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View Full Version : Should I buy it anyway?



TheQuestionable
2007-02-02, 06:59 PM
Question. I love D&D, and yet have never gotten the chance to play a session. Being in a rather Rural community hardly anyone cares, remotely interested or knows about D&D. I've read the Core Rulebook 1 and DM guide, though I found most things interesting most of it went over my head (discouraging). I really wouldn't mind playing. I've mentioned it to my friends (Major WOW addicts) but they only make fun of it by saying that it's to difficult and not worth the effort. Anyways, what I'm getting too is, should I go ahead and buy the game even though I may have no one to play with?

The logical answer from the Giantitp staff is probably, of course, "Yes!" due to the effect of my money to their pockets. But honestly, I feel like I'm going on a branch half dead and eyed by vultures. In all seriousness, should I?:smallfrown:

joelgerencer
2007-02-02, 07:26 PM
If you buy it and it turns out to be fun to play (even if you can get just one friend) then it may spark some more interest in D&D. Hence solving your problem.

So yes i would (and will) buy it.

daggaz
2007-02-03, 07:20 AM
You might wanna try talking 2 or 3 friends into a practise session first. It can be extremely frustrating getting hooked into this game when nobody else around wants to play. (I know firsthand).

You can get pretty much everything you need to know online here at http://www.d20srd.org/

Its all the spells, monsters (most of em), combat rules, equipment and magic items... what have you. You are missing the XP progression tables and I think treasure tables (when to give what ---I THINK), but you can wing that stuff. Its really not that hard. Make lvl 1 1000 xp, lvl 2 2000 more xp, etc etc..

The site even has a good encounter generator, so you can just plug in the level of your parties adventurerers' individually, and the CR's of different monsters you want them to encounter in one fight, and it will tell you how difficult the fight probably is, and even how many of said difficult fights you should have in a day. The monster filter is really great for picking out the right kinds of baddies as well.

To top it off, you can go to WotC website and download one or two pre-made mini campaigns, if you have a hard time juggling all the ideas at once. Me, I preferred to just read through everything a few times, then made a cave with a simple quest which I told everyone they basically had to accept cuz it was my first job as DM and the rest of the world didn't exist yet. It worked fine.

The Giant
2007-02-04, 03:08 PM
The Voice of Mod: This isn't really about the OOTS Adventure Game, it's about D&D. I'm moving it to Gaming, where it will get a better response.

Matthew
2007-02-04, 03:11 PM
Consider buying the Basic Game first and seeing whether you can talk some friends into playing it with you. If it turns out you all enjoy that, then you might consider investing in the Core Rule Books.

Dungeons & Dragons Basic Game (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=products/dndacc/966470000)
Dungeons & Dragons Basic Game (http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/17804) (Board Game Geek)
Dungeons & Dragons Basic Game (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungeons_&_Dragons_Basic_Game) (Wikipedia Article)

TO_Incognito
2007-02-04, 05:31 PM
Dungeons & Dragons Basic Game (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=products/dndacc/966470000)
Dungeons & Dragons Basic Game (http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/17804) (Board Game Geek)
Dungeons & Dragons Basic Game (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungeons_&_Dragons_Basic_Game) (Wikipedia Article)

The Basic Game is worth it for new players, but the old 3.0 Adventure Game was a bajillion times better )=. I wish they had merely updated it to 3.5; the only good change was replacing the Wizard with the Sorcerer in an introduction that only includes levels 1 and 2 and doesn't have most core spells anyway.

Pronounceable
2007-02-04, 06:03 PM
Don't buy it unless you have people to play with.

Dhavaer
2007-02-04, 06:08 PM
Don't buy it unless you have people to play with.

S/He has an account on this site, there's plenty of people in the RP boards.

FujinAkari
2007-02-04, 06:28 PM
You might also check out www.openrpg.com so you can play over the web

TheQuestionable
2007-02-04, 09:25 PM
Thanks (all) for the advice

Though I what I was really asking about is if I should buy the OOTS board game (that's why it was where I posted it). Though I still find your advice helpful and will try to get some friends into it. (But the main reason I can't play is b/c I don't have a DM in my area and I don't think I can be a Dm without watching someone esle who knows what they're doing (I've tried being a DM and it further discouraged my friends to play).

joelgerencer
2007-02-04, 10:53 PM
Buy D&D for Dummies or Dungeon Master for Dummies. I bought D&D for Dummies and ran my first game with that and a 3.5 players hand book.

Lord Iames Osari
2007-02-04, 11:06 PM
Also, as has been said, there are plenty of people you can play with online here on GitP. Down at the bottom of the forums index, there's a section called Play-by-Post Games (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=3). Look in the Finding Players forum for a game that needs players, and have fun!

Truffles
2007-02-05, 12:45 AM
nope just use the srd. keep your money in your pocket

purple gelatinous cube o' Doom
2007-02-05, 12:50 AM
Personally, I think you should find a group where at least person knows what they were doing. When I started playing 5 years ago in college, I got into a group where I was the only person who hadn't played at all. It is very helpful to have people around you that know what they're doing, otherwise you'll all probably be lost. There are a lot of mechanics to learn and ideas to grasp, and they're not always the easiest things to understand.

Thomas
2007-02-05, 02:12 AM
nope just use the srd. keep your money in your pocket

Yeah, who needs experience tables or actual instructions on how to create characters and run games? Not people totally new to the game, that's for sure!

:smallamused:

Bender
2007-02-05, 02:34 AM
We started with it after playing heroquest for a while (it's a fantasy board game with extremely simple rules) and then decided to give d&d a try. We did the first few adventures (free downloadable) without books and I (the DM) was the only one with half a clue about the rules. Which means in the beginning I made up a lot of rules, and it could be quite chaotic. Afterwards I bought the books and gradually started playing in a more structured way and only after a few months I actually came up with some kind of backstory/campaign.

There are some downsides:
-You make a lot of mistakes, some players take advantage and you allow things that aren't meant to work and these players don't like to be restrained afterwards.
-It can be pretty discouraging in the beginning, because it can be very chaotic
-We lacked back-stories, motivation, personalities... a lot of the things that makes it fun

I guess the reason why it worked for us is that we're long time friends and it was just a social event. Just learning the game together is fun too, and they were very comprehensive about the lack of structure. What I want to say with this is: you can try first without a lot of money spending and effort from your side, but there might be some risk involved...

Anyway, I would advice you to first convince some friends to play. A hint: a player really doesn't have to know much, and for a level 1 player the rules can be very, very easy.
And be sure to tell them you can do much more than in WOW, in fact: anything, but it doesn't make the game harder.
Also you have to know these people: how much chaos do they tolerate...

The basic game might be a good idea, we actually played 2 sessions of AD&D first with the basic game, which helps to know whether you and your friends like it. (we mixed up the rules between AD&D and edition 3.5 afterwards, but that shouldn't happen to you)

Thomas
2007-02-05, 03:03 AM
We started with it after playing heroquest for a while (it's a fantasy board game with extremely simple rules)

Not any more it isn't. GW's license ran out, and now it's a storytelling RPG of epic Gloranthan adventure (http://www.glorantha.com/)... :smallbiggrin:

Bender
2007-02-05, 04:35 AM
Not any more it isn't. GW's license ran out, and now it's a storytelling RPG of epic Gloranthan adventure (http://www.glorantha.com/)... :smallbiggrin:

Are there no certainties left in this world :smalleek: