“What do you think Dungeons and Dragons is? What defines it for you? Is it the art? The settings? The rules? Besides the name what do you think makes it different than any other fantasy rpg? If you prefer D&D, why?”
@RogueScholarMDC (Twitter)
It was what they originally achieved; a feeling of living in a state of wonder captured in The Hobbit, LotR, when discovering it for the first time specifically the part where the Hobbits leave the Shire, as metaphor for going into the world beyond childhood and experiencing anticipatory taste of adulthood before you get there. Prolonging of disbelief. Tolkien connects this symbolically with entering Forests (through the Hedge, into Mirkwood, Fangorn).
D&D 1st ed does the same with the Moria encodement as Players delve into the game.
The magic evoked by escapist fantasy which we fast become immune and hardened to by dealing with real life hardships and the mundanity of what used to be exciting.
“Those were simpler times.” Or is it “Those were better times” I can’t recall
But D&D is multi-level. The challenges of overcoming traps and tricks, riddles and battles, getting the gold, defeating the nemesis, saving the world, drinking by a tavern hearth afterward and telling the tale… 2nd edition opens up the world to Arthurian mythologies, the lands…
That was my generation ‘back in the day’ before videogames and Willow. We had books for inspiration to share adventures with our friends. Source mythologies became Dragonlance and soon became Stormbringer. The original passion was lost into derivations and developments.
It became corporate during the 80s, lost its connection to that folk-origin feeling of creative people discovering a new wonderful thing for the first time. For a while it balanced a fine line between catering to a need for living in all the potential worlds, and capitalising (milking the cash cow). Pretty much what D&D became after the 70s energy was wrung dry out of it.
D&D is now a political tool for pushing woke agendas by using drama to provoke reaction.
And to charge $ for doing it.
“What do you most look forward to in ttrpgs?”
@SabrinaTeenWitch (Twitter)
That’s a good question.
Storytelling challenging the Players & GM alike towards critical thinking.
The feeling of having some amount of control in life (albeit a fictional one).
Alleviation of boredom.
Exploring consequences for actions.
It’s not the characters I care about levelling up so much as watching that happen in the players as result of game sessions.
Being involved with developing an immersive universe.