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xBlackWolfx
2014-04-16, 04:12 AM
I've never done a play-by-post before. And in all honesty, I've never played a tabletop rpg before. Most of my DnD experience actually came from NWN. I do know full well the rules in that game don't match 3rd edition completely (it was available for free online afterall, I have all the text documents necessary to play the real game).

I would love to have the opportunity to actually play a tabletop rpg. But I don't have a gaming group here, no place to play one, don't have any friends who play rpgs, and none of them live here anymore anyway. And I'm not too keen on starting my own group since I have no experience in tabletop rpgs outside of a few videos I've seen on youtube. And I'm not sure playing through an instant messenger or one of those tabletop simulators would work for me since I have a highly irregular schedule. So I figured that if I ever want to actually experience a tabletop game, the closest I'll ever come is to do a play-by-post.

But I have no idea how to join one, how they work, or anything. Do you actually need to own the book to play a game? Mostly all I have are free rpgs and samplers. I do own some bought rpgs (but its just dc adventures and both editions of bash). However, I don't own a single campaign book, so I pretty much know nothing about any DnD setting besides what was presented in NWN. And I don't care much for DnD anyway, especcially pathfinder whose rules I find to be overwhelming (and I don't agree with too many of the design choices, to me the combat-maneuver stats is the only part I actually like). Sadly, most of the games over the in the play-by-post section are for DnD. I wouldn't mind doing DC adventures, though I admit I'm not all that well-versed in the DC universe since DC doesn't put their comics in an online database like Marvel does. Actually I'm quite interested in trying out talislanta. But that game doesn't appear to be very popular....even though all the editions are available for free online now. You can even download the campaign books from the talislanta site now.

How can I get involved? What do I need to know? And I'd prefer to not start my own campaign since I obviously have on experience in the matter. Well, I did do a play-by-email thing once with vampire the requiem, though I lost interest in that quickly, and it appears that I didn't understand all the rules of how it was supposed to work (and besides, the GM didn't seem to think too highly of the fact that I had made an underpowered character purely for the sake of roleplay).

Rhynn
2014-04-16, 07:29 AM
If only there were a set of forums where people recruit for PBP games and can answer your questions on a game-by-game basis. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?3-Play-by-Post-Games)

xBlackWolfx
2014-04-16, 09:29 AM
And all anyone's recruiting for is DnD, pathfinder, and weird rpgs i've never even heard of....

Amphetryon
2014-04-16, 12:48 PM
And all anyone's recruiting for is DnD, pathfinder, and weird rpgs i've never even heard of....

There are many, many play-by-post sites discover-able with a simple Google search, in which you can include parameters such as which games you're looking for.

Airk
2014-04-16, 12:57 PM
As far as I am concerned, the only right way to get into gaming is to play games "for real", face to face. You can TRY getting into other forms, but I think they're likely to break down rapidly.

As long as you have two or three acquaintances you can persuade to try out a new game with you, once, for an afternoon, then you have all you need to at least TRY this. As long as everyone understands that, "hey, we're all new to this and learning, so we'll probably mess some stuff up." then it's all good.

NikitaDarkstar
2014-04-16, 01:04 PM
You will find plenty of D&D of all editions (lets lump Pathfinder into D&D shall we? It's basically an update to 3.5 anyway) no matter where you go since it's one of the biggest systems out there, not to mention the oldest one. You'll simply have to sift through it to find something you like.

As for your other questions:
How you get involved? Simply find a forum you like, find a game that seems interesting and ask the GM if they're willing to take on a newbie, more often than not they are (mind you, you would probably still have to go through the application process, but even that is a learning process to don't shy away from it). Or if the forum has a game planning section make a post there and ask if anyone is willing to run a game for a newbie to teach them the game.

Do you need all the books:
If all the sources that you intend to use are available through other means (such as D&D 3.5 and pathfinders SRD's) then no. But if not, well, how do you intend to play the game if you don't have access to the books (/.pdf's) explaining the rules? Campaign/adventure books are optional though, unless there's something you specifically want resource wise from a campaign book only the GM needs them if he intends to use them. Besides, many people make their own settings anyway so it doesn't matter if you're not familiar with Eberron, Forgotten Realms, and all the rest.

