208 replies to this topic

[Lorfarius]

Recently picked up this little beauty:



I have no one to play it with however the campaigns included are all single player so you get a good idea how it all works. Includes a decent sized rules compendium and once I find a few folk to play it with it'll be gold! I'm in the Glossop area in case it appeals to folk.

Anyone else here gone down the RPG route?

[moosegrinder]

Would it be possible to play D&D on here? I have no-one to play it with and I know the games can last years.

[Lorfarius]

Would it be possible to play D&D on here? I have no-one to play it with and I know the games can last years.

I think so. We did try to get a game going a couple of years back using MirC which actually worked for a time, biggest problem was getting people to commit as it needed at least an hour spare. But from what I recall we all managed to set down a character each and start a basic adventure.

[michael]

We could certainly try it. We'd need books and that, but I reckon it'd be interesting - I'd be up for it, I have the 4e books and starter set.

[Campfire_Burning]

I'd be up for this (I know, I say this in every RPG thread) but I don't have any of the books. Would a session on a freebie RPG be out of the realm of possibility, or one using free quickstart rules?

[jonnyalpha]

I keep buying rpg rulesets and then never get beyond reading them. I picked up the redbox D & D starter out of pure nostalgia and it now sits on the shelf next to Mouseguard, Usagi Yojimbo RPG, Paranoia and Doctor Who. I don't think I'll ever get any of them actually played.

For ease of use I've heard good things about the Savage Worlds system. Has anyone any experience of those games? For an online game you'd need it to be a fairly smooth and simple system I think.

[BigShimmeryWall]

We could certainly try it. We'd need books and that, but I reckon it'd be interesting - I'd be up for it, I have the 4e books and starter set.

Roll a d12 to see if you can successfully open the Monster Manual.

d6 to see if you take damage from a paper cut.

[therearerules]

toonfool hosted a few games on here last year. There's some threads in off topic (I think) if you want to see how he did it.

[Blunted]

I keep buying rpg rulesets and then never get beyond reading them. I picked up the redbox D & D starter out of pure nostalgia and it now sits on the shelf next to Mouseguard, Usagi Yojimbo RPG, Paranoia and Doctor Who. I don't think I'll ever get any of them actually played.

For ease of use I've heard good things about the Savage Worlds system. Has anyone any experience of those games? For an online game you'd need it to be a fairly smooth and simple system I think.

I have played and gm'd quite a lot of Deadlands, the system that Savage Worlds is based on, and it isn't too bad for most stuff, but combat can be a bit of a pickler if you aren't too familiar with it. The good thing about it is that you can pick up the basic Savage Worlds rule book for about £7, meaning that everyone can have a copy for very little outlay. Handy for this sort of thing where the gm can't just lend books.

[moosegrinder]

Deadlands sounds so fucking good. Did you play the CCG? The lad at work told me about it, it sounds dead interesting but it's been discontinued. Something about building your deck as it has suits like a pack of cards and whatnot. I'd like to give pen and paper RPG's a go, so whatever we decide on I'm happy with. Committing time is a different matter. I'm shit with keeping enthusiasm up

[jonnyalpha]

Ooh. Have any of you seen the website RPGnow? You can instantly buy and download PDF rulesets. I'm going to have a proper look later on.

[Blunted]

Deadlands sounds so fucking good. Did you play the CCG? The lad at work told me about it, it sounds dead interesting but it's been discontinued. Something about building your deck as it has suits like a pack of cards and whatnot. I'd like to give pen and paper RPG's a go, so whatever we decide on I'm happy with. Committing time is a different matter. I'm shit with keeping enthusiasm up

Yeah, Doomtown is the CCG set in the Deadlands universe. Got an almost complete set of cards somewhere in my parents loft. It is absolutely brilliant. It was the last card game I played a lot of, even entered a couple of tourneys, not that I did very well. The mechanics are fantastic, each card has a suit and value and it has some poker-type stuff going on. It's the same with the Rpg actually, it uses a deck of cards for combat and you use poker chips to count various things.

The backstory is what makes it though. It's bloody genius. I'll outline the basics for anyone not familiar with it next time I'm at a pc, typing on iPhone = pants.

[scottcr]

Recently picked up this little beauty:



I have no one to play it with however the campaigns included are all single player so you get a good idea how it all works. Includes a decent sized rules compendium and once I find a few folk to play it with it'll be gold! I'm in the Glossop area in case it appeals to folk.

Anyone else here gone down the RPG route?

my very first ever 'game'... got it from the Dragon and George in Glasgow. My Dad took me in to get me a 'proper game' when he found out I was into them and he bought me it. The rest.. as they say... is history.

*apart from a brief period when I planked it in the cellar thinking it was going to rot my brain and take me to Satan, because I listened to mentalers in the church at the time when I was young*

[scottcr]

I keep buying rpg rulesets and then never get beyond reading them. I picked up the redbox D & D starter out of pure nostalgia and it now sits on the shelf next to Mouseguard, Usagi Yojimbo RPG, Paranoia and Doctor Who. I don't think I'll ever get any of them actually played.

For ease of use I've heard good things about the Savage Worlds system. Has anyone any experience of those games? For an online game you'd need it to be a fairly smooth and simple system I think.

Paranoia, Cthullu, Star Wars... I bought all those and lucky if I played any of them once. But *LOVED* reading the books.

[jonnyalpha]

I used to really love the Victory Games James Bond Rpg. The modules were amazing and packed with stuff to hand the players like blueprints, sealed orders, reconnaisance photos etc. I gave the lot away along with the complete Runequest bookset and loads of my GW stuff. I was stupid stupid stupid. The Bond stuff seems to go for pretty high prices on eBay.

[Joyrex-J9]

If we wanted something we could play that didn't require us to buy lots of books
Basic Fantasy Role-Playing Game is a possible.

The Basic Fantasy Role-Playing Game is a rules-light game system based loosely on the d20 SRD v3.5, heavily rewritten with inspiration from early RPG game systems. It is suitable for those who are fans of "old-school" game mechanics. Basic Fantasy RPG is simple enough for children in perhaps second or third grade to play, yet still has enough depth for adults as well

Everything you need to play is available as free PDF downloads
It seems very much like a lite version of 2nd Ed D&D, the books look clear and well written, just don't go expecting lush colour illustrations! It appeals to me due to it's classic feel

[SimonC]

That sounds like a great idea. I can't really afford to shell out for a load of rpg books but i'd be interested in joining in something like this.

[Campfire_Burning]

Downloaded. There are a nice lot of supplements on that site, too.

[jonnyalpha]

It actually looks really interesting. Thanks for showing us that one Joyrex. I'm going to see what the PDF looks like on my ereader, I've got to find some use for it one of these days.

[Joyrex-J9]

Yeah there's more than a few files! also confusingly are some older edition of the rules. :/
I think all you need is the core rules, and whoever is DMing will need the wandering monsters supplement and the field guide etc.

The core book has a very limited range of just 4 classes so I can see the extra classes being useful.

[jonnyalpha]

And the answer is that it looks ok on my ereader but as it's quite a large file takes a while to turn pages which is a bit annoying.

You can even buy hard copies of the rules on that site. Does anyone know what it means when it describes an edition as "perfect bound"? You can get hardback, perfect bound or coil bound. Two are obvious but I'm not sure about perfect binding. Any ideas?

[Joyrex-J9]

I wondered that too! Google to the rescue
http://desktoppub.ab...perfectbind.htm
http://www.printonde...dingOptions.jpg

In my experience those tend to fall apart with use, I'd guess coil bound would take more abuse

[jonnyalpha]

Coil bound seems like a great idea actually.

[Campfire_Burning]

This week's Community (the superb US sitcom) revolves around a game of Dungeons & Dragons. It goes all in, as you can tell from the episode's special opening credits:

[Tunisia]

Playing a pretty standard elven ranger w/ longbow under 3.5. First round of combat last session, went first due to ridiculous initiative, used rapid shot, fired 3 arrows. 3 crit threats? Why thank you! And to confirm? Natural 20, 20, 19? Yes please! That, plus 3dmg from a the cleric's sound burst, toppled it

[Sirloin]

Anyone used the Paizo Pathfinder rules? I've been reading a couple of thier adventure paths and they are very good. Their house version of the 3.5 rules are supposed to be good, but I haven't read them as yet.

