Why do you play games other than D&D?

[Bagpuss]

I've got doubts even about the first bit of that last sentence - there are elements of the "story" in Torchbearer, like driving off foes, and capturing them, that are pretty hard for D&D to replicate. I definitely agree with the second bit, about the difference in method and enjoyment.

I take it you have never played Dread?

 

[pemerton]

I take it you have never played Dread?

Huh? I didn't say anything about Dread. The post that you quoted was about Torchbearer.

 

[Nytmare]

I've got doubts even about the first bit of that last sentence - there are elements of the "story" in Torchbearer, like driving off foes, and capturing them, that are pretty hard for D&D to replicate. I definitely agree with the second bit, about the difference in method and enjoyment.

I just meant in as much as "We robbed a tomb and the GM made us track how many rations we had left." People always recount dramatic instances from their D&D games, but that drama (as you know) is part of the retelling, not part of the mechanics like it is in TB.

 

[TwoSix]

In no way is that helpful.

Got me 3 reaction points and made me feel better about myself.

 

[Nytmare]

What kinds of games are all of those? I've only heard of Torchbearer, and from what I know about it, it sounds like you don't play D&D because you don't really like D&D, and perhaps also other traditional TTRPGs.

Played D&D almost exclusively from 1980 till maybe 2010 or thereabouts. My primary campaign nowadays is in Torchbearer, but the current circulation of frequent players include Fall of Magic, City of Winter, Blades in the Dark, Band of Blades, The Quiet Year, Yazeba's Bed and Breakfast, Dread, Mothership, and a double handful of other indies that pop in and out as I rediscover them on a shelf or hidden under a pile of other games.

The main reason why I avoid D&D nowadays is because, though I like the combat game, it gets in the way of what I want to play a role playing game for. Compounding that is the fact that online play (which almost all of my old gaming circles have retreated to) refocuses the game to be even more about combat, but now with microphone feedback while inside of a buggy video game interface that gives you a double layered ersatz duplicate of the real life abstraction of combat while removing the best parts of sitting in 3 dimensional meatspace with your friends.

And beyond all of that, I have access to a host of games that don't need hours of prep, if they even need any prep at all.

 

[SteveC]

Why would you play only D&D when there is a wealth of different experiences to be had with other genres and systems?

I don't think you can say it better than this. I have almost 50 years in gaming. A ton of that is in D&D. There are so many things to do with roleplaying that are outside of the typical D&D experience. Heck, there are games that do the D&D experience better than D&D!

Everyone brings their own experiences to the table, and for a lot of folks there are a ton of things left to be explored in D&D. That's fantastic for them. For me? I want to explore something new.

 

[soviet]

I don't think you can say it better than this. I have almost 50 years in gaming. A ton of that is in D&D. There are so many things to do with roleplaying that are outside of the typical D&D experience. Heck, there are games that do the D&D experience better than D&D!

Everyone brings their own experiences to the table, and for a lot of folks there are a ton of things left to be explored in D&D. That's fantastic for them. For me? I want to explore something new.

100%.

Also, D&D is great! AD&D/AD&D 2e is great and 4th edition (sorry not sorry) is great. They both deliver different experiences and deliver them well. Making 'D&D' the default RPG and trying to make it fit everything does a disservice to those other genres/playstyles but also does a disservice to D&D. As Tolkien would say (we talk often) it is like spreading not enough butter over too much toast. Let D&D be D&D and let other RPGs be other RPGs.

 

[soviet]

Many people tell me that Other Worlds is the best RPG to play when you're not playing D&D, also the designer is apparently very handsome and prone to making stupid posts when he is drunk.

 

[MichaelSomething]

To avoid problem design that tries to satisfy people with conflicting desires.

Most of the optional rules in the 2014 DMG were ideas that got floated in the D&D Next Playtest at one point or another but presumably never met the approval threshold to make it into the core rules. In another world where 5e had followed through on the D&D Next’s initial premise of modular design allowing for a build-your-own-edition, I imagine we might have gotten more products with these sorts of cool “official optional” hacks and add-ons. @mearls has talked briefly on here about why that idea never really came together. IIRC playtest feedback just showed very little interest in non-core rules. People seemed to like the idea of the build-you-own-edition when they were imagining everything they didn’t like being cordoned off as “official optional,” but nobody actually wanted the rules they liked to not be part of the core rules.