So what IS Dungeons and Dragons, anyway?

[tw1164]

I never played D&D, but I played StarWars RPG. It was pretty fun.

 

[Electric Amish]

Originally posted by: notfred

Originally posted by: Shockwave
I like it cause you have to THINK.
Example...
We had a party dragon hunting with a GOOD, DEVIOUS DM. My dwarf was leading down the dark hall. So happens at the end of the hall was a well, with silence and darkness cast on the entrance. We couldnt see in there. Threw things in, didnt hear anything. Ok, dwarf gets brave and steps in. Immediately falls into 15 feet of water, its a well. But! Noone else hears anything (The Silence spell)

So, whatchya do with a dwarf who cant swim, in full plate stuck in 15 feet of water who's teammates dont know whats going on? Well, long story short, dwarf ends up using his last bit of air (And a God call) to empty tobacco pouch, blow in it, and tye fishing line around the bag and onto his rope at which point he passes out.
The guys up top were thankfully prodding around in the water with a stick to try to figure out what happened when they felt a bobbing thing. Pulled it over, found the tobacco pouch and heaved a drowned drawf out. LIttle CPR later... 🙂

And ANY Dm that lets a 5th lvl mage kill a dragon does NOT know how to run a dragon. Thats not cheating, thats very VERY piss poor DM'ing.

How do you use a "Silence Spell" when everyone is sitting in the same room? I mean, you can't say "oh no, I've fallen in a well, but I tied a ballon to me and now I'm rising to the top!" because, well, that's not silent, but if you don't say anything, then how does anyone know what you did?

Also, if a dwarf were to have enough air in his lungs so that he could fill a ballon and make himself boyant enough to float in water, he never would have sank in the first place, due to the volume of air in his lungs.

Sometimes when individuals have events outside of the group, the DM and the player will move to another room to discuss what happens.

amish

 

[djheater]

I just went on a 4 day trip.

Me and 5 other guys rented a cabin and played D&D 3'd Ed.

I estimate we played for about 33 hours.

It was a blast. Plans are in the works to do it again next year.

One of my favorite hobbies I never partake in.

GenCon next weekend in Indianapolis BTW.

 

[Banana]

Originally posted by: notfred

How do you use a "Silence Spell" when everyone is sitting in the same room? I mean, you can't say "oh no, I've fallen in a well, but I tied a ballon to me and now I'm rising to the top!" because, well, that's not silent, but if you don't say anything, then how does anyone know what you did?

Also, if a dwarf were to have enough air in his lungs so that he could fill a ballon and make himself boyant enough to float in water, he never would have sank in the first place, due to the volume of air in his lungs.

Only the tobacco pouch, filled with said dwarf's breath, floated to the top. Dwarf stuck at bottom of well just like Samarra.

 

[Shockwave]

Yeah, the Silence Spell was permanent on the well. It was a trap. The tobacco pouch was what floated up with a line tied to it. My dwarf sat on the bottom and drowned, but was fotunately revived.
Trust me, there for a minute I was REALLY getting worried about how to get my dwarf outta that well!

 

[WinkOsmosis]

Originally posted by: 1YellowPeril
Is it better to use your own imagination to visualize the fantasy world, or have it spoon fed to you by computer game developers?

IMO it's better to have a world that exists, that somebody made, than to have some DM make it all up on the fly.

 

[Maetryx]

A good compromise between having the DM design the entire world and adventure is to use a published campaign setting like Sword & Sorcery's Scarred Lands. It provides an almanac of lands, peoples, currencies, history, kingdoms etc. but is not a story in and of itself. This is the setting that I use in the game that I run.

I just bought the 3.5 books today from the local shop. I'll be studying the differences between 3rd and 3.5 this weekend. I am pleased with the new organization of the Dungeon Master's Guide from my initial browsing of the book.

Amazon's got the Dungeons and Dragons 3.5 Player's Handbook for about $21.... add a $4 item and shipping is free.

