+ Reply to thread
Results 1 to 16 of 16

Thread: I have never played a non-computer RPG, explain how they work please.

  1. #1
    Oliphaunt The Original An Gadaí's avatar
    Registered
    Mar 2009
    Location
    Nowhere
    Posts
    2,933

    Default I have never played a non-computer RPG, explain how they work please.

    Specifically D & D and creatures of that ilk. I don't quite get what you do.

  2. #2
    Elen síla lumenn' omentielvo What Exit?'s avatar
    Registered
    Feb 2009
    Location
    Central NJ (near Bree)
    Posts
    10,071

    Default

    It depends and varies. For years my games were the rough equivalent of getting together with friends for a Friday night poker game. I have been playing since I was in the sixth grade (1977) and one of my friends is still in the game I run when I run it. Recently I have let my kids play as they begged to join in. My daughter loves the story telling aspect of the game.

    The mechanics of the game are fairly simple. The players create 1-2 characters with me. The two adults in my current game run two each and my kids one each. Dice are used in the rolling up of the characters. Mainly standard 6 sided dice and what is usually called percentiles; a Pair of 10 side dice to generate a number from 1-100. There are also 4,8,12 & 20sided dice. They are collectively called polyhedron dice. (OK some nuts have made 30 & 100 sided dice too, but we will ignore these.) The player needs to decide on race and class.

    Typical races are Human, Dwarf, Elf, Half Elf, Hobbit/Halfling, Gnome and Half Orc. My game is different as I have based it on Middle Earth.

    Classes in the old AD&D were:
    Clerics (spell using priests, specializing in healing and spiritual magic and fair fighters)
    Druid, nature based priests with some big advantages outdoors, Fighters (typical warriors)
    Rangers (lifted from, I mean inspired by Aragorn and the ilk) trackers, orc killers and good fighters but travel lightly
    Paladins, Holy Lawful Good Warriors that are Knights in Shining armor, all about honor and have some special abilities.
    Magic Users (the Mages or Wizards) that have the least hit points and least standard combat ability but eventually command great magic spells that can stop armies. (In many ways a geeks dream as these are typically scrawny geniuses and fairly useless to start the game)
    Illusionist (a specialized Magic user) they are much the same though usually weaker overall.
    Thief (or Treasure finder) Inspired mainly by the Grey Mouser created by Fritz Leiber. The specialize in pick pockets, open locks, detect and remove traps, move silently, hide in shadows, climb walls and hear noise and read magic and back stabbing opponents. They can be exciting to play in a good campaign as they tend to be the scout. They can also annoy the other players as they pick pockets and often leave the rest of the players waiting while they are off exploring.
    Assassin (Similar to thieves, but they are trained hired killers.)
    There is also a Bard class that is a Jack of All Trades. Bards are Fighters, Thieves and finally trained magic musical spell casters.

    The character is given a background, equipped based on the world and a description. Some players go into extreme detail other give the sketchiest of details.

    In building the characters, players usually look for what a party needs. If player 1 is going to be a magic user, usually no one else will be. Someone is always encouraged to be a cleric as players love having a healer along. They usually need a thief or at least a multiclass thief to do those thief things. You need some front line fighters to protect everyone else and they are fun and easy to play.

    The length of the game, the game goes on and on usually. I had a game in the Navy that lasted about 2 years but was played so often that more gaming was done that in my later campaign back home that lasted 7+ years. The Navy campaign maxed out to about 21 players. I had 2 sub-refs and it was insane. My later campaign never had more than 6 players, about as large as a tabletop game should get. I find 3-4 ideal. My current campaign is probably 4 years old already but we do not play all that often. Maybe twice a month and often take the summer off. It is possible to have pre-planned short campaigns. There are games where the characters are already created and the ref (DM) hands them out to the players and the game is expected to only run a set number of sessions or hours.

    Playing the game: A good game is about Role playing. It is a little bit of acting if you will. It is an interactive story. A poorer game is closer to a computer based RPG game and player do things, open doors and roll dice mechanically and record progress. The DM and the players are very important to the quality of the game. Some players carefully research what their characters can do and really decide how they will act in most situations. Others not so much. Instead of the computer program determining the results of actions, the DM does. He should have a rough idea to a detailed plan of what the nights adventure is. A good ref (DM) is flexible of course; some are really rigid and basically force the players to a given task as that is what he has prepared. A good ref should be knowledgeable of the rules to minimize the search for the rule to cover the situation.

    Games will often use elaborate maps and paint miniatures during game play. For years I went without miniatures, but as all my players prefer them, I now have a good stock of them. The use to be lead and I have those when I was a kid. They are now plastic and pre-painted and much easier to deal with. I have many of my maps digital; many drawn by hand and scanned and many drawn in Paint. I have a PC hooked up to my LCD TV to display the maps and whatever else I might need.


