PBS Video on Tabletop Gaming (Dungeons & Dragons)

[The Gnome King]

This is actually (shock!) not computer gaming but rather tabletop gaming related.

It's a pretty good youtube vid on tabletop roleplaying games from PBS. I highly recommend it to those who game, are interested in gaming history, or who just wonder how the whole Dungeons & Dragons craze got started.

[link]https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=_7DOzBtadMk[/link]

From the actual page in question, describing the video:

"Since their growth in popularity in the 1970s, RPGs have had a huge influence not just on players, but on everything from Hollywood to the development of video games. Now, In a world dominated by video games and social media, there remains an enduring interest in gathering around a table and playing games face to face. Beyond cards and board games, Role Playing Games allow not just for interaction and play, but the creativity of storytelling, world creation, and engagement with ideas.The adaptability of D&D and other tabletop RPGs can satisfy players in a way that our digital world still cannot, with unique game mechanics and engagement and limitless use of imagination. As tabletop RPGs enjoy a cultural resurgence, more and more people are discovering the freedom and interactivity that makes them unique."

Who here plays tabletop games in addition to the CRPGs we all do? When did you get into them? Why?

 

[Chimpzy_v1legacy]

Wait, were is the scapegoating? The demonizing? I've watched two minutes of the video so far and it hasn't told me yet that I am the spawn of satan and a blight upon the earth. Have I gone mad? Am I in the Twilight Zone? Has existence shattered and is that video the only way our human minds can interpret such a cataclysmic event?

Or, I could just say it's nice to finally see a levelheaded, even positive report on tabletop rpgs from a non-geek culture-related medium.

And yes, I've played D&D, Call of Cthulhu and a little bit of Vampire: The Masquerade (but that was quite a while ago). I started out playing tabletop rpgs because a friend told me about it, said he wanted to try one and it seems like fun. So yeah, that's how it happened and that's all there is to it.

 

[aelreth]

I'm still waiting for the religious right's delusions that were promised to manifest when I began playing D&D.

 

[Reven]

I wish I'd had anybody to play tabletop gaming with.

Wait, were is the scapegoating? The demonizing? I've watched two minutes of the video so far and it hasn't told me yet that I am the spawn of satan and a blight upon the earth. Have I gone mad? Am I in the Twilight Zone? Has existence shattered and is that video the only way our human minds can interpret such a cataclysmic event?

Or, I could just say it's nice to finally see a levelheaded, even positive report on tabletop rpgs from a non-geek culture-related medium.

Welcome to the joys of public television, before it dies

I know the feeling, I recently moved again and am trying to see if i can finally find a group

 

[Winnosh]

Wait, were is the scapegoating? The demonizing? I've watched two minutes of the video so far and it hasn't told me yet that I am the spawn of satan and a blight upon the earth. Have I gone mad? Am I in the Twilight Zone? Has existence shattered and is that video the only way our human minds can interpret such a cataclysmic event?

Or, I could just say it's nice to finally see a levelheaded, even positive report on tabletop rpgs from a non-geek culture-related medium.

And yes, I've played D&D, Call of Cthulhu and a little bit of Vampire: The Masquerade (but that was quite a while ago). I started out playing tabletop rpgs because a friend told me about it, said he wanted to try one and it seems like fun. So yeah, that's how it happened and that's all there is to it.

This is PBS not Fox news. you're in the wrong place for that type of thinking

 

[Vylox]

Excellent. Now if they'd actually put it on their broadcast.

I occasionally play table, but its rare because of schedules and time constraints. So its fairly rare.

I do miss some good ole d&d... and palladium ... and Zelazny's Amber dice-less .... among the others I've played.. (d20, d6, d10, d12, and other dice-less variations)

 

[Greg White]

Let's see...never played D&D but I have played Rogue Trader and Deathwatch, plus 40k and WHFB.

Got into them because I liked the setting and was intrigued with the modeling and painting aspect of the hobby.

 

[PedroSteckecilo]

I've been "officially" PnP Gaming since I was 13 (I'm 29 now for the record) and "tabletop gaming" for even longer.

