[michaelt]

There are plenty of valid ways to play D&D, and they might not all have a slow pace. But it's very easy for D&D to end up pretty slow.

In a combat scene with 4 party members and 4 enemies, 7/8 of the time it's not your turn. And if you're playing a simple character that just hits with a sword, while other players are wizards with dozens of spells to choose between their turns will naturally take longer.

Computer games are much faster paced.

[ksymph]

Yes, this is exactly what I meant. TTRPGs typically have more time spent not doing anything compared to computer games (and board and card games too, to a lesser extent) simply by involving a group of people and being largely 'single-threaded'.

As for what I mean by narrative, much of the appeal of D&D seems to lie in crafting the story and adventure, being a part of the plot. If the setting and narrative were completely removed, and the game was reduced down to the most basic mechanical actions - go to location x,y and do foo to bar, etc., it would be a very different game.

Not to say the mechanical aspects don't make up part of the appeal of D&D and other TTRPGs too, but they're not a focus as much as in, say, a computer strategy game, or even something like an action platformer, where that is the game, and story/characters/etc. make up little (if any) of the gameplay.

[oveja]

You can still do things even if your character isn't. A big draw of D&D is the social aspect, you can still roleplay reacting to being hit or seeing an ally do something.

If you want to exercise your brain while waiting on your turn do like high-level chess players and think during other people's turns, I find that fun. Think how the recent decisions or rolls modify the state of the battlefield or your chances of victory.

[_a_a_a_]

> As for what I mean by narrative, much of the appeal of D&D seems to lie in crafting the story and adventure, being a part of the plot

That's what I was after. I know some people play in a much more involved way but when I played so many years ago I love the plot and setting, but really worked the mechanics. It may have been you got a DM or group that was just not suited to you.

[johnchristopher]

But that's the problem with D&D in 2024. Role-playing games have moved far away from the constraints of old school levelling and fighting simulators. I am glad people enjoy D&D but role playing games have so much more to bring in term of narratology and experience than in ludology. It's getting drowned but it's still there. Move away from excel in disguise.