Roleplaying D&D - Love it or hate it?

[Beargryllz]

I am now a DM for 3.5 edition DND. Since most of the campaigns I've been involved with rarely last more than a few weeks/lvls, I decided to start them off halfway to epic (lvl 10)

My victims are traversing across time and space, through planes and sinister villains

Among them, a dwarven mercenary, a humble monk who has sworn off material possessions, a powerful magus, a brave knight, and a divine servant

I have only had one session with them, but I'm finding it to be a lot of fun. Very time-consuming to plan out a campaign though, I miss the roll&go that my players enjoy

I still prefer playing to DMing

 

[Coriolis]

Interesting starting choice. In my RPG group, we often have the most fun at the lowest levels, perhaps because we have to be really creative and leverage all our attributes and nonweapon proficiencies to get by. But then our campaigns generally last a couple of years, terminated only by the moving away of a critical mass of players.

 

[Randomnity]

That's insane! Tailsman is a game best with around 4-5 people max.

Are there any board games in particular that you were really fond of? At the moment, it just sounds like you'd ultimately prefer doing other stuff than boardgaming with others. I think there's probably a difference between people who play it as a hobby (i.e. chess) and those who play it but are more there for the socialisation aspect of playing together. Then there's the whole issue of competitive vs cooperative based games. Sports are usually the latter unless it's 1v1. What do you think of tennis for example?

I haven't really played any board games - my friends are not really board game people, with the exception of these gigantic marathon games for SO many people that get dragged out maybe once or twice a year. Once I played uh....some game with building a spaceship army. twilight imperium maybe? That was ok, but the learning the rules part takes SO long, especially with 6+ people, that we played for like 4 hours and had barely gotten anywhere, and most of that time was arguing over/looking up the rules. Ditto Settlers, ditto talisman. For some reason nobody likes to repeat a game after we've learned the rules. It's frustrating to have the learning stage take so long and never get to actually play.

It might depend on the social group, too. The people I end up playing with are usually half people that irritate me. Would be more fun with only good friends, I'm sure. And booze, probably.

Then there's the whole issue of competitive vs cooperative based games. Sports are usually the latter unless it's 1v1. What do you think of tennis for example?

I play only coop sports, although it's more because they are more complex, not much for the teamwork aspect. And there aren't that many solo sports really - things like track and field or swimming or skating don't really seem like sports to me since there aren't any opponents or even balls. I know that's the category they fall into, but I'd call them more "activities" than "sports". I've tried tennis a couple times, not enough to really play, just hitting a ball around. It was ok. I used to play squash a few years ago and loved that, it was awesome. Much more fast paced than tennis and not as tiring with the huge racket and heavy balls. Not really a strategy game at all though, lol! Maybe a small bit but mostly just reflexes and moving fast. I should start playing that again...

but anyway, your point seems to be that it might be the competition aspect that I dislike? that might be part of it, but some competitive things are fun.

When it comes to DnD... There does seem to be a massive variation in how things are played. My history teacher for example, didn't really place much emphasis on the mechanics, where as at my university, I was watching people roll for pretty much everything. Got to admit, I much prefer the idea of not having too much rolling-mechanics otherwise I'd just go play a computer game imo.

But I totally get what you mean about the making up a story problem. What was your gaming session like? I'm kinda curious now as to what you thought was wrong with it and all that.

Not clear whether it was "real" D&D exactly, it was set in space or the future or something. This was maybe 4-5 years ago and I've blocked it pretty well out of my memory, haha. The DM guy gave us some character cards and read something setting the stage, and gave us a scenario like 3 monsters attacking or something, and then was like "what do you want to do?" and we were supposed to like....come up with a plan out of thin air, with no hint as to what was possible or allowed within the rules of the game. "I guess I have to fight, then?" "ok, you die" "well...shit, that was fun?" It was stupid, and confusing, and pointless. There didn't seem to be any goal to the game and certainly no indication as to how to get there. I don't remember much other than that, I know I was bored out of my skull the whole time.

I had the hope that maybe it wasn't "real" d&d but the people I was playing with said it was pretty much the same thing except with spaceships instead of dragons. Sooo....yeah, probably not for me.

 

[Totenkindly]

Would be more fun with only good friends, I'm sure. And booze, probably.

Everything is better with a few shots down the hatch.

You could even make a drinking game out of it, based on RPG cliches or just standard game mechanics. It could be quite brutal.

I used to play squash a few years ago and loved that, it was awesome. Much more fast paced than tennis and not as tiring with the huge racket and heavy balls. Not really a strategy game at all though, lol! Maybe a small bit but mostly just reflexes and moving fast. I should start playing that again...

I enjoyed racketball and wanted to take up handball but never got around to it.

Not clear whether it was "real" D&D exactly, it was set in space or the future or something. This was maybe 4-5 years ago and I've blocked it pretty well out of my memory, haha. The DM guy gave us some character cards and read something setting the stage, and gave us a scenario like 3 monsters attacking or something, and then was like "what do you want to do?" and we were supposed to like....come up with a plan out of thin air, with no hint as to what was possible or allowed within the rules of the game. "I guess I have to fight, then?" "ok, you die" "well...shit, that was fun?" It was stupid, and confusing, and pointless. There didn't seem to be any goal to the game and certainly no indication as to how to get there. I don't remember much other than that, I know I was bored out of my skull the whole time.

Sounds like it was a premade dungeon with prerolled characters.

Normally when we gamed, the DM was making his or her own scenarios, and it was very open-ended -- the DMs were pretty good at making up things on the fly and not forcing people into rigid choice trees. We would also spend a lot of time on character generation, so it was more like being another person; some people got into the acting aspects, but that wasn't required; everyone was simply attached to their characters, had plans for their growth, and was trying to be true to their personalities. So really, for us, it was like a group story generation using the mechanics to determine basic outcome; and the DM had authority to fudge outcome of mechanics in order to improve the storyline. In the best games, the personality clashing/interacting among the players would be generating a lot of the fun as well as the plot drama.

I'd call it like being able to be a character in your own favorite novel, movie, or TV series, and contributing to the outcome of the storyline.

 

[Ginkgo]

I am now a DM for 3.5 edition DND. Since most of the campaigns I've been involved with rarely last more than a few weeks/lvls, I decided to start them off halfway to epic (lvl 10)

My victims are traversing across time and space, through planes and sinister villains

Among them, a dwarven mercenary, a humble monk who has sworn off material possessions, a powerful magus, a brave knight, and a divine servant

I have only had one session with them, but I'm finding it to be a lot of fun. Very time-consuming to plan out a campaign though, I miss the roll&go that my players enjoy

I still prefer playing to DMing

People keep saying they prefer playing over DMing, which is ironic considering how coveted the DM position seemed to be before I immersed myself in the game.

 

[Xyk]

I am now a DM for 3.5 edition DND. Since most of the campaigns I've been involved with rarely last more than a few weeks/lvls, I decided to start them off halfway to epic (lvl 10)

I'm also doing this right now. I prefer DMing. It gives me an excuse to create an elaborate fictional world and only look a LITTLE crazy.