D&D General Playstyle vs Mechanics

[soviet]

There's no good reason to use a phrase that is, on the face of it, obviously false.

It clearly wasn't meant literally.

But even if it was, this would not make it a dog whistle.

 

[niklinna]

Oh noes!

It's literally the second favourite RPG of everyone in the entire world. What a devastating insult.

I feel I must point out, once again, that it is not my second favorite. I am so offended.

I shall keep pointing this out as long as people try to have a productive discussion.

 

[Imaro]

D&D has been in print continually for 50 years. It's had multiple different editions, with considerable variation in mechanics and playstyle, yet for each of those 50 years (barring potentially a short period in the 90s vs Vampire and potentially a short period in the early 2010s vs Pathfinder) D&D been inarguably the most popular RPG, by a considerable margin. Whatever else was going on in the industry, whoever owned D&D, whoever wrote D&D, whoever drew the pictures in D&D, it was always (or practically always) number one.

And you believe its market dominance for all this time can be chalked up to what...exactly? Being first?

Your position is that each one of these different versions and editions of D&D happened to be the best designed, written, and produced RPG of its era?

False equivalency here. Disagreeing that the majority of people would be playing something else if D&D didn't have the advantage of its wid3 familiarity is not the same as... believing every edittion was the best designed, written and produced rpg of its era...

Or could some other factor have contributed?

Like?

 

[Oofta]

It clearly wasn't meant literally.

But even if it was, this would not make it a dog whistle.

If it's so obviously false why say it?

 

[niklinna]

It clearly wasn't meant literally.

But even if it was, this would not make it a dog whistle.

I mean, who are the dogs we would supposably be whistling to, anyhow? And why are we whistling to them?

(One of my personal dictums when in a role-playing game is "accept the premise" and that includes railroads—as long as it's clear that's what's on offer—and it also included de-railroads, which is clearly what this thread has become.)

 

[Imaro]

Oh noes!

It's literally the second favourite RPG of everyone in the entire world. What a devastating insult.

Oh noes someone doesnt understand damning with faint praise...

Edit: I'll help you out... its not supposed to be presented as a devastating insult...

 

[soviet]

If it's so obviously false why say it?

I think the poster assumed that everyone would see it was obviously not meant literally.

Just to check, when you said it was a dog whistle, did you literally mean that it was a noise only dogs could hear?

 

[soviet]

Oh noes someone doesnt understand damning with faint praise...

Edit: I'll help you out... its not supposed to be presented as a devastating insult...

'This game is literally the second favourite RPG of everyone in the entire world' is not faint praise.

 

[Imaro]

'This game is literally the second favourite RPG of everyone in the entire world' is not faint praise.

Literally?? I don't think you're using that correctly here either... and yeah it is faint praise for the most popular rpg in the world.

 

[Uni-the-Unicorn!]

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

I agree 100%!