Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Barastrondo" data-source="post: 5296558" data-attributes="member: 3820">Yet even if the game is dominated by those elements thematically you still can't say for sure what actual gameplay is like until you see the game in play. Again, it's entirely possible that the game consists of a number of encounters, with combat and traps and puzzles, in a very straightforward classic sense — but the motivation is romance, and the PCs are fighting their way through a dungeon that is, say, a fey labyrinth. Romance is content, but it's also at heart a theme, not a plot or a ruleset.The trouble I have with saying that romance even as a main plot changes the game is that, fairly applied, this also disqualifies several other high points that D&D has hit. Dark Sun is post-apocalyptic survival-themed D&D. Ravenloft is Gothic Horror-themed D&D. Planescape is metaphysical-themed D&D. Eberron is pulp action-themed D&D. I can't support any definition of D&D that disqualifies all of those, and I just don't see how romance is more of a gamebreaker than post-apocalyptic survival or pulp action. It's just such a ubiquitous concept to human existence.</blockquote>