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<blockquote data-quote="Mercurius" data-source="post: 5321034" data-attributes="member: 59082"><p>As if you really thought you could get away with this without leading to some discussion! <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite8" alt=":D" title="Big grin :D" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":D" /> But we can do so in a civil manner.</p><p></p><p>The part I highlighted in bold-face begs the question: <strong>What is Dungeons & Dragons? </strong>We can probably all agree that it is many things and that we cannot pinpoint a narrow set of factors that clearly define it (and that we would all come up with factors we feel are primary).</p><p></p><p>But in a general sense, is D&D primarily the rules themselves or is it the themes "stylistic" elements that exist across editions? Is it a codified institution or is it a living, growing organism?</p><p></p><p>See, I would say it is the latter in both cases - that D&D is more primarily the themes it embodies than the specific rules that it uses; it is more primarily a living organism than a codified institution. It seems that, based upon your perspective in this post, that you feel the opposite. If so, why? If not, please explain.</p><p></p><p>(This does not necessarily mean that "anything goes" and whatever WotC decides is D&D is going to be a good thing. But it does mean that it is a changing, evolving thing, and that the specific rules--while important--are <em>generally</em> less important than the themes that they embody. However, I would argue that there are certain unkillable rules that simply must--or should--exist in any form of D&D and still retain its "D&Dness", such as Ability Scores, HP, and AC, and of course the d20 as the base die type. But beyond that there is a lot of flexibility).</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Mercurius, post: 5321034, member: 59082"] As if you really thought you could get away with this without leading to some discussion! :D But we can do so in a civil manner. The part I highlighted in bold-face begs the question: [B]What is Dungeons & Dragons? [/B]We can probably all agree that it is many things and that we cannot pinpoint a narrow set of factors that clearly define it (and that we would all come up with factors we feel are primary). But in a general sense, is D&D primarily the rules themselves or is it the themes "stylistic" elements that exist across editions? Is it a codified institution or is it a living, growing organism? See, I would say it is the latter in both cases - that D&D is more primarily the themes it embodies than the specific rules that it uses; it is more primarily a living organism than a codified institution. It seems that, based upon your perspective in this post, that you feel the opposite. If so, why? If not, please explain. (This does not necessarily mean that "anything goes" and whatever WotC decides is D&D is going to be a good thing. But it does mean that it is a changing, evolving thing, and that the specific rules--while important--are [I]generally[/I] less important than the themes that they embody. However, I would argue that there are certain unkillable rules that simply must--or should--exist in any form of D&D and still retain its "D&Dness", such as Ability Scores, HP, and AC, and of course the d20 as the base die type. But beyond that there is a lot of flexibility). [/QUOTE]
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