Yet Another Contest: In A World Without D&D...

[VV_GM]

In A World Without D&D...

We all know that D&D is the 800 lb. gorilla when it comes to RPGs. But what if this were one of them there alternate universes, eh? One where there was no such thing as D&D, and yet RPGs still existed.

Tell us what non-D&D game would have taken the top spot and why, and we'll give you an electronic copy of an RPG from RPGnow.com! Don't worry about the timeline or anything like that, we don't care if the game came out before (there technically were RPGs before D&D), around the same time, or even last week. We just want to know why you think the game is the rightful ruler of the RPG world in this strange land of Nodeean'Dee.

What do you have to do?

As always, we don't like difficult contests. We like contests that promote thinking though. So you don't have to juggle knives or anything like that. Just write a post of 250 words or less telling us why your choice is the ultimate D&D replacement. Post that bad boy right here in the contest thread and then wait to see if the YMIAT staff agrees with you!

How do you win?

Win by writing the best reason for your choice to be the only choice! Impress us with your RPG Fu! As always it is a double jeopardy process.  First you have to convince our two moderators Rick_TWA and Telas that you are right.  Then they'll submit their favorite three each to site owner VV_GM, that's me.  I'll pick the winner from the entries I receive and one runner-up as well.

What will you win?

On Friday July 10th at noon I will announce the winners and send them gifts via RPGNow. The winner and the runner-up will each get a new RPG in PDF format.

The fine print.

One entry per person, and no editing an entry after it has been posted. Make sure that your post is no more than 250 words long. All entries must be posted no later then Thursday July 9th midnight U.S. central time. YMIAT staff are excluded from winning any prizes (sorry guys).

So what would be the D&D in a world without D&D? We don't know, but we're about to find out!

[Sven]

I believe that if we lived in a world without Dungeons and Dragons as the dominating force, that spot would be filled by the World of Darkness.  Aside from Dungeons and Dragons, the World of Darkness is the only other roleplaying game to inspire a following large enough for the general public to notice.   Even in a world with Dungeons and Dragons, the World of Darkness got spun off into a large number of books and a television show, and it could be argued that the Underworld series of movies was significantly influenced by the setting.

The World of Darkness also brought live action roleplaying to a large number of players.  Love or hate LARP, you can’t deny that it has had an impact on the way the world views roleplaying games.

To me it seems obvious that the replacement for Dungeons and Dragons would be the World of Darkness in a world where the former does not exist.  I’m glad we only have to postulate such a thing as a theoretical exercise, however.

[VV_GM]

Welcome to the tavern, Sven! Glad to see ouf first entry for this contest as well.

[drow]

in a world without dungeons and dragons, the premier role-playing game would be PGESFAFS.  PGESFAFS, you ask?  paranoid genetically-engineered small furry animals from space.  you see, in a world without dungeons and dragons, i would've had time to complete this masterpiece without the distractions of playing various characters such as dagorgon, human fighter and master of the blade, or marlint, human wizard and arcane demigod.  the distractions of their adventures across the world, into the planes, and the founding of their fiefdoms.  or, for that matter, the distractions of running my own adventures and campaigns.

PGESFAFS featured a loosely classed point-buy system, a revolutionary combat and skill resolution system, and was playable with nothing more than one core rulebook, paper and pencil, and either d6 or standard polyhedral dice.  it encouraged role-playing through its goal and achievement oriented advancement system, while providing comprehensive tactical and strategic combat, with varying levels of detail and speed.  it was, briefly, brilliant.

alas, because of D&D, this gem of gaming remains uncut and unpolished, scattered across a dozen documents on a rotting and obsolete 3.5" floppy disk somewhere.

[VV_GM]

*Looks at Drow with one eyebrow raised.*

Seriously, you want me to believe that and justify an excuse that every gamer will use for explaining why their magnum opus of a game was never finished? "I was too busy gaming to finish my ultimate game for gaming!" Yeah, right...



Great post though!

[lamguin]

Sans DnD, I’d also have to assume that fantasy is no longer the norm for tabletop gaming. Perhaps it never caught on.

Ideally, I’d see Steampunk filling this gap. But, since I’m not really familiar with any good Steampunk games (hint: a link or two would be super-duper lamguin @ yahoo . com) I guess I’ll allow Cyberpunk to reign supreme in this strangely dystopian world.

Cyberpunk, of course, leads to ShadowRun. Not my favorite system, but elegant in its way. Six-sided dice are extremely easy to find even in a non-gamer’s home.

Taking elements of 1984, Snow Crash, Neuromancer, and, what the hey, even a little Running Man for flavor, ShadowRun’s cruel dystopia is one heck of a good time.

