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Marvelous Article! I couldn't agree more on pen and paper RPG's influence on videogames. I used to play Vampire, Lord of The Rings and D&D. That CthulhuTech you mentioned seems interesting!
I remember when I was in high school and my brother first started to introduce me to tabletop roleplaying. For some reason I became really, REALLY interested in RIFTS. I also tried to come up with my own rules for a Halo game based on the Palladium rules set.
That would have likely been problematic.
I've found D&D and video games scratch two different itches. For me at least. When I play D&D I don't have much interest in experience points or loot, but instead take to creating a character and telling a story. This has worked really well when I have like-minded players or a like-minded DM. Not as well when half the party is more interested in profit margins. Either way, though, it has been a great way to just let the creative energy flow with a group of friends and have a great time.
Sadly, I don't have so much time these days, and instead use what little time I do have to socially game with friends on board games instead.
That would have likely been problematic.
I've found D&D and video games scratch two different itches. For me at least. When I play D&D I don't have much interest in experience points or loot, but instead take to creating a character and telling a story. This has worked really well when I have like-minded players or a like-minded DM. Not as well when half the party is more interested in profit margins. Either way, though, it has been a great way to just let the creative energy flow with a group of friends and have a great time.
Sadly, I don't have so much time these days, and instead use what little time I do have to socially game with friends on board games instead.
My first D&D Character was a Human rogue/sorcerer. That was until I found the true beast of the gnome rogue.
Fantastic writeup.
When I was a kid, and access to a great deal of D&D materials was limited, we would fill in the blanks, using whatever scraps of official stuff we could find and supplementing it with our own. The most any of us ever had was maybe a Players Handbook, so we would come up with just about everything else on the spot. It didn't matter. The spirit of getting into a character and adventuring was there, and the result was always a really fun time.
These days, I have a group that I sometimes play with, but the new rules and the people themselves make for a pretty dry experience. Everything is strictly detailed, with miniatures always on the table, and I kind of miss the more free style adventuring I did when I was a kid. I have a copy of all the original Advanced Dungeons and Dragons manuals, and they are still my favorite rules. Archaic by todays standards, but I can still manage to have fun with them from time to time.
In my opinion Pathfinder is now the superior game and I greatly prefer it over D&D. It takes the 3.5 rules of D&D and works with them, rather than implementing a new system altogether. It results in a less rigid system, one which is faster and easier to implement into many different play styles.
If you haven't seen it before, I'd check it out. The manual is worth it even if you don't plan to play; really high quality stuff. The beginners box was pretty good too.
When I was a kid, and access to a great deal of D&D materials was limited, we would fill in the blanks, using whatever scraps of official stuff we could find and supplementing it with our own. The most any of us ever had was maybe a Players Handbook, so we would come up with just about everything else on the spot. It didn't matter. The spirit of getting into a character and adventuring was there, and the result was always a really fun time.
These days, I have a group that I sometimes play with, but the new rules and the people themselves make for a pretty dry experience. Everything is strictly detailed, with miniatures always on the table, and I kind of miss the more free style adventuring I did when I was a kid. I have a copy of all the original Advanced Dungeons and Dragons manuals, and they are still my favorite rules. Archaic by todays standards, but I can still manage to have fun with them from time to time.
In my opinion Pathfinder is now the superior game and I greatly prefer it over D&D. It takes the 3.5 rules of D&D and works with them, rather than implementing a new system altogether. It results in a less rigid system, one which is faster and easier to implement into many different play styles.
If you haven't seen it before, I'd check it out. The manual is worth it even if you don't plan to play; really high quality stuff. The beginners box was pretty good too.
I grew up with Heroquest which is basically "D&D Lite" (More like Warhammer lite since it's their universe.) So my affection is for similar dungeon hack tabletop RPGs like Descent, Space Hulk, the newer D&D Adventure games like Castle Ravenloft, Adventures of Drizzt etc. They're a great time and they do offer my wife and I a different experience from what we get from Video Games.It's especially fun to paint the figures.
My wife and I are part of a small, but relatively active group of Pathfinder players. We've just purchased the re-published 'Rise of the Runelords' Adventure Path, and we'll be running it with some friends on Saturday. We've been playing together as a group for just under a year now, and it's been a blast. We also dabble in Mouse Guard, which I recommend to anyone who's new to table-top gaming, as it really focuses on your ability to role play, rather than your ability to remember esoteric rules. Great write-up!
