Up untill I was about 13 D&D was very enjoyable.

In fact I had no qualms about soloing it if no one else was around to play as the Gygax random tables made it a computer game on paper.

Of course from the age of 13 to 21 I became a RUNEQUEST fan. To me it was a natural development and the game offered so much more than the very limited D&D.

I am sure if Drew Barrymore had been playing RUNEQUEST and not D&D in E.T. we would living in a better (virtual) world!

Runequest has a more free flowing game system (skills not class) that fed the imagination and was set in a dynamic pre constructed world. Further more the system allowed you to play any creature (even a duckman or dragonewt if you fancied it!) and the combat system is poetic.

In stead of having an ever mounting number of hit points all humanoids and to a large extent the monsters had a set range of hit points. body targeting could be a strategy and even the most dangerous creature could have its head chopped off when you criticalled with a great sword!

Combat was there for not a slug fest to whittle down hit points but skill in the use of a weapon. In fact any one could use magic if they were so inclined so the image of Gandalf wielding a sword to good effect was a reality in Runequest.

Further more if you found some elite armour, just like in real life, if it fitted you you put it on. You did not have to wait a month to hit some level before thinking "oh I better try that super platinum plate mail I found in that dragon lair".

So D&D served its purpose in introducing the novice to pnp but better games were available once the appetite was there.

Any one had a similar experience?

I should add that I enjoyed the conversion of Gygax's D&D to mmorpg because it brought a bit more to the limited scope of the gaming system. However, I will always favour mmorpg like Project Entropia and pc games like Morrowind as they use a more flexible and exciting skills system!!!

dunno much about Rune....but been playing AD&D and all sorts of alternates(alternate realities included..) since they hit the shelves back in the 80's...actually i forgot the game, but I have been playing since 1978-ish and still to this day have a few members still playing AD&D to this day from time to time at my house.( we only play about once every 2 or 3 months anymore)

....heck i even love Top Secret..(the game that gave D&D its bad rep b/c of players hunting players IRL).....ah so long ago.

but i havent really found a video game that has even approached the scope of AD&D. maybe Daggerfall at one time had the possibilities of challenging such a task, but only b/c of the player participation that happened semi-outsdie the game....but even so, i dont think all the programmers in the world could even make a randomly dynamic game such as AD&D.

actually..i think its impossible.

nm...stike that.....it is impossible.

 :)

I dont think its possible to compare the tabletop version to any 'watered' down video game that has existed since day 1.

In AD&D you role play.

In videogames you Assume-a-role.(such as the AD&D floppy disk games or even Final Fantasy types). you simply assume a 'role' and play it out on a drawn out storyline that has been premade with an ending and all.

I honestly dont think there is anyway programmers could even fathom makng such a game as AD&D...maybe a MUD type interface with MMorpg elements combined to help enhance the AD&D experience..but that would involve private DM's/Gm's 24/7.

never happen.

Does RuneScape offer a AD&D style of play? i never remembered playing it.  i think.

or is it....pick a toon, make a face, pick a class...and off you go on predetermined storylines all etched out in stone within the game code  and premade endings that you have 0 control over ?

RUNEQUEST is a pnp skills based game set in Glorantha by CHAOSIUM Inc and published in the UK by Games Workshop. So I played D&D in the 70's and RUNEQUEST (plus TRAVELLER) in the 80's.

One of the first progams you learn on a pc is to create a random event!!!

If you can have random loot drops then the technology is already there.

Any DM familiar with Gygax's hand books would simply bring those tables or similar to a game enviornment. This is the Shrodinger's cat philosophy. Untill you open the box (or dungeon door) you do not know what is behind it. In fact no one does not even the devs!!!

However, a randomly generated room with random contents is a lot cheaper to make than 1000's or pre manufactured and static scenarios which is how mmorpg games seem to be made today.

The fat cow is being milked badly but every one is in loot mode.

Sadly, I dont know much about RuneQuest, acutally, only knowledge I possess is taken from the  RuneQuest ads in my Chaosium Pendragon book  But if RuneQuest is anywhere near Pendragons quality, Ill take RuneQuest over DnD anyday of the year.

I personally never liked DnD as a RPG and obviously didnt like it when DnD totally dominated the RPG marked! Its acutally the same thing with MMOs - I hate that EverQuest became the poplular game module and not the Asherons Call type games.....hmmm................ So the real question is - when am i gonna catch a break?  

Originally posted by Endemondia

I am sure if Drew Barrymore had been playing RUNEQUEST and not D&D in E.T. we would living in a better (virtual) world!

I agree. The popularity of DND comes from it being so well known. I have played more Runequest than DND and often wondered why no one picked it up as a bases for and MMO. The structured system of DND with classes and levels is somewhat easier for new players to get into but takes away from the RPG aspect. Runequest is only slightly more complex as far as character gen and such but you can really be what ever you want or your GM will allow. DND 3.0 of course ruined DND because they refined the skill and combat system to its natural end and then dumped a rule for everything and a munchkinie feat system on top of it. Moongoose publishing has re released a slightly different version of runequest which looks pretty good.

Yeah, I like the new Runequest; it's not quite the same as the old, and many old grognards aren't too ken on it, but players who are tired of D20 and the current iteration of D&D will find Mongoose's Runequest a breath of fresh air. Plus, I was never a fan of Glorantha (heresy, yes) and the new Runequest, while full of Glorantha stuff for those who want it, is aimed to be generic, and also supports settings such as Lankhmar, Elric, awkmoon, Slaine and Pirates.....very cool imo.

But if you want my opinion......GURPS is the way to go! Heh 

D&D's system with RQ's lore would be perfect.