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The Uncanny Resurrection of Dungeons and Dragons

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Re: The Uncanny Resurrection of Dungeons and Dragons

#141

Post by ghostDancer »

sago wrote: post #75

I'm not sure if it's resurrecting, or just improving it's image, either way it's welcome. Still, it is sad that it is so focused on one game: D&D. It's a decent game, particularly fifth edition, but I can't help finding it a bit... um, artless. Which isn't a problem, sometimes that's fun. But when there are so many amazing and sophisticated RPGs, with game mechanics that expand the form and support interesting play,…

I found this game Rêve: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R%C3%AAve:_the_Dream_Ouroboros and it was different but not easy to be the DM.

Re: The Uncanny Resurrection of Dungeons and Dragons

#142

Post by tehwalrus »

taneq wrote: post #96
azernik wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not just empathy - it's also a sense of drama that's required. A DM writes the story in (semi-)real-time, whereas in CRPGs the "DM" (the writers) have to predict player actions in advance and railroad the players a lot more in order to get a good story progression going.

This is the key insight which many new DMs seem to miss. D&D isn't a "game", it's a framework for telling an engaging story together.

This is much more explicit in a different, much simpler RPG called Fate, which is my new favourite.

GM'ing (Game, rather than Dungeon Master) is nearly as hard because of the improv story authorship, but the lack of rules-lawyering judgement that is required of you in a D&D game (even in a good edition like 5th, sadly) is not missed.

Re: The Uncanny Resurrection of Dungeons and Dragons

#143

Post by watwut »

fulafel wrote: post #99

Why D&D and not one of the later RPGs? It seems the RPG world has degenerated since the 90s if adult/YA players are using it for more than an introduction to RPGs.

Because it is simple and available without any effort. Everyone knows it exists, it is not obscure.

So they start to play and have good fun, convert their friends by telling them how fun it is, but is there any reason to stop.playing and explore other often more complex rulesets?

Re: The Uncanny Resurrection of Dungeons and Dragons

#144

Post by tehwalrus »

sago wrote: post #75

I'm not sure if it's resurrecting, or just improving it's image, either way it's welcome. Still, it is sad that it is so focused on one game: D&D. It's a decent game, particularly fifth edition, but I can't help finding it a bit... um, artless. Which isn't a problem, sometimes that's fun. But when there are so many amazing and sophisticated RPGs, with game mechanics that expand the form and support interesting play,…

> "It's like programming languages, sure you can do anything in D&D (≈ Java, perhaps?)"

I love it. But I would choose different languages:

AD&D: C

D&D 3.5: C++

D&D 4: Java/C#

D&D 5: C++11

Fate Core: Python

:)

Re: The Uncanny Resurrection of Dungeons and Dragons

#145

Post by Grumbledour »

For people who don't already know the game or the current edition, it might also be of interest that you can download the basic rules for free.

http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/basicrules

These are actually all the rules needed to play, minus special classes, character options and spells found in the players guide. Best place for new players is probably the starter set, because it includes a rather good adventure in addition to premade characters and a rulebook. It is also available at a low price, but you can't beat free of course.

Re: The Uncanny Resurrection of Dungeons and Dragons

#146

Post by claudius »

mderazon wrote: post #136

Does anyone remember the MUD [1] days ? It was a terminal text based D&D where you could connect to a server and create a character and play with other people. Every mud service was a completely different world you could explore and had different characters. You would team up with people and go slay monsters to gain experience and level up or just hang out and do stupid stuff. You could use a dedicated mud clients li…

Just moved the MUD I used to play in around 2007 to "my" server because the old one was crashed. Absolutely tiny playerbase, but the content is still there :)

Re: The Uncanny Resurrection of Dungeons and Dragons

#147

Post by messel »

glogla wrote: post #118
sago wrote: post #75

I'm not sure if it's resurrecting, or just improving it's image, either way it's welcome. Still, it is sad that it is so focused on one game: D&D. It's a decent game, particularly fifth edition, but I can't help finding it a bit... um, artless. Which isn't a problem, sometimes that's fun. But when there are so many amazing and sophisticated RPGs, with game mechanics that expand the form and support interesting play,…

Try Nobilis or Chuubo's Marvelous Wish-Granting Engine. It's something completely new again - no dice rolls and more about "what do you do with power?" than "what can you do?". Oh and the author has incredible command of English so it read like poetry, and she has PhD in Computer Science and it shows - the games are modular, the algorithms are precise, etc.

I'll give these a look, I also highly recommend Amber diceless (based on Zelazney's books)

Re: The Uncanny Resurrection of Dungeons and Dragons

#148

Post by erikb »

mderazon wrote: post #136

Does anyone remember the MUD [1] days ? It was a terminal text based D&D where you could connect to a server and create a character and play with other people. Every mud service was a completely different world you could explore and had different characters. You would team up with people and go slay monsters to gain experience and level up or just hang out and do stupid stuff. You could use a dedicated mud clients li…

I think there's also a passionate little group of followers in a few reddits. Don't remember where, though. Maybe just try /r/MUD etc and you can find it.

Re: The Uncanny Resurrection of Dungeons and Dragons

#149

Post by dzdt »

a-saleh wrote: post #133
malloryerik wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe then a new game could be related to D&D as Clojure is to Java? Like, built on the D&D runtime?

Ha, there actually are engines, that many of the new RPGs share. But I am not sure D&D (or at least 5e) is well suited for being a base for many different games, because i.m.o. it has a strong focus on combat. If you want a game with lot of encounters with monsters to defeat, getting more and more powerful to defeat even harder enemies, with combat system that is not overly complex but still tactical, you definitely…

And if the sum is 1, something REALLY bad happens? ;^)

Re: The Uncanny Resurrection of Dungeons and Dragons

#150

Post by davedx »

BillBohan wrote: post #38

I tried getting friends to play RPG's in the early 1980's but they didn't show much interest until I came across a supply of 6" (150 mm) square pieces of styrofoam (discarded packing material from work) which I painted with gray acrylic paint. I cut some in half and some in quarters and used them to depict the dungeons for use with metal miniatures. After that I had a group which showed up every month for 5 years. I…

Yes, I did something like that for when I DM'd Shadowrun! (Writing bits of computer code for dice rolls).
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