D&D General What is D&D?

[bsss]

What do the rules say a dead person can do that keeps them in the game? Is it not technically the same as a person with <= 0 money (bankrupt) in Monopoly?

Based on your subsequent posts, I think you are erroneously conflating a player character's state with the player's role in the game.

So all of you answer that death is a loss condition. The character is dead, therefore by the rules can take no actions. Another character has to take actions on its behalf. A clear loss condition.

A new character has nothing to do with the previous character or player, because a new character is not required to use existing players is it?

What do they rules say about adding a new character to an existing game?

I can't be bothered to get out my 5e books right now, but the 3.5e DMG makes it very clear that a player may decide they want a new character and presents guidelines on how to fold that new character into the game in an equitable way. The reasons they player may decide this includes, specifically, "An existing PC dies, and the party doesn't have access to magic that brings her back to life." Even more explicitly, this is under the following section: Using the Rules > Character Death > Making a New Character.

PC death does not imply game loss.

 

[VashVet]

What is this? Is it in the rules?

Yes, it is in the rules.

 

[abazaba]

What is this?

 

[tetrasodium]

.

 

[the Jester]

No, the process of play has been 1 participant entertaining the others. Just like Improv Theater. What was the saying?

It's really not.

The process of play is each participant roleplaying for the sake of roleplaying. Nobody is trying to entertain the rest of the group. They are collaborating to play a game- and depending on the individual campaign, that might include telling a story or it might not.

You don't understand the game at all and don't honestly seem like you're interested in actually learning about it as a game, just as a show, which is what 'actual plays' are- they are heavily edited and not much like most actual games in play at a table.

 

[the Jester]

Maybe it will return once people decide if D&D is a game or not

It is. Just because a single participant is (or maybe a few are) loving to argue otherwise based on a narrow definition of game doesn't mean it isn't. DnD has always been a game, throughout all of its evolutions. It's so much a game that it unleashed a whole new category of game into the world- the roleplaying game.

What do the rules say a dead person can do that keeps them in the game? Is it not technically the same as a person with <= 0 money (bankrupt) in Monopoly?

You can make a new character. Sometimes a DM will let the player run monsters or npcs in the meantime. Sometimes, you just wait until your party raises you from the dead. Or sometimes you get to play your ghost.

 

[the Jester]

So all of you answer that death is a loss condition.

Nope. I explicitly reject the notion that DnD has a loss condition at all.

A new character has nothing to do with the previous character or player, because a new character is not required to use existing players is it?

You may be misunderstanding the difference between a player and a character here. The player is the real person at the table. The character is the character they are playing in the game.

What do they rules say about adding a new character to an existing game?

"Go ahead!"

 

[Dessert Nomad]

Same player, different character.

If I play Remathilis the thief and he is killed (zero HP failed death saves) I get to make a new character and play them now. So if my second character is Thomas the cleric, he is unrelated to Remathilis, but I'm still able to play as this new character. I don't have to leave and Thomas isn't played by a whole different player.

I don't know, I remember a great story about a kid playing his first D&D game. His character died, and he was sad for a minute. Then he crossed out character's first name on the sheet and wrote a new one, and happily moved his mini back on the table and said "I am here to avenge my brother".

I'm also not sure how the people who think death is a lose condition would fit games where PC death is impossible into their definitions, but those exist too. Some tables of game like D&D just have a rule that PC's can't die, and some game systems simply don't allow player death in their core rules.

 

[Shiroiken]

Because this has nothing to do with the rules? Can the same be said for the bakrupt Monopoly player? "That was my win condition!" It makes no sense does it?

I'm guessing you're not in a regular boardgame group. When you can't actually win, a lot of players create secondary win conditions for themselves. Often, it's to get as close to winning as possible (i.e. 2nd place, 3rd place, etc), but it can also be to make another player lose (usually the one who caused you to no longer be in contention). Some players even create personal objectives at the start of the game, because they don't care as much about winning.

Even for those advocating "its a game" when an actual game conditional is acknowledged, you lot turn around and dismiss the element favoring the position that it is a "game"?

Based on the link you provided, D&D would likely be considered a game. However, the argument about if it's a game or not is semantics. It's like arguing if golf or bowling are sports. Whether or not D&D is a game, a game engine, or an activity is fairly pointless (unless you like arguing).

And people wonder why I and many others would have no intetest in playing. You change everything on a whim or mood swing, so how could anyone trust anyone playing this "game" to be fair or impartial?

I have to ask, after this thread has gone on for far too long: what is your point and why are you here? Based on your comments like this one, you're very dismissive of D&D, yet you feel the need to post in a D&D forum. If you're looking for validation that your opinion matters... I'm sorry, but it doesn't. Neither does mine, and I've been playing D&D for about 35 years.

I answered your question about "what is D&D" near the start of this thread, and you even "liked" the comment. At this point, it just looks like you're trolling, but I want to give you the benefit of the doubt. What point are you trying to make?

 

[Whisper-Kitten]

I‘m ready for Lambchop to appear and start singing.