THESE FORUMS NOW CLOSED (read only)
Fun Stuff => CLIKC => Topic started by: snalin on 20 Jan 2009, 12:40
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I know some of you play RPGs. Or have played, or whatever. And I just dug up something really interesting.
Wizards of the Coast is currently making a tool named D&D insider. Anyone heard of it? Basically, it's a tool for gamers to play over the web. You make your character, the DM makes the dungeon, you play in it, and everybody communicates through voice chat. It's not done yet (the dungeon part is under construction) but it looks good. It's not a conversion of D&D to an MMO, you have tools to roll dice, but the DM still looks up the rules and subtracts HP from the monsters and so on. It can be used for just battle training and it can be used for a full fledged campaign, just with voice chat and a computer instead of a game table. Really practical for the ones of us that live in a city where nobody wants to play D&D, just other games.
check it out here (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/insider)
So, what you think? Anyone that thinks this looks fun? Anyone on the forums that would want to set up a campaign once all the tools are in place?
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I'm interested, but I think my dming days are behind me.
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Man, i need more time and the ability to not need sleep.
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Like Alex, I'd be in, but not as a DM
I really hate moving to a new place, wanting to join a group, but not knowing anyone or being able to find a good group
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See, if we could do this for World of Darkness I'd be in.
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I'd play this. I don't get to be a nerd around here, so I suppose over the internet would be pretty swell.
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Holy shit guys lets do QC D&D online. I'd totally be in for this.
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I'm down-ish. Like I said in the Magic thread, I am waiting a few weeks to see what my workload for school is going to be like.
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Oh man, I actually went and looked at the link, that looks freaking awesome. If no one else wanted to, I would totally DM a group online with that. I have the perfect scenario in my head, but no group and no game system to implement it to.
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there's another virtual tabletop for P&PRPGs called Fantasy Grounds. It's not built specifically for D&D. You could probably use it for WOD.
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Shit....does this mean I have to update to the 4.0 ruleset?
.....I don't suppose anybody has it in pdf do they? (money's a little scarce right now)
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there's another virtual tabletop for P&PRPGs called Fantasy Grounds. It's not built specifically for D&D. You could probably use it for WOD.
Yeah but who else would want to play it besides me?
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Man, I'd play. I fucking love roleplaying games. We (some friends and I) had a really fun WoD campaign for a while. Unfortunately, due to my work schedule at the time I missed quite a bit of that and our Exalted game, which replaced the WoD game (there were like 10 people in that game, and then the 3 winds showed up, because we pissed off David LoPan, and shit went to hell and people died)
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I have always found shadowrun campaigns to be a lot of fun too.
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That sounds.... awesome.
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Sweet, I love this sort of thing. Though I happen to be partial to Cyberpunk 2020, myself.
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I'd play this. I don't get to be a nerd around here, so I suppose over the internet would be pretty swell.
I'm a moderator on a site dedicated to Play by Post gaming for those who can't find a meatlife group to get with. Everything from dicerolling to character sheets are handled online. It could host A QC D&D game if we got enough people together (and tricked got someone to be DM.
www.dndonlinegames.com
[/shameless promotion]
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So is anyone actually up for this? I don't have any of the D&D books, but there's a possibility that I could grab hold of a version of the Player's Handbook for whatever version that people would want to play of it, OR a copy of Shadowrun, OR whatever other RPG somebody wants to do, just so long as it required me to buy no more than one or two books, (unless we're playing an older edition of the game, in which case you can get pretty much everything for cheap from drivethrurpg.com)
Now if anyone wanted to play a White Wolf game, I've got the Scion:Hero book, and for the new World fo Darkness series I've got:
World of Darkness core,Vampire core, Mage core, Werewolf core, Promethean core, Changeling core, Antagonists, and Armory, might be about to get Second Sight and Skinchangers, possibly even Tome of Mysteries for mage.
Really I think it just comes down to finding something that multiple people have and want to play, and while I'm biased towards a particular game I'm willing to compromise just to get my pen and paper fix of anything.
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I used to be hardcore into DnD in the 3.5 days, and I did a lot of work and research into 4.0 when it was released. But really, I`m stuck on 3.5, I`m a 3.5 nerd and I can work with any build and make any build. I can make seemingly useless things work. I`d like to join if I can, but being at school in this country doesn`t leave me much time. Once i`m back in my home city I`ll be playing again, every weekend like usual.
