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On ACTUAL RPGs... and the plausibility of a Codex PbP Campaign

What kind of experience do you have with actual RPGs?


  • Total voters
    81

Corvinus

Arcane
Joined
Oct 12, 2011
Messages
1,969
Have you ever sat yourself down with some friends and had a proper PnP (Pen-and-Paper) campaign? Meaning playing an actual role-playing game? Or is your experience limited to the digital classics, or whatever more recent tripe they slap that label on?

The question springs to mind sometimes when reading our esteemed site. Some are likely well versed, others, especially the younger crowd, seem oblivious to the type of game(s) that started it all. Which is a shame, really, considering that the real deal can be vastly superior to the digital format when you have a good refree and competent players.

I got introduced to RPG's two decades ago, and have been playing ever since, on and off. Most of it has been using 'home-made' rule systems and settings, but also through commercial ones such as D&D and Forgotten Realms.
During recent years I've also taken a small part in a PbP (Play by Post - id est forum based) campaign which lasted over a decade before termination. It used an emulation/interpretation of the original D&D rules anno 1974, which were much different to what I was used to (2nd-3rd edition), and I must say, superior in their scope and simplicity. Especially when compared to the soulless products of today.

For some time now I've been giving serious thought to starting such a campaign here, if there's enough interest, but since it would be quite the undertaking I'm not at all sure it would be wise.


It would be interesting to read about your experiences with actual RPGs, and any thoughts about a Codex campaign would also be welcome.
 

Inspectah

Savant
Joined
Jun 29, 2015
Messages
468
I've been playing on and off since the late 90s, when my history teacher introduced ADnD to me and my friends. Since then I played lots of systems, from gurps to MAGE and DnD. Nowadays I've only got a 7th Sea campaign going, which is as popamole as PnP gets, but it's still great fun with drunk friends
 

Catacombs

Arcane
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Joined
Aug 10, 2017
Messages
5,928
During recent years I've also taken a small part in a PbP (Play by Post - id est forum based) campaign which lasted over a decade before termination.
Where did you do the play-by-post campaign? I admire you all keeping up a campaign for that long. Is it still active?
 

Riddler

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Jan 5, 2009
Messages
2,353
Bubbles In Memoria
I've played and run games but mostly I've read the rulebooks.

The unfortunate fact is that when I had the time and energy to properly run a game (highschool) I didn't have friends who were interested and now that I do I'm too busy.

What I'm looking forward to sometime in the future is well produced digitised campaigns and tools (I know they exist but I feel they have ways to go yet). It feels inevitable and would remove a lot of the effort on the part of the GM.
 
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Moonrise

The Magnificent
Patron
Joined
Jul 7, 2017
Messages
386
Make the Codex Great Again!
First time I played D&D, I was 8 or so. 2nd edition. Mom and her college friends were into it. DM invited me to the table one day. I rolled a halfling thief (appropriate for a kid). Memories are still vivid. Classic tale of tracking down a lich's phylactery. I remember watching the DM crumple up a sheet of paper and stain it with coffee to make it look old. He'd go out of his way to add little touches. I guess I owe it to that guy for my love of RPGs--thanks Chris! Then when I was in college, me and my friends picked up 3rd edition and played several campaigns. Some Forgotten Realms, some Modern, some homebrew. There were brief flirtations with other systems, but none stuck. Later, mom had the good sense to marry a grognard. So me and my stepdad play stuff all the time. Recently he had me run Elder Scrolls on a rules lite 2d6 system. That was fun. I was worried about making magic a little open-ended, but the players nailed it.
 

Ysaye

Arbiter
Joined
May 27, 2018
Messages
771
Location
Australia
I had a casual string quartet back in the early 2000s who used to rehearse for a couple of hours (till 7pm), then we would alternate each week between playing playing Five Hundred, Risk or Dungeons and Dragons (3rd edition - I invested in a basic edition boxed set) till 4am in the morning over some wine, cheese and whatever the cockroaches / rats hadn't eaten from the cupboard, sometimes adding a few extra university friends (to the game, not to the menu). Two of the guys really wanted to play off the back of being introduced to DnD via Icewind Dale, the other really just wanted to clown around, tying it back to CRPGs.

