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30 Years of D&D Extravaganza
Klytus writes "GamingReport.com is reporting on the events Wizards of the Coast has planned for this summer's 30th Anniversary of Dungeons & Dragons. Amongst the events is a 'World D&D Game Day.' There are also plans for a large coffee table book on the 30 years of D&D."
D&D itself is under threat from MMORGs, however face to face roleplaying isn't. Why?
D&D, which I play and enjoy, is micro scale wargaming with a little roleplaying thrown in. Listening to two kids on the train on the way into work yesterday talk about playing a MMORG (maybe Everquest) I heard the same excitement in their voices about levels, uber weapons and collecting runes and potions that I had at that age when playing D&D. They have no need to play D&D.
More and more non-d20 based games are beginning to appear that emphasis communication, games like the The Dying Earth, My Life With Master and Pantheon. These games can't easily be played over the internet until cheap video conferencing arrives, and until then I'd say they will continue to be niche, but successful, games while 3.5e D&D fails to grow much more. Having said that there are millions of D&D players.
D&D is what you make it. The very fact that it doesn't have rules to control every situation and almost any dice-based resolution comes down attributes and the DM's decision makes the game incredibly flexible and easy. This makes role playing in the D&D environment a whole lot easier than in some systems which micro-manage characters with their rules. Besides which D&D has a very poor combat system for anything even vaguely strategic (like wargaming).
i-name =twylite [http://public.xdi.org/=twylite], see idcommons.net
Hmmm...I've been thinking about this for a long time, but it finally hit me when I went over to a friends house to play. They had kids and they played D&D.
/., but there are actually two sexes. We need the other sex to breed more future gamers.
I know this is probably unheard of on
(seriously) face to face gaming is the best no matter what game is being played. All of my favorite memories of games involved other people face to face. Even LAN games are the same way. I've played tons of Starcraft online, but it is the games with friends in the same room that I remember. I've played tons of dungeon hack-n-slash D&D, but I don't remember it. I do remember all the role-playing D&D games.
Maybe some Neural specialist could explain why that is....why is it easier for my mind to link memories of face to face games, but not online games.....
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I just finished DMing a short campaign that lasted about 3 months. no one got over level 4. no one got any magic items. at the end, I rewarded all the characters appropriately (for example, a mage/cleric got admitted to the Harpers as an apprentice). I focused on having fun and role playing and everyone had a great time.
a GM can make or break ANY game system. I've been doing RPGs for 20 years and I've seen it proven over and over.
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Yes, there is. That's the age when your dessicated remains float away on the wind.
I'm 33 and still play.
Look, I've been playing RPGs since I was in fourth grade, and in my experience, there is no greater entertainment than a good RPG. Books, movies, comics, other games...they all pale when you compare them to a really good roleplaying session. Sure, sometimes you have an off night; sometimes, it sucks like anything else. But like golf, the rewards of proper play keep you coming back. I played D&D and AD&D until about eighth grade, then got bored and stopped. It wasn't until maybe 10th grade that I discovered GURPS and began playing RPGs again, especially GURPS and various Supers games (Marvel, DC, Champions, V&V, etc.). I did the whole White Wolf thing in college, CoC in there, too. I've played Ars Magica, Cyberpunk, Ghostbusters, Gangbusters, and more I can't dredge up right now. I sort of fell out of gaming about five years ago, just because I lost my group, not because I didn't want to play any more.
About a year ago, I discovered indie RPGs. I found a little gem called Donjon and a great big shiny diamond called The Riddle of Steel and my love for the form was reignited. I started a TRoS game with some friends (including my wife). And I wondered when I could teach my seven year old son to play.
I looked at GURPS. I looked at TRoS. I looked at Donjon. None of them felt like I could get him to absorb and apply their rulesets. Then I realized that we were playing D&D already - in the form of Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance on our XBOX. (Yes. I have and enjoy an XBOX. It's a great console. Get over it.) He was comfortable with the concepts of experience and levels, hit points and ability modifiers. I had a 3.0 Player's Handbook, so I dragged it out and we made characters. My friend taught his kids (my son's best friends) to play, and now they play every chance they get, and they play-act it all the time, too. My son is writing adventures and wants to make a Neverwinter Nights module. We just started painting miniature figures.
I have fun playing D&D with him and his friends, and even more fun playing games with my friends. Someday, he'll wonder, "How come I can get hit with a giant two-handed axe and still have the same chance to hit on my next turn?" or, "Why are my character choices so rigidly defined? How come I suddenly improve by leaps and bounds instead of getting a little better at a time?" And then he'll be ready for more sophisticated RPGs.
So, if you're saying "After a certain age, you will appreciate the sophistication of RPGs besides D&D" you're correct. If you're saying, "There's no place for roleplaying after age 25," you're just ignorant. Or maybe just judgmental on a topic you've not investigated. Take your pick.
Having said that, I don't see what the big fuss is over the OGL. 3Ed at times steals wholesale from Black Isle's SPECIAL system-most notably with feats, and I've no doubt other of the changes are taken from other gaming systems. As such, it seems WOTC's main aim with the OGL is not to aid it's fans, but to distance itself from any claim on other people's intellectual property
That really depends on what you are looking for in a game. If one prerequisite for a good game for you is "realism", then there are other systems that will satisfy you more than D&D. If a good story, action, adventure, etc. is what you consider good, then those things are often easier to get out of a more abstract (less "realistic") system.
(Note: "realistic" systems tend to be more restrictive, not less. Reality is pretty restrictive. The closer you get to that, the more restrictive your system gets.)
Example:
Hero is fighting Bad Guy on the top of a moving wagon. BG pulls out Device of Ultimate Doom and tries to press the button that activates it. Hero wants to knock it out of his hand with his sword.
Realistic system (assuming the players don't reject the whole scene as silly and unrealistic): GM takes into account the speed of the carriage, the surface over which they are travelling, the weight of the sword vs. the character's strength, the size of the DUD vs. the strength of the BG, both character's relative sizes and agility, how tired and injured both the BG and Hero are, and both characters' encumbrance, offensive and defensive skils, and lots of other miscellaneous factors. In most realistic systems, this involves consulting a half-dozen charts and tables, and making a similar number of rolls. If the Hero is successful, then you have a whole other set of tables that tell you how far away and in which direction the DUD went, plus any other related effects. If not, then the GM decides how much hindrance the Hero provides, checks to see if either of them is unbalanced and falls off, etc. etc.
Simple System: If the Hero rolls high enough it works, otherwise it doesn't. GM decides on the fly how high is high enough or uses a die of his own to decide it. If it works, the GM makes up what happens. If it doesn't, the GM makes up what happens. (Note that the GM has a lot more power here.)
IMO complex, "realistic" systems are good when you 1) value "realism" and 2) dont' trust your GM and/or fellow players to make things realistic on the fly.
I used to be into the realism, but as i get older i tend to prefer simpler systems and just work on finding better GMs/players. If i wanted more realism i'd take a long walk or put in a few more hours at work. What i want in a game is more fun!
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