The unlikely resurgence of Dungeons and Dragons • Hacker News Board

Re: The unlikely resurgence of Dungeons and Dragons

#251

Post by rtkwe » Wed, Jan 09, 2019, 3:47 PM UTC

ChrisRR wrote: post #215

Cthulhu_ wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe Keep Talking & Nobody Explodes would be an option - I haven't played it, but what I'm reading is that it's a game where one player has to defuse a bomb while the others have to give him instructions. I'm sure that could be converted to braille or some other format that doesn't require vision. Would be a great project to adjust that for the visually impaired.

Unfortunately that wouldn't work. For the person who's reading the instructions, there's a lot of flipping through pages and skimming an entire page for instructions on the particular item. That fast skim reading can't be done with braille.

It can however be done with a well structured document and a screen reader. Worked with a blind guy in college who used screen readers and it was incredibly fast moving through pages.

Re: The unlikely resurgence of Dungeons and Dragons

#252

Post by C1sc0cat » Wed, Jan 09, 2019, 3:49 PM UTC

dragonwriter wrote: post #242

C1sc0cat wrote: post #203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Technically Correct - but once the Three brown Books where published in 75/76 DnD diverged from "proper" wargaming 100%

Well, not 100%; AD&D Battlesystem was a thing.

I had forgotten about that - I do have a copy of TSR's ECW (English Civil War) rules as well - must be super rare

Re: The unlikely resurgence of Dungeons and Dragons

#253

Post by docker_up » Wed, Jan 09, 2019, 3:49 PM UTC

projectramo wrote: post #248

There are two reasons to pick other game systems over D&D: 1. You don't want the medieval + magic world and want to explore other timelines. Maybe futuristic, Star Wars etc. 2. You don't like the mechanics. Maybe the game system complexity slows you down or else there is some weird arbitrage opportunity that messes up the incentives. (Let's spend the whole game killing orc babies to build up XP instead of solving the…

Isn't #2 solved by a good Dungeon Master? The DM should be able to take control of the game so that players aren't just going around killing orc babies. "In the distance, you see a group of 1000 orc parents coming searching for the killers of their babies..."

Re: The unlikely resurgence of Dungeons and Dragons

#254

Post by wenc » Wed, Jan 09, 2019, 3:50 PM UTC

I'm just wondering, are there many casual D&D groups for non-geeks? (like the Adrian family featured in the article)

My only exposure to D&D was the episode of the "Community", and it looked pretty fun. I wonder if the demographics of that group is normal.

I only ask because most of my friends have this perception that D&D personalities are a little "awkward" and would not give it a chance, but have no issues going to board-game nights.

Re: The unlikely resurgence of Dungeons and Dragons

#255

Post by C1sc0cat » Wed, Jan 09, 2019, 3:51 PM UTC

Pxtl wrote: post #73

baroffoos wrote: post #71

I would love to play it but physical games require you to meet up and everyone is too spaced out in this city to visit.

Lots of folks play these games in video chats.

I am starting a starfinder (pathfinder in space) that is doing that as well as publishing on yahoo.

Re: The unlikely resurgence of Dungeons and Dragons

#256

Post by SaulOfTheJungle » Wed, Jan 09, 2019, 4:01 PM UTC

mcv wrote: post #250

SaulOfTheJungle wrote: post #241

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What non-D&D game would you suggest to someone who enjoys D&D but would like to explore other systems?

There are way too many options to give a simple answer to that question. If you want to stick close to D&D, Pathfinder and 13th Age are obvious choices. If you prefer something a bit more raw, less polished maybe, deadlier, where survival is a goal in itself and combat may be better avoided, try one of the OSR systems, like DCC, LotFP, Labyrinth Lord, OSRIC, etc. Lamentations of the Flame Princess is weird horror and…

> If you want to get further away from D&D, well, what direction do you want?

