D&D General Disentangling D&D from D&D Fantasy

[Marc17]

Can you take D&D and change the setting, play style, mechanics, or any other aspect of it? Sure. Can you change all of them at once or in any combination, of course. Can you do so in a way that everybody will agree that it has been disentangled from completely from the D&D Fantasy? No, and certainly not on the internet where people seem to just want to argue in order to hear their keyboard clicking.

 

[Tonguez]

The movie? I haven't seen that one.

I don't. Picking race to me is like picking color in Sorry, Ticket to Ride, and Cosmic Encounter. Picking what you are playing doesn't make one game like another. Getting rid of humans, though, is completely different from D&D which revolves around humans as the default official position.

Pugmire? Its streamlined and has differences but Pugmire is very similiar to DnD and has no humans or other traditional races

 

[Maxperson]

Pugmire? Its streamlined and has differences but Pugmire is very similiar to DnD and has no humans or other traditional races

How is it similar to D&D other than being a fantasy setting with fantasy races? Is it based on 5e or d20?

 

[mamba]

But nevertheless, it does play much like D&D.

so I guess ‘like D&D’ is just another way to say ‘a TTRPG’ then

 

[Remathilis]

A role playing game without fantasy is, at best, therapy and at worst masturbation.

.

 

[Tonguez]

How is it similar to D&D other than being a fantasy setting with fantasy races? Is it based on 5e or d20?

yes its 5e adjacent, classes become callings which are more modular and Pugmire deemphasizes combat in favour of exploration/social

 

[ECMO3]

Over the decades, "D&D Fantasy" has become its own genre. The reciprocal relationship between D&D and video games has not only embedded this sub-genre, but given it relatively consistent visual tropes and mechanical implementations. The decade or so of popularity of TSR setting novels also entangled the visual language of paperback fantasy with D&D -- even when the books had little or nothing to do with D&D fantasy -- and that is to say nothing of the generation of fantasists who grew up on D&D and its influence on their work.

What I wonder is: is it possible to disentangle D&D Fantasy from the game of D&D, to do D&D in a different or new flavor of fantasy? What would it take? Could D&D's "sacred cow" mechanics survive such a transition? What about its visual identity? Are there very D&D adjacent (OSR, OGL) games that manage it while still "being" D&D?

I think the 5th edition mechanics are largely divorced from the fantasy elements and tropes. The classes are not, but the rules themselves are and there are a bunch of content creators that are using the 5th edition mechanics in a non-fantasy genre or world with custom classes.

One of the things that gets mentioned frequently is spells, but 3rd party creators are using the spell mechanics and prgression for other powers or effects that are not "spells" in the fiction.

So I would say it is easy to disentangle it if that is your cup of tea.

 

[SothFan]

Can you take D&D and change the setting, play style, mechanics, or any other aspect of it? Sure. Can you change all of them at once or in any combination, of course. Can you do so in a way that everybody will agree that it has been disentangled from completely from the D&D Fantasy? No, and certainly not on the internet where people seem to just want to argue in order to hear their keyboard clicking.

Theseus & Dragons?

 

[Reynard]

I think the 5th edition mechanics are largely divorced from the fantasy elements and tropes. The classes are not, but the rules themselves are and there are a bunch of content creators that are using the 5th edition mechanics in a non-fantasy genre or world with custom classes.

One of the things that gets mentioned frequently is spells, but 3rd party creators are using the spell mechanics and prgression for other powers or effects that are not "spells" in the fiction.

So I would say it is easy to disentangle it if that is your cup of tea.

What are your favorite examples of this?

 

[doctorbadwolf]

What are your favorite examples of this?

Mine, if i may, is Sw5E and Neon Odyssey. "Spells" can be tech devices being used, software being run on a digital reality thst overlaps with reality, etc.

I havent seen anyone use them for special moves in a game where you play mystic martial artists, like if you made a Soul Calibur TTRPG, but it would work beautifully IMO.