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Thread: Gaming Unplugged - Old School Style - Luddite Gaming - Nerdtopia

  1. #1
    What is best in life? D_Davis's Avatar
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    Gaming Unplugged - Old School Style - Luddite Gaming - Nerdtopia

    Any other RPGers/Board Gamers/Card Gamers here?

    There's got to be a few, right?

    If not, well, I'll let this thread die with dignity....


    Recently posted in the book forum:

    Some of the art in the new 4ed D&D books is fantastic. I love reading the manuals almost as much as I like playing the game. Although I feel self conscious reading them in public. That's actually pretty stupid, considering all of the incredibly smart, talented, and mature people I've met who play RPGs. That stigma and taint of juvenile attitudes is still there.

    I wonder why that is?

    Sure, it's nerdy as hell, but nerdy shit is cool now. I mean, Star Trek is now hip, RPGs are huge and uber-popular as video games, and the LotRs films were popular with all kinds of different people. So are super heroes. Shoot, geek culture is now the most hip of all sub-cultures. People love geeky stuff.

    And yet old school paper RPGs are still kind of a social no-no, when the exact opposite should be true: they are truly social activities, far more so than many other hobbies. You have to have friends and be socially active to even play the games!

    Anyhow, looking forward to starting our 4ed campaign this weekend.

  2. #2
    Friend of mine has been talking about starting up a short campaign so I and a few other friends can see what it's actually about. Though I did have a D&D scene in the last movie I shot. Doubt I'll ever really get into it, but I've been looking at it with less of a stigma lately.

    In the last two years, I have found out that about 70% of my friends have recently become or have for some time secretly been D&D players. It's been weird.

  3. #3
    I'm in the milk... Mara's Avatar
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    I've never played D&D (although I wouldn't be against trying it.)

    But I'm a huge board game and card game player. Much more so than computer or video games.
    ...and the milk's in me.

  4. #4
    What is best in life? D_Davis's Avatar
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    Quote Quoting Sycophant (view post)
    Friend of mine has been talking about starting up a short campaign so I and a few other friends can see what it's actually about. Though I did have a D&D scene in the last movie I shot. Doubt I'll ever really get into it, but I've been looking at it with less of a stigma lately.

    In the last two years, I have found out that about 70% of my friends have recently become or have for some time secretly been D&D players. It's been weird.
    Dude - you totally should.

    Discover those videogame RPG roots!



    WotC is doing a lot to get new people into the game. 4ed plays more like a video game on paper - it's very WOW-like. I like it so far.

    They're even giving away a basic rule set and adventure for free to hook people. They're also running mini-adventures at game shops around the US to get people interested. It's pretty cool. They're really trying to foster the social aspect of RPGing - one of the main reasons why WOW is so popular.

  5. #5
    Actually, in my experience, I don't care much for the social aspects of RPGs. I don't play MMOs because meh. I tend to view the role of my video game RPGs more the way I do movies. Individual experiences with a community discussion aspect.

    What I really want to play is the Rocky & Bullwinkle tabletop RPG.

  6. #6
    What is best in life? D_Davis's Avatar
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    Quote Quoting Sycophant (view post)
    Actually, in my experience, I don't care much for the social aspects of RPGs. I don't play MMOs because meh. I tend to view the role of my video game RPGs more the way I do movies. Individual experiences with a community discussion aspect.
    Then old school RPGing is not for you, or you're not for it, or something.

    For me, it's all about the social aspect. Getting together with friends, face-to-face, with some (OMG!!11!11) beer, soda, and snacks, hanging out, and shootin' the shit is always just as fun than the actual gaming part.

  7. #7
    Well, I've not ruled them out yet, because it's obviously a different experience. Doing tabletop gaming it with friends whose company I enjoy and whose creativity I appreciate sounds like it could be appealing. Just sayin' I don't run around FF8 and think to myself "this game would be so much better if Seifer was played by Sven."

