Tabletop RPGs?

[ElusiveAppellation]

I'm into D&D, Pathfinder, and various games from White Wolf as well-- particularly Scion.

Is anyone else on here a pen-and-paper gamer?

[Damian]

Since second grade
What addition D&D?

[ElusiveAppellation]

Since second grade
What addition D&D?

I've mainly played with 3.5, though I did try 4th Edition for a little while. I didn't really enjoy 4th Ed., though, since the classes all felt so much the same, with the formatting, powers, etc. I also think it was a bad sign that they errata-ed stuff in the core rulebooks.

WotC seems to have learned from their mistakes with 4th Ed. and Essentials, given the open playtest they've started for D&D Next. I am registered for the playtest, and I'd recommend anyone who likes D&D do the same if they want a say in its development.

[Damian]

I've mainly played with 3.5, though I did try 4th Edition for a little while. I didn't really enjoy 4th Ed.,

Lol, you won't find a lot of people liking 4th edition . I am personally into a lot of RPGs, I'm a 2nd edition type of nerd. Though Pathfinder, Rifts, AFMBE, Hero system and most recently SPLINTER I've played more then I can remember currently XD.

The play test sounds cool, though the only problem for me is finding time to do it

[dalebert]

This may be slightly off-topic or maybe it's right on topic.

Someone just alerted me to this last night. We played Talisman, a board game, and I was wondering if there was a way to play it online.

http://www.vassalengine.org/

It let's you play board and card games online in a networked fashion. I wonder if it would be good for table-top RPGs as well. I think it might have all the things you need to make it work. Then again, I know there are other tools out there as well that may be more tailored for table-top RPGs than for board and card games.

[cynthialee]

this is the game we play at my game table:

http://www.lulu.com/shop/cp-bussell/saga-the-game-hero-edition-soft-cover/paperback/product-20028586.html

[DeeperThanSwords]

I'm a tabletop roleplayer. Currently playing Ars Magica, Apocalypse World, Monsterhearts (an online PBP), and a Reign/Nain-based homebrew called Dawn of Magic.

I've been doing it for 5 years, so have played a whole bunch of other stuff, including nWoD, Mage: Ascension, Kerberos Klub, Progenitor, Paranoia, Feng Shui, Mutants & Masterminds, Dark Heresy, Exalted, Nobilis, Warhammer Fantasy, Kagematsu, The Dance & The Dawn, In A Wicked Age, Reign, and lots of homebrew games too.

I also play Warhammer Quest.

[Huggyrei]

Ah, excellent! I mainly write and play in theatre style LARPs/freeforms these days, but there are a few tabletops I still play. D&D is OK, but I often feel it encourages too much emphasis on the mechanics, although of course it doesn't need to be played that way. I've been enjoying BESM [Big Eyes Small Mouth, an anime based game], and Doctor Who: Adventures in Time and Space [I even got my family playing that one, as they're familiar with the series].

[DeeperThanSwords]

I've started playing in 2 more Pbps, and have asked to join yet another! I'm also about to join a UNIT game using the new Doctor Who system.

So many games!

This is how I die.

[septuagenarianTurist]

I'm a bit of a newbie to the genre, but I've just started playing DnD v3.5, where I play a dwarven (formerly a permanently shrunk halfling, pre-resurrection) bard who's currently missing an arm and a leg thanks to shenanigans. I'm also playing Star Wars: Edge of the Empire, where I play an Ewok Doctor. The group I play with are pretty big on roleplaying - last session the GM didn't use anything he'd prepared because we were all sorting out our characters' grievances, in one case via a duel to unconsciousness.

I'm actually creating a world for a possible campaign; do you guys have any tips for a prospective DM?

[DeeperThanSwords]

There are 3 golden rules of DM/GMing:

1. It's easier to do than it looks.
2. It's harder to do well than it looks.
3. Ultimately, any old bollocks will do.

I would also advise not to plan your story too rigidly, as the players will always do things you do not expect, and you will not have a contingency plan. Learn to roll with it and embrace the madness.

[cynthialee]

There are 3 golden rules of DM/GMing:

1. It's easier to do than it looks.
2. It's harder to do well than it looks.
3. Ultimately, any old bollocks will do.

I would also advise not to plan your story too rigidly, as the players will always do things you do not expect, and you will not have a contingency plan. Learn to roll with it and embrace the madness.

This is some seriously solid GM advice.

[dalebert]

We've had four games in a 3.5 campaign I'm running called The Howling Cliffs. Here's the adventure log that sums up what's happened so far if anyone cares to read it.

http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaign/the-howling-cliffs/adventure-log

[DeeperThanSwords]

This is some seriously solid GM advice.

Thank you! *deep bow*

[Gen88]

Ive played WAY too many table top games over the last 12 years. My roommate has been working on a game for 6 years now which is nearly in the editing stage. if things go well, the company who owns alot of the rights will be buying it and hopefully, he and I will make boku bucks =P

[septuagenarianTurist]

There are 3 golden rules of DM/GMing:

1. It's easier to do than it looks.
2. It's harder to do well than it looks.
3. Ultimately, any old bollocks will do.

I would also advise not to plan your story too rigidly, as the players will always do things you do not expect, and you will not have a contingency plan. Learn to roll with it and embrace the madness.

I'll definitely keep that in mind! Thanks!

I spoke to my current DM, and he has an alternative 'Three Golden Rules':

• The DM is always right.
• The DM is never wrong.
• When in doubt, refer to rules one and two.

[DeeperThanSwords]

I'll definitely keep that in mind! Thanks!

I spoke to my current DM, and he has an alternative 'Three Golden Rules':

• The DM is always right.
• The DM is never wrong.
• When in doubt, refer to rules one and two.

Well, he would say that, lol.

[Huggyrei]

Your style may well vary; personally, rather than trying to plot out how the players are going to get from A to B (which they'll amost certainly not follo anyway), I just make sure I know what's going on in the world, ho the villain thinks and what the conseqences of their actions will be, the original clue that draws the PCs in, and wait to see what they do with it.

Perhaps try and figue out what the players want out of it and let that guide you - do they want to hit things a lot? Sneak around? Develop emotional connections and angst about them? Formulate their own evil schemes?

[dalebert]

I would also advise not to plan your story too rigidly, as the players will always do things you do not expect, and you will not have a contingency plan. Learn to roll with it and embrace the madness.

This is one of those things that you learn the hard way, I guess. Last night, the party completely circumvented about 2/3 of the adventure I had planned. They decided (for some unfathomable reason) to split up into four different groups. THAT, btw, is a freaking nightmare. If you think winging it is bad, trying winging it with your party split up like that in a relatively big city. Just drive bamboo shoots under my fingernails.

I was in the uncomfortable position of trying to decide how forgiving I should be. They were doing things that, in my mind, could easily get at least some of them killed. Several of them are recently escaped from witch hunters who came to the small island from the mainland and are in the position of being captured or killed on sight if they're recognized and those are some of the ones who decided to split off from the party on their own.

[dalebert]

It's like when you're watching a horror movie.

"Hey, we're going into an area with a known threat. Let's split up!"