Rhynn
2014-04-16, 01:12 PM
In general, having the corebook for whatever you're playing is a good idea in PbP, but may not be strictly necessary; hence game-by-game basis (i.e. ask the GM). D&D 3.5 and some other games (like FATE) have SRDs.

Looking at the front page of the GITP PBP recruiting forum, there's a lot of D&D, but also Fate, Star Wars SAGA/Edge of the Empire, Deathwatch, Cthulhutech ( :smallyuk: ), Rogue Trader, Fate in a different setting, freeform, Legend, Black Crusade, Doctor Who, Pokémon TTA, NWOD, homebrew, Apocalypse World, Matrix, Shadowrun, and Call of Cthulhu.

That's a pretty wide selection on the front page.

roko10
2014-04-16, 01:13 PM
As far as I am concerned, the only right way to get into gaming is to play games "for real", face to face. You can TRY getting into other forms, but I think they're likely to break down rapidly.

As long as you have two or three acquaintances you can persuade to try out a new game with you, once, for an afternoon, then you have all you need to at least TRY this. As long as everyone understands that, "hey, we're all new to this and learning, so we'll probably mess some stuff up." then it's all good.

Yeah, and I'm the Prince of Nowhere.

Seriously, all of the gaming groups are in the big cities that I am disallowed to go to.

And judging by my friends reactions on LARPing(You have to be an huge dweeb to enjoy this!), they probably have the same response to tabletop RPGs.

On topic, try to post a topic searching for a GM for an system you play; chances are, a small group of people have it and would like to play it too.

NikitaDarkstar
2014-04-16, 01:24 PM
As far as I am concerned, the only right way to get into gaming is to play games "for real", face to face. You can TRY getting into other forms, but I think they're likely to break down rapidly.

As long as you have two or three acquaintances you can persuade to try out a new game with you, once, for an afternoon, then you have all you need to at least TRY this. As long as everyone understands that, "hey, we're all new to this and learning, so we'll probably mess some stuff up." then it's all good.

While that is usually a decent way of learning it's honestly useless advice when the OP has already explained that it's not an option, so instead of discouraging a newbie (but yes, play by post games has a high mortality rate), how about we try to encourage him by giving him as much useful advice as we can? :)

Airk
2014-04-16, 01:27 PM
While that is usually a decent way of learning it's honestly useless advice when the OP has already explained that it's not an option, so instead of discouraging a newbie (but yes, play by post games has a high mortality rate), how about we try to encourage him by giving him as much useful advice as we can? :)

It's not intended to discourage. It's intended to make him take a less pessimistic look at his situation. I find most people who post things like this misrepresent how gruesome their situation truly is, and that the odds of him being completely unable to put something together face to face is probably no worse than the odds of his getting into a functional PbP game. Yes, only he knows for sure, but I want to make sure he's not making assumptions (it really sounds like he is with his "I know nothing about RPGs, so how could I get a game together?" attitude.).

Rhynn
2014-04-16, 01:29 PM
It's not intended to discourage. It's intended to make him take a less pessimistic look at his situation. I find most people who post things like this misrepresent how gruesome their situation truly is, and that the odds of him being completely unable to put something together face to face is probably no worse than the odds of his getting into a functional PbP game. Yes, only he knows for sure, but I want to make sure he's not making assumptions (it really sounds like he is with his "I know nothing about RPGs, so how could I get a game together?" attitude.).

Agreed. I knew nothing about RPGs, none of my friends knew anything about RPGs, and we started playing RPGs because I (at like 10 years old) got my parents to buy me a rulebook. That turned into 20-year life-consuming hobby. :smalleek:

xBlackWolfx
2014-04-17, 04:47 AM
Still, all i've seen is the stupid and extremely overrated DnD or rpgs i've never even seen before let alone own.

If only i could navigate around the problem that every single rpg on this planet is NOT designed to be played with a single PC. You need at least 2, or they'll get slaughtered the even the weakest monster in the game. I mean seriously, in basic fantasy your average lvl 1 character has the same stats as a goblin, what the hell??? A goblin should be a joke to a human who's like 10 times its weight!

