Is D&D "Rubbish"?

[Cristian Andreu]

I think that D&D has become sort of a genre of its own, with its own tropes, assumptions, and expectations. And I'd argue there's no better game for running D&D than, well, D&D.

And I sure love me some D&D.

 

[Tony Vargas]

Which isn’t entirely true. A lot of people like RuneQuest for it’s mythical feel.

Well, I like Glorantha for it's mythic feel.

I'm not sure watching Rurick and Uras miss eachother in a bar fight is terribly mythic. ;P

I liked RQ because it was a great system for it's day. It was skill-based, classless, and fairly open about what you could play. Many races were at least theoretically playable, you needn't choose between being a magic-user who can't swing a sword or a fighter who will never be able to use magic - anyone could learn to use any weapon, anyone could learn battlemagic - anyone could wear any armor they wanted to (except iron, of course). Only at the 'rune' levels did you get into anything like a class, and even that was earned, and not necessarily mutually exclusive. The prevalence and attitude towards magic items was very different, as well.

A lot of people just feel it’s better for adapting fantasy fiction - like Game Of Thrones for example - without having to get bogged down in artificial arguments about what Class a character is, and so forth, or fixated on gaining XP and levels. And for that reason it has everything to do with whether D&D is as good a system for fantasy as others that are available.

Fantasy Fiction like the anyone-can-die-at-any-time Game of Thrones, yes. Other sorts, maybe not quite so much. RQ could be a little brutal and less than heroic in some ways, which was ironic, given the backdrop of Glorantha.

I have. It works really well.

D&D's style is mostly just treasure hunting, paranoia, and wildly overpowered magic (items & casters). The last is a little harder to do in early RQ, but RQIII could presumably have handled it.

I think that D&D has become sort of a genre of its own, with its own tropes, assumptions, and expectations.

I've heard that a lot, and, while I tend to agree, it doesn't really let D&D off the hook for failing to handle other genres. Especially since, as the first/best-known FRPG, people inevitably /try/ to use it for other genres.

 

[TrippyHippy]

I liked RQ because it was a great system for it's day. .

With the 6th Edition alive and well in full publication, it’s ‘day’ is the here and now. Having played both games, I can tell you that you can do D&D fine with RQ, but RQ can do things that D&D can’t do because it carries less assumptive conventions in it’s rules. It is more ‘simulationistic' to put it in nerd terms. It also has a very dramatic and tactical combat system along with 5 different magic systems.

Don’t get me wrong. I like D&D, and play it regularly now. But if I had to do something a little bit more in depth, or try to adapt a particular setting or historical period - RuneQuest is a lot more flexible.

 

[Tony Vargas]

With the 6th Edition alive and well in full publication, it’s ‘day' is the here and now.

Yeah, well, its maybe not so great for right now. In spite of how stodgy D&D may remain (technically, be, again), the broader hobby, such as it is, has made some progress here and there, and what was revolutionary in '78 is not so special anymore.

 

[TrippyHippy]

Yeah, well, its maybe not so great for right now. In spite of how stodgy D&D may remain (technically, be, again), the broader hobby, such as it is, has made some progress here and there, and what was revolutionary in '78 is not so special anymore.

I think that a number of gamers who are experiencing RuneQuest for the first time would say you are wrong about that. Moreover, I’m not sure your own experiences are that up to date with the new edition. It’s one rave reviews from a number of sources.

 

[Tony Vargas]

I think that a number of gamers who are experiencing RuneQuest for the first time would say you are wrong about that. Moreover, I’m not sure your own experiences are that up to date with the new edition. It’s one rave reviews from a number of sources.

I've seen the current version of BRP, and, from the last reviews I read, it doesn't seem like it's advanced light-years or anything. Of course, it's been through so much, with different publishers and whatnot, that it's hard to say which version I've been reading about.

I am looking forward to the 13th Age Glorantha project, though.

 

[TrippyHippy]

I've seen the current version of BRP, and, from the last reviews I read, it doesn't seem like it's advanced light-years or anything. Of course, it's been through so much, with different publishers and whatnot, that it's hard to say which version I've been reading about.

I am looking forward to the 13th Age Glorantha project, though.

The BRP book is merely a collation of the various systems and subsystems lifted from various BRP games from the past. It’s basically presented as a bunch of options. You’re reading the wrong book.

The RQ6 game is a ground-up redevelopment of the whole system, replete with modern innovations, from people who have been intimately involved with it’s game design and development for decades. It’s streamlined, focussed, dynamic and ‘modern’ in a way the BRP big gold book isn’t, and yet it’s still highly flexible (The RQ Star Wars supplement that was hastily dropped to avoid legal action is testament to how good it was - the systems for combat and Mysticism match Jedi-style fighting to a tee). I own lots of fantasy RPGs - old and new. RQ6 is the best one on my shelf.

Pete Nash is currently writing the Adventures in Glorantha supplement, in consultation with Moon Design, with a Kickstarter due at some point this year. While I have no worries at all with a 13th Age adaptation (or a HeroQuest) one, it’s the RQ supplement that many fans are holding out for.