Of Roads, and Rome, and the Soul of D&D
- Thread starter Olgar Shiverstone
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Olgar Shiverstone
Legend
Thought experiment: A group of blind gamers of different backgrounds play a game which is given no overt identification, with no specific reference to rules or mechanics. Without discussing with each other what game they played, each is individually and separately asked, "What game did you play?".
Each answers: "D&D". Why?
Because 1) you set it up that way (see below); 2) because D&D is the single biggest name in RPGs and FRPGs, so its going to be the name most of them are likely to know 3) and related to 2) prior, its the best statistical answer by miles
But the fact remains, they could be playing Earthdawn or any other game.
All you've shown by that example is that its probable that "D&D-ness"/the "Soul of D&D" is so vague that you can't distinguish it from another game. IOW, what is being experienced isn't the Soul of D&D, but the Soul of FRP gaming.
Thought experiment: A group of blind gamers of different backgrounds play a game which is given no overt identification, with no specific reference to rules or mechanics. Without discussing with each other what game they played, each is individually and separately asked, "What game did you play?".
One answers: "D&D", another "Earthdawn", another answers "Tunnels & Trolls", another answers "Ars Magica" another answers "Fantasy HERO", and the last answers "Harn." Why?
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Mercurius
Legend
In the "blind gamer" formulation, wouldn't it come down to distinguishing themes or "fluff"? I mean, if I'm in that situation and the GM says "You're walking down the dark hall when a group of dark-skinned elves appear, holding hand crossbows and wearing spidery clothing; with them is a humanoid with tentacles on its face..." I'm going to think "D&D." If the GM says "The caravan pulled up outside of the tower and out of one of the wagons stepped a garishly dressed magus of the Covenant of Paris, with his ever-present one-eyed companion close by..." I'd think "Ars Magica." If the GM said "The airship descended from the sky in front of the great doors of the underground dwarven kingdom, with tall horned and tusked humanoids leaning over the railings..." I'd think "Earthdawn."
And so on. This may not be the "soul," but different fantasy RPGs have their own distinguishing features, and one need not encounter a single rule or statistic in order to identify them. D&D is chock-full of unique tropes, or at least "D&Dized" versions of classic fantasy tropes. Now in the above example of D&D, the GM could say "roll percentile dice to attack - see, I fooled yah, we're playing Runequest!" But that's just a gimmick, a parlor trick really. Nothing wrong with that, but it doesn't lessen the "D&Dness" of the tropes, it is just a hybrid of the D&D world with another game's system.
In that sense I would say that the soul of game is more so in the world, the fluff, than in the rules (the crunch). There are commonalities across games, but each game forms its own gestalt.
And so on. This may not be the "soul," but different fantasy RPGs have their own distinguishing features, and one need not encounter a single rule or statistic in order to identify them. D&D is chock-full of unique tropes, or at least "D&Dized" versions of classic fantasy tropes. Now in the above example of D&D, the GM could say "roll percentile dice to attack - see, I fooled yah, we're playing Runequest!" But that's just a gimmick, a parlor trick really. Nothing wrong with that, but it doesn't lessen the "D&Dness" of the tropes, it is just a hybrid of the D&D world with another game's system.
In that sense I would say that the soul of game is more so in the world, the fluff, than in the rules (the crunch). There are commonalities across games, but each game forms its own gestalt.
howandwhy99
Adventurer
I say D&D's soul resides in playing a medieval, myth-infused fantasy world as a mystery puzzle. Through careful thought, hard work, and diligence, a unified group of adventurers can explore and tame it.
Congrats- you just booted a lot of official settings.
FWIW, I'd probably have answered "D&D", "Fantasy HERO" and "D&D" for those (the last 2 resemble some of my more recent campaigns in those games...).
Mercurius
Legend
It is rare that there is a rule for which there are no exceptions, especially when it comes to people's associations and preferences. You might just be the type of person that likes to play with things, like mixing and matching systems and settings, but for 95% of gamers people stick to the pre-given matching (except, of course, the d20 era).
But my point was that every published RPG has a default setting, or group of thematic elements that make up a kind of "pseudo-setting," or assumed setting. For instance, in D&D it is assumed that all or most of the monsters in the various Monster Manuals exist in the campaign world, that there are certain races and classes, that there are gold coins and magical swords with specific, iconic characteristics. Now of course there are no set rules - and an individual DM can have purple dwarves and no goblin races or metal weapons, but again, those are the exceptions and they tend to be variations on the theme rather than completely different themes.
BTW, it is too bad that the D&D 4E Earthdawn game was mixed or put on hold indefinitely. I was looking forward to that.
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