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The Uncanny Resurrection of Dungeons and Dragons

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Re: The Uncanny Resurrection of Dungeons and Dragons

#161

Post by walshemj »

nevster wrote: post #30

I think the main thing is 5th edition - it's really good. I briefly tried 4th edition and it just didn't feel right - way too combat heavy and video-gamey. Then 5th edition came out and it was immediately obvious that it had that 1st edition feel but with all the bugs worked out. I play it with my kids and it's awesome.

Its a bit streamlined compared to pathfinder/3.5 and allows for less customisation to fit a wide range of character concepts.

but then again I am so used t dnd having started in the 3 brown books days

Re: The Uncanny Resurrection of Dungeons and Dragons

#162

Post by StavrosK »

tehwalrus wrote: post #158
StavrosK wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A friend of mine is a very good DM in D&D, wrote his own stories, world, etc, and we got a group of 5 people together and played two games before he had to leave, so we disbanded. We very much liked the vibe, though, so I want to get the group together again. Is Fate a good game for inexperienced players (especially with an inexperienced DM)? If not, what would be a simple system to start with and play, but still enj…

I don't know much about the difference between Core and Accelerated, I just bought the Fate Core rule book (amazon?) and workout out of it. This is how I run pretty much all my games, buy the book and read it. A new DM should (IMHO) try playing in a game of the specific system run by someone else first, even in a minimalist system like Fate. The thing about Fate is that the jargon is generic fiction terms, rather tha…

I see, thank you. Do you only need the book? The site mentions cards, dice, and various other things, but it doesn't tell you if you actually need those things.

> A new DM should (IMHO) try playing in a game of the specific system run by someone else first, even in a minimalist system like Fate.

That's going to be impossible, it's already hard to find D&D people in my city, something like Fate is just going to be nonexistent, unfortunately.

Re: The Uncanny Resurrection of Dungeons and Dragons

#163

Post by pault »

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…

The thing that turned me off is the fake british accents people seem to feel are necessary. It's a fantasy world, who's to say what kind of accent they have??

Re: The Uncanny Resurrection of Dungeons and Dragons

#164

Post by tehwalrus »

StavrosK wrote: post #162
tehwalrus wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know much about the difference between Core and Accelerated, I just bought the Fate Core rule book (amazon?) and workout out of it. This is how I run pretty much all my games, buy the book and read it. A new DM should (IMHO) try playing in a game of the specific system run by someone else first, even in a minimalist system like Fate. The thing about Fate is that the jargon is generic fiction terms, rather tha…

I see, thank you. Do you only need the book? The site mentions cards, dice, and various other things, but it doesn't tell you if you actually need those things. > A new DM should (IMHO) try playing in a game of the specific system run by someone else first, even in a minimalist system like Fate. That's going to be impossible, it's already hard to find D&D people in my city, something like Fate is just going to be non…

I recommmend an online game then - Reddit "looking for group" is quite good as a hub.

You need "fudge dice", but these are mappable from D6s. I recommend getting the dice though, as this is th table:

1 => -1

2 => -1

3 => 0

4 => 0

5 => 1

6 => 1

So it can get pretty confusing to do in your head.

Re: The Uncanny Resurrection of Dungeons and Dragons

#165

Post by hans0l074 »

I've never played any DnD, but I've spent countless hours playing various video game RPG's from the Baldur's Gate series (based on the ADnD rules) all the way up to modern RPG's like Dragon Age and Pillars of Eternity.

A decade ago, when developers attempted to bring Dungeons & Dragons into the twenty-first century by stuffing it with rules so that it might better resemble a video game, the glue of the game, the narrative aspect that drew so many in, melted away. Players hacked monsters to death, picked up treasure, collected experience points, and coolly moved through preset challenges

Baldur's gate is almost 2 decades old, and I disagree that it did not have the narrative impact that a good DnD game could have (or maybe I'm misunderstanding the authors words). I'm not sure you can even compare what "need" Baldurs Gate satisfies for a gamer compared to DnD. I know gamers who enjoy both. I for one, am glad that computer games like BG exist.

