Another weird idea from mollwollfumble.

Dungeons and Dragons is now 45 years old, and is even more popular now than when I first encountered it in 1978. I’ve never played it and only seen it played twice.

It, and numerous spinoffs are still played live, and differ quite radically from other popular live games such as bridge and chess.

Could it be used as a model for good government, or good management? Single leader sets challenges, and a team of workers collaborate closely in the same room to solve those challenges.

• I’ve never played it

Neither have I but isn’t the success, or failure, of a particular course of action determined by the roll of a dice? Not sure that is how government should work…

Big problem: collaboration. Doesn’t happen too often unless you band together to stuff someone else up. Once that gets done, it’s back to the in-fighting.

Obviousman said:

Big problem: collaboration. Doesn’t happen too often unless you band together to stuff someone else up. Once that gets done, it’s back to the in-fighting.

Cooperative government I wonder if it would work based on the needs of the many outweighing the needs of the few and we don’t borrow from the future to satisfying the wants of the present

Cymek said:

Obviousman said:

Big problem: collaboration. Doesn’t happen too often unless you band together to stuff someone else up. Once that gets done, it’s back to the in-fighting.

Cooperative government I wonder if it would work based on the needs of the many outweighing the needs of the few and we don’t borrow from the future to satisfying the wants of the present

Never happen. Some say I am a cynic; I say I am a realist.

Obviousman said:

Cymek said:

Obviousman said:

Big problem: collaboration. Doesn’t happen too often unless you band together to stuff someone else up. Once that gets done, it’s back to the in-fighting.

Cooperative government I wonder if it would work based on the needs of the many outweighing the needs of the few and we don’t borrow from the future to satisfying the wants of the present

Never happen. Some say I am a cynic; I say I am a realist.

No I don’t think it will either but it would be nice if it would.
Our children and grandchildren will inherit a broken world they will have to try and fix.

If you can get a petition together that has more than a certain number of signatures it must be read in parliament.

Lets go to the tape.

Clerk-: Mr Speaker a petition for Dungeons and Dragons to replace parliament, signed by , Mollwollfumble, Wookimeister, Zarkov, Donde………..

Mr Speaker-: That’s enough, no need to read them all.

Peak Warming Man said:

If you can get a petition together that has more than a certain number of signatures it must be read in parliament.

Lets go to the tape.

Clerk-: Mr Speaker a petition for Dungeons and Dragons to replace parliament, signed by , Mollwollfumble, Wookimeister, Zarkov, Donde………..

Mr Speaker-: That’s enough, no need to read them all.

Let me start with perhaps innate ability. D & D has six innate abilities that characters have no control over. These are:

“Much of what your character does in the game depends On his or her six abilities: Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma. Each ability has a score, which is a number you record on your character sheet.”

So for every member of the team evaluate the six abilities and keep it recorded. Each team member may change characters, resulting in a re-evaluation of all six.

A campaign in real life may be something like “build a car” or “greatest happiness of the greatest number”.

I’m not at all sure what in real life would correspond to race and class in D & D. Occupation has to fit in somewhere, unless my thinking is too small to envisage a more useful replacement for the concept of “occupation”.

It seems a benevelent dictatorship sort of government, where team members have freedom to do what they want within the constraints available. Failure is always an option but is, as in real life, not fatal.

Got up to get a cup of tea. Brought back tea and coffee for the whole party. Was required to roll the dice. Rolled badly.

I was assassinated during tea break.

Thanks people.

D & D doesn’t use the word “team”, rather it uses the word “party”. I’m not sure i like that, because it has too much similarity to political parties. Perhaps the world would be a better place if we banned the use of the word “party” in the political arena, replacing it with the word “team”.

Another aspect of D & D is background, which includes aspirations, personal assets, and flaws.

Equipment includes finance, or equipment allocated by the dungeon master on the basis of class and background.

Real life equivalence to armour, melee weapons and ranged weapons? Relevence to computer security is obvious. Relevence to building a car less so.

Decisions in D & D come from three directions: personal choice, master’s decision, and random events.

D & D seems heavily racist and violent. But races do and must work together in a team.

I wonder how big the biggest ever real life D & D game has been. Can one master manage it all or is there some sort of grand master?

I notice also that scarcity does not play a big part in the allocation of finances to players, in contradiction to economic laws. Hmm.

All very different to other popular real life games such as chess, bridge and jigsaw puzzles.

Classes “cleric, fighter, rogue, wizard” seem to translate well into the real world.

Gender has no effect on abilities, i think. Interesting.

Eight standard languages. That’s about right.

In D & D lot of gear has nothing to do with war, from abacus to fine clothing to whetstone for instance.

“Lifestyle expenses provide you with a simple way to account for the cost of living. They cover
your accommodations, food and drink, and all your other necessities. Furthermore, expenses cover the cost of maintaining your equipment.” That looks like a good one for real government – management.

sarahs mum said:

Got up to get a cup of tea. Brought back tea and coffee for the whole party. Was required to roll the dice. Rolled badly.

I was assassinated during tea break.

Thanks people.

Sounds like real life politics.

The only way to get a good government is to get good people to run it

D & D? I think you mean Drunk and Disorderly.

Woodie said:

D & D? I think you mean Drunk and Disorderly.

That’s the system we have now.