D&D General What is D&D?

[SothFan]

Current commentary has identified D&D as various things. As a non-player, I have been berated for daring to post on this website for not playing, but only wishing to discuss the current actual play that brought me here. Even when told to go learn it and I tried to venture outside the actual play discussion, I was berated for not knowing it. Not by all, but by most.

My definition is "improv theater gaming". It is what I see on YouTube, what I see the same of in person at bookstores, etc. I have personally seen no difference.

The company calls it "co-operative storytelling", but gives zero advice on how to achieve this.

OSR people call it a tactical game, which it seems the multitude of rules support.

One of the desginers seems to have called is "LARPing without needing a costume".

Several other discussions on here seem to seek what it is without fully asking: "Is Appendix N needed?" and "remove D&D from D&D fantasy" or some such are their names.

So is there a meaning still to "D&D" if even its lead designer wishes it was Call of Cthulhu? Does it mean anything? Did it ever mean anything?

Is it just a label to stick on loosely connected products like "As Seen on TV"?

So, what is D&D, by any other name would it smell as sweet?

 

[VashVet]

It’s a game.

 

[cranberry]

It's a TTRPG that can be shaped to the players preference within the guardrails of the system. Although, a lot of people homebrew their own rules to fit their preference.

 

[TwoSix]

What is D&D?

<throws wine glass>

A miserable little pile of secrets!

But enough talk! Have at you!

 

[Knaves Quill]

What is D&D?

An acronym for Dungeons and Dragons.

Seriously though, there's not one singular definition. TTRPGs are many things at once to many people; that's the cool thing about them. Trying to understand the nature of them distracts from the joy of them.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

I think you'd find that the reason that you are being "berated by most" (and I really doubt that it's actually more than a handful of people. I'm sure that it feels like more, though, so I sympathize) is that you don't seem to be honestly asking a question, with a mind open to the answers.

For example, you posted a "pout" at the first answer: It's a game. And yet, that's a very valid answer. It IS a game.

Instead, you appear to already know your answer, and you're ready to defend it!

If I'm off the mark, I apologize, but that's what I get from your post. I'm not meaning to "berate" you, either, but it certainly doesn't make me want to bother trying to answer the question. Any answer I give doesn't seem like it would satisfy you, even out of curiosity.

 

[Jacob Lewis]

D&D is different things to different people. Most people seem to be okay with this, but there are some who find this unacceptable. You're more likely run into the latter online because the former are too busy having fun and not worrying what random people they'll never meet might think.

The only questions that should matter are:

1. What is it to you?
2. Why should anyone else's opinions and experiences affect your own?

 

[Remathilis]

D&D has unfortunately become a shorthand for a whole slew of adjacent fantasy gaming, many of which spawned from the OGL, that have a variety of playstyles and rulesets that all vaguely resemble one another. Its like calling a facial tissue a Kleenex or a cola drink a Coke; the name brand has become synonymous with the actual item to the point that people will call anything that looks like it by that name regardless of if its name brand or not.

With that in mind, D&D is ALL that stuff. And none of it. D&D as a game has evolved probably the most wildly over 50 years. Sometimes the game leaned heavily on a tactical, wargame style play where the player (via their character avatar) is challenged and the goal is primarily to amass power (gold, XP, status) by traversing dungeons and other hazardous areas. Sometimes, the game has leaned toward immersive narrative play with complex stories, rich settings, collaborative storytelling, and spinoff media. Sometimes its both, in different combinations or mixtures. Add to it every offshoot third party game that insists its found the secret sauce for good gaming and pretty soon you have a lot of people all insisting they know what D&D is or isn't. Toss in the "fandom" mentality and you end up with a Tower of Babel where everyone comes into the discussion convinced they know the correct way to D&D and yet aren't even speaking the same ruleset, let-alone philosophy.

Therein lies the madness of D&D. They tent is wide but every table under it is its own clique who rarely speak with the other tables. The OSR player who feels play should focus on the mechanical aspect of challenging play has little in common with the immersive role-player who feels his characters' narrative arc should be of primary importance. These two players might both be rolling d20s to hit, but they are leagues away from a common experience. Its why 98% of all discussions on this board as essentially two camps engaging in badwrongfun-but-tactful. If D&D were a video game, we'd all have a common experience because the game can only offer one experience. You might not like elements of it, (like housing or PVP) but you'd still have the common lingua franca. D&D doesn't. D&D is broken down not only by six distinct editions (and countless sub-editions) but buy dozens of third party variants and thousands of DMs using house rules ranging from practical to elaborate. There is no common D&D experience. There is only hundreds of variants of the idea of D&D everyone clings to as their personal truth.

In the end, to ask "What is D&D?" it to ask "what is rock music?" Is it Chuck Berry, Elvis, the Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Metallica or Limp Biskuit? Yes. And No. In the end, there is no one answer but the answer you make for yourself.

 

[SothFan]

For example, you posted a "pout" at the first answer: It's a game. And yet, that's a very valid answer. It IS a game.

Instead, you appear to already know your answer, and you're ready to defend it!

If I'm off the mark, I apologize, but that's what I get from your post.

The sad face reaction was to what I saw as a cop-out answer that does not even fit the answer given.

D&D is not a game as I see it.

Definition of GAME

a physical or mental competition conducted according to rules with the participants in direct opposition to each other; a division of a larger contest; the manner of playing in a contest… See the full definition

www.merriam-webster.com

It was an unhelpful response to the question.

 

[Cordwainer Fish]

D&D is a little tweeting bird chirping in a meadow. D&D is a wreath of pretty flowers which smell bad.