Poll: should i start D&D?

[True Nero]

you need people to play with, first of all. and second, you need people who KNOW what they are doing. a decent Dungeon Master isn't hard to find, but finding someone who can create a world that you can actually get into, a world that has just enough detail but not enough to feel like the guy is trying to hard, and all that other good stuff. you can find most of the 3.5 books online so that's not a problem, but i can not stress enough the importance of finding people you can actually stand to play a game that is RIPE for controversy. my friends have gotten into so many fights over what is what and how things work because the books can't describe everything, as i've learned the hard way...

 

[Gerazzi]

Never got into it because it felt too cheesy for me.

 

[Alex_P]

is there a hp lovecraft type of game like this. Now that i would play in a heart beat

It's one of the "classics" of pen-and-paper gaming: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Call_of_Cthulhu_(role-playing_game)

CoC as a game has its own weird play traditions that kinda bounce between horror and black comedy. You can do straight-up horror with it but a lot of players love to crank up the schadenfreude. It wouldn't be my go-to horror game, but it does have a large fan following so they must be doing something right. There have been several editions and variants including a D20 version (enh, don't bother) and Delta Green, a kind of X-Files-meets-Cthulhu setting for the game (probably worth a look if you like The Jennifer Morgue).

-- Alex

 

[DN83]

No. The original is really weird with dealing with cults and stuff.

 

[Alex_P]

If you're willing to spend $700 US on the cheapest set you can get, and wandering around for 10 years until you finally find someone to play with and then realising that you're 10 years too old for it by then.

No.

The D&D "core" books cost about $100. Despite what the books imply, you don't need miniatures or supplements to really do anything (some kind of grid mat and some kind of tokens are helpful, though).

Some other games cost considerably less. Most games have one book rather than three, for example. Some use regular six-sided dice so you don't have to spend money on special plastic polyhedrons. Some are posted free online.

Finding other players can be a serious issue, but you really should be playing with the friends you already have, anyway; it's usually a lot more rewarding than gaming with strangers.

-- Alex

 

[Viruzzo]

You surely should begin playing pen and paper RPGs, the really good question is: with which should I start? D&D is one of the less deep (in a good way too) and most widespread, so it's a good place to begin. Later on you should move towards better choices (of which there are plenty, and depend only on your preferred playstyle).

Note: CoC is nice, but it's definitely one of the "hardest" around: the death rate (counting insanity too) is unbelievable, we're talking 2-3 characters per player on relative long campaigns!

 

[Alex_P]

it went out of print in the early 90's AFAIK LOL

You're thinking of something else. M&M wasn't published til the big D20 Bubble of the early 2000s. The publisher site still sells it [http://www.mutantsandmasterminds.com/].

-- Alex

 

[DerpyDerpyDerp]

As said many times before, the game is amazing with amazing people.

 

[Mezrev]

I say go for it. Personally I had never even considered a pen and paper RPG till a few months ago I got a call from a friend saying "Hey, how about we tried some D&D?" and while a bit sceptical, I said yes. Had a few short practice scenarios with different people being the DM, and when we finally found the best DM from us, we started our first long campaign. I can honestly say that videogames have nothing on the situations and adventures you can have in a pen and paper game with friends who put effort in their roleplaying.

Sure it might seem nerdy, but who cares? If you can get together a bunch of likeminded individuals with lots of imagination, I'm sure you'll have a blast.

 

[Alex_P]

A d20 superhero game, interesting but wouldnt that get a little dice heavy ? Does make it bad but it could reduce the pacing.

Depends on what the "D20" on the cover means, really. A "D20" game could be cribbing most of its game mechanics from D&D3 directly, or it could be using the basic resolution system (d20 + modifiers vs. target number) but almost nothing else. (My own prejudice is that the former isn't worth my time because it's just a dressed-up D&D clone, while the latter isn't worth my time because its author wrote a completely different game but decided it wouldn't sell unless he pretended it was a D&D clone. Green Ronin has very successfully managed produce games that occupy a middle ground, with D&D-like resolution but handle character abilities completely differently; M&M might be one of those.)

Call of Cthulthu is awesome (Id try to get an older copy I think the d20 one feels a little weak).

The most recent editions are non-D20 as well.

Chaosium has a free "quick-start" on their website: http://www.chaosium.com/article.php?story_id=87

...

There was also a game called Trail of Cthulhu released last year, which uses a little system Robin Laws custom-wrote for investigative games. The big idea -- and it's one that works well for horror games -- is that investigative gaming is really about interpreting clues rather than physically discovering them; I'm not sure about the particulars of how Laws implements this concept in play. Website: http://www.pelgranepress.com/trail/index.html

-- Alex

 

[xxnightlawxx]

I had always thought about getting into it but never really gotten around to it and since video games are sarting to bore me a lil bit(shock!, horror!) and i have a ridiculously overactive imagination.

i was just wondering what you peoples opinions were .

Warhammer 40K

Already do i collect crimson fists and speed freaks orks but setting up battles take a while and can only be done a few times where the rpg's can be done continously.

dont start dnd then

 

[Tim Buck II]

I don't like it anymore, but you should try it, most definately. So I'm basically seconding just about everybody here.