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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Arkhandus" data-source="post: 4648908" data-attributes="member: 13966">If nothing else, "vanilla" in this thread's/forum's/website's context would mean vanilla D&D.  Which means something like core D&D and its core settings (Greyhawk/Blackmoor, Forgotten Realms, or the Known World/Mystara, depending on edition).  Ergo my leaning towards stuff that didn't differ too drastically from the style of the core classes in mechanics and description, with my original list of 11 classes on page 1.Danny, you're still thinking of mere numbers (within merely two countires/half a continent or less, out of hundreds or so/5 or 6+ other inhabited continents and numerous islands) and not breadth, and I've repeatedly mentioned breadth/width, not numbers alone.  While it's possible there are more roleplayers in China or India than in the rest of the world combined, it is western fantasy stuff like D&D, Lord of the Rings, etc. that is most widely recognizeable AFAIK.  Even though some of us geeks are aware of a few eastern RPGs and European RPGs, I don't think any of them has the breadth of name recognition that D&D and such does.Somehow I doubt the majority of EN Worlders or the majority of people this thread is relevant to are Chinese or Indian.  What they consider to be vanilla fantasy fare would still be unknown to 99% of the rest of the world, and is thus irrelevant to this topic because most of us are likely to be completely unaware of those games/settings/whatever.  As it is, I know only of two or three European RPGs, and the only eastern ones I've ever heard of are the one or two mentioned in this thread.  And only aware of those because of their mention here (actually, I do recall seeing mention of Sword World RPG before on the internet, but only once before so it wasn't something that sprang readily to mind).Something is not vanilla (plain, ordinary) to a group when it's exotic or unknown to most of the people in that group.  Do you think of eastern RPGs as boring and ordinary, or do you think of RAW core D&D with its standard flavor to be ordinary, boring, or less exciting/flavorful/whatever?  Many folks think the latter these days, and that's where many other games have gotten customers from (and what so very many groups got their D&D houserules from).  Does eastern fantasy fare, be it games, movies, TV shows, novels, comic books, or what-have-you, seem more interesting to you than Tolkien, Conan, D&D novels, American comic books, etc.?  If so, then guess what, old-school western fantasy is vanilla to you.I'm not trying to be argumentative, just trying to explain my reasoning.</blockquote>

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