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Roleplaying D&D - Love it or hate it?

Fan of roleplaying?


  • Total voters
    23

Snow Turtle

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May 28, 2007
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I've got fond memories of playing DnD (Dungeons and Dragons) with my history teacher and a bunch of school friends. Our first campaign literally started off with us attacking each other in a bar, because we were so bad at the whole getting to initial phase of introducing characters to each other. 5+ Years later, our party has pretty much developed the line "Cut the crap. Join the party" since we're still pretty awkward with the whole introductions.

Anyhow it doesn't have to be dungeons and dragons. I've heard there are alot of alternative systems, some that don't even require a game master/dungeon master to carry the storyline. But... How many people here play roleplaying games online or in real life? :D

There appears to be several different camps in the roleplaying arena though. Some that like to focus purely on the storytelling, while others that like the feel of dice-rolling mechanics and collecting stuff. Over time I've found myself moving more towards the roleplaying aspect (with minor elements of dice-rolling) in order to capture the feeling that I'm playing an RPG rather than that I'm just in a story. But I know there are others that hate it when there's a large element of story without any combat/skill check.

So which camps do people usually fall into here? What sort of combinations create the perfect roleplaying game for yourself?
 

Totenkindly

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Only have a minute here...


On a personal basis, I'm a mechanics/rules analyst. I explore the game as a system, and become enamoured with ones that seem to blend realism with efficiency, and have many options for characters while still remaining balanced between classes, etc.

However, in terms of actual play, I'm flexy and would rather have a GM and players interested in "weaving a story" rather than basing things completely on die rolls, and who are even willing to ignore mechanics and random die rolls when necessary in order to co-create a decent narrative together. Probably my least favorite characters are the (1) anal "wield the rules like a club" whiner, the (2) story hog, and the (3) "have to have my character be the best / killer build" players who are more interested in their characters' power rather than characterization and narrative.
 

KDude

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Love it - EXCEPT, I haven't had many opportunities to play with anyone. There used to be a group I knew years ago, but at the time, I mostly just observed. There was a little D&D and Warhammer going on. And Rifts? I always liked flipping through the books. The Monster Manuals especially :)

I play a ton of video game RPGs though (both western and Japanese), so I'm familiar with the aesthetic. I'm a big fan of storytelling.. I don't get into tweaking or exploiting class mechanics. I shoot myself in the foot there it seems. I'm always picking some appealing concept only to find that they're a little gimped. The concept makes it fun though.
 
0

011235813

Guest
I've never played D&D which makes me sad because I think it would be an awesome game.

Also, that D&D episode of Community was hilarious and amazing.
 

Athenian200

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I've never played D&D, but I've played many computer games based on it. I really enjoy those, but they often end up being too open-ended and difficult, so I can't get very far. It's fun to just keep creating new characters and dying, though.

I wonder what it would be like to play the real thing, though... a good experience or a bad one? Hmm...

I have to say that I end up preferring the more structured approach of JRPGs, though I love when they incorporate D&D elements into that type of RPG.

I love those quirky role-playing games online where you all play a role in a story, though.

I'm answering the poll "yes," because I am a fan of roleplaying in general. The way the poll is titled implied that I don't have to be a D&D fan specifically to answer yes.
 

Totenkindly

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I wonder what it would be like to play the real thing, though... a good experience or a bad one? Hmm...

The basic, simple answer to that is this: It depends on who you're playing with.
People make or break it.

Some of the best, most fun, most creative times in my life have come from shared tabletop RPG experiences.
 

Andy

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I confess that I stil play systems that have beenout of print for over 10 years.
 

Beargryllz

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I think I'm really, really good at playing the character (whatever it may be)
 

lowtech redneck

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I'm strange, in that I love the metastory and world building aspects of DnD (especially campaigns with a lot of complexity/background such as Planescape or the Forgotten Realms-before 4E ruined the latter), but I'm less enamored of live play (I prefer competive games-even if only against a computer-to collaborative games, so I typically stick with single-player RPGs).
 

