The D&D Experience (or, All Roads lead to Rome)

[Mercurius]

With yet another mega-thread devolving into an endless back-and-forth debate about whether 4E is real D&D, or if it is "D&D to me" or if it feels like D&D to me, etc etc...an intriguing question occurred to me: what if we're framing this entire discussion wrongly? Or rather, what if there was a better, more adequate way of framing it that could satisfy all (OK, most) parties concerned?

Before I get to that, let me explain why I'm starting a new thread on this topic. I think this is an issue that just begs to be exorcised, delt with, psychologically and socially metabolized by the D&D community, or at least this community. As Jung said, the way out is through - sometimes you just need to deal with or else it just keeps coming back in a new form (the hydra, ya know?). So I'm hoping that this thread can, if not Heal the community, at least Cure Light Wounds and get us going in the right direction.

So I have to admit that my "intriguing question" actually came after the answer, which was that I do think there are better ways to frame this issue, namely this: What if we saw D&D not as a game or an edition of a game, or a group of acceptable editions, but as an experience. Yes, D&D is a game, it is a brand name and concept, but it is in some sense most importantly an experience that we all like to have.

In the context of my thread title, D&D is Rome. What are the roads, you say? The infinite ways to play D&D, and that includes not only the canonical editions but the countless house rules and fantasy heartbreakers, from slight tweakings to major revisionings.

The beauty of this framework--that D&D is Rome and all editions and variations are different roads "to" Rome, or "ways to get there"--is that it takes away any edition from being D&D; editions are ways to "get to" D&D, to play and invoke the D&D experience. So no edition is "true D&D", yet all editions - and all variations - are valid and legit ways to invoke that experience, although there is no one size fits all. We all have our own, unique configuration. Different variations will speak to each of us, well, differently. We don't need to say "4E isn't D&D to me" because it isn't D&D to anyone, but it is a way to play D&D that some find adequate to invoking the D&D experience (and some don't).

I may be wrong, but I think this works for everyone. It doesn't negate anyone's experience, but it also doesn't exclude anyone from the umbrella, the "circle of trust" that is the D&D family. We are all playing D&D, all looking for that D&D experience, but we simply choose different roads to get there.

We all share the one thing in common: We love the D&D experience. But we all "get there" by different means. One of the wonderful things about this hobby is that even if one doesn't actively play in a campaign, one can still have that D&D experience by picking up a book, making a character, dreaming up campaign ideas and worlds...

It is all the D&D Experience, and I love the fact that there are literally countless ways to get there.

 

[Abraxas]

What exactly does this solve?

Why not, instead, just let it slide when someone says edition X isn't/doesn't feel/does feel like D&D.

 

[Dice4Hire]

Well, by saying Rome is D&D you exclude all other RPGS.

Just say Rome is Goodrightfun and you will be more correct.

 

[Keefe the Thief]

The problem with your concept (and i would love if it worked) is that people who say x isn't D&D want to say that x isn't D&D. There is a definitive need to express this that cannot be satisfied with substitutes. But i i really would like this to catch on, because it also could be used to kill the "Real Realms / Shattered Realms" split with fire.
Won't happen, though.

 

[Lanefan]

There's an inevitable problem-of-opinion that's going to arise when it comes to determining what defines the border of the D+D experience.

Some will say it's D+D edition x, period. Others will want to include every role-playing game ever written and probably include LARPs as well. Most will be somewhere in between, but that's still spread out over an awful lot of territory with room for an awful lot of arguments.

Defining Rome had the same problem. Some said Rome was the city. Others said it was the whole Empire. Others saw Rome as the entire world, with non-Romans just Romans who didn't realize it yet. Still others saw one of the above Romes as an idealized concept which the reality never quite lived up to.

Lan-"in some cases it really is easier to just go by what's on the front cover"-efan

 

[Beginning of the End]

¡ My favorite "road to D&D" is World of Warcraft.

 

[thejc]

but according to the dead ale wives club if it doesn't suck our kids into the occult then it's not d&d

 

[BryonD]

You could just as easily say that chess, checkers, go, and backgammon are all just board games.

There is nothing wrong with enjoying any one, or any combination of them. But to call them all as just the same is really missing out on the variety.

The problem does not come in when some says that chess is not as fun as go to them. The problem comes in when the chess fan gets emotionally involved in the idea that someone else prefers a different game.

 

[Umbran]

From the thread title, I thought you were talking about the convention.

Your idea would work except for one thing: we are not all seeking the same singular experience in play. Thus, some would say that certain games are not roads to the experience of D&D, and we'd be still be in the same boat.

Human beings are hard wired to divide the world into Them and Us. You won't "get past" this tendency until mankind ascends, Vorlon-like, to the next stage of development and passes beyond the Rim.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Unfortunately, all you're doing is using a big analogy which doesn't fundamentally alter the nature of the problem.

If D&D is Rome, then in some meaningful ways, it is also NOT Carthage, Athens, Thebes...those differences should be spelled out. And for some of us, 4Ed has lost its "Roman" identity.

Besides, "D&D Experience" means different things to different people. For some, "D&D Experience" is nothing more than any kind of FRPG gaming. For others, "D&D Experience" is a set of things unique to D&D that distinguish it from all other FRPGs. And quite simply, you're not going to get 100% agreement on what that set is.