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The Trouble With Using D&D Rules In Videogames?

Posted by simoniker on from the cheeto-replenishment-is-near dept.

An anonymous reader writes "There's a new article on kuro5hin.org about the trouble with porting pencil and paper RPG games (such as d20 3.5) to RPG video games. One such rules-snatching video game is examined, The Temple of Elemental Evil. The article is also an introduction to a new RPG Standards Compliance system that is currently under development and will be online soon, in hopes of bridging the gap between computers and those lovable PnP evenings we all enjoy."

7 of 503 comments (clear)

  1. One question... by Cyno01 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Where are the cheetos?

    --
    "Sic Semper Tyrannosaurus Rex."
    1. Re:One question... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Graham: Galstaff, you have entered the door to the North, you are now by yourself standing in a dark room. The pungent smell of mildew emanates from the wet dungeon walls
      2: WHERE ARE THE CHEETOS?!?!
      Graham: They're right next to you
      Galstaff: I cast a spell
      2: Where's the mountain dew?
      Graham: In the fridge, DUH!
      Galstaff: I wanna cast a spell!
      2: CAN I HAVE A MOUNTAIN DEW?!?!
      Graham: Yes, you can have a mountain dew just go get it
      Galstaff: I can cast any of these right, on the list?
      Graham: Yes, any of the first level ones
      2: I'M GOING TO GET A SODA, ANYONE WANT ONE?!?! HEY GRAHAM I'M NOT IN THE ROOM RIGHT?
      Graham: What room?
      Galstaff: I want to cast MAGIC MISSILE
      2: THE ROOM WHERE HE'S CASTING ALL THESE SPELLS FROM!
      Graham: He hasn't cast anything yet
      Galstaff: I am though if you'd listen- I'm casting MAGIC MISSILE.
      Graham: Why are you casting magic missile? There's nothing to attack here.
      Galstaff: I... I'm attacking the darkness!

      (LAUGHTER FROM ALL)

      Graham: Fine, fine... you attack the darkness. There's an elf in front of you
      4: WHOA! That's me right?
      Graham: He's wearing a brown tunic, and he has gray hair and blue eyes
      4: No I don't, I have gray eyes
      Graham: Let me see that sheet
      4: Well it says I have... well it says I have blue but I decided I want gray eyes
      Graham: Whatever... Okay, you guys can talk to each other now if you want
      Galstaff: Hello
      4: Hello
      Galstaff: I am Galstaff, sorcerer of light!
      4: Then how come you had to cast magic missile?

      (LAUGHTER FROM ALL)

      Graham: You guys are being attacked
      2: DO I SEE THAT HAPPENING?!?!
      Graham: No, you're outside by the Tavern
      2: COOL, I GET DRUNK
      Graham: Sigh... there are seven ogres surrounding you
      Galstaff: How could they surround us? I had Mordenkainen's Magical Watchdog cast
      Graham: No you didn't!
      2: I'M GETTING DRUNK, ARE THERE ANY GIRLS THERE?
      Galstaff: I totally did! You asked me if I wanted any equipment before this adventure and I said no, but I need material components for all of my spells, so I cast Mordenkaiden's Faithful Watchdog.
      Graham: But you never actually cast it
      2: ROLL THE DICE TO SEE IF I'M GETTING DRUNK!
      Graham: Arghhhh... yeah, you are
      2: ARE THERE ANY GIRLS THERE?
      Graham: Yeah...
      Galstaff: I did though- I completely said when you asked me...
      Graham: NO YOU DIDN'T. You didn't actually say that you were casting the spell so now there's Ogres okay?
      2: OGRES? MAN, I'VE GOT AN OGRE-SLAYING KNIFE, IT'S GOT A +9 AGAINST OGRES!
      Graham: YOU'RE NOT THERE! You're getting drunk!
      2: OKAY, BUT IF THERE ARE ANY GIRLS THERE I WANT TO DO THEM!

    2. Re:One question... by ackthpt · · Score: 5, Funny
      Yeah, that's how I remember it too. Though on one occaision my brother was the GM and was really pissed that we spent an entire afternoon and part of evening running amok in a the town he expected us to just outfit in and get going. (instead we tried to rob the store, burglarize a house, my half orc [int of 5] was crawling down mainstreet under an overturned boat like Homer Simpson, burned a store and got half the party almost killed, it was fun :-) another time involved creative methods of interrogation with a pair of pliers.

      And people have to ask why we played those games. It wasn't for killing and treasure and shit, that's for sure. :-)

      --

      A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
  2. For success... by ackthpt · · Score: 5, Funny

    For success they must roll at least an 18

    --

    A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
  3. Major Problem by DumbWhiteGuy777 · · Score: 5, Funny

    It still doesn't tell how Advanced Dungeons and Dragons is different from regular Dungeons and Dragons. I've asked around and no one knows. I'm starting to think nerds just made it up to sound smart.

    "I'm playing Dungeons and Dragons."
    "Oh yeah? I'm playing ADVANCED Dungeons and Dragons"

  4. Re:Using long words gets me +5 Insightful by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny
    BTW, I'd like to just point out that I haven't touched a P+P game since I was 12
    Last year must seem like a long time ago eh?
  5. Re:The problem is by Sloppy · · Score: 5, Funny
    How is this roleplaying? How is knowing that your weapon will deal 2 points more of damage a turn on average versus a competitor the deciding factor for someone who wants to play a role as a knight (as an example)?
    Why did Thulsa Doom, in his younger days, quest for the secret of steel? And then why did he change his whole strategy when he learned that flesh was stronger than steel?

    Because he learned. He wanted power, and he learned better and better ways to get it.

    Powergaming happens in the meta-game above real life. The guy who plays me, is probably explaining to his DM why the character switched to Python a few years ago. I can see it now, the DM says, "But Sloppy was into C! You're playing him wrong, you fucking munchkin, just to get a +2 on your programming roll." Then the player tries to explain that the character learned something about the relative values of programmer time vs compute time, but the DM shakes his head. "Sloppy is too dumb to learn," he says.

    The player complains, and the DM threatens, "Look, just shut up, already. I'm getting tired of this." But the player persists.

    Finally, the fed-up DM says, "That's it. Cthulhu appears and kills your character."

    Ok, Aglassis, I want you to think about what you did. You just got me killed in what we call "real life", and Cthulhu is now wandering around. Do you think anyone in the world is safe, now? Cthulhu is out, and you're going to die too. Way to go. I hope you remember that, when your player rolls up the next Aglassis. And ask yourself: who is the real munchkin? The guy who was trying to convince the DM that I could learn from experience to try to become more powerful? Or the narrow-minded DM who thought characters shouldn't adapt, and then in a childish tantrum, set Cthulhu loose on the world?

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