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<blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 8995266" data-attributes="member: 42582">In terms of the &quot;toolbox&quot; of D&amp;D, I think it makes more sense to ask What are all the lists for?The lists of spells. Of race/lineage and class abilities. Of magic items. Of monsters. Etc.It's fairly clear what they were for in the classic (Gygax/Moldvay) game:*Player-side resources under the players' control (starting race and class abilities);

*Player-side resources that are placed by the GM, and that players can &quot;unlock&quot; by lucky or clever play (class abilities that are gained by levelling; spells; magic items);

*GM-side resources for creating obstacles (monsters, traps, tricks)The interaction between the categories of resources was partly mechanised - eg rules for elves finding secret doors, for rangers gaining surprise, etc - and partly based around implicit understandings about the content and context of the fiction - eg rules for spell ranges, Hold Portal, Transmute Rock to Mud, which monsters to place on which dungeon levels, etc.What are the lists for in mainstream contemporary (post-DL) D&amp;D play? The implicit understandings about the content and context of the fiction no longer hold. The idea that players unlock abilities by lucky or clever play has become vestigial.They're doing something quite different. Colour is an important part of it, but I'm not sure that's all of it.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="pemerton, post: 8995266, member: 42582"] In terms of the "toolbox" of D&D, I think it makes more sense to ask [I]What are all the lists for?[/I] The lists of spells. Of race/lineage and class abilities. Of magic items. Of monsters. Etc. It's fairly clear what they were for in the classic (Gygax/Moldvay) game: [indent]*Player-side resources under the players' control (starting race and class abilities); *Player-side resources that are placed by the GM, and that players can "unlock" by lucky or clever play (class abilities that are gained by levelling; spells; magic items); *GM-side resources for creating obstacles (monsters, traps, tricks)[/indent] The interaction between the categories of resources was partly mechanised - eg rules for elves finding secret doors, for rangers gaining surprise, etc - and partly based around implicit understandings about the content and context of the fiction - eg rules for spell ranges, Hold Portal, Transmute Rock to Mud, which monsters to place on which dungeon levels, etc. What are the lists for in mainstream contemporary (post-DL) D&D play? The implicit understandings about the content and context of the fiction no longer hold. The idea that players unlock abilities by lucky or clever play has become vestigial. They're doing something quite different. [I]Colour[/I] is an important part of it, but I'm not sure that's all of it. [/QUOTE]

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