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Geek Culture / Dungeons and Dragons

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Sid Sinister
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Posted: 6th Jan 2006 22:16
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Hello All,

After reading the first couple chapters in the RPG Video Game design book I've decided to try out Dungeons and Dragons. The Pen and Paper style really gets my juices going but aren't they all "Minitures" now? You know, like Plastic dudes? Can you by the starter set and still just use Pen and Paper, not a game board and figures? I like to leave imagination up to things. I've very interested and would like feedback for everyone, but especially old veterans of the game itself. Thank you!

-Stradigos
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Richard Davey
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Posted: 7th Jan 2006 00:19
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You can still buy the AD&D books I believe, I've still got mine - if you can't find them in a shop, I bet you can get them from ebay! Actually Amazon sell them too (2nd hand)

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0786903295/qid=1136589436/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_1/103-3336073-9339010?n=507846&s=books&v=glance

That's all you need. No minitatures required. It's fascinating reading too, and I think quite useful for game planning. Take a look at some of the other ones too - Ravenloft for vampires etc, the superb Cyberpunk series, GURPS, etc. All of them can be picked up 2nd hand for next to nothing, and they're a treasure trove of ideas and stats to build from.

Cheers,

Rich

Exit Planet Dust
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French gui
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Posted: 7th Jan 2006 00:49 Edited at: 7th Jan 2006 00:50
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Hmmm, haven't you stopped avatars experiments?

Smash!
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BearCDPOLD
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Posted: 7th Jan 2006 01:13 Edited at: 7th Jan 2006 01:14
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I'm not a veteran, I've only used the 3rd edition and have a copy of the old AD&D 2nd Edition I got off Ebay. So what I talk about comes from a couple of games with some friends.

The starter kit has pogs and a paper map for designing dungeons. You don't really need it, but it's nice to get a little more tactical in combat, of course you could always screw visual markers for tactics and keep everything on paper, it's whatever you and your buddies want to do. The copy of AD&D I have still has a map full of grids for visual reference, but a lot of people I watched play would still just use little markers for their general location.

Personally, as DM with the starter kit, I would just let them throw their pogs wherever they wanted when they were just looking around, then when a monster approached or was spotted or smelled or something then I'd have them conform to a space on the board (each space being ~5 ft). I was also pretty loose though about what they could do, which is half the fun. Lie if they wanted to take more than two combat actions they try to tell me they'd had a cup of coffee and were stimulated, so I'd let them doing that at a cost of 20g for the cup of coffee that they had purchased from an inn and sliced their initiative in half since the coffee overdose was making them delirious.
The starter kit character sheets present movement in units of spaces, but the "big boy" rules measure everything in feet so you can use whatever scale you want.

Keeping it tactical with movement and everything on the combat can really get you thinking about systems you'd code in games and such, I highly recommend what I explained above. You get nice juicy tactical combat while still retaining the social feel in the middle of exploration.


I'm going to eat you!
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Tinkergirl
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Posted: 7th Jan 2006 01:24
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It's just called D&D (again) now. I've got version 3.5 books (Players Handbook, Dungeon Master Guide and Monsterous Manual I) but versions 3.0 are almost the same.

You don't need the minatures - it's just another Wizards of the Coast money grabbing scheme. I usually find that for 90% of the time, no models are required. However, when players get in to a fight, it's usually handy to have some gridded paper and some models just so you don't get in to the old...

"I stab him in the back!"
"But you're nowhere near his back."
"Yes I am, I said I moved 4ft north!"
"But he's to the west of you..."

And so on. It saves a lot of time, but what you use as your grid, and what you use as your player tokens is entirely up to you. If you play a completely political (non-combat) game, then you wouldn't need any models at all.

Lastly, good luck with D&D - it's great. I only wish I had a gaming group right now :/
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Sid Sinister
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Posted: 7th Jan 2006 02:20
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Yea I was thinking of using grid paper or something to do that. Is there a place online where you can just download the rules/monster guide, DM guide and such? I can't believe it's STILL being sold. But it was a pretty big hit, so I guess I can.

(When did we get these "Report this messege if you think it's abusive button? Thats new... I could have used that a couple of times. Pretty cool).
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Grog Grueslayer
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Posted: 7th Jan 2006 06:19
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Citizen, D&D is ok... Paranoia is much better.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paranoia_(role-playing_game)


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indi
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Posted: 7th Jan 2006 09:06 Edited at: 7th Jan 2006 09:06
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try stormbringer and alternative rpg set in the world of michael moorcocks elric of melnibone, such a great rpg paper engine.

after playing tonnes of paper rpgs in the eighties including chainmail / d&d basic ad&D 1 and 2 versions for about ten years i found that rpg was much fun!


you can play D&D with minatures as it helps a lot more to track whats going on in a game but yeah mostly warhammer and warhammer 40k are miniture based.

