Rel
Liquid Awesome
Um...no?
Why Play D&D?
- Thread starter Werebat
- Start date
Um...no?
No and yes, but mostly no.
D&D isn't TRYING to become structured, but rather, designers try to give DMs the tools to give a sense of structure to how the stories emerge from the actions of the players and the elements they interact with.
That's like saying videogames are trying to become movies, because they have stories and because designers aspire towards a structured progression for the players to follow, when they're really just infusing narrative elements so that players can make sense of what they experience within the game.
D&D has always been structured. But linearity isn't about rules - it is about adventure design.
Maybe I am nostalgic, but when now seeing Essentials it seems to be that the books more and more encourage DM to use linear adventures which are actually just encounters strung together.
nedjer
Adventurer
I'm fairly confident he's not wrong. The trivial amount of basic arithmetic, (so often described as maths), involved in both kinds of RPG are not particularly effective measures of which skills a game uses, or an especially effective way to teach arithmetical or mathematical skills.
The skills in RPGs depend on the design and on open-ended, player choice gameplay that engages critical thinking, problem-solving and further skills well beyond anything found in any computer game.
The reason for this seems to be that, so far, sticking together all the computer power we can muster has allowed us to simulate a part of a mouse's brain operating for under 30 seconds. Even the dozy fighter at the end of the table uses more skills at the tabletop.
S
Sunseeker
Guest
It possesses the ability to be so, but it is not required that it be so.
Do people who wear funny socks and talk like a pirate know that? I don't know. Maybe they understand that the books can only give you the math, they can't tell you how to tell a story. They can sell you a boxed story, match it up to boxed rules, but they can't tell you how to play in that story.
From my experience the longer one GMs the less linear their games become(depending on their players too), as they become more comfortable telling a story, bending the rules, and doing what they want, instead of what the game allows.
Nobody is going to out-of-the-box DM the best game, everyone works up to it. So if people don't know it from reading Essentials, as they probably didn't when they first picked up a book from any edition, they're going to learn as they play/GM.
Hussar
Legend
Well, years and years ago when we first started gaming, we played things like Keep on the Borderlands. What's that, when you're 12 years old? It's a kick in the door, no role play, kill and loot fest, grindworthy of any CRPG.
We got better.
Why do people think that role playing is some sort of inherent talent that people are born with?
Argyle King
Legend
While I am aware that this thread specifically mentions D&D, I feel it's worth pointing out that not everyone plays D&D as their main rpg. I very highly value a sandbox rpg experience over one which is linear -probably part of the reason I have started playing the current edition of D&D less.
I agree with what others have said in saying that, yes, I do feel D&D is becoming more linear. I also feel that the new crop of players are taught to view rpgs as being somewhat linear. However, I disagree that is what my method of play is. Even when playing through an adventure path, the vast majority of GMs I have played with have allowed for character generated story arcs to some degree.
Similar Threads
