D&D General If D&D were created today, what would it look like?
i read it up, that is amazing
Paul Farquhar
Legend
Also see: Deep Purple: Stormbringer.
In the UK in the 70s there was a kind of "scene" connecting rock music, 2000AD, dark fantasy, science fiction, black humour and antiestablishmentism that was initially completely unconnected to Gygax's fantasy wargaming scene in the USA.
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i dunno if you happen to know the band Birth Control, it really got me when i found out that Hugo Ego Balder best known for his trashy half strip show on RTL television back in the 90s was at some time a member of this band.
Check out this band btw, if you like deep purple you will like them.
Paul Farquhar
Legend
Actually, I never liked Rock myself. Maybe a bit of Glam (i.e. Queen).
I wasn't a huge fan of the cynicism of 2000AD either, which gave birth to Grimdark. Probably why I latched onto the more upbeat stuff coming in from the US.
Sepulchrave II
Legend
Best gatefold ever.
Pondered the "new" (OP) version of the premise, where RPGs themselves don't exist until now. I think there's a way to imagine it, actually, that allows for the seeds mentioned above to still be an influence, but account for the fact that they improbably wouldn't have borne fruit until 2021. You have to think about what the halfway point would be between those seed ideas and the RPG.
The catch, of course, is we're now looking to shape history to the outcome, rather than simply making a change (no D&D in 1974) and seeing where it would take us. But it can work.
So if CYOA or Advent or adventure games are the seed, you need to imagine how they'd become more sophisticated with time. I assume it'd become a matter of the games offering more and more choices, giving the players more flexibility to influence the outcome of events, but never quite making that leap to defining the setting or characters in objective game terms. In that path, I can see very complex storytelling games emerging, particularly in the computer arena, and becoming popular multiplayer options once the internet arrives. The players' inputs would be very flexible, with increasingly complex, simulationist software being expected to do the work of interpreting them into results. Then, once tabletop gaming starts getting bigger in the 21st century, there's a translation of that idea into a streamlined boardgame form, which would be our first proto-RPG.
I would expect RPGs in this path to be very freeform, only loosely defining your character, and probably focused more on player-invented backstory and what possessions or gifts a player has been granted during the course of the story.
The game system, meanwhile, would mainly be there to provide randomness and tell the players the results of their actions, without really shaping the way the players themselves behave. There might be meticulous lists of possible outcomes to player actions. The GM would probably be much more of a referee or facilitator than a storyteller themselves. Conflicts would be resolved very simply, perhaps taking inspiration from rock-paper-scissors as seen in some LARPs.
Campaigns might not be as much a thing, either, more the idea that you're all there to tell one story from beginning to end. Though "sequels" and such could certainly follow.
If miniatures wargaming is the seed, on the other hand, I would expect something on the opposite end of the spectrum, very very simulationist, since multiplayer computer wargames, with specific "general" or "warlord" characters, would be the likely midpoint. Honestly, it might not be that different from the D&D we got, if somewhat slicker in production, and with, again, less GM authority and more dependence on the rules to determine outcomes.
The catch, of course, is we're now looking to shape history to the outcome, rather than simply making a change (no D&D in 1974) and seeing where it would take us. But it can work.
So if CYOA or Advent or adventure games are the seed, you need to imagine how they'd become more sophisticated with time. I assume it'd become a matter of the games offering more and more choices, giving the players more flexibility to influence the outcome of events, but never quite making that leap to defining the setting or characters in objective game terms. In that path, I can see very complex storytelling games emerging, particularly in the computer arena, and becoming popular multiplayer options once the internet arrives. The players' inputs would be very flexible, with increasingly complex, simulationist software being expected to do the work of interpreting them into results. Then, once tabletop gaming starts getting bigger in the 21st century, there's a translation of that idea into a streamlined boardgame form, which would be our first proto-RPG.
I would expect RPGs in this path to be very freeform, only loosely defining your character, and probably focused more on player-invented backstory and what possessions or gifts a player has been granted during the course of the story.
The game system, meanwhile, would mainly be there to provide randomness and tell the players the results of their actions, without really shaping the way the players themselves behave. There might be meticulous lists of possible outcomes to player actions. The GM would probably be much more of a referee or facilitator than a storyteller themselves. Conflicts would be resolved very simply, perhaps taking inspiration from rock-paper-scissors as seen in some LARPs.
Campaigns might not be as much a thing, either, more the idea that you're all there to tell one story from beginning to end. Though "sequels" and such could certainly follow.
If miniatures wargaming is the seed, on the other hand, I would expect something on the opposite end of the spectrum, very very simulationist, since multiplayer computer wargames, with specific "general" or "warlord" characters, would be the likely midpoint. Honestly, it might not be that different from the D&D we got, if somewhat slicker in production, and with, again, less GM authority and more dependence on the rules to determine outcomes.
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Ruin Explorer
Legend
I dunno how "pro" pro was in the ol' prog-rock scene, but yeah that's all true and it's even in his Wikipedia article, I went to check to ensure I wasn't passing on bad info.
I mean myself I didn't know until I was like 16 and trying to tell a girl who liked fantasy novels how great Moorcock's stuff was, and she's like "Ugh that guy, he was on stage with Hawkwind when I watched them, he's lame!". I dunno what's more surprising in retrospect, that she thought Moorcock was lame, or that 16-year-old girls were still going to events where Hawkwind were playing in 1994.
Anyway here's the bit on Wikipedia - there's quite a lot!
Michael Moorcock - Wikipedia
So What are we talking 3 timelines?
Universe 1. Real World. D&D created in 1974.
Universe 2. D&D published in Feb 2021. No Tabletop Pen and Paper RPGs are created until today.
Universe 3. D&D published in Feb 2021. RPGs are created in the past between 1974 and 2020. D&D is the first medieval fantasy RPG.
Universe 1. Real World. D&D created in 1974.
Universe 2. D&D published in Feb 2021. No Tabletop Pen and Paper RPGs are created until today.
Universe 3. D&D published in Feb 2021. RPGs are created in the past between 1974 and 2020. D&D is the first medieval fantasy RPG.
