D&D General d&d is anti-medieval

[Shades of Eternity]

d&d is anti-medieval

You can be forgiven for thinking that OD&D is a medieval European fantasy game. After all, Gary Gygax himself says so. He describes the original D&D books as “Rules for Fantastic Medi…

blogofholding.com

I've been on a dnd and classic history kick lately and ran into this blog entry.

The premise is that dungeons and dragons do not follow the medieval model.

I'm of the belief he's pretty much right (it draws as much on the classic western as any medieval trappings), but seeing if it is based on mostly the beginning, I'm asking if editions of dungeons and dragons are more or less similar and why?

 

[Morrus]

Of course it's not a medieval simulator. Who ever suggested it was? D&D models D&D, a fantastic world with dragons and wizards and elves.

 

[Tonguez]

Yes DnD is part of the imagined history of Pan-Western Folk lore, its “once upon a time in a land far afar away” that projects modern social norms onto a world of castles, princesses, wizards and dragons

Fairytale, Fantasy, Cowboys and Space Opera - they’re all different spins on the same setting tropes

 

[lowkey13]

*Deleted by user*

 

[Charlaquin]

d&d is anti-medieval

You can be forgiven for thinking that OD&D is a medieval European fantasy game. After all, Gary Gygax himself says so. He describes the original D&D books as “Rules for Fantastic Medi…

blogofholding.com

I've been on a dnd and classic history kick lately and ran into this blog entry.

The premise is that dungeons and dragons do not follow the medieval model.

I'm of the belief he's pretty much right (it draws as much on the classic western as any medieval trappings), but seeing if it is based on mostly the beginning, I'm asking if editions of dungeons and dragons are more or less similar and why?

So, I have the most experience with 4e and 5e, I would say both are similar in some ways and dissimilar in others. One of the biggest points of dissimilarity is in the focus (or lack thereof) on the accumulation of land and power. As the editions have progressed, the standard play experience of D&D has moved further and further away from clearing out land, building strongholds, and acquiring followers. It has focused more and more on doing quests.

5e claims, in the PHB, that most wealth is not actually exchanged in the form of coins, but rather exchange of trade goods for the peasantry and the exchange of land and titles in the nobility - it’s really only adventurers who regularly deal in coinage, which they plunder from the dungeons they adventure in. That said, in my experience it doesn’t really work this way in practice. The player characters deal in coins, which means for practical purposes the people they trade with need to do the same. A cow may have the buying power of 10 gp, but no player is going to sell the suit of plate armor they crafted for 150 cows.

 

[Umbran]

Most D&D worlds don't strictly follow a medieval model, no.

But then... there is no such thing as a strict medieval model! It isn't like all nations and nation-states in the era we refer to as "medieval" had exactly the same governance structures, nor was any nation even static within one structure for the entire period!

And, if the blog post is still referring to Chainmail rules... it isn't exactly up-to-date on the state of the art in D&D, or RPGs in general.

 

[dragoner]

Gygax and the TSR crew were big into Vance's The Dying Earth.

 

[Umbran]

5e claims, in the PHB, that most wealth is not actually exchanged in the form of coins, but rather exchange of trade goods for the peasantry and the exchange of land and titles in the nobility - it’s really only adventurers who regularly deal in coinage, which they plunder from the dungeons they adventure in. That said, in my experience it doesn’t really work this way in practice. The player characters deal in coins, which means for practical purposes the people they trade with need to do the same. A cow may have the buying power of 10 gp, but no player is going to sell the suit of plate armor they crafted for 150 cows.

You realize that these are in no way in conflict?

You, as a person, have an income of, say, $100K per year. You, personally, only deal in cash, and every vendor your work with takes that cash, and can provide you with change.

The rest of the economy is still massively dominated by electronic funds transfer. Most of wealth exchanged these days, overall, in the nation and the world, is not in cash, no matter what you, as a person, use.

 

[Charlaquin]

You realize that these are in no way in conflict?

You, as a person, have an income of, say, $100K per year. You, personally, only deal in cash, and every vendor your work with takes that cash, and can provide you with change.

The rest of the economy is still massively dominated by electronic funds transfer. Most of wealth exchanged these days, overall, in the nation and the world, is not in cash, no matter what you, as a person, use.

Sure, but the fact that the economy is massively dominated by electronic funds transfer would be pretty much irrelevant to a hypothetical player for whom I was the avatar in my-life-as-an-RPG. At best it amounts to an interesting setting detail, but for the most part it doesn’t really matter. The part the player actually interfaces with is still based on exchange of physical currency. (Well, not really cause I try not to carry cash if I can help it and mostly use my debit card. But for the purpose of the discussion.)

 

[Shades of Eternity]

Of course it's not a medieval simulator. Who ever suggested it was? D&D models D&D, a fantastic world with dragons and wizards and elves.

I'm actually glad of this.

Otherwise, dnd is like Oregon trail without the firearms.

Dysentery for everybody.