At least I can read the ones other ppl are doing, sadly of course they're all DnD, but I can read them none-the-less. And I thought the DnD system was stupid just looking at the rules, I never realized that it was possible to gimp your character so that he can roll like 10-20 attacks rolls in a single round (even more rediculous when you consider that each of his attacks have 3 damage rolls for some reason). What the hell??? Imagine if they were playing that on a tabletop. It would take him like 10 minutes just to play out 6 seconds of combat. And all just so he can KO a priest of mystra before he even gets to do anything. Same cleric also the lowest initiative role, in a 2v1 against some other character that one-shotted him. What, is he like lvl 1 and everyone else lvl 40 or something???? The characters everyone's playing literally look like gods. One of them even has an intimidate modifer of +39!

Eldan
2014-04-17, 05:35 AM
It's one of the things people like most about D&D, actually. The enormous range of power one can have. The system is very, very flexible. Where most systems work with one playstyle and power level, in D&D, a group can agree on what they want to play and build that, using the rules. "We are three lowly militiamen defending the village from orc raiders and wild animals"? Possible. "We are mythic heroes even the gods fear"? Just as possible. And everything between.

And really, ten attack rolls is nothing. Read up on theoretical optimization sometime, i.e. the tricks people don't do at the table, since the power levels become meaningless. There's people reverting time whenever they are hurt, creating new worlds from nothing, reshaping planets and enslaving gods. With sufficient power you can break the economy or the planes. Actually, with sufficient abuse, you can do it on level 1, too.

This is a forum based on a D&D 3.5 webcomic, so of course most of the games are D&D 3.5 too. There are other forums that are better for other games. Acutally, there are better forums for 3.5 too. Morale and discipline on this forum are very lax amongst both players and DMs, so most games collapse very quickly.

Rhynn
2014-04-17, 05:38 AM
The only solo RPG I can think of is Barbarian Prince, but BECM D&D and AD&D both had several solo and 1-on-1 adventures (the red box intro adventure with Aleena, Ghost of Lion Castle, Knight of the Living Dead), and I'm certain many other RPGs do, too. (At least one GURPS edition included a solo adventure in the back of the book to introduce the rules.)

Basically any RPG can be run one-on-one. The D&D problem you have is trivial - a 2nd or 3rd-level character is perfectly capable of tackling even combat challenges alone, and that capability goes up as levels go up. Trying to play a solo adventure that includes combat with a 1st-level character and complaining is like complaining that your car doesn't drive too well with just one tire. I've run tons of one-on-one sessions, even campaigns, with a pile of different RPG systems (when I was a kid and didn't have a regular group to play with).

Also, your surprise at what high-level D&D 3.X looks like is kind of hilarious. :smallamused: (It is slow and clunky, though, which is why I find basically every other edition of D&D preferrable to 3E.)

Your core problem is also ridiculous: "I don't like the most popular game and I don't know the other games." I guess you should get to know more RPGs, huh? :smallbiggrin:

But I sorta get the impression you just prefer to complain, given you're obviously ignoring all the cases that don't fit your stated problems. Looking at Finding Players (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?51-Finding-Players-%28Recruitment%29) right now, the front page has 20 threads for non-D&D games, for something like 15 different systems (or for no system, in a few cases). That's the front page, and the oldest thread on it was posted in today - go back a page or two and you're bound to find even more different games still recruiting. And this is one forum! If I google "[game] play by post" I get even more results for whatever game I want! :smalleek: It's amazing, this age we live in. And then there's IRC games (with dedicated servers like DarkMyst), OpenRPG and other programs and web services, Google Hangouts, and so on and so on.

Eldan
2014-04-17, 05:41 AM
Also, that's the difference between a computer game and a tabletop RPG: you are playing with people.

In, say, World of Warcraft, if you went into a dungeon built for 20 characters alone, you'd die. Pointlessly and quickly.

In D&D, you can find a DM and tell him "Hey, could you take the Shackled City adventure path and rewrite it so it's doable for a single character? I find the setting and story fascinating." Shackled City is a pre-written adventure for levels 1-20 for 4 characters. But if your DM is willing to put in the effort (and it's probably a lot of effort)? Then you can have any adventure you want with any numbers of any character.

And that's not even going into combat-light or totally combat-free adventures and games.

