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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mercurius" data-source="post: 5454686" data-attributes="member: 59082">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 <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /><img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /><img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /><img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /> 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.</blockquote>

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