When you say DC I have to wonder what era we're talking here-- oh god, I'm over analyzing it-- but the High Fantasy of New DnD seems more Silver Age-- "Oh we just popped in to the Earth-2, I mean the Feywild..."-- whereas Old DnD's gritiness seems more in line with what I expect from Marvel.
DC is a great big mess of ideas and tones and genres strung together by the thinnest threads of frayed continuity. It has much more in common with a sandbox full of toys than a world, so in that sense it reminds me of Zak's D&D.
Marvel? It's more accessible, and consequently often much more boring.
I would have said that DC is equivalent to all those grunky arcane miniature and naval wargames which bequeathed their mechanics to D&D, early D&D is Marvel (they swiped half the art from Doctor Strange after all), and D&D3 is Image, and D&D4 is Tokyopop.
Wow... Somehow, and weird enough, I already knew it :o
ReplyDeleteI'd go with that.
ReplyDeleteWhat does that mean?
ReplyDeleteThis.... this is going to take some time to absorb...
ReplyDelete*goes and sits in the corner*
Hm. You are right. I've always liked Marvel and New D&D more.
ReplyDeleteThat's actually a rather good analogy.
ReplyDeleteD&D Basic/Expert = Superfriends
ReplyDeleteWhen you say DC I have to wonder what era we're talking here-- oh god, I'm over analyzing it-- but the High Fantasy of New DnD seems more Silver Age-- "Oh we just popped in to the Earth-2, I mean the Feywild..."-- whereas Old DnD's gritiness seems more in line with what I expect from Marvel.
ReplyDeleteRegardless, my campaign is Kirby.
I prefer Old D&D and Marvel. I must be confused.
ReplyDelete@marjasall
ReplyDeleteI expected about 300 comment saying roughly that
DC is a great big mess of ideas and tones and genres strung together by the thinnest threads of frayed continuity. It has much more in common with a sandbox full of toys than a world, so in that sense it reminds me of Zak's D&D.
ReplyDeleteMarvel? It's more accessible, and consequently often much more boring.
Old D&D is killing off all it's non-white legacy characters, too?
ReplyDeleteI kid. I get what you mean here.
I'm gonna have to go with:
ReplyDeleteOld D&D = pre-CCA DC
AD&D 2nd Edition = CCA Marvel
New D&D = post-CCA Marvel
Looking at it this way, I suddenly have a framework for understanding the insidious appeal D&D 4e has for me.
Thanks, Zak.
Thak.
#2 of 300. No reason we can't be civil.
ReplyDeleteOriginal D&D = EC
ReplyDeleteWait...what's Image equivalent to? Storyteller? 3E? 4E?
ReplyDeleteOooh and Dark Horse! Who's Dark Horse?
@Tom
ReplyDeleteImage is obviously some kind of fantasy heartbreaker.
Dark Horse is a grab bag of vastly varying levels of quality kept afloat by licensed properties, so: Palladium? Mayfair? Chaosium?
OD&D = Jack Kirby and Joe Simon
ReplyDeleteAD&D = Barry Windsor-Smith run on Conan
AD&D 2nd ed. = Valiant Comics
3.x D&D = Image Comics
4e D&D = Brand New Day Spidey
OD&D = Archie Comics
ReplyDeleteI haven't kept up on comics for awhile... the only stuff I collect is Knights of the Dinner Table and Groo the Wanderer.
So where does Rolemaster fall into it?
I would have said that DC is equivalent to all those grunky arcane miniature and naval wargames which bequeathed their mechanics to D&D, early D&D is Marvel (they swiped half the art from Doctor Strange after all), and D&D3 is Image, and D&D4 is Tokyopop.
ReplyDeleteOD&D I can see being DC , new D&D (being 1e and beyond) could be Marvel.
ReplyDeleteDC is ridiculous in their what we would call "unbalanced" while 1e and 2e trying to keep things in the same scale.
A 0e D&D party could be the superfriends with batman and superman togethor..
College Humour had a rather apt problem with that:
http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1884973
Part 2:
http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1906726
Now for the really hard part.
ReplyDeleteGiven that your home game is part 1E (DC)/ and part 3.5E (Marvel), what comic/publisher best expresses it?
Or would it be the...interesting Marvel/DC crossover battle comics from a while back?
@kelvingreen: That's a good point, that the OD&D LBBs literally stole Marvel art for their graphic sensibility.
ReplyDelete#3. Old D&D and Marvel. 4-eva
ReplyDeleteI would go more
ReplyDeleteOD&D = Batman
4E = Xmen
but maybe that's just my opinion. My OD&D characters are just people with training, equipment, and some support staff.
4E is all about powers and abilities and larger than life epic heroes with elaborate pre-game story lines.