Just try, I guess. Find a good roleplaying forum, register and make a post "Hey, I'm new and don't know the rules, would someone be willing to run an introductory adventure for me to show me the ropes a bit?" Politeness and some effort can go a long way.

xBlackWolfx
2014-04-17, 09:01 AM
I don't even have access to that many rpgs. The only ones I got that weren't freebies are dc adventures and both editions of bash. And even with DnD 3.x all I got is the SRD. And none of the freebies I've collected are coming up besides DnD 3.x and pathfinder (which I'm not all that familiar with, just too much damned information, 3.x looks rules-lite compared to pathfinder...). Of course, in all honesty most of my freebies were collected back when I was trying to develop my own system, I was more looking for research material rather than a game to play. Alot of them are quite obscure, and it was pure happenstance that I stumbled upon some of them. But either way, you'd imagine more well-known ones like Talislanta, M&M, or retro-clones would pop up, but I see none. Hell, I don't think I've even see anyone post a game for the legitimate first and second editions of DnD. I saw one or two M&Ms, but one was already filled out, and the other one was abandoned bc the GM dropped out.

Eldan
2014-04-17, 09:09 AM
3.5 is just about as rules-heavy as Pathfinder, since the rules are basically identical. The difference is that 3.5 doesn't even put all the information of its core books into the SRD, while the Pathfinder SRD contains almost everything from all the books.
Or in other words: the D&D SRD is the three basic books (Players, Monsters, DMs) and some bits of pieces of four, I think, other books, namely those on psionics, epic, gods and the Unearthed Arcana. The Pathfinder SRD is dozens of books.
Thing is, you don't need to know it all to play a game. I can teach someone enough 3.5 to play in about fifteen minutes and I'm pretty sure there's no one out there who knows everything.

And again: this just isn't a very good forum for PbP. IT's mostly used for discussion, art and homebrew. Try a place like www.myth-weavers.com, which is dedicated to roleplaying.

ElenionAncalima
2014-04-17, 09:13 AM
Still, all i've seen is the stupid and extremely overrated DnD or rpgs i've never even seen before let alone own.

If only i could navigate around the problem that every single rpg on this planet is NOT designed to be played with a single PC. You need at least 2, or they'll get slaughtered the even the weakest monster in the game.

Just last night I had a solo session in DND Next in a Murder in Baldur's Gate campaign that usually our group plays with a party of 5. I made it through the whole session as a squishy mage without taking a single point of damage and barely touching my limited resources.

How? My DM is smart enough to know how to scale down encounters for one person and I am smart enough to come up with solutions that don't involve solo charging a group of enemies with a dagger. Its a different type of gaming...but solo sessions totally work.

Anxe
2014-04-17, 09:14 AM
http://www.thetangledweb.net/forums/showthread.php?38530-Look-for-someone-to-play-talislanta-4ed-or-D-amp-D-3-5ed-with
Go! Be free!

Airk
2014-04-17, 09:53 AM
Yeah, this whole thing is turning into a big mess of prejudices, confusion, misconceptions, and laziness. @_@

Let's hit a few points:

D&D does work. It's a perfectly fine system, and if later editions are somewhat rules heavy, that's by design because a lot of people like that. If you don't like that, it may not be for you, but there are plenty of D&D variants/versions/whatever that are less heavy.
You shouldn't be juding ANY game as "stupid" until you have played it. ESPECIALLY if you have NEVER PLAYED AN RPG at all. That someone would be this judgement is a little stupefying to me.
Approach this hobby with an open mind. Maybe some people are playing in way you wouldn't want to. That's their right and their fun. Do not judge.
There's a whole column over on RPG.net (http://www.rpg.net/columns/list-column.phtml?colname=duets) explaining important tips for running a game of ANY RPG as a "duet" - 1 GM, 1 Player.
There are TONS of RPGs available for free or cheap. (http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/browse.php?filters=0_2140_0_0_0&pwyw=true). "The only RPGs I have are..." is not a valid excuse for anyone anymore.
Nitpick: The D&D goblin is MAYBE 1/3rd the weight of a human, not 1/10th. :P
Seriously. Find 1-2 friends with open minds and just try it.

xBlackWolfx
2014-04-17, 11:01 AM
Oh yeah, I forgot about FATE. Its not technically a game I own, I saw the rules for it on a blog somewhere years ago. Simple free-form game is probably the best way to describe it. Make up your own skills and what-not, use 6-sided dice marked with pluses, zeroes, and minuses instead of numbers.

