Comments | pierceheart: role playing games

pierceheart

role playing games

Jul 14, 2010 18:13

I owned Basic and Expert D&D boxed sets as a kid, and I sort of played AD&D 1E, as well as collecting the books: PHB, DMG, MM, FF, D&D (edition with Cthulhu, Melnibone, and Erewhonian mythos), UA, OA, the Greyhawk Boxed set, the FR boxed set, the Spelljammer boxed set ( Read more... )

Comments 6

tranari July 15 2010, 04:27:24 UTC

As it happens, there's been a resurgence in interest in AD&D and earlier formats since 4E came out.

http://grognardia.blogspot.com/ really digs on the older-style gaming and he has a real thing for pulp and Sword & Sorcery.

http://www.philotomy.com/ is a page on OD&D, which is what people call anything that bases its self off of the older style.

Frankly, you could play any of the older stuff if you wanted to and you'd be able to find people to play it with you, but I've been hearing really good stuff about Swords & Wizardry, which is free at http://www.swordsandwizardry.com/

There's not much like it drwex July 15 2010, 14:54:53 UTC

Things got weird and complicated with 2nd Ed. Then 3rd tried to make things make sense. I found that about 75% of the house rules I had been playing with were incorporated into 3rd Ed (stuff like no more THAC0 - all armor increases linearly from 0). 3.5 tried to fix some of the stuff in 3 that weren't well-thought-out or were subject to munchkining. 3rd Ed has a pretty good support structure without being the wild and crazy of 1st or 2nd.

Then 4th decided to make everything "simpler" which is to say "more like a videogame." 4th ed has things like square fireballs because computing the weird jagged edges of mapping a circle onto squares was too complicated. If you're anything of a simulationist (like me) then this will make you crazy. (Oddly, I love my videogames on the computer - I just like my tabletop gaming to have more realism.)

If you want to try a 3/3.5 hybrid you're welcome to come check out our every-odd-Sunday game for a while.

Re: There's not much like it pierceheart July 15 2010, 14:59:58 UTC

I never had anything that had THAC0 until I got the Dragonlance stuff, and I didn't understand how to use it.

I think, when I come back, I may just stop by and watch some rpg'ing, because, honestly, growing up, I didn't have enough local friends to play with with any regularity.

eta:

And I think that resulted in not really knowing how to play, such that, even in non gaming situations, I'm not much good at roleplaying.

I think I'd like to learn how to roleplay, for games as well as life.

Re: There's not much like it drwex July 15 2010, 15:14:25 UTC

Sure, company is welcome.

Re: There's not much like it tranari July 15 2010, 15:17:42 UTC

Learning how requires that you play. Watching is, frankly, boring nine times out of ten.

That said, in my experience it really doesn't matter what system you're using so long as two criteria are met: 1) the DM likes the system and 2) the DM understands the system. The players will enjoy and understand the system given enough time to do so. There are reasons to play almost any edition of D&D (or anything else) and people will make all kinds of arguments for and against. They're all right within certain bounds. What you need to find is people who enjoy their game. Other than that, nothing matters. In my opinion.

tranari July 21 2010, 06:23:56 UTC

I'd just like to mention that there's a really good podcast called The Cannon Puncture Show which has, just today, put up an episode dedicated to why one might want to play OD&D. Link to the show notes: http://www.canonpuncture.com/?p=1645