So having been floating around message boards for a while, I've always heard about pen and paper RPGs, but I've never really had them explained to me. What do they involve? How do you play? I understand that one person plays the role of Game Master, but how does that work too? I'm mildly interested in getting into this, but before I go looking for people to play with I'd like to know what I'm getting into.

Basically what you do is sacrifice your social life to the dark prince himself, and you'll be on your way to becoming a game master in no time.

it a huge game of make believe

your in a tavern and orcs attack

hours later your in a woods and see an orc camp

days later you meet the orc king and then he attacks you

but serious the simple explanation is its like world of warcraft but instead of great graphics you use your imagination

sounds kinda neat, but whats all this about character sheets and feat rolls?

WoW has great graphics? where.. I havent seen any yet


P&P Games are the founding stone my friend! I have a D&D night every week, during which copious ammounts of alcohol are consumed, vast quantities of tobacco smoked and a general laugh from everyone Its MMORPG except, its not online, so you ARE actually being sociable rather than sending bytes over the web to people you probably will never meet.

Dungeons and Dragons has been around donkeys years, if you want info on character sheets then your best resource will be....the all powerfull GOOGLE (+100% To Knowledge). Google is a very dangerous creature though, if you are not nice to it, it will deal you Spam damage, so be armed with a Greater Spam Gem of Defence.

or if you really want to get to know D&D, buy the codex (not the GM Codex though, GM is a tough task, seriously). Try and find anyone who already plays D&D that lives near you, get into a group who frequently play, and hope that you dont have a psychotic dwarf with split personality that likes to lob his shield at a pile of orcs then surf on it mid-air like one of my group

just like mmorpg got the stats of you (your strength wisdom speed etc) that what a character sheet is and roll feat is the modifier for randomizing the damage you hit on (you toss a dice - which dice is chosen by what weapon you use and several other factors)

i used to play d&d and several other games back in the days but my all time favorite is delta green (think x-files meets majestic 12) it has both great combats and great options for developing a good conspiracy theory story

and before you ask the story is made up by the dungeon master so make sure you have a great one or else it will be no fun

My lil Sister and Brother still play some kinda D&D style Roleplay, every week - when I visit San Francisco, have to go along and get swept up in whatever's going on. Last time was Cthulu- oriented.. MMm tentacles!

Seriously, I've played just to be able to do the character sketches - My fave is Shadowrun.

oh yeah, it's a party, potluck and social.. usually less than 12 people, but when they all show up, it's insane.

~Ambyant

it sounds like it could actually be a good time. too bad i have this mortal fear of embracing my inner nerd... or my outer nerd for that matter. its like im in constant denial lol.

i think id rather try it out on a message board or over msn or something before i went and found people... that would be a whole new group of friends for me :S always an intimidating concept

The bigest difference between online and face to face is face to face you don't cheat on your rolls. You'd get pummeled if you did. Online, its more of a creative writing Expose. I've done the online writing stuff. It's fun, but you always have those people who will make surethey know how to defeat you and their characters are godlike thus ruining it for you.

If u're planning on starting from scratch, try to get a group of 3 to 5 players... Less is not as fun, but more is quite boring to the neophyte. A newby gamemaster can't handle more than one player at a time, so the others tend to get bored.
Otherwise, go ahead, it's usually a lot of fun ^^

I've come to choose pen and paper over the computer gaming for a number of reasons.

1. Social bit ofc, quite much larger. In my "gang" we travel to a friend of ours who lives a bit out of town and stay there for 1-3 days and play roleplaying games but not only. Roleplaying nigths often lead on to something different, maybe we catch a movie, or maybe we just hang out for the reminder of the time

2. Time consuming, Pen and paper is only there when you want it to be, lvl:ing up isnt that important and infact if you get to pumped its not any fun playing.

3. Empathy, putting yourself in the position of another person in a given sitution migth help you to understand how others think feel and act different from you and thus making you a more empathic and loveable person.

4. Humor, i dunno about you but i for one have got quite funny friends... and well its the people around you who make the game. We aren't really hardcore players and are mostly interrupted by bad jokes/good jokes/puns during our "sessions". But hey what would life be withouth laugther? World of Darkness?

of course the problem with pen and paper games is that you need to have friends

Wow Emo moment. But really, if you life in a city you can check out gaming shops to ask if they have games or know of anyone that welcomes new players.

Paper role playing can be really, really fun. As long as you use no dice, and take it as seriously as you would a cardinals football game. You know its pointless, but you do it any way. I've RP'd with some friends, and it can be very entertaining. For expample, my charecter ended up dragging hers to somewhere she did not want to be and throwing her in a pile of manure. The expression on her face... Priceless. Just remember not to take the game as real life. Its a game. Have fun. If you dont like it, do something else.