Despite most of us being mathematicians and engineers etc. (only one was an actual music major, although he was originally studying engineering too) no one strangely ever got very munchkin about it (Compared to the other two games where it got fierce); I recall there often being way too many bards and rogues rolled (normally one person played a fighter or a paladin to add some balance), particularly when people were already pretty drunk, and never enough clerics / healers (and never any wizards/sorcerers). As a consequence it normally finished with them all dying, despite my best efforts; and it is amazing how well a geotechnical engineer can roleplay a low intelligence fighter.....

Also 95% of the time I ended up as the DM, partially because I was the only one somewhat organized, and probably also because I was the only one that didn't drink, so was sober enough to keep it all together.

Before that I also played 2nd edition ONCE back in the early 90s...all I remember sitting around each with books and player character sheets we would never use ever again, and spent most of the time rolling up characters rather than actually playing.
 

ItsChon

Resident Zoomer
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Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
I've done some D&D stuff on forums but none were ever successful, and I watched a ton of critical role. That's about it though. I'd be interested in a play by post, but to be honest, most people's writing kind of triggers me when it comes to stuff like that, and I have doubts on people commitments. Would be nice though.
 

udm

Arcane
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Joined
Aug 14, 2008
Messages
2,752
Make the Codex Great Again!
Got into them in 2010 (reading up RPG books) but only really started a proper session in 2014. It didn't go well (was a percentile system called Outlive Outdead)
 

Darth Canoli

Arcane
Joined
Jun 8, 2018
Messages
5,687
Location
Perched on a tree
I used to play a few PnP RPG back in the days (mostly shadowrun), later, i played this kind of remote RPG with browser support, some quite hardcore with strict rules and management like Odyssey (every action had to be validated by a GM), some in between like Syfaria and IDEO (browser multiplayer RPG) and some casual ones with some roleplay nonetheless.

Even wrote some short stories and was a GM for a couple of games for some time but it's quite behind me, it'd take a very interesting (and complex, in a good way) game and players to get back to it.
 

Corvinus

Arcane
Joined
Oct 12, 2011
Messages
1,969
Where did you do the play-by-post campaign? I admire you all keeping up a campaign for that long. Is it still active?

Here. It's the Hinterlands Campaign and it ran from 2010-2018, so not "over a decade", my bad. A few of the PCs survived from the beginning to the end despite many close calls. Quite the feat!


What I'm looking forward to sometime in the future is well produced digitised campaigns and tools (I know they exist but I feel they have ways to go yet). It feels inevitable and would remove a lot of the effort on the part of the GM.

In my experience it is best to keep things as loose and easy as possible and not plan to rigidly. No plan survives contact with the enemy - or the players for that matter. For example: In the campaign above, the PCs never even got close to what the refree believed would be the primary location of the entire adventure! So, being able to improvise is truly paramount. Therefore I have some trouble seeing how digital input/output would help much - my own campaign notes are usually only a bunch of messy papers scrawled all over from all changes. Of course, it would all depend on preferences and what rule system you're using, so I'm not saying that you don't have a point...


Got into them in 2010 (reading up RPG books) but only really started a proper session in 2014. It didn't go well (was a percentile system called Outlive Outdead)

It can be a threshold in the beginning. I recall my first exposure, and it seemed very weird at first. Once you're across, however...


add dont have friends option

No need to rub it in with a cause, I think. "Never played" will suffice.
 
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Corvinus

Arcane
Joined
Oct 12, 2011
Messages
1,969
so u basically want to kickstart ur fantasy author career with Codex ghostwriters, hm?

Yes! But that is only the first step of the plan! Soon after I will have my own TV series with tasteful "sex" and graphic violence!

Not really. But it would be interesting to have more discussions like this one on *the* RPG site of the net.
 

Zed Duke of Banville

Dungeon Master
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Joined
Oct 3, 2015
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11,760
I like the D&D thats all about collecting treasure for experience points
Note: Players who balk at equating gold pieces to experience points should be gently but firmly reminded that in a game certain compromises must be made. While it is more "realistic" for clerics to study holy writings, pray, chant, practice self-discipline, etc. to gain experience, it would not make a playable game roll along. Similarly, fighters should be exercising, riding, smiting pelts, tilting at the lists, and engaging in weapons practice of various sorts to gain real expertise (experience); magic-users should be deciphering old scrolls, searching ancient tomes, experimenting alchemically, and so forth; while thieves should spend their off-hours honing their skills, "casing" various buildings, watching potential victims, and carefully planning their next "job". All very realistic but conducive to non-game boredom!
- Gary Gygax, Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Dungeon Masters Guide +M
 

