D&D General What makes D&D feel like D&D?

[Dioltach]

Dungeons. And dragons.

 

[JEB]

"What makes D&D feel like D&D" is a different set than "what are my favorite parts of 5e". I love Advantage/Disadvantage, but if 6e didn't have it I wouldn't decry that it wasn't D&D. (I would be sad though.)

I like advantage/disadvantage quite a bit myself, but I actually didn't vote for it. In fact, I didn't vote for a number of the things I listed up there as options... but I figured someone else might see them as more critical than I do, so why not include them?

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

I debated about whether to include specific lineages and classes in my vote. In the end, I decided not to. You could totally have a campaign where the only choices are barbarian, druid, or ranger and it would still be D&D. You could run a campaign with just tieflings, or no elves, and it would still feel like D&D. Heck, you could shave it down to just playing human fighters and still be playing D&D.

 

[cmad1977]

The DM.

 

[Sacrosanct]

Public ostracization
religious panic
coloring in the monsters
rules lawyers
min/maxers
hand drawn maps

Can you tell I grew up in the 80s?

 

[Stormonu]

Ah, coloring monsters - I have the 80’s D&D coloring book. That thing was not meant for kids!

 

[aco175]

That was when you you had a bunch of henchmen behind the party carrying extra spears and the lantern.

 

[Rob Kuntz]

Playing it.

 

[pemerton]

There are plenty of RPGs - especially from the late 70s/early 80s - that use D&D-like ability scores. Rolemaster and RQ both uses races. RM uses XP and levels. RQ and Burning Wheel have lists of spells. Many RPGs use equipment lists as a component of PC building. D&D can easily be played without alignment.

What distinguishes D&D in play, for me, is that a good chunk of a given player's moves are the result of class choice; and the core of action resolution is AC, hp and saving throws.

 

[Tonguez]

I debated about whether to include specific lineages and classes in my vote. In the end, I decided not to. You could totally have a campaign where the only choices are barbarian, druid, or ranger and it would still be D&D. You could run a campaign with just tieflings, or no elves, and it would still feel like D&D. Heck, you could shave it down to just playing human fighters and still be playing D&D.

Yes but you’re still playing with a specific Class and race choice when you do that. By choosing an all Fighter campaign you are explicitly choosing to Not have spellcasting PCs - thats still a Class based game