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I'm in the mood to elaborate on this, mostly because I love metaphors.
D&D is three games stacked on top of each other in a trenchcoat, pretending to be one game.
No, I don't mean the "three pillars." Those aren't a thing; they're like, I dunno, the hat or something.
Thread. https://twitter.com/JacobSKellogg/status/1327039532961771525
D&D is three games stacked on top of each other in a trenchcoat, pretending to be one game.
No, I don't mean the "three pillars." Those aren't a thing; they're like, I dunno, the hat or something.
Thread. https://twitter.com/JacobSKellogg/status/1327039532961771525
D&D is three games in a trenchcoat.
The bottom game, the legs walking the whole assembly around and holding everyone up, is a tactical combat game. Without it, you've thrown out 90% of the rules; you've toppled the trenchcoat trio.
The bottom game, the legs walking the whole assembly around and holding everyone up, is a tactical combat game. Without it, you've thrown out 90% of the rules; you've toppled the trenchcoat trio.
The middle game is a resource management/attrition game. It's spell slots, it's feature uses, it's HP/HD, it's rests and durations and the scaling difficulty of a long day.
Like the middle trenchcoat person, it is (IME) the most-hidden game despite holding the others together.
Like the middle trenchcoat person, it is (IME) the most-hidden game despite holding the others together.
And the top game, the one with the fake beard who pretends to be the whole unit, is the lightweight roleplay system, where you basically freestyle everything and sprinkle in a few quick rolls organically.
The trenchcoat trio pretends that's the whole game.
The trenchcoat trio pretends that's the whole game.
And here's the kicker: the trenchcoat.
The trenchcoat, the thing all three are relying on to sell the illusion of single identity, is the d20 system. Making each game use the same d20 (regardless of whether it's a good fit) is the source of the illusion that it's one game.
The trenchcoat, the thing all three are relying on to sell the illusion of single identity, is the d20 system. Making each game use the same d20 (regardless of whether it's a good fit) is the source of the illusion that it's one game.
Admittedly the resource game doesn't actually use the d20, but remember: it's the middle person. It's not actually interfacing with the trenchcoat, it's just surrounded by it and hoping nobody notices.
If you'll indulge a brief bit of snark, folks who honestly think D&D is just a generic roleplay engine and It's Rules Light, Actually are people who think the just saw some perfectly normal tall guy in a trenchcoat. When someone says it's a combat game, they point at the top.
But seriously, this model of understanding D&D has helped me tremendously, because it's easier to appreciate the very specific experience D&D combines to create, as well as to understand why it has so many myths about itself in its fandom which drive many folks up the wall.
