When does D&D stop becoming D&D?

[Fallen Seraph]

To many my definition of D&D will probably seem very-loose and could apply to most Fantasy PnP but this is how I have always viewed it:

-D&D is a game you play with friends

-You play it using dice and character sheets

-There is a DM that controls the world

-It is a fantasy game, with different races and magic

-It is a open game, with hundreds of different setting possibilities

-It is there to have fun and tell good stories

That is my D&D.

 

[Doug McCrae]

I am just worried that I'll be playing a great game system (4E) but it somehow won't feel like D&D anymore

Does it matter? Surely the important thing, the only important thing, for us players is the quality of the game we're getting.

 

[Belorin]

To many my definition of D&D will probably seem very-loose and could apply to most Fantasy PnP but this is how I have always viewed it:

-D&D is a game you play with friends

-You play it using dice and character sheets

-There is a DM that controls the world

-It is a fantasy game, with different races and magic

-It is a open game, with hundreds of different setting possibilities

-It is there to have fun and tell good stories

That is my D&D.

This!

Bel

 

[Wolfspider]

Does it matter? Surely the important thing, the only important thing, for us players is the quality of the game we're getting.

I would say that the feel of a game matters a whole heck of a lot, actually.

 

[Lonely Tylenol]

What's 3rd edition got to do with it?

Because if the traits of 4E that putatively make it "not D&D anymore" are equally descriptive of 3E, then 3E is also not D&D. I don't think that the majority of people who want to claim that 4E is not D&D also want to claim that 3E is not D&D. There are probably some AD&D grognards (plus Diaglo) who want to claim that anything post-their-favourite-edition is not D&D, but that's kind of a moot point.

Anyway, the point is, if they don't want to claim 3E is not D&D, they must avoid using arguments like the one above.

 

[Wolfspider]

Because if the traits of 4E that putatively make it "not D&D anymore" are equally descriptive of 3E, then 3E is also not D&D. I don't think that the majority of people who want to claim that 4E is not D&D also want to claim that 3E is not D&D. There are probably some AD&D grognards (plus Diaglo) who want to claim that anything post-their-favourite-edition is not D&D, but that's kind of a moot point.

Anyway, the point is, if they don't want to claim 3E is not D&D, they must avoid using arguments like the one above.

I see.

Why not just focus the discussion on 4th edition rather than assume anything about the other posters that may not be true?

Bringing up 3rd edition in this manner seems like something of a strawman and just obfuscates the issue, I think.

 

[Zulgyan]

No Vancian Magic = No D&D to me.

Therefore 4E not D&D to me.

Great generic fantasy game. But not D&D.

 

[Hussar]

Having played OD&D I can say that each new edition does feel different. What makes a game D&D to me is the people and the mind set we play the game with. D&D is less about the setting and the rules as it is the style of game. And I've have little problem getting that style with each edition so far and even with other gaming systems.

I've gotten rid of levels and classes and hit points and it was still D&D. D&D to me is just Fantasy gaming. I never liked to over define it.

This.

and what Fallen Seraph said.

See, I never used the Great Wheel. I never used Greyhawk or Forgotten Realms. So, all those things that people talk about as being the "core" of D&D have never been so for me. I couldn't care less about them because I didn't use them.

So long as I can tell the kinds of stories that I want to tell, and my players are having fun at the same time, it's D&D.

 

[Sphyre]

Midevil (sp?) fantasy RP

Medieval, for your reference.

On a related topic, I remember back when I was in high school my baby brother was in 3rd grade. He told me that his teacher told him that Medieval was an incorrect spelling and midevil was the correct spelling. Teachers don't know everything, but when you don't know something, you shouldn't "fix what isn't broken."

 

[Fallen Seraph]

Medieval, for your reference.

On a related topic, I remember back when I was in high school my baby brother was in 3rd grade. He told me that his teacher told him that Medieval was an incorrect spelling and midevil was the correct spelling. Teachers don't know everything, but when you don't know something, you shouldn't "fix what isn't broken."

Ahh, that takes me back to 4th grade we were doing the Medieval unit in class and had a substitute that day. We were talking about what sieges were, and I got in I would say a 5 minute argument over the fact she said "tunnels were dig exclusively by the besieged to escape their castle" I pipped up and started to argue about how the attackers would sap the walls, etc, etc.