Is 4E still D&D to you?

[Brown Jenkin]

Its good but it isn't D&D. Once you kill all the cows it is no longer a cattle ranch.

 

[Vyvyan Basterd]

Other Fantasy RPGs have been fun and have had some of the same qualities as D&D as others have already pointed out. The one thing they didn't have was the moniker of being the top* fantasy RPG on the market. Do I think 4E will be the top fantasy RPG on the market? Yes. Therefore I think 4E is still D&D.


*By "top" I mean most played and most supported.

 

[Nightchilde-2]

It's probably more D&D to me.

QFT.

Wizards that can actually cast spells? Fighters that can actually shine in combat? Fantasy races? Clerics that actually *pray* to their gods rather than cast "spells?" Helltotheyeah!

Old school, new school, it's still D&D to me.

(Sorry, Billy Joel...)

 

[wingsandsword]

It's D&D in name only to me.

It's D&D in the sense that legally it bears the D&D trademark and WotC has said it's a new edition of D&D.

It just doesn't seem like D&D to me though.

I think back to my favorite campaigns I've run, and my favorite PC's, and I see how they won't work in 4e because of the changes to magic, multiclassing and monsters, while they worked with the core rules of every earlier edition.

When I can make the same character faithfully recreated to its original concept in AD&D 1e, AD&D 2e, 3e and 3.5e, but not 4e, when I can think back to some of my favorite D&D fights which were resolved with creative use of an illusion or some other non-combat spell instead of blasting or hacking the enemy (thank you rituals, for taking the fun and creativity out of being a spellcaster), it just isn't really D&D anymore.

 

[WayneLigon]

Yes, it's still D&D. It still has the classic classes, races and monsters, is still an action-oriented midieval adventure game, still uses funny dice, and even still comes in 3 rulesbooks.

My definition of 'D&D' is pretty wide. I'd refer to d20 Modern (if it were set in a quasi-historical setting), Conan, Midnight, Blue Rose and other very closely related games as 'D&D'.

 

[delericho]

QFT.

Wizards that can actually cast spells? Fighters that can actually shine in combat? Fantasy races?

Gosh, now I'm really confused. Last time we played 3.5e, the Wizard cast about a dozen spells, and the Fighters shone in combat. What did we do wrong? And aren't Elves and Dwarves fantasy races? 'Cos I'm pretty sure they were in the game.

Clerics that actually *pray* to their gods rather than cast "spells?"

I'm with you on that one - except that what they actually do is use powers, which we call 'prayers'. In 3e, you could just as easily call the 'spells' 'prayers', and get exactly the same effect.

 

[WayneLigon]

Do many of the above qualities apply to other tabletop RPGS? Check. Guess that makes them D&D as well.

No check. Most of the qualities above do not apply to any modern RPG except D&D; almost all of them have moved away from classes, hit points or levels. (Not that there's been much modern RPG development while everyone chased d20 dollars the last eight years or so). For the ones that were left, or for older games that cleaved to all of the above -- yes, they might as well have been D&D as well. Functionally - both in game play and style - there was very little difference in most, which I think is a big part of why they're not around anymore.

 

[Storminator]

How about if someone offered to DM you in a one-off, would you give it a shot, just to see what has stayed the same, and what has changed?

Sometimes experiences like that can deepen your understanding of something, like learning another language gives you greater knowledge and insight into your first language or any other languages you know.

I played a lot of 1e, and little of the older editions. After 3e, I would never go back. There's too many fiddly things that just give me a headache to think about. I played some Hackmaster as a lark, and it was extremely annoying (why is there always one guy at the table that can't figure out Thac0? The old to-hit chart was faster...)

That said, now that 4e is here, I never want to play 3e again. I still have a Savage Tides adventure to finish up, but I really don't want to run it any more.

In my mind every version of D&D was great when I played it, and every version is better than the previous ones.

PS

 

[Nightchilde-2]

Edit: My post came across far snarkier/sniperier than I wanted it to so I decided to remove my comments. So..nevermind.

 

[Wormwood]

Yes, it is. And actually even more than 3.x ever was.

This and this and this again.