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Blog Post by Robert J. Schwalb
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<blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 6327161" data-attributes="member: 42582"><p>This is a clear statement of your preferences for D&D play.</p><p></p><p>My conception of what it means to play D&D is heavily shaped by the Foreword to Moldvay Basic (my first exposure to the game). Which is not about exploration. It is about defeating the Dragon Tyrant using the magic sword received from a mysterious benefactor. This emphasises not exploration but <em>conflict</em>.</p><p></p><p>For me, the heart and soul of roleplaying games, including D&D, is conflict - the PCs find themselves engaged in it, and the aim of play is for the players to resolve it. Exploration is, for me, a means to that end.</p><p></p><p>For a game focused on conflict, a good resolution system is important. (And of course "good" is a variable here, because in different moods one wants a resolution system to do different things. But I don't think it's a variable that ranges so widely that nothing useful can be said.) So is a good PC build system, that at a minimum lets players build PCs that have a desired orientation towards the conflicts the game will throw up.</p><p></p><p>I have never had trouble finding D&D story material to use to engage in my preferred style of play. The Keep on the Borderlands is ripe with conflict (between the inhabitants of the Keep and the humanoids; between the good folk of the Keep and the evil priest; etc). The OA modules are ripe with conflict. The Slaver modules are ripe with conflict. The D-series modules are ripe with conflict (including conflicts between NPCs, such as the drow and the mindflayers in D2). Over the years I have used a variety of resolution systems to help me play this material, however: B/X, AD&D, Rolemaster, and most recently 4e.</p><p></p><p>Historically, D&D has included exploration as a central part of the game for many players, but exploration has never been the heart and soul of the game for all players. For me, 4e is an appealing system not <em>in spite</em> of its downplaying of exploration in favour of conflict resolution, but <em>because</em> it subordinates exploration to conflict resolution - that is what makes it a "modern" rather than an "old school" game.</p><p></p><p>If, for the past 15 years, people have been playing the wrong game - a form of D&D that doesn't suit what they are looking for from an RPG - then hopefully they will find what they want in D&Dnext. But not everyone who enjoys 4e has either got stuck in the wrong game by mistake, or has given up on roleplaying for the mathematics of optimisation.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="pemerton, post: 6327161, member: 42582"] This is a clear statement of your preferences for D&D play. My conception of what it means to play D&D is heavily shaped by the Foreword to Moldvay Basic (my first exposure to the game). Which is not about exploration. It is about defeating the Dragon Tyrant using the magic sword received from a mysterious benefactor. This emphasises not exploration but [I]conflict[/I]. For me, the heart and soul of roleplaying games, including D&D, is conflict - the PCs find themselves engaged in it, and the aim of play is for the players to resolve it. Exploration is, for me, a means to that end. For a game focused on conflict, a good resolution system is important. (And of course "good" is a variable here, because in different moods one wants a resolution system to do different things. But I don't think it's a variable that ranges so widely that nothing useful can be said.) So is a good PC build system, that at a minimum lets players build PCs that have a desired orientation towards the conflicts the game will throw up. I have never had trouble finding D&D story material to use to engage in my preferred style of play. The Keep on the Borderlands is ripe with conflict (between the inhabitants of the Keep and the humanoids; between the good folk of the Keep and the evil priest; etc). The OA modules are ripe with conflict. The Slaver modules are ripe with conflict. The D-series modules are ripe with conflict (including conflicts between NPCs, such as the drow and the mindflayers in D2). Over the years I have used a variety of resolution systems to help me play this material, however: B/X, AD&D, Rolemaster, and most recently 4e. Historically, D&D has included exploration as a central part of the game for many players, but exploration has never been the heart and soul of the game for all players. For me, 4e is an appealing system not [I]in spite[/I] of its downplaying of exploration in favour of conflict resolution, but [I]because[/I] it subordinates exploration to conflict resolution - that is what makes it a "modern" rather than an "old school" game. If, for the past 15 years, people have been playing the wrong game - a form of D&D that doesn't suit what they are looking for from an RPG - then hopefully they will find what they want in D&Dnext. But not everyone who enjoys 4e has either got stuck in the wrong game by mistake, or has given up on roleplaying for the mathematics of optimisation. [/QUOTE]
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