What Is The Essence of D&D?

[Minicol]

It's become abundantly obvious that people have widely divergent ideas about what D&D fundamentally 'is', what is at its core. What is the common thread that binds together 1e, 2e, 3e, and presumably 4e, even though they are four very distinct games in both fluff and crunch?

QUOTE]

Magic = Fireball !
monsters = orc, red Dragon, devils, demons, flumph ! (DON'T CHANGE THAT !!!!)
D 20
Classes
Saving throws

And that's it

 

[Goblyn]

It's become abundantly obvious that people have widely divergent ideas about what D&D fundamentally 'is', what is at its core. What is the common thread that binds together 1e, 2e, 3e, and presumably 4e, even though they are four very distinct games in both fluff and crunch?

QUOTE]

Magic = Fireball !
monsters = orc, red Dragon, devils, demons, flumph ! (DON'T CHANGE THAT !!!!)
D 20
Classes
Saving throws

And that's it

I think dungeons play a pretty big role in it ... there's a note about it in a core book somewhere ... that there's dungeons ...

 

[Doug McCrae]

Are dungeons actually essential? 2e moved away from them to such an extent that 3e used the slogan 'Back to the dungeon' as promotion.

I remember at a gaming tournament in the 90s some friends of mine, both really big D&D fans, were complaining about the adventures in the D&D category they had entered - too many dungeons, they said. Didn't the organisers realise there's more to D&D than just dungeon bashes? At the time I did give the obvious reply that dungeons are part of the name but the example shows the kind of attitudes kicking about at the time.

 

[Irda Ranger]

d20's
Magic Missile (on a side note, if the 4e Wizard has a at-will magical attack that is called anything other than Magic Missile, it will be re-named immediately. This is my first 4e house rule.)

I think the races are under-appreciated. It's gotta have humans, elves and dwarves (minimum), or it's not D&D. The rest are optional. Monte's Arcana Unearthed is very similar to D&D's rules, but it never felt at all like D&D to me.

Rangers and "spellcasting" Wizards (as opposed to more freeform systems) are necessary. Plenty of games have Fighters and Rogues.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

The Soul of D&D?

It's rolling a natural 20 when you're down to 3 hit points and the cleric's on the floor and you're staring that sunnavabitch bugbear right in his bloodshot eye and holding the line just long enough to let the wizard unleash a fireball at the guards who are on their way, because they're all that stands between you, the Foozle and Glory.

 

[GSHamster]

We kick the door in, kill the orc, and take his pie.

 

[Wombat]

The essence of D&D?

Levels, character classes, alignment, armour class, hit points, 3-18 characteristics, Vancian magic, saving throws, spell levels that don't match character levels, colour-coded dragons, hordes of dungeon adventures, and Renaissance armour without the gunpowder.

 

[Nifft]

Classes and Levels.

One must roll multiple polyhedrons throughout a game session.

Kill things, take stuff.

Cheers, -- N

 

[Aust Diamondew]

Are dungeons actually essential? 2e moved away from them to such an extent that 3e used the slogan 'Back to the dungeon' as promotion.

I remember at a gaming tournament in the 90s some friends of mine, both really big D&D fans, were complaining about the adventures in the D&D category they had entered - too many dungeons, they said. Didn't the organisers realise there's more to D&D than just dungeon bashes? At the time I did give the obvious reply that dungeons are part of the name but the example shows the kind of attitudes kicking about at the time.

There is a difference between too many and too few dungeons in a given campaign, if there had been no dungeons would you have been happy?
D&D at its core though involves dungeon crawling in order to kill things and take their stuff.

 

[Lonely Tylenol]

Classes and Levels.

One must roll multiple polyhedrons throughout a game session.

Kill things, take stuff.

Cheers, -- N

Does that mean that d20 Modern is D&D?