D&D General D&D without resource management

[reelo]

Ironically, it is actually a better dungeon crawler in the CRPG sense now than it was then, being focused so much more on combat than exploration. AD&D did not look much like Diablo, even though that game exists because of AD&D. But you can do Diablo much better with 5E now.

The "RPG" in CRPGs like Diablo is misleading. I'd qualify Diablo as an isometric 3rd-person shooter with a fantasy setting, nothing more.

 

[overgeeked]

Ironically, it is actually a better dungeon crawler in the CRPG sense now than it was then, being focused so much more on combat than exploration. AD&D did not look much like Diablo, even though that game exists because of AD&D. But you can do Diablo much better with 5E now.

In that sense, 4E was the best dungeon crawler version of D&D as it was a skirmish game with RPG elements tacked on. But I'm not talking about the video game version of dungeon crawlers, rather the tabletop RPG version.

 

[Reynard]

In that sense, 4E was the best dungeon crawler version of D&D as it was a skirmish game with RPG elements tacked on. But I'm not talking about the video game version of dungeon crawlers, rather the tabletop RPG version.

Sure. I was just saying.

On the upside, the popularity of games like Old School Essentials and the OSR movement in general, particularly with millenials, suggests it is possible to get some of that dungeon crawler back in modern D&D. There's obviously a market for it.

 

[Celebrim]

Well, some RPGs are. These days, there’s a lot more variety in what different RPGs do.

In the computer industry, if it has the elements of an RPG but didn't have a complex inventory to manage, it typically was considered "An Adventure Game"

On the question of is Diablo an RPG, it is if you consider figuring out what treasures to put in your backpack to maximize the value you get out of your dungeon run more quintessentially an RPG than having a soap opera with NPCs. I'm not judging if that is wrong or right, just saying that based on what is called an RPG historically, it might be that a backpack with limited space in it to utilize is more essential being an RPG than dialogue.

Think about the game play experience of Nethack. World of Warcraft. Skyrim. Mass Effect. Mass Effect is particularly interesting in that after the first title you had much less resource management both Chargen resources and inventory, and the later titles were much less like RPGs.

 

[Reynard]

In the computer industry, if it has the elements of an RPG but didn't have a complex inventory to manage, it typically was considered "An Adventure Game"

On the question of is Diablo an RPG, it is if you consider figuring out what treasures to put in your backpack to maximize the value you get out of your dungeon run more quintessentially an RPG than having a soap opera with NPCs. I'm not judging if that is wrong or right, just saying that based on what is called an RPG historically, it might be that a backpack with limited space in it to utilize is more essential being an RPG than dialogue.

Think about the game play experience of Nethack. World of Warcraft. Skyrim. Mass Effect. Mass Effect is particularly interesting in that after the first title you had much less resource management both Chargen resources and inventory, and the later titles were much less like RPGs.

I think "RPG elements" is today used more to cover things like skill trees than resource management.

 

[Umbran]

In the computer industry, if it has the elements of an RPG but didn't have a complex inventory to manage, it typically was considered "An Adventure Game"

I don't see as the computer industry should be considered authoritative on TTRPG classification.

 

[Charlaquin]

In the computer industry, if it has the elements of an RPG but didn't have a complex inventory to manage, it typically was considered "An Adventure Game"

On the question of is Diablo an RPG, it is if you consider figuring out what treasures to put in your backpack to maximize the value you get out of your dungeon run more quintessentially an RPG than having a soap opera with NPCs. I'm not judging if that is wrong or right, just saying that based on what is called an RPG historically, it might be that a backpack with limited space in it to utilize is more essential being an RPG than dialogue.

Think about the game play experience of Nethack. World of Warcraft. Skyrim. Mass Effect. Mass Effect is particularly interesting in that after the first title you had much less resource management both Chargen resources and inventory, and the later titles were much less like RPGs.

I’m talking about tabletop RPGs. Stuff like FATE, WoD and CofD, PbtA, Dread… Inventory management is central to a certain style of RPG, certainly, and one I happen to enjoy a great deal. But there’s a lot more on offer than just that style of play.

 

[overgeeked]

Sure. I was just saying.

On the upside, the popularity of games like Old School Essentials and the OSR movement in general, particularly with millenials, suggests it is possible to get some of that dungeon crawler back in modern D&D. There's obviously a market for it.

Definitely a market for it, I'm just not convinced WotC has any interest in pursuing that market. At best they'll leave it for 3PP to handle, as they have done for the last...however long.

 

[Vaalingrade]

In that sense, 4E was the best dungeon crawler version of D&D as it was a skirmish game with RPG elements tacked on.

Or rather the exact opposite.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

No, it wouldn't be D&D. It would be a different game. Might still be a fantasy RPG, but not D&D.

by that logic any game that has only non magic PCs (say a fighter and a rogue) aren't playing D&D