D&D General If D&D were created today, what would it look like?

[Raith5]

I think it would be significantly darker in tone. Modern fantasy films, shows and games are much darker in tone than that of Middle Earth.

I also dont think we would have alignment given that many modern fantasy and sci shows (Game of thrones, The expanse, the Witcher) have more nuanced notions of morality that the traditional alignment system.

I am not even sure that classes would exist. While I personally feel that classes are super important in a team based game, I think the spirit of our time is more about customization. While it is impossible to remove the influence of D and on all modern computer games, most games now do not have classes (Skyrim, Witcher, cyberpunk etc).

 

[Zardnaar]

Alignment might not exist but some sort of light/dark morality mechanic might be there.

 

[R_J_K75]

I think D&D came along exactly when it should have and if Gygax hadn't created it someone else would have. If it had come 5-10 years sooner or later it probably wouldn't have caught on and we wouldn't be having this conversation.

 

[Charlaquin]

Disagreeing on this one. Races almost certainly would be different. We're in a post Warcraft and Warhammer world.

Of course, this gets at why this question is almost impossible to answer. If D&D were invented today, we probably wouldn’t be in a post Warcraft world, because Warcraft was heavily influenced by D&D.

 

[cbwjm]

None of those would have existed without D&D though. No Warcraft. No war hammer.

Can't guarantee that they wouldn't. Might not be in the exact same form but they might still have existed in some form or another in which case I think dnd would follow them in style or in races/class available.

That's the problem with saying what if X was created now, you don't know if Y which may very well derive a lot from X would exist or not.

 

[JEB]

Basically, as noted by @PsyzhranV2 and @Charlaquin above, pop culture as a whole would likely be vastly different in an alternate timeline where D&D didn't appear in 1974. For example, you not only risk deleting all CRPGs, but any video game with RPG-like mechanics, to include leveling, vital statistics, and hit points. We're talking at least hundreds of highly influential games.

Agreed that space opera would outpace fantasy. D&D also certainly contributed to the boom in fantasy fiction in the 1970s onward, so a lot of those go as well, and less fantasy fiction generally means less reason for someone else to come up with the idea. The exception might be stuff drawing on earlier material, like LOTR and Conan; this does possibly mean the 21st century LOTR and Hobbit films could still happen, however, so I could see that as an influence for a modern-day version of D&D.

Miniatures wargames are an interesting question. There was clearly a market for fantasy wargames, since that's where D&D's ancestor Chainmail came in with its fantasy supplement. But it wasn't Chainmail that took off like a rocket, it was D&D. Also, wargames were pretty niche, and D&D almost surely grew interest in hobby stores that helped the wargaming industry. OTOH, I think D&D also competed with wargames for attention. So it's hard to say what happens there. I assume, however, that we don't see Warhammer (since Games Workshop was an importer of D&D in its early days). Maybe some LOTR-inspired wargames, though?

One thing I'd bet on, though, is that the game would only use six-sided dice. (Assuming it uses dice at all.)

 

[R_J_K75]

If D&D were invented today, we probably wouldn’t be in a post Warcraft world, because Warcraft was heavily influenced by D&D.

As was so much more too. The fantasy movies of the early-mid 80s, Masters of the Universe, and Ultima and the Legend of Zelda just off the top of my head. Without D&D I don't think we would have any of those things. Obviously Tolkien and Robert E Howard were around long before D&D and we may have gotten a movie here and there but I believe D&D paved the way for the audience for the fantasy genre at that time.

 

[R_J_K75]

Miniatures wargames are an interesting question. There was clearly a market for fantasy wargames, since that's where D&D's ancestor Chainmail came in with its fantasy supplement. But it wasn't Chainmail that took off like a rocket, it was D&D. Also, wargames were pretty niche, and D&D almost surely grew interest in hobby stores that helped the wargaming industry. OTOH, I think D&D also competed with wargames for attention. So it's hard to say what happens there. I assume, however, that we don't see Warhammer (since Games Workshop was an importer of D&D in its early days). Maybe some LOTR-inspired wargames, though?

I'm not a wargamer nor do I play warhammer so my knowledge on it is limited. The few times in the early 2000s when I played Chainmail is my only real exposure to it. I've always been pretty much only been interested in TTRPGs. My father was always into building model airplanes, its a pretty niche hobby at least nowadays as well I'd guess traditional wargaming and trainsets. I have a feeling that people such as myself who built a few models or maybe dabbled in wargaming as a kid, without D&D to bridge the gap they'd have lost interest, moved on and Warhammer doesn't exist.

 

[ccs]

I assume, however, that we don't see Warhammer (since Games Workshop was an importer of D&D in its early days.

You do know that GW started out in response to people wanting minis for their D&D games, right? Much like Ral Partha, Grenadier, etc.

 

[JEB]

You do know that GW started out in response to people wanting minis for their D&D games, right? Much like Ral Partha, Grenadier, etc.

Interesting! Wikipedia says the minis actually came a little later (after importing Holmes Basic, and before that manufacturing boards for other companies' games). But yeah, that pretty much cinches GW not being a thing without D&D.