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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Desdichado" data-source="post: 5800011" data-attributes="member: 2205">I don't know about "dumberest."  With the exception of flail snails and flumphs and a handful of other really bizarre elements, most of the things I think are dumb about D&D are exactly what makes it work for someone else.That said, here's a handful of my least favorite D&Disms:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Alignment.  It makes no objective sense that I can see, and has been the cause of more interpretive arguments than possibly anything else in the game.  It kinda works as a "team jersey" if that's how it's used (not that it usually is) but for the most part, the game would be significantly improved for me without it.  Also note: while I don't necessarily think the Great Wheel is one of the "dumberest" ideas of D&D, it's so intimately tied to alignment, that it's extremely difficult if not impossible to justify it without alignment. </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Dungeons.  I also can't wrap my head around the concept of the "dungeon."  It's so clearly a gamist element that can't really be described in-game in a way that makes any sense.  Not only that, I really dislike the paradigm of dungeoncrawling being the main activity that  character engage in.  How boring!  How many fantasy novels (unless they're based on the D&D game itself) are there where dungeoncrawling is a main focus?  Not many.  There's a good reason for that.  It's one of the "dumberest" ideas inherent in D&D. </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Adventurers.  History is full of characters who defied social expectations and went out and made their mark on the world.  But the idea of an entire adventuring "caste" of people who team up in small strike teams and handle all kinds of local and global threats, while being tolerated--much less accepted--by the populace at large makes no sense whatsoever. </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Divine vs. arcane magic.  Completely a D&Dism, which has no relation to any other fantasy setting (that isn't directly influenced by D&D, that is) that I'm aware of.  Plus, it's just silly.  Perhaps I should just expand this to D&D magic as a whole, which very rarely has made any sense, or born any relationship to any other magic familiar from the source fiction that supposedly inspired the game. </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Color-coded dragons.  Just... dumb. </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Leveling.  In older editions of the game, leveling was something that was extremely slow, and tended to taper off if not essentially cap at a more reasonable place.  It was a bandaid over one of the "dumberest" notions of D&D that was unfortunately inelegenatly ripped off in 3e and remained so from that point on.  How in the world does the entire genre change as characters go up in level?  This begs all kinds of questions about worldbuilding that are best not looked at too closely, because they don't make any sense without alot of really bad special pleading.  If it's so easy to level up, relatively speaking, then there's no explanation for why there are any low-level threats still out there menacing the countryside.  Unfortunately tied to this, especially as game balance and the CR system were introduced, is the idea that characters tend to find challenges appropriate for their level--regardless of their level.  That's way too convenient to make any logical sense whatsoever.</li> </ul>Looking at that list, filled as it is with concepts that are core to D&D in many respects, begs the question: do I even like D&D at all?  The answer is more complicatd than just yes or no, though.  I love--and always have--the concept of D&D.  I've never been happy with the execution of any version of it, all the way from the AD&D and BD&D books I first discovered in the early 80s until now.  And once I had the confidence and clarity about my tastes to realize that I could change a lot of the basic assumptions of D&D, I've houseruled it so extensively that it's probably fair to call my games "not really D&D anymore."That said, I've never really had a lot of interest in running other fantasy RPGs.  I think starting on a D&D chassis and making custom modifications, like tuning a Honda Civic into a hot-rodding race machine is more my style than going to Fantasy Hero or Runequest or Warhammer FRPG or Savage Worlds or... or, well any other FRPG option.</blockquote>

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