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What is the essence of D&D
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<blockquote data-quote="Tony Vargas" data-source="post: 7812042" data-attributes="member: 996"><p>It'd seem reasonable to expect RPGs to be downright counter-cyclical. </p><p>It's also irrelevant to D&D-ness. D&D, between the fad years of the 80s and today's tabletop renaissance, had not been much of a commercial success for it's IP holders. 4e could've been commercially successful and still not felt like it was Really D&D.</p><p></p><p> Sounds like the 'pillars' : Mystery = Social, dungeon crawl = Exploration + Combat, Exploration = Exploration. <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite2" alt=";)" title="Wink ;)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=";)" /></p><p>'Mystery,' at least, is a recognizable genre in it's own right. (Picturing Brother Cadfael casting Speak With Dead to identify the murderer and Hold Person to apprehend him.) Steampunk we've already mentioned, and D&D starts out quasi-medieval.</p><p></p><p>High Magic vs Low is always a thorny topic. There's high- or low- magic setting, with standard-issue PCs. There's settings with super-abundant or vanishingly rare magic /items/ ( back in the day, "low magic" usually seemed to mean very few items). There's genres (most genres, really) with far less magic in the hands of the protagonists than D&D PCs tend to have on tap.</p><p></p><p>There's also genres where the nature or rationale or 'laws' of magic are quite different from D&D. Science-fantasy can have fantasy trappings, but the magic is replaced by psionics, for instance (Athas partially does that, for instance - psionics has varied so much over the editions, in some, psionics as the only supernatural power would be wildly OP, or inadequate to keep the party going, others just fine. 5e, obviously, isn't ready for that one yet.) Or all magic can come from the gods, or from spirits, or from Pacts with demons or something. Or 'magic' might be found only in items.</p><p>It's quite a range. A much broader range than Vancian.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Tony Vargas, post: 7812042, member: 996"] It'd seem reasonable to expect RPGs to be downright counter-cyclical. It's also irrelevant to D&D-ness. D&D, between the fad years of the 80s and today's tabletop renaissance, had not been much of a commercial success for it's IP holders. 4e could've been commercially successful and still not felt like it was Really D&D. Sounds like the 'pillars' : Mystery = Social, dungeon crawl = Exploration + Combat, Exploration = Exploration. ;) 'Mystery,' at least, is a recognizable genre in it's own right. (Picturing Brother Cadfael casting Speak With Dead to identify the murderer and Hold Person to apprehend him.) Steampunk we've already mentioned, and D&D starts out quasi-medieval. High Magic vs Low is always a thorny topic. There's high- or low- magic setting, with standard-issue PCs. There's settings with super-abundant or vanishingly rare magic /items/ ( back in the day, "low magic" usually seemed to mean very few items). There's genres (most genres, really) with far less magic in the hands of the protagonists than D&D PCs tend to have on tap. There's also genres where the nature or rationale or 'laws' of magic are quite different from D&D. Science-fantasy can have fantasy trappings, but the magic is replaced by psionics, for instance (Athas partially does that, for instance - psionics has varied so much over the editions, in some, psionics as the only supernatural power would be wildly OP, or inadequate to keep the party going, others just fine. 5e, obviously, isn't ready for that one yet.) Or all magic can come from the gods, or from spirits, or from Pacts with demons or something. Or 'magic' might be found only in items. It's quite a range. A much broader range than Vancian. [/QUOTE]
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