Defining the core of D&D
Filed under Love Your Geek on March 31, 2008
Keywords: core rules, Dungeons and Dragons
I brought up the idea last week of Dungeons & Dragons being defined by a core set of rules or mechanics. I have my opinion, but I’m reluctant to be dogmatic about it. D&D is as much about the experience for some people as it is about how you play.
That said, having played AD&D, AD&D 2nd edition, and the D&D Basic and Expert boxed sets (I also owned the Campaign, Masters and Immortals rules, but never played a game using them), and 3/3.5E, here are the common elements that form D&D in my mind:
- Six abilities: STR, INT, WIS, DEX, CON, CHA. The order may have changed, but these are the foundation that separates D&D character creation from other systems.
- Races and classes: another building block of D&D characters, though not as unique in execution as the six abilities. Races and classes where synonymous in the original release of the game, and maintained in the D&D boxed sets. Even though AD&D and D&D 3E pulled them apart, you have always been able to play a fighter, thief (rogue), magic-user (wizard), elf, dwarf, or halfling (hobbit, in the early days).
- Hit Points and Armor Class: the two most important statistics in combat remain, though in 4E, Hit Points are no longer rolled, and higher AC replaced lower AC as more desirable in 3E.
- Initiative: another system-defining combat mechanic, though the rules for it have varied over editions.
- Dice rolling: sure, every RPG uses dice, but what dice are used and how is unique to each system. 3E saw a huge shift toward the d20 for D&D, but you still rolled dice for the same things as previous editions. 4E changes that (see Hit Points).
- “Men fight monsters with swords and magic.”: This phrase is used by the editors of Forgotten Realms novels to define the central theme of each and every story they solicit. I think it also captures the D&D game experience. It certainly isn’t unique to fantasy RPGs, but any game I play that operates under this theme will be compared to Dungeons & Dragons, the grandfather of them all.
There are probably a few more things that I’d categorize as the core of D&D, but these are the ones that come first to mind. What do you consider to be the defining characteristics of Dungeons & Dragons?
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April 1st, 2008 at 5:16 am
Well, you’ve certainly nailed down the core features, so I don’t really have anything to add to your list.
My key defining characteristicsfor D&D is that it is a class-based fantasy RPG. The classes are fairly iconic - fighter, cleric, thief, and magic-user (or whatever modern terminology you want to use). Class defines clearly what your character can and cannot do, and in all versions of the game, the group is really challenged in most encounters without a decent mix of classes.
You could tweak most of the other categories above, I think, and the game would still (arguably) be D&D, depending on the extent of those changes. I don’t think a “class-free” version of D&D is possible.
April 2nd, 2008 at 11:54 am
Excellent list, Kam!
What about gnomes? Aren’t gnomes core?
Wait… no… never mind
Seriously, I think Mike’s right - class-based is definitely an essential part of D&D beyond what you’ve listed. I really like your insight on ““Men fight monsters with swords and magic.”