The only time I played D&D I got kicked out on our second session for "not taking it seriously." Ah well, maybe someday I'll get a group of people who like to have fun with their games.
Good article!
Good article!
This is a fascinating article! I had no idea that there was that much of a variety of tabletop games out there. It may not be technically classified as something like DnD, but something similar I've heavily enjoyed is Betrayal at the House on the Hill. Those like DnD with their myriads of players' handbooks, unfortunately, I just don't dig very much.
The few times I've tried DnD have been maddeningly slow-paced. It took upwards of two and a half hours to get my character's stats sheet completed, and that ended with me constantly having to refer to different handbooks to remember what I chose and what it did and when I could use it. The ensuing battle took another three hours with my barbarian flailing his arms every which way and falling on his ass practically every turn. I seriously entertained the prospect of turning on CSPAN to kill time between turns and friends discussing what equipment suited my character best.
Don't get me wrong, I appreciate the idea behind tabletop games like DnD. The idea of that intricate level of interactivity and customization entices me on paper, but I've perhaps been spoiled by games that calculate all the numbers and stats for me. I just don't have the patience for it.
The few times I've tried DnD have been maddeningly slow-paced. It took upwards of two and a half hours to get my character's stats sheet completed, and that ended with me constantly having to refer to different handbooks to remember what I chose and what it did and when I could use it. The ensuing battle took another three hours with my barbarian flailing his arms every which way and falling on his ass practically every turn. I seriously entertained the prospect of turning on CSPAN to kill time between turns and friends discussing what equipment suited my character best.
Don't get me wrong, I appreciate the idea behind tabletop games like DnD. The idea of that intricate level of interactivity and customization entices me on paper, but I've perhaps been spoiled by games that calculate all the numbers and stats for me. I just don't have the patience for it.
Wonderful article! I've not really played many tabletop games, but I certainly do see the correlation with video games. I too loved Baldur's Gate and many of the other D&D based games.
I want so badly to get into D&D but I don't know of any DMs in my area. I've tossed around the idea of playing with my ventrilo buddies and that could end up working out. I've played one D&D campaign in my life and it was some of the most fun I've had in gaming. I can't wait to play some more.
This was a wicked article.... I always found it funny that I loved games, yet had never played D&D... though I was so happy to get to finally try it out this year at Pax Prime. I'm by no means an expert, but now I can't wait to go back to pax to spend most of the time 'in the dungeon'...
Any game (or rather, an awesome DM) that lets you 'sweet talk' your way past a dragon by feeding him a horse you found... is TRULY gaming.
I now find myself hooked, and the wife and I are hoping to find a group that will 'help us get up to speed'..
Great read, great article!
Any game (or rather, an awesome DM) that lets you 'sweet talk' your way past a dragon by feeding him a horse you found... is TRULY gaming.
I now find myself hooked, and the wife and I are hoping to find a group that will 'help us get up to speed'..
Great read, great article!
i started out with AD&D 2nd edition. played P&P games for years on end up till around mid high school. shadowrun is still my favorite P&P setting ever. everyone i played with kinda grew up and we just didnt play it anymore. then as we got older tried to do it again, but with everyone having kids and moving away it got really hard to play anymore.
For those of you who know people who would be up for some tabletop gaming, but don't live anywhere near them, then roll20 is probably perfect. Tabletop gaming in your browser (for free). comes with loads of art assets, tools, even music. Plus you can upload your own stuff or grab it from somewhere else. It's pretty damn awesome. I used to just use google hangouts, but that only really works for the more RP centric games where you don't really need a playing surface.
While anyone that says tabletop has never been of great influence to videogames is not only wrong but dumb, I'm just as happy videogames are far away from tabletop as can be.
I love using my imagination, but tabletops invoke a MUCH far deeper sense of immersion than your avarage role-playing game. I mean MUCH, MUCH deeper, to the point where I personally consider it dangerous.
Not saying your avarage tabletop user is into the occult or anything like that, but that's the reason I steer clear of RP servers and the sort.
Obviously, it's my very lightly researched opinion, to each his own.
I love using my imagination, but tabletops invoke a MUCH far deeper sense of immersion than your avarage role-playing game. I mean MUCH, MUCH deeper, to the point where I personally consider it dangerous.
Not saying your avarage tabletop user is into the occult or anything like that, but that's the reason I steer clear of RP servers and the sort.
Obviously, it's my very lightly researched opinion, to each his own.
