D&D General Why the resistance to D&D being a game?

[Cadence]

The F&F does have magic cars. Much like the old TV shows where they did these amazing jumps and you could see the car frame bend while the camera switches and the drivers just zoom off. The Dukes of Hazard went through hundreds of Dodge Chargers filming stunts that totaled the cars. They were absolutely not depicting normal vehicles.

If you're okay with magic cars, that's fine. After all a lot of people like the Transformer movies as well. Me? The F&F movies got silly and I stopped watching them when they were no longer even borderline plausible. You don't get to tell me that my opinion that something is magic is wrong.

So, as a genre, you would clarify almost all action/adventure (from the Dukes of Hazard to James Bond) as supernatural fantasy?

(I have no follow-up to a yes, just clarifying)

 

[pemerton]

The F&F does have magic cars.

Are you sure you're not confusing it with Herbie the Love Bug?

You don't get to tell me that my opinion that something is magic is wrong.

Yes I do. The question of whether events in a story are about the supernatural or not is mostly a question of fact. I've watched several Fast and Furious films. They're not about wizards and magic cars. Any more than any James Bond or Batman or Die Hard or . . . film is about wizards and magical items.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I don't think it would feel supernatural at all - why would the supernatural be a component of straight-laced historical fiction? It would just seem poorly written.

Also , I'm not sure if you're intending to compare D&D - the game in which heroes are inspired by REH's Conan and Merlin and the like - to straight laced historical fiction - but that's not a comparison that I personally would go with.

The idea of goading foes into attacking seems quite consistent with the tone and content of D&D! I mean, REH's Conan survives being crucified in the desert (for weeks, I think it is - the story is A Witch Shall Be Born). That doesn't mean that REH really wrote a story about Wolverine!

Again, that works only if the players only choose to use such an ability when genre-appropriate, and not just whenever they want a mechanical advantage. But that doesn't seem very likely to me. Maybe in your games.

 

[Micah Sweet]

So, as a genre, you would clarify almost all action/adventure (from the Dukes of Hazard to James Bond) as supernatural fantasy?

(I have no follow-up to a yes, just clarifying)

I can definitely see that point of view.

 

[pemerton]

Apparently if you say it isn't magic, then that's all there to it.

What more would you expect to be required? The author of a fiction can author what they want. This particular ability spells out the psychological process involved: the ability says it's about insulting one's foes. And it's well known that insulting people can goad them into attacking.

Just like REH tells us that Conan, mighty thewed as he is, survives his desert crucifixion by dint of his sheer barbarian toughness.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Are you sure you're not confusing it with Herbie the Love Bug?

Yes I do. The question of whether events in a story are about the supernatural or not is mostly a question of fact. I've watched several Fast and Furious films. They're not about wizards and magic cars. Any more than any James Bond or Batman or Die Hard or . . . film is about wizards and magical items.

Remember, only the label matters, right?

 

[Vaalingrade]

But it feels like if one were readings say a pretty straight laced "historical fiction" about the 19x0's that was advertised as such, and everything was plausibly irl realistic, and suddenly something Die Hard or James Bond or Batman-ish happened that it would feel unreal or, maybe supernatural given what the genre was supposed to be.

Genre expectations are understandable.

What's less understandable is expecting grounded historical drama from the book what has a big old dragon on the cover.

 

[Oofta]

So, as a genre, you would clarify almost all action/adventure (from the Dukes of Hazard to James Bond) as supernatural fantasy?

(I have no follow-up to a yes, just clarifying)

I would classify them as a type of fantastical fiction. For Bond it depends on era and movie.

 

[pemerton]

I would classify them as a type of fantastical fiction. For Bond it depends on era and movie.

D&D is also a game of fantastical fiction. It says so right on the box!

 

[Oofta]

Are you sure you're not confusing it with Herbie the Love Bug?

Yes I do. The question of whether events in a story are about the supernatural or not is mostly a question of fact. I've watched several Fast and Furious films. They're not about wizards and magic cars. Any more than any James Bond or Batman or Die Hard or . . . film is about wizards and magical items.

The cars on F&F do things no car could possibly do. The Dukes of Hazard destroyed hundreds of cars doing their stunts because the vehicles were not drivable after doing the jumps.

Same way that Spider-Man does things not humanly possible which means his abilities are not natural. AKA supernatural:

1. of, relating to, or being above or beyond what is natural; unexplainable by natural law or phenomena; abnormal.