Dungeons & Dragons and other Pen & Paper RPGs

[IContainMultitudes]

Does anyone else here play any pen & paper roleplaying games? I've started to get into them lately, I found a Dungeons & Dragons 5E group that I've started playing with a game store here, I also recently bought the rule book for a game called Fiasco that I'd like to try soon (I would classify it a bit more as a collaborative storytelling game than as a roleplaying game).

BTW, if anyone here is interested in the Pathfinder RPG, you can get tons of stuff for it in ebook form ridiculously cheap from Humble Bundle right now:

https://www.humblebundle.com/books/paizo-pathfinder-bundle

 

[Southern Discomfort]

I went through a period which I was fixated on Vampire: The Masquerade. I bought the V:TM 20th Anniversary edition and read all its 500 pages but I live in a rural area and I know no one nearby who plays it. I tried playing it with two of my friends but storytelling proved to be really hard for me and it only lasted thirty minutes. I guess I don't have very good confidence in my abilities.

 

[Jonathan Lees]

i have played them a lot in the last year, I've played pathfinder, through the breach, the one ring, dread and a few others. i really enjoy them but recently I've been too busy and I've had to leave the two roleplaying campaigns i was involved in. lots of fun and well worth it when time is available.

 

[eazea]

I went through a period which I was fixated on Vampire: The Masquerade. I bought the V:TM 20th Anniversary edition and read all its 500 pages but I live in a rural area and I know no one nearby who plays it. I tried playing it with two of my friends but storytelling proved to be really hard for me and it only lasted thirty minutes. I guess I don't have very good confidence in my abilities.

Maybe you could try short story telling, and work your way up?

 

[Southern Discomfort]

Maybe you could try short story telling, and work your way up?

Maybe. If I ever get the motivation for it back up.

 

[eazea]

Maybe. If I ever get the motivation for it back up.

What if its the other way around? What if you don't motivation TO do it? What if, you get motivation FROM doing it?

 

[Bolletje]

Reviving this old topic! I played three D&D campaigns, one was ADND, the others were 3rd edition. I was a DM twice, which I enjoyed immensely. I'm very interested in call of Cthulhu and Vampire: the Masquerade too, but I never got around to playing it.

I just realized how much I miss D&D, I should really get around to finding a new group

 

[Southern Discomfort]

I have since ST'ed a game of Vampire and it went very well, we played for about 3 hours. I just need to develop the story a bit more to work with it properly.

 

[Accelerator]

Hi. Doing a fly-by. My brother tried introducing pen&paper games to me before, but it took a second time for me to really get into it. The infinite possibilities in the story and gameplay was a major draw, though admittedly, any obsessions related to a particular character (see my username) or characteristics thereof will eventually find their way to my characters. I don't have that many friends or acquaintances that play pen&paper games though, and those that are interested are often busy, so I don't play as often as I would like.

 

[AspieWatchmaker]

I can't play them. When I try I am expected to make up characters, stories, situatons, solutions to problems I can't see, etc. and I just can't do it. I get stuck. I like to hear about the stories from others playing, but I just can't participate in it. It is harder even than making conversation with NTs and although there is DnD at my house every week, I usually have to hide because of the noise of the group. I can't even roleplay in online games.

 

[Accelerator]

I can't play them. When I try I am expected to make up characters, stories, situatons, solutions to problems I can't see, etc. and I just can't do it. I get stuck. I like to hear about the stories from others playing, but I just can't participate in it. It is harder even than making conversation with NTs and although there is DnD at my house every week, I usually have to hide because of the noise of the group. I can't even roleplay in online games.

A shame. Is the problem that you can't work with what you can't see, that you need just a bit more references for the scenes? Or is your imagination (because that's really important in pen&paper games) not allowing you to visualize it no matter what? I will admit that no matter how much I want to help (because it's a thing I apparently like doing), I can't make any particularly helpful suggestions if I can't tell what the major problems are (or anyone really).Obviously though, this is only in the situation that you actually want to play (because you never quite mentioned that). If you don't want to play though, that's fine.

 

[AspieWatchmaker]

A shame. Is the problem that you can't work with what you can't see, that you need just a bit more references for the scenes? Or is your imagination (because that's really important in pen&paper games) not allowing you to visualize it no matter what? I will admit that no matter how much I want to help (because it's a thing I apparently like doing), I can't make any particularly helpful suggestions if I can't tell what the major problems are (or anyone really).Obviously though, this is only in the situation that you actually want to play (because you never quite mentioned that). If you don't want to play though, that's fine.

I have wanted to play. I think the main issue is the open-endedness. I like to know what the rules are and not so much to make up my own. There is also always a lot of teamwork involved in battle systems I don't get a chance to be familiar with, because the barrier to entry for me is high in other places so I don't get practice. Chess is more my kind of game, not that I'm especially good at it.

 

[Accelerator]

I have wanted to play. I think the main issue is the open-endedness. I like to know what the rules are and not so much to make up my own. There is also always a lot of teamwork involved in battle systems I don't get a chance to be familiar with, because the barrier to entry for me is high in other places so I don't get practice. Chess is more my kind of game, not that I'm especially good at it.

Yeah, soloing monsters doesn't quite leave your character as intact as you'd want it sometimes. I can see how the open-endedness can be problem, though as the DM has the final say in everything the only thing I can really say about that is that you'd need a DM who follows the guidebooks strictly (I'm not sure about your chances), and read the guidebooks too(because they're there, it's just that people don't quite like following them word for word sometimes). In terms of battles, I suppose something you can try is to read whatever the game's battle section says, and plot it out like a video game, that might help, maybe make a sheet with all the relevant points and gauges, I certainly do that (it's in my head though). I'm sorry if I haven't been much help.

 

[AspieWatchmaker]

Yeah, soloing monsters doesn't quite leave your character as intact as you'd want it sometimes. I can see how the open-endedness can be problem, though as the DM has the final say in everything the only thing I can really say about that is that you'd need a DM who follows the guidebooks strictly (I'm not sure about your chances), and read the guidebooks too(because they're there, it's just that people don't quite like following them word for word sometimes). In terms of battles, I suppose something you can try is to read whatever the game's battle section says, and plot it out like a video game, that might help, maybe make a sheet with all the relevant points and gauges, I certainly do that (it's in my head though). I'm sorry if I haven't been much help.

Thanks for trying. I don't think it would be worth getting the group to quiet down just for my sake anyway, and I've always had to learn by doing. I won't remember the rulebooks until I've done what they say and seen what the rationale behind each rule is.

 

[Accelerator]

Thanks for trying. I don't think it would be worth getting the group to quiet down just for my sake anyway, and I've always had to learn by doing. I won't remember the rulebooks until I've done what they say and seen what the rationale behind each rule is.

Yeah, I can see where you're coming from. Maybe you can find a smaller group of say, you, a DM, and two or three people tops? I don't quite know how large the group coming over to your house is, but maybe a small group like that would be more amicable to quieting down? As for learning the rules, I would imagine that a DM who's read the guidelines and figured exactly why they were like that would be your best bet, though I suppose you could also search it online, if the rationale has been discussed before.

 

[Propianotuner]

I love it all. Used to play DnD 1.0 in the Greyhawk and Dragonlance settings, some Pathfinder, 3.5 was probably my favorite because of the way the mechanics felt and how crisp the spell system was. Often I have obsessed over simply creating characters and looking at differences between rulesets.

Pillars of Eternity and Planescape Numenera both have presented brilliant new settings and rulesets, I've sunk my teeth into both real good and am really liking how much they deliver on the story front but you can never beat a good pen and paper session with trusty, nerdy friends.