Me too. I think It's because I'm vain.

I've also wanted to try pen and paper RPG's (And tabletop RPGs) But I don't know any nerds who like that stuff

Gaming shops I tell you. Flounder you need to explore your outside one of these days and talk to the peoples there.

I'm only thirteen! I'm the second youngest on this forum! Thats hard to do for me. And I'd probably only find like people about 15-19 ish. It's much easier to associate with people older than me on this forum than in real life. Heck, I dont even think Ithaca has any gaming shops... although we do have a teensy little hobby shop near the commons... That place is mad sweet.

Don't be afraid of being seen as a nerd. Stephen Colbert plays D&D, and we don't see him as being nerdy. Heck, Vin Diesel is into D&D he wrote the forward to a book about it. Dubious acting skills aside, he isn't nerdy either. If you really want to get into P&P RPGs, check your local comic and card shop to see if there are any games looking for new players. Or buy the D&D starter kit and grab a few of your friends.

it is an amazing game worth playing. as for embracing your inner nerd, get over it. you klnow it exists. it wants hugs and feels lonely and hungry. embrace it. feed it. D&D is an incredibly fun game. I play it weekly. The nice thing is you know everyone who plays it. you get to know your group members who you haven't met before. and while im on a forum with a bunch of D&D players, i gotta say this. i recently finished a campaign where two players made D&D legend. one of them actually attacked the darkness with magic missile. he used it as a flare to light up the sky. he got bonus xp cuz it was so amazing. Our wizard had lots of fun doohickeys. For example his have a nice day basket he created when he was level 5. think runes of explosion * 28. that works out to be 168 six sided dice worth of damage. thank god my rogue has the evasion feat. it was the first time i ever saw a level 11 single handedly crush in one blow a cr 20 Pit Lord

The trick there is to have somebody in power who is okay with destroying all traces of annoying people.

The trouble with this, of course, is finding a reasonable person who lacks the responsibility centre of the brain.


...about what?

Spyder- What I love about pen and paper RPGs is the freedom. Literally anything I imagine can happen here. I am not constrained by game mechanics or guiding quests. Yes, a GM runs the game and is responsible for providing the focus. However, players can and do go off on their own. Done well, you can delve into the world and character in ways you just can't with video games or even books. You also can have a much greater purpose than get stronger and get better stuff. I've played D&D since I was ten, seventeen year ago now. I have played other systems, but my first RPG has always been my favorite. Though I do value storytelling and plot lines in my games I've always found diceless systems a little too vague with not enough controls to allow for fair play. ::shrugs:: Though I've drawn many ideas from some diceless games and systems. I'd agree with others here that it is best to find a currently gaming group willing to take in a new member and doesn't mind walking you through it. Some veteran groups find newbies tedious and you'll have no fun with these. If you do decide to just pick up the basics; the player's handbook, the Dungeon Master's guide, and the Monster Manual, or there equivilants in another system. Start slow, don't be afraid to reference, even though it may slow things down. If it helps write pertinant info on a sort of cheat sheet until you get it down. And always remember that the point is to have fun. When if doubt, choose what makes the game fun and contributes to it moving forward. Don't get too bogged down by the details.

i agree with the post above. what makes pen and paper games so appealing is the total freedom. for example, if you don't like the blacksmith's prices you can try to stab him in his sleep and steal his stuff (not reccommended unless your cleric has time to spare for a ressurrection though...) or you can haggle with him or work for him to pay off some money. you can initiate on a quest to kill the evil orcs, and then decide you like them and help them attack the town instead. It is an incredibly fun experience.

I grew up with my oldest brother and my second youngest-older brother (got a lot of brothers ) playing DnD. Later, my brother got a board game called Heroquest (a Games Workshop game made to introduce young players to the Warhammer world, btw). It was a simple RP board game, with ordinary dice and cards. This was in contrast to the pen and paper "advanced" rules and calculations and little visual stimulation. Playing it never appealed to me, though I later on began reading Forgotten Realms novels (a fantasy world).

Like when you /roll in WoW, basicly in a pen and paper game you roll for every action that you requires interaction with anyone but yourself (like fighting, wether or not you set off a trap, wether or the troll under the bridge heard you walking by, etc.)

My oldest brother still plays at 37, with a family and kids. He has had the same character for 15 years or so. Not that he is powerful for that reason, seeing as he hasn't time to play much. He was also the guy who introduced me to WoW..