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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ahnehnois" data-source="post: 5775186" data-attributes="member: 17106"><a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/general-rpg-discussion/309227-d-d-about-combat.html" target="_blank">Is D&D "about" combat?</a> An interesting poll and discussion from not too long ago. The prevailing answer was no, but there was a significant dissenting opinion, and strong arguments presented on both sides.I think that D&D wouldn't be complete without a substantial combat element, but I don't think it's inherently the center of the game. Compare to the fiction it's based on. Would a LotR movie be complete without some big battles? No. But the story is about many other things; the battles are more of a backdrop.You can play a D&D game that's a straight dungeoncrawl or gladiatorial championship or what have you, but you can also play a political intrigue story or exploration/investigation or any number of other styles that have little to no fighting.As a whole, I think D&D is a mix of combat and non-combat elements; I would say it's typical to spend anywhere from a 20% to 80% of game time on combat. If combat rules aren't dynamic, exciting, plausible, and user friendly, there's going to be a lot of angry D&D players. If you create a game that's just about combat, you're not going to have a lot of players at all.</blockquote>