Is D&D 3.5 a board game?

[Crothian]

I use minios only for coplicated battles. For my gtroup its a role playing game first.

 

[LordAO]

The only time we really use a grid is during battle. Everything that happens outside of combat (save for some of the more tedious dungeon crawls) is purely in the imagination (with the occasional map and visual aid, of course). So, no, at least for the group I play with, the game is not a "board game."

A "board game" is something like Monopoly. It is a game where all of the rules and the entirety of the game revolves around the board. And, most importantly, in a "board game" there is no story, no roleplaying, no character interaction or developement, and the game ends after reaching a certain resolution. A "board game" is something you play for a couple hours on family outings. D&D has alot more complexity and a much deeper meaning than that. You won't see players worry about their figure's motives, aspirations, personality, and goals in a "board game." While the figures and the board in D&D represent characters and terrain, this is for strategic purposes only. The game itself goes far beyond that.

I have found the board to be extremely helpful and a wonderful complement to our game. We used to not use one, and wow I can vouch for the huge difference it has made. Combat runs much more smoothly. There is hardly ever any confusion about positioning or movement anymore. But it is not the entirety of our game. Far from it. It is only a tool, a complement to our roleplaying experience. It is no more the whole of our game than our character sheets or dice are.

D&D still is, and always will be, a roleplaying game. Some people have the opinion that the new rules emphasise the board too heavily, and I respect the difference in opinion. For the first year or so of playing 3rd edition we didn't use one. And even though our game has benefited from using a board since, we were certainly able to play without one before. Try doing that in Monopoly.

 

[Wombat]

As one who does not use a board for the game (or minis or counters or whatever), I find that the rules are drifting in the miniatures battles direction than did earlier editions (the rules call more explicitly for minis/counters now and the examples fit to that), but it is easy enough to ignore all that if you just work at it.

A cooperative group that is more interested in character interaction and storytelling than combat can fudge the rules relatively easily; hey, no one follows 100% of the rules anyway!

 

[Numion]

Runs fine without minis for me... in the event of a particularly complicated battlefield, we'll use hastily made scribbles on scrap paper to track positions, that's about it. Are we the exception?

--Impeesa--

We do it like that too.

 

[clark411]

Before I knew what DND was or what roleplaying was, I was roleplaying with my Legos and GI Joes. I believe that roleplaying is a very personal thing that can be attached to many types of games, and that DND simply recognizes this and lends itself towards the roleplaying gamer. The exact rules for roleplay are so diverse that they can't say "Hey this is exactly how elves and dwarves behave... GO!" because that defies the perspective inherent in what roleplaying itself is. What DND can define and still be accepted by the mainstream gamer are numbers. +2 con, 5 ft steps and hit points. So, yeah, at its base level DND can be seen as a boardgame on face value. Getting beyond that however, it's considerably more. One third of the core rule book set is aimed at the maestro in charge of getting the game beyond that base level, in fact.

 

[Creeping Death]

minis

I refuse to play in a game that does not use minis for combat. I had a few DMs back in the 2e days that would change things. For example the DM would have one of his BBEGs do something to a pc standing next to mine, like swipe an item or punch him, then my turn would come and I would try to cast burning hands, the DM would say, Oh, he's like over here 15 feet away. This happened enough, to where I just stopped going.

After having a few DMs do this, I decided that if I was going to enjoy this hobby it would have to be with minis. Then 3e came out and I've never looked back. So, to me, minis prevent DMs from protecting their favorite pc or npcs. It also works the other way, it prevenst players from saying no, I wasn't there, I was over here... oops, now I'm over here, oh, now I'm here.

 

[Dogbrain]

The first thing I do whenever running a roleplaying game is toss nearly all the "movement" rules. I have always used either free-flow or ungridded miniatures. Figure facing and scale distance determin all distance/direction questions when I use miniatures. When I go free-flow, I use that bizarre trait called "common sense".

 

[d4]

Or is it a role-playing game? Are role-playing games and board games the same thing? Are role-playing games a sub-set of board games or are board games a sub-set of role-playing games?

Or are they two separate groups with an intersection comprised of hybrids? If so, is 3.5 a hybrid?

IMO, they're all games. i don't really think it's all that important to determine if a game is a board game or a roleplaying game -- there are board games with roleplaying aspects, and roleplaying games with "board" aspects. trying to decide where the dividing line is between the two extremes, and whether any particular game is on one side or the other, is IMO pointless. play what you enjoy, and don't worry about what to call it.

 

[Cbas10]

Or is it a role-playing game? Are role-playing games and board games the same thing? Are role-playing games a sub-set of board games or are board games a sub-set of role-playing games?

Or are they two separate groups with an intersection comprised of hybrids? If so, is 3.5 a hybrid?

I used to think that the answers to these questions were pretty clear-cut: board games and role-playing games were not the same thing, and D&D 3.5 is a role-playing game. But I bought a game a couple of weeks ago that has made me rethink all this. Am I wrong to doubt that 3.5 is a role-playing game?

I enjoy the versatility of the game; it can be played with or without minis, as well as any stage in between. I am a part of three D&D games right now (various schedules complicate things; you know how it goes). I personally run games that use grids and mats a lot when it comes to combat and illustrating strange rooms/areas/buildings/etc. A friend of mine runs a Scarred Lands game once or twice a month, and we never use minis of any sort. Finally, the most regular game we have is another guy's Forgotten Realms game; there, we only use the grids about a quarter of the time (depending mostly on the DM's mood). None of the games are better or worse because of the level of use of minis, but they are certainly different styles of running combat.

In our gaming groups, the single factor that will make or break a game is the story/role-playing content. We don't get completely immersed into character to the point where we need classes on how to pronounce various accents, but we do try to stick to the practice of placing ourselves into the mindset of our characters while we are at the table. Therefore, if too much time is spent tossing dice and adding hit points, it quickly becomes more of a chore than a fun game. At least, with Monopoly, we can toss dice and move counters around the table, fighting for bragging rights of who had all the cash at the end of the night!

Without the role-playing, interactive storytelling, players' creative synergies, and even the occasional game-inspired piece of art, D&D would be nothing more than the D&D minis rules with a Crack-binge-inspired set of rules aimed at manipulating as many numbers as possible. Dungeons and Dragons CAN be played as a mega-complex board game where the discovery of your +12 flaming burst, holy, bane vs. white dragons adamantine greataxe is far more important than the story that got you to the Greataxe, but I think there is fortunately still a majority that finds the value in the story and the chance to BE a character in that story.

 

[Aaron L]

Never used minis. The DM tracks combat on a sheet of graph paper. He calls attacks of oppurtunity, and we ask if we're going to provoke any before we move.