D&D 5E (2014) Is D&D a Story or a Game? Discuss.

[jgsugden]

D&D is a role playing game. It is a game in which we play roles in a story. It is clearly both.

 

[Irda Ranger]

In your opinion.

No, that one's a fact.

If you want to have productive and meaningful conversations with people online, you need the develop the skill to parse the difference between statements of fact and statements of subjective opinion. "In the SRG, the Proficiency Bonus at level 5 is +3." is a fact that can be checked against the SRG. It's either +3 or some other value. Easy.

But asking what cultural artifacts are "about" is always a subjective opinion. The author's intent may be interesting, but it's not definitive. If Shakespeare had written "This is a comedy" on the cover page of Hamlet that wouldn't make it so in the eyes of most people. If I say "Shakespeare is wrong; it's a tragedy", that's obviously my personal opinion. I don't need to add "in my opinion". And you, the reader, shouldn't need to have that spelled out for you.

The more interesting discussion in this thread is what the definition of "Story telling" is, since if you reduce "Story telling" to merely "Describing what the NPCs do", then sure, D&D can be said to be about storytelling. But I hold that Storytelling is something more than that.

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

This is a D&D forum discussion. 99.99% of everything posted here is a personal opinion. Writing "in my opinion" in everything isn't necessary. You should already know that.

I'd buy you a drink of your choice if I could.

 

[iserith]

No, that one's a fact.

It also appears to be a fact that you didn't see the response you quoted as the joke that it is.

 

[robus]

It also appears to be a fact that you didn't see the response you quoted as the joke that it is.

This is one of the reasons I liberally use emoticons. On the interwebs people are much more likely to interpret things negatively than humorously.

 

[Caliban]

It's whichever one you want it to be. Some people just want to build murder machines and tear through dungeons.

Others want a back story, a story arc, and character development, with incidental monster encounters along the way.

And everything in between.

 

[Imaculata]

No, that one's a fact.

If you want to have productive and meaningful conversations with people online, you need the develop the skill to parse the difference between statements of fact and statements of subjective opinion.

-And replies that are jokes.

 

[mrpopstar]

It's a game about storytelling in worlds of swords and sorcery that offers structure as a way of determining the consequences of action.

 

[pogre]

It's a pick your own story game.

 

[alienux]

"Fantasy Role-Playing Game"

It's right there on the box.

Role Play - story
Game - game