imurphy943
First Post
Specifically in the playtest and our discussions about it here, it comes to my mind that a lot of people seem to want to use D&D as a game of generic fantasy (or, sometimes, not even a game, but a storytelling tool, which I don't even want to start in on, God help me). This seems to drive a lot of the suggestions I see for/about the playtest: making concessions for this or that contingency to make the whole more palatable for "any conceivable" campaign.
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this is a game about a class of people whose lives consist of going into dangerous locations, answering violence with violence, and hauling out treasure. You shouldn't expect D&D to bend over backwards to make room for your pacifist noble with an allergy to coins and no discernible talent outside of playing the spoons. The game does not owe your character anything, especially if your character isn't made to do what D&D expects him to do- go out and earn experience points, however your preferred edition awards them, to become better at earning experience points, lather, rinse, repeat.
If someone wanted to play a pacifist monk dude in my game, I'd allow it, but I definitely wouldn't make up a bunch of house rules to make it possible for this guy to survive an adventure. Whoever makes D&D source books can release as many as they want, but whether they're official or not, my definition of 'D&D' doesn't stretch very far.
I don't think that D&D necessarily has much to do with genre (though it is traditionally fantasy)- sci-fi, fantasy, science fantasy, modern fantasy, and kitchen sink are all just different ways of phrasing fantastic events, and D&D can exist in any of them.