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I keep seeing tweets like this one, asking for games which "offer a similar feel" to #DnD.
Problem is, folks don& #39;t know what they hell they& #39;ve been playing all this time.
Folks keep saying "D&D is what you make of it," then ask for recs to match their personal gaming soup. https://twitter.com/the_real_cwb/status/1279699853744971776">https://twitter.com/the_real_...
Problem is, folks don& #39;t know what they hell they& #39;ve been playing all this time.
Folks keep saying "D&D is what you make of it," then ask for recs to match their personal gaming soup. https://twitter.com/the_real_cwb/status/1279699853744971776">https://twitter.com/the_real_...
At face value, D&D is mostly a Tactics & Resources game. Highly detailed combat, attrition, efficiency, with a bit of filler around the edges for everything else.
Is THAT what you& #39;re asking for when you want a similar feel? Because there are indeed games like that.
Is THAT what you& #39;re asking for when you want a similar feel? Because there are indeed games like that.
But lots of folks lose their shit at the above description, instead insisting it& #39;s a collaborative storytelling game, not about combat.
So are you asking for a game that lets you shoot the breeze in-character and roll a check now and then? That& #39;s a different set of recs.
So are you asking for a game that lets you shoot the breeze in-character and roll a check now and then? That& #39;s a different set of recs.
Or maybe what gives it that D&D "feel" is picking a fantasy race and class to stick together and playing in the context of established tropes. Do you just need a race/class game with a spell list? Yet another list of games you might like.
And the part that really makes it hard is that so much of the D&D community is ADAMANT that their personal flavor is the essence of D&D, rather than their own offshoot.
That is, when someone just says "D&D," we literally don& #39;t know what game they mean.
That is, when someone just says "D&D," we literally don& #39;t know what game they mean.
Because we let D&D pretend to be universal fantasy roleplaying, everybody ended up convinced their way was "normal," to the point that a bunch of mutually-exclusive "normals" are equally likely to be meant when someone references D&D.
So when someone says they want something "like D&D," what do we tell them?
Something tactical?
Something that& #39;s little more than rolling checks?
Something with the right set dressing?
Something else?
We could just ask them, but...
Something tactical?
Something that& #39;s little more than rolling checks?
Something with the right set dressing?
Something else?
We could just ask them, but...
...we as a community have trained each other to not be able to answer that question. If you believe you& #39;re playing D&D "normally" then you can& #39;t articulate whether your game is combat-heavy or combat-light.
Like, somebody who has 2 combats per session and somebody who has one combat per 3 sessions might describe themselves the same way because they don& #39;t share a common baseline for the default amount of combat. In fact, the community has taught them to be offended by the very idea.
After years (decades?) of telling people "D&D is what you make it" and pretending it& #39;s not a combat game but also combat is normal but also freeform shenanigans are normal and everything is the default and nothing is personalized and everything is personalized but still normal...
