D&D 5E The Essence of D&D

[was]

To me, the essence of DnD is a bunch of friends sitting around the table having a good time. The social aspect of it is what makes it memorable. Nothing will turn me away from a table faster than a group of strangers who meets to compete every week to see who can come up with the most overpowered character concept. Friends, pizza, beer and DnD, you can't beat it.

 

[KarinsDad]

D&D to me is throwing a grappling hook (attached to a rope in my PC's one hand) to the right of a super tough foe standing next to a cliff. As the hook passes the NPC who is hard to hit and is more or less wiping out the party, my PC moves on his other side, the rope wraps around his torso, the hooks swings back towards my PC and the DM rules that I have make a solid D20 roll to throw it well and another solid D20 roll to catch it. I make both rolls and have my PC promptly run off the cliff. The DM then gives the NPC a last ditch saving throw to slip the rope off himself and that fails. As my PC falls, the rope yanks the NPC off the cliff and he falls several hundred feet to his death. Once the foe is falling, my PC lets go of the rope and his Ring of Feather Fall lowers him safely to the ground where he then loots the body.

My PC would have looked really silly if this hadn't worked at all, but then again, if the first two rolls worked and the NPC had made his save, my PC would have been at the bottom of the cliff and the other PCs would have died. My PC could have said anything he wanted when he got back to town (assuming to got back to town).


The magic of 1E and to some extent later versions for me was the imagination. If an action sounded reasonable, the DM could decide how to adjudicate it and if one made the rolls, some imaginative things could happen. I especially like it when a player comes up with something new and it saves the day, or finds an important clue, or thwarts the villains.

 

[Dungeoneer]

The magic of 1E and to some extent later versions for me was the imagination. If an action sounded reasonable, the DM could decide how to adjudicate it and if one made the rolls, some imaginative things could happen. I especially like it when a player comes up with something new and it saves the day, or finds an important clue, or thwarts the villains.

As far as I know there are no editions of D&D which don't support your awesome story.

 

[pemerton]

For me, the essence of D&D is expressed in the Foreword to Moldvay Basic:

I was busy rescuing the captured maiden when the dragon showed up. Fifty feet of scaled terror glared down at us with smoldering red eyes. Tendrils of smoke drifted out from between fangs larger than daggers. The dragon blocked the only exit from the cave. . . .

I unwrapped the sword which the mysterious cleric had given me. The sword was golden-tinted steel. Its hilt was set with a rainbow collection of precious gems. I shouted my battle cry and charged.

My charge caught the dragon by surprise. Its titanic jaws snapped shut inches from my face. I swung the golden sword with both arms. The swordblade bit into the dragon's neck and continued through to the other side. With an earth-shaking crash, the dragon dropped dead at my feet. The magic sword had saved my life and ended the reign of the dragon-tyrant. The countryside was freed and I could return a hero.​

I've played two versions of D&D mechanics that I felt delivered this essence: Oriental Adventures (the 1986 version), and 4e (which did a better job than OA).

 

[KarinsDad]

For me, the essence of D&D is expressed in the Foreword to Moldvay Basic:

I was busy rescuing the captured maiden when the dragon showed up. Fifty feet of scaled terror glared down at us with smoldering red eyes. Tendrils of smoke drifted out from between fangs larger than daggers. The dragon blocked the only exit from the cave. . . .

I unwrapped the sword which the mysterious cleric had given me. The sword was golden-tinted steel. Its hilt was set with a rainbow collection of precious gems. I shouted my battle cry and charged.

My charge caught the dragon by surprise. Its titanic jaws snapped shut inches from my face. I swung the golden sword with both arms. The swordblade bit into the dragon's neck and continued through to the other side. With an earth-shaking crash, the dragon dropped dead at my feet. The magic sword had saved my life and ended the reign of the dragon-tyrant. The countryside was freed and I could return a hero.​

I've played two versions of D&D mechanics that I felt delivered this essence: Oriental Adventures (the 1986 version), and 4e (which did a better job than OA).

Yeah, gotta love those 4E minion dragons.

