DnD is certainly not for everyone.
It is not, but that also raises an interesting question.
In our post-OGL hobby:
Is D&D just the current official Edition?
If you are playing an older edition or a retro-clone, is that D&D?
Were the guys who were playing the E6 variant of 3e which trimmed out a lot of the game breaking spells still playing D&D?
If you choose to curate your spell lists like Shark advocates:
...
NERF MAGIC. Yes, this is indeed what the DM needs to do in their campaign. If the DM is wearing the Viking Hat properly, it is the DM that must first realize that the DM CONTROLS THE CAMPAIGN--the campaign doesn't control the DM. Or more specifically, every aspect of every rule and game system contained within the game--and Magic is one of the campaign's game systems.
... if the DM has in mind to run and develop a certain kind of campaign that isn't "GONZO", then the DM must review the magic system very carefully, and adjudicate with a swift and ruthless hand. Otherwise, level by level, the player characters will embrace the full scope of the magical powers and spells of the game, and any carefully crafted campaign that isn't "GONZO" will be totally trashed in short order.
In my own campaigns, I use much of the magic system, but I heavily adjudicate it. Resurrection spells, raise dead spells, knowledge spells, gate spells, planar travel spells, talking with gods and goddesses like you have them on speed-dial in your cell phone--no. Fuck all that. All that kind of stuff is fucking gone entirely, or otherwise heavily modified. Any of that kind of thing remains very firmly and absolutely within MY hands--not the players....
DM's simply always need to keep these considerations in mind, and put serious thought into them before even beginning a campaign.
...
Is Shark still playing D&D?
Classes, Levels, six ability scores, armor class, and saves...
How much can you cut away and still say you are playing D&D?
TBH, I don’t even know. D&D has changed so much over the last two editions, I don’t even know what D&D is anymore. People often bring up ability scores when comparing 5e to earlier editions, as if to say “See? This game has the same ability scores, therefore it is D&D!”
But is it? Is merely the appearance of a thing the same thing as the thing itself when everything behind its inner workings has changed? Is that all D&D is; six ability scores with the same name?
3e, as much as many like to whine about it, at least seemed like a natural evolution of D&D. AC and THAC0 were flipped on their heads, with AC made ascending and THAC0 turned into a modifier so you could just compare your roll to the target’s AC value, which is more intuitive. But the underlying math and mechanics were still mostly the same.
Now characters don’t even have an attack bonus or THAC0 analogue, just a universal Proficiency Bonus, and everyone’s bonus is just the same—for everything! There’s NO difference between Class A and Class B when making ability rolls other than their ability score modifiers and whether or not they have “Proficiency” in whatever the hell they’re rolling.
The game has changed so much people need to point to superficial crap like ability score names to claim it’s the same game. Truth is it’s the same game in name only, cuz the TM holder chose to publish it under the same name.