What does 'epic' mean to you?

[Shade]

In game terms, it means level 21+ to me.

In the broader sense, "great power", or "massive in scale".

 

[The_Gneech]

It also needs to be written in meter to be a proper epic.

Which lets 65% of Lord of the Rings out, alas, but the elves do their best.

-The Gneech

 

[Terwox]

An "epic campaign" to me means "a campaign where the player characters go about saving the world." It could also mean destroying the world, or fundamentally changing the world, but on a very large scale. Something permanent. That's what I mean when I say it myself.

 

[Plane Sailing]

Epic for me has always meant the development of a character beyond simply adventuring.

For example the way I see it Epic already existed back in first edition AD&D, characters reached named level and gained land, title and the scope of thier games shifted from beyond simple dungeonbashing to greater schemes with greatly added responsibilities.

My Ideal epic system for 3.5 would be something that takes the game in a more Birthright style of domain and land management, social rising, politicking, research, and adventures that are more globally affecting rather than simple small objective tasks.

epic from 3.0 turned me off completely it is a munchkins wet dream, but I myself had little interest in super combat beasts or fantasy super heroes to either play or allow in my games.

Gosh, it turns out that Neo was reading my mind when posting the above. So much so that all I need to do is quote it and file the serial numbers off!

I still think it was one of the major fumbles in the transition to 3e; earlier editions had built in assumptions about higher level characters tackling different kinds of adventure, getting involved in politics and kingmaking or whatever, reaching the top of their society. 3e abandoned all of that for the simplification of making it 'back to the dungeon' even for the 17th+ level heroes and the so-called 'epic' rules from 3e where blinkered 'more of the same'.

How it is that something that was done right in principle with the basic/expert/masters/immortals set all those years ago could be missed so badly, I'll never know.

Cheers