If no-one gives your an answer to a question you have asked, consider:- Is your question clear.- Did you ask nicely.- Are you showing any effort to solve the problem yourself 
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Tinkergirl
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Posted: 7th Jan 2006 14:30
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If anything, D&D is gettimg more popular. I mean, they're selling it in bookshops now (what a fright I got when I saw it in Ottakars).

So yes, they can still sell it - it has the newish D20 system that Wizards of the Coast introduced which gets rid of the old THAC0 system. That system is now used in many other games/genres, and is available for other people to use and make their own games with (there's a liscence for the D20 system of rules, you'd have to look into it.)

That means that once you learn the D20 system, you can play D&D, D20 Modern, D20 Cyberpunk, D20 Everquest (I kid you not - it's gone Pen and Paper), D20 Deadlands, etc etc.

Also, there's the chance that many more people will be drawn to D&D with the new D&D online (which is surprisingly faithful to the ruleset) that's coming out soon.

But with the multitude of Pen and Paper games out there, don't feel it has to be D&D. Paranoia has already been mentioned, and my personal favourite is a little known one called Little Fears. Some you can download, one or two are even free (but most you'll pay for).
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Sid Sinister
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Posted: 8th Jan 2006 04:15
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I just downloaded the original Dungeons & Dragons rules, designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson that was published 1974 by Gygax's company, Tactical Studies Rules. The booklets are really confusing... I'm trying to get through them, but I might go to my local hobby shop and just ask what I should do. Thanks everyone for you help!
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indi
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Posted: 9th Jan 2006 07:31
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thats not the real original, the real D&D before it was D&D was called CHAINMAIL

If no-one gives your an answer to a question you have asked, consider:- Is your question clear.- Did you ask nicely.- Are you showing any effort to solve the problem yourself 
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Philip
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Posted: 9th Jan 2006 22:56
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I used to play D&D at school. I used to be the DM. It was great - its good to use your imagination and, not to be immodest, I have quite a lot of imagination.

However, there was a coup and I was ousted. It occurred shortly after my teams' characters (all of whom had reached about 5th level), fell through a large trapdoor into the hidden subterrean world of the blonde female swimsuit nyphomaniacs. They had a whale of a time for a while but what I didn't tell them is that the populace also exhibited praying mantis behaviour.

The players were not happy to have all their players die. I explained that this could be seen as a kind of morality tale, but this did not go down well.

So I found myself a mere player, playing a cleric. Hey ho.

Cheer if you like bears! Cheer if you like jam sandwiches!
RiiDii: "I highly recommend Philip's vector tutorials"
P3.2ghz / 1 gig / GeForce FX 5900 128meg / WinXP home
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French gui
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Posted: 9th Jan 2006 23:04
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Quote: "So I found myself a mere player, playing a cleric. Hey ho."


I thought you use to play a werebear...

Smash!
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Wiggett
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Posted: 9th Jan 2006 23:54
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d&d sucks so much now, it pretty much just maths. if i wanted to play maths I'd be a coder... I picked up a 2nd ed book, but even hat is pretty maths heavy. So i'm going 1st ed and making a more simplistic 80s d&d game.

http://www.angelfire.com/wizard2/spacerecon/index.html
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Sid Sinister
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Posted: 10th Jan 2006 02:37
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hmmm. Looks like I have to check out a couple of things before I buy it now, lol. Wonder if the library has anything...

I've been a player of warhammer 40k for a couple years till finally I ran out of money. The models are just way to expensive for me so I came up with a... method. I'd take the dimensions of any unit, make a flat wooden card (I call it card because it would be only 5 mm high rougly) , go online and get a pic of the guy I'd "Buy" and paste it on. It's an accurate representation of the game and cost effective. Obviously using a space marine base to represent a razorback tank wouldn't work, so thats why the I'd make the 'cards' with different 'accurate' dimensions.

Cool huh?
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Philip
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Posted: 10th Jan 2006 23:55
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Quote: "I thought you use to play a werebear..."


Theres nothing "were" about this bear. I'm 100% bear and 0% were.

Cheer if you like bears! Cheer if you like jam sandwiches!
RiiDii: "I highly recommend Philip's vector tutorials"
P3.2ghz / 1 gig / GeForce FX 5900 128meg / WinXP home
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Grog Grueslayer
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Posted: 11th Jan 2006 06:09
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Quote: "The players were not happy to have all their players die. I explained that this could be seen as a kind of morality tale, but this did not go down well."


Now if it was Paranoia everybody would still have a good time and you'd still be DM because they were only down 1 clone.


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