D&D 5E Is D&D a Story or a Game? Discuss.

[ro]

D&D is a game: we play characters, roll dice, try to win and not lose.
D&D is also a story: characters are travelling on an adventure in a fictional world, with dialogue and social interaction, plot hooks, etc.

In your opinion, is D&D more story or more game? What are the consequences of that?

 

[Imaculata]

The easy answer would be "both". But it seems to me that the only "winning condition" in DnD is just for everyone to have fun. So I think it is more a cooperative story than a game.

 

[Rya.Reisender]

Neither. It's a guideline for creating a fun story and game.

 

[robus]

It really depends on the group as the system easily supports a variable mix of both.

In my group I'm realizing that one of the players really wants it to be a game where her character is pitted against a mostly static world of puzzles and combat challenges. She really hates NPCs with motivations and objectives. She can't separate them from me the DM and she just thinks I'm doing these things to be annoying

A couple of others in the group are much more into the story side of things and really get into the exchanges with the NPCs, and thinking about what's going on in the larger world.

The last one just does his own thing - he's the wildcard

 

[iserith]

It's a game about storytelling.

The story is created by playing.

 

[MonkeezOnFire]

I think that all roleplaying games are both, like many above have said. I would describe it as more of a continuum than a dichotomy.

That being said I also think that D&D leans a bit more towards the game aspect. The rules for combat and interacting with the environment are extensive, but the rules for narrative crafting are a bit more free form than other games. For instance, games like Fate where the mechanics of the game dictate how and when players can affect the narrative.

EDIT: I didn't answer your second question. I think the consequences of this are that the default playstyle (that is the one supported by official adventures and the like) will tend toward action, combat and setpieces rather than be focused on deep character arcs of the villains and other NPCs. Basically D&D is meant to be more like a Summer blockbuster than a heavy drama.

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

Its a game that often creates a story as it progresses. Usually a story worthy of an Ator movie but a story nonetheless. I don't approach it as a storytelling exercise, aka that characters have plot immunity or X must happen. Sometimes the story is quick and painful, some schmucks leave the farm behind and die horribly from an ooze in a dank pit. Sometimes its saving the universe. I focus on the game and the story flows out of that.

 

[Irda Ranger]

It's a game about storytelling.

The story is created by playing.

Delete the words "about storytelling", and "THIS".

I have never, ever seen a D&D game go well when the DM or one of the players comes to the table with a "story" they want to tell, and just tells it regardless of what the other players at the table are doing. When the DM does it it's called "railroading", and everyone resents it. When other players do it, they often get booted or at least a talking to.

But obviously the game of D&D contains many colorful characters going on outlandish adventures. When you pause and look back, it can make for a great story. "Remember when we pretended to be a hobgoblins and infiltrated the fortress of the necromancer ..."

 

[iserith]

Delete the words "about storytelling"

That's paraphrased from the very first sentence in the Basic Rules.

 

[Irda Ranger]

That's paraphrased from the very first sentence in the Basic Rules.

Then the Basic Rules are wrong.