Dungeons & Dragons and IT 243
boyko.at.netqos writes "An editorial in Network Performance Daily tries to take a (1d6) stab at explaining why geeky engineering types are also typically the types that enjoy a rousing game of D&D. From the article "The greatest barrier to creativity is a lack of boundaries. Counter-intuitive — almost zen-like — but we've found it to be true. This is why people play Dungeons & Dragons (and similar games), and why network engineers often spend time putting out fires when they could be improving the network."
Giant In The Park (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Wait...? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Giant In The Playground* (Score:1, Informative)
d4 (Score:2, Informative)
Re:The real reason D&D is so appealing (Score:3, Informative)
Re:It's simpler. (Score:3, Informative)
If you have not played D&D since AD&D 2nd edition (or maybe 1st edition?) then I can see how you might hold this opinion, but they really addressed most of those issues when they converted the game over to the D20 system and the newest release, 3.5 I believe, fixed most of the minor errata that were still hanging around from the conversion. The level of rule consistency in D&D (3.5) today is probably at least as good as the Hero System (5th edition), although Hero is more flexible (i.e. you can play almost ANY type of game with Hero whereas the D&D rules, with the possible exception of the core D20 stuff, is limited to the fantasy setting). The criticism was valid ten (10) years ago, but not as much anymore...IMHO.
As well, D&D never seemed to lend itself to roleplaying.
In my own experience the game, regardless of system, is mostly what the players and the GM choose to make of it. The system might get in the way of game sometimes, but if your players are more interested in cracking jokes and taking PlayStation breaks then it doesn't matter if you have the greatest rules system in the world...the game is going to fall apart.
If all you were looking for was a number-crunching dungeon crawl and stat min-maxing, great, go with D&D, otherwise, prepare for defeat at the hands of only a die roll.
Again, I think that this is an unfair criticism. It is true that the combat system in Rolemaster for example leads to very deadly outcomes because one bad roll can spell utter defeat. However, it is also true that sometimes the GM doesn't want to kill off the character on the basis of a single bad die roll, especially if the characters roleplayed the situation well or if they were clever and didn't insist on doing something that was obviously stupid. The rules sometimes get in the way of the game, regardless of system, and the GM should step in to smooth things out and keep things entertaining. I am not saying that the player characters should never have to suffer the consequences of their actions, but sometimes the outcomes need to be adjusted based upon the judgment of the GM and that can be the difference between a really entertaining and memorable campaign and just another game.