I did find one on there that was interesting, Console Handheld. I could try that one with my sister, she is a fan of the Zelda series, though sadly I know nothing about Zelda outside the fact that the game's named after the princess rather than the hero...

Rhynn
2014-04-17, 11:04 AM
Yeah, FATE sure is freeform with hundreds of pages of material. :smallbiggrin:

You are a barrel of laughs. It's okay, we were all all-knowing teenagers once. :smallwink:

Eldan
2014-04-17, 12:01 PM
Fate's not a free-form game. A true free-form has almost no rules at all. No dice, either. Just talking.

xBlackWolfx
2014-04-17, 12:38 PM
Well, the version I saw online (which claimed to be FATE) had you creating your own skills. And the skills had to be built like a pyramid, for example, in order to have a rank 2 skill, you first had to have two rank 1 skills. And to have a rank 3 skill, you need to have two rank 2 skills, which themselves would require you have three rank 1 skills. It also had you putting these under categories, though I can't remember what they were called or what purpose they served. For example, under the 'warrior' label you would have your various warrior skills, like sword-fighting and w/e else. These too had no pre-defined list. The players were free to make up their own, though the GM did have the right reject certain skills that were too broad.

Yeah, not truly a free-form game, but it allowed an unparralled amount of customization from the players. I mean, how many systems let you essentially create your own attributes and skills just for your character? Really the only rules you had to follow was the point total of your character and the dice thing.

Oh, it also had 'fate points' (supposedly, that game originated the term), and claimed to be an off-shot of FUDGE.

And I find it hard to imagine how such a system could necessitate over 100 pages of text.

If I still knew the link to the thing I'd show you.

Airk
2014-04-17, 01:16 PM
That's definitely Fate, though probably an older edition.

The answer to "how you can write 100s of pages about that" is "You can fill it a lot of useful stuff AROUND the rules." It does not "necessitate" those pages - in fact, Fate Accelerated Edition is on the order of 20 or so pages with tons of art and examples, which proves that the game doesn't NEED all those pages. That doesn't mean you can't find something USEFUL to talk about there though.

I wouldn't use the term "Freeform" but it actually is, generally, considered to be "Rules light."

NikitaDarkstar
2014-04-18, 02:20 AM
BlackWolf, I hate to say this, but seriously, if you want to get into this hobby one way or another you need to change your attitude. We've tried to explain things, given you help, given you links to other forums (both which are excellent, and at least myth-weavers has pretty much all the games you mentioned crop up semi regularly. Can't say about the tangledweb though, I don't frequent it) and various resources, but you know what? We can't make you use it. You have the tools you need, from here on it's up to you to either dig up a few buddies irl and give something, anything a try, or post on a forum and say "hey I'm a newbie, anyone feel like showing me the ropes?"

And seriously, don't judge something before you try it. Or at least have enough experience on the topic to have an informed opinion on it. D&D may or may not be for you, but if you've never played it, or any other tabletop rpg you're really not in a position to call it stupid or any other name you decide on.

A few other systems you may want to look into is world of darkness (old and new), Dresden Files (very rules light), and GURPS (ridiculously rules heavy, but very flexible, and is more points based if that appeals more to you than D&D with it's more old school levels etc.).

Also, I have to echo the "I don't own the system" thing. You're on the internet, you have pretty much everything at your fingertips, and a quick google search is very, very likely to deliver it to you.

Rhynn
2014-04-18, 04:17 AM
Aw, leave him alone, he's like fifteen, max. He doesn't have a credit card to buy RPGs online.

And all the many, many free RPGs (like the ones in my sig) are uh... uh... well they're dumb!

NikitaDarkstar
2014-04-18, 04:51 AM
Rhynn, I got the nagging feeling you meant to post in blue right there? Also your sig is totally missing MicroLITE D20, just saying. (And you know, googling for free editions of popular systems is totally pointless cause it's not like older editions sometimes are made available for free in pdf format. Of course not. Not super common, but common enough to look into.)

