hey guys and gals,

so i've been wondering, what with all of the d&d talk lately, how many of you play d&d and what is your preferred playstyle? i know these are pretty generalized options, but i feel confident you fit somewhere in that spectrum.

so: do you prefer role-play intesive games with a great campaign, well-developed characters and plots, and great roleplay opportunities? or are you partial to the epic dungeon crawls that involve you and your party delving into the underdark or perhaps traipsing through the temple of elemental evil; a more action-oriented game?

note: i know these types are not mutually exclusive, i'm talking in general terms. i've been in games with plenty of both, but it usually boils down to a preference.

Fights can be fun, especially when I get a fluke of a roll that makes the Big Bad Boss we're fighting EXPLODE FOR NO APPARENT REASON, but combat is time-consuming and you don't really do a whole lot in it. I like roleplaying-heavy games with combat lightly sparsed throughout.

The group I usually play with (generally WFRP, apparently we're moving onto a homebrew setting) was always more combat-oriented and while I certainly enjoyed myself, it always made me cringe when some of the players treated it as a murderous rampage style thing where we'd fight everything we saw and head off to the pub afterward. The group I have just started with, however, playing the serenity RPG, is very much more roleplaying oriented, and I had a blast with that. The only combat in the adventure so far was me, in a vent, trying to squash a mutant scorpion with a frypan and I barely came out on top. Brilliant.

So yeah. On the whole, I much prefer a well-developed plot rather than number crunching after endless number crunching for combat.

Pfft, who plays D&D? World of Darkness all the way.

ive only played it a few times but lots of roleplay and decent combat here and there is fine for me. heck we even roleplayed in combat.

My party was fightign this big vampire kind of guy wich they finaly struck down when i was stuck in a cave somewhere. when i finnally got out i spotted the battle going on and rushed to it. I did not know he was already down andwas about to be questioned.  The combat loving Dwarf fighter that i was i charged in and cleaved my axe in his chest with a big grin on my face :), it diddnt work well for the party XD.  my dwarf acted on a kill first ask questions later concept :D.

anyway ive played both styles, one with alot of stuff to figure out and one with dragons and golems and what not. a mix of the 2 is best i think. also making your party out of people who in general dont go well like elves and dwarvens can be fun :)

 I'm not really sure if our 2-3 combats per ~4 hour session is combat-heavy or combat-lite, as I've only really played with the one group of friends :P

I think the games I've enjoyed most were the ones with one-off characters where we conceded part of each of our character's backstory to the DM, who gave us each interesting rolls (particularly since we were basically assigned to backstab one another, but keep it hidden the whole time.)  With more direct control over the characters, the DMs were able to craft particularly excellent situations for us than if our chars were of the typical recurring, total-freedom variety.

there are better Systems/worlds to RP in i like my DnD tactical..the times i played it.

I couldn't find an option that was fitting. I am into several systems, several ways (both rp and dungeon crawling) and I'm also GM sometimes. I  have played in many groups during my years, and different things fit different groups.

Sometimes I find it absolutely amazing to be GM and be able to tell a great story. I always see it as the players and I are telling a story together, I can use so much from the players and their input (most often without them knowing).

Other times I prefer to be a player. Here I like both a dungeoncrawl scenario, a deep roleplaying scenario (often without rules) or investigation/puzzle-solving scenarios. There are so many options and so many interesting and fun things to do :)

I like D&D 3.5 and it is the system we use most often these years. I was into Warhammer fantasy roleplay for many years. But else there have been so  many systems to use, like:  AD&D, original D&D (I guess that would 1st edition), Rolemaster, 'Dragespillet', 'Drager og Dæmoner', 'viking', Merp and finally lots of homemade systems and rules.

I'm not sure I can say one rulesystem is better than another really. Some systems are good for something others are good for other things, sometimes it's a purely subjective taste issue and finally the option of running without rules at all.

So many possibilities, so little time :D

Tabletop roleplaying for life!

I don't get to play too many tabletop RPGs anymore but I used to love the hobby.  I'd still prefer a night sitting around the table, rolling dice with friends over sitting in a dark room typing /lfg all night.  But, I digress...

I tend to prefer action oriented campaigns.  However, a little good RP is fun too.  Somewhere is between is usually the sweet spot.

I played and enjoyed AD&D (and Space Opera, Bushido, Palladium, etc) nigh on 25 years ago, and it was fun, but gaming time was A) Limited to when the group got the time to meet up with each other and B) Time consuming.  It often took a whole evening just to handle an hour or two of "game time).

