The Hitcher
Explorer
[This post started as a response to an excellent post in another thread, which you can find here. It got very long and general and wandered wildly off-topic, so I figured I'd post it as a new thread instead.]
D&D is D&D. I know that it has changed over time, and that different people see and play it differently, but the designers of 5E have been aiming to find the game's essence, and I believe that they have largely succeeded. My evidence for this is that (so far) a lot of people seem to agree with me (although of course I could be proven wrong over time).
So, for the sake of argument, here are some elements that I feel are key to D&D's essence:
1) D&D is a lovable goof. It is silly in many, many ways, but this is a big part of what makes it fun.
2) D&D is a bit afraid to acknowledge its goofiness, and pretends to take itself a bit seriously. We pretend to play along.
3) D&D as a player experience is rather magical. There's a weird alchemy to it that keeps us coming back, despite its inherent silliness and the existence of "better designed" games.
4) Ironically, the fictional magic that takes place in the world of D&D isn't very magical. Just as movies set in the modern era often treat science as a kind of magic, D&D treats magic as a kind of science. There is very little that feels surprising or otherworldly about it. It's about as predictable as a high school chemistry experiment.
5) The above is just one element that contributes to the feeling that D&D is actually, weirdly, set in the modern day. Which means we give it at maximum as much latitude to be crazy and magical as we give an action movie (that is: (a) a fair bit, but only in fairly obvious ways; and (b) only a little bit, respectively).
6) The previous point is fine, because it means we can relate to the game much more than we could to a culturally remote and unsettlingly strange mythical setting. We can play "heroes" who are closer to the kids form South Park playing in the backyard than they are to Beowulf or Merlin. Which totally makes sense, given that we are essentially kids (of varying ages) playing in the back yard.
7) None of the above is to detract from point (3). Playing D&D IS magical - it's just that the magic comes from a group of humans sitting around, cracking jokes and telling a story together and fiddling around with a set of rules that stretches our brains in pleasant ways. It doesn't come from the supposed magical/mythical content of the game at all.
So that's D&D, from my perspective. D&D is the thing that fulfils all those wacky criteria. And because we want all those wacky criteria filled, we look for something that feels like D&D. We don't mind rules being fiddled with and streamlined here and there, but enough touchstones need to be in place for it to feel like what we know. It has to allow and encourage that goofy socialising. It has to stretch our brains in that slightly off-kilter and familiar way. It doesn't matter so much to us if it's "unbalanced" or doesn't make sense on some level or other. That familiar feel is key.
For many people (as has been discussed ad nauseum), 4E didn't have that feel, or didn't have enough of it. It emphasised things (character balance, intensely tactical thinking), that our D&D brains didn't care about or actively revolted against. To bring us back, 5E had to reclaim that old feeling, and the way they did it was pretty much the only way that I think would have worked: they asked people what it was that brought that feeling back.
For me, so far, it has worked. The pudding is only just coming out of the oven, as it were, but its aroma has already reached my nose, and I like what I smell. Its scent is very much comfortingly familiar, but at the same time refined and clarified in a way that makes me shiver with anticipation. It seems that they have captured the very essence of what I have been hungering for, and with very little filler.
And so arguments about the game's connections to history or myth or nitpicking about balance or this rule or that mean very little to me. They are essentially irrelevant.
This is D&D: I can't wait to taste it.
[I would love to hear your own thoughts about the essence of D&D in this thread. Despite the fact that what I've written feels totally true to me, I know that others of you will have wildly varying feelings on this point. I know I'm right
, but your completely contrary beliefs and feelings can be right, too!]
D&D is D&D. I know that it has changed over time, and that different people see and play it differently, but the designers of 5E have been aiming to find the game's essence, and I believe that they have largely succeeded. My evidence for this is that (so far) a lot of people seem to agree with me (although of course I could be proven wrong over time).
So, for the sake of argument, here are some elements that I feel are key to D&D's essence:
1) D&D is a lovable goof. It is silly in many, many ways, but this is a big part of what makes it fun.
2) D&D is a bit afraid to acknowledge its goofiness, and pretends to take itself a bit seriously. We pretend to play along.
3) D&D as a player experience is rather magical. There's a weird alchemy to it that keeps us coming back, despite its inherent silliness and the existence of "better designed" games.
4) Ironically, the fictional magic that takes place in the world of D&D isn't very magical. Just as movies set in the modern era often treat science as a kind of magic, D&D treats magic as a kind of science. There is very little that feels surprising or otherworldly about it. It's about as predictable as a high school chemistry experiment.
5) The above is just one element that contributes to the feeling that D&D is actually, weirdly, set in the modern day. Which means we give it at maximum as much latitude to be crazy and magical as we give an action movie (that is: (a) a fair bit, but only in fairly obvious ways; and (b) only a little bit, respectively).
6) The previous point is fine, because it means we can relate to the game much more than we could to a culturally remote and unsettlingly strange mythical setting. We can play "heroes" who are closer to the kids form South Park playing in the backyard than they are to Beowulf or Merlin. Which totally makes sense, given that we are essentially kids (of varying ages) playing in the back yard.
7) None of the above is to detract from point (3). Playing D&D IS magical - it's just that the magic comes from a group of humans sitting around, cracking jokes and telling a story together and fiddling around with a set of rules that stretches our brains in pleasant ways. It doesn't come from the supposed magical/mythical content of the game at all.
So that's D&D, from my perspective. D&D is the thing that fulfils all those wacky criteria. And because we want all those wacky criteria filled, we look for something that feels like D&D. We don't mind rules being fiddled with and streamlined here and there, but enough touchstones need to be in place for it to feel like what we know. It has to allow and encourage that goofy socialising. It has to stretch our brains in that slightly off-kilter and familiar way. It doesn't matter so much to us if it's "unbalanced" or doesn't make sense on some level or other. That familiar feel is key.
For many people (as has been discussed ad nauseum), 4E didn't have that feel, or didn't have enough of it. It emphasised things (character balance, intensely tactical thinking), that our D&D brains didn't care about or actively revolted against. To bring us back, 5E had to reclaim that old feeling, and the way they did it was pretty much the only way that I think would have worked: they asked people what it was that brought that feeling back.
For me, so far, it has worked. The pudding is only just coming out of the oven, as it were, but its aroma has already reached my nose, and I like what I smell. Its scent is very much comfortingly familiar, but at the same time refined and clarified in a way that makes me shiver with anticipation. It seems that they have captured the very essence of what I have been hungering for, and with very little filler.
And so arguments about the game's connections to history or myth or nitpicking about balance or this rule or that mean very little to me. They are essentially irrelevant.
This is D&D: I can't wait to taste it.
[I would love to hear your own thoughts about the essence of D&D in this thread. Despite the fact that what I've written feels totally true to me, I know that others of you will have wildly varying feelings on this point. I know I'm right
, but your completely contrary beliefs and feelings can be right, too!]
