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Message: <blockquote data-quote="billd91" data-source="post: 8629284" data-attributes="member: 3400">D&D isn't exactly the Ship of Theseus - too many significant changes to the structure as well as individual parts to really be the same.But if we want to use attenuated analogies...might as well have fun with it.OD&D and the basic varieties are like relatively simply sailboats, highly customizable, simple infrastructure1e AD&D gets into more elaborate rigged vessels with multiple masts and more elaborate rules of operation and subsystems2e AD&D takes those rigged vessels and throws wide the various configurations (campaign settings) to the point that nobody can agree on a preferred configuration and the manufacturer can't achieve enough economy of scale to pay the bills3e D&D puts D&D on more modern materials (steel instead of wood hulls) and a more standardized broader system but then throws the plans to everyone to make their own accessories so the whole thing becomes very convoluted4e redesigns D&D to be a catamaran. Sure, it's more stable in a number of ways, but it handles differently and doesn't carry as much as its mono-hulled predecessors5e returns D&D to the mono-hulled sailing ships of pre-3e but with the modern materials filtered through the 3e/4e generations, moreover the manufacturer paces their release of accessories and doesn't oversaturate their own market</blockquote>