Anything was good though, albeit a dungeaon crawl, visit to an off-planet trading post or a clash of samurai.

MMORPGS are hardly worth calling RPGs by comparison.  Any RPG in them is in spite of the game, not because it is inherent to it.

I still play tabletop RPGs at least once a week (25 years after I started.)

But its difficult to set a direction on what I prefer, it depends on mood. Sometimes its the story, sometimes its fun roleplaying, sometimes is the sheer pleasure of firing a quad 12.7 HMG!

The tabletops can contain it all and are not limited by technology only imagination.

Originally posted by Devour

Pfft, who plays D&D? World of Darkness all the way.

WoD for role-playing and plotting. DnD for tactical combat and monster mashing. :-)

I still play table top twice a week with friends I've known for years. Started with AD&D back in 1980, but ceased playing with that system months before 4.0 rules set came out. Initially I played with my friends with the same goals - leveling characters, obtaining loot, defeating tough encounters in strange places. Somewhere along the line the games took a turn for more role playing and the game being about the story than for the rush for killing and experience. Those are the same things my friends and I play for now - the storytelling and role playing.

We've played White Wolf games for years because those rules lend themselves best for rewarding players for role playing. Experience is awarded for playing well in sessions as opposed to what you kill and loot, temporary awards like willpower were awarded for roleplaying Nature and Demeanor. It worked out neatly. The small problem was all the numerous house rules that were needed to shore up the broken Die Pool and Combat system, and in the end we gave it up and moved on.

At the moment my group and I play D20 Mutants and Masterminds 2.0 for our current rules set. We play a fantasy game one night and a Supers game on another night, and the storytelling continues. Dungeoncrawling isn't a part of either game, but the odd epic battle scene does break out here and there like clockwork.

While I don't play D&D and haven't for many, many years, I started playing RPGs back in 1974 with Chainmail and did play D&D from the beginning.  I'm heavily roleplay-centric, I don't care about combat as a primary focus for a game, it's a means to an end, not an end in and of itself as a lot of people want it to be.  I've played entire campaigns that lasted months without ever drawing a sword and that was perfectly fine with me.

Unfortunately, not many people play P&P games these days and the ones I've run into that do, I wouldn't allow to come to my home to play.  I had a group I played with for 20 years, today, it's sad that my wife and I couldn't find 2-3 other people we'd trust to come over.

Wow Cephus, its really sad that you cant find people that arent mouth-breathers that you can roll dice with....*casts hopeful spell of wise player-seeking +1*

I played first ed, and second ed. for years off and on all through college, got really nervous when third ed. came out, but then one of my buddies broke down and bought the books...

Seriously i thought the feats in 3rd added a whole new dimension to the game, and one of the very best camps. i was ever in was a thrid ed.  We still break out the first and second books on occasion, i still play World of Darkness w/ people i've rp'ed with for 15 yrs, and two of them live just down my street. so, we're really lucky my wife and i....

we've even had the privelege of helping our local next gen. of players begin dice rolling... i helped get the kids i baby-sat into d and d, and the daughter now runs d and d and wod campaigns of her own, my own daughter is also running a WoD campaign.

My wife stopped playing for many years because of the same issue you are having now, we sympathize...

It is possible to do rp and dice through IRC chat channels.   google irc chat and do some looking around and you should be able to find the basics easy to pick up ....you're just using a *private* chat room to do rp in.   I have participated in IRC third ed. campaingns and its not bad....i personally really prefer face to face gaming, but this was for my buddy John G. who set up the third ed. campaign i mentioned above, and it was totally worth it. 

any awkwardness of using a chaat interface fades pretty quickly, as long as every one is patient and has all the books they need before play starts....

seriously if both of you have comps, this might be the way to go, and its possible thruough networking in this way that you may find local players that are more mature.  Other than IRC, whelp, patience is key. It took my wife 15 yrs to find me, and now we are happily rolling dice together.  seriously, i think the gods of gaming had a small hand in bringing things together....if you really want it again, it will happen.

In the meantime, ive seen discussion boards in mmorpg's for gamers/ players that want more of an immersive rp exp., so the desire amongst other vid, gamers is out there,

champions online has a discussion thread for the p and p game that the upcomming mmorpg of the same name is derived from...you could do some poking around there....

Good luck! dont give up!

=-)

 I just started playing Exalted with a group of my friends.  I must say its really exciting doing Real life role playing.  Very interesting how a story can take you!

I dm a lot and try to keep my campaigns very action oriented.

