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The Uncanny Resurrection of Dungeons and Dragons

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181–190 of 246 posts

Re: The Uncanny Resurrection of Dungeons and Dragons

#181
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,…

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

There are other "d20 system" games - e.g. I remember the Babylon 5 RPG uses it.

I've reached the conclusion it's a bad idea though. The more generic a system it is, the less appropriate to the specific game it can be, and vice versa. So I much prefer systems that are very dedicated to their particular game experience. E.g. I absolutely love The Mountain Witch, which is a game that feels like a samurai movie, and everything in the system supports that: there's a special mechanic for duels, another for betrayals, all conflicts interact with your personal history/issues...

Re: The Uncanny Resurrection of Dungeons and Dragons

#182

I actually shudder at the thought of playing D&D. The idea that I have to make up a story as I go along and am dependant on what the DM thinks about my decisions, just does not appeal to me. Considering I have never played D&D, I could very well be completely off the mark, however there is nothing that was said in the article that changed my mind, but (and this is important) this is a purely personal view of what I l…

Resurrected my old account just to reply to this. I just started playing 9 months ago or so. I was sceptical as I've always felt poor at acting/drama. Turns out, it's really fun. You're not making a story alone. You're in a group with 2-5 other 'heroes' and a DM. You're all making the story together and it's easy to go along with the flow until you think of something that pops into your head and you can then do whate…

if you want a fun game try the pathfinder "we be goblins" scenarios as our gm said it allows you to ply with moral compass of a toddler.

Re: The Uncanny Resurrection of Dungeons and Dragons

#184
post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "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 :)

D&D First Edition is Assembly?

I think most of the time AD&D is referred to as First Edition.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Editions_of_Dungeons_%26_Drago...

But to extend on your point - maybe Original D&D is like Forth in this analogy?

Re: The Uncanny Resurrection of Dungeons and Dragons

#185
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.

I think they are using DnD as a short hand for RPGs in general as most "dnd" players now play Pathfinder or 5th Edition

Re: The Uncanny Resurrection of Dungeons and Dragons

#186
post #160
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,…

Actually, D&D is a very American thing. In Germany we have a pretty active Pen & Paper scene as well, but D&D is not so common. Instead, the "major" system is DSA (The Black Eye). But I have a feeling that we have a higher variety of systems played on this side of the sea. I played D&D once and didn't like it that much. Too much focus on being the hero, too much encouragement of powergaming for my taste. But that mig…

It was (is?) big in Britain and Ireland too. Maybe it's an English-language thing?

Re: The Uncanny Resurrection of Dungeons and Dragons

#187

The best advice I can give any DnD or aspiring DnD players is to invest in a 3D printer.

I've been playing DnD for 22 years now and I don't see why. Figurines are completely accessory. I didn't even used maps until 5-6 years ago when we moved to Dnd4.

Re: The Uncanny Resurrection of Dungeons and Dragons

#188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would someone who already knows AD&D 1e switch to the new one? What does that person gain? Imagine this hypothetical person wants to spend as little time as possible learning and on details, and as much as possible on creative experiences.

> Why would someone who already knows AD&D 1e switch to the new one? What does that person gain? Aside from network effects, the rules are much easier to use in play without referencing fairly arbitrary tables; there's a lot of streamlining and consistency that lets them handle more situations with less lookups, different mechanical subsystems, and fiddly bits. Notably, a unified success mechanic that covers skill us…

Improved class balance classic DnD had some op classes - the original paladin class for example.

Re: The Uncanny Resurrection of Dungeons and Dragons

#189
post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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? ;^)

In the originating Apocalypse-world, no :-) It is apocalypse after all, everything is really bad :D

But I have seen hacks/systems with critical success on 12, (or more than 12, if you have i.e. modifiers for your character stats).

But having critical failures sounds like fun, go for it :D

You could easily add it to i.e. World Of Dungeons [1] probably the shortest rule-set for RPG I have ever run :)

[1] http://www.onesevendesign.com/dw/world_of_dungeons_1979_bw.p...

Re: The Uncanny Resurrection of Dungeons and Dragons

#190
post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

D&D First Edition is Assembly?

I think most of the time AD&D is referred to as First Edition. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Editions_of_Dungeons_%26_Drago... But to extend on your point - maybe Original D&D is like Forth in this analogy?

depends when you started 1st ed for me was the 3 brown books
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