Corvinus

Arcane
Joined
Oct 12, 2011
Messages
1,969
Note: Players who balk at equating gold pieces to experience points should be gently but firmly reminded that in a game certain compromises must be made. While it is more "realistic" for clerics to study holy writings, pray, chant, practice self-discipline, etc. to gain experience, it would not make a playable game roll along. Similarly, fighters should be exercising, riding, smiting pelts, tilting at the lists, and engaging in weapons practice of various sorts to gain real expertise (experience); magic-users should be deciphering old scrolls, searching ancient tomes, experimenting alchemically, and so forth; while thieves should spend their off-hours honing their skills, "casing" various buildings, watching potential victims, and carefully planning their next "job". All very realistic but conducive to non-game boredom!

A good quote. But imagine a game where the Magic-User only gets experience from using magic, the Fighting-Man only from combat, the Thief only from subterfuge and stealing, and the Cleric only from laying waste to evil and spreading religion. Or maybe a game where XP is distributed as usual, but whenever these goals are fulfilled, the character in question gets a nice bonus.

I think it could be interesting!

For example: The campaign mentioned above had a rule about granting Thieves a +50% XP bonus whenever they didn't divide spoils fairly with the rest of the party. Unknown if it saw much use however...
 

SausageInYourFace

Angelic Reinforcement
Patron
Joined
Dec 28, 2013
Messages
3,858
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In your face
Divinity: Original Sin 2 BattleTech Bubbles In Memoria A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag. My team has the sexiest and deadliest waifus you can recruit. Pathfinder: Wrath
Part of the reason I got into cRPGs was as a substitute for never really being able to play pnp they way I wanted to, so I just did the next best thing: playing Baldurs Gate instead of actual DnD.

I used to play Shadowrun a couple of times and a wee little bit DnD. My friends weren't really into it all that much but then I had a SR group for a while which was cool. Life happend and new friends aren't really into nerd stuff. Tried to play some SR with a couple of strangers but it just isn't same or at least I didn't like one or two of these guys, so I eventually quit. Having fun during pnp has a lot to do with personal chemistry. I don't really feel like trying different groups of strangers until I find one I feel comfortable with and my friends aren't really into it. I guess I'll just keep playing video games.

These fuckers aren't even really into board games, which I considered for a while as a more user friendly substitute for pnp. Goddamn you normies, why can't you be more fun.
 

Falksi

Arcane
Joined
Feb 14, 2017
Messages
10,538
Location
Nottingham
Played a fair bit aged 11-17. Found it hard work at times, but fun at others. Always descended into juvenile daftness, with stuff like swapping the Wizards healing potion for a bumming potion occurring.

Really enjoyed the Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay Enemy Within Campaign. Would defo recommend that one.
 

Old Hans

Arcane
Joined
Oct 10, 2011
Messages
1,443
Note: Players who balk at equating gold pieces to experience points should be gently but firmly reminded that in a game certain compromises must be made. While it is more "realistic" for clerics to study holy writings, pray, chant, practice self-discipline, etc. to gain experience, it would not make a playable game roll along. Similarly, fighters should be exercising, riding, smiting pelts, tilting at the lists, and engaging in weapons practice of various sorts to gain real expertise (experience); magic-users should be deciphering old scrolls, searching ancient tomes, experimenting alchemically, and so forth; while thieves should spend their off-hours honing their skills, "casing" various buildings, watching potential victims, and carefully planning their next "job". All very realistic but conducive to non-game boredom!

A good quote. But imagine a game where the Magic-User only gets experience from using magic, the Fighting-Man only from combat, the Thief only from subterfuge and stealing, and the Cleric only from laying waste to evil and spreading religion. Or maybe a game where XP is distributed as usual, but whenever these goals are fulfilled, the character in question gets a nice bonus.

I think it could be interesting!

For example: The campaign mentioned above had a rule about granting Thieves a +50% XP bonus whenever they didn't divide spoils fairly with the rest of the party. Unknown if it saw much use however...
that would suck for magic users. they probably tried those systems out back in the 70's
ok Gandor the Good is gonna spend 500 gold to study at hogwarts for 3 months, but you cant play that character for the next 3 weeks.
 

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