D&D General Different Modes of Play?

[Reynard]

Have you ever used D&D for a mode of play other than what we would usually consider "fantasy roleplaying?" I don't mean doing teenage magic school games, or palace intrigue games, or anything like that. Whether or not those sorts of things fall within the bounds of what D&D is intended to support, those are still fundamentally "fantasy roleplaying games." Nor do I mean playing in different genres (post apocalyptic, Jane Austinism, sci-fi). Again, D&D's appropriateness for other genres is debatable, but the mode of play is still that of "RPG."

What I am talking about is using D&D's rules for a different kind of game, with a different play loop or win conditions etc... The most obvious that comes to mind is PvP arena/deathmatch/battle royale. It is fairly common, either as a sub mode (there's an arena in this adventure!) or as an adaptation of the game (there's no adventure in this arena!).

I am constantly trying to use D&D to do things that aren't quite rpgs, but are definitely adjacent. Currently I am working on an asymmetrical competitive mode of 1 GM vs a team of 4 players, where each side is scored on things important to their respective roles. It's tough going figuring out how to score GMing above and beyond combat, but it is an interesting exercise.

Another mode I keep coming back to but can't quite make work is a 4v4 dungeon race -- PvP happens, but it is more about exploration and thriving in the dungeon while making life hard for the other team, with victory being based on who gets out with the most, best loot.

What are your experiences using D&D to do things besides play RPGs? What did you have to do with the rules to make it work? How did it go? How did it go over? Did you find a mode you really like and keep going back to?

 

[MichaelSomething]

I guess the most common non rpg use for D&D would be as a world building tool set.

 

[Reynard]

I guess the most common non rpg use for D&D would be as a world building tool set.

Interesting. D&D does not have many built in world building tools. It has advice, but not a lot of actual crunchy tools. I don't know how you would "play" world building mode with D&D. There are other games (most of them sci-fi) that do have a lot of pretty robust world building tools.

 

[S'mon]

Interesting. D&D does not have many built in world building tools. It has advice, but not a lot of actual crunchy tools. I don't know how you would "play" world building mode with D&D. There are other games (most of them sci-fi) that do have a lot of pretty robust world building tools.

Earlier editions especially 1e and BECMI had a lot. So does ACKS and some other OSR variants.

 

[Reynard]

Earlier editions especially 1e and BECMI had a lot. So does ACKS and some other OSR variants.

I live the domain management and war mode of play from BECMI. I wish it would make a return. I like Matt Coville's Strongholds and followers book but it wasn't precisely what I was hoping for.

Was The World Builder's Guidebook a 1e or 2e resource? In any case it had a great system for world creation that one could game. I should dig my copy out of storage.

I don't remember if there was a similar 3.x era book.

 

[jmartkdr2]

I haven't tried these things, but I think most of the difficulties would come back to the basic cycle of the "adventure" - characters go on a quest in a dungeon, expend resources, acquire rewards, and spend/use those rewards to get better at completing quests. That's the basic loop the whole game is built around.

Bluntly, the "adventure" part of the fantasy-adventure thing.

If you try to use DnD for not-adventures, a lot of rules stop helping or even start working against you: spell slots, hit points, rests, potions (which are a supplement to spell slots). They might not actively hinder, but they certainly aren't helping anymore. Rests (which turn time into a resource) are usually the first thing to cause issues when you get away from adventuring.

The dungeon race idea might still work - it's just a modified victory condition on the normal dungeon crawl - although that sort of play would favor some classes over others pretty heavily, because of how rests work.

(The "fantasy" part of fantasy adventure is a lot more flexible, as you've noticed. If you're willing to make new content, any situation where adventures might happen can be made to work.)