D&D rules don't do books?

[Psion]

Umm, what did that have to do with my example? You may have a beef with people who make that arguement, and that's fine, but that argument wasn't really my point.

I know it wasn't, and I acknowldged as much, didn't I:

I know you point was to point out an example of D&D like flow in a book, but can we talk about this for a minute?

 

[buzzard]

I know it wasn't, and I acknowldged as much, didn't I:

Yes, but what was the point? Were you trying to drag this thread into some old unresolved argument or something?

buzzard

 

[mmadsen]

You know how the argument goes that D&D rules don't simulate anything but D&D? How fantasy novels are nothing like what we experience when in a game of D&D?

Right.

Well I've been reading the John Carter of Mars books, and while they don't have any magic in them (though the science is silly enough to verge on it), the battles read just like D&D combat.

The primary complaint against D&D is that it is its own genre. By mixing and matching dozens of fantasy sources, cranking up the frequency of magic spells and magic items, then providing steadily increasing challenges, it makes for a good game, but not a good emulation of Conan, the Lord of the Rings, or the Dying Earth -- even though it is heavily influenced by all of them.

The protagonist fights huge hordes of bad guys, suffers wound after wound, and keeps fighting. He usually ends up with a pile of corpses at his feet. Even the concept of high level vs. low level is present since he can usually find opponents which are almost a match and make a fight of it.

Certainly, that's what D&D combat is known for. In its emphasis on high- vs. low-level characters, D&D matches kung-fu flicks, samurai films, westerns, Batman comics, etc. In other ways, it does not match those genres.

It almost makes me wonder why nobody has offered such a setting.

As others have pointed out, Polyhedron offered an "Iron Lords of Jupiter" setting a few months back. Really, you could go a long way by just removing spellcasters and replacing magic with tech. That certainly changes the "D&D feel" of the game.

 

[DrZombie]

Well, the open gaming licence comes into play here. While traditional D&D is hard-pressed to allow for a good swashbuckling movie feel, 7th sea comes pretty close, for a samurai feeling the rokugan setting is good....

The one reason why I love dnd is it's multivariability. If you like a setting there's tons of rules, mods, PrC out there that you can use. I personally don't like the "out-of-the-box" DnD, but I love the house-rules ridden, modified PrC chaos I've been playing and mastering the last years... Sure as hell feels like a good novel at times. Bonus point is that the players never start to cry about game balance, they just want to have a good time.

 

[Piratecat]

No bickering, gang. I don't want the thread hijacked from John Carter-y goodness.

 

[jessemock]

Well I've been reading the John Carter of Mars books...
buzzard

Good one! I'm not going to speak to the odd and insecurely preemptive replies to this thread, which were made as if you sought to condemn (or instigate others to condemn) D&D for its genre limitations, but, instead, I'll say that, yes, there is an interesting parallel between D&D and many of Burroughs' works, and it may be interesting to explore that a bit further.

For instance, take a look at the way that Burroughs wrote: we're talking about a guy who churned out whole novels at a rate of one about every three months for years and years--a practice that necessitated a lot of improvisation and didn't always result in the most perfect continuity.

But at the moment of reading the stuff--wow! Too much fun!

Sound familiar?

 

[Faraer]

Barsoom was indeed a major influence on D&D, Mars figured in the Greyhawk Campaign, and Gary Gygax and Brian Blume wrote Warriors of Mars, a Barsoomian Chainmail.

 

[diaglo]

what about Alternity? using the Fast-Play rulz.

 

[mmadsen]

Barsoom was indeed a major influence on D&D, Mars figured in the Greyhawk Campaign, and Gary Gygax and Brian Blume wrote Warriors of Mars, a Barsoomian Chainmail.

I can't believe I didn't know that!

I enjoyed this snippet from a page on Warriors of Mars:

There are eight pages dedicated to "Individual Adventures." These basic rules include simple encounter tables, a simple D&D style experience table to boost the level of one's character (remembering there is no way to generate characters) and descriptions of adventure hooks. Most interestingly to us is the section on adventuring in the pits: readers of Barsoom may remember many cities featured underground tunnels. The authors recommend interested players to read all eleven of the original books, and "pick up a copy of DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, Rules for Fantastic Medieval Wargames Campaigns". (This is exactly as it appears.) Adventure hooks also include capturing and taming wildlife as battle companions, or dealing with assassins. There are notes on the honor code of Barsoom, which has most warriors ignoring their radium rifles and fighting with swords.

 

[mmadsen]

Really, you could go a long way by just removing spellcasters and replacing magic with tech. That certainly changes the "D&D feel" of the game.

I forgot to mention the biggest (and most obvious) change: remove the Tolkien-esque races and monsters, and replace them with odd-ball sci-fi races and monsters.

And don't forget that you can just file the serial numbers off your Star Wars d20 game to make your own Planetary Romance/Space Opera.