Who plays D&D?

Aries

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Assessing your local rolegamers.

There are four distinct ways to determine exactly how good your local rolegamer crowd actually is.

Play a game set in WW2, run as if it was actual WW2 and not some stupid scifi aliens and Axis nonsense. See if any of the group actually have a clue what routine military operations look like.

If you notice anyone showing signs they actually have clue one about the military, secretly rescue them from rolegaming, and start them on the path of wargaming. Lie to them and say the group broke up or something :)

Spies and Espionage. Run a game of as close to credible covert operations as much as possible. If they insist on attacking anything without thinking, always resorting to fight vs flight, and think a grenade will always get answers. You might have the wrong game.

Scifi. If they actually expect all the stuff in Star Wars and Star Trek to have any real basis in fact, stop wasting your time, you have the wrong game.
If they think the game should look closer to Space Above and Beyond, you might have a chance. Proceed with caution.
Weed out anyone that can't wrap their head around time dilation in the absence of some form of space travel that removes linear movement restrictions.

Fantasy ala Dungeons and Dragons. This setting is the easiest to get into, because it isn't real, no connection to reality (sorry religious nuts, it's not evil, it's fake). The rules can be as arbitrary as the group wants, because, repeat after me, "it isn't real" :)
I find it is also the easiest to use with people new to the whole idea of rolegaming.
 

Boonierat

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Bah, to hell with AD&D, just gimme my good old Cyberpunk 2.0.2.0.!! :rifle:

 

Gary Mei

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I used to play a lot of D&D. I still play some Champions.
 

BarcelonaBlom

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Heh The WWII one is what I do with Weird Wars... me and my dad's basis is that you need to fight a few battles before stuff turns mad... I might relate the story of how the person with the least luck in my group... took out a PZ. IVJ single-handedly (Another player wounded himself with a grenade) with 1 Panzerfaust, and a .45. I let him do it because I figured I'd hit him with 10 rifle/SMG shots, or he'd foul his rolls up... didn't happen for once, but we figure he's sacked his luck for the next 30 years of boardgames/wargames/RPGs.

Besides I usually push the person with the knowledge of military tactics into the leadership type positions so they can direct everyone else what they are doing. And I don't let them move up in my WWII campaigns until they know the basics of Squad\Platoon Leadership.

I used to play Alternity a lot... that was a Sci-fi game that you could realistically create whatever you want... like the time a member put a hole in the forward viewscreen of his ship... Explosive Decompression... Lost 3/5 Party Members and all the badguys but one.

I also strive to put as much medieval realism as I can into DnD.
 
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Vinnie

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I have never found a military based RPG worked. Too many egos not working together.
Still I'm a dyed in the wool Runequest fan from waaaay back (1978) so I really cannot comment.
 

BarcelonaBlom

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Vinnie said:
I have never found a military based RPG worked. Too many egos not working together.
Still I'm a dyed in the wool Runequest fan from waaaay back (1978) so I really cannot comment.
Heh Thats what I found to actually band the group together like a Band of Brothers... They have to put asside their typical character egos, roleplay something new and work as a team... This is the 4th Campaign I've run. The first was 2nd Rangers (only got past D-day), then British in France (Got back to England and stopped), and then 4th ID which made it just past Operation Cobra. I decided to follow E Co. 2/506th PIR this time and they have improved big time and are getting a handle on tactical warfare. We haven't got to the "weird" stuff yet... they won't until the 101 gets pulled off the lines.... even then it'll be an isolated incident and they won't understand it.
 

Sgt. Przybylo

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The Ultimate Crossover

Just starting up a WWII based campaign. Think Top Secret meets Commando. OSS/SOE based. GURPS game system. I want to follow the actual mission timelines: Torch, North Africa, Greece, Sicily...etc etc. Even dredged up a 40s era OSS catalog of weapons and stuff, complete with pictures and some instructions. I'm sure I made some FBI list with that online purchase.

McFinn, I cant believe you didnt jump on the question about Metagaming and The FAntasy Trip!!! What about Bissel and the Annual Cataclysm? You should hang up Duke Woob's iron underwear! Im ashamed of you!
 

imars

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Reality Arguments

A few have made comments about this system or that system not being grounded in reality. It all comes down to whether you want high fantasy or low fantasy settings.

In high-fantasy settings you are THE HERO braving incredible dangers, performing amazing feats!

In low-fantasy settings you are just an average schmo trying to get through a difficult situation.

Both have their rewards and downsides. It can get a little tiresome in low-fantasy settings, when you have to arrange bathroom breaks for your characters, or figuring how much that iron spike in your backpack weighs so you don't go over your encumberance limit.

At the same time it is ridiculous, for the dragon slaying adventures to stuff several thousand pounds of gold into a pouch and walk in to town without any thought about what effect that influx of wealth would have on the local economy.

ASL must be high-fantasy because there is no "take a crap" phase in the ASOP. Unless that is what you do in broken status.

-Michael
 

RandyT0001

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OD&D (1977)
AD&D 1st (1978-1985)
AD&D 2nd (1990-1996), (2018)
 

zgrose

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5e can be played in 1e/2e style or in a looser 4e style which I’m enjoying a lot.
 

RandyT0001

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It just needed a raise dead spell
 

Rooster2k

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Been playing since 1978. started with a little red book and a little blue book (both paperback) and a set of included dice that you had to rub with crayon to read the numbers. Haven't played in a long while just because I am limited to basically online now.
 

RandyT0001

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Been playing since 1978. started with a little red book and a little blue book (both paperback) and a set of included dice that you had to rub with crayon to read the numbers. Haven't played in a long while just because I am limited to basically online now.
There is the Roll20 online table top RPG platform. Maybe you can find (or start) a Basic or 1st Ed AD&D game using that.
 

zgrose

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+1 for Roll20. The video/voice can get a bit bogged down with too many attendees so pair with Discord for maximum awesome.
 

Sparky

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Been playing since 1978. started with a little red book and a little blue book (both paperback) and a set of included dice that you had to rub with crayon to read the numbers. Haven't played in a long while just because I am limited to basically online now.
1980 for me. I felt the odd man out as my mom went cheap on me when I asked for some D&D for Xmas and instead of buying me all the AD&D books she got me the red and blue sets. My mother was many great things but a cheapskate she was. I'd shop up at friend's houses after school totting my two little rules books and my friends would have books, tomes, full of AD&D greatness. Way to go mom.

Still 40 years later. I break it out for some solo play

Needless to say my boys had as much interest in THAT as they did ASL or being castrated. At least my tales of kicking ass on stage, drunken debauchery and scoring with birds of all kinds of feathers got them on the road to playing music in bands.

the online community is still quite strong for OD&D I've been involved in the OD&D online community where I do a lot of creative writing expanding the Mystara setting that OD&D branched into with the Gaz series. Fabulous game and the best by far, take the AD&D settings and shove them, setting TSR created. The alt- real world tie-in was a masterstroke. Still have a french (Averoignian)magic user which I've had alive since 2007 and he's well on his way to becoming a Prince of Glantri
 

Double Deuce

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Fantasy Grounds has both 5e and 1e/2e rulesets available (the latter community built) and supported and there are actually 2 different 1e/2e builds. One is built on top of the 5e ruleset the other Castles ands Crusades so that they can take adavnatage of the automation.
 
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