I disagree.
My experiences from the few pen & paper sessions show me that stories *are* needed.
Maybe you are used to a different kind of gameplay - but to me, a role-playing game that merely exists of fighting simpl is not "playing a role" to me, but rathr "playing a combat".
I think this is one of the differences between European and American players (just a guess) : Europeans regard he story as more important than the combat.
Everything I know about (A)D&D had always led me to the impression that story-based role-playing just wasn't really possible with (A)D&D - it was never intended as a story-based role-playing game, not even for pen & paper playing - but rather it was a kind of war game enriched with some flavours.
Which was its original intention, indeed.
And now, I fear, people are just so much use to THAT kind of playing style, that they just cannot believe other kinds of gameplay to ... well, be the norm.
Games without fighting ? Boooooooooring ...
My experiences from the few pen & paper sessions show me that stories *are* needed.
Maybe you are used to a different kind of gameplay - but to me, a role-playing game that merely exists of fighting simpl is not "playing a role" to me, but rathr "playing a combat".
I think this is one of the differences between European and American players (just a guess) : Europeans regard he story as more important than the combat.
Everything I know about (A)D&D had always led me to the impression that story-based role-playing just wasn't really possible with (A)D&D - it was never intended as a story-based role-playing game, not even for pen & paper playing - but rather it was a kind of war game enriched with some flavours.
Which was its original intention, indeed.
And now, I fear, people are just so much use to THAT kind of playing style, that they just cannot believe other kinds of gameplay to ... well, be the norm.
Games without fighting ? Boooooooooring ...