"You dont play D&D, Mister!"

[Amalricus]

I was sitting in my living room, enjoying an adult beverage and talking with my RPG group a few weeks ago. We say we game, but we are old friends, and we often only get together once a month, so the initial hour is usually taken up with conversation and rehashing old adventures of characters long past. Understand I am an old head. I emerged from the epicenter of RPGing, two degrees of seperation from the orgins ot the game. The issue with this is, I call anything that is rpging "D&D" unless it is some totally different system.

I dont say "Come on over and game" I say "Lets hook up at my place for some D&D, bring beer"

last month a friend interjected and told me flat out "You dont play D&D."

It was a shock, but you know, he was right. I play a fantasy d20 or OGL game, loosely based on the D&D product. I have taken spade ad trowel to the entire ruleset, stealing from any source I enjoy, in order to make the system fit the tone and theme of the setting. I have changed magic, combat, and dont use CRs. New players look at me like deer in the headlights when I hand them a campaign book. Old players, who have helped me craft the rules and often use some or all of them in games they run, are heretical iconoclasts. I suppose I am an iconoclast as well.

Damn

So there it is. I dont play "D&D" at all. I am not sure I can call up friends and say "head on over with beer, we are going to play a hybriod d20/OGL game today". It lacks the same punch, doesnt it?

Amalric the Iconoclast

 

[Kanegrundar]

:Shrug:

I do the same thing, but I still say that I play D&D. Throughout each edition, I've modified it enough that I guess you couldn't say outright that I play D&D, but that's the base, so that's essentially what I play.

Kane

 

[Dragonhelm]

D&D isn't just a rules set. D&D is a term that can also mean "fantasy roleplaying".

Let's say that you're telling someone that you're playing D&D. What does that mean exactly? Basic D&D? AD&D 1e or 2e? D&D 3e or 3.5e? All of these systems are D&D systems, yet they have big differences. Quite honestly, I would look at Castles and Crusades as D&D as well. Really, it is another D&D variant.

So if anyone gives you crap about it, just laugh. Technicalities like that are not worth worrying about. D&D is not only a game system (or multiple game systems), it's fantasy roleplaying in general. It's a certain feel in roleplaying. Above all, it should be fun.

 

[Desdichado]

enjoying an adult beverage

?

?

Anyway, yeah--I play D&D, but I don't run it. I've purposefully made so many changes that we don't call it D&D anymore, and it's not supposed to feel like D&D.

So what? Yes, we do on occasion play other games too--Call of Cthulhu, Traveller, World of Darkness; is there something magical about D&D that I'm not getting that it is the only game that can be played?

 

[Krieg]

Of course IMO virtually none of us are playing D&D these days....for the most part we're just playing a D20 conversion of D&D.

 

[Odhanan]

Why should you care, Amalricus?

Drink beer, have fun. If it's D&D to you, it's sufficient. We're always the iconoclast of some other person. Let's just ignore them and enjoy ourselves, shall we?

 

[DnDChick]

I think "D&D" as a term is about to cross that threshold that Coke, Band-Aids, Kleenex, Oreos, and Xerox each crossed long ago. It is a trademarked brand name, to be sure, but it's also become somewhat generic as a representative of similar successful products.

When I tell people I am into role-playing games, I usually get a foggy look. When I sayd I play D&D, they know at once what I mean even if I have to add further descriptors like "it's like D&D, but with Star Wars," or "it's like D&D, but set in Middle Earth like the Lord of the Rings movies," and so on. The mundanes may not "get" D&D, but they know vaguely what it is.

 

[Lalato]

I'm the same way. I have a friend who is my exact opposite, however. Every time I say D&D, he'll interject something like... "we're actually playing Iron Heroes."

My stock response: "Same difference..."

--sam

 

[ruleslawyer]

What Erica said.

Just because my game liberally uses elements from Iron Heroes, Arcana Evolved, Spycraft, Grim Tales, and Black Company don't mean it can't be called "D&D." I can't remember the last time I heard someone walk into a pub and order a Virgin Cola, after all.

 

[Ranger REG]

So there it is. I dont play "D&D" at all. I am not sure I can call up friends and say "head on over with beer, we are going to play a hybriod d20/OGL game today". It lacks the same punch, doesnt it?

Shrugs.

Why not just mention the actual game? If someone tells me to come play D&D, I'm gonna bring my Player's Handbook rather than my MechWarrior: The BattleTech Role-Playing Game book or my Mutants & Masterminds.