I've spent most of yesterday playing board games with my friends, and one of the things we played was a new one for me- D&D Lords of Waterdeep. A very fun game, rather easy to learn but not overly simplistic either, a decent amount of strategy is involved. But it has exactly jack shit to do with D&D except for some names and flavor text (which, let's be honest no one cared about). The gameplay is not even remotely like anything you'd expect from D&D, and the whole game could be refitted for any other license in about 15 minutes.

This made me wonder - what makes something feel like D&D, and what is D&D to others? My first thought is the tabletop RPG, but even that has enough editions now, some very much unlike the others, that it may be impossible to arrive at any consensus of what "true D&D" is. And to other people it may be the computer games or the novels or hell, even the cartoon. I never much cared for the lore of any of the settings, to me D&D is just about a fun "Hobbit style" quest adventure in some high fantasy setting. But there's plenty of people I'm sure who read all the novels and know the lore inside out. And others might give precisely zero shits about any "D&D feeling", it's just a brand name found on some games and an amazingly, awesomely bad movie.

a total fuckin' mystery.

It's a far-out game.

a rule set...

You ninja bastard! :P I was just about to link to that movie. I remember watching that when it came out.

There were a lot of "gaming paranoia" movies, almost PSAs, coming out at that time. Kids becoming hopelessly obsessed and done in by gaming, be it roll playing or video.

This.

Also, it's a rule set I don't particularly like, particularly since combat is accuracy based rather than damage based. Accuracy based combat results either in attacks missing too often (I prefer systems where misses are the exception rather than the norm) or armor and skill becoming irrelevant (particularly at higher levels).

There's also the fact that I don't like the way the magic system works, particularly the level segregation that makes absolutely no sense.

Also, from what I understand, 4th Edition D&D plays nothing like the other editions and should have been called something different. (It avoids the flaws in the magic system by doing something completely different, but still is accuracy based, so it doesn't escape that issue; also, I imagine the system has its own list of flaws.)

Gold Box

Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale, Planescape: Torment.
A bunch of books by R.A. Salvatore.

And a while ago, a bit of pen-and-paper roleplaying with 3.5E. Though we only ran one adventure (entirely freestyled by yours truly) and then moved over to Numenéra. I'm not sure when we'll see Færûn again, but I'll probably be getting the 5E books. And the AD&D 2E ones, just for nostalgia from the above mentioned videogames.

The pen-and-paper RPG game wasn't well known in my country when I was a kid, so I grew up thinking Dungeons & Dragons was just a Filmation cartoon. xD

Nowadays when I think of D&D the first thing that comes to mind are the Infinity Engine games, especially Baldur's Gate. Those games, the oldie Fantasy Empires, the cartoon and a few issues of The Legend of Drizzt comics are the only exposition I've had to D&D, I think... oh, and that terrible movie they made, but I try to forget I ever watched it, lol.

I'm looking forward to play Neverwinter Nights, thanks to GOG for giving it for free, but I don't think I will for a long while, other games have priority on my list and there's never enough time. I love the Forgotten Realms as I've come to know it from BG (limited as that may be), and would definitely enjoy more adventures in that setting. :)

A ruleset, or a chance to drink beer, eat pizza, and sit around a table with friends being goofy idiots. I still name my Diablo characters after my numerous D&D characters. Like Beefmeat the Barbarian.

A set of game mechanics that make no sense in CRPGs.

Some of my moms complained that even they knew what the Tomb of Horror is.

And the fact it comes right up via a google search.

Five years of book time, huh?

In that case... :P

An archaic ruleset with arbitrary overly-complex and badly-thought rules, which is excusable since it's the grandfather or RPGs. (well at least for the 2 or 3 first editions)
Also it's the setting of many good or bad video games. "World of Warcraft RPG" ?