Snow Turtle

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Well, I just finished GMing for the first time last night. The whole thing lasted three hours, but it probably felt much longer than it really was. At the end of the session, people were telling me about how it was alright but I suspect they were just being polite as I could see them feeling bogged down. From my perspective, it was terrible. I've learnt a few things though.

1. Be much much much more descriptive. In hindsight, I could have prepared better by reinforcing a strong mental image of the environment and the characters in my own head rather than offering bland descriptions of individuals that eventually become "Oh, we go to see the hammer individual" (Never a good sign)

2. Use a proper dice-system. Since I only had a 6-sided dice (2d6), we mostly used them to role extremely random things like how effective someone's magic was, or how effective their physical damage was. There was probably no real sense of counting health since no characters, along with no real sense of danger.

3. Don't do the introduction of how characters meet up. Well, this one's mostly personal preference but I tried to get the characters together by having them all enter at the same Inn. The end result? It took an hour for 4 characters to finally get together, in what I had only anticipated to take about 20 minutes. Next time, I'm just going to throw them into the group straight away with a sense of direction.

4. New players to Roleplaying? Give them a sense of direction. There's two approaches to roleplaying: "Sandbox" (players are literally allowed to explore the world) and "Plot" (self-explanatory). One of the biggest mistake I might have made last night, was offering the characters to do anything, they weren't really sure what they could do. Part of the reason I didn't offer that much guidance was because I didn't want to 'railroad' them into the mainquest, but eventually, with time running short I started pushing them more and more with extremely basic plot devices. (boy needs protection across mountains)...

5. Travellings OK. Just not when, you're constantly doing it. One of the biggest problems was that I needed my players to travel across the mountains as part of the main story. However, it was quite far away from where they were. What this resulted in was lots of stopping at the nearest town and villages (2-3) and resting before finally getting to the important place. However, it's kind of bland when the backbone storyline effectively reads this:

"You're at an inn.You rest for the night.
You travel.
You're at a small town. You book a room at another inn"
More travelling.
Staying the night with wolves in a cave.
More travelling... =.=
You get to payon. (the root cause)."


After three and a half hours, we had finally arrived at the home of the enchantress where the players were meant to explore (and probably getting more exciting) but I just cut it short since it was late. I told them the rest of the storyline, about the twists etc since I didn't really feel like GMing the rest of it given the perceived responses. Oh well, better luck next time. I still would like to GM, but I think I need to practice alot more.

Here's the long story. If anybody is actually interested in the outline: Short bullet points of the story is at the end.


The session starts off with two of the mages already located in an inn dubbed "4ways". One of them is a null mage, who's history involves him having destroyed his own home village unintentionally due to his ability. The other is the rich girl but naive mage (note: don't have endless amounts of money). They are both just minding their own business in this inn which they have been at for a few days. In comes the fighter player, who has been running away from his slave-driving master. Upon seeing this large individual, the two mages decide that it'd be a good idea to recruit him for protective purposes. At this point, I have a random NPC walk in, whisper something to the bar keeper, and have him place a sign on the job listing board (which magically appears from nowhere... as I'm generating the story). Unfortunately, it's not a job. It's a warning sign about bandits in the north mountains, and how there have been at least 10 deaths in the last few weeks. The player characters, frightened by this prospect all decide that they shalln't be heading that way (which is fine with me: it's not essential). It's getting late, and they all decide that it'd be a good idea for rest up for the night. Outside, the last player, a ranger elf, is sneaking around outside for some strange reason. She never really joins the party, but instead decides to sleep in the trees...

At this point. It's already been an hour. I realise that the pace is extremely slow, and can't see how I'm going to be able to push the characters towards some sort of storyline plot. So what do I do? I railroad... >___>'

Half way during the night, the ranger detects light coming off from a distance of what appears to be several torches. Panicking, she runs into the inn to where the others are resting up and wakes them all up, informing them that they needed to get out of the place ASAP. Obviously the rest of the characters are startled by this strange individual, but whatever, they can sense danger and start packing up to leave. They head downstairs, only to notice that there's literally nobody there. Footsteps fast approaching them, they head outside to be confronted by two children, four thugged figures (very non-descript) and the barman himself. The two females run off into the distance, while the null-mage and fighter prepare to have a stand off against these four individuals. A short conversation of: "Hand over yourself - over my deadbody - well, that's what we usually do. It'll be our pleasure" is exchanged before they take a lunge at the characters.

