Dungeons and Dragons (Again!)

The more I investigate this genre of gaming, the more I become obsessed with it.

My friend bought a PC game (The Temple of Elemental Evil) and I went searching for information about it. Unwittingly, I stumbled into a forum dedicated to the DMs of the boardgame version.

So I read. And I read and I read for about an hour and a half straight (could have gone upwards of three hours, but it was 1:00 AM), just of what had occurred so far in people's groups. And thus I became completely addicted to this style of game without ever having experienced it.

Odd, huh?

Anyway, I've decided that people should be encouraged to play all manners of these "D&D" games. Why?

Otherwise they'll be watching TV or playing videogames. They dull the mind over time, which, as I've discovered, isn't a good thing 😉. From what I've read, D&D is a game that promotes IMAGINATION (w00t, I guess), quick-thinking, creativity, careful planning, and strategy.

Yawn.

I'm tired. Did I need to make another thread about D&D? Nah, but I felt like it.

I enjoy the D&D table top games quite a bit.

That said, for some reason I have trouble really getting into the video game versions of it. Even the quintessential ones, like neverwinter nights and balders gate, just don't do it for me. I don't know why.

All of Ush's games are Like D&D, Different rules, same Concept...

Originally posted by BackFire
I enjoy the D&D table top games quite a bit.

That said, for some reason I have trouble really getting into the video game versions of it. Even the quintessential ones, like neverwinter nights and balders gate, just don't do it for me. I don't know why.

For computer games, it's "Shoot/hack the bad guy again until he's dead, please...no striking deals, no taking hostages, no really RP options".

I love table-top RPs. They're awesome.

I started out on the tabletop game back in the early 80's but got bored with the old "roll the dice" deal where sometimes it took an hour to kill a monster with one HP because noone got the roll. But yes, the old school dice games gave you chances to solve problems creatively, and for that, that's one area the PC games can never come close to.

I like the PC versions better for the sake of seeing the monsters and the spells in action, and just this week I beat the original Icewind Dale and now I'm working on the Heart Of Winter expansion pack. I also beat the original Baldur's Gate and had fun with that one in the Tales Of The Sword Cpast expansion as well.

On the whole,it's sad that Black Isle went under, they had a great repertoire of games, including Blackthorne and the Fallout series. I miss them 🙁

I must admit I am a fan of both tabletop and pc RPGing. But both offer different things. As FeceMan said, table top can be really quite enjoyable, and is good exercise for ones imagination, and it is a group activity, and so forth. PC versions are a bit different. The cut down a lot of the semi tedious aspects like dice rolls, and as a result are a lot more streamlined, though of course this limits the actual "role play aspect", often in order to deliver a well done story (I still think Planescape Torment, Fallout and the Baldur's Gate series are some of the best games ever.) However I agree it's very disappointing so much freedom is lost, and the often well made reactionary world of the tabletop is lost in computerised versions.

And I will admit I am very excited about the the new game on the way, Dungeons and Dragons: Dragonshard.

Right on man!

Another cool thing..is with Icewind Dale, there is some fantastic music in the game. And I LOVE the visuals in the PC games:
the feeling you get when you see the places you're in, like old caves and ruined temples..the atmosphere is so thick in the PC versions. Makes you actually feel like you're there. The immersion is a nice factor.

And a NEW D&D game? That's it, I'm taking the day off from work when it comes out 🙂

I've never played in a table-top RPG. They're not really popular around where I live. 😬

What do you do, anyway?

Originally posted by hotsauce6548
I've never played in a table-top RPG. They're not really popular around where I live. 😬

What do you do, anyway?

Well in the table top version, you need graph paper to represent the map you are walking on (each square represents about 10' if I remember right but there can be larger distances if the paper is hexagonal) and you have a DM (Dungeon Master) who controls all you see and encounter, and each person has a character, or PC (playing character) they create to form a party of adventurers.

Dice rolls decide combat and the largest part of the game is to imagine what the DM tells you. He describes a band of orcs, you form the image in your mind based on what the DM tells you. Also, you get points for overcoming obstcles creatively instead of with the blade of a sword.

