Is an answer on topic if it recommends a game that isn't a role-playing game?

Question

The question Can I play D&D4E solo? seems to really need an answer recommending Wizards of the Coast's line of Dungeons & Dragons Board Games (e.g. Legend of Drizzt, Wrath of Ashardalon), and a Comment was made suggesting exactly that. That Comment's gone now but I don't know if that's because the Comment should've been an answer or because the Comment suggested a board game or because comments are transitory.

That leads to this: When making a game recommendation, is an answer on topic if it recommends a game from a medium other than tabletop role-playing games?

As a fictional example, were a question to ask...

I want a game that simulates duels between powerful wizards. Wizards have a limited number of spells they cast but which spells they can cast during combat are determined randomly, and uncast spells are saved for later casting. Further, such a game should involve summoning a wide variety of creatures that can be sent to attack an opposing wizards. I'd really like the game to have a detailed resource management system, and I'd like combat to become more spectacular the longer an engagement lasts because of spells that have been previously cast and remain in effect. What game would you recommend?

...would an answer remain on topic if it recommended Magic: The Gathering?

Answer 1

If you assume good faith, and that the question itself is on-topic, then there is an implied (role playing) before every instance of the word "game" in the question.

I want a [role playing] game that simulates duels between powerful wizards. Wizards have a limited number of spells they cast but which spells they can cast during combat are determined randomly, and uncast spells are saved for later casting. Further, such a game should involve summoning a wide variety of creatures that can be sent to attack an opposing wizards. I'd really like the [role playing] game to have a detailed resource management system, and I'd like combat to become more spectacular the longer an engagement lasts because of spells that have been previously cast and remain in effect. What [role playing] game would you recommend?

Magic: the Gathering, while an excellent game, does not satisfy these requirements as it is not a role playing game.

If you don't assume that they are looking for a role playing game, then you are either assuming bad faith on the part of the asker or that their question is off topic. In the first case, you shouldn't answer the question, and in the second you should vote to close.

Exception

Even with good faith there are still times when a non-role playing game could be the best solution for the asker.

Perhaps after talking with the user you've determined that they are so unrelentingly hack-and-slash that they would never use improvisational rules. Or that they're so whimsical that they feel the need to add role playing elements to their games of Monopoly.

Or perhaps you yourself have a way of bolting a role playing module on to the game.

In this case go ahead, but treat it as a frame breaking answer. You are subverting a key requirement of their question, and you should cover the reasons thoroughly.

The Real Problem

So, what about those D&D board games? While they do a fine job of streamlining the combat mechanics, they are simply not role playing games. Playing the D&D board game solo is not the same as playing D&D solo.

If you were to recommend them in this case, then you would need to provide an answer that is useful to someone who is looking to play the actual game solo. At a bare minimum, this would be notes on what's missing from the board game experience. You would also likely want to include experiences adding role playing elements to the board game.

Answer 2

Suggesting a non-RPG wouldn't be on topic as an entire answer, for the reasons discussed in other answers here, but I don't think there's anything wrong with putting that suggestion in an answer that also suggests the best matching RPG you can think of.

Example:

SomeRPG is about as close as you're going to get, for these reasons: ...

However, your best bet might not even be an RPG. There's a card game called Magic: The Gathering, and it would be even better than SomeRPG, because ...

Answer 3

No, it would not be on topic.

Our mandate is to give RPG expertise. A non-RPG might be the right answer — or it might not, and our voting scheme would be untrustworthy to determine which. We aren't collectively experts on non-RPGs (even when some of us are individually) and our site's premise means that non-RPG advice comes with no assurances that it is any good:

• our community of voters is not expected to be able to properly vote on non-RPG answers
• we don't expect answers to generate a variety of non-RPG alternatives so that the best non-RPG answer floats to the top
• people searching for quality non-RPG answers will not think to come here
• the feedback loop that ensures quality in RPG matters does not function (or worse, malfunctions) when it comes to material outside of our topic

Non-RPG answers to RPG questions are off topic, because they break the system, for the same reasons that answers based primarily on opinion rather than expertise break the system.

Answer 4

The line that differenciates an RPG from a non-RPG is quite thin and very much relies on the play style of the group.

There are enough groups out there (and sometimes, this includes mine) that uses an RPG book and rules for a brainless hack-and-slash dungeon crawl. It's mindless fun. Is it roleplaying? Only because that's printed on the front of the book. Besides saying I hit the orc instead of my plastic figure hits the orc there really is no "roleplaying" involved on those adventures.

There are huge communities that are so narrowly focussed on the mechanical side, that I'd not call them "roleplayers". They don't actually play roles, they use RPGs as a min-max optimization theory playground.

And yet, this is roleplaying. Who am I to tell them their style is not roleplaying. They are using the rules, they bought the books, they are roleplaying.

On the other side of it are for example board or card games. Their natural style in turn would be to be optimized mechanically, to play a fast round of mindless fun without identifying with playing pieces or cards. And yet, with the right group, such a game can be more roleplaying than any of the RPGs with a group that's not set for roleplaying.

Because roleplaying is how you play the game. Regardless of rules. As long as there is no rule against roleplaying, you could probably roleplay a tycoon using a monopoly board.

So yes, suggesting something that is not officially a roleplaying game is not exactly on topic, but who decides what a roleplaying game is? There is no official body that would put a stamp of approval on products to mark them as "officially roleplaying material".

I think suggestions that do not have roleplaying in their title should include a description on what to do to make it a roleplaying experience, but other than that, I think it's a matter of up and downvoting, not something that should be closed or flagged.

Answer 5

If communicating it in a comment isn't appropriate because it should be an answer, then the answer's on topic.

If the answer is off topic, then the comment shouldn't be an answer and should stand.

I stand persuaded that answering the question with a non RPG would be off topic. But it's still useful information the would be of value to querent. The most appropriate way to communicate the information would seem to be a comment. Otherwise you're saying that one user who knows how to help another user shouldn't be able to.