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View Full Version : So I played D&D for the first time today...



Great Dane
2009-03-22, 10:10 PM
...AND IT WAS AWESOME. It was 4th ed. I'm a Dwarf Wis Cleric, and there's also a wizard, fighter, ranger, and warlock in the group. We are doing a short campaign to get our characters to 2nd level before we do some sort of official campaign from one of the magazines (?). We had to investigate why this town was all of a sudden much colder in the summertime than it normally is. Our first fight was tough, a bunch of goblins led by a lvl3 elite goblin spellcaster type thing. He...was annoying. Our second fight was against 3 iron defenders and this winged statue thing. It was easier. I feel like I did my job because nobody died. :smallcool:

So anyway, I'm hooked. Thank you Rich Burlew for getting me interested in this game in the first place.

kjones
2009-03-22, 10:13 PM
Welcome to the wonderful world of pen and paper RPGs! May all your hits be crits.

ocato
2009-03-22, 10:14 PM
Clerics are pretty fun. I play a wisdom based elf cleric and he's loads of fun. Welcome to the hobby.

Shadowbane
2009-03-22, 10:15 PM
Welcome to DnD. May all your hits be crits!

Colmarr
2009-03-22, 10:19 PM
Welcome aboard!

Don't let anyone tell you that you're playing it wrong. There's no such thing as long as your group is having fun.

Shadowbane
2009-03-22, 10:27 PM
Exactly. And if you really feel like being optimized or something (you need to find your own style of character building) you can check out build suggestions or some other stuff.

Oh, and I have to ask. Do you like role-playing your character more or hitting things more? (Not that the two can't work together.)

Wafflecart
2009-03-22, 10:32 PM
Grats, it's an amazing game...what is this magazine you're talking about?

Colmarr
2009-03-22, 10:38 PM
Grats, it's an amazing game...what is this magazine you're talking about?

He's probably referring to the Scales of War adventure path in Dungeon magazine. As far as I know, it's the only 4e campaign currently published by WotC, and thus "official".

Great Dane
2009-03-22, 10:38 PM
Welcome aboard!

Don't let anyone tell you that you're playing it wrong. There's no such thing as long as your group is having fun.

Point taken -- but in our first fight, I would have felt like a failure if someone had died nonetheless :P


Exactly. And if you really feel like being optimized or something (you need to find your own style of character building) you can check out build suggestions or some other stuff.

Oh, and I have to ask. Do you like role-playing your character more or hitting things more? (Not that the two can't work together.)

Though I really did think out a backstory for my character, when the rubber hit the road and we hit the first town, I completely forgot about it. Maybe as this thing rolls onward I can start to incorporate personality traits, personal history, etc. Though the hitting-bad-guys-with-spells thing was pretty darn cool too.



Grats, it's an amazing game...what is this magazine you're talking about?
I'm not sure to be quite honest. He said it was from a Dungeon magazine. I know our DM was reading off of some sheets of paper for dialogue, picked our enemies from it, etc. He did a great job. He made the fights challenging without unnecessarily picking on anyone. Once I rolled incredibly well on a heal and then he whacked the char I just healed because he didn't like that. :P But he also could have dropped a number of us to >0 but he'd go after chars who most recently hit him, to be fair. It WAS the first D&D fight for 2 out of the 5, and the first 4ed fight for another two players.

Shadowbane
2009-03-22, 10:40 PM
Hehe, so glad you're enjoying it.

First time I played, I was an Aasimar Paladin with a Warmage, Evoker, Rogue, and Fighter. All first level. That was really a lot of fun. I always took a huge beating.

Colmarr
2009-03-22, 10:50 PM
Point taken -- but in our first fight, I would have felt like a failure if someone had died nonetheless :P

Ah, I was more referring to what sort of game you play, not how well you do :smallsmile:

Don't let people tell you that the game has to be about roleplaying, about combat, about raiding underground dungeons, designing the most mechanically awesome character you can, or any of a myriad other preconceptions that some people have.

Ultimately it's a game, and what's important in a game is that you and your group have fun!

UserClone
2009-03-22, 10:53 PM
Happy to hear you've joined the hobby!

Bah, your DM is a wimp! :smalltongue:
If it'd been me, I'd only use the "last guy who attacked me" method of deciding attacks for something with a really low intelligence. Anything smarter will just keep whacking you till you drop.:smallbiggrin:

DwaggieBard
2009-03-22, 10:54 PM
Dungeons and Dragons:
Character development,
Or Kick Down the Door?

That was a haiku,
In case you didn't notice.
May all hits be crits!

Colmarr
2009-03-22, 11:00 PM
That was a haiku,
In case you didn't notice.
May all hits be crits!

I see what you did there! :smallbiggrin:

DwaggieBard
2009-03-22, 11:08 PM
I see what you did there! :smallbiggrin:

What are you saying?
You use extra syllables!
What is this madness?!?

UserClone
2009-03-22, 11:12 PM
Madness...?
THIS...
IS...
SPARTA!!!

newbDM
2009-03-22, 11:13 PM
...AND IT WAS AWESOME. It was 4th ed. I'm a Dwarf Wis Cleric, and there's also a wizard, fighter, ranger, and warlock in the group. We are doing a short campaign to get our characters to 2nd level before we do some sort of official campaign from one of the magazines (?). We had to investigate why this town was all of a sudden much colder in the summertime than it normally is. Our first fight was tough, a bunch of goblins led by a lvl3 elite shaman. He...was annoying. Our second fight was against 3 iron defenders and this winged statue thing. It was easier. I feel like I did my job because nobody died. :smallcool:

So anyway, I'm hooked. Thank you Rich Burlew for getting me interested in this game in the first place.