One of the NPC falls, as the fighter parries and take a stab into his stomach region. The other one attempts another slash.
On the other side, both of the mages manage to take down one of the bandits by first pushing him off his feet, only to be dragged back down slamming into the ground with a root spell. The ranger pet deer and wolf (Yes, they were together...) decides to start savaging on this individuals face. At this point, confronted by the prospect of both magic and a strong fighter... the rest decide to flee. Battle is quickly ended, and all the characters decide to continue west, rather than head back to the inn to confront the inn-keeper who has disappeared during to battle scene.

They eventually come across a small hamlet with 6 houses, in the middle of the night, wake up an old man who quickly ushers them into the house (he'd rather not have them attract attention outside). Here they rest peacefully. Next morning, I have the old man (non-descript as usual) inform them about what is up ahead, about how lately it's been difficult to cross the mountain regions due to the aggressive nature of animals, weather condition and bandits, but that on the other side was a village that was quite well known for knowledge and history. Upon hearing this knowledge, the players decide to continue heading west towards the nearest large city and I have them arrive. I decide to rail-road them once again by having some small 10 Year old boy, with a cockney accent ask them to accompany them across the mountains with the promise that his uncle was rich. (They all talk between themselves about how it's ridiculous that they are believing this boy, but they are heading that direction anyhow...)

During their journeys up north into the mountain, I have them notice soul-less looking individuals walk past them constantly without focusing. The mage stops one of them to ask for direction, only to be given a gaze that makes him uncomfortable. No words are exchanged. Eventually these individuals continue walking without any sense of direction, the party decides to push forward. I have them stop for the night, and they spend the night with some wolves...

The morning: They finally arrive at this town which appears to be half destroyed. Alot of residents are busy fixing up the place, so they go up to a random "hammer" individual and ask them whether he knows the uncle of this boy. The "hammer individual" directs him towards the outskirt of the town, in a tiny shack, where the boy is united with his uncle in a cringeworthy manner, and then the party is questioned for why would listen to a 10 year old boy and bring him to such a dangerous place. Anyhow, the party question him about the soul-less individuals, but the uncle has literally no idea and informs them to speak to the head-priestess about it. He informs them that since she's pretty much the leader of this town now, since before then, the town was half-destroyed by all the raids from the bandit parties. That was until she came along and somehow stopped the bandits from attacking the area. So the party go meet up with this priestess, who helps organise a search-party the next day about these souless beings down south and is nice enough to provide them accommodation for the night. She gives them two shared rooms, and for about 10 minutes, the players decide who is sleeping in which room, to which one player remarked "This must be one of the most intense decision making we've had to make so far."

Again, half way during the night... two players are stirred. They can hear footsteps in the accommodation. Heading downwards, they come across the priestess busy working on her papers. Startled by their presense, she asks why they are up, and they inform her about hearing footsteps etc. At this point, she is jumped by a dark figure in the background who manages to critically would her. The two players spring into action, casting a pushing magic spell and taking a swipe at the figure, both succeed extremely well slamming the figure into the wall. The priestess sticks out her arm, and casts some sort of spell which makes the individual disappear (I really should have let them finish the combat) ending the short combat scene. The players tend to her wound, where she starts healing up herself... she's shaken up about the attack, mumuring to herself about how it's the bandits constantly coming to take her out and that she needs to be more cautious, the fighter offers up a bandage to help wrap up the would and the mage spends the night with her as she doesn't one to sleep anymore. The next day, she asks for the players to help search out the bandits that have been constantly trying to take her out, pointing towards the forests as one of their hideouts. So they head off in that direction...

