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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Gentlegamer" data-source="post: 3265136" data-attributes="member: 2425">It's not the fluff, it's the system itself. The "3e" ruleset is a different game than D&D. "3.5e" is really d20 Fantasy, 2nd edition. It has nothing to do with "not being worthy" of the name.To make it more clear: OD&D and AD&D were two separate games, though very closely related. The mechanics and assumptions of past games under the D&D label were pretty close, even in the separate D&D and AD&D game lines. The d20 system released in 2000 was a wholly new game, a new system, that used the D&D trademark. New mechanics, new goals, etc. I can't speak for others, but when I refer to d20 Fantasy it has nothing to do with a judgment on its quality as a game, just my acknowledgment that it is a different game. I sometimes have to remind myself of this when discussing d20 because since it is a different game, it isn't quite fair to apply the rationales and views associated with (A)D&D. For example, I tried to make clear this line when discussing racial class/level limits in another thread when offering rationales for such limits. The rationales offered don't really apply in d20 since it adopted different rationales, assumptions, etc.I think this new game distinction becomes very clear when some people talk about how they couldn't stomach "old D&D" and left it to play other games, only to "return" with "3e." That is, they didn't like the mechanics and assumptions of D&D and only "returned" when these were wholly changed by a new system. I sometimes point out that they never returned to D&D, since they are now playing a different game. It sometimes comes across poorly, and I apologize.</blockquote>

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