[galbeagle]

My vote for the Counter-Earth 800 lb gorilla is actually a mated pair of 400 lb gorillas. Between them they cover a lot of genre ground, and they have great backstories in their campaign worlds.

First, 7th Sea, a swashbuckling, pirate-y, musketeer-ish, skullduggery-full game that combines sorcery, cut-throat politics and court intrigue with rooftop chases, swinging from chandeliers and romance. The rules are simple, and designed to encourage the most outrageously cinematic scenes you can come up with. The setting allows you to play in the supernatural, or as explorers, as courtiers in the sharp-tongued world of royal court, as rogue defenders of justice, or as spies. In different parts of this world you'll fine cossacks, the beginnings of Italian-style mobsters, a court to challenge the viciousness of Louis XIV, the tension of the Christian Reformation, the Inquisition, and of course, knights, musketeers and pirates.

Second, Deadlands, which is like crossing the old TV show The Wild Wild West with Cthulhu. The system is elegant and flavorful. The setting is wildly original, and supports gaming as straight western, or as supernatural horror, or even as apocalyptic. You like mad science? you got it. Gritty horror? in abundance. Creepy supernatural? beware the dark. The Wild West? well, cowboy, welcome to it. The gold rush? lemme introduce you to ghost rock.

With all of that going on, who needs DnD anyway?

[VV_GM]

lamguin - Welcome to the tavern! Shadowrun is one of those games that certainly is a staple of the RPG community. Another great "What If?" contender for the top spot!

galbeagle - I haven't played 7th Sea, but I hear good things about it. I am a huge fan of Deadlands, both the original and the Savage Worlds version.

[Randolpho]

Ok, I might as well give this contest a try.

I would argue that in a world without D&D, Star Wars d6 RPG* would be the king of the hill. Although the d6 system was one of the best skill-based RPG mechanics out there, the real reason Star Wars RPG would be the system to beat is the setting. Star Wars is one of those settings that has something for everyone: magic, technology, swords, guns, epic struggle, redemption, good vs. evil, moral ambiguity, exotic locales, strange creatures -- if you can think of it, odds are Star Wars has it. It has an allure that brings people from all backgrounds flocking to it. If the rules were crap, people would have volumes of house rules, but they’d still play the basic system just to be playing Star Wars. But the rules weren’t crap; they were easy to learn and fun to use, providing character progress and fun gameplay. That combination is a hit no matter how you look at it. If it weren’t for D&D, Star Wars RPG would have been the only game in town.


*Note: Star Wars d6 is a great game -- one of the best -- but I feel Star Wars Saga Edition is better. It is, however, a d20 game and therefore derived from D&D. I therefore do not list it.

[VV_GM]

Randolpho - Welcome to the tavern! I can see your point since D&D grabbed the attention of Tolkien fans that Star Wars would have naturally drawn all of the little Jedi wannabes to the table.

[DMN]

Who’s gonna save the world from D&D?  Superheroes!  And not just any superheroes, but those created in the totally awesome, single die system that is Mutants & Masterminds.  POW!  If you like comic books (or the movies derived from them), then this is the system for you.  Any power imaginable can be purchased:  invisibility, flight, elongate, super-strength, telekinesis, energy control, duplication, negation, telepathy, and hundreds more.  KA-BLAM!  You can play any style you like, from a gritty street-level game to classic Silver Age or Golden Age to world saving Four-Color to yes, even dungeon-delving swords and sorcery.  BOOM!  With the judicious use of a rewarding Hero Point, the GM can control the flow of the game by changing the outcome of the game (i.e. GM fiat-booooo).  Written into the rules, this allows the GM to give the player the ability to change the flow of the game at a later time (like against the BBEG-yaaaaaaaay) for increasing the suspense of the moment in the here and now.  BANG!  I mentioned a single die.  That die is a d20.  Attackers roll the die against a defense, and upon a successful hit, the defender rolls the die against one of four saving throws.  Success means nothing happens, failure and you take damage along a damage track based on how poorly you missed the save.  Simplicity.  KA-BLOOEY! 

I highly recommend this game system, if for nothing else it allows you to smack down that 800-pound gorilla!  CRRRRRACK!

[orklord]

If the world never had Dungeons and Dragons… then the first role-playing game might not have grown out of a miniatures battle game like Chainmail.  With that in mind, the first role-playing game wouldn’t have tried to emulate combat first and foremost, so it could have evolved as a result of a powerful medium like… television.

That’s why Primetime Adventures was created: a role-playing game using a regular deck of cards and poker chips that allowed the playgroup to create their own fiction television series with their imaginations.  Primetime Adventures became the juggernaut of role-playing games because of its simple engine used to generate stories and tools that encourage collaboration between the playgroup.