  8. #8
    Administrator Ezee E's Avatar
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    I've played an e-mail/message board based RPG for Star Wars. One campaign lasted for several years, with leaps in decades with the same characters (if they lived). It was pretty fascinating. The GM later wrote a book about it all, but couldn't get it published because it was Star Wars.

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  9. #9
    Actually, Seifer being played by Sven would be kind of awesome. But my point stands.

  10. #10
    What is best in life? D_Davis's Avatar
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    Quote Quoting Sycophant (view post)
    Well, I've not ruled them out yet, because it's obviously a different experience. Doing tabletop gaming it with friends whose company I enjoy and whose creativity I appreciate sounds like it could be appealing. Just sayin' I don't run around FF8 and think to myself "this game would be so much better if Seifer was played by Sven."
    Oh totally - two different beasts that scratch two different itches!

  11. #11
    What is best in life? D_Davis's Avatar
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    Quote Quoting Ezee E (view post)
    I've played an e-mail/message board based RPG for Star Wars. One campaign lasted for several years, with leaps in decades with the same characters (if they lived). It was pretty fascinating. The GM later wrote a book about it all, but couldn't get it published because it was Star Wars.
    That sounds awesome - how fun.

    I'm hoping our new campaign lasts for a very long time.

  12. #12
    Administrator Ezee E's Avatar
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    Quote Quoting Daniel Davis (view post)
    That sounds awesome - how fun.

    I'm hoping our new campaign lasts for a very long time.
    I've always wanted to create something like that again. We used the D6 system, so the GM would just roll our actions. It was played narratively. So we'd write what our action would be, along with any dialog, thoughts, etc. He would write the results.

    He'd done this many a times before, as we started out with something like twenty players, and we all connected to each other at one point or another. Me and one guy broke out of a prison, only to be caught again, and put in with others at a Colosseum like battle royale. When we managed to live, there was tons of character interaction, with a Wire-esque investigation on a crime syndicate. LOVED that.

    My character even had an appropriate death. Twenty years later, still hurt from whatever happened in that battle royale, I tried to be a thief again, only to be caught redhanded, and shot dead. Just the way the rolls went, as my GM had many other intentions for my character. Sad though. And quite the shock for me. WHA???

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  13. #13
    Director bac0n's Avatar
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    Haven't played D&D since high school on account of no longer having entire weekends to kill trying to crawl a dungeon, but when I was in high school, I was pretty hard core.

    My friend & I had a single ongoing campaign in the Forgotten Realms that lasted... well, we probably started it in junior high, played it all through highschool and even for a little while into college. We got our guys into the middle teens, and had some pretty awesome adventures getting them there, including doing the Queen of Spiders D&D modules which culminated in us going up against Orcus. That was pretty awesome.

    Man, those were the days... getting up at whenever, laying out our stuff, playing D&D until 1-2 in the morning, crashing, waking up and doing the same thing over again....
    Losing is like fertilizer: it stinks for a while, then you get used to it. (Tony, Hibbing)

  14. #14
    Screenwriter Fezzik's Avatar
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    I'm a huge D&D geek.

    I play in two home campaigns at the moment (one 4e and one v3.5). I also play the Living Forgotten Realms stuff with local friends, though thats just an excuse to get together and game now and then.

    I helped run WotC's big 3.5 campaign, Living Greyhawk. It was awesome creating characters for storylines, mapping out plots and setting them in motion. I felt like I was on a TV show's writing team, sometimes, and that was fantastic.

    11 adventures float out there with my name on it - they aren't commercial, so you can't buy them - but its nice to have my name on something I'm very proud of. One day, I hope to convert all those adventures to 4e.

    The one thing I like about 4e is how easy it is to create and adapt content. I've created a handful of races and a few paragon paths...in 3.5, that'd have been hell.

  15. #15
    What is best in life? D_Davis's Avatar
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    That sounds awesome Fezzik.

    I've never DM'ed D&D before. I always ran Palladium games (TMNT, Ninjas and Super Spies, Robotech, and Heroes and Villains).

    I've played D&D, but only 2ed.

