What makes D&D, well, D&D?

[Altalazar]

I'm curious to know what others think makes D&D quintessentially D&D.

I imagine this is what the creators of 3ed had to consider as they revamped the system, wanting to keep the D&D-ness of it all even as they built it from the ground up.

For me, some important elements:

The class system itself, including all of the original, 1E core classes.
The divine / arcane magic system split.
Memorization of spells. (The magic system) The spell list itself.
Alignment (like it or lump it, it is part of what was central to the game)
The classic monsters

There are more, and I'll probably add some more to my own list later...

The point of the list was those things that, if you changed them, it just wouldn't feel like D&D anymore.

 

[Pants]

- Classes that Embody Certain Recognizable Archetypes
- Levels
- +x weapons and armor and items
- Vancian Magic
- Illogical dungeons
- Beholders, Mind Flayers, Rust Monsters, and Grell
- Alignment System

 

[Nikosandros]

All of the above, plus:

- Armor Class
- Hit Points
- Saving Throws
- The Six Abilities
- The Classic Magic Items

 

[Crothian]

For me it isn't justa list of things, but a lot of elements brought together with a certaining style of gaming. The basic game and the new 3.5 ediotion are pretty differnet from each other, but both are still D&D to me.

 

[threshel]

The classic party: fighter, wizard, rogue, cleric. No matter what you call 'em, the third guy at the table always asks "What do we have so far?" and the fourth guy doesn't ask, he just rolls up a cleric and curses the traffic.


J

 

[Dark Jezter]

Everything that Altalazar, Pants, and Nikosandros mentioned as well as:

• A group of unlikely companions meeting in a tavern and deciding to join up with each other and go adventuring.
• Gelatinous Cubes.
• Displacer Beasts.
• An ever-growing number of elf subraces.
• The "Big 3" campaign settings: Greyhawk, Dragonlance, and Forgotten Realms.
• Other popular campaign settings like Ravenloft, Dark Sun, Planescape, Eberron, etc.
• The Head of Vecna.
• Man-eating gazeboes.

 

[Silverleaf]

The 6 ability scores, and attribute checks based directly on them
Very strong character archetypes
Experience levels and their associated titles and benefits
Abstract combat (hit points and armor class)
"Vancian" magic, spell books
Effect-based saving throws (the 5 saving throw categories)
Old ruins full of loot, monsters, traps, and puzzles
A medieval-like world, full of unexplained magic and wonder
Elves, dwarves, halflings and gnomes

 

[The Human Target]

The roleplaying game that bears the name D&D. Thats it.

 

[VirgilCaine]

The Vancian magic system.
The level of magic put forth in the core rules. Anything less just doesn't feel like D&D.

 

[Altalazar]

The roleplaying game that bears the name D&D. Thats it.

Really? Nothing more to it than the label? So if you took the Teenage Mutant Ninja turtles RPG, just slapped the D&D label on it, you'd then feel like you were playing D&D? Surely you must find more to it than that - or are you a new player to the system?