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.
"I Just Now Realized I've Always Thought This Without Articulating It..."
25 Comments -
Wow... Somehow, and weird enough, I already knew it :o
July 10, 2010 at 11:41 AM
I'd go with that.
July 10, 2010 at 11:43 AM
What does that mean?
July 10, 2010 at 11:44 AM
This.... this is going to take some time to absorb...
*goes and sits in the corner*
July 10, 2010 at 11:45 AM
Hm. You are right. I've always liked Marvel and New D&D more.
July 10, 2010 at 12:08 PM
That's actually a rather good analogy.
July 10, 2010 at 2:20 PM
D&D Basic/Expert = Superfriends
July 10, 2010 at 2:22 PM
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.
Regardless, my campaign is Kirby.
July 10, 2010 at 3:07 PM
I prefer Old D&D and Marvel. I must be confused.
July 10, 2010 at 3:50 PM
@marjasall
I expected about 300 comment saying roughly that
July 10, 2010 at 3:52 PM
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.
July 10, 2010 at 4:23 PM
Old D&D is killing off all it's non-white legacy characters, too?
I kid. I get what you mean here.
July 10, 2010 at 6:43 PM
I'm gonna have to go with:
Old 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.
July 10, 2010 at 9:54 PM
#2 of 300. No reason we can't be civil.
July 10, 2010 at 10:02 PM
Original D&D = EC
July 10, 2010 at 10:12 PM
Wait...what's Image equivalent to? Storyteller? 3E? 4E?
Oooh and Dark Horse! Who's Dark Horse?
July 11, 2010 at 12:16 AM
@Tom
Image 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?
July 11, 2010 at 12:22 AM
OD&D = Jack Kirby and Joe Simon
AD&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
July 11, 2010 at 12:35 AM
OD&D = Archie Comics
I 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?
July 11, 2010 at 1:06 AM
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.
July 11, 2010 at 2:50 AM
OD&D I can see being DC , new D&D (being 1e and beyond) could be Marvel.
DC 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
July 11, 2010 at 6:03 AM
Now for the really hard part.
Given 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?
July 11, 2010 at 10:22 AM
@kelvingreen: That's a good point, that the OD&D LBBs literally stole Marvel art for their graphic sensibility.
July 11, 2010 at 7:48 PM
#3. Old D&D and Marvel. 4-eva
July 12, 2010 at 7:30 AM
I would go more
OD&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.
July 22, 2010 at 8:56 AM