    The text based online games are very different and vary a lot. There are games where the computer does most of the work and the Ref guides the campaign, there are ones where people play online and use voice chat or text chat features and there are ones like the one I run here and on the Dope that are strictly Message board based and really emphasize the Story Telling aspect of D&D. All dice rolls are by me and usually using an Excel spread sheet with random number formulas.

    That was way too long, but I found it hard to be brief. If you want to know more I will be happy to share. Zuul, Glee, Malacandra also run online games and many other run or play tabletop RPG games.

  3. #3
    The Queen Zuul's avatar
    Registered
    Mar 2009
    Location
    Wisconsin
    Posts
    9,908

    Default

    The text based online games are very different and vary a lot. There are games where the computer does most of the work and the Ref guides the campaign, there are ones where people play online and use voice chat or text chat features and there are ones like the one I run here and on the Dope that are strictly Message board based and really emphasize the Story Telling aspect of D&D. All dice rolls are by me and usually using an Excel spread sheet with random number formulas.
    They do vary a lot.

    On Illusionary Minds Chat where I do most of my role-playing, we don't often use dice at all. They may be brought out to decide something if we can't decide how likely an outcome is ("Does Grant accidentally stumble on the spy while trying to triangulate Jackson's position?"), but usually don't make an appearance. The emphasis is much more on the story and developing the characters. If your character dies (and that would be one of those places where dice will make an appearance) it's actually more likely to be the result of one of your fellow players than the DM.

    My usual tabletop RP experience is a bunch of people sitting around in a living room in a big, loose circle. Most people I've known will have their character sheets out to look at and use a clipboard like this. Character sheet clipped on top for reference, any other materials they might need inside, holds pens, pencils, erasers, and all of your dice. There's the stereotype of sitting around a table, using a bunch of miniature figurines to keep track of where the party is and such, but I've never actually seen anyone do this. I'm sure they do, but it's nowhere near as common as the stereotype implies.

    The Dungeon Master or Story Teller or whatever he's calling himself for this game will usually have his reference books with him, plus a bunch of notes on this specific campaign. He'll tell you what's going on ("All of you are in an inn. Grant is hanging from the rafters while Jackson attempts to talk up a serving wench. A mysterious stranger catches both of your attention. He is garbed in a flowing black robe. Grant, your turn."). You, in turn, tell him what you're doing ("I pour my ale out on top of his head.") and he tells you when to roll ("Roll for aim.").

    If you've got a good group, it can be a lot of fun and it's much more personal and sociable than playing on a computer. If you've got a bad group (especially if you have a bad DM), it's about as painful as you'd imagine sitting in a living room full of geeks can be.

  4. #4
    Oliphaunt
    Registered
    Mar 2009
    Location
    England
    Posts
    1,498

    Default

    I run a roleplaying club in my school. Here's my introduction to new players:

    This is your introduction to a fascinating School activity. Role-playing involves a referee telling a group of players a story. However the players are characters in the adventure, and can say what they want to do next. The referee then adapts the plot and so the story continues to a climax.

    The players can be any sort of characters - they could be detectives solving a crime, or astronauts travelling to other solar systems. I currently use the books ‘The Hobbit’ and the ‘The Lord of the Rings’ by J. R.R. Tolkien. This is a mediaeval world together with legendary monsters and magic.
    The characters might have to rescue a princess or fight off a dragon. However part of the delight is seeing what the players think up. In one game, a player decided to have a part-time job making cheese and used his reward money from a quest to build low-cost council housing!

    The rules are easy to explain, so no previous experience is needed. All equipment will be provided. The game encourages imagination, teamwork, concentration and calculation. It is suitable for ages from 10-100!

    A typical playing session is 2 hours. This may seem like a long time, but there are no difficult decisions. The players are working as a team to solve problems and can take as much time as they like in discussions. Like reading a good book, there is a 'suspension of disbelief' as the players get into the atmosphere of their exciting new character.

  5. #5
    Jesus F'ing Christ Glazer's avatar
    Registered
    Mar 2009
    Location
    Atlanta, Ga. U.S.A. (Male)
    Posts
    1,485

    Default

    Typically it's a group of people siting around a table drinking beer eating chips and arguing rules.
    Welcome to Mellophant.

    We started with nothing and we still have most of it left.

  6. #6
    Oliphaunt
    Registered
    Feb 2009
    Posts
    5,174

    Default

    In my personal experience it goes like this: the group hangs out in a living room. Everyone's got their character sheets, dice and whatnot. The DM has their fortress of notebooks and various guides, and sometimes a battle mat. A good game involves a lot of fun, playacting, and vanquishing of foes. A bad game involves a lot of bickering, excessive amounts of dice-rolling and people stomping off in a huff.

    Pizza is frequently involved. Or Taco Bell.

