(no subject)

[nny]

Kvestions, part the second.

It's more of a single question, actually, and I'm really hoping you can help out with this.

How do tabletop RPs work?

I know absolutely nothing. Are there character outlines, or do you create your own? What's the deal with all the fighting? Is there realm for creative play that's not so war-based? What is the aim of the game?

I realise that there're a hell of a lot of different games, so just tell me from your own experience, if you have any. What sort of game have you played? The more different viewpoints the better.

Especially if you manage to provide some sort of critique: What worked/didn't work in the games you've played? What could be improved? How much scope is good for improvisation?



I quite clearly have no idea. So if you could give me as much or as little info as you like, that'd be really good. And if you have any friends who RP, I'd really appreciate it if you could point them in my direction.

Cheers!

Comments

Hokay, here ve go!

[celtic_maenad]

I've only really played (A)D&D as a tabletop roleplaying game. (we won't mention the 1 time playing in a GURPS system) I've played the WoD system once or twice, may post on that later.

There is currently a freeware computer program to help you make your character, but it does help to know a bit about the game first. There are the basic Races (all pretty tolkien-esque) - Elf, Dwarf, Human, Half-elf (human-elf hybrid), Halfling (think Hobbit), and Gnome which is slightly hobbit-like & slightly dwarf like - tinkers & illusionists, earthy folk.

The attributes of your character are defined by the roll of 4 6-sided(standard) dice, dropping the lowest die's score and adding the rest. The attributes are pretty self-explanitory - Strength, Dexterity (both agileness & manual), Constitution (how healthy & hardy you are), Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma.

There are many Classes (professions, sorta) but the basic ones are: Barbarian, Bard, Cleric, Druid, Fighter, Monk, Paladin, Ranger, Rogue, Sorcerer, Wizard. (A Wizard uses components & books, a Sorcerer uses mental powers)

A Wizard needs high intelligence, as does a Rogue(thief/swashbuckler) but a rogue also needs high DEX to be able to pick locks & disable traps. A Cleric or Druid needs high wisdom to successfully communicate with their god/s.

There are two 'things-you-are-able-to-do' types, Skills and Feats. Skills are the things you've learned, Feats are the things that come naturally to you. (As a general rule) Skills include things like the above mentioned lockpicking & disabling traps, Feats include things like Alertness & Combat Reflexes, which in reality terms is just like is sounds, but in game terms means that in certain circumstances you get additional attack(s). However Feats also includes Armor Proficiency and Weapon Proficiency which limit what kinds of armor & weapons your character can use.

(I presume wizards.com has a better explanation, but I also figure mine is shorter)

***

Critique: the fun of the game greatly depends on the DM (Dungeon Master - the game's leader/planner/god). When the DM treats your adventure game like a story it's fun even if you're in it just for the hack-n-slash. When the DM takes into consideration the carefully constructed character faults (afraid of spiders, for instance) you put in, it's also loads of fun. I like the hack-n-slash "dungeon crawl" myself - just going in Indiana Jones style to explore the cave/dungeon/castle, perhaps save the girl or recover the stolen heirloom & hacking up monsters, testing doors/floors for traps, solving a few riddles. There is plenty of room for storytelling, though. One game I was in had a nice long intro with our characters just meeting & interacting, getting to know each other & ourselves acting as in-character as we could. That was fun.

It's bad when there's rules-bartering - that gets dull & frustrating. It's also bad when you're faced against monsters that keep killing you &/or your party - you're just not high enough level or not well-enough equipped to face the particular monsters the DM is throwing at you. It's bad if it's *boring* for whatever reason. It can be bad if you're in it for the story and all you get is a dungeon-crawl, or vice versa, if you want hack-n-slash & all you get is story.

Hope that's a decent overview/critique... also hope it's not too long for LJ-response! :D

Re: Hokay, here ve go!

[celtic_maenad]

mrr... realsied I didn't answer some of your questions. I wanna. How do they work: you make up your character usually deciding race & class before rolling dice for stats (attributes). You can add as much story/background to your character as you want - who their mom & dad are, why they're adventuring at all, why they're the class they are. For instance I had a human fighter that was a fighter, but he acted like a paladin(crusader, fighter for a God). His mom was a knight/weaponsmaster for a small lord and his dad was a blacksmith - the 'noble' attitude was from his upbringing. Plus he was well equipped *because* of who his parents were. He was adventuring to gain some real-world fighting experience and to potentially make a name for himself.

Your DM will set a class level for you to be at (it's gonna be a tough adventure, so you start at level 3) and perhaps some additional rules for character creation (no sorcerers or wizards) and you bring said character to the game. In D&D most rolling is done with a 20 sided die - to see if you can hit a monster, to see if you can unlock that chest, to see if you can lift the iron bar on the door. What kind of weapon you use determines what die is used to calculate damage to an opponent (or tree if you're not using a wood axe for that purpose!). A rapier is a quick & light blade, but it can't do a lot of damage at once, so it only does 1d6 (one six-sided die) damage - 1-6 points. However a greatsword (think Conan's two-handed sword) does 2d6 damage or a potential 2-12 points. There's a lot of die-rolling, but once you're used to it, it's not really cumbersome.

The aim of the game? Depends on who the DM is or what you want out of it. For me sometimes half the fun is character creation, the other half being playing the game as I think that person would act. I once played a human rogue who'd been raised by a dwarf! The aim could be hack-n-slash, or character development, depending!

Scope for improv? I dunno, too much & you feel kinda aimless, a "what do we do now" kind of thing. Not enough, like trying to follow a *very* plotted out game (trying to do Lord of the Rings for example) leads to boredom. "Yeah, yeah, we have to do this next, we get it." I like the kind of games where you have a beginning "your characters have all been hired by Lord Blnketyblank to find his missing prised water buffalo" some sketchy middle - clues leading to various places that you have to explore to get all the pieces of the puzzle to find out where the water buffalo is, but you can go to these places in any order you want, then a definite end - once you find the water buffalo you can bring it back to Lord Blanketyblank for a reward, preferably without the water buffalo getting eaten by any monsters on the way.

That help?

Re: Hokay, here ve go!

[villainny.livejournal.com]

That's fantastic, far more than I expected. Thanks for that!

Good lord. Looks like putting one together'd be a lot of work. O.O

Re: Hokay, here ve go!

[celtic_maenad]

can't be too much more effort than modding milliways! :D
Tho... a bit more expensive so's ye have the books (for whatever system) to consult for rules & things.

[friede.livejournal.com]

http://www.sjgames.com/in-nomine/--- the game you were meant to play. I've done it tabletop, virtual, and live action.

[villainny.livejournal.com]

...Wow. Thanks for the link. Investigation is definitely required, it looks fantastic!