A fellow whose work I admire quite a lot even though we largely cover very different games is the one and only Kelvin Green. Kelvin has been good enough to participate with a question I was thinking might come up (or something like it)...
Question #2 from Kelvin Green
You say often that
D&D isn't for you (which is cool), but under what
circumstances/modifications *would* D&D work for you, and would it still be
recognisable as D&D?
The answer to this is both very easy and fairly involved. The short answer, focusing on the latter part first, is no - my version of D&D would probably not be recognizable as D&D. I could and have created a D&D that works for me relative to standard D&D. I usually refer to it as D&D AD or D&D-But-Not. This would be me running a game that tries to stick fairly close to the general elements of D&D and its mechanics - Classes, Levels, Hit Points, etc. - but which I can run without pulling my hair out.
Now, looking at the first part of the question, 'under what circumstances/modifications would D&D work for you' well...that is a wholly different beast. There are sooo many components of D&D that I really don't like that would require significantly modifiying the game for me to actually enjoy it. If I did this to even half of the parts that irk me I would likely create a brand new game.
Here are some examples:
Classes and Levels
I don't like Classes and Levels. I find them both limiting and not giving you anything special enough to warrant the limitations. D&D is a certain way, it has a particular feel and approach. All Player Characters should possess the abilities necessary to function in a D&D game effectively and as such they should start with a template that does those things.
A great example of this is Star Trek; in Star Trek Adventures, every PC has Command, Con (Helm and Navigation), Security, Engineering, Science, and Medicine. They can all fly a ship, fire a Phaser, and apply First Aid. All the PCs in the game can do what needs to be done in the Star Trek universe. Some people are better at certain things than others of course. The Science Officer is likely better at using the ship's Sensors than the Security Officer is but the Security Officer can use the Sensors.
D&D should be like this. Everyone should start as an 'Adventurer'. Adventurers should be able to Hide/Sneak, Fight, Steal, Climb, Repair their own gear, Cook a simple meal, and Heal the minor wounds of themselves and others. On top of this, each character could have a Profession or Career (perhaps more like Traveller, Alien, or Icon System's Overlays) that give them skills and talents specific to their chosen job.
Special, unusual abilities should be choosable or purchasable by anyone - it always bugged me that with D&D proper you can't easily create a character like Elric of Melnibone, Gray Mouser, or Fam from the Anime/Manga Ruin Explorers. Want to be a Thief or Warrior who casts Spells or a Magician/Swordfighter? Tough. Oh you can do it but we're gonna make it a real pain in the arse. Why? What if you, ya'know, didn't make it that way?
Combat
Where to start...Go faster please. Be more flexible please. I understand that many people like the tacital, boardgame-y nature of D&D combat but it is anathema to me the way that game handles it. As I've said before, the game feels like it was written by people who've never been in a fight. The system shows its War Game roots but most of the time we're not talking about war conditions. Most D&D encounters are closer to a street gang or bar fight.
Add to this the fact that some of the characters have superhuman strength, resistance to various elements like fire or lightning, ranged weapons, and oh yeah, freakin' MAGIC, Fantasy fights should be waaay more interesting, fast paced, and creative. My mechanics would be much less 'what can I do in this fight' and much more 'what I wanna do is X' and then you figure out how to make it happen.
Magic
I...just...ugh...Ars Magica. Just use Ars Magica. Good grief D&D Magic. If not Ars Magica then just something, anything, that isn't D&D Magic.
So let's take a look at what I have here...hmmm...is a D&D without Classes and Levels, more flexible, dynamic, and less war game-y Combat, and a completely different Magic System still D&D? What if I add Advantages and Disadvantages, a completely different way of handling Experience Points and Advancement, a Health Status instead of Hit Points, Armor that actually protects you from Damage, and....yeah.
The biggest issue I have with D&D and the one thing I can't really modify is the mindset of the people who make it. The overall approach Wizards of the Coast takes when developing and publishing D&D [and TSR before it] just rubs me the wrong way. It feels, to me, restrictive and overly legislated. Its not just that the mechanics seems somewhat inflexible but the approach to the creation of the game seems inflexible. The longer the game it exists, the more legislated and mechanics heavy it feels.
At this point it's just easier for me to find or make a different game.
Now if I only had the time to do that.
AD
Barking Alien
