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<blockquote data-quote="Ariosto" data-source="post: 4878404" data-attributes="member: 80487"><p>One could assess it in different ways. I find 3E write-ups closer to old D&D convention than RM ones. Anyway, YOU brought up the concept of a standard by which "you weren't really playing D&D", suggesting a very narrow one. Historically, in-game procedures have varied widely and that has been widely accepted; The Dragon was a great source of variants. It is, as a practical matter, more troublesome to change things so that game elements cannot be communicated without someone else having to learn your house rules. When talk or writing about your campaign must be either misleading or simply incomprehensible otherwise, it's time to say, "Oh, that's not D&D; it's my game of Fantastic Adventure" (or whatever). In fact, that is how a lot of new games evolved.</p><p></p><p>In the early years of the hobby and industry, TSR had a commercial interest in distinguishing such differences. If (e.g.) RuneQuest were marketed as D&D, and it somehow became so impolitic to correct the usage that TSR lost control of its trademark, then the firm stood to lose business. There was for a while a real danger of "D&D" becoming a generic term for RPGs. Now, the trademark owner itself has chosen to undermine the term's former common referent.</p><p></p><p>When TSR acquired SPI's Dragonquest, it could have changed the name to D&D. It would then have been as accurate for people playing that game to say, "We're playing D&D" as it is for people today playing the game from Issaries to say, "We're playing Hero Quest". That's where the trademark is currently lodged -- but people expecting the completely different Milton Bradley game are in for confusion and surprise. Years ago, a restaurant chain had a contest awarding trips to Paris, Rome, etc.. The catch was that the destinations were all towns in Oregon.</p><p></p><p>The situation simply is, and the practical consequences naturally follow. Your opinion or mine as to how nifty Game X or Game Y is does not change that.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Ariosto, post: 4878404, member: 80487"] One could assess it in different ways. I find 3E write-ups closer to old D&D convention than RM ones. Anyway, YOU brought up the concept of a standard by which "you weren't really playing D&D", suggesting a very narrow one. Historically, in-game procedures have varied widely and that has been widely accepted; The Dragon was a great source of variants. It is, as a practical matter, more troublesome to change things so that game elements cannot be communicated without someone else having to learn your house rules. When talk or writing about your campaign must be either misleading or simply incomprehensible otherwise, it's time to say, "Oh, that's not D&D; it's my game of Fantastic Adventure" (or whatever). In fact, that is how a lot of new games evolved. In the early years of the hobby and industry, TSR had a commercial interest in distinguishing such differences. If (e.g.) RuneQuest were marketed as D&D, and it somehow became so impolitic to correct the usage that TSR lost control of its trademark, then the firm stood to lose business. There was for a while a real danger of "D&D" becoming a generic term for RPGs. Now, the trademark owner itself has chosen to undermine the term's former common referent. When TSR acquired SPI's Dragonquest, it could have changed the name to D&D. It would then have been as accurate for people playing that game to say, "We're playing D&D" as it is for people today playing the game from Issaries to say, "We're playing Hero Quest". That's where the trademark is currently lodged -- but people expecting the completely different Milton Bradley game are in for confusion and surprise. Years ago, a restaurant chain had a contest awarding trips to Paris, Rome, etc.. The catch was that the destinations were all towns in Oregon. The situation simply is, and the practical consequences naturally follow. Your opinion or mine as to how nifty Game X or Game Y is does not change that. [/QUOTE]
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