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<blockquote data-quote="Ondath" data-source="post: 8560724" data-attributes="member: 7031770">What &quot;counts&quot; as D&amp;D is a fairly vague question and I think the answer also has to be vague - but it doesn't mean there is no answer.While a lot of the book's page space is dedicated to combat rules, you can have a session without combat and it'd still easily count as D&amp;D. Did you use skill checks? Refer to your character's unique abilities as determined by their class or heritage? Was the world built with D&amp;D assumptions (planar realms, magic understood in discrete slots, etc.)? Then this was clearly a D&amp;D game.There is a larger discussion to be had, though. Would it still count as D&amp;D if you heavily homebrewed the game so there are only 3 abilities, skills use a percentile dice system and combat is resolved through dice pools? I think the line blurs a bit. Some games can still be clearly D&amp;D despite being heavily homebrewed, while others would clearly start working with different system assumptions, thus no longer be D&amp;D.The more important question I think is whether everyone at the table played the game they wanted to play - if they did, then I think it matters little if what you played was D&amp;D or Pathfinder or Exploding Kittens. We use the labels only to help us play better games, so the rest isn't important.That said, it does irk me when people use D&amp;D as a catch-all term for TTRPGs of any kind - there was a video by this D&amp;D channel called Bob World Builder (super chill dude, usually great content) where he was talking about how D&amp;D could be anything, and gave an example of how he played a &quot;D&amp;D&quot; game ran by a kid in summer camp where the story was that the main character in a modern world would sneak into some facility, and he proudly tells how they made up the character abilities and resolution mechanics on the spot and how it was a fun game of D&amp;D. That just... feels wrong to me. Sure, it sounds like a good TTRPG session (and I'm sure he and the kid had fun!), but if you're playing with completely different action resolution mechanics and a completely different setting, why call it D&amp;D at that point?</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Ondath, post: 8560724, member: 7031770"] What "counts" as D&D is a fairly vague question and I think the answer also has to be vague - but it doesn't mean there is no answer. While a lot of the book's page space is dedicated to combat rules, you can have a session without combat and it'd still easily count as D&D. Did you use skill checks? Refer to your character's unique abilities as determined by their class or heritage? Was the world built with D&D assumptions (planar realms, magic understood in discrete slots, etc.)? Then this was clearly a D&D game. There is a larger discussion to be had, though. Would it still count as D&D if you heavily homebrewed the game so there are only 3 abilities, skills use a percentile dice system and combat is resolved through dice pools? I think the line blurs a bit. Some games can still be clearly D&D despite being heavily homebrewed, while others would clearly start working with different system assumptions, thus no longer be D&D. The more important question I think is whether everyone at the table played the game they wanted to play - if they did, then I think it matters little if what you played was D&D or Pathfinder or Exploding Kittens. We use the labels only to help us play better games, so the rest isn't important. That said, it does irk me when people use D&D as a catch-all term for TTRPGs of any kind - there was a video by this D&D channel called Bob World Builder (super chill dude, usually great content) where he was talking about how D&D could be anything, and gave an example of how he played a "D&D" game ran by a kid in summer camp where the story was that the main character in a modern world would sneak into some facility, and he proudly tells how they made up the character abilities and resolution mechanics on the spot and how it was a fun game of D&D. That just... feels wrong to me. Sure, it sounds like a good TTRPG session (and I'm sure he and the kid had fun!), but if you're playing with completely different action resolution mechanics and a completely different setting, why call it D&D at that point? [/QUOTE]

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