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View Full Version : [3.5] I fear I will never be a player again here in Philadelphia.



Pika...
2010-10-23, 09:12 AM
DMing is fun, but I need some stress relief where I am not in control of everything, or have to worry about things such as my last thread.

Sadly, I have tried Pen&PaperGames.com, Obsidian Portal, and a number of others. Heck, I have even checked craigslist hoping to find a group.

The point is, there is basically no gaming communities here in Philadelphia. Around it about 30min-1hour hour there are some stores, but the most I found hitting them all up was one DM who turned out to be an ungrateful posterior. :smallconfused:

At this point after months I am starting to give up, but I do not want to.

The only invite I got was yesterday, but the guy did not even have the intelligence to actually read my profile to see I personally dislike 4.0 (but am a to each his own type of guy). Then he tries to ask the whole "why don't you like it" conversation...

Any advice?

Anyone in the area that could take me in? O.O

Tengu_temp
2010-10-23, 09:15 AM
Play online.

Pika...
2010-10-23, 09:16 AM
Play online.

A skype game with people I know maybe, but I hate the idea of post games.

Thank you, though. I should have put tjhat in the OP.

Godless_Paladin
2010-10-23, 09:21 AM
A skype game with people I know maybe, but I hate the idea of post games.

Play by post? Don't be silly. You play with online tabletop simulators, talking with people in real time, streaming audio to the players to set the atmosphere for your game, interacting with an easy to use touch and drag miniatures map that does handy things like measure how many feet you've dragged your character (including counting diagonal squares as 1.5 properly, etc), handily being able to whisper selective information to the right PCs (like only mentioning stuff to the people making the spot check or knowledge check), and all kinds of things.

Play by post is, in my opinion, a last resort for those with impossible scheduling (who couldn't play in person games anyways). There's so much more you can do with online games, and in some ways they can be superior to in-person games if you know what you're doing.

You can talk to people face to face, move stuff around on the table, play music, roll dice, just about everything you can do in an in-person game and some things you can't. The only thing you can't actually do is touch people. Or have them pass you a slice of pizza or whatever.

kryan
2010-10-23, 09:29 AM
MapTool is pretty amazing.

Seracain
2010-10-23, 09:35 AM
Play by post? Don't be silly. You play with online tabletop simulators, talking with people in real time, streaming audio to the players to set the atmosphere for your game, interacting with an easy to use touch and drag miniatures map that does handy things like measure how many feet you've dragged your character (including counting diagonal squares as 1.5 properly, etc), handily being able to whisper selective information to the right PCs (like only mentioning stuff to the people making the spot check or knowledge check), and all kinds of things.

Play by post is, in my opinion, a last resort for those with impossible scheduling (who couldn't play in person games anyways). There's so much more you can do with online games, and in some ways they can be superior to in-person games if you know what you're doing.

You can talk to people face to face, move stuff around on the table, play music, roll dice, just about everything you can do in an in-person game and some things you can't. The only thing you can't actually do is touch people. Or have them pass you a slice of pizza or whatever.

I've heard of this before, but where do you find these games? My searches have only led me to pbps.



Back on topic:

You could try introducing people to role-playing. You would have to dm at first, but after people know the game, you would be able to let someone else try the hot seat.

Godless_Paladin
2010-10-23, 09:39 AM
I've heard of this before, but where do you find these games? My searches have only led me to pbps. Honestly? I network. There isn't really a strong central community of online roleplayers where you can just drop in and find a really high quality group. At least not that I know of.

There just isn't a great infrastructure for finding people for online pen and paper action. (I imagine there very well could be though, if WotC had any kind of understanding of modern integration, but their past attempts indicate that they do not. Compare to things like Obsidian Portal that other people make. Alas...) Part of it is that PbPs naturally lend themselves to setting up on actual forums, rather than more sophisticated games being conducted through more private venues that don't let others find them as easily. And then people either give up looking... or they found groups they're happy with and stick with those games for years. It would probably be a lot better if the communities like GitP didn't discourage advertising for games that aren't actually conducted on their message boards.

So I've had to build up my contacts of awesome people to game with over time. You talk to people on IMs, make friends, get to know their friends, etc. Eventually you have a pool of high quality games, DMs, and players to draw from. I know that may not be the most encouraging answer, but it's what worked for me.

If anyone knows a good solid community for online games (no, it doesn't count if it's PbP), let me know. I only know of the likes of The Tangled Web.

Erom
2010-10-23, 09:46 AM
You could try introducing people to role-playing. You would have to dm at first, but after people know the game, you would be able to let someone else try the hot seat.

Yep. When all your friend who DM move away, well, that's when you know it's time for you to take up the mantle and introduce a new group to the game. It's the natural progression.

What I did was, since 90% of my group was moving away in the next few months, I started dropping one non-player into every session. Most were like "That was fun, but not really fun enough to commit." but eventually I got a few that were like "So, when are we playing again?" I just got enough of them together (3 players). First session starts tomorrow.

Tengu_temp
2010-10-23, 09:52 AM
Play by post is, in my opinion, a last resort for those with impossible scheduling (who couldn't play in person games anyways). There's so much more you can do with online games, and in some ways they can be superior to in-person games if you know what you're doing.