When video games came along, PTA was quickly adopted to the new systems.  Video game consoles created real-time voice and video chat to enable players across the globe to play PTA.  Whole PTA Virtual Networks were developed that quickly opened up to audiences, which gave rise to PTA 7th Edition, which added audience participation rules.  When Apple released the first podcasts, recorded “episodes” of PTA became the new underground entertainment.

Since PTA was created to allow a playgroup to imagine “the greatest TV Show that never was”, the game had no boundaries: fans of every age played PTA through every edition and variant.  The media caught on and PTA not only became a game played by actual TV writers for inspiration, several reality shows featured accomplished playgroups of PTA.

[ardak2000]

The best replacement D&D?  I would have to say Dave Hargrave’s Arduin.  For a true down to earth roleplaying experience, the system just oozes atmosphere and sucks you in.  From it’s non-traditional races and classes, to it’s extremely creative spells and magic items, the game never loses that “magic” we’ve all experienced the first time we played an RPG.  The system is open and multi-genre, and can therefore be adapted to any setting, a feature that many younger rulesets claim but still struggle to master..  The designer also dispensed with the whole idea of “Encounter Levels”, choosing instead to create an environment where it was possible for Players to encounter anything the gameworld had to offer, at any time.  This leads to a much more intense and visceral game experience, promotes immersiveness and provides more opportunities for true roleplaying.  At the time D&D was taking the world by storm, Arduin was it’s only major competitor.  It stands to reason that if D&D didn’t exist, AG (Arduin Grimoire, as it was called then) would have certainly gained more of a following than it has.

[jasales]

Savage worlds would be the ultimate D&D replacement as it is a simple system to learn yet has endless rules interactions at the table to make everything more exciting. It is not a rules light system, it is a rules elegant system. Combats take much less time to run yet you can pull off a near endless array of situations. It is better for the GM because statting villains and monsters is a snap. The core rules include character gen, character advancement, powers, a gm guide, monsters, rules for chases, and mass combat.  And, the core rule book costs 10 dollars! While there is no open license the license to produce Savage Worlds products is FREE, if you meet high quality standards. This assures customers a top notch supplement regardless of who sells them. This also avoids the “glut” that the d20 market experienced. And the top reason Savage Worlds would be the ultimate D&D replacement is that it is going to happen anyway. Better to have done it in the past and save everyone the embarrassment.

[VV_GM]

Just a reminder that you have until July 9th midnight central standard time to post your pick for the king of RPGs in a world without D&D. What game would own the tabletop if Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson had decided to raise goats and start an herbal cheese business instead? Let us know!

[neosonichdghg]

Four years after Dave Arneson and Gary Gygax put together an obscure variant on the rules of a popular tabletop wargame, a man named George Peretti publishes a collectible card game called ‘A Thousand Worlds’. It expands upon the burgeoning concept of collectible games, coupling a soft science fiction setting with a rich base set of ships, characters, and locations. The game is a moderate success, partly due to its similarity to Star Wars, and within a few years two expansions have been added.

The ‘Stellar Explorers’ set adds a high proportion of characters, fleshing out the different races and organizations in the setting. Building on enthusiasm for the new faces, the ‘Moons of Eridae’ set expands upon the rules for characters interacting with location cards. It also includes a great number of specific locations within the existing worlds, allowing the characters to explore the setting in greater depth.

The groundswell of enthusiasm for the new rules prompts Peretti to publish the ‘Stellar Explorer’s Handbook’, an expanded ruleset based on the structure introduced in ‘Moons of Eridae’. Most famously, it includes rules for building new characters and custom ships for them to pilot. Sales of the Handbook soon eclipse the card game itself, and George Peretti refocuses on developing it.

The game that emerges is a true child of CCG’s. Characters’ abilities are closely tied to the effects of locations and ships, and classes never develop. Dice are largely abandoned for complex specific capabilities, and careful strategy dominates chance.

[neosonichdghg]

Crap, I didn't see the 'no editing' rule. It was just one word, I promise.

[VV_GM]

Sorry, but the rules are the rules and any edit disqualifies the entry. That said, we will have many more contests in the future here at YMIAT. Just consider this one a test run.

[neosonichdghg]

Fair.

[Rick_TWA]

Sorry, but the rules are the rules and any edit disqualifies the entry. That said, we will have many more contests in the future here at YMIAT. Just consider this one a test run.

We usually get an entrant or two that runs afoul of the rules, so you're not alone.  And, as always, it disqualifies great entries.  I think, last contest, we had an entrant with an excellent entry that was ONE WORD over our word limit.  Little things like that are always a bummer, but we wouldn't be anal retentive good GMs if we weren't fair.