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Heteroglossia and D&D: Why D&D Speaks in a Multiplicity of Playing Styles
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<blockquote data-quote="Gradine" data-source="post: 8764419" data-attributes="member: 57112"><p>This is what they mean when they say that D&D is "all things to all people", and it's the thing that I think most of the "you know there are <em>other games</em>, right?" crowd don't get. There are, in fact, lots of other games that are laser-focused at triggering one or a handful of these aesthetics. FATE in general and the Dresden Files in particular is Expression on overdrive, but the shared worldbuilding means there's little to no Discovery to be had. PbtA hacks are almost exclusively designed around catering to very specific kinds of Fantasy, or telling very specific kinds of Narratives, but don't really allow for any kind of Abnegation or much in the way of Sensory Pleasure (few dice, explicitly narrative combat), in most cases (at least not until Blades in the Dark and its family line) Challenge. Try introducing your Fellowship-minded players to Paranoia and see how that goes.</p><p></p><p>Through some kind of magical alchemy and intentional design, D&D manages to hit each and every aesthetic, and can often trigger multiple aesthetics at once in a way that few other games I've seen be successful at. There are built-in mechanics for every step of the way:</p><p>a. Sensory Pleasure- Dice, so many dice. Also minis and battlemaps and virtual tabletops</p><p>b. Fantasy- Backgrounds - you're not just a collection of stats, you're a character with a history in a living world</p><p>c. Narrative- Sure, there are APs, but even the sandboxiest of sandboxes is going to develop a narrative over time.</p><p>d. Challenge- This is what I'd characterize as D&D's core aesthetic. Stats, feats, monsters, traps, these are all challenges to overcome.</p><p>e. Fellowship- With the exception of heavily PVP games, D&D is ultimately about shared, collaborative problem solving. This one is endemic to most TTRPGs though. Maybe not Paranoia.</p><p>f. Discovery- Sandboxes are Discovery on overdrive, but the "Exploration" pillar is pretty neatly mapped to this aesethetic.</p><p>g. Expression- And here is the "Social Interaction" pillar, though really the variety of character choices all map to Expression, from your background, to choosing your skill and tool proficiencies. Remember that dork whose 3.x characters always "wasted" skill points in "pointless" skills like Profession? That's the expression aesthetic at play. Also, that dork was me.</p><p>I'll add, too, that DMing? That's full-time expression baby.</p><p>h. Abnegation- Arguably, D&D might be one of the <em>best </em>TTRPGs at fulfilling this aesthetic. It's not just the Champion Fighter, but it's a lot that. There are very simple playstyles, and there's very simple to run adventures. In my experience, the folks whose key aesthetic is Fellowship are also going to lean in hard here. And, to its credit, D&D is designed to allow a player or two to chill out and hit goblins with swords while the cognitive loads and expressive play are handled by the "party face", for instance.</p><p></p><p>Name another RPG that's designed not only to appeal to all eight of these aesthetics, but is also capable of engaging players with very different aesthetic pursuits at the same time. There aren't going to be many.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Gradine, post: 8764419, member: 57112"] This is what they mean when they say that D&D is "all things to all people", and it's the thing that I think most of the "you know there are [I]other games[/I], right?" crowd don't get. There are, in fact, lots of other games that are laser-focused at triggering one or a handful of these aesthetics. FATE in general and the Dresden Files in particular is Expression on overdrive, but the shared worldbuilding means there's little to no Discovery to be had. PbtA hacks are almost exclusively designed around catering to very specific kinds of Fantasy, or telling very specific kinds of Narratives, but don't really allow for any kind of Abnegation or much in the way of Sensory Pleasure (few dice, explicitly narrative combat), in most cases (at least not until Blades in the Dark and its family line) Challenge. Try introducing your Fellowship-minded players to Paranoia and see how that goes. Through some kind of magical alchemy and intentional design, D&D manages to hit each and every aesthetic, and can often trigger multiple aesthetics at once in a way that few other games I've seen be successful at. There are built-in mechanics for every step of the way: a. Sensory Pleasure- Dice, so many dice. Also minis and battlemaps and virtual tabletops b. Fantasy- Backgrounds - you're not just a collection of stats, you're a character with a history in a living world c. Narrative- Sure, there are APs, but even the sandboxiest of sandboxes is going to develop a narrative over time. d. Challenge- This is what I'd characterize as D&D's core aesthetic. Stats, feats, monsters, traps, these are all challenges to overcome. e. Fellowship- With the exception of heavily PVP games, D&D is ultimately about shared, collaborative problem solving. This one is endemic to most TTRPGs though. Maybe not Paranoia. f. Discovery- Sandboxes are Discovery on overdrive, but the "Exploration" pillar is pretty neatly mapped to this aesethetic. g. Expression- And here is the "Social Interaction" pillar, though really the variety of character choices all map to Expression, from your background, to choosing your skill and tool proficiencies. Remember that dork whose 3.x characters always "wasted" skill points in "pointless" skills like Profession? That's the expression aesthetic at play. Also, that dork was me. I'll add, too, that DMing? That's full-time expression baby. h. Abnegation- Arguably, D&D might be one of the [I]best [/I]TTRPGs at fulfilling this aesthetic. It's not just the Champion Fighter, but it's a lot that. There are very simple playstyles, and there's very simple to run adventures. In my experience, the folks whose key aesthetic is Fellowship are also going to lean in hard here. And, to its credit, D&D is designed to allow a player or two to chill out and hit goblins with swords while the cognitive loads and expressive play are handled by the "party face", for instance. Name another RPG that's designed not only to appeal to all eight of these aesthetics, but is also capable of engaging players with very different aesthetic pursuits at the same time. There aren't going to be many. [/QUOTE]
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