with their claws". By contrast, the same checks for a manticore would reveal genuinely useful information that a manticore can talk and that it's easily tricked. As such, the "bear lore" was subject to a lot of mockery and memes (such as rolling a check on fire to learn that fire is hot), and it's a black eye on Fourth Edition, even after it was taken out.

** Bear Lore in fourth edition! That is, most editions of the game have a mechanic where you can roll to learn useful information about the monsters you're fighting. In fourth edition, you have to make some rather difficult checks to learn such gems as "cave bears live in caves", and "bears attack with their claws".

** The Paladin class as a whole got itself a reputation for being LawfulStupid thanks to the game's mechanics in ''D&D''. In early editions of the game, not only did a Paladin always have to be LawfulGood, but a Paladin could potentially lose their powers forever if they let any lawbreaking go unpunished. As a result, the class was the bane of many a Dungeon Master and other gaming tables for a long time, as the arguments around what to do in any given situation were complicated by this mechanic. Paladins gained a reputation as the class of the StopHavingFunGuys for the longest time, and the Lawful Stupid behavior is one that people still believe that Paladins are saddled with. The reputation remains even after these mechanics were removed.

** For example, ''Frostburn'' is a very well done feature book on cold weather terrain and characters in ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons''. At this point it will seemingly only be remembered for providing two minor feats that contribute to making the Locate City Bomb.

** Matt Ward is not a bad writer: he's done work involving [[MagnificentBastard Trazyn]] [[{{Troll}} the Infinite]] and [[ThePaladin Castellan Crowe]], and had a hand in the plot of ''VideoGame/BattlefleetGothicArmada2'', all of which were very well received. But his reputation will always, ALWAYS be defined by his take on the Ultramarines, a take that can charitably be described as ''divisive''.

** The Dark for Sorrow's Path, considered the worst card in Magic (at least, that isn't an [[JunkRare outright joke]]).

** Kamigawa for the awkward "splice onto arcane" mechanic.