Experts on other systems, why aren't they d&d?

I basically agree with this.

Asking, "What is D&D?" is asking for a genre definition - like asking "What is fantasy?" or "What is pulp noir?" Genre definitions are notoriously squishy around the edges.

A genre is defined by the presence of various standard tropes, and their use in a specific style. Exactly how many such tropes need to be present to make a thing a recognizable member of the genre is a matter for discussion.

I whole-heartedly agree; genres and subgenres overlap each other, and theories about explicitly defining ethem vary wildly from expert to expert. And a single work of fiction (or a RPG) may actually belong to several genres and subgenres.
 

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Does it say D&D on the cover? Then it's D&D. I don't care if it plays almost exactly like some version of D&D, if it says OSRIC on the cover (for example) than it's OSRIC. If it says D&D and it's some kind of LARP, it's still D&D. D&D is a trademark, and it is whatever the owners of the trademark say it is.
 

Didn't read the whole thread. Probably won't read this thread again, ever, but who knows?

But to me, one surprise was how much playing Dark Heresy felt like playing D&D. It might help that I am playing an ignorant feral world assassin that sticks primarily to meelee combat with a high quality mono-sword that she calls "the sword of my ancestors" but I am having a blast of a very familiar D&D stripe.

Castles and Crusdades also feels like D&D, to run and to play.

I've played and had fun with Anima, 7th Sea, Scion, Over the Edge, Deadlands, and while the latter sometimes comes close, none of them feel like D&D to me. I've run Mouseguard, Don't Rest Your Head, In a Wicked Age, Dogs in the Vinyard, 50 Fathoms, Deadlands Reloaded but not played them, and they didn't feel like running D&D to me. Again, though, the Savage Worlds games came closest in feel. I am anticipating a closer feel with Savage Worlds: Hellfrost setting but that is as of yet untested.

On the d20 side, Arthurian adventures felt like D&D and like King Arthur at the same time. Iron Heroes felt like D&D and like Conan at the same time. Mutants and Masterminds, while fun, did not feel like D&D.
 

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