Anyhow, if you need help with wanting to make an original character or build for 3.5, hit me up, I can probably direct you in the way of originality, or whatever you`re looking for I guess. I left my PDFs and books in Canada, but I`m supposed to get an e-mail with all the different PDFs on it sooner or later.
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Guys, I gotta say, I've been playing as part of an IRL game of 4.0 D&D and it's really fun, I am loving the way the system works now. Although I have terrible rolls and very rarely am I able to hit things (1 hit in ~15 attacks), I am really into the system, everything is easier and so much quicker now.
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Guys, I gotta say, I've been playing as part of an IRL game of 4.0 D&D and it's really fun, I am loving the way the system works now. Although I have terrible rolls and very rarely am I able to hit things (1 hit in ~15 attacks), I am really into the system, everything is easier and so much quicker now.
You don`t find that it`s too restricted? There isn`t enough variation, choice for originality as far as character construction? I admit I like it too, but it`s really grid like, it lacks whatever chaos and disorginization 3.5 had that made it 3.5. Also, spellcasters. I remember the book of spells and every new book would have a ton of new spells added to it, but in 4.0 it`s like, okay, here are your powers. That`s it. Don`t go looking around, you won`t find much.
I say this but I haven`t really let 4.0 develop yet... Another thing that bugs me is second wind.. it`s like they just took the benefitting divine powers and went `Instead you get this- actually, everyone gets it. Except you get it more than them. So you`re not special anymore.`
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It is a lot easier to just jump in and start playing. That I like. It does away with some of the complicated crap (read: ranks into skills) and I feel the simplification/restriction is an okay tradeoff. Our characters have always developed through the backstory and roleplay. Sure, my cleric has like 12 powers to choose from off the bat instead of 96, but that just made it easier for me to think more about the roleplay aspect of the character.
[nerding out with D&D character info]
That same cleric decided, rather than pray and mourn, to take up a halberd (the chosen weapon of his god) and lead three companions into battle after his adopted son was murdered. He was raised as an orphan in the church and was bringing up an orphan to be a faithful, hard worker, and then that boy was killed. He has vowed to get back at those who killed his son. With him he has a dwarf who has no beard, due to his family being shamed in times since passed. It is his quest to become renowned and gain the honor of his family back. Then, there's the elf who just got out of the mages academy, he is arrogant and pampered, and quite sarcastic, but a faithful and powerful ally. Also, there is a ranger, we hate him because he shoots people in the back all the time.
[/nerding out]
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I think the lack of spells takes away from the character adaptation. I mean, you could always make new ones yourself, but most DMs will have difficulties with that. For example, I want to play a wizard that specializes in thunder, or something, because, I don`t know, he`s Teslas ancestor [I`m just making crap up here.], but there are pretty much only 1 thunder power per 3-4 levels.
I understand, the simplicity is nice, it kind of makes you feel like you`re playing a more refined game, I just miss the whole expansiveness of it all.
Oh..Yeah, my first 4.0 Character was a Human Paladin [Wiz multiclassing feats taken] of the Raven queen.. I convinced my DM to change all powers with `Radiant` to `Necrotic` instead. =] And my second, a drow fighter [Ranger multiclassing feats taken].. Ah, the good old days.
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We basically run every game with the theme of "if it fits your character better to have a different description, then it is a different description. Same effects, different look. It is a pretty easy and adaptable thing. I mean, not everything has to have the thunder effect.
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True, yet it was a bad example that totally did not justify what I meant to say. Anyhow, I`m going to basically sit and wait till 4.0 develops a good enough expansion to be able to pick and play with what they`ve released like all us 3.5 fanboys/girls [HAHA THAT`S FUNNY, DND FANGI-] have been doing. For now though, I`m going to be in Japan, sulking and bitching about this country till I come back to my DnD filled frozen-hell hole known as Montreal.
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Honestly, I'm completely uninterested in 3.x these days. I really hate 3.x in many ways and hope that 4.0 stays relatively streamlined; as a former GM, I vew the expansiveness of 3.x as a double edged sword at best. 3.x was a class based system trying to create characters who could foreseeably fit about any mold you came up with via buckets of prestige classes. Good intentions, bad execution. I hold that class systems work best when you're vague rather than specific. Ironically, the more options they brought in, the more restricted I felt, since it seemed every time I built a character who was supposed to be fit a specific role in their place of origin's society, they'd go and throw in specific rules and a specific class for how those guys work. Often, these rules would suck or require some god awful confluence of munchkiny templates in order to be worth a damn. No thanks. That kind of crap is exactly why I prefer skill based systems to class based systems for games that don't often revolve around combat.
This ties in well with a rant i made in another thread about how I feel that Fighters and Barbarians should never have been seperated in 3.x. I still do not believe that barbarians as a class should be introduced to 4th. A fighter is an extremely generic term for a reason, and frankly, I think it's something that should be embraced rather than denigrated. As it stands, Fighters start with medium-to-heavy armor (chainmail and perhaps a big shield) and can specialize in wielding 2 handers and using powers with macho sounding names like Reaping, Cleave, Brute Strike and Unstoppable. Pick Athletics, Endurance and Intimidate as your class skills and bam, your character can easily pass as a barbarian; the only obstacle is people being sticklers about the name on your character sheet. Regardless, as a roleplayer, I feel that the class name on your sheet is the role your character fits in a fight, not their full story; after all, I can totally see how a powerful warrior from a tribe of barbarians could function as a Fighter OR a Warlord depending on his particular talents. As such, I'd much rather see WotC spend their time on sourcebooks and bestiaries then introducing a thousand-and-one new classes and role altering feats. A class should fit a common D&D archetype that is poorly represented under the current rules before it recieves serious consideration. For example, I could see how a druid or bard might be worthwhile additions since they don't really have obvious parallels with existing classes.
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From the sounds of it and the previews available from Insider, I actually am really liking how the Barbarian is shaping up. There is seriously looking to be a LOT of difference in how they work, which means there is actually going to be an actual decent reason for the class, even if technically it should be a template. I mean, in all honesty, I would be much happier if the Barbarian powers and the like were around, but went under a completely different class name, which would fix the problem of your class basically being your character background.
But man, 3.x... bleh. Played it for years and got sick of playing a spreadsheet. Fun, but so goddamn easy to break.
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I'm looking at that right now; frankly, barbarian almost seems like a dumb name for it. Honestly, thematically it is closer to shamanic warriors or berserkers than anything, but I suppose the name barbarian has sentimental value to D&D players. I guess I just find it funny that this means Conan would basically be a Fighter or Warlord for D&D 4th purposes. At least they're clearly dedicated to pushing the theme beyond simply being "I'm a Barbarian! The difference between me and a Fighter is that I get angry when I kill people!"
It has my tentative stamp of approval.
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But man, 3.x... bleh. Played it for years and got sick of playing a spreadsheet. Fun, but so goddamn easy to break.
It's what you make of it. If you don't bother trying to break it, it generally works better.
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I think, for experimental purposes, and for those who are actually more interested in the combat system of Dnd 3.5 more than the roleplay, but partake in roleplay all the same and enjoy it, those bucket-loads of prestige classes are almost like tidbit gifts, I for one LOVE them. I remember one of my favorite character..Honestly, some of the best days I had playing Dungeons and Dragons was playing my Alienist. There were many prestiges that were considered just too plain or boring or strange without reason, though...
I think the idea of a barbarian should be more of a development, like a prestige for the fighter, kind of what Frenzied Berserker was in 3.5. FB was the standard `blow-shit-up including those around you` Barb prestige, but since Barbs already got angry, FBs lost some novelty in the comparison point to their base class predecessors. If FB became a sort of prestige option for fighters in 4.0, I`d actually be pretty happy, I love that angry-go nuts archetype [Well, I used to, I`m not so much into the idea of frenzied chaos and anger now.].
I`m kind of on the fringe about 4.0.. I haven`t checked in on what they`ve done with it for a while so I should. Have they started adding new powers for all the classes in non-core books yet? =] That`d make me a happy camper.
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Prestige classes have essentially been replaced by Paragon Paths. They don't change your role or revolutionize your character's class like PrCs can, rather they make you a "Paragon" of a certain aspect of the class (or in some cases, class-race combination). They're quite useful but in no way do they really greatly change your role (which I like). For example, a Fighter can take the "Iron Vanguard" path, which gives you some additional tricks to reposition your enemies by knocking them around and some increased endurance abilities; essentially, it's the ideal of a heavy infantryman taken to the logical extreme. Likewise Kensei also made it in, and it just lets you plain lay into people with any weapon you've attuned to recently; it doesn't let you control the battle field like a Vanguard can, but on the upside, you can hit stupidly hard. They provided barely any fluff for Paragons in the core book, but frankly, when it comes to character development, I prefer to fill in the blanks myself anyway.
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Prestige classes have essentially been replaced by Paragon Paths. They don't change your role or revolutionize your character's class like PrCs can, rather they make you a "Paragon" of a certain aspect of the class (or in some cases, class-race combination). They're quite useful but in no way do they really greatly change your role (which I like). For example, a Fighter can take the "Iron Vanguard" path, which gives you some additional tricks to reposition your enemies by knocking them around and some increased endurance abilities; essentially, it's the ideal of a heavy infantryman taken to the logical extreme. Likewise Kensei also made it in, and it just lets you plain lay into people with any weapon you've attuned to recently; it doesn't let you control the battle field like a Vanguard can, but on the upside, you can hit stupidly hard. They provided barely any fluff for Paragons in the core book, but frankly, when it comes to character development, I prefer to fill in the blanks myself anyway.
When I was talking about FB being a prestige for Fighter, I meant Paragon path, sorry. I do hope they add new content like that in the books though. Character development without the inspiration first of prestiges for specific abilities and information is great and all, but I am by all means not rejecting new content from being released. My friends have put the 4.0 campaign I was in on hold until I came back from Japan so they can continue with new content available to them, to which I whole heartedly agree. It`s always safer [well, USUALLY.] when the writers make the new content instead of the fans.
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But man, 3.x... bleh. Played it for years and got sick of playing a spreadsheet. Fun, but so goddamn easy to break.
It's what you make of it. If you don't bother trying to break it, it generally works better.
The main problem was that it didn't take much trying to do. It was especially a problem if you got someone who accidentally made an overpowered character.
I mean, I'm honestly not trying to say 3.5 is shit, it's not. It's just for me and my group play styles, I shouldn't have to house rule half of the choices characters make because it breaks the game for the rest of the party, especially since it was already enough of a pain in the ass to prepare combats for 3.5.
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I am the game master of a group of AD&D. Yes, the second edition (2.5). I had all the manuals, and I'm not interest to spend a small fortune to play the same game with just some changes in the rules.
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I think I could honestly say I enjoyed 2nd ed more than 3rd. The only real problem I had with it was the ridiculousness of TSR and their love of contradictory rules from book to book. Man though, I do miss a ton of officially supported material though. Dark Sun and Planescape... mmm.
1st Ed was just silly though. Ear worms... Jesus christ Gygax was a fan of being an asshole.
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I love how it seemed that cursed items outnumber the beneficial ones under the most ancient rule sets, which was hilarious considering the sheer cost of creating a magical item. It always made me wonder who the hell made those things. Was there some crazy wizard out there who was thinking "Well, I have a few hundred hours and several hundred thousand gold to kill. Should I make something useful? Oh, no wait, I can instead create a magical jeweled Scarab that SEEMS helpful, but when you go to sleep at night it burrows through your pack in an attempt to chew its way through your chest cavity so it can devour your heart. Much better plan." Then again, being a magic user was pretty rough back in the day, so it does make a certain amount of sense that the guys who actually made it that far along would be reduced to bitter, conniving assholes by then.
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Well, a mage until level 5 should be call "the spoiled princess". He only served to suck the xp from the party, and forcing them to defend him, in dangerous situations.
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We have one guy in our roleplaying group who I guess, forgets to buy armor. He took two crossbow bolts to the chest and then got knocked out (he had to leave) in our exalted game. He plays the fighter in our D&D campaign, and he is nearly constantly at the bloodied state, the ranger and him always yell for me to heal him, and I let them know that "everybody gets one" since I only have the ability to heal twice. (I'm a goddamn battle cleric, I don't heal shit)
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Spoiled princess seems rather harsh considering that playing a low level mage is one of the top two or three least entertaining experiences in RPG history. You spend considerable amounts of time being a lucky kobold away from death and making roughly two contributions to the group per session.
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Spoiled princess seems rather harsh considering that playing a low level mage is one of the top two or three least entertaining experiences in RPG history. You spend considerable amounts of time being a lucky kobold away from death and making roughly two contributions to the group per session.
That can also be DM dependent. Prestigiditation imo. =] Useful out of combat spell.
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Ah, yes, but Kabukiman said he was playing the mid-90s revised 2nd edition, aka, 2.5. Cantrips didn't make up their own tier of level 0 spells back then. In fact, if I remember right, Cantrip was its own level 1 spell that could produce many minor effects, but still took up a regular spell slot. Honestly, 2nd edition was kinda crappy if you didn't use optional rules to bring minis and grids into things to spice up the combat. Luckily, it was supported long enough for that not to be a huge problem though.
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Oh man, I know Kat's dad hass been playing D&D since Chainmail came out and he refuses to play anything but 1st ed. I swear it physically hurts me to think of trying to play 1st or 2nd ed again despite the many years of fun I got out of both of them.
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The system of skills AD&D was very good and I still use it. And carisma was very important: when they want to buy something cheaper or convince someone they use carisma (if they have a very low carisma, the guards don't let them enter the town, don't find a room to sleep, or nobody sells them the goods they need).
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You know what I don't like about the D20 system?
What you do depends on a single roll, and if you happen to roll poorly on that one roll, OH WELL.
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You know what I don't like about the D20 system?
What you do depends on a single roll, and if you happen to roll poorly on that one roll, OH WELL.
You know what I don`t like about non-d20 roleplaying systems? Meaning, roleplays where combat is decided by text? It leaves room for chaos and god moders. It`s a battle system, if you roll it`s because something distracted your character or something like that, and when you roll a crit it`s because your character gets that instinctive shot at an opening..
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4thed is good. More die rolls means the system is less swingy. The heroes and the monsters all have more HP, which means more attacks, which means the law of averages has more play. Less of a single die roll making all the difference.
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It's all about the fine balance between rewarding smart play and accidentally removing all tension from the proceedings. Ideally, I want just enough randomness in my games for the li'l imp in the back of my head to always be saying things like "Okay smart guy, what's your plan if you don't roll at least a 12? Will you still be glad you moved to that square?" while avoiding scenarios like the Mage getting one shotted by a completely random critical hit from some kobold.
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You know what I don`t like about non-d20 roleplaying systems? Meaning, roleplays where combat is decided by text? It leaves room for chaos and god moders. It`s a battle system, if you roll it`s because something distracted your character or something like that, and when you roll a crit it`s because your character gets that instinctive shot at an opening..
I meant the White Wolf d10 system, Savage Worlds, L5R, things where you roll multiple dice. Relying on a single roll is rough for me and pisses me off.
I have nearly quit two campaigns after having my characters do absolutely nothing in most of the encounters/situations needing dice to be rolled.
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4thed is good. More die rolls means the system is less swingy. The heroes and the monsters all have more HP, which means more attacks, which means the law of averages has more play. Less of a single die roll making all the difference.
I do agree with this. While me and my friends were waiting for 4.0 to come out we played the new Star Wars d20 and there was that added health bonus, because, hero`s don`t die as easily as the common folk [good enough logic.], and more hp on monsters makes for more epic fights [Instead of the epic wizard in 3.5 one shotting every god damn thing you throw at him with chain lightning and god knows what else.].
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I say this but I haven`t really let 4.0 develop yet... Another thing that bugs me is second wind.. it`s like they just took the benefitting divine powers and went `Instead you get this- actually, everyone gets it. Except you get it more than them. So you`re not special anymore.`
Dunno how I missed this before.
Second wind is pretty much the best thing ever and Divine classes needed to quit being indispensable because it's stupid to have to have some dude who worships god X or regularly communes with nature in every party. Maybe that makes them less "Special," but frankly, I'm all for it. The fact that you don't necessarily NEED a character with Divine or Arcane powers now to avoid being handicapped is one of my favorite elements of the game. What if the PCs want to start out as the ragtag survivors of a local militia that barely survived an orc invasion or something? Why do they have to have some dude that has had magical training of some sort or is a holy man just to have access to vital party roles? The fact that you can have a guy who was militia captain or a natural leader (the Warlord), the big guy (the Fighter), a thug or woodsman (Rogue/Ranger) and still have most of your bases covered as you play out the campaign hits me as a real strength. Beyond that, it allows Clerics & Druids to develop into something more than a Cure Light Wounds dispenser.
From the PH2 previews and hints they've been dropping throughout development, this looks to be a trend they'll continue beyond just martial classes as well. For example, the Avenger class looks to be a lightly armored assassin or witch hunter of sorts, trained in monasteries to isolate and destroy abominations. In other words, a Divine striker. If they carry off this design philosophy well enough maybe parties of holy warriors won't be forced to sheepishly drag along some guy who is suspiciously good at breaking and entering anymore. They can bring along another member of their order who is just as divinely favored as they are, even if the abilities manifest differently.
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I'm intrigued! It's hard to find a good group to play with nowadays.
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I'm in a fairly small city in western South Carolina and I've had no luck.
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I was just talking to my friend about the new classes and races. I`m now thinking of rolling a Half-elf Warden, and multiclass Evoker.
Does anyone have detailed information about the new classes and races out of PHB2?