Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
How freely can a setting mess with core D&D mechanics?
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="DEFCON 1" data-source="post: 7857129" data-attributes="member: 7006"><p>You know what the "weird gonzo s***" is for D&D players?</p><p></p><p>A different system.</p><p></p><p>- D&D players running through a game of Call of C'thulu using the rules and mechanics of CoC is the "weird gonzo s***<strong>"<em><strong>.</strong></em></strong></p><p></p><p>- Trying to figure out how to play FATE correctly by using Aspects, Fate Points and Creating Advantages and Outcomes is the "weird gonzo s***".</p><p></p><p>- Using the mechanics of GUMSHOE to solve mysteries.</p><p></p><p>- 7th Sea 2nd edition where it is just assumed that you succeed in almost everything you do and the dice are there merely to direct where you go and not whether or not you succeeded.</p><p></p><p>These are all the "weird gonzo s***" that D&D players have to decide and figure out whether or not they can handle it and want to play it.</p><p></p><p>But just playing D&D with a bunch of variant rules to lightly change the flavor? That's kids stuff. Nobody played through <em>Tomb of Annihilation</em> with its funky death rules and said "What?!? This isn't D&D!" Of course it was D&D. We all knew it was D&D and it at all times felt like D&D. And all we would need to know is how <strong>Champions</strong> is played and run to realize "Oh yeah... ToA was D&D, even with the new death rules."</p><p></p><p>If you make a D&D game that asks the players to use some variant rules to lightly change the flavor of how the game plays and runs... very few of them will dismiss the game out of hand because of the rules themselves. If they dismiss it, its either because the <em>story</em> that the rules are trying to facilitate just doesn't interest them, or because the person trying to run the game just isn't able to do it in such a way that the rules are enhancing that story. They just don't know how to incorporate the rules changes into effective gameplay.</p><p></p><p>But worrying that people won't recognize the game as D&D? Not something you really have to concern yourself about. Heck... that's why Mutants & Masterminds <em>succeeded</em> as a game... because people played it and immediately recognized it as a really strong <em>Superheroes 3E D&D </em>game. And if you can get people to buy in on playing D&D as a superheroes game? No amount of minor rules variants you could add to bog standard D&D will ever be an issue. <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="DEFCON 1, post: 7857129, member: 7006"] You know what the "weird gonzo s***" is for D&D players? A different system. - D&D players running through a game of Call of C'thulu using the rules and mechanics of CoC is the "weird gonzo s***[B]"[I][B].[/B][/I][/B] - Trying to figure out how to play FATE correctly by using Aspects, Fate Points and Creating Advantages and Outcomes is the "weird gonzo s***". - Using the mechanics of GUMSHOE to solve mysteries. - 7th Sea 2nd edition where it is just assumed that you succeed in almost everything you do and the dice are there merely to direct where you go and not whether or not you succeeded. These are all the "weird gonzo s***" that D&D players have to decide and figure out whether or not they can handle it and want to play it. But just playing D&D with a bunch of variant rules to lightly change the flavor? That's kids stuff. Nobody played through [I]Tomb of Annihilation[/I] with its funky death rules and said "What?!? This isn't D&D!" Of course it was D&D. We all knew it was D&D and it at all times felt like D&D. And all we would need to know is how [B]Champions[/B] is played and run to realize "Oh yeah... ToA was D&D, even with the new death rules." If you make a D&D game that asks the players to use some variant rules to lightly change the flavor of how the game plays and runs... very few of them will dismiss the game out of hand because of the rules themselves. If they dismiss it, its either because the [I]story[/I] that the rules are trying to facilitate just doesn't interest them, or because the person trying to run the game just isn't able to do it in such a way that the rules are enhancing that story. They just don't know how to incorporate the rules changes into effective gameplay. But worrying that people won't recognize the game as D&D? Not something you really have to concern yourself about. Heck... that's why Mutants & Masterminds [I]succeeded[/I] as a game... because people played it and immediately recognized it as a really strong [I]Superheroes 3E D&D [/I]game. And if you can get people to buy in on playing D&D as a superheroes game? No amount of minor rules variants you could add to bog standard D&D will ever be an issue. :) [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
How freely can a setting mess with core D&D mechanics?
Top