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D&D Has Never Been Suitable for Generic Fantasy
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<blockquote data-quote="Doug McCrae" data-source="post: 5925058" data-attributes="member: 21169"><p>I think you're right, D&D has never been generic in the way that Hero System and GURPS are generic. There's always been an implied setting - late-medieval Europe meets Wild West meets Dying Earth. The core rules only use one or two magic systems. Only one style of game play - dungeoneering - is well supported. The most generic part of the game has always been the Monster Manual, cause it's so damn big, though again, the reason for that is to support games with a lot of combat.</p><p></p><p>There's a significant difference between editions though. Early D&D is highly specific. From late 2e onward, there is an explosion of options, probably reaching its apogee in 3e, particularly if one uses splatbooks and open gaming content. Another feature of d20 D&D is the decoupling of rules and flavour text. 4e specifically encourages the reflavouring of powers. In 1e, all, or most, classes meant something in the game world - thieves had guilds, bards had colleges. In 3e, that's not the case. A 3e rogue is a skillful person with a pragmatic fighting style, but the rules don't tell us how he became so.</p><p></p><p>This decoupling is very similar to the way Hero System separates powers (the game mechanical part) from special effects (the game-world part). In Hero a 10d6 Energy Blast can represent fire, or lightning, or Vogon poetry, or any other ability which deals that amount of ranged damage.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Doug McCrae, post: 5925058, member: 21169"] I think you're right, D&D has never been generic in the way that Hero System and GURPS are generic. There's always been an implied setting - late-medieval Europe meets Wild West meets Dying Earth. The core rules only use one or two magic systems. Only one style of game play - dungeoneering - is well supported. The most generic part of the game has always been the Monster Manual, cause it's so damn big, though again, the reason for that is to support games with a lot of combat. There's a significant difference between editions though. Early D&D is highly specific. From late 2e onward, there is an explosion of options, probably reaching its apogee in 3e, particularly if one uses splatbooks and open gaming content. Another feature of d20 D&D is the decoupling of rules and flavour text. 4e specifically encourages the reflavouring of powers. In 1e, all, or most, classes meant something in the game world - thieves had guilds, bards had colleges. In 3e, that's not the case. A 3e rogue is a skillful person with a pragmatic fighting style, but the rules don't tell us how he became so. This decoupling is very similar to the way Hero System separates powers (the game mechanical part) from special effects (the game-world part). In Hero a 10d6 Energy Blast can represent fire, or lightning, or Vogon poetry, or any other ability which deals that amount of ranged damage. [/QUOTE]
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