Glad people seem to like the article. I really enjoy seeing all the comments that contain "I remember..." =) Just to clarify in case anyone was wondering: By all means, steal my CQC Expert class! Try it out for yourselves and critique.
My crew and I have been having a fair bit of fun lately with a little game called Legend, and even made a stream of it over on the community channel. We're on break because the DM got too goddamn lazy to keep making his campaign, but I'm really looking forward to rebooting it.
DMing my first real campaign has me fucking terrified, though.
DMing my first real campaign has me fucking terrified, though.
I don't play tabletop rpgs because I don't have any friends...who play tabletop rpgs.
Great article, Sophie!
Great article, Sophie!
I am just about to run a campaign myself in the upcoming few weeks. I love table top RPGs, despite the difficulty of getting one started and the near impossibility of finishing one with everyone still playing. Always a good time.
By the way, even if they're making their own pen and paper game with their own rules set, I'd advise seeking out the Iron Kingdoms books. They're 3.0 and weren't updated to 3.5 as they didn't sell well enough, but the setting is fantastic. They labeled it "Full Metal Fantasy", and it honestly reminds me a lot of Final Fantasy 6 when trying to describe it (Magic powered Mechs marching around, etc.)
What really sold me on it, however, was how each race was broken down into sub-races. So there are multiple minute statistical, skill and feat differences based on the region a human, elf, Trollkin, half-orc, etc. came from. In fact, the player's hand book is so friggin' detailed, giving so much history of the setting, the world, the characters...
If I dive into D&D again, it will be for Iron Kingdoms. So if you can find it, grab it. And if you happen to see the new Iron Kingdoms game released by privateer press on store shelves (released just last week, it seems!), then pick it up. These guys know how to build a world.
What really sold me on it, however, was how each race was broken down into sub-races. So there are multiple minute statistical, skill and feat differences based on the region a human, elf, Trollkin, half-orc, etc. came from. In fact, the player's hand book is so friggin' detailed, giving so much history of the setting, the world, the characters...
If I dive into D&D again, it will be for Iron Kingdoms. So if you can find it, grab it. And if you happen to see the new Iron Kingdoms game released by privateer press on store shelves (released just last week, it seems!), then pick it up. These guys know how to build a world.
Great article. My first RPG was Final Fantasy on the NES, I wouldn't discover it until college after some Magic: The Gathering players I knew were character developing between games.
I agree with the above thought that D&D scratches a different itch than my xbox or PC can.
But my D&D games are very different. Drink done beer, smoke some green, waste an got making fun of other players, then have a marathon session that accomplishes nothing but buy some camping supplies and discover that the group whore is allergic to peanuts and how similar that sounds to penis.
I agree with the above thought that D&D scratches a different itch than my xbox or PC can.
But my D&D games are very different. Drink done beer, smoke some green, waste an got making fun of other players, then have a marathon session that accomplishes nothing but buy some camping supplies and discover that the group whore is allergic to peanuts and how similar that sounds to penis.
Tabletop rpg is a really fun way to spend time with friends and once it's stopped feeling awkward it's kinda cool to role-play and act out the characters. I love it. Great article!
This made me smile, a lot. (And I don't even like D&D that much.) I didn't know World of Darkness used to be a LARP system? I've only seen the version with lots of d10s...
I also love it when Sophie is a naughty schoolgirl.
And you know what bits of high end geekery I'm really loving these days that's on about the same level as p&p RPGs? Board gaming. And I'm not talking about fucking Snakes and Ladders. I'm talking 4 adult game nights, and the Game of Thrones board game, or Risk Godstorm, or Carcassonne. Great fun.
And you know what bits of high end geekery I'm really loving these days that's on about the same level as p&p RPGs? Board gaming. And I'm not talking about fucking Snakes and Ladders. I'm talking 4 adult game nights, and the Game of Thrones board game, or Risk Godstorm, or Carcassonne. Great fun.
And if Ms Prell here was discovering Metal Gear Solid and 'proper' videogaming when she was 10, that means that she is the same age as me, of if anything, a little younger. Huh.
By complete coincidence, I played my first ever game of D&D tonight. Found it extremely slow and maths-ey, not really my thing. Glad I did it though, was interesting to finally get a taste of how it all works.
Cool article. I got my first taste of PnP RPGs when my mum and her friends went to me (then 15 years old) "We've got a space open in our group. Want to roll up a character and join in?". Thus, Grimak the Fighter was born and I learned 1st ed AD&D and it was glorious.
