Is D&D a heroic game?

[DragonLancer]

I say yes, it is. D&D has IMO surpassed the old kill monsters and nick their treasure. Its a game of heroic adventuring (though thats not to say that a given group cannot run evil or anti-hero games) where the characters perform good deeds, save lives, save the world...etc.

 

[Gold Roger]

I protest. You didn't include my choice. Which is "Hell yeah!"

 

[shilsen]

Certainly it's heroic... in the classic Hellenic sense.

What he said. It's heroic in the sense of focusing on characters who perform superhuman feats. Morality varies between groups, campaigns, players and individual PCs, but the element of moving well beyond average human capacity is a constant.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

I voted yes -- at it's core, D&D is designed to be a heroic game, and is at its best when played so. They fact that it can be played in other modes -- the skulking rogue campaign, the evil mastermind campaign, the amoral mercenary campaign -- doesn't change the basic design and intent of the game, which is to allow players to roleplay heroes on adventures (which tend to devolve into killing things and taking their stuff in order to accomplish heroic goals).

 

[The_Gneech]

Certainly it's heroic... in the classic Hellenic sense.

Well said! Yes, in that context. A "hero" is somebody who performs extraordinary deeds and has adventures. Usually, particularly in the post-romantic world, they are also designed to be beacons of whatever the moral values of the day, but they don't have to be.

There is a good reason for them to be, tho -- most people find "good" heroes (even if they're flawed or only "a bit better than the people around them" in the case of characters like Snake Plisskin or Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser) more likeable, more memorable, and more compelling over time.

-The Gneech

 

[Aeson]

I voted no. I've played for over 10 years and have yet to play with a heroic group. It seems everyone complains about having played the good guy for so long they want to be the bad guy. I have never seen a good aligned group act like it. They always seem to find some excuse for their actions.

My current group are Mercs. They don't care who they kill as long as they get paid and can loot the body and everything around it.

 

[DMH]

No, it is superheroic. Heros are still human and PCs are nothing of the sort.

 

[BryonD]

When forced down to yes or no, the answer is most certainly yes.
The GAME itself is fundamentally heroic.
Of course, it is also extemely adaptable so that a given group can easily discard that default.
But I don't see that playing the game in a non-heroic manner makes the overall game stop being heroic by default.

 

[I'm A Banana]

Heros are still human and PCs are nothing of the sort.

Luke Skywalker was the son of a divinely concieved child.

Heracles was the son of Zeus.

Gandalf was basically a living angel.

Neo was The One.

Heroes have a long and storied history of being nothing short of superhuman.

In D&D, they can live out that heroism...and, in many cases, turn the dial up to 11.

 

[DMH]

I consider people like firemen and police to be heros- those people who put their lives on the line to save others.