D&D 5th Edition: Thread #7

[obryn]

Mechanics are not tropes; D&D is no less "D&D" in 3.x because they got rid of THAC0 than 5e would be less D&D because it has Fighters who don't suck or a Diplomacy mechanic that made sense.

As a shining example, if Dungeon World turns out as well as it looks like it might, it could be better at "being D&D" than D&D is. ;)

I think what we've been looking at over the years is that the core concepts of D&D were more or less calcified after AD&D. That's when the basic D&D "genre" hit the cultural consciousness, and it's been so fruitful it's hard to imagine the entertainment world without it. Since then, 3e, 4e, and - now - 13th Age, Dungeonworld, a multitude of OSR games, and most other fantasy RPGs (or RPGs with fantasy add-ons like GURPS and Savage Worlds) try to emulate the tropes of the genre - all with different mechanics.

-O