I have very little experience with Dungeons and Dragons or other table top RPGs, but I couldn’t resist getting these beautiful cat’s eye dice at GenCon this summer. GenCon, for the uninitiated, is a huge table-top gaming convention held in Indianapolis every August. It holds all things D&D, RPG, card games, board games, and more. And the thing to buy there, if you only buy one thing, is a dice set. My first dice set ever. I still haven’t had the chance to use them yet, and I’m not sure when I will. Between work, making the comic, more work, and spending time with those I care about, I have a hard time committing to a regular World of Warcraft raid group let alone a Dungeons and Dragons group. Hopefully it’ll work out someday.
I played it once, with some good friends (two of whom were our old guild leaders in WoW), but we only did one session and didn’t get very far. I was newly hooked on WoW at the time, and D&D seemed a little dull in comparison. I kept wanting to sneak away and kill some stuff while we figured out math at the table. Of course I was a halfling thief, the closest I could get to my gnome rogue in WoW, both of whom are inspired by my secret desire to be a female Bilbo Baggins. But I really have an itch to try it again, now that the initial WoW addiction has mellowed and I’ve had great times playing board games with the boyfriend and had a great game-filled weekend at GenCon. Any NPC readers out there play D&D or other tabletop roleplaying games?
I play DnD, Firstly 4th edition is bad, BUT if your new and want an overly-simplifled WoW like dice game feel free to try it. The D20 system of 3.0 and 3.5 is very solid, and the fact that most gamers have the 3.5 core and suplement books are a commonplace. I like the system and I realy dont want to pay the Wizards tax again. Additional if your ever in the Fargo ND area feel free to email me I’ll host something.
Also if you are looking for more dice I recommend Chessex they are the standard in dice.
Firstly, dice with sharper edges are better. The ones with rounded edges aren’t as random as they could be and will roll certain numbers more often. Great if they’re high, but if they’re low, not so much. Secondly, I agree with Drathar. 3.5>4e. Thirdly, if you’re somewhere lacking in tabletop players, like me, there’s always the internet games. IRC is a good place to find some good games, and they’re just as much fun as normal ones.
Most everyone likes 3e or 3.5e better than 4e, but I’ve been playing 2 campaigns in 4e over the last few months and have really liked it. I hadn’t played for years and decided to pick it up a DM a campaign, so I decided to just go with 4e.
It is more simplified, and I like that. I honestly feel like it is a polished version of 3.5e with less of the clutter that was barely used. The simplified skills is a really nice thing in my opinion … no longer do you have to choose between spot, search and listen and then end up with a DM that ONLY uses the one check you aren’t trained in.
My wife really seems to enjoy 4e more as well. She only played a few games in 3/3.5e and then stopped because she really felt like it was too complicated and didn’t like having the game stop so people could help her. With 4e, she’s picked it up rather quickly and needs little help with things now.
And those dice are pretty sweet. I recently purchased all new dice because mine were lost in recent move. I got some for Katie too … mainly because she wanted some prettier ones. Chessex dice are pretty standard and have lots of color/design options.
I also recently purchased some different d4s for me wizard. They are much easier to read than the standard pyramid d4s (at least my translucent Chessex d4s). Imagine a long d6 that is pointed on either side and 1-4 on the remaining flat sides. Much easier to read.
I have played several things that I would put in this category over the years… Magic: the Gathering, Mage Knight (the predecessor to hero clix, same company) D&D 2.0, 3.0 and 3.5, and of course, WoWcrack. I have recently cancelled my WoW account and picked up Magic again, and going back to a game where you actually see the people you are playing with is a breath of fresh air. Sure, it takes a little more time to organize and forces you to use your imagination more than a computer game, but a good tabletop game, whether it be a P&P RPG, card game, miniatures game, or whatever outshines a MMORPG any day.
In my opinion you cannot simulate human interaction, even with ventrillo or a healthy guild chat. Even playing WoW with my wife in the same room while raiding or doing arenas, it seemed like we weren’t really playing a game ‘together’, and I don’t know if WoW has enough draw for me anymore to get me playing ever again.
You know, I hate to say it because the last thing you probably want is a new addiction, but when I changed over to LOTRO I never looked back. Not only do you get to be an actual hobbit if you want, but you get to run around the Shire, go to Rivendell, see Moria (not very scenic), etc etc ….