[michael]

Yesterday, campfireburning (of these parts) flung a link my way about Fourthcore - basically really challenging 4ed D&D. Seriously, I was blown away by the whole concept - I spoke to the guy who runs www.saveversusdeath.com this morning and had a great discussion with him about the whole idea of playing for fun against playing for story. I really recommend checking out his site. They've just [ublished their first Fourthcore adventure that, even if you're never going to play it, is well worth reading.

Linke-me-do: http://slamdancr.com...-the-iron-lich/

[roskelld]

I've just started reading through the 4th ed ruleset, after a very long hiatus of not playing (I think my last game was about '97 2nd ed rules). It's a big chance from what I know, the game seems to have changed into something more like a video game in its instant action and lack of need to memorise spells.

To get to grip with the changes, I found some recordings of people playing, although I'm not convinced of their skill at quest crafting. After two hours of listening, they've barely done any RP, spending most of their time fighting through two encounters. I read some comments on Amazon and other places and there seems to be a general complaint from people regarding the lack RPing rules compared to 3rd Ed; I can't say I know enough to make a judgement yet.

One vibe I am getting, especially with that starter pack, is the ability to bring new people into the game. My girlfriend has expressed an interest in playing and I think I'd struggle to get her into 2nd edition, and presumably 3rd too. So 4th looks more inviting, I just hope it's something that can be expanded.

I'm saddened to hear that there's no more Planescape.

[Joyrex-J9]

Here's my take on 4th edition and D&D, apologies if I ramble! Lately I've been doing a lot of reading round and research (for want of a better term) on 4E, Essentials, 3.5, Pathfinder, etc etc

If you're looking for a system to get first timers into RPG'ing I think 4E is the best place to start. The rules are clear and they tidied up a lot of "fluff" and complication from 3E. There is no denying 4E is combat focused, the whole system is based on you having a series of encounters, there's such a thing as non-combat encounters which can yield XP but still; it's encounter, encounter, encounter... It has to be played with minis, and a map/floor tiles, and the way PC classes work is all based on powers (at-will/per-encounter/daily) & feats, making it feel very much like a videogame RPG or MMO. All of this is what makes it quite noob friendly & accessible, but also is a turn off for those that want lots of pure role-play in their games. It depends what you want out of your RPG

To confuse things further, WOTC recently released the Essentials line of 4E books, which if you're starting from scratch is where you should start. It contains lots of rule tidy ups, lots of errata, lots of streamlining and improvements. The players guide is now split into two books (Heroes of the Fallen Lands & Heroes of the Forgotten Kingdoms) which cover all the races and classes the old 4E players guide did, but a hero made with the Essentials books won't be compatible with the old 4E player's guide. In essence they made the classes easier for new players, less choices & less chance of making an "bad" hero by making poor choices. Essentials is not 4.5 or anything like that, it's compatible with the older 4E stuff, it's really the classes that had a big overhaul.

On the subject of Essentials, the Red Box Starter is obviously a great place to start, it has a really nice way of new players creating their character through a sort of choose your own adventure/gamebook scenario "if you choose to run in and attack turn to XX, if you chose to stay and heal the guy turn to YY". The choices you make shape the race, class and powers your character has. A very nice way of doing it, far less abstract & intimidating for first timers than plonking down 2 rule books. Sadly WOTC fucked it up a bit and characters created with the Red Box starter aren't compatible with the rest of the D&D Essentials players books (Heroes of the...) so you need to make some tweaks (some big tweaks in some cases) to them as explained in this errata

I've waffled enough

[Blunted]

All of this is what makes it quite noob friendly & accessible, but also is a turn off for those that want lots of pure role-play in their games. It depends what you want out of your RPG

It sounds rubbish to me. More like a war game than an RPG.

All an RPG needs to be noob friendly is a clear rules set and a decent example adventure.