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D&D compared to Bespoke Genre TTRPGs
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<blockquote data-quote="DEFCON 1" data-source="post: 8265819" data-attributes="member: 7006"><p>You can use the d20 rules (and the offshoot 5E rules) to add or create from whole cloth any type of genre or style to a D&D game that you want. Some additions/creations will be easy... some will be difficult. Some will work seamlessly with the rest of the game's rules... some will be a kludge. Some will uphold the genre or convention... some will run completely counter to it.</p><p></p><p>There is nothing wrong with trying to flex your design muscles to add to the game that is D&D. It's great practice, it's great fun, and it helps you understand the game better to allow you to run the game better in the future. But there is also nothing wrong with acknowledging that some games/genres/styles <em>are</em> more easily typified by using other game mechanics. Playing a <em>Call of C'thulu</em> style game using the class level system of d20 does not give you the same feel as a game designed specifically for that style (especially once characters are reaching levels 5, 8, 12, and so on.)</p><p></p><p>The truth is though that certain types of games have conceits that ask for some very specific mechanics to emulate certain things. And while you can try and create them use the race/class/level framework of d20... they don't necessarily lend themselves to doing a very good job. Now if you don't actually care how close to the conventions or genre you are, then whatever you come up with works fine. But if (general) you come here onto EN World saying you want to run a game that is in the style of <em>The Goonies</em>... of course people are going to direct you to <em>Tales From The Loop</em> or <em>Kids On Bikes</em>, rather than start throwing out dozens upon dozens of ideas and game changes in order to try and turn D&D into <em>The Goonies</em>. Because at the end of the day... playing a Mikey or a Chunk that ends up at 13th level with the mechanics of a paladin and over 100 hit points is not in any way going to actually feel like playing young teenage kids.</p><p></p><p>And of course it also doesn't help that oftentimes someone's post about adapting D&D to this other style/genre/property is coupled with a few veiled insults to the designers of D&D that they didn't make it simple enough to do this on their own, which is why they're coming here looking for advice. "Well, if the D&D designers weren't lazy and had the rules already in the game like they obviously should have, I wouldn't have this issue!" Not all people are like that obviously... some just want genuine help... but there's not a one of us that hasn't seen accusations of stupidity or laziness on the part of the designers when it comes to all different parts of the D&D rules. And when we see it, there's definitely an urge to come back with "Just use Z system then instead you whiny jerk!" And it takes a lot to hold our tongues. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink ;)" data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" /></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="DEFCON 1, post: 8265819, member: 7006"] You can use the d20 rules (and the offshoot 5E rules) to add or create from whole cloth any type of genre or style to a D&D game that you want. Some additions/creations will be easy... some will be difficult. Some will work seamlessly with the rest of the game's rules... some will be a kludge. Some will uphold the genre or convention... some will run completely counter to it. There is nothing wrong with trying to flex your design muscles to add to the game that is D&D. It's great practice, it's great fun, and it helps you understand the game better to allow you to run the game better in the future. But there is also nothing wrong with acknowledging that some games/genres/styles [I]are[/I] more easily typified by using other game mechanics. Playing a [I]Call of C'thulu[/I] style game using the class level system of d20 does not give you the same feel as a game designed specifically for that style (especially once characters are reaching levels 5, 8, 12, and so on.) The truth is though that certain types of games have conceits that ask for some very specific mechanics to emulate certain things. And while you can try and create them use the race/class/level framework of d20... they don't necessarily lend themselves to doing a very good job. Now if you don't actually care how close to the conventions or genre you are, then whatever you come up with works fine. But if (general) you come here onto EN World saying you want to run a game that is in the style of [I]The Goonies[/I]... of course people are going to direct you to [I]Tales From The Loop[/I] or [I]Kids On Bikes[/I], rather than start throwing out dozens upon dozens of ideas and game changes in order to try and turn D&D into [I]The Goonies[/I]. Because at the end of the day... playing a Mikey or a Chunk that ends up at 13th level with the mechanics of a paladin and over 100 hit points is not in any way going to actually feel like playing young teenage kids. And of course it also doesn't help that oftentimes someone's post about adapting D&D to this other style/genre/property is coupled with a few veiled insults to the designers of D&D that they didn't make it simple enough to do this on their own, which is why they're coming here looking for advice. "Well, if the D&D designers weren't lazy and had the rules already in the game like they obviously should have, I wouldn't have this issue!" Not all people are like that obviously... some just want genuine help... but there's not a one of us that hasn't seen accusations of stupidity or laziness on the part of the designers when it comes to all different parts of the D&D rules. And when we see it, there's definitely an urge to come back with "Just use Z system then instead you whiny jerk!" And it takes a lot to hold our tongues. ;) [/QUOTE]
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