Deep in the forest, the fighter comes across some shadowy figures, it's strange as they still appear to be shadowed despite it being day light. Eavesdropping on their conversation, he find out they are discussing about last night's occurence, how their fellow friend has been killed and that they need to do something before they disappear as well. Afterwards, they all break up and head deeper into the forest, which the players follow, but eventually lose track of as the NPCs merge into the deeper forest background. The players come across an old villa, where they proceed to throw stones at the front-door, before venturing in and trying to push open a stone door. I have two NPCs turn up now, shouting at them to stop and wait. That this region is cursed, but they are killed off when the nullification mage uses his ability and makes them vanish as well. They all enter this room, immediantly a horrible sensation creeps up on all of them from down below, but they ignore it anyway. The fighter attempts to sit down on the chair, which I have attack him. It starts coiling itself around him, and the whole party panics trying to disable this thing. The mage, casting fire and ice, injuring the fighter, while the other mage attempt his nullification abilities. Nothing works, and unfortunately eventually the chair just wraps itself around the fighter completely before settling. (Perhaps a little anti-climatic)... The fighter calls himself a "chair-man" now....
They look at the grandfather's clock, an unusual item in a room with just a table, chair, bookshelf and then attempt to wind the clock with a "key" that one of the players decides that she found in another room.

At this point, I decide it's already 11:15. I needed to return a library book and so I finished off the session. Telling them about what I had intended the story to be about, but we didn't really have enough time at all. It was a simple twist.

When they head downstairs, they discover that there's a secret sort of underground passage way where the unpleasent feeling is coming from. Here they discover that there are alot of souless individuals being wondering around the place as if searching for something. They also come across some more darkened individuals, who attack them, except they are doppleganger versions of themselves.

Eventually, they'll find out that the people that they had killed were essentially the previous townsfolk, and that the attempts of assination on priestess was what they believed the only way to break the curse. The priestess herself has pretty much enchanted this area and the mountain region, causing all the animals to go wild and the souless people to be created. But we didn't get that far.


  • Two mages, one fighter get together at an inn. It takes an hour.
  • Bandits attack in the middle of the night. They fend them off.
  • The head west towards the next city
  • Little boy asks them to head north, promising them gold from a rich uncle there
  • They encounter half-zombie like individuals who don't respond to anything on their way north
  • At the town (half destroyed), they meet up with the uncle and ask about the souless people, he has no idea but tells them to go to the priestess. She's someone who saved the place by stopping the mountain bandits from attacking, effectively she's the leader now.
  • Players meet up with the priestess who agrees to help them find out about these beings the next day. She offers them a night with her.
  • Players wake up hearing something. They head downstairs, talk to the priestess for a few seconds before she is jumped by a hooded figure.
  • Players fend off the hooded figure, where the priestess casts a final spell making him disappear. She's all shaken up now, murmuring to herself about how the bandits are out to get her. Next morning she asks for help, directing them towards the forest.
  • The players find these shadowed individuals gathering together, eavesdropping on them, they talk about how she killed their friend last night in the assination attempt. And how they have to do something before they disappear.
  • The players track them to a villa, where they come across a cursed room. Some shadow NPCs come out to stop them, but are killed by the mage who performed counter-magic.
  • Inside, the fighter sits on a chair which proceeds to wrap himself around the fighter. Party panics about this, attempting to save him. It's okay though, the end result is that the chair has just coiled himself completely around the fighter.
  • It's 11pm. I stop the game. What the story was about:
  • Priestess is actually evil and is manipulating the forest and mountains.
  • Shadowed figures are the previous townsfolks, wanting to free themselves by any means.
  • Underneath the villa (which is the priestess home) is an underground, where players would discover doppleganger versions of themselves being constructed as well as countless of other trapped souls.
 

One Day

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Always wanted to participate in a D&D game but no one within a 100 mile radius has ever played it.
 
G

Ginkgo

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I love it, but I tend to get obsessive about the potential of my characters. It's a great platform for daydreaming and keeping yourself occupied when there's nothing to do or you're bored. Also, it facilitates a sense of imagination that video games would otherwise force-feed you through a siphon. It's a similar sort of imagination required to be immersed in a book, but because you dictate the actions and details of the "universe", it's usually more rewarding for those with a creative spark.
 

r0wo1

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I love playing DnD, but havent played in years. I just don't know anybody who plays/could be a dm :(
 

