Willie the Duck
Hero
Right. I can agree with customized characters, deeply personal or epic stories. But what I'm getting at is the dungeon crawling, one-shot type of adventures. It seems like this is a more streamlined, faster-paced way to handle those types of experiences.
two different concepts with similar aesthetics. Yes, we need D&D. We've had Descent for almost 20 years, and the D&D board games from WOTC and Wizkids. Why is this even a question?
We've had dungeon-crawling board games since at least Dungeon!, if not earlier. Also dungeon-crawling computer games like Colossal Cave, DND, Dungeon, and Zork. Most of them did the dungeon-crawling and combat parts of a D&D-esque game quicker and easier than tabletop pretty much from then on (other aspects of play-ease like getting them to load, not crash, and understand your commands... sometimes not so much). My point is -- pretty much from day one (or at least day two), tabletop gaming was something one did if and only if 1) one wanted something more from the experience (imagination, character, easy customizability, etc.), or 2) you actually enjoyed some part of the process that these games remove or automate. You like rolling the dice, or counting up weights, or mapping the dungeon, or whatever else.