Why do you choose D&D?

[MoogleEmpMog]

You know, the latter part of your post really hit a chord with me and why I'm drifting towards Runequest...Swords and Sorcery. This is my prefered "style" as well. I'm not sure D&D ever did S&S really well(closest was Dark Sun...man I miss that setting), but I will say that I feel the changes that 3.x made and seem to be the direction for 4e are, IMHO, moving further and further away from S&S aesthetics (even to the point where they are directly at odds with them.).

Yeah, D&D's incompatibility with sword and sorcery is the main reason I wouldn't run it. The only two types of fantasy I like are JRPG (which is related to, but not exactly the same as, anime fantasy), and sword and sorcery; D&D has never done either of those terribly well, and what I've seen of 4e so far doesn't indicate it will do either any better.

IMO, D&D does "D&D" extremely well - it's more or less a genre unto itself, best encapsulated by Greyhawk and the Forgotten Realms. It's pretty much the Justice League of Middle Earth, Superman and Batman in Gandalf and Aragorn's clothes, except with no codes against killing (mooks).

The further you get from Mercenaries Who Become High Fantasy Supers, the more you have to mangle D&D to make it work right, and the less you play to its strengths.

The funny thing is Mongoose has made a concerted effort to cater to this type of fantasy. First with Conan d20 then with the Lankhmar, Elric, Hawkmoon, etc. games for Runequest. All the games run off the Runequest rules so everything is compatible if you want to do a homebrew. In the end maybe it's just me not keeping up with the times, but heroes like Elric, Corum, Imaro, Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser call to me more than...well whatever heroes D&D is trying to model at this point in my life.

Mongoose is definitely the premier Sword and Sorcery RPG publisher right now. Considering that it's helped make them the second- or third-largest RPG publisher, I'd say there's certainly a market for explicitly Sword and Sorcery-style RPGs, too.

 

[Rechan]

D&D is not my favorite system, but it is the most popular and well recognized, and if I want to game with people, I might as well give in to the masses and play it.

 

[DragonLancer]

D&D fits perfectly with what I want out of a fantasy RPG. I have yet to find one that comes even remotely close, and I've played quite a few. Level based system, vancian magic, tolkein-esqe races, to hit vs AC... it all fits for me.

 

[Whimsical]

At the end of 2nd edition AD&D, I was desperately choosing anything other than D&D. Although i was still playing in a AD&D campaign and did a little RPGA, I was also playing Champions, GURPS, DC Heroes, DC Universe, Deadlands, Call of Cthulhu, etc. But I rolled a "1" on my save vs 3e. I fell in love with it and have been playing it heavily (and DMing occasionally). So I'm a "heavy user" of 3e and will probably also be a heavy user of 4th ed.

 

[Drowbane]

System familiarity (I am not a gamer who likes to learn new systems), genre familiarity, a stable network of gamers who play the same game and like the same genre, lots of published materials to support it, 3rd party support in 3rd edition especially.

pretty much says it all.

 

[der_kluge]

In Communist Russia, D&D chooses you!


I think EN summed it up pretty well. It's the genre that I prefer. I'm familiar with the rules, and happy with them (more or less). It's also fairly easy to find players

 

[WayneLigon]

1. Familiarity.
2. The fact that I can find players for it on a regular basis.
3. The level of support - if there is an adventure or supplement or setting I don't like for D&D, it doesn't bother me so much. Another one will be on the way in a reasonable span of time, either from WoTC or someone else.
4. It does most of what I want an RPG to do. It doesn't do everything, and some parts of it don't work as well as I want them to work, or work in the manner I want them to work, but it's good enough for now. It can, and will, get better.

 

[Psion]

I think EN summed it up pretty well.

Is "EN" pronounced "En" or "Ee en"?

I dunno. I often stray from D&D (I'm just getting back from my last "sabbatical" now), but there's just something about it that gets my imagination flowing in a way other fantasy wannabes can rarely muster. It probably has a lot to do with the sheer variety of imaginative input to the game... there's always something out there that someone has done that tickles the right part of my brain. And the great thing about D20 and the internet age of sharing, etc., is that the flow of ideas is faster than ever!

 

[Polydamas]

, but there's just something about it that gets my imagination flowing in a way other fantasy wannabes can rarely muster. It probably has a lot to do with the sheer variety of imaginative input to the game...

I completely agree with this. One of D&D's great strengths is its tradition of "everything and the kitchen sink" style, its long standing tradition of homebrewing campaign settings, and its separation of system and setting. This (for me) helps fire up the creativity.

 

[jdrakeh]

Q: Why D&D?
A: Because I can find people willing to play it.