Coriolis

Si vis pacem, para bellum
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I have played for years, and really enjoyed it, once my SO and I set up our own group/campaign. Prior to that, he played with a bunch of oddball guys in someone's basement. They drank bad beer, ate cheese curls, and ran largely hack & slash campaigns. No way I was going to sign up for that. He set up his own world, though, and a modified rule set, and off we went. I liken the experience to writing a novel by committee. Each player is responsible for one of the main characters, while the DM controls the setting, other characters, and broad outlines of plot. I hate getting bogged down in the rules, and prefer to focus on character development. We have had some quite good dialogues in our sessions, and much humor as well.
 

htb

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Fourteen years ago, I was home on spring break when my closest friends (still in high school) asked me to step in as guest DM. The impromptu adventure I'd scribbled between dinnertime and seven-thirty lasted about twenty sessions over the next three years, the group numbering eight players at its height. My emphasis was on story, setting and character development: game mechanics were simply to keep things unpredictable. When I had half a dozen people believing in my world, some real magic happened. Wonderful times.
 

poppy

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I've got fond memories of playing DnD (Dungeons and Dragons) with my history teacher and a bunch of school friends. Our first campaign literally started off with us attacking each other in a bar, because we were so bad at the whole getting to initial phase of introducing characters to each other. 5+ Years later, our party has pretty much developed the line "Cut the crap. Join the party" since we're still pretty awkward with the whole introductions.

Anyhow it doesn't have to be dungeons and dragons. I've heard there are alot of alternative systems, some that don't even require a game master/dungeon master to carry the storyline. But... How many people here play roleplaying games online or in real life? :D

There appears to be several different camps in the roleplaying arena though. Some that like to focus purely on the storytelling, while others that like the feel of dice-rolling mechanics and collecting stuff. Over time I've found myself moving more towards the roleplaying aspect (with minor elements of dice-rolling) in order to capture the feeling that I'm playing an RPG rather than that I'm just in a story. But I know there are others that hate it when there's a large element of story without any combat/skill check.

So which camps do people usually fall into here? What sort of combinations create the perfect roleplaying game for yourself?

I just started playing D&D and I heart it. The group I play with is quite silly and ungainly (there's like 9 of us?!) though. So apart from 'flavor text' we don't even really have time to get into story/roleplaying if we want to have actual gameplay time. That's pretty much alright with me, I'm not much of a storyteller.
 

AntiZang

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Roleplaying has its place in DD, but if you are playing a lighter quicker tabletop like the werewolf chaser arkham asylum, keep your character in your head.
 

kyuuei

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:laugh: I have to say I highly enjoy it.. the only issues I've ever had are with a few guys not really knowing how to interact with female characters in the game. This got better with a more mature group of people though.

I'm playing Warhammer right now, a gritter and darker world than D&Ds, and it's amazing.
 

onemoretime

Dreaming the life
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Never have played, and this is an issue where Fe is going to predominate over Ne in my judgment.
 

Valiant

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I play a tabletop RPG called EON.
Too bad it's only available in Swedish, since it is one of the coolest fantasy worlds I have *EVER* encountered and by far the best system in terms of realism, as well.
That means you have like a crapload of different social, physical, mental and whatnot skills, nine different attributes
(Strength, dexterity, endurance, personality, psyche, will, knowledge, sight and hearing) that are determined by dice rolls and five attributes (honor, loyalty, sexual drive, aggressiveness, faith and generosity) which you determine yourself.
The game world is called Mundana, and it is inhabited largely by humans of different races. There are everything from elves to dragons and demons, though.

The world is VERY rich in details. Almost every little dot on this map has information available, and there are entire books about most countries, classes and races.

mundana_stor_karta.jpg


These are at least some of the books available:

5009.jpg

5011.jpg

5012.jpg

5013.jpg

5015.jpg

5017.jpg

5018.jpg

5019.jpg

5021.jpg

5024.jpg

5025.gif

5027.jpg

eon5032cmp.jpg

5039.jpg

5040.jpg

5042.jpg

eon5045cmp.jpg

5047.jpg

5007.jpg



These are just most *accessory* books. The bigass player's handbook and game master's playbook... Well, those have a LOT of information, as well. And a few other accessory books.
 
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