What's the difference between D20 Fantasy and D&D?

[ssampier]

I've never seen that distinction made, except for folks on the WotC boards who won't use anything that's not "official". But that's a different subject entirely.

I should be nice and all, but those people irritate me to no end. I'll keep quiet.

 

[Lorne]

I thought that 'D&D' meant official WotC products and 'd20 fantasy' meant material produced by third parties. After reading all the posts, I'm not sure if that's accurate or not.

Lorne

 

[ssampier]

I thought that 'D&D' meant official WotC products and 'd20 fantasy' meant material produced by third parties. After reading all the posts, I'm not sure if that's accurate or not.

Lorne

Technically that's true, although are a few D&D licensed products (KoK & Warcraft spring to mind).

D&D is not alone in trademarks that have entered popular lexicon. Some people refer to all facial tissues as Kleenex. Other people call all farm tractors John Deeres, et al.

D20 fantasy and D&D are basically the same thing in my mind. I'll echo those who say it because you use the Dungeons & Dragons Player's Handbook as a reference.

 

[PapersAndPaychecks]

And yet, it still is. . .

To you it is.

D&D as a concept is better off being inclusionary than exclusionary.

I think you're wrong.

 

[PapersAndPaychecks]

3E bears as much resemblance to 1E as 1E did to OD&D.

Uh... no.

 

[Sound of Azure]

To you it is.



I think you're wrong.


Uh... no.

That seems really..... unhelpful in terms of dialogue...

---
As for the question. To me, d20 fantasy is when a game has changed significantly enough away from the core rules that I need more than a few pages of house rules, or when the core expectations of the game are not true. In other words, most of my campaigns.

 

[Glyfair]

I thought that 'D&D' meant official WotC products and 'd20 fantasy' meant material produced by third parties. After reading all the posts, I'm not sure if that's accurate or not.

Given the tendencies of some here, I tend to refer to D&D as anything with the D&D logo. d20 is anything using the d20 license, and OGL is anything that uses the OGL but isn't d20 or D&D.


What I really consider D&D is anything that is designed so that I could put it in my D&D campaign. That pretty much covers almost all of d20 fantasy and some of the OGL products.

 

[PapersAndPaychecks]

That seems really..... unhelpful in terms of dialogue...

No more so than those I replied to. They gave their opinions (although they stated it as if it were fact) but they didn't trouble to provide any reasons. So I didn't trouble either.

 

[Hussar]

Uh... no.

Uh.... yes.

Come on, the differences between OD&D and 1e are pretty bloody big. Mechanically, there are huge differences - different classes, different mechanics for determining results, the list goes on and on.

There is a common parentage, of course, but, ignoring the rather glaring differences between editions is not constructive. If you want a different comparison, try B/E/M/C/I D&D and AD&D. There are huge differences between the system.

Does that mean that one group played D&D while the other didn't?

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Looking back at my Eldritch Wizardry, Chainmail and Blackmoor books and comparing them to my Basic book and my AD&D books, I can see some pretty massive changes...some of them much more significant than some of the changes from 2Ed to 3.x.

They're all D&D though.

I've played about 100+ different RPG systems since I first picked up the dice- about 50% of them FRPGs, and I've come to the conclusion that there is a definite feel to D&D that seperates it from other FRPGs- not better, not worse- just different and distinctive.

Vancian magic and even some items. The accretion of game-specific critters, cultures, and archetypal NPCs.

There simply isn't a Vecna in Fantasy HERO, Talsiantha, or GURPS. Most FRPGs use a magic system more akin to D20 psionics than magic. Don't get me wrong- those games have their own legends, their own merits...

But they aren't D&D.