Well welcome to geekdom!

Please pick up your fair helping at the social stigma table, and be prepared to fight tooth and nail for the abysmally low ratio of female gamers (that is unless you yourself are female, in which case you just became more popular than a cheerleader in high school).

Feel free to gain as much wait as you want, for it no longer truly matters. That is, unless you prefer the sickly looking fin look instead.

And don't worry, you get used to the smell of those around you that don't bathe as often as they should. You will also begin to develop an innate craving for food items known as Cheetos and Mountain Dew, but do not worry, this is normal.

A word of advice before I let you go: Be sure to bring food offerings to your DM(s) when they run. It is a proven fact that the DM's blood-sugar level is directly proportional to your character's state of health.


Now go on and enjoy yourself dear boy.

Great Dane
2009-03-22, 11:14 PM
What are you saying?
You use extra syllables!
What is this madness?!?

Laughing quite a bit,
My roommate warlock buddy
read this and farted.

Nightson
2009-03-22, 11:15 PM
To speak in haiku
Makes people really like you
And just sounds good too

Great Dane
2009-03-22, 11:23 PM
A word of advice before I let you go: Be sure to bring food offerings to your DM(s) when they run. It is a proven fact that the DM's blood-sugar level is directly proportional to your character's state of health.



Wise words indeed. I will remember to bring a box of Nerds every time. I wonder if he'll be offended, though. :smallamused:

Knaight
2009-03-22, 11:25 PM
That I will deny.
It is a major lie.
Notice there's a rhyme.

Well I have issues.
Someone ninjaed my writing.
Now this makes no sense.

Shadowbane
2009-03-22, 11:26 PM
I always bring my DM chocolate.

Nightson
2009-03-22, 11:29 PM
That I will deny.
It is a major lie.
Notice there's a rhyme.

Well I have issues.
Someone ninjaed my writing.
Now this makes no sense.

Proper form you lack
You haven't quite got the knack
I'm just talking smack

Colmarr
2009-03-22, 11:38 PM
Oh dear lordy. Haiku has taken over the forums.

Still, it does lend some credence to the suggestion that RPGers tend to be of above average education...

Not that I'll believe it until I see a post in iambic pentameter.

RTGoodman
2009-03-22, 11:42 PM
Not that I'll believe it until I see a post in iambic pentameter.

I wish you did not doubt so very much
My skill in making poems like the Bard;
It's really very easy, don't you see?


(Hint: If you ever need to think of something in iambic pentameter on the fly, just think about the rhythm of the "Oscar Meyer Weiner" jingle - it's in that meter, but with an extra stressed syllable at the ends of lines 1 and 3.)

monty
2009-03-22, 11:43 PM
Don't let anyone tell you that you're playing it wrong. There's no such thing as long as your group is having fun.

You're doing it wrong.

Seriously, though, he's right. It is a game, after all.

UserClone
2009-03-22, 11:44 PM
I wish you did not doubt so very much
My skill in making poems like the Bard;
It's really very easy don't you see.
...You act as though this format's very hard.

Thajocoth
2009-03-22, 11:50 PM
Gratz! I've found that, with my characters, they are who they are by RP whenever outside battle, but in battle it's all just... "What's tactically best?", so you'll probably get to incorporate your character's personality traits as you have more out-of-combat RPing with NPCs. Then again, what do I know... I've only been playing since, I think July... Whenever it was that 4E came out.

RTGoodman
2009-03-22, 11:53 PM
...You act as though this format's very hard.

Oh no, I did not mean it to seem so.
But now we've shown the premise to be false,
Since Colmarr now has seen it being done.
Perhaps I'll speak like this from here on out.

newbDM
2009-03-22, 11:57 PM
Gratz! I've found that, with my characters, they are who they are by RP whenever outside battle, but in battle it's all just... "What's tactically best?", so you'll probably get to incorporate your character's personality traits as you have more out-of-combat RPing with NPCs. Then again, what do I know... I've only been playing since, I think July... Whenever it was that 4E came out.

Oh, so not true.

Especially with chaotic characters.

You'd be surprised at how a character's personality can be incorporated into the combat scenes as well. It's just that as you get to be a better roleplayer you start becoming more effective in combat while doing it. I believe the pinnacle is when you manage to win a combat or save your party, while simultaneously causing the entire group to burst out in laughter.

Colmarr
2009-03-23, 01:01 AM
I wish you did not doubt so very much
My skill in making poems like the Bard;
It's really very easy, don't you see?


As far as thread hijacks go, this has to be one of the most erudite and artistic ever :smallbiggrin:

Great Dane
2009-03-23, 07:36 AM
Oh, so not true.

Especially with chaotic characters.

You'd be surprised at how a character's personality can be incorporated into the combat scenes as well. It's just that as you get to be a better roleplayer you start becoming more effective in combat while doing it. I believe the pinnacle is when you manage to win a combat or save your party, while simultaneously causing the entire group to burst out in laughter.

I think that's eventually the aim -- I have such a grasp on a certain fictional character that I'm able to weave personality traits anytime I see an opportunity, whether inside combat, strolling through town, responding to the DM, etc. Heck. I was worried more that my roommate wouldn't like it, and he wouldn't shut up after we were done about how he was easily able to envision himself in the role of his character. Funny how a game does that to you.