I could write here for hours on how much fun I've had over the years playing and running games for lots of different systems (thankfully less D20 as years have gone by). I'd always recommend people give it a go if they haven't especially if they enjoy MMORPGs and KOTOR and similar things.
I could write here for hours on how much fun I've had over the years playing and running games for lots of different systems (thankfully less D20 as years have gone by). I'd always recommend people give it a go if they haven't especially if they enjoy MMORPGs and KOTOR and similar things.
great article, but let's be clear here: LARPing crosses a line. i'm all over playing in character, but AROUND A TABLE. i've seen LARP up close and it's not pretty. *shudder*
i can throw d&d, ad&d, ad&d 2nd Ed, TMNT, Robotech, Heroes Unlimited, Marvel, Shadowrun, Ninjas and Superspies, Star Wars, Rifts, Chill, all the different World of Darkness games, D&D(cyclopedia), The Window, D&D 3.0 and 3.5, (but not 4th!) and various other games that we've modified and/or worked out rules for ourselves. to me, the best part of tabletop is playing with the same group- i've been playing with more or less the same group of guys(and sometimes girls) since high school- now most of us are married with kids, and it's an excuse for us to get out one night a week. the game changes every few months, and we ressurect old campaigns, transfer characters between campaigns(and even systems) and everybody takes a turn in the DM's chair.
i find my videogames tend toward RPGs, but the more complex ones- roguelikes mostly, but i do loves me some skyrim. most JRPGs make me lose interest around the 12 hour mark, and i think FF1 was the only one i actually finished.
in short, RPGs rule, when played around a table and slightly inebriated, with good friends.
i can throw d&d, ad&d, ad&d 2nd Ed, TMNT, Robotech, Heroes Unlimited, Marvel, Shadowrun, Ninjas and Superspies, Star Wars, Rifts, Chill, all the different World of Darkness games, D&D(cyclopedia), The Window, D&D 3.0 and 3.5, (but not 4th!) and various other games that we've modified and/or worked out rules for ourselves. to me, the best part of tabletop is playing with the same group- i've been playing with more or less the same group of guys(and sometimes girls) since high school- now most of us are married with kids, and it's an excuse for us to get out one night a week. the game changes every few months, and we ressurect old campaigns, transfer characters between campaigns(and even systems) and everybody takes a turn in the DM's chair.
i find my videogames tend toward RPGs, but the more complex ones- roguelikes mostly, but i do loves me some skyrim. most JRPGs make me lose interest around the 12 hour mark, and i think FF1 was the only one i actually finished.
in short, RPGs rule, when played around a table and slightly inebriated, with good friends.
I'll always have a fondness for pen and paper rpg's, especially Vampire: The Masquerade. I still have my character sheets and I still have my books and read them from time to time for funsies. I wish I could find another group to play with as I really miss it.
Ooh damn, I wanna chime in on what Fraser said: Roll20 is a fantastic virtual tabletop that keeps fuss to a minimum and does everything I want it to.
Except let me adjust how the ruler measures diagonally. That is seriously my biggest gripe with it, which is pretty stellar considering it's free and sinfully easy to use.
If you've got people who want to play a tabletop game together and no logistical means to get them around a physical table, use this.
Except let me adjust how the ruler measures diagonally. That is seriously my biggest gripe with it, which is pretty stellar considering it's free and sinfully easy to use.
If you've got people who want to play a tabletop game together and no logistical means to get them around a physical table, use this.
I'm actually surprised on how many people here say they like tabletop. Yeah, it has its influences, but it isn't video games. Period. It just doesn't appeal to me, even if that's where the roots lie. I'll probably never play one. I had my first taste of video games in the late 80's, and I've known of D&D's existence since my childhood as well, but...while I admit I have limited knowledge, I would be, so, so bored playing one. I know, people always say don't knock something until you try it, but I'm bored playing some RPGs that are video games half the time. D&D would absolutely drive me up the wall. Pen and paper...wat? I have an imagination, but numbers always make things tedious and not very fun, even in actual video games. I've always felt that math is something that should happen behind the scenes, like in most real-world situations. I've always been good with it, but I can't really say it's ever been fun in any situation.
This is really just another perspective, and I'm fine with being in the minority here. Whatever anyone likes, have at it.
This is really just another perspective, and I'm fine with being in the minority here. Whatever anyone likes, have at it.
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