    I'm looking forward to running 4ed. You like it, eh? I think it sounds pretty awesome.

    We're starting out using the pre-generated characters and rules from the Test Drive adventure, and I'm going to run the little adventure at the end of the DMG.

    Our campaign will mainly consist of me running pre-packaged modules, highly modified of course. I just don't have the time anymore to create adventures from the ground up.

  16. #16
    The Pan megladon8's Avatar
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    I used to play Marvel's card game called "Overpower".

    And then I also played the DC/Marvel crossover card game called "VS."

    I still have all my decks tucked away under my bed.
    "All right, that's too hot. Anything we can do about that heat?"

    "Rick...it's a flamethrower."

  17. #17
    Administrator Ezee E's Avatar
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    I remember Overpower. Didn't understand it, and got into the Star Wars CCG when Darth Vader was in the first booster pack I bought.

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  18. #18
    What is best in life? D_Davis's Avatar
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    I'm totally stoked to start our campaign tomorrow. I've got a great hook to get things going, and I am highly anticipating where things will eventually end up.

  19. #19
    I'm increasingly getting into board games, but still not very much. But some friends and I have been playing a lot of Dominion lately, and I can't get enough. It's pretty brilliant.

  20. #20
    What is best in life? D_Davis's Avatar
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    Dominion is awesome. A real game changer.

  21. #21
    The Pan megladon8's Avatar
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    "Settlers of Catan" is a great game.

    And while it's not exactly the same kind of thing, Jen and I play backgammon every day.
    "All right, that's too hot. Anything we can do about that heat?"

    "Rick...it's a flamethrower."

  22. #22
    Quote Quoting D_Davis (view post)
    Dominion is awesome. A real game changer.
    It's pretty incredible, because the game feels about as deep (or deeper) as, say, Settlers of Catan. But it's a quick set up, it's a quick play (far too many Settlers games end with the last five go-rounds taking forever and feeling like hell), and the wide assortment of cards (that seems as though it may be open to even more exciting expansions) means that basically no two games can ever be the same, as you can pursue different strategies even if you manage to play with the same cards.

    Goddamn, it's fun.

  23. #23
    nightmare investigator monolith94's Avatar
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    Quote Quoting D_Davis (view post)
    That sounds awesome Fezzik.

    I've never DM'ed D&D before. I always ran Palladium games (TMNT, Ninjas and Super Spies, Robotech, and Heroes and Villains).

    I've played D&D, but only 2ed.

    I'm looking forward to running 4ed. You like it, eh? I think it sounds pretty awesome.

    We're starting out using the pre-generated characters and rules from the Test Drive adventure, and I'm going to run the little adventure at the end of the DMG.

    Our campaign will mainly consist of me running pre-packaged modules, highly modified of course. I just don't have the time anymore to create adventures from the ground up.
    Not only have I DMed D&D, I've created my own campaign.

    I consider myself pretty much a prince among nerds. Settlers of Catan, Magic the Gathering, AD&D... I've been around a bit, games-wise.
    "Modern weapons can defend freedom, civilization, and life only by annihilating them. Security in military language means the ability to do away with the Earth."
    -Ivan Illich, Deschooling Society

  24. #24
    The Pan megladon8's Avatar
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    In my experience, D&D is kind of like marijuana.

    People don't often just outright talk about it, but more people do it than you would think.

    When I worked at the brewery, both of my coworkers and the guy who used to own the place all played.

    And when I worked at the bakery, the owner/baker was a big D&D fan.
    "All right, that's too hot. Anything we can do about that heat?"

    "Rick...it's a flamethrower."

  25. #25
    Evil mind, evil sword. Ivan Drago's Avatar
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    Quote Quoting megladon8 (view post)
    "Settlers of Catan" is a great game.
    It is an awesome game until every turn becomes a shouting match. Then it's hysterical.
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    Confess, Fletch (Mottola, 2022) 3.5
    M3GAN (Johnstone, 2023) 3.5
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    Tokyo Story (Ozu, 1953) 5

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