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<blockquote data-quote="Simon Marks" data-source="post: 3999325" data-attributes="member: 56243">Ok, try this.1) You get better at doing things by overcoming obstacles.That premise is firmly, deeply entrenched in D&amp;D - but is easy to alter.2) Magic is more effective than Science, but is limited to a few.So, for example, all swords created with Science are equal - and almost all are worse than one created in conjunction with Magic. Repeat for all other technological goods. Altered in Blackmoore, to a degree.3) Permanent Impairment is rare, you are either fine or dead. In the long term (used to be in the short term as well, 3.X altered that) certainly.4) Armour is all or nothing, either it stops a blow or it doesn't.5) Skill doesn't directly effect the degree of success, only the frequency of success.6) Whilst they are able to use magic, Humans (and many other races) are inherently non-magical7) (in OD&amp;D) Wealth is a way of measuring skill (i.e. GP = XP)8) Retraining is near impossible, or actually impossible.9) Using poisons is either cheating or evil.I can go on, but that's not the point of this thread.Individually, these premises can be changed. Some of them a trivial to change.However, changing all the basic premises of D&amp;D - the assumptions the D&amp;D makes about the nature of reality - stops it being D&amp;D. Why would you want that?What D&amp;D is 'about' is easy to change, where D&amp;D is set is easy to change. That doesn't make D&amp;D a generic game. D&amp;D has, and always has, &quot;felt like&quot; D&amp;D to me because of the premises above. Each iteration of the game has had different premises. Actually, they have mostly had the same premises - some have changed.For me, 4e changes some of the premises (I guess) but almost all the ones I've mentioned? They are kept. D&amp;D has a Genre (as does every game I guess). 4e seems to announce the premises a bit more. Could be a good thing.Ok, rambled enough.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Simon Marks, post: 3999325, member: 56243"] Ok, try this. 1) You get better at doing things by overcoming obstacles. That premise is firmly, deeply entrenched in D&D - but is easy to alter. 2) Magic is more effective than Science, but is limited to a few. So, for example, all swords created with Science are equal - and almost all are worse than one created in conjunction with Magic. Repeat for all other technological goods. Altered in Blackmoore, to a degree. 3) Permanent Impairment is rare, you are either fine or dead. In the long term (used to be in the short term as well, 3.X altered that) certainly. 4) Armour is all or nothing, either it stops a blow or it doesn't. 5) Skill doesn't directly effect the degree of success, only the frequency of success. 6) Whilst they are able to use magic, Humans (and many other races) are inherently non-magical 7) (in OD&D) Wealth is a way of measuring skill (i.e. GP = XP) 8) Retraining is near impossible, or actually impossible. 9) Using poisons is either cheating or evil. I can go on, but that's not the point of this thread. Individually, these premises can be changed. Some of them a trivial to change. However, changing all the basic premises of D&D - the assumptions the D&D makes about the nature of reality - stops it being D&D. Why would you want that? What D&D is 'about' is easy to change, where D&D is set is easy to change. That doesn't make D&D a generic game. D&D has, and always has, "felt like" D&D to me because of the premises above. Each iteration of the game has had different premises. Actually, they have mostly had the same premises - some have changed. For me, 4e changes some of the premises (I guess) but almost all the ones I've mentioned? They are kept. D&D has a Genre (as does every game I guess). 4e seems to announce the premises a bit more. Could be a good thing. Ok, rambled enough. [/QUOTE]

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