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The D&D Edition Wars in my Game's Setting

Started by chronoplasm, June 26, 2009, 07:49:58 AM

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chronoplasm

I'm thinking of making fun of the edition wars in my games default setting.
There used to be an ancient and wondrous empire called Tee'essar, but after it fell into decay the land was taken over by a nation of orcs. Some people are still fiercely loyal to the fallen Tee'essar and continue to enforce its laws and battle against the ursurpers.
When you create your character, you choose from two allignments. Lawful characters follow the 'old ways' and use a roll-under system for resolution. Chaotic characters follow the 'new ways' and use a roll-over system for resolution.
Both sides are equally horrible in different ways.

Questions:
Do you think using both a roll-over and roll-under system would be too confusing? If so, do you think that confusion could be used as a feature rather than a flaw?
Do you think that bringing the edition wars (a very heated discussion) into gameplay could disrupt gameplay too much? Or fuel in-game conflict?

David C

Yes, Yes, Yes, No.

The edition wars has made me realize something about my D&D rpg peers - they're rabid fanboys. It brings out the worst in people in all the ways that discourage people from playing our games. From people arguing over which version of D&D promotes RP best (none of them?) to people regaling stories of how they told off some newb that never dares show his face in the hobby shop again, the whole thing makes me nauseous. People I got along with perfectly now try to pull me into arguments. The battle lines have been drawn, and nobody can win.

I don't really see how exacerbating the issue can be a good thing.  Either a) people playing won't care about D&D and might not even know about "edition wars" or b) they've got a heated opinion about it.

Of course, maybe I'm overreacting, but I really don't want to be reminded of how horrible my cultural representatives can be.
...but enjoying the scenery.

Adam Dray

Which edition's rules would you use for character generation and for resolution (let's say for combat only)? I don't see how this can work.
Adam Dray / adam@legendary.org
Verge -- cyberpunk role-playing on the brink
FoundryMUSH - indie chat and play at foundry.legendary.org 7777

Daniel B

The idea is well outside of the fiction and completely kills any sense of immersion. That may or may not be a bad thing, but I think it's really only good for comedy, like that "Order of the Stick" webcomic.
Arthur: "It's times like these that make me wish I'd listened to what my mother told me when I was little."
Ford: "Why? What did she tell you?"
Arthur: "I don't know. I didn't listen."

whiteknife

I really don't see what a roll under/over system has anything to do with the edition wars. Just seems needlessly confusing.

chronoplasm

Yeah, I was thinking of doing a satirical take on D&D in general and maybe using the edition wars in there, but now I think I'll reconsider.
Thanks guys!
Creativity isn't about coming up with only good ideas; it's about coming up with lots of ideas and weeding out the bad ones.