Rhynn
2014-04-18, 04:55 AM
Rhynn, I got the nagging feeling you meant to post in blue right there?

Blue text is a totally fun and awesome and clever meme that I totally approve of! I like it as much as people bringing up Pun-Pun (which is always relevant and hilarious).

Eldan
2014-04-18, 05:44 AM
Blue text is a waste of good sarcasm.

xBlackWolfx
2014-04-18, 08:08 AM
You are right, claiming I don't like a system when I've never even played a tabletop rpg before is rather stupid. Most of my hatred for the system comes from two things. One is the forgotten realms setting, which I don't care for to put it lightly. The other however is just that it doesn't line up well with my own opinions on how a system should work. I don't like the fact that attributes have little impact on the game, even at lvl 1 (really, it makes you wonder why they even have the attributes at all), I don't like the fact that your character can have a charisma of 18 even if their intelligence is 3, I don't like the highly restrictive classes, and I don't like the wierd and overly complicated vancian magic system. And I dislike pathfinder bc from what I'm seeing in the SRD, each class now requires as much memorization to know how to play them, as all the base classes in 3.5 did together. I mean, the pages on each class are rediculously huge, whereas in my 3.5 SRD two or three classes can fit on a single page, the only ones that don't are the spellcasters bc of their spell-slot charts. Is it really necessary for each class to have like 20 different special abilities that they didn't have before? Fighters are my biggest problem, in 3.5 most of their feats were from the standard feat list as they leveled, but now they get like 15 weird 'feats' i've never heard of before just from leveling up, not to mention they seem to have doubled or tripled the standard feat list. I also dislike the 'paths' thing sorcerers have. As many as there are, they just add an unnecessary amount of complexity to sorcerers (to me, the primary attraction of them was that they were simpler than wizards), and diverse as it is I don't think their choices were the best when it came to what you could be descended from or w/e. They have unusual creatures in there that I doubt anyone would play, while lacking obvious creatures that I'm sure everyone would love to be.

And I don't see why everyone assumes I'm being resistant. I don't have the option of actually playing a tabletop game except with my sister (who no doubt is even more ignorant on the subject than I am), which means I'd have to be the GM/DM even if I did do that. I know it would be the best course of action, that's obvious, but if that was an option to me why would I be asking for a play-by-post in the first place?

Everytime I ask a question like this, everyone just assumes I'm some idiot who doesn't know the first thing about what I'm talking about, even though I've had an interest in RPGs for years (though all my experience has been through computer rpgs, I did play on a roleplaying server for 2 or 3 years on NWN though). I'm not some kid who's just discovered rpgs, I've been thinking about them and playing computer rpgs for years. And yeah, I may have no first-hand experience in tabletop games, but that doesn't mean there aren't people who post about theirs online. I know players normally don't like games that require you to spend hours making a character, or adding together a huge number of dice (even though there are games that do these things). People also normally despise insanely complex rpgs, infact they're often counted as among the worst ever made, and I'm talking like synnibar here when I refer to 'complexity'. And yes, I do know of the Hero system, and I'm not willing to pay over $100 for some huge books about a game that would take days if not weeks to learn to play knowing full well that I'll never be able to get anyone else to play a game that takes this long to learn.

As for right now, I think I'll just talk my sister into playing basic fantasy or bash with me. I'd imagine those games are good introductory games for someone who doesn't even know how to play DnD.

Rhynn
2014-04-18, 08:40 AM
You are right, claiming I don't like a system when I've never even played a tabletop rpg before is rather stupid.

You said it!


One is the forgotten realms setting, which I don't care for to put it lightly.

That's, like, extra-ridiculous. The Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting (TSR 1031) and FR1 Waterdeep and the North (TSR 9213) are probably the best published D&D campaign setting for classic D&D fantasy. They are wonderfully devoid of the excesses of the late 2E and the 3E eras, and just full of space and seeds for adventures.


The other however is just that it doesn't line up well with my own opinions on how a system should work.

Dude, you have no actual experience with any RPGs, how would you even know? :smallbiggrin:

That's a total classic, though - the amount of people who came to The Forge with "I want to make my own RPG (I've only played D&D 3E)" was enormous, and it's still going on all over the place, and has always been, and always will.