BTW, the D20 (twenty sided dice) open license has really, really improved the game. If you haven't played any 3rd edition aka D20 Dungeons and Dragons, you don't know what you're missing. It is a vast improvement over AD&D 2nd Edition or even GURPS. It is very systematic. That is why it lends itself so easily to computer games like Neverwinter Nights. It's a pleasure to run a D20 game. It eliminates so many esoteric and arbritrary rules from the earlier games.

I'm thinking of trying Star Wars D20 someday. I really liked playing Kyle Katarn in Jedi Outcast II.

 

[OutHouse]

Ahh my Jr. High days.... My band teacher was a DM (dungeon Master) and would organize games for after school in his office. Lots of fun, until my parents found out about it and made me stop worshiping Satan.

 

[OutHouse]

Originally posted by: 1YellowPeril
Is it better to use your own imagination to visualize the fantasy world, or have it spoon fed to you by computer game developers?

what difference does it make, somebody has to come up with the gist of the game to be played. I like D&D better you can use your own imagination on what the country side looks like or what your charater looks like.

 

[ZaneNBK]

Here, let Uncle Jack Chick explain the D&D thing to you:

Dark Dungeons

:evil:

 

[digitalsm]

In Q4 2005 it will be a MMORPG.

Of course I dont know how it will end up.

Its being solely funded by Turbine Entertainment, who made Asherons Call 1/2 for MS, key word for MS. MS had control over development. Turbine has free reign over the D&D license, and they apparently have alot of spare cash just laying around as they are also trying to get alot of 3DO, patents, trademarks, franchises(Heroes of Might and Magic and Army Men).

Turbine does have the best game engine out of all the MMOG companies though. Now that MS is out of the picture maybe Turbine can focus on great gameplay too.

 

[ClueLis]

Originally posted by: ZaneNBK
Here, let Uncle Jack Chick explain the D&D thing to you:

Dark Dungeons

:evil:

Jack Chick is so rediculously funny. I knew a guy who would collect ones he got from a nutcase on the street just to mock them.

 

[Feldenak]

Originally posted by: notfred

Originally posted by: Shockwave
I like it cause you have to THINK.
Example...
We had a party dragon hunting with a GOOD, DEVIOUS DM. My dwarf was leading down the dark hall. So happens at the end of the hall was a well, with silence and darkness cast on the entrance. We couldnt see in there. Threw things in, didnt hear anything. Ok, dwarf gets brave and steps in. Immediately falls into 15 feet of water, its a well. But! Noone else hears anything (The Silence spell)

So, whatchya do with a dwarf who cant swim, in full plate stuck in 15 feet of water who's teammates dont know whats going on? Well, long story short, dwarf ends up using his last bit of air (And a God call) to empty tobacco pouch, blow in it, and tye fishing line around the bag and onto his rope at which point he passes out.
The guys up top were thankfully prodding around in the water with a stick to try to figure out what happened when they felt a bobbing thing. Pulled it over, found the tobacco pouch and heaved a drowned drawf out. LIttle CPR later... 🙂

And ANY Dm that lets a 5th lvl mage kill a dragon does NOT know how to run a dragon. Thats not cheating, thats very VERY piss poor DM'ing.

How do you use a "Silence Spell" when everyone is sitting in the same room? I mean, you can't say "oh no, I've fallen in a well, but I tied a ballon to me and now I'm rising to the top!" because, well, that's not silent, but if you don't say anything, then how does anyone know what you did?

Also, if a dwarf were to have enough air in his lungs so that he could fill a ballon and make himself boyant enough to float in water, he never would have sank in the first place, due to the volume of air in his lungs.

Not if he was in full armor. Metal armor + metal weapons + money (gold, silver, etc...) + backpack full of spare equipment = sinking dwarf. 🙂

 

[Cerb]

Originally posted by: Chaotic42
Oh wow, I could write a book.

Literally.

After years of playing, my friends and I have developed our own system. Same thing bascially, except free. Do you want a super explaination?

No, because WotC and Guardians of Order have their systems for free now. It's just the book content that's missing (and some of that is in there).