Is D&D 3.5 a board game?

[BryonD]

What if a game can act as an rpg, can it still be a board game?

The reason I ask - indeed one of the reasons I started this thread - was that I don't see much difference between D&D 3.5 and the new Dungeons & Dragons Board Game except that the former is far more complex.

I don't actually know how the Board Game really works. But this does not surprise me. When the Chainmail spin-off came out a couple years ago, one of the major complaints was, "Why buy this when the D&D rules already cover this material?" Obviously, you could write up two opposing D&D parties and have a fight, pure wargame style, with no roleplaying.

But in the D&D board game, can the players say "Nope, we aren't going to chase the modrons today."? I am guessing you can't do that. Am I wrong?

BryonD has helped to answer this in part. I would welcome any other opinions. BTW I'm not trolling. This is a genuine attempt to classify games, or even to ask if such a thing is possible.

I don't think you can provide ultimate and complete definitions.

But you can bracket them. You could role-play Monopoly. But your actions are still tightly restricted by the rules. So, to me, Monopoly could never be a role-playing game.

For me personally, a role-playing game should include an objective system of conflict resolution combined with a reasonably open-ended freedom of action. Remove objective rules and it is not really a game. Remove freedom of action and it is not really role-playing.

Of course, this is all simplification. But it sums up my position within the context of this discussion.

 

[Rogue1stClass]

Nah...If D&D were a board game, more girls would play.

 

[maddman75]

THis is all much ado about nothing. Yes, the 3.5 books use squares and have diagrams showing how the AoO rules work. Why? Is D&D now a board game? Is WotC part of an Illuminati plot to destroy real roleplaying? Or are they just mercilessly forcing their minis on innocent gamers?

None of the above. In the 3.0 PHB, they actively avoided any references to minis or grids, except to say that one might be helpful. You had phrases like 'provokes an attack of opportunity when moving within or out of a threatened area' that are vauge at best. Does that include moving into a threatened area? I mean you'd have to move through it at least some to step up to your foe? I must have read that section a dozen times and still didn't get it.

Finally I found a site called Eric Noah's Unofficial 3rd edition news. Eric had put up some handy-dandy diagrams showing exactly what causes AoO and what doesn't. I thought at the time 'why didn't they just put that in the PHB?'

Appearantly they were afraid people would go around saying minis were required, and D&D had turned into a board game. How silly.

 

[HellHound]

I've actually run a LOT more sessions of 3.5 without a combat grid than I have run of 3.0. I'd hazard a guess that half our games include the use of the battlemat and minis for one or two fights, but never for ALL the fights.

I am most definitely a fool, I might add, thank you Mr Dracolich...* Since I don't cheat much.

Although, I should add that this is a trend being reversed now by my players who have started buying us the WotC Miniatures boxes and who like using them.

---

* welcome to the ignore file

 

[Tonguez]

A board game has a board, but you do not actually assume a roll in which you play a character. The most character you get is, "I want to play green. Green is always my color!" or, "I am the race car. I'm always the race car!" Your token (mini?) only represents your advancement on the board (other factors can be involved as far as winning or advancement, for instance number of countries you have control of, number of Title Deeds you have and amount of money you've amassed) but you generally don't pretend to "be" green or the race car. There's no roll to play in a board game.
.

Well as someone who use to participates in Live Action Chess (usually as a Pawn but I got to be the Knight once) I may dispute this assertion. We would do hordes of barbarian pawns vs the Civilised pawns and take on the appropriate character - even dying cinematically.

Even in Monopoly I enjoy taking the role of the Vile Ghetto Landlord oh and that car - thats me pulling up in my plush Limosine dressed like Da-Pimp-wif-all-da-hunnies.

(okay so maybe I need to get out more)

And what about the Game of Life, Barbie Dream Date or Rat Race (thing Kiyosaki' (sp) game) - all involve a degree of roleplaying...

 

[Kanegrundar]

D&D is whatever you decide it is. It can be played with minis or without. I've ran it both ways and have found that it works just as well each way. I personally use minis in most of my games, but that likely stems from my RPG roots of Hero Quest. If it's a board game, big deal? Does it make it less of a game? I'm still going to play it the same way regardless.

Kane

 

[ThirdWizard]

You can always knock anything down to the lowest common denominator, but it doesn't mean that it is merely those denominators, regardless of what you are referring to. It doesn't mean that it isn't, but it doesn't mean that it is either.

 

[diaglo]

i roleplay Monopoly. but it is still a board game. how else can i be so cutthroat to my friends and family? i become a real estate tycoon.

the object for board games is to reach a goal. whether it is to finish first, guess the identity of the murderer, have the most money, be the last one standing, conquer the world, etc...

basically to win.

whereas 3.11ed for WOrkgroups may play like this in the majority of campaigns i think is a fault of the gamers and designers. 3.11ed for Workgroups is not D&D. ergo...not a real roleplaying game. otherwise why would people still compare it to other types of games...like board games and/or vidiot games.

Original D&D(1974) is the only true game. All the other editions are just poor imitations of the real thing.

 

[Altalazar]

It is not a board game. Board games are like computer games - they are very limited and constrained in what they allow you to do and they have set pieces and locations.

An RPG is completely and totally open ended. You can't decide to build a fifth railroad in Monopoly, no matter how much cash you build up. There are no such limitations in an RPG.

As to the whole minis issue - they are just a convenient way to keep track of everyone's location. You could do it just as easily with coins or a chalk board or a white board or scraps of paper. You do HAVE to keep track of where everyone is, but then you have ALWAYS had to do that in ALL versions of the game. Minis are just the easiest and most convenient way to do so - which is why they have been used since 1972 for D&D.