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<blockquote data-quote="Willie the Duck" data-source="post: 9036543" data-attributes="member: 6799660">It's certainly been a point I bring up for a while that D&amp;D was made as a fun little treasure-hunter game first, and a specific genre of fantasy literature second, third, or just-shy-of-last. The game is super lethal* because the primary game loop is tough decisions about 'engage this challenge' or retreat, keep pressing forward or heading back, and the primary lose-condition for misjudgment is death. *or at least significantly more lethal to its protagonists than Appendix N literature.TSR D&amp;D (at least the gp=xp part, 2e diverges a bit) is certainly more Conan (or better yet The Hobbit, as it is more team-play) than it is Lord of the Rings or other Appendix N material in that the protagonist is often not necessarily the most virtuous (protagonist, not hero); they after a high-risk,-high-reward payout; and the story often ends with the payout and it doesn't overly matter what is done with it (except that they always end up hungry for more by the time for the next adventure). If anything, I would say that Conan or the like would be after-the-fact stories about a D&amp;D adventurer-- one that happened through good luck never to be dissolved by green slime. If Hyboria is flush full of Donans, Monans, and Ronans who also set out for fame and fortune and ended up in some beast's belly (with no stories made about their mighty thews), then it could be a proper D&amp;D-esque world.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Willie the Duck, post: 9036543, member: 6799660"] It's certainly been a point I bring up for a while that D&D was made as a fun little treasure-hunter game first, and a specific genre of fantasy literature second, third, or just-shy-of-last. The game is super lethal* because the primary game loop is tough decisions about 'engage this challenge' or retreat, keep pressing forward or heading back, and the primary lose-condition for misjudgment is death. [SIZE=1]*or at least significantly more lethal to its protagonists than Appendix N literature.[/SIZE] TSR D&D (at least the gp=xp part, 2e diverges a bit) is certainly more Conan (or better yet The Hobbit, as it is more team-play) than it is Lord of the Rings or other Appendix N material in that the protagonist is often not necessarily the most virtuous (protagonist, not hero); they after a high-risk,-high-reward payout; and the story often ends with the payout and it doesn't overly matter what is done with it (except that they always end up hungry for more by the time for the next adventure). If anything, I would say that Conan or the like would be after-the-fact stories [I]about[/I] a D&D adventurer-- one that happened through good luck never to be dissolved by green slime. If Hyboria is flush full of Donans, Monans, and Ronans who also set out for fame and fortune and ended up in some beast's belly (with no stories made about their mighty thews), then it could be a proper D&D-esque world. [/QUOTE]

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