What first started it for me was oddly enough Electronic Roleplaying Games and this calls for some STORYTIME! You see my parents were quite "Anti-Videogame" during my childhood, I was never allowed to buy a Super Nintendo despite saving up for ages, begging etc. and hence only ever saw newer videogames when I went over to friends houses. Normally I didn't think that much of it until one day when my friend and I watched transfixed as his older brother played Final Fantasy 6. I immediately decided that this was the greatest thing ever and my friend and I quickly started playing "Lego Games", starting with poorly conceived rules and eventually writing a Roleplaying System (basically just a ripoff of the original Fallout Game System, copied wholesale from the instruction manual).

When I was 13 a friend of mine bought me a copy of the Dungeons and Dragons Monster Manual for my Birthday, as I had acquired a bunch of DnD Books that were abandoned at a cabin my grandfather bought. DnD was too complicated for my young mind apparently because I never actually figured out how to play it, but since I already had the Monster Manual I returned it and purchased the ROBOTECH Roleplaying Game from Palladium. As terrible as Palladiums rules are they were MUCH easier for a 13 year old to grasp and it catapulted me down the PnP Roleplaying Path that I've been charging down full bore ever since.

Hell I'd say I'm even more devoted to Pen and Paper Roleplaying as a hobby than I am electronic gaming, I'm constantly reading up on new PnP Game Systems, designing my own house rules and games and am pretty much ALWAYS thinking of my current or next campaign.

So yeah... 16 years of Pen and Paper Roleplaying! Booyaka.

 

[Schadrach]

I'm still waiting for the religious right's delusions that were promised to manifest when I began playing D&D.

Has your cleric been raised to the 8th level? I heard that that's when you learn how to have the real power. [http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/0046/0046_01.ASP]

 

[Rylot]

Previously I've occasionally jumped in and out of a few sessions with my cousin and his friends (he lived six hours away). In the last six months I moved and found a 2e game for a few months and now a 4e game spawned out of it. Wish I'd gotten into it in High school, it's a blast.

 

[Bara_no_Hime]

This is actually (shock!) not computer gaming but rather tabletop gaming related.

It's a pretty good youtube vid on tabletop roleplaying games from PBS. I highly recommend it to those who game, are interested in gaming history, or who just wonder how the whole Dungeons & Dragons craze got started.

Who here plays tabletop games in addition to the CRPGs we all do? When did you get into them? Why?

Awesome! I wonder if that's the one I helped Kickstart.

Anyway, I got started in college. Undergrad, that is. I honestly never knew the hobby existed until then.

Now, of course, I'm a huge fan of tabletop games - particularly Pathfinder.

 

[Estranged180]

snip

I have the same story, only longer.

So yeah... 16 years of Pen and Paper Roleplaying! Booyaka.

Here's the longer part. I still have the first printing of the first edition ever released to the general public of D&D, and I got it in 1979, the year of it's release. I also have the 'Expert' rulebook that came along with it. I have the split set that was released later on, some modules, all the 1st Edition hardcovers (two of which need rebinding) and I'm 43 now. So, if someone has some demonizing to do, it had better be in my general direction, so I can tell them where the bugbear shits in the woods, and whether or not said bugbear takes a paper.

In addition to all that D&D stuff that I have, I also have Palladium, Beyond the Supernatural, and Rifts (yes, Kevin Siembada stuff, and guess where he worked before all that... TSR) CyberSpace (insane math makes it unplayable) GURPS (doesn't make sense) Warhammer (the original, from Games Workshop in the UK) Vampire (two of them anyway, I haven't looked to see if there are more) Werewolf: The Apocalypse, and a whole slew of others. Add to that the fact that I've even made my own playable tabletop RPG (funny, it starts where they should all start, with you standing in line at a McD's, completely naked with no equipment, and that's when the shit hits the fan).

So you can see, I've been in gaming longer than the internet has existed. Quite possibly longer than most other Escapists have existed (or been alive for that matter) and I must say, it is refreshing to see someone that doesn't have a negative stance or view of tabletop gaming. There were days when I had been bullied because of my active role if games like these, but I got over it.

I still play once in awhile, but like most others that have or have done so, it is getting increasingly difficult to find a group that isn't stupid about it. The one group I recently had didn't understand me when I tried to explain the only rule that stands in tabletop games. If the rule doesn't fit, or slows down the flow of the game, that rule is then thrown out. It makes for a far better gaming experience.

