D&D General If D&D were created today, what would it look like?

[Aldarc]

It is now, but I think you're completely misunderstanding how much it's influenced people, and will keep influencing people, no matter what it's creator says or does, because it's already out there.

You're saying this as if I'm not one of the Millennials who was caught up in Pottermania. I'm aware that it had a huge influence, but that momentum of that influence has been tempered by some pretty bad blood spilt between Rowling and her fanbase, which has caused a lot of fan reflection into the prior toxic elements of the established fiction. People aren't really talking about Harry Potter anymore except in terms of "I didn't know there's another Fantastic Beasts movie?" and "WTF has Rowling done this time?!" But we're not really seeing the things we once did either with anywhere close to the prevalence it once had: e.g., Patronus or House quizzes. It's a lot like Game of Thrones. It was once the highest rated show, but who's actually talking about it anymore?

We'll probably see some big Potter-influenced YA/fantasy series in the next decade be super-successful, I'd guess.

Many of those YA fantasy series have already come and gone. And if it's in the next decade, it's definitely not today as per the original prompt.

And I think it's inevitable that it would influence the spellcasting system of a D&D game developed in say, 2019-2020. I'd be absolutely shocked if one of the main core classes wasn't "Harry Potter-style Wizard". The ideas are again, already out there, and in the brains how people, especially younger people, think about spellcasting and so on. I admit I'm assuming this game is written by 30-somethings mostly, who, shocking though this may be to you, would have been kids and teenagers when HP arrived, and if they books didn't influence them, the movies likely would. If they were any younger, the influence is only likely to be stronger.

I could see the influence in terms of determining the schools of magic, but simply casting at-will magic using wands was quite prevalent before and after the Potterverse.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

You're saying this as if I'm not one of the Millennials who was caught up in Pottermania. I'm aware that it had a huge influence, but that momentum of that influence has been tempered by some pretty bad blood spilt between Rowling and her fanbase, which has caused a lot of fan reflection into the prior toxic elements of the established fiction. People aren't really talking about Harry Potter anymore except in terms of "I didn't know there's another Fantastic Beasts movie?" and "WTF has Rowling done this time?!" But we're not really seeing the things we once did either with anywhere close to the prevalence it once had: e.g., Patronus or House quizzes. It's a lot like Game of Thrones. It was once the highest rated show, but who's actually talking about it anymore?


Many of those YA fantasy series have already come and gone. And if it's in the next decade, it's definitely not today as per the original prompt.


I could see the influence in terms of determining the schools of magic, but simply casting at-will magic using wands was quite prevalent before and after the Potterverse.

Re: future YA series. Yes I am aware that the past, present and future are, to my puny human mind, different things. Thanks. My point is that the influence is continuing and will continue, no matter how naughty JKR is.

It's not at all like GoT. GoT has just vanished, and will eventually creep back in as people who skipped it see it, people who saw it go back and re-see it, and as spin-off series emerge. Re-appraisal will be kinder to it. The first few seasons are extremely strong, and when people come at the final two without the same emotion and same surprise at the crap-ness

Potter is, as you say, on the way out. It's not coming back. But it's huge. It's been huge for two decades. There's no way writers would have avoided the influence, and if the game was created the same way as D&D, there's no way there wouldn't be a class which was clearly Potter-influenced (because with D&D the players heavily influenced what classes existed). It's not just casting spells with wands, it's the sorts of spells that are cast, how they're cast, how they're named, what a wizard is, and so on. And yeah some of the stuff that's already come and gone has been influenced and that's going to keep happening. But it hasn't vanished like GoT has, sunk without a trace. In fact every time JKR decides to spice things up, or some game or film studio decides to make a Harry Potter game/film/show, there's a giant discussion about it, and loads of people still like it, and just don't want to give money to it, and so on. People talk about how they're saving their books to give to their kids so they don't have to buy new ones and fund her - but the point is, they're saving their books. Whereas GoT prequel stuff? People just mostly ignore it. Not even a real discussion.

I obviously agree it's hardly a horribly original style! I'm not gonna argue with that! Yeah she's just a more famous proponent of it, but either way you end up in the same place!

 

[Tonguez]

One of the Skirmish Wargames I like is In Her Majesties Name, a Victorian Sci FI game, where players form an Adventuring Company (5-20 figures) with a named heroic Leader and a deputy.
Theres a point system with which to buy Talents&Powers and Gear for the characters and guidelines for running campaigns and improving heroes between game sessions (gaining new talents, upgrading gear etc). Narrative is very much encouraged. The rules include rules for magic/mystic Powers

Anyway I cant say whether the game exist because of DnDs RP inspiration, but it does show a pathway from Skirmish Game with a ‘Hero character’ and their squad to the RPG focus on just the ‘Heroic character’ with foillowers abstracted OR perhaps Troupe play would become the default approach. I’ve also played games with 4 players trying to get the same objective, so having a player take the GM role of playing the random environment is possible too

 

[JEB]

Leveling up would come from some other genre if it shows up at all - but Metroidelvania games might have invented it independently (heart containers, weapon damage upgrades, etc). Or not. RPGs don't need advancement, actually.

If there are classes at all, they'd likely be based on story tropes, not gaming tropes. That could mean classic characters (the Knight, the Vampire, the Wizard) with guidance on how to make them more than cliche, or they might go the route many PbtA game went and base the classes on story arcs rather than character abilities.

But even that would depend on where they get the idea to make it a team game, since CYOA and even crpgs tend to be solo games.

