D&D General Playstyle vs Mechanics

[Lanefan]

Otherwise, we get into floopdiddly wangscupple digit. And it is your fault you don't understand me.

Thanks for naming my next Gnome PC.

 

[TwoSix]

Not really.

The written word is not a medium for mind-reading. Primary responsibility for making their points intelligible sits with the author, not the reader.

Otherwise, we get into floopdiddly wangscupple digit. And it is your fault you don't understand me.

If a dozen people on the thread recognize the intent of a particular metaphor (which I didn't introduce, for clarity), and one person doesn't, I'm pretty strongly in favor of the argument that the lack of understanding is a failure on the one's part.

 

[mamba]

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

being first, having attracted a large enough audience to be easy to find games (compared to the alternatives at least), being something broadly popular (fantasy) rather than something highly specific

I’d say these were more important than the actual rules, which is why this largely held true even while the rules changed drastically a few times.
Even the one time it could have toppled if WotC had stuck to their guns (4e), it was challenged by its previous edition and people not switching rather than some new game.

 

[mamba]

yeah it is faint praise for the most popular rpg in the world

not really, I don’t think you’d have any issue with the best selling car not being considered to also be the actually best car on the market

 

[mamba]

No. It is my first choice. It's the first choice for a lot of people.

"Some people play D&D even though it isn't their favorite game." Works.

that is just a rephrasing of the proposal

 

[Imaro]

being first, having attracted a large enough audience to be easy to find games (compared to the alternatives at least), being something broadly popular (fantasy) rather than something highly specific

I’d say these were more important than the actual rules, which is why this largely held true even while the rules changed drastically a few times.
Even the one time it could have toppled if WotC had stuck to their guns (4e), it was challenged by its previous edition and people not switching rather than some new game.

The problem is we just don't know for sure. Or it could be that the rules released with each edition of D&D just did something to capture the audience it garnered. I'm curious, do you believe that if D&D's rules were replaced with something like PBTA... it would continue to be the #1 rpg? How about FATE? FATAL?

 

[Imaro]

not really, I don’t think you’d have any issue with the best selling car not being considered to also be the actually best car on the market

If it was the best selling car ever and someone claimed it was everybody's second favorite car... yeah I would. The only way to take that is damning with faint praise... it's a perfect example of it.

 

[Micah Sweet]

The problem is we just don't know for sure. Or it could be that the rules released with each edition of D&D just did something to capture the audience it garnered. I'm curious, do you believe that if D&D's rules were replaced with something like PBTA... it would continue to be the #1 rpg? How about FATE? FATAL?

You don't think any of those wouldn't be the most radical mechanical change a game called "Dungeons and Dragons" had ever undergone? Much more than any previous rules change.

 

[Micah Sweet]

If it was the best selling car ever and someone claimed it was everybody's second favorite car... yeah I would. The only way to take chat is damning with faint praise... it's a perfect example of it.

"Favorite" and "best-selling" are different things. The only thing you can say for certain about the "best-selling" RPG is that more units of it have been sold than any other RPG.

Nothing else.

 

[Imaro]

You don't think any of those wouldn't be the most radical mechanical change a game called "Dungeons and Dragons" had ever undergone? Much more than any previous rules change.

But if all the other factors listed are more important than the actual rules... that shouldn't matter, or at least it should matter less than the fact that it still has all those things going for it... right?