Do you like D&D or do you like RPGs?

[Olaf the Stout]

I’ve been DM’ing a fortnightly D&D game for around 7 years now. We’ve played 3 different campaigns over that period and the group has seen players come and go (only 2 out of the 4/5 players currently in my group have played in all 3 campaigns).

One of the things I’ve noticed about my gaming group is that several people very much like playing D&D, rather than like playing RPGs. By this, I mean that they are interested in playing D&D, and only D&D, rather than playing a number of different genres and systems.

I’ve ran one-shots of other systems with some of these players and it often took a lot of convincing to get them to play and, during the game, I could see that they really weren’t “into it” at all. Not that my whole group was/is like that. Several players quite enjoyed trying out a different genre and/or system and would happily play another one-shot or campaign using that system.

Personally I like RPGs, rather than just D&D. D&D is definitely my favourite RPG, but I would happily play in a campaign or one-shot of Feng Shui, Paranoia, XCrawl, Call of Cthulhu, Gamma World, Sidewinder Recoiled (or a similar RPG set in the “Western” era). Similarly, I’d love to play a few one-shots of Dread, Fiasco or Toon!

What about yourself and your group?

 

[Argyle King]

I like RPGs.

There are also times when I enjoy D&D, but it is not my favorite rpg.

 

[WayneLigon]

I want to do a bunch of different things. I want to try FATE and Hillfolk and Numenera and other sorts of things. Everyone else? Not so much. I can't imagine just playing one thing for seven years straight.

 

[Lord Mhoram]

RPGs.

But we are a 1 system group and have been for 20 years. We play HERO. Everyone in the group played some D&D, Traveler, GURPS, Rolemaster and others. Each of us found that the HERO system fits our playstyle and preferences perfectly. It being an Universal system means that we have done Supers, Fantasy, SF, modern Action adventure, and even an odd mashup of PCs playing a traveling band driving Mecha in a frontier world that had dinosaurs and felt like a western*

The group as a whole are aware of other RPG options, but none of the newer games would fit our niche of gamestyle so well as the one we play.


I tend to be the one who tests/reads/tries other RPGs. We gave 3.0 D&D a Whirl for a couple of months, and I did a short FATE adventure. No one enjoyed it as much as they enjoyed HERO - Fate was despised as the group as a whole hate narrative type mechanics.

The Wife and I play solo gaming - that is where I GM Fate (Dresden) for her solo, and she GMs me Pathfinder.

But being a 1 system group is not a bad thing.


* this was years before D&D 3.0 - when I saw Broncosaurus Rex, I about died that someone had a very similar idea to what we did - that was so unusual.

 

[Lord Mhoram]

I can't imagine just playing one thing for seven years straight.

We've have two 9-10 year long campaigns. I prefer longer runs like that.

 

[scourger]

I like RPGs as do most of the other players left in our group. But there is a minority of D&D-only. I think D&D is a fine game, and it is the RPG lingua franca; but I enjoy variety and I need a change after a while.

 

[Sunseeker]

I'm going to have to say I'm in the "I like D&D." camp. There are a few other games I like, but that number is small. I am not a fan of "modern" games. I'm not a fan of "eastern" games. I absolutely loathe anime-styled games. I'm not particularly big on super-heroes(playing them at least, I do heartily enjoy comic books). I liked SWSE, but otherwise I'm not a real big fan of sci-fi, though I do enjoy si-fy. I don't like horror at all. I enjoy westerns.

When I play non-D&D rpgs, either at the table or on a computer, I pretty much still 100% with swords and sorcery psuedo-middle ages western fantasy.

 

[Scrivener of Doom]

I like Forgotten Realms.

And I like other campaign worlds.

For me, it's more about the worlds and the ideas those worlds generate than about the underlying system. When I find a world that I like I then trawl for the system that works best for it that world (and, obviously, is also acceptable to my group).

I suppose that puts me in the RPG camp but I get there via the world first.

 

[Crusadius]

I like RPGs in general (which I assume includes D&D). I do understand that people can get stuck on playing one game over others for various reasons (e.g. some may see the money spent on one game going to waste if they play another).

 

[dracomilan]

We are pretty much a D&D-only group, and have been playing once a week since 91.
This means we tryed several different flavours of D&D (from Rules Cyclopedia to Essentials) but we generally liked it more than all the other games we tryed - star wars d6, GURPS, warhammer, wh40k, fighting fantasy etc.
I guess it is the right mix for us of lots of dices, fantastic creatures, heroic PCs and great settings.