SF or Cyberpunk

Re: The unlikely resurgence of Dungeons and Dragons

#257

Post by saalweachter » Wed, Jan 09, 2019, 4:07 PM UTC

SaulOfTheJungle wrote: post #256

mcv wrote: post #250

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are way too many options to give a simple answer to that question. If you want to stick close to D&D, Pathfinder and 13th Age are obvious choices. If you prefer something a bit more raw, less polished maybe, deadlier, where survival is a goal in itself and combat may be better avoided, try one of the OSR systems, like DCC, LotFP, Labyrinth Lord, OSRIC, etc. Lamentations of the Flame Princess is weird horror and…

> If you want to get further away from D&D, well, what direction do you want? SF or Cyberpunk

Shadowrun is the canonical cyberpunk RPG.

Starfinder is, I believe, Pathfinder in space.

GURPS is setting-agnostic.

Re: The unlikely resurgence of Dungeons and Dragons

#258

Post by weavejester » Wed, Jan 09, 2019, 4:08 PM UTC

C1sc0cat wrote: post #203

weavejester wrote: post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd disagree that 4e was far from D&D's roots. D&D evolved from miniture-based wargames, and it remains a combat-focused P&P system. In my view 4e had two primary problems: combat was complex took a long time to resolve, even by D&D's standards, and it was different to what people were used to.

Technically Correct - but once the Three brown Books where published in 75/76 DnD diverged from "proper" wargaming 100%

I agree D&D has evolved into a different game, but it's still a lot closer to wargaming than a lot of other P&P systems, like Fate or Fiasco for example. D&D is a system that revolves around simulating party-vs-party fights in a fantasy setting, with some roleplay rules tacked onto the periphary. I felt 4e very much continued with that theme; the problem was fights in 4e were just too complex and laborious, even for a system built primarily for combat.

Re: The unlikely resurgence of Dungeons and Dragons

#259

Post by dmoy » Wed, Jan 09, 2019, 4:14 PM UTC

SaulOfTheJungle wrote: post #256

mcv wrote: post #250

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are way too many options to give a simple answer to that question. If you want to stick close to D&D, Pathfinder and 13th Age are obvious choices. If you prefer something a bit more raw, less polished maybe, deadlier, where survival is a goal in itself and combat may be better avoided, try one of the OSR systems, like DCC, LotFP, Labyrinth Lord, OSRIC, etc. Lamentations of the Flame Princess is weird horror and…

> If you want to get further away from D&D, well, what direction do you want? SF or Cyberpunk

In addition to the three listed above, Alternity (if it's still in print?) is a reasonable SF system.

Oops, not in print since 2000... yep.

Re: The unlikely resurgence of Dungeons and Dragons

#260

Post by dljsjr » Wed, Jan 09, 2019, 4:17 PM UTC

wenc wrote: post #254

I'm just wondering, are there many casual D&D groups for non-geeks? (like the Adrian family featured in the article) My only exposure to D&D was the episode of the "Community", and it looked pretty fun. I wonder if the demographics of that group is normal. I only ask because most of my friends have this perception that D&D personalities are a little "awkward" and would not give it a chance, but have no issues going t…

So I felt the same way about it; I'm a card-carrying nerd but most of my friends are decidedly non-geeks who still enjoy board game nights. At first, it started off with me being afraid of introducing them to the less mainstream boardgames. But one night I pitched Settlers of Catan (not exactly underground but also not Monopoly by any stretch) and surprisingly they took to it. And as we started playing more and more esoteric board games (some of them even having faux tabletop/RPG elements to them) I was continually surprised that everyone continued to enjoy them.

The most surprising thing to me, though, is that eventually they approached me about trying out D&D. It was something I'd wanted to do for a while but had never communicated it to them because I just assumed they wouldn't be interested.

Point being: You may be surprised. You have nothing to lose by suggesting it to them other than them saying "no". The 5th edition starter set even has the option of using pregenerated characters to reduce the friction. Maybe even start by showing them one of the CelibriDnD videos on YouTube; there's one with Vin Diesel and one with Terry Crews, not people who the general public usually think of as geeky.