Apparently the concept of the health bar in video games likely came from the original Punch-Out arcade game; prior to that, it was multiple lives plus dying after a single hit. Perhaps that's how health is represented in this alternate D&D, a lifebar with percentages (a bit like shields in SF?) rather than an absolute count of "hit points".

We might see team play appear once the internet becomes a thing. Sooner if there's an earlier attempt at transitioning CYOA or CRPGs to the tabletop, since board games usually have at least two players, and assuming it actually catches on. It is interesting to wonder how the combination of solo-by-default and no-character-sheets influences character design, though.

 

[jmartkdr2]

Apparently the concept of the health bar in video games likely came from the original Punch-Out arcade game; prior to that, it was multiple lives plus dying after a single hit. Perhaps that's how health is represented in this alternate D&D, a lifebar with percentages (a bit like shields in SF?) rather than an absolute count of "hit points".

We might see team play appear once the internet becomes a thing. Sooner if there's an earlier attempt at transitioning CYOA or CRPGs to the tabletop, since board games usually have at least two players, and assuming it actually catches on. It is interesting to wonder how the combination of solo-by-default and no-character-sheets influences character design, though.

Yeah, a co-op multiplayer fantasy boardgame is inevitable.

The biggest leaps, I think, would be dungeon masters (one player both creating the scenario and handling the opposition) and dungeon crawls. The dungeon as a game concept does seem to come more from DnD than any other source. DnD gets it from pulp fantasy, but that doesn't have a huge following anymore. Take that away and you don't have the same sort of attrition-based play as default, which probably means more single-encounter-assumed rules.

I do think CYOA+ games would eventually develop some sort of character sheet, as things like inventory and stamina become more common. I'm not sure ability scores would ever be a thing, though.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

I'm not sure ability scores would ever be a thing, though.

I think some kind are likely to emerge from wargames, because even prior to D&D, wargames often gave units statlines. They were usually wargame-specific stats of course but still, it's easy to see how those might get expanded if additional non-battle elements got added.

What I wouldn't expect to see in the first gen of TT RPGs (which this would be in), would be a statline which attempts to encompass anything as broad as STR/DEX/CON/INT/WIS/CHA. I think early RPGs will be way more specific in this scenario.

 

[Warpiglet-7]

Interesting question.

the answer would have to come from its influences.

D&D came from wargames. If it came from something else it could be radically different. Current trends seem to be more directed toward collaborative story telling and nontraditional things.

D&D was certainly aware of castles and heavy light footmen etc.

now we’re more focused on flashy and sparkly for good as well as ill perhaps. Definitely seems less focus on “skill” and need to avoid death at every turn than before. Again for good as well as ill in my opinion.

 

[smetzger]

This is tough, many of the sword & sorcery movies and books of the 80s may have never been made or if they were, would not have been nearly as popular. I know growing up I'd watch anything fantasy or sword & sorcery related because it was D&D like.

To figure out what D&D would look like, I think you would need to look at the potential things that would inspire it.

Assuming the LoTR movies were made and GoT was made and Harry Potter was written and was just as popular. I would think these would be the major influences on the 'flavor' and optics of the game. Even though these are all very much in the past they are the strongest cultural influences for fantasy.
Other major influences would be Star Wars, TWD, MCU, and the whole martial arts movie genre.
So, rather than books influencing what D&D started out as it would be movies.

Now as far as the rules go. I think they would be much more influenced by board/card games instead of wargames. No idea how that would pan out.

Given the influences... LoTR, GoT, Harry Potter are very much in the past. While Star Wars, MCU, and martial arts movies are in the present.
I would think it is much more likely that the first RPG would be Sci-fi or super hero related.
Then someone would say "wouldn't it be cool if we could have a LoTR or GoT RPG?" at which point they would adapt the Sci-Fi or super hero rules to run a fantasy game.

 

[Faolyn]

Now as far as the rules go. I think they would be much more influenced by board/card games instead of wargames. No idea how that would pan out.

Thought: Cards--both regular playing cards and specialty decks--could be used instead of dice. Degrees of success and failure, or even special effects, might be more important, since you could have multiple people put down a card of the same value, but the suit would provide a special effect or beat cards of lower suits. And the character's class--and maybe even race--would influence what those special effects would be. It could be that a fighter's 8 of spades has a slightly different effect than a wizard's 8 of spades, or an elf's 8 of spades. There would be lots of tables involved, or eventually, the rules would be printed on each card, thus allowing people to sell special decks of cards in much the same way they sell special dice now. People would be willing to shell out dough for the cards, especially if they were pretty enough.

And in real world basic D&D, monsters would attack or save as a fighter or cleric or whatever of a certain level. In AUD&D1e, monsters would use the appropriate class table to determine the result of their card draw. But they would eventually be turned into monster types, so possibly there's a Dragon table and a Fey table--or a Skirmisher table and a Controller table.

 

[JEB]

Looked on BoardGameGeek for all the cooperative games produced between 1970 and 2000, trying to see if any company had independently invented a popular game where different players take on different roles in any kind of storytelling scenario. The results weren't promising: nearly every reasonably popular one that came up looked to be some kind of D&D derivative, often a fantasy dungeon crawl.

One of the few possible exceptions was Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective, which (although it sounds kind of role-playing-y) might have drawn on earlier Holmes games like 221B Baker Street. However, it doesn't appear to have mechanically defined roles. (Also, it doesn't sound like the sort of game that would spark a whole new industry.)

So I dunno about dice vs. cards vs. some other mechanics for gameplay, but one thing I'm really doubting we get is anything like character classes, without D&D and other RPGs. My bet is characters are a lot more freeform.