Discontinuity: 3e and D&D

[Akrasia]

... Absolutly no offense intended to those who for some reason feel strongly on this subject, but why is it even relevent? ....

I guess it is 'relevant' in the rather academic sense that I think that 3e is a fundamentally different game from earlier versions of D&D, but whenever I point this fact out, some people react as though this is an 'insult'. :\

Really, though, this is a message board devoted to role-playing games. What are you expecting?

 

[Akrasia]

.... 3.x handles more styles of play out of the box and doesn't need to be smashed as hard to get into the styles it doesn't handle out of the box....

Strange. IME 3e D&D promotes a very definite style of play. And I smashed it pretty hard!

OTOH non-D&D fantasy d20 games are now available that promote many different styles of play. Conan, Blue Rose, Lone Wolf, etc. If I ever GM a d20 game again, it will be Conan (despite the ubercrunchy tactical combat system), just because it promotes a style I like.

 

[Quasqueton]

... Absolutly no offense intended to those who for some reason feel strongly on this subject, but why is it even relevent? ....

I guess it is 'relevant' in the rather academic sense that D&D3 is fundamentally identical to earlier versions of D&D, but some people are so irritated by that fact they feel the need to argue an irrational point.

Quasqueton

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

c.f Gentlegamer.

 

[Akrasia]

... some people are so irritated by that fact they feel the need to argue an irrational point....

Ummm ... how can the truth be 'irrational'? :\

RogueAttorney made a number of good points about the fundamental differences between pre-3e and 3e D&D in his posts.

But the most simple way to understand the discontinuity in question is to consider just how easy it is to use OD&D, B/X D&D, 1e AD&D, and 2e AD&D materials with any pre-3e version of the game. Conversion is a snap. In contrast, converting pre-3e materials into 3e terms is a major chore. The reason? 3e is a fundamentally different system.

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

The reason? 3e is a fundamentally different system.

And yet, is still D&D.

 

[shilsen]

Ummm ... how can the truth be 'irrational'? :\

I'd say it takes about ... oh, 3 seconds on this planet before one discovers that there are a whole lot of things out there which are totally irrational

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

I'd say it takes about ... oh, 3 seconds on this planet before one discovers that there are a whole lot of things out there which are totally irrational

Yeah! Like pi.

 

[Akrasia]

And yet, is still D&D.

Indeed, since WotC owns the legal rights to the name, and is producing the d20 fantasy system.

 

[Psion]

In short, I think it is entirely appropriate -- and, more importantly, intellectually honest -- to point out that 3e D&D is a fundamentally different game from earlier versions of D&D.

Eh. I don't agree. It's not a fundamentally different game.

The reason to emphasize the difference is primarily because it is easy to assume that mechanical minutia is the same (no class has more than 11 HD, and lightning bolts rebound if they strike a solid barrier, and dwarves can't be wizards, right?) When, in fact, we are still doing the same sorts of things we always were, just with a greater degree of self-consistency and less of the minutia points that were a more prevalent characteristic of prior version of the game. We're still cutting things with longswords, elves still detect secret doors, lightning bolts still do d6 per level, and clerics still heal. Still fundamentally D&D.