 

[Zykon TheLich_v1legacy]

I used to play Cyberpunk 2020 a bit as well as the Aliens RPG (offshoot of phoenix command rules). I think Aliens came first, round about 1991-2 ish. I loved the Aliens film and I was into Warhammer40K and the Aliens game seemed to be a more detailed version of that. I might have played a game of ADnD before that but it was a long time ago, I can't really remember.

Although not as much as the previous 2 I also played Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay V1 and picked up V2 although never got round to playing to any extent. Played 1 or 2 abortive ADnD 2nd ed games but they never really got much further than character creation. Played a bit of Twilight 2000 and picked up 2013 but as with WHFRP I never got round to playing. I do buy every Dark Heresy and Rogue Trader book that I can get my hands on and once I am gainfully employed again I'll pick up all the Black Crusade, Deathwatch and Only War books as well. I doubt I'll ever play them but I like the fluff.

 

[Trololo Punk]

I really want to start playing some myself. Trying to get a group, all of us being DnD virgins, together to play sometime this summer while everyone's out on break. But a couple of them are really hesitant to play. And a couple other friends are basically trying to stop any of us from playing for reasons beyond my comprehension...

So yea, really want to get into playing. But so far have not been able to.

 

[Syzygy23]

I used to play Cyberpunk 2020 a bit as well as the Aliens RPG (offshoot of phoenix command rules). I think Aliens came first, round about 1991-2 ish. I loved the Aliens film and I was into Warhammer40K and the Aliens game seemed to be a more detailed version of that. I might have played a game of ADnD before that but it was a long time ago, I can't really remember.

Although not as much as the previous 2 I also played Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay V1 and picked up V2 although never got round to playing to any extent. Played 1 or 2 abortive ADnD 2nd ed games but they never really got much further than character creation. Played a bit of Twilight 2000 and picked up 2013 but as with WHFRP I never got round to playing. I do buy every Dark Heresy and Rogue Trader book that I can get my hands on and once I am gainfully employed again I'll pick up all the Black Crusade, Deathwatch and Only War books as well. I doubt I'll ever play them but I like the fluff.

Awwwwww YEAH 2020 is where it's AT.

The only cyberpunk game done right, mostly because of the fantastic Interlock system they used for the rules.

In fact, my group and I love the interlock systems simplicity and flexibility so much we ported Dark heresy to it AND Pathfinders D20 system.

 

[Thunderous Cacophony]

I loved the bits from a Total War (I think it was Rome) game they used when talking about how games teach strategy. That's where I got my first knowledge of tactics.

OT: That was a great video. Thanks for linking it.

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

Started with AD&D (2nd edition for those who are wondering) back in high school. I would have started earlier but finding players in the FL Keys is hard. Later discovered White Wolf games (Vampire, Werewolf, etc) still played D&D too. Paranoia came later (awesome game) and once while waiting to be discharged from the army, made up an on-the-fly rules system for a Resident Evil setting game (which somehow turned out to be awesome for a improv'd rules system). Actually that RE game was one of the best RPG's I've ever played storywise. Alternating action, drama, suspense and even emotionally moving at the end. One day I may get the courage to write the story, even though I said I'd never do fan-fic, it still resonates to me as an awesome story.
Also have played Star Wars, DBZ(homemade), and many others. Also used to play Warhammer 40k (too much money sunk into it), WarMachine (less expensive habit but still expensive) and of course the obligatory Magic: The Gathering. I know those aren't RPG's but I did try to tell a story with them anyway, except that WarMachine has a TTRPG rules set as well.

 

[Do4600]

I'm still waiting for the religious right's delusions that were promised to manifest when I began playing D&D.

Has your cleric been raised to the 8th level? I heard that that's when you learn how to have the real power. [http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/0046/0046_01.ASP]

This comic's Christian author assumes Wiccans actually have power to begin with, why would they make that assumption? If I say I'm a Jedi would they assume I carry a light saber and can throw things with the force? Some of these people will just believe any claim you make simply because they seemingly don't have the practice in analyzing bogus claims.