The Cardinal
First Post
D&D is most definitely its own genre: For "D&D" I use D&D3.5/d20 or C&C - for everything else I use GURPS4e 
D&D is its own Genre of Fantasy?
- Thread starter Mark CMG
- Start date
BryonD
Hero
D&D doesn't focus on day after day of Frodo trudging along and "making Will saves" to endure the lure of the Ring. It focuses on the coolness of when Bilbo found the ring and when Frodo/Gandalf found out what the ring was. And of course the big climatic fights happen a lot more often. D&D is built to get back to the gratifying moments of glory as frequently as possible.
Save the day. Every day. Get the awesome new gadget. People like that.
Edit
Just to clarify: I'm not saying at all the D&D is limited to this. I'm just saying that game is optimized to highlight this type of event as frequently as possible.
I also think, perhaps wrongly, that this is a case where ENWorld poorly represents the bulk of gamers out there that are keeping the game profitable. I'd guess that the avergae ENWorlder has a bit more story and interaction in their games than the average D&D player. And D&D is optimized for the average D&Der. Which is why we have house rules and alternate systems.
It is all good.
Save the day. Every day. Get the awesome new gadget. People like that.
Edit
Just to clarify: I'm not saying at all the D&D is limited to this. I'm just saying that game is optimized to highlight this type of event as frequently as possible.
I also think, perhaps wrongly, that this is a case where ENWorld poorly represents the bulk of gamers out there that are keeping the game profitable. I'd guess that the avergae ENWorlder has a bit more story and interaction in their games than the average D&D player. And D&D is optimized for the average D&Der. Which is why we have house rules and alternate systems.
It is all good.
Last edited:
Mark CMG
Creative Mountain Games
So, the concensus of those who have posted in this thread is that D&D is its own genre of RPG Gaming, in the same manner in which Detective Stories are one genre of Fiction, for instance. As we know, Agatha Christie's Detective Stories fall under the latter genre, as do Raymond Chandler's Detective Stories, Edgar Allen Poe's Detective Stories, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Detective Stories, even though all four are considerably different styles.
How many clearly defined styles of RPG Gaming fall under the D&D genre?
How many clearly defined styles of RPG Gaming fall under the D&D genre?
Raven Crowking
First Post
BryonD said:
If LotR was written as a D&D novel, the climax would have been a battle with Sauron himself, and the Ring would have been used in that climax. Nothing less would satisfy the "players"! Also, the DM would have had to keep admonishing the group not to split the party after Boromir tried to take the Ring.....maybe by sending a lot of orcs to show them that they needed to stick together. "Beware what you own, lest it own you" was a major theme for Tolkein, emphasized most in the Ring, but also in Smaug's treasure and with the Silmarils. I doubt that would be a happy theme for most D&D players.
That said, I find that my players enjoy talking to creatures as much as having big cinematic battles. Discussing philosophy with evil clerics, or chatting up a strange abberation hanging from the ceiling are as important to them -- more important, actually -- than saving the day or getting the gadget.
(Shrug)
Different strokes for different folks, I guess.
RC
BryonD
Hero
Yeah, I think LotR as written would make a terrible and largely boring role playing game.Raven Crowking said:
"Beware what you own, lest it own you" was a major theme for Tolkein, emphasized most in the Ring, but also in Smaug's treasure and with the Silmarils. I doubt that would be a happy theme for most D&D players.
And I think that the vast majority of great RPG campaigns would make absurd and stupid novels.
They are different things that serve different purposes.
I don't know that it is different strokes so much. The things you describe are still events that would be unique high points in a novel. Fights and new toys that I mentioned are in my opinion the most common examples if you look at 1,000 D&D groups. But D&D is set up to offer other high frequency player gratification moments, such as the ones you list and many others.
But I'll point out that what you described isn't any closer to the LotRs books. You're still on "big events", not focusing on days and weeks of details along the way. You're just describing different types of big events to gravitate toward.
painandgreed
First Post
Teflon Billy said:
Steven Brust's Jhereg series pretty much seems to go there IIRC. However, people threatened by people with such tactics usually have the resources to put up defences.
I'm A Banana
Potassium-Rich
It's a bit difficult to say, since D&D itself is a hodge-podge of genres. There's aspects of it that resemble LotR, or Conan, or Final Fantasy, or the Iliad, or faerie tales, or Miyamoto Musashi, or even Star Wars and Amizov and and Arthur Conan Doyle and the Cthulhu Mythos. Bits and pieces here and there.
I don't think many other RPG games touch upon D&D's own melieu much. It's a pretty unique and exclusive blend -- even other "medieval fantasy" games tend to try to liberate themselves from D&D rather than fit within it.
You have various d20 "non-D&D D&D's" like Ravenloft (horror fantasy), Dark Sun (naturalistic fantasy), Planescape (urban fantasy), settings like the Scarred Lands or Morningstar or Midnight or Nyambe (african fantasy) or Northern Crown (colonial fantasy) or Oathbound (conflict fantasy).
But I'm not so sure those are sub-genres of "Game Fantasy" as they are attempts to put a new gloss on "Game Fantasy" and turn it into something else entirely.
Mark CMG
Creative Mountain Games
Kamikaze Midget said:
To keep the terminology we're using, we are going with D&D as its own genre and saying there are potentially many styles of play within, rather than genres within, the genre (or even sub-genres within, the genre).
Personally, I would have gone with Fantasy Gaming being the actual genre (of RPGing) and D&D being just a collection of styles of play under that genre but I am being flexible to expand the conversation.
I'm A Banana
Potassium-Rich
That works for me.
Mark CMG said:
Depends where you feel the best functional lines are drawn. Thing is "Fantasy" isn't really so different from many "Sci Fi" games, and you instantly go down the rathole of worryingover fiddly bits.
Me, I think if we take "role playing game" as the base art form, I'd take "Tabletop" (or "Pencil and Paper", if you prefer) as the base genre - as opposed to LARP or Computer RPGs. Then you can start splitting the hairs of sub-genre, depending on whether you want to do it on functional lines of game design, or lines of the fictional tropes used, or some of both.
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