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Does/Should D&D Have the Player's Game Experience as a goal?
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<blockquote data-quote="Li Shenron" data-source="post: 9235770" data-attributes="member: 1465"><p>That is in fact the starting and ending point of any game, even if it sounds a bit simplistic. I recommend reading the book "The Art of Game Design" if you haven't already.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>D&D quickly grew from Chainmail into something already so wide and encompassing that any attempts at narrowing down the target experience to help design carries a serious risk of alienating too many players. Even editions which focused on certain experience elements (like 3e "system mastery") still maintained a much larger flexibility than most non-RPG games.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Why would it be? I treat each edition of D&D as a toolbox for hundreds of possible different ways to play the game, and experience is at the centre of my decisions on how to use the toolbox each time.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>If you mean, would D&D benefit from providing direct guidance e.g. in DMG on how to use the toolbox to achieve the wanted experience, obviously yes.</p><p></p><p>if you mean, would D&D benefit from having a more specific experience goal during design, then no: it would benefit only whatever minority has exactly the same experience goal, which would have a better system for their purpose at someone else's expense. That's good for specialised RPG systems, while D&D is mostly generic.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Not really, because it is a discussion that generally goes around much before we even set a date for playing. It happens when people are casually talking about "should we have a horror campaign next summer?", "yeah but let's make it more about solving mysteries than fighting", "how about making sure the PC's own wits matter this time, if we get stuck with the plot?", "and include death spirals for more drama!", "but please avoid comic relief as they break my SoD... make it serious, make it creepy!".</p><p></p><p>Then the DM collects thoughts and browses books for ideas, and maybe ends up collecting a list of non-combat character options, picks monsters with weird abilities that are not about HP damage, design puzzles and problem solving challenges with attached ability checks for clues, chooses to use the insanity rules module plus ability-draining monsters and traps, and plans the proper room dressing and favourite horror movies soundtrack playlist...</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Li Shenron, post: 9235770, member: 1465"] That is in fact the starting and ending point of any game, even if it sounds a bit simplistic. I recommend reading the book "The Art of Game Design" if you haven't already. D&D quickly grew from Chainmail into something already so wide and encompassing that any attempts at narrowing down the target experience to help design carries a serious risk of alienating too many players. Even editions which focused on certain experience elements (like 3e "system mastery") still maintained a much larger flexibility than most non-RPG games. Why would it be? I treat each edition of D&D as a toolbox for hundreds of possible different ways to play the game, and experience is at the centre of my decisions on how to use the toolbox each time. If you mean, would D&D benefit from providing direct guidance e.g. in DMG on how to use the toolbox to achieve the wanted experience, obviously yes. if you mean, would D&D benefit from having a more specific experience goal during design, then no: it would benefit only whatever minority has exactly the same experience goal, which would have a better system for their purpose at someone else's expense. That's good for specialised RPG systems, while D&D is mostly generic. Not really, because it is a discussion that generally goes around much before we even set a date for playing. It happens when people are casually talking about "should we have a horror campaign next summer?", "yeah but let's make it more about solving mysteries than fighting", "how about making sure the PC's own wits matter this time, if we get stuck with the plot?", "and include death spirals for more drama!", "but please avoid comic relief as they break my SoD... make it serious, make it creepy!". Then the DM collects thoughts and browses books for ideas, and maybe ends up collecting a list of non-combat character options, picks monsters with weird abilities that are not about HP damage, design puzzles and problem solving challenges with attached ability checks for clues, chooses to use the insanity rules module plus ability-draining monsters and traps, and plans the proper room dressing and favourite horror movies soundtrack playlist... [/QUOTE]
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Does/Should D&D Have the Player's Game Experience as a goal?
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