MUDS and PnP: Still popular?

[Texas Red]

Ok, somebody please explain why kingcomrade posted that list.

 

[Kingston]

They're all alts of KC.

 

[Fez]

I know every time I've ordered a Russian bride it's been KC who turned up at the door. Oh how we laughed.

 

[DarkSign]

Exactly like this.

Ok, thread derailment, but why the hell is this bitch always in the featured "director" videos on youtube? There is absolutely nothing special about her. She isn't funny, she is obviously retarded and to top that, she is fucking ugly. Why does she have millions of views?

Ive seen her and wondered this shit myself. She did some lip-sync to a Chicago number where she blew monkey balls. I dont get it.

 

[Human Shield]

You can play PnP online with a program like this

Games can be tactical survival or battle games that play like a squad based table-top game but with hopefully interesting terrain and exploration.

Or they could try and simulate a novel or movie genre. Or the game could try and draw moral choices from the players.

But most are either squad-based combat games or follow the GM's prescripted plot using the squad-based combat rules but ignoring any bad rolls (aka the rules are meaningless) that mite ruin the "story". Or you wander around and the GM sucks at providing interesting stuff and doesn't let the players do much besides "roleplay" talking about the environment.

 

[Nutcracker]

I saw a MUDcrab the other day...

 

[dagorkan]

You can play PnP online with a program like this

Yeah I saw you posting over there. I've yet to get into a game, either they're all at the wrong times or when they're not the GM gives up before the first session.

Also a lot of the player seem like rules whores.

 

[kris]

Uhm... could anyone describe in short what a PnP session is like? I'm unlikely to ever play one myself - third world country and shit.

The most accurate answer is that it entirerly depends on who you play it with and mroe importantly who is the gamemaster. Generally it should be like this:

1. GM describes a place and/or situation that the players find themselves in.

2. Players say how they will react to that situation or what they will do in that place. Maybe just say "we will walk on, but keep on full alert for danger".

3A. Execute actions
or
3B. Gamemaster describing next/new situation/place.

4. If a combat round or something like that have passed, then gamemaster may summarize how things look.

Then on and on.

 

[Texas Red]

Ok, somebody please explain why kingcomrade posted that list.

 

[Limorkil]

When I was a kid I loved PnP RPG. I still do, but the reality is that I have not played for nearly 20 years and I am sure it would probably be a terrible experience.

My friends and I played PnP when we were teenagers. We were not your typical geeks, at least not all of us. When I went to college I missed it so I looked into whether there was a RPG society. There was, and like a fool I made the mistake of attending a session.

Picture the scene:

You enter a classroom. You see a round table with many chairs and some paper and dice on it. Sat around the table are various fat/greasy/spotty/ugly/bespectacled creatures, some of whom may be female, but it is kind of hard to tell. They are looking at you like they missed lunch. One of them, a creature thinner and more upright than the others, says "We are playing Call of Cthulhu". You curb the urge to say "And which side are you lot? Do I need to do a sanity check before I can sit down?"

After that session (and no, they did not turn out to be decent people despite they're appearance) I pretty much gave up. Actually, that is not quite true. In the mid-90s I tried playing D&D with some relatively normal people I met and befriended through playing a PBM (play by mail) game. That was kind of fun, but we hardly got anywhere beyond rolling characters because we were drinking and making fun of one guy who looked not unlike Weird Al Yankovich.

Anyway. My point is that PnP is a bit like playing a MMORPG, in that your enjoyment all depends on the people. With PnP, it is hard to avoid rule nazis, powergamers, people who are fascinated with virtual rape and people who seem only to be interested in spoiling it for everyone else. I think most people who played it as a kid would love to play it again, as long as they could be sure of a decent set of people and that no-one would laugh at them.

I once tried playing a MUD but it just did not hold my attention. I recently looked at them again but they have not really progressed any and I just do not see the point.

 

[Zomg]

I've wondered what the market price of a good GM would be if the hobby became monetized. Although, in that case commercial concerns would fuck up the games a bit (ex: you would probably expect that your character always inevitably succeed at whatever and be the center of attention if you're shelling out five hundred dollars a month).

 

[Lumpy]

PnP lives and you don't need anything to play it except good ideas and friends, so it's entirely possible (if not even easier) to play it in third world countries.

Considering my friends don't even like Planescape and Fallout, I don't know how much they'd appreciate sitting around in a room, with some improvised character sheets, discussing what it would be like if we decided to rape some witches. Hell, I think I'd hate it too.

 

[Elwro]

I still think you should try it. RPG systems may help, but I've played a few great sessions with pure, or almost pure storytelling.
Of course, I guess the best way would be to find someone who already knows how to play and convince him to be the Game Master.

 

[Human Shield]

Indie RPGs are the most interesting. They experiment with new types of gameplay beyond the traditional go around and debate about rape. Even D&D games want to move away from real competition and wargaming into passive story time.

Always the main RPGs try to cater to more and more hardcore gamers with crazy buckshot rules, Indie RPGs try to attract casual with rules that play like a game instead of "GM is the master and commander".

Capes plays like a board or card game but you win by coming up with the best story events.Free demo.

Dogs in the Vineyard gives the players free decision power and asks them to make moral judgement.

Dust Devilscreates good mini western stories that aren't designed to mimic movies.

Or Dead of Night that creates camp fire stories or horror movies.

They are designed like actual games with a end goal instead of wandering around. And the rules are made to get the desired state and not a "good GM".

 

[Elwro]

The Extraordinary Adventures of Baron Munchausen is one of the best games I've ever played. The quality of each particular game depends of the creativity of the friends you're playing with, of course. But anyway, the game has a great and simple concept.

 

[dagorkan]

I've wondered what the market price of a good GM would be if the hobby became monetized. Although, in that case commercial concerns would fuck up the games a bit (ex: you would probably expect that your character always inevitably succeed at whatever and be the center of attention if you're shelling out five hundred dollars a month).

I think I saw one guy advertize for $50 a one-on-one session (two or three hours) on the OpenRPG forums. He got replies. You could probably split the cost by having five players, don't know if the GM would increase his rates.

 

[Texas Red]

Ok, somebody please explain why kingcomrade posted that list.

 

[Thydron]

I have a feeling a lot of you would like www.paranoia-live.net - check it out

 

[Nicolai]

JParanoia is pretty neat. Played a short game with Patrickthellamagod and Saint Proverbius a few years back. I didn't know the rules very well, but the system was fairly easy to get into. (Although I didn't realize that I could PM the GM (Provvie) and concoct elaborate schemes at the time, much to Pat's fortune)

 

[Andrej]

I try to get as much PnP'ing done as I possibly can. It's not a lot, to be honest.

Like it's been said here earlier, it's all about picking the people you play with. If you have a pretentious friend studying theatrics, bring 'em along!

It's all about pretending (to be) and portraying your character, often created (within set limitations) by you.


Also, don't get stuck roleplaying in an online chat of some sort, that's just destructive as there it's much more difficult to filter out the complete idiots, in contrast to your group of friends, where you usually exclude complete retards.


How it works: one guy/gal is the narrator, the director if you will, setting the stage and portraying all the worlds inhabitants (one at the time, mostly) except the players characters whom the players are supposed to portray in a, if not realistic, believable, manner.

 

[Texas Red]

Im going to ask again. Why did kingcomrade post that list of spells?

 

[kingcomrade]

kingcomrade works in mysterious ways