Modes of D&D

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Prerequisite: "Six Cultures of Play" by The Retired Adventurer

I feel like I have two orientations towards D&D that are not necessarily mutually exclusive, but are at least competitive with each other with regards to focus and approach. One is where I make a fun character and explore their personality and relationships with others, as well as with the game-world. The other is where I am basically playing an arcade game. Again, it's not that there's not overlap—I love some arcade gaminess with my OC role-play and some OC role-play in my arcade game—but the one that's the main focus of a session tends to overwhelm the other. Go figure!

I've been working on my idealized OC-style game for a while, in the form of FIVEY. It's very fun and easy for what it is trying to accomplish, and it even meets gamey expectations well. But it's not the same as saying, "I'm a wizard in a cave!" One has a lot more buy-in and greater stakes, whereas the other is basically a low-effort way to hang with friends.

Here's the thing, though. Every edition of old or rules-light D&D kind of annoys me because none of them are really as straightforward as people would like to think. The closest I've found is OD&D, especially with my house rules (see also), but obviously it's not free of annoying rules and concessions. What does my ideal arcade D&D look like? (A misnomer since I don't want to look at any rules when I play.)

  • All task resolution is 50-50. If something is easier than 50-50, it might as well be a given. If something is harder, it might as well be impossible. This may, and should, entail negotiation of ends and means.
  • Classes have simple and scalable powers. Fighters add +1 to attack/damage per level. Mages cast 1 spell per level. Specialists learn 1 skill per level (flip +1 coin when applicable).
  • Progression is simplified and accelerated. Check the table below where level 2 requires 1k experience, and level 5 requires 10k. Since I don't play in long enough campaigns to see real progress, this would keep things going.
  • No ability scores.

Below is the experience table.

Levels New XP Total XP
1 +0 0
2 +1,000 1,000
3 +2,000 3,000
4 +3,000 6,000
5 +4,000 10,000

That's all! This is what I want to use when my friends do FLAILSNAILS, going forward.

Comments

  1. Nathan BatemanDecember 4, 2023 at 5:25 PM

    My arcade style game Dungeon Explorers uses the 50/50 resolution noted here and it actually works very well! The only way to skew the odds are to apply an appropriate item, which always uses 1 out of the 3 durability a given item has (Dungeon Explorers is basically Attrition "the Game"). Applying an item makes the roll pass on a 5 out of 6, so players are heavily incentivized to use items if possible. If using the item would obviate the risky nature of the challenge at hand, then its no longer treated as a check.

    For "Thief skills" I handle it using what I call binary design. Basically, they just work. Move Silently means that a thief, if they focus, can always move silently. Climb Sheer Walls just works, and has a 50/50 shot of letting the thief climb ceilings. Hide in shadows lets the thief literally disappear when in shadows, as long as they stay still. Doing it like this means that Thieves are really, really good and can actually excel at their niche. The downside is that it does flatten the progression, but the class still gains HP as progresses in rank. I think binary design works really well for lots of utility abilities. A Ranger-type character's tracking comes to mind -- it's a lot more interesting if it just works!

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