I’ve played some Paper and pencil over the years, could never find a solid long lasting group. then wow came, but I always had an itch for DnD. There is hope though, my I convince my gf to dm a solo compagin recently and we should be able to start so (she doesn’t play wow thought, sad). If you are looking for a little different flavor from the standard DnD check out Arcana Unearthed and it’s “xp” Arcana Evolved. Based on the 3.5 rule stes but ot seems a lot more balanced as far as classes and races. I’ve alwasy enjoyed AU/AE,. try the solo camp with you bf (figure who wants to dm) that can offer not only time with him but tiem to play a P&P =)
oh yeah, those dice are sweet, I have a fairly sizable collection myself…. oddly enough, collecting dice can be addictive, esp if you are actively playing, I prob have over 10 full sets of dice not to mention the odd dice that I liked (like my dinosaur d6, it’s my favorite).
Gaming is an interesting question. The fundamental answer to you is: play whatever your surrounding groups are playing. A game with a bad system is better than no game.
I’m not going to say that any one system is better for everything (I think those kinds of evangelical wars are silly) but I will say that my preference is for non-mainstream games. Mainstream defined as WotC and Whitewolf.
If you have the opportunity to form a group, look for a system that supports the elements you want. One option is playing over e-mail or forum.
If you’d like, e-mail me and we can try to narrow down what systems you might like.
Wow, thanks for the great comments everyone!
About the dice – I can’t remember which booth I got them at, but it wasn’t Chessex. They were there though. I knew I was totally going for the pretty and impractical dice over the sharper edge ones. I’m a sucker for pretty gem stones, what can I say. They’re really beautiful though. When I hold them up to the sunlight at certain angles I can see through them to the other number.
As far as what kind of game I want to play, well, that’s not really the problem. John (my boyfriend) has a ton of old D&D books, and we picked up a couple of cheap 4.0 books at GenCon to try out. The problem right now is that I just don’t have time to commit to a group. Hopefully this winter though we can get something going.
@Columbina: I actually really want to try LOTRO! But not enough to install windows on my mac…maybe when I get some time off.
@priesthealer: I didn’t know there were solo campaigns! I’ll definitely talk to my boyfriend about that.
I used to play solo campaigns with my brother (we lived in a small town, and those were the days of “roleplayers=satanic killers”). We dm’ed in turns, so both could have fun playing and mastering.
I tried it with my girlfriend, but she doesn’t really enjoy games (at all). You’re lucky to have a d&d boyfriend, so seize it!
(sorry for my poor English, I’m following your comic from Spain!)
If time is a problem, here are a few suggestions:
* Try getting a hold of the Dungeon Delve book for 4E. It has a lot of short dungeon encounters that are ready to go, and don’t take a lot of time to complete. Throw two or three together with a quest of your DM’s devising, and you have a pretty decent weekend game!
* If you like the idea of a longer campaign, you can try published adventures. There are several currently at bookstores or Amazon.com that are quite fun; you want something that starts with an H, such as H1: Keep on the Shadowfell. The H is for Heroic tier, which is the first level of play in 4E.
* Solo games are a great idea if you don’t have a lot of time, but it’s been my experience that they can take a bit more effort to set up because almost everything is designed with a group in mind. If your boyfriend or DM is willing to try it, go for it though!
* Another option if you’re online a lot are play-by-post games on forum message boards. I personally have no experience with them, but a buddy of mine has enjoyed them in the past. They take about as much commitment as a Facebook game; you check back every so often to see if your turn in the game is up, and what other people in the group have done. A few good places to find those games are at Paizo.com, which used to publish Dungeon and Dragon magazines, and possibly the Wizards community.
* Lastly, you can’t beat Amazon.com for cheap books and other products. I rarely buy anything from my local bookstores before; getting about $15 off per book is just way too good.
Also, I’ll echo previous comments in that Fourth Edition will likely give you a better experience than Third Edition or 3.5. I love the changes in it, my wife loves the changes in it, my whole group enjoys it better than 3.5. It’s also (I’ve found) much easier to put together a game in 4E, especially with things such as the Encounter Builder and Character Generator you can download or use at Wizards.com.
I’ve DM’d multiple editions of D&D (2.0, 3.0, 3.5, and 2.3 (my own cross up between 3.0 and 2.0)) and Tunnels and Trolls (created in the mid 70′s).