 

[GMMichael]

[I would love to hear your own thoughts about the essence of D&D in this thread. Despite the fact that what I've written feels totally true to me, I know that others of you will have wildly varying feelings on this point. I know I'm right , but your completely contrary beliefs and feelings can be right, too!]

You're right! Well, I was glad to see that you went with abstract concepts instead of game mechanics.

The "essence" of D&D is going to depend heavily on what edition someone started with. Me, my first taste was around AD&D/AD&D 2nd. And since I was young, there was a lot of mystery to the thick rulebooks and blue hex-grids. So in that sense, the essence of D&D is a layer of boring comprehension that stands between the real world and the fantasy world.

But I didn't play a lot of D&D until 3E. This system took the graphic design up by a few notches, but with the greater detail came less mystery. What exactly does the hobgoblin look like? Well, the picture's right there. What exactly can it do? Well, the stats are right there. So the essence of 3E has a sort of flashy, hands-on feel to it.

There's not really an overarching D&D essence then, since each edition (save 5E) has been so dramatically different. What's stayed the same: it boils down to a game mechanic. Hit points. Sure, there's dragons and wizards and fighters and dungeons. But continuously (and rapidly) rising hit points means that the PCs face bigger and meaner monsters, and so become more like Greek legends (not really Lord of the Rings heroes) as the game goes on.

 

[GMMichael]

[I would love to hear your own thoughts about the essence of D&D in this thread. Despite the fact that what I've written feels totally true to me, I know that others of you will have wildly varying feelings on this point. I know I'm right , but your completely contrary beliefs and feelings can be right, too!]

You're right! Well, I was glad to see that you went with abstract concepts instead of game mechanics.

The "essence" of D&D is going to depend heavily on what edition someone started with. Me, my first taste was around AD&D/AD&D 2nd. And since I was young, there was a lot of mystery to the thick rulebooks and blue hex-grids. So in that sense, the essence of D&D is a layer of boring comprehension that stands between the real world and the fantasy world.

But I didn't play a lot of D&D until 3E. This system took the graphic design up by a few notches, but with the greater detail came less mystery. What exactly does the hobgoblin look like? Well, the picture's right there. What exactly can it do? Well, the stats are right there. So the essence of 3E has a sort of flashy, hands-on feel to it.

There's not really an overarching D&D essence then, since each edition (save 5E) has been so dramatically different. What's stayed the same: it boils down to a game mechanic. Hit points. Sure, there's dragons and wizards and fighters and dungeons. But continuously (and rapidly) rising hit points means that the PCs face bigger and meaner monsters, and so become more like Greek legends (not really Lord of the Rings heroes) as the game goes on.

 

[SkidAce]

To me, the essence of DnD is a bunch of friends sitting around the table having a good time. The social aspect of it is what makes it memorable. Nothing will turn me away from a table faster than a group of strangers who meets to compete every week to see who can come up with the most overpowered character concept. Friends, pizza, beer and DnD, you can't beat it.

I would like to highlight this post.

 

[pemerton]

Yeah, gotta love those 4E minion dragons.

Well, if you want to be snarky about it . . .

Only 4e has a systematic framework that decouples item gain from looting (and hence allows the gifting of items by hermits).

Only 4e has a systematic XP framework (eg quests) that makes freeing the kingdom from the dragon tyrant in itself a significant contributor to PC advancement.

4e and 1996 OA both, as part of PC building, give PCs a backstory that integrates them into a conflict-riven gameworld (analogous to the kingdom ruled by a dragon tyrant).

In other words, it's not particularly about killing dragons, in a single blow or otherwise. It's about a game that has mechanics that support a story about fantasy heroics rather than fantasy mercenaries.

In 4e, I'm thinking of the XP rules (which include XP for quests and skill challenges), skill challenges as a general action resolution mechanic for a range of non-combat activities, and story elements which are presented already embedded in a default storyline of heroic conflict. OA isn't as well-developed in all these respects, but it has some classes whch receive XP on a basis other than gold looted, its Honour and Ancestry rules generate PCs already embedded in circumstances of heroic conflict, and it presents monsters that are also embedded in those same circumstances.

 

[Savage Wombat]

So what you're really saying is that the true Essence of D&D is edition warring?