After the adventure, your characters go up in level (providing they aren't killed in the course of the adventure) and your party divides the loot at the adventure's end, and it is also converted to XP (experience points) and also, everyone divides the magical items based on their class profession as usually only certain items can be used by certain classes.

A general outline but much has changed over the years since the days I picked up the original Monster Manual and basic Rules bookset.

Been playing DnD since 2nd edition, got almost all 3rd edition manuals, almost all 3.5 edition manuals, a crapload of 3rd party books like Mongoose publishing, etc. It's an awesome game, and if you have a great GM like i do (Ironically his name is D*** M*** so we call him DM all the time 😛 )
WHat matters most is to have a good GM, to have a party that gets along well, etc. etc. You can't have a hack'n slash maniac obsessed with optimizing their character (124 attacks per round droolio ) and a bisexual succubus bard that wants to role-play only. They'll never get along and they'll end up blaming the DM.
Telling war stories is feckin awesome (war stories - telling about the adventures over a nice beer). I remember a lot of awesome threads on the wizards.com boards, like "Last words thread"
Stuff like

"I just drank WHAT???"

or

"The Dragon's right behind me, isn't he?"

😆

it's an awesome game. if i could gather up a couple of mature people from these boards that know how to rp properly and how to stay in-character without metagaming or such, and that also know the rules to some extent i'd be very happy to start an adventure in the RP forums

~wickerman~

Originally posted by Lana
I love table-top RPs. They're awesome.

Lol @ Wickerman's post.

Actually, one of the reasons I hate D&D is the amount it has become a square-based skirmish game.

Most decent RPs stay away from regimented boards as much as possible.

Originally posted by Ushgarak
Actually, one of the reasons I hate D&D is the amount it has become a square-based skirmish game.

Most decent RPs stay away from regimented boards as much as possible.

It can be troublesome only if the DM doesn't know how to do his thing. The skirmishing part is one of the best if you have mature gamers by your side and a good DM. It shows if you know how to use your environment, how to use strategies, how to think on the spot, make the decision, etc.

And if you can't do skirmish or think up tactics, then yep...in my book you're a crappy rp-er as well...that's just the way i see it. Too much rp-ing and no skirmishing = crap. Too much skirmishing, and no rp-ing = crap.

~wickerman~

Nah, disagree. D&D's combat system is cumbersome and restrictive and very easily reduces the enjoyment of the game for the non-combat whores.

D&D's maxim from square one was "Take a Fighter (though have a Cleric in the group)," and the later versions only made that more imperative.

Unchained from the grid system it becomes more manageable.

I used to play D&D along time ago. I have one of the first box sets, however, not in very good condition.

I absolutly love D&D tabletop. 😊

Well, at least the tabletop vers. doesn't give you a headache.

Originally posted by Ushgarak
Nah, disagree. D&D's combat system is cumbersome and restrictive and very easily reduces the enjoyment of the game for the non-combat whores.

D&D's maxim from square one was "Take a Fighter (though have a Cleric in the group)," and the later versions only made that more imperative.

Unchained from the grid system it becomes more manageable.

I mean, it pisses me off to no end that Sorcerors use Charisma to cast instead of Intelligence because a) I like the title 'Sorceror' better and b) I like the idea that they have natural talent to use magic vs. a Wizard's studying. I'd like to make a very smart Sorceror, but I'm afraid that doing so would gimp him.

Of course, this is me just talking from the computer versions of the game.

As in take the grid out of it and either use no map or at most rough maps. Although the system is calibrated around the grid, using it actually reduces the playing experience; any half-decent DM can quickly adapt to get rid of it.

Still, no great matter, because there is only so far you can take D&D anyway. It's a limited game with a limited scope; there is way better out there. I always thought it worked better as a computer gane, in fact, because a lot of its limitations don't matter a damn there (monster-killing xp chase? Hell yeah!).

Meanwhile... that was just them finding something for Charisma to do. Rather arbitrary.