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<blockquote data-quote="wingsandsword" data-source="post: 4816411" data-attributes="member: 14159"><p>Okay, here you go.</p><p></p><p>It's what makes D&D really D&D. It is what makes a game "Dungeons and Dragons" instead of Palladium Fantasy, GURPS Fantasy, Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, or any one of dozens of other medieval fantasy RPGs. The mechanics of D&D change over time, but there has been this body of lore and meta-setting information that started in OD&D but really got going in AD&D 1e, and was developed vastly in 2e, and still expanded on in 3e. </p><p></p><p>There have been some incarnations of D&D that diverged from it, like Basic D&D with it's funky cosmologies, or some side-settings that diverged like the "Green book" historic reference series in 2e or Eberron in 3e, but there was always this constant core of lore and meta-setting information (baseline data settings are presumed to include or build upon unless explicitly stated otherwise), you could deviate from it for one setting or one sourcebook, but it was always there as the default constant. While the mechanics of D&D changed quite a bit, the "old fluff" was pretty constant. </p><p></p><p>4e tells us that we really weren't having fun with Lawful Good Gold Dragons (apparently it's more fun for them to be True Neutral, er "unaligned" so they can be killed with an easy conscience), the very existence of the alignments Lawful Neutral, Lawful Evil, Chaotic Good, and Chaotic Neutral (guess they were too confusing for some people), magic as we know it, the Forgotten Realms as we knew them, elves as we knew them, angels as we knew them, and that this is now what is D&D.</p><p></p><p>The game might be fun, it might be well designed, but it just doesn't feel like D&D anymore. That essential spark of continuity and identity has been destroyed. If there is absolutely no continuity in not only the game mechanics from edition to edition, but in the underlying settings then D&D is just a brand that the current owner plasters on a fantasy RPG of choice, and nothing more.</p><p></p><p>If it didn't have the D&D name on it, it would be unrecognizable alongside its predecessors, about the same as a car company taking a famous sportscar brand, making some new sturdy family sedan with some pseudo-sportscar styling and putting the old nameplate on it. Yeah, sure it says it's the 2009 Tigershark, and it's a very fine vehicle but if it wasn't for the nameplate on it you'd never guess what the name was but might think it was inspired by or copying from the original.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="wingsandsword, post: 4816411, member: 14159"] Okay, here you go. It's what makes D&D really D&D. It is what makes a game "Dungeons and Dragons" instead of Palladium Fantasy, GURPS Fantasy, Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, or any one of dozens of other medieval fantasy RPGs. The mechanics of D&D change over time, but there has been this body of lore and meta-setting information that started in OD&D but really got going in AD&D 1e, and was developed vastly in 2e, and still expanded on in 3e. There have been some incarnations of D&D that diverged from it, like Basic D&D with it's funky cosmologies, or some side-settings that diverged like the "Green book" historic reference series in 2e or Eberron in 3e, but there was always this constant core of lore and meta-setting information (baseline data settings are presumed to include or build upon unless explicitly stated otherwise), you could deviate from it for one setting or one sourcebook, but it was always there as the default constant. While the mechanics of D&D changed quite a bit, the "old fluff" was pretty constant. 4e tells us that we really weren't having fun with Lawful Good Gold Dragons (apparently it's more fun for them to be True Neutral, er "unaligned" so they can be killed with an easy conscience), the very existence of the alignments Lawful Neutral, Lawful Evil, Chaotic Good, and Chaotic Neutral (guess they were too confusing for some people), magic as we know it, the Forgotten Realms as we knew them, elves as we knew them, angels as we knew them, and that this is now what is D&D. The game might be fun, it might be well designed, but it just doesn't feel like D&D anymore. That essential spark of continuity and identity has been destroyed. If there is absolutely no continuity in not only the game mechanics from edition to edition, but in the underlying settings then D&D is just a brand that the current owner plasters on a fantasy RPG of choice, and nothing more. If it didn't have the D&D name on it, it would be unrecognizable alongside its predecessors, about the same as a car company taking a famous sportscar brand, making some new sturdy family sedan with some pseudo-sportscar styling and putting the old nameplate on it. Yeah, sure it says it's the 2009 Tigershark, and it's a very fine vehicle but if it wasn't for the nameplate on it you'd never guess what the name was but might think it was inspired by or copying from the original. [/QUOTE]
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