Re: The Uncanny Resurrection of Dungeons and Dragons

#166

Post by saiya-jin »

pault wrote: post #163
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…

The thing that turned me off is the fake british accents people seem to feel are necessary. It's a fantasy world, who's to say what kind of accent they have??

this is only due to US. rest of the world either laughs on this stupidity or completely ignores it without any added effect

Re: The Uncanny Resurrection of Dungeons and Dragons

#167

Post by DanBC »

knappe wrote: post #109
Mizza wrote: post #6

It's because of Stranger Things. The article sees it as a symptom, but from a lot of people I know, it's actually a cause. Shameless plug: If any of you have ever wanted to try DnD but didn't know how to get started, or if you've played before and want to start again, try playing my fun-optimized rule set, _DnD: TL;DR_ - https://github.com/Miserlou/dnd-tldr

This can't possibly be the case. Nerd culture has spread and with it all things nerdy. Look at the growth of GenCon for one example of how explosive this has been. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gen_Con#Timeline Board games sales are up 28% in the US http://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/from-monopoly-to-explo... If anything, I'd say that Stranger things is a symptom of nerd culture. I mean, look at things like Big Ba…

BBT is an attack on, not a celebration of, nerd culture.

Re: The Uncanny Resurrection of Dungeons and Dragons

#168

Post by 4ndr3vv »

hans0l074 wrote: post #165

I've never played any DnD, but I've spent countless hours playing various video game RPG's from the Baldur's Gate series (based on the ADnD rules) all the way up to modern RPG's like Dragon Age and Pillars of Eternity. A decade ago, when developers attempted to bring Dungeons & Dragons into the twenty-first century by stuffing it with rules so that it might better resemble a video game, the glue of the game, the narr…

Your quote is referring to is the changes that DnD went though to keep up with modern DnD style videogames _like_ BG. Rather than saying those video games did not have a strong narrative impact, its saying DnD lost its own; As the DnD rules became more complex often the priorities of a party shifted to min-maxing over questing for the sake of it.

Recently there has been a change in the core DnD rules away from heavy beardy / min-maxing play back to a DM running a narrative campaign.

Re: The Uncanny Resurrection of Dungeons and Dragons

#169

Post by DanBC »

majormajor wrote: post #94
Mizza wrote: post #6

It's because of Stranger Things. The article sees it as a symptom, but from a lot of people I know, it's actually a cause. Shameless plug: If any of you have ever wanted to try DnD but didn't know how to get started, or if you've played before and want to start again, try playing my fun-optimized rule set, _DnD: TL;DR_ - https://github.com/Miserlou/dnd-tldr

Something as mass-market as Big Bang Theory did a D&D episode years before Stranger Things existed. It's been a much longer process than that. Something more niche but still network TV (Community) did one a few years before that, even. That's around the same time I started noticing it popping up in more stores in suburban TX.

Also, Freaks and Geeks did it too, in 2000.

Re: The Uncanny Resurrection of Dungeons and Dragons

#170

Post by StavrosK »

tehwalrus wrote: post #164
StavrosK wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I see, thank you. Do you only need the book? The site mentions cards, dice, and various other things, but it doesn't tell you if you actually need those things. > A new DM should (IMHO) try playing in a game of the specific system run by someone else first, even in a minimalist system like Fate. That's going to be impossible, it's already hard to find D&D people in my city, something like Fate is just going to be non…

I recommmend an online game then - Reddit "looking for group" is quite good as a hub. You need "fudge dice", but these are mappable from D6s. I recommend getting the dice though, as this is th table: 1 => -1 2 => -1 3 => 0 4 => 0 5 => 1 6 => 1 So it can get pretty confusing to do in your head.

Ah, thanks. I was thinking of doing the same with D6es. Good to know that you don't need the cards or anything else, I'll buy the book and read it. The online idea is also pretty interesting, thanks for the recommendation!
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