What defines "D&D?"

[Majoru Oakheart]

To me D&D is a fantasy game where you kill monsters, take their stuff, and go on quests with D&D printed on the front. The rules change, and they could be anything by the time 8th or 9th edition comes out. But as long as I'm able to be a guy with a sword or someone wielding magic killing the monsters, I'll be happy.

Yes, this means that there are a bunch of other games that are "D&D" to me. But only the one that actually says D&D is D&D.

In other words, "D&D" is a rather meaningless term except to describe D&D.

 

[Wormwood]

1. Medieval trappings. Modern sensibilities
2. Adventurers: unemployed people wandering around looking for trouble but never paying taxes or having kids or anything.
3. Monsters who turn into gold when they you kill them.
4. Elves and Dwarves and other Tolkien stuff.
5. Underground complexes that would baffle present-day engineers.
6. A dragon who shows up like once in an adventurer's career.
7. Gold pieces.
8. Swords with plusses.
9. FIREBALLS
10. Stepping on a d4

 

[Theo R Cwithin]

I bounce around a lot between rules variants. I think the two common threads that link all my D&Ds are:

* classes with levels.
* the iconic D&D monsters

 

[jmucchiello]

Gathering to role-play and calling it D&D really only requires two things:

1) a vaguely medievalish campaign world
2) a low-lethality combat system with large discrete advancement rewards

I've run traditional D&D style games using non-D&D rulesets without much difficulty. It feels like D&D as long as combat is not lethal (as in GURPS) and as long as the advancement system is tuned so advancement feels like leveling. In HERO this means not allowing players to spend XP except in 20-30 point chunks rather than the normal method of spending them 1-2 at a time.

I've even played with a house system that used no dice. (I'm surprised no one said polyhedral dice were required.)

 

[Dice4Hire]

To me D&D is the series of games published by TSR and the WOTC. Basically from the red book to 4E, though if you include chainmail and a couple otehrs I would not argue much.

I think the question the OP is trying to define is D&D' style of fantasy roleplaying and the game supporting it.

That is a bit harder to define, and many of hte previous posters have hit on most things I would like to say.

 

[Hussar]

To me D&D is defined by having a group of fairly disparate individuals gather together for the loosest of reasons, go off and have heroic adventures, typically for fun and profit. All wrapped in a fantasy setting.

I'm a big tent kinda guy.

 

[JohnSnow]

Actually, as the OP, I thought it might be helpful to bring some perspective (if not peace) to the clash over editions if we see where people are coming from.

I've seen AC go down from 9. I've seen it go up from 10. I've been through to-hit tables, fighting wheels, THAC0 and BAB. I've seen 1st-level PCs with a single hit point or 30 hit points, and just about everything in between. I've measured monsters with Hit Dice, CR, and just "level." And to me, it still feels like D&D, because my core pieces are still there. But I can see that someone someday might make a change to it that I won't like. That's a perspective I try to keep in mine when edition fights start.

Someday, that could be me.

For myself, I've experimented with so many variant magic systems over the years, I never really thought of the classic "Vancian Magic" as being part of the identity of what constitutes D&D. So when 4e dumped it, I shrugged. But I'm sure that for some people, it was a big deal, perhaps even a deal-breaker...

However, even to me, some things are so much a part of what D&D IS, that I just wouldn't be happy to get a D&D game without them. For instance, it just wouldn't be D&D without elves, dwarves, halflings and humans. Ditto the 6 attributes of strength, constitution, dexterity, intelligence, wisdom and charisma. I'm also oddly fond of the 3-18 starting scale for said attributes. I realize that's completely irrational...but that's the way it is.

And as much as I rail on occasion about the separation between arcane and divine magic, I'm not sure the game would still be D&D without it. So something I'm not even sure I like is kinda part and parcel of what I think makes D&D what it is.

Odd, isn't it?

By the way, there's not really a "point" here other than to discuss these things in a friendly, open, and honest conversation ( hopefully without an Edition war). I just thought it would be interesting to see different perspectives.

 

[Shades of Green]

I'd say that the essential features of D&D are:
1) Generic "kitchen sink" fantasy with a very loose pseudo-western-medieval frame but with much influence from Classic mythology, non-western mythology and literary constructs such as Tolkien's works and the Cthulhu Mythos.
2) Humans, Elves, Dwarves and Halflings battling Orcs, Undead and Goblins and, later on, Ogres, Trolls, Giants, Dragons, Beholders, Mind-Flayers, and powerful Undead.
3) Classes and Levels; a massive potential scale of mechanical character growth; weak characters growing into superheroes and/or demigods. Skills, if they exist, are secondary to classes and levels.
4) Focus on combat and (dungeon) exploration, as well as on treasure acquisition; most rules deal with these aspects of the game; tactical and/or war-gaming aspects of gameplay (it grew out of medieval wargaming, after all).
5) Vancian or quasi-vancian magic; a wide variety of available magic items of varying levels of power (especially weapons/armour with 'pluses').

 

[Hunter In Darkness]

My list of what screams "your playing D&D"
Vancian magic
Armor Class
Hit points
6 attributes, 3-18
classes
boatloads of spells
Monsters galore
xp
The 9 Alignments

 

[Aus_Snow]

Mostly, a whole bunch of house rules means I'm playing D&D. But anyhow. . .

(by default)

• Pseudo-medieval setting
• Polyhedral dice aplenty, with much randomness ensuing
• Pseudo-Vancian magic and lots of it, with some thoroughly iconic spells
• Magic items of many a kind, but in particular +1 swords and such
• Levels, XP, the six stats, hit points, hit dice, armour class, saving throws
• Humans, elves, dwarves and halflings
• Fighting men, clerics and wizards - maybe thieves too
• Bizarre (or at least peculiar) monsters here and there
• A focus on exploration
• Generally, an accumulation of wealth and power, in some form anyway
• The very real possibility of PC death, or worse, at every level of play
• Law-Neutrality-Chaos or Good-Neutral-Evil (or hey, both)

That's what comes to mind, but there might be some bits 'n bobs I missed.