  7. #7
    The Queen Zuul's avatar
    Registered
    Mar 2009
    Location
    Wisconsin
    Posts
    9,908

    Default

    I seem to recall Mt. Dew making a frequent appearance.

  8. #8
    Administrator CatInASuit's avatar
    Registered
    Feb 2009
    Location
    Coulsdon Cat Basket
    Posts
    10,342

    Default

    A group of us sit in a pub. There is beer and bar snacks a plenty.

    I sit at one end with a few sheets of notes and some dice and the players sit at the other end with dice and characters sheets.

    I start the story, set a scene and get the characters involved. The players decide what they want to do in this world I have created and if they want to be part of the story I am telling or if they want to create their own story. Both usually happens.

    The world and the characters can be anything you like, you just have to remember to enjoy it. The character sheets and dice are just there to provide a fair way of making some decisions and giving balance to the game.
    In the land of the blind, the one-arm man is king.

  9. #9
    Oliphaunt
    Registered
    Feb 2009
    Posts
    5,174

    Default

    Quote Originally posted by Zuul View post
    I seem to recall Mt. Dew making a frequent appearance.
    Cheetos, too.

  10. #10
    Oliphaunt The Original An Gadaí's avatar
    Registered
    Mar 2009
    Location
    Nowhere
    Posts
    2,933

    Default

    Does anyone win? Is there an end objective etc?

  11. #11
    Elen síla lumenn' omentielvo What Exit?'s avatar
    Registered
    Feb 2009
    Location
    Central NJ (near Bree)
    Posts
    10,071

    Default

    Quote Originally posted by An Gadaí View post
    Does anyone win? Is there an end objective etc?
    Not really a winner. Within campaigns there is winning but usually the games are cooperative and not combative. There are often set goals. Drive all the orcs from this area. Find out what is taking the kids at night from this village. Help win this war. Locate this lost treasure. Etc. Some games have long range goals and plans with episodic parts leading to a grand conclusion. I like this style myself.

    In the end, the objective is to have fun.

  12. #12
    The Queen Zuul's avatar
    Registered
    Mar 2009
    Location
    Wisconsin
    Posts
    9,908

    Default

    I'd liken it to playing pretend as a kid. As long as you want to keep playing, you can keep adding on new ways for it to continue, but there's no way you really "win" over anyone else.

  13. #13
    Oliphaunt
    Registered
    Mar 2009
    Location
    England
    Posts
    1,498

    Default

    Quote Originally posted by An Gadaí View post
    Does anyone win? Is there an end objective etc?
    There isn't an end objective like checkmate in chess.

    Certainly the players try to develop their character, making them more interesting and powerful.
    The referee tries to provide conflicts and problems to give the players suitable challenges.
    It's like reading a book / watching a film, except you get to take part.
    My motto is "Never apologise, never explain."

    Sorry, I should say that I got that from Colin Hoult...

  14. #14
    Oliphaunt The Original An Gadaí's avatar
    Registered
    Mar 2009
    Location
    Nowhere
    Posts
    2,933

    Default

    Quote Originally posted by Zuul View post
    I'd liken it to playing pretend as a kid. As long as you want to keep playing, you can keep adding on new ways for it to continue, but there's no way you really "win" over anyone else.
    Ah, now I actually fully understand it. Thanks everybody.

  15. #15
    Stegodon
    Registered
    Mar 2009
    Location
    Foxbase Alpha
    Posts
    312

    Default

    Do you remember those "choose your own adventure" books, where (for example) Indiana Jones would be walking down a corridor with two doors at the end, and you'd turn to page 76 if you opened the right door, and page 144 if you opened the left door? TSR Games (the people who created D&D) used to sell hundreds (if not thousands) of "adventures". These were essentially folders with a basic storyline, maps, stats sheets for adventure-specific monsters, etc. After the players created their characters, the DM would read the prologue of the story, and the characters would decide what to do. Although it sounds really linear, a good DM would be able to improvise and make it much more fun than those "choose your adventure" books.

    Of course, once you got good at the game (and became familiar with your little D&D group), many DMs would make up their own adventures, either from other stories (The Lord of the Rings, for example), or something entirely original. Others would take basic D&D play and apply it to some other genre (homemade James Bond-style spy games were popular long before an "official" spy game, Top Secret, came out).

    Of course, I haven't played D&D since 1983, so I could be really out of date. I know TSR isn't around any more, but have no idea who bought them.

  16. #16
    Oliphaunt
    Registered
    Feb 2009
    Posts
    5,174

    Default

    Quote Originally posted by tunaman View post
    Of course, I haven't played D&D since 1983, so I could be really out of date. I know TSR isn't around any more, but have no idea who bought them.
    Wizards of the Coast.

+ Reply to thread

Posting rules

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts