Anybody play Tabletop RPGs?

[CJC]

I've been holding back about talking about my publishing products because, well, it felt like shilling. But in the spirit of forum activity (and because I don't have anything else interesting about myself to talk about), I thought I'd ask.


Does anybody play tabletop role-playing games, like Dungeons and Dragons or White Wolf? What do you like about these kinds of games? What do you dislike? Are you intrigued by the statistics, interested in structure, or driven by narrative power?


I designed a dice-less game called Vorpal and I'm currently working on a second edition. Since Vorpal's audience is a shadow audience (I know it's there from tertiary parties, but I have no direct contact with them), I need generic feedback. Anything and everything you can say about table-top RPGs would be helpful.
...I know that AGN is mostly a video-game site and this question would be better asked elsewhere. But like I said, I don't have anything else interesting about myself to say.

[mrz84]

Me and my brothers paly 4th edition D&D. We've got 2 campaigns going. One where Dragon Omega is the DM and one where I'm the DM. I play a human Paladin in DO's game based of a character from Bar-Buddies that hasn't appeared yet. One of my younger brothers plays a german vampire. One of his friends plays a dragonborn with a living "sea cucumber" in his brain that controls his actions (and he has very odd behavior, not to mention his name), and then there's DO's npc character that is a cross between Jack Sparrow and the Croc Hunter.

[CJC]

Me and my brothers paly 4th edition D&D.

D&D 4th is a strategic, highly structured game. I've played 4th ed before, and I was particularly fond of the positioning involved in the game. The power cards, though, I could live without, at least for fighter characters. Any D&D universe where fighters are as complex to play as wizards is just frustrating. Though it has very little in common with Vorpal, I'd still like to know what attracts people to and what repels people from this genre of table-top.

What do you like about 4th edition, Z? Are there things you wish were different about the system?

[mrz84]

Well when I first wanted to get into D&D a few years ago, I read some material for 3rd edition and found it overwhelming. There were so many stats to keep track of and so much dice rolling for things I think you really shouldn't need it for (ie: rolling to see how much gold your character has during creation) kinda turned me from that and then I saw 4th edition. Figured I'd read that before trying any of the earlier ones. I found it somewhat more simple to understand, granted there were still some questions, but I found them eventually.

Personally, I don't think there's much of 4th edition I'd change (or at least I can remember off the top of my head) and with a 5th edition in the works, I might try it once its released (or at least read up on it) before seeing if it could be better, especially since I have a couple books for 4th edition bought (the main core set, additional Monster Manuals, Campaign setting books, Character Options, not to mention about 20+ minis, some hand painted by my youngest brother)

[ShadowTiger]

I wish I had a lot more to contribute to the topic. Tabletop RPGs feel a lot more personal and intimate than their electronic equivalents. I just wish they didn't take as much time. It got to the point where I felt like it was the interpersonal experience with the other gamers that made the RPG feel worth it, rather than what we could actually accomplish toward the game during each session. We joked, laughed, told stories, interrupted ourselves, had cookouts, shared recipes, posited on various fascinations pertaining to our current known reality, and even played Tabletop RPGs.

I was a rice hunter in one game of Exalted.

I was pretty bad at it.