And I disagree with this opinion. All my best games were PbP. Because you can spend more time and think about your posts, I find that PbP games have better RP and stories than standard ones, and I prefer the pacing of slowly but constantly going on with the game rather than meeting for a few hours every week (when everyone is often tired and just doesn't give a crap anymore during the last hour, if the game is particularily long).

Godless_Paladin
2010-10-23, 09:56 AM
And I disagree with this opinion. All my best games were PbP. Because you can spend more time and think about your posts, I find that PbP games have better RP and stories than standard ones, and I prefer the pacing of slowly but constantly going on with the game rather than meeting for a few hours every week

See, I don't really have this issue since I've known groups that have a great deal of descriptive detail (not to mention great RP and stories) without the aid of a play by post format. *Shrug*

I mean, to pull a quote from one of the last games I DMed:

The energy, burning and roiling inside, festered like oil on paper in the heat of a candle. While Azalea slept, the shadow of the bed worked itself like a hole upon reality, reaching tendrils of true night into the otherwise silent evening. A screaming silence enveloped the floorboards and window, causing the flickering light of the lamp to become an island of reality, fervently grasping at the colors there like a flood of cockroaches emptying a dank castle

The gateway to that nether realm existed not within the room, however, but in its occupant, and it was no gaping abyss, no, that solid black river was a conduit, gifting, reaching, as Azalea's subconscious thoughts ripped non-forces from the stream like the clattering hands of some bony fiend dipping into horrid rivers of mewling truths.

((Spell slots recovered!))

This is what some players talk like in a real time game... when a Dread Necromancer PC goes to sleep. That is a level of detail I don't expect most PbPs to exceed. And despite this we move the pacing along pretty quickly. We mix a high level of description and RP with just about everything we do, and move through plot points and encounters quickly. Full adventures (think module length, I suppose) usually last only a coupla sessions. My friends and I are also generally capable optimizers and thus get accused on forums of being incapable of roleplaying on a regular basis. :smallsigh:

If you need the extra time, though, go for it.

My point is that the group makes a huge difference, and you can indeed get a high level of descriptive detail in a real-time game. At least in my experience. By contrast, I have had the displeasure of groups that could not resolve using a rope to climb down into a pit in an hour when running a purchased module (needless to say, I did not continue to play with that DM).


(when everyone is often tired and just doesn't give a crap anymore during the last hour, if the game is particularily long).

I suppose I'm spoiled in that respect; I have had games where everyone's on the edge of their seat until the last minute and give an anguished moan when the DM ends the session with a cliffhanger.

I wish that someday you might have that experience.

But then, I wouldn't call these games "the standard ones," as you said. Most groups I've played with are more like what you describe, but I feel that it is unfair to make an overarching generalization. That's why it's important to get a good group. As I said: D&D is a game where you get out what you put in, or rather, what everyone involved in the group puts into it.

BenTheJester
2010-10-23, 09:59 AM
And I disagree with this opinion. All my best games were PbP. Because you can spend more time and think about your posts, I find that PbP games have better RP and stories than standard ones, and I prefer the pacing of slowly but constantly going on with the game rather than meeting for a few hours every week (when everyone is often tired and just doesn't give a crap anymore during the last hour, if the game is particularily long).

Maybe, but I have yet to play a PBP game who doesn't die before a single fight.

Tengu_temp
2010-10-23, 10:12 AM
I wish that someday you might have that experience.

Not gonna happen. I'd have to find a RL group first, since I haven't played in person for years, and the clue to successful roleplaying is playing with people you know and trust, not some randoms you have never seen before the session. My opinion on the majority of RPG players in the area doesn't help.


Maybe, but I have yet to play a PBP game who doesn't die before a single fight.

I'm participating in one PbP game that's been running for over 2 years, two running for over 1 year each, one running for over half a year, and several newer but very active games. It's all about running the right game and finding the right people. I won't go into details since this is not a thread about PbP games and I pulled it offtopic enough.

Godless_Paladin
2010-10-23, 10:14 AM
Not gonna happen. I'd have to find a RL group first, since I haven't played in person for years, and the clue to successful roleplaying is playing with people you know and trust, not some randoms you have never seen before the session. My opinion on the majority of RPG players here doesn't help. Yeah, unfortunately, I share your opinion of the majority of RPG players.

The number of bad groups and shoddy campaigns I slogged through in order to have the experience I described is hardly encouraging.


I'm participating in one PbP game that's been running for over 2 years, two running for over 1 year each, one running for over half a year, and several newer but very active games. It's all about running the right game and finding the right people. That's great! Congratulations :smallsmile:


It's all about running the right game and finding the right people. See, I think this applies regardless of the format. You find the right people, the game will be awesome.


Maybe, but I have yet to play a PBP game who doesn't die before a single fight.

Yeah.

I think it would be fair to say that "lots of games crash and burn" is not endemic to either PbP or real-time games... just online games in general.

There are, in my experience, many obstacles involved when dealing with the majority of online gamers. For one thing, there's the social issues. One thing that really bothers me is that some people seem to have the idea, consciously or otherwise, that people on the internet are less important than people in person, and thus not as worthy of being treated with respect. And that it's okay to, for example, stand them up without warning. And that's just terrible.

Just another reason why it's important to find the right group.

Jack_Simth
2010-10-23, 10:29 AM
I've heard of this before, but where do you find these games? My searches have only led me to pbps.RPtools (http://rptools.net/) is one.