Right now I play Tunnels and Trolls. It is the simplest to learn, the easiest to play, and you can learn/teach it and start playing in under 45 minutes. (That includes character creation.) That may sound like a long time, but any seasoned veteran of D&D rpg’s knows that to make a good character, it takes at least two hours with a noob, or 1 hour if you know what your doing. That does not involve learning the rules. Tunnels and Trolls is nice and simple, but you don’t get to develope your character’s abilities as much as in D&D.
Anyways, If you are ever in the Houston Area, I will gladly DM for ya’ll, but I warn you that I have a LOT of young kids (four under the age of four). (Yet another reason I play Tunnels and Trolls right now. When they get old enough, I hope to DM for my family.)
The other comments make me think I should try D&D 4.0 with my wife, because she didn’t like how “complicated” 3.0, 2.0, & 3.5 were.
I got my start in gaming when I was in Jr High… D&D was fairly new back then (round 1980 or so). I’ll never forget those 4 hour sessions exploring dungeons with little more than a piece of paper, a couple users guides and a pile of assorted dice. No fancy animation, no worries about frame rate, just a sadistic DM telling us we were getting ambushed by Gethinkes.
I play WoW, Conan, and have been in all Close beta’s and open beta’s for Aion. That said I still find time to play a D7D game now and again. In fact to make it easier, since I have a 9 and 13 y/o My fiance and I got them hooked on D7D also so we have family game night where She DM’s and I play tank for my kids.
In addition to Family game night, the GF and I also DM for eachother on solo campains. It’s a little more chalanging, but it’s also easier to set encounters where you don’t have to worry that the lvl 6 Fighter with 26 AC and wielding 2 1d10+5 bastard swords doesn’t slaughter every simply becuase you have to keep the mobs at a lvl that the lvl 5 wizard (my 9 y/o) can actually assist withoiut getting bludgended to death.
I have played a lot of both MMOs (EQ, EQII, SWG, CoH, WoW, LotRO) and table top RPGs. In a terrible bit of dating myself, I’ve been playing D&D since the little whit box int he 70s. I have played about a dozen other RPGs as well. I like both.
To me, the key to both is who you play with. A good group will make a bad game fun. A bad group will make the best game ever something you’ll want to avoid. I’ve heard a lot of people saying “this version is better than that”. I think the game is what the people playing make it. I’ve never seen a pen and paper RPG where a group doesn’t have at least one rule they ignore or alter. The main reason we don’t play 4th edition D&D in our group is that we’ve spent so much on the 3.0/3.5 books we don’t want to “throw it away”.
The advantage of table top games in the face to face interaction. That always works best with people you know, and hopefully like.
Either way, enjoy the game style of your choice. After all, if it’s not fun, why the heck are you playing?
Don’t for get the WoW campaign setting for D&D 3e! You could factor in places you already know.
I started out with D&D a long while back, but I got into White Wolf games over a decade ago and they’ve been my primary pen and paper style games (with a sideline into LARPing…the non boffer kind). With the exception of sidegames like Exalted and Scion, White Wolf is primarily a more modern horror storytelling type of game, using the current day setting just…a little darker. Protagonists tend to be vampires, changelings, werewolves and what have you. It’s an interesting sort of game and not too hard to learn, and one thing I like about it is that rather than levels you get general experience you can use to raise a specific ability or power.
If you’re going pure D&D though, I highly reccomend 3.5 over 4. I feel, personally, if you want to do 4th Edition you might as well just play WoW.
Late in replying to this. I played AD&D back in high school (many moons ago) and then, a few years ago, when my husband and I were living in Ottawa, we played D&D 3E once a week with a group of friends, all of us in our 30s. It was mainly an excuse for us to get together and socialize, but we had fun with the D&D campaigns as well. Pen and paper RPGs are fun because you never know what the GM/DM or the players are going to throw at you. We rotated GMs/DMs in our group, but no matter who was the DM, the rest of us usually managed to come up with a way to surprise him/her or come up with a unique solution to solving puzzles and quests.
I’ve played D&D 3.5. Now I’m DMing two games, one of a modified 3.5 campaign, and another game of Anima Beyond Fantasy. I’ve been setting WoW aside since I came back to tabletop RPG, far superior in my opininon. Hope you can use the dice sometime soon.
(If my English is not very good, please, forgive me).
So when i was to play Rise of Eldrazi, do i need to use dice? I wasnt sure if this is like D&D or if i need to just play with the cards but i just thought i might go to the experts before i start buying cards and stuff. Thanks guys!