D&D General Playstyle vs Mechanics

[Lanefan]

Isn’t Gen Con D&D centric? I know PAX Unplugged had a pretty wide assortment of non-D&D games.

Both of these things can be true at the same time.

The last time I was at GenCon (2016) it seemed quite PF-centric (Paizo was everywhere while WotC was non-existent) but at the same time there were a huge assortment of other games and systems both D&D and not.

 

[Oofta]

If Strawberry is the only flavor they sell at the local store, and all the other flavors I have to drive 2 hours to get, you can certainly say you eat more Strawberry than anything else but it's certainly not your favorite.

But that wasn't the statement. If my favorite ice cream were peach ice cream made with real peaches (and it was quite yummy, especially paired with peach pie) but I eat strawberry because I can't find peach ice cream anywhere then I eat strawberry ice cream even though it's my second favorite.

The statement was that they eat strawberry ice cream 95% of the time even though they've tried other flavors because strawberry is their favorite. I play D&D because it's my favorite and I'm not overly concerned about some hypothetical game that could be better.

You took exception to the phrase, remember? This entire tangent was your creation.

So you truly believe that any ranking at all is meaningless? Can we just say that people enjoy different games and some people would rather play something else? Can we stop saying that "everybody" would play something else if given the option?

 

[Imaro]

The relative accessibility of the store is comparable to the relative ease of starting a 5e game for the average player, compared to the difficulty of getting a bunch of people to embrace learning a new, unfamiliar rule set.

But your wife has played other games... and you have other games...so that wasn't a barrier in this situation.

 

[Micah Sweet]

And that’s precisely why “everyone’s 2nd favorite game” isn’t an insult.

Everyone has a game that would probably fit their preferences better, but the opportunity cost to find it is generally too high.

But that goes back to nothing is ever truly your favorite because after all there's always something better out there. It's a pointless saying.

I also disagree. Saying "2nd most favorite" means that the person actually has a #1 favorite that isn't D&D.
[/QUOTE]

A #1 favorite that isn't D&D 5e/5.5. It isn't safe to assume that "D&D" actually means "the currently version of Dungeons & Dragons from Wizards of the Coast".

 

[CleverNickName]

It just feels we play the way we want to play and the mechanics either work or we change them!

This is how D&D is supposed to work, IMO.

 

[TwoSix]

Both of these things can be true at the same time.

The last time I was at GenCon (2016) it seemed quite PF-centric (Paizo was everywhere while WotC was non-existent) but at the same time there were a huge assortment of other games and systems both D&D and not.

I’ve never been to Gen Con, so I honestly have no idea. Somebody said “the vast majority” of games at Gen Con were 5e.

I accepted that at face value; I know from attending PAX that is not the case there. So I thought the difference might be that Gen Con has traditionally been aimed more at D&D.

 

[Imaro]

I’ve never been to Gen Con, so I honestly have no idea. Somebody said “the vast majority” of games at Gen Con were 5e.

The vast majority of played ttrpg games at Gen Con this year were 5e.

I accepted that at face value; I know from attending PAX that is not the case there. So I thought the difference might be that Gen Con has traditionally been aimed more at D&D.

Right now D&D has 1 or more games scheduled every hour at Pax... no other ttrpg has that many.

 

[Oofta]

@Micah Sweet, the quoting on that response is really messed up so ...

My only point is that the saying "D&D [5E] is everybody's second favorite" is false because it presumes to speak for everyone. It says that, given an option, absolutely everyone that plays D&D would rather be playing a different TTRPG.

No game can be everyone's favorite, and that's fine. It happens to be my favorite but I would never contemplate saying "D&D is everybody's favorite game". Claim the opposite? Especially because people just don't know better? That's the issue I have.

 

[TwoSix]

So you truly believe that any ranking at all is meaningless? Can we just say that people enjoy different games and some people would rather play something else? Can we stop saying that "everybody" would play something else if given the option?

Without the advantage of its wide familiarity, most people would play something else besides D&D.

There. We stopped.

 

[Oofta]

Without the advantage of its wide familiarity, most people would play something else besides D&D.

There. We stopped.

I disagree.