Originally posted by jfk35824

Wow Cephus, its really sad that you cant find people that arent mouth-breathers that you can roll dice with....*casts hopeful spell of wise player-seeking +1*

We've had lots of bad experiences, very few positive ones.  One of the last times we tried, we got a group together that played at our house once a week.  It was us and one guy driving a bunch of friends with him.  That guy ended up getting heavily involved in Vampire: The Masquerade, started wearing all black and eventually refused to leave his house during daylight hours.  If that wasn't bad enough, he started hitting on my wife, inviting her to his V:TM games and made it very clear that I wasn't invited (not that I would anyway).  That was pretty much the end of that.

There's far more creeps out there gaming than there are normal people.

I play The Dark Eye, which is common here in Germany. It is, as I prefer it, role play centered not combat centered. So if I'd play D&D I would like it role play not action oriented. I prefer roleplay and social themes, stories and adventures over combat.

Originally posted by Elikal

I play The Dark Eye, which is common here in Germany. It is, as I prefer it, role play centered not combat centered. So if I'd play D&D I would like it role play not action oriented. I prefer roleplay and social themes, stories and adventures over combat.

Agreed.  The way I always GM'd, if you ever had to resort to violence, chances were you were doing something wrong.  Certainly there were times where you'd get into a situation where violence was the only option, but for the most part, you put yourself into that situation and you take responsibility for what happens because of your actions.  I never allow resurrections for any reason, you die, you're dead.  You have to make good choices in games, just like in real life, if you put yourself into stupid positions where you're likely to get killed, nobody brings you back to life in RL, why should they in a game?

Rifts, Shadowrun and AD&D were always my favorites.

Pen and paper roleplaying is the way things were meant to be imho, the advancement of technology certainly hasn't done roleplayers any real favors. Sure, electronic substitutes are nice, but they never truly make the "grade" when compared to some of the experiences I used to have around the table with five good friends, drinking and rolling the dice on a Friday evening.

I haven't PnP in years...I did so from 1977-2002. I think I'd like to pick it up again. All my friends have moved away due to life's natural course....and I just don't feel like trying to determine if I can trust someone or not...oh well...boo hoo.   When i did play I liked about 80% roleplay and 20% action (hey..I need to justify the time it took to make the damn character...especially If I was playing Champions.)...but I was fine with 100% Roleplay.....I don't care for 100% action because that usually means you just sat around for 4-12 hours for one combat scenario...yawn.    I think MMMORPG's , for me, work out the opposite 80/20 the other way.

edit: My favorites....the first..D&D/AD&D (Greyhawk..how I miss you.)....GURPS..(cause you could do anything)...World of Darkness....that's probably the top three.

I voted combat/action, because I do like my PnP weighted towards it--I love a good tactical gaming session, and I have loved wargames since before there was a D&D. But I do want good role-playing too. At its best, the two can mesh--part of the challenge in the combat can be correctly perceiving what your objective need to *be*.

For me, there really needs to be an even balance, or it just isn't that much fun.  Plus, you'll always have players who might prefer one over the other, and it's the best way to keep everyone involved.

I have some friends who loved the combat and use to set up arena duels.  It was a great way for them to get that out of their system so they could focus a bit more on the role playing when the entire group was together.

definitely roleplay!, i play D&D for the sake of playing the role of my created character.

Originally posted by Liljna

I couldn't find an option that was fitting. I am into several systems, several ways (both rp and dungeon crawling) and I'm also GM sometimes. I  have played in many groups during my years, and different things fit different groups.

Sometimes I find it absolutely amazing to be GM and be able to tell a great story. I always see it as the players and I are telling a story together, I can use so much from the players and their input (most often without them knowing).

Other times I prefer to be a player. Here I like both a dungeoncrawl scenario, a deep roleplaying scenario (often without rules) or investigation/puzzle-solving scenarios. There are so many options and so many interesting and fun things to do :)

I like D&D 3.5 and it is the system we use most often these years. I was into Warhammer fantasy roleplay for many years. But else there have been so  many systems to use, like:  AD&D, original D&D (I guess that would 1st edition), Rolemaster, 'Dragespillet', 'Drager og Dæmoner', 'viking', Merp and finally lots of homemade systems and rules.

I'm not sure I can say one rulesystem is better than another really. Some systems are good for something others are good for other things, sometimes it's a purely subjective taste issue and finally the option of running without rules at all.

So many possibilities, so little time :D

Tabletop roleplaying for life!

 

 

I'm a lazy ass so I will just say what he said verbatim, However I have a fond reminescence of Rolemaster and it's crit descriptions.