That's like going "I want to write a play! I've read Romeo & Juliet, I'm all set!"

So, how many of the free RPGs linked in this thread have you downloaded and read so far? Pretty much none of them have any of the problems you see in D&D 3E.


And I don't see why everyone assumes I'm being resistant. I don't have the option of actually playing a tabletop game except with my sister

You literally know no other people?

I got my first group together by showing my RPG books to friends at school at like age 10. People play with older kids (a big tradition back in the 80s), with parents, with their kids, with co-workers, with random people at the comic store, with people online (again, there are so many platforms, between OpenRPG, IRC, Google Hangouts, etc., which function exactly like playing around a table, except some involve writing).


Everytime I ask a question like this, everyone just assumes I'm some idiot who doesn't know the first thing about what I'm talking about, even though I've had an interest in RPGs for years (though all my experience has been through computer rpgs, I did play on a roleplaying server for 2 or 3 years on NWN though).

No one's assuming, we're making conclusions based on evidence. You're not exactly helping your case by demonstrating that you think computer RPG experience is relevant to tabletop RPGs...


I'm not willing to pay over $100 for some huge books about a game that would take days if not weeks to learn to play knowing full well that I'll never be able to get anyone else to play a game that takes this long to learn.

So how about all those free RPGs we've been linking, and the ones you can find by googling and checking out threads with "free RPGs" in the title on this very subforum (we're currently having the second one this month). Here's one (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?341885-CHALLENGE-The-best-free-system), and here's another one (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?339640-Best-free-RPG-s).

Eldan
2014-04-18, 10:34 AM
That's a total classic, though - the amount of people who came to The Forge with "I want to make my own RPG (I've only played D&D 3E)" was enormous, and it's still going on all over the place, and has always been, and always will.

That's like going "I want to write a play! I've read Romeo & Juliet, I'm all set!"

So, how many of the free RPGs linked in this thread have you downloaded and read so far? Pretty much none of them have any of the problems you see in D&D 3E.

Pssssh. Could be way worse. Let me quote my friends and me, age about 14:


"Dude, hanging around for two hours over lunch at school is totally boring. Let's do something."
"But what?"
Long pause.
"Have you ever heard of RPGs?"
"No, what's that?"
"You know Baldur's Gate?"
"Yeah?"
"I've heard some people play that without computers. But I forgot what it's called. But there's, like books."
"That sounds awesome! To the bookstore!"
*An hour later*
"Why are none of the bookstores selling that!"
"Hey, I know, let's just invent this ourselves!"
"Yeah! We're geniuses! We can totally do that!""


We immediately wrote the worst combat system ever. Three days later, we had the idea to use dice and it felt like the greatest revelation since the invention of the wheel.

Airk
2014-04-18, 11:12 AM
You are right, claiming I don't like a system when I've never even played a tabletop rpg before is rather stupid. Most of my hatred for the system comes from two things. One is the forgotten realms setting, which I don't care for to put it lightly.

First of all, why? Second of all, the two are not inextricably linked. You can play WTFever setting you want, as you would know if you'd, I dunno, read some rules or something.


I don't like the fact that attributes have little impact on the game, even at lvl 1 (really, it makes you wonder why they even have the attributes at all),

What? Attributes are very important in D&D. The heck are you on about?


Is it really necessary for each class to have like 20 different special abilities that they didn't have before?

I don't know, why don't you play and find out?


Fighters are my biggest problem, in 3.5 most of their feats were from the standard feat list as they leveled, but now they get like 15 weird 'feats' i've never heard of before just from leveling up, not to mention they seem to have doubled or tripled the standard feat list.

Well, you see, when playing a fighter SUCKS because all you get is a few extra feats from a standard list of things everyone gets...


And I don't see why everyone assumes I'm being resistant.

Because you are? We've given you tons of very usable suggestions and all you do is whine about not wanting to try them.



I don't have the option of actually playing a tabletop game except with my sister (who no doubt is even more ignorant on the subject than I am), which means I'd have to be the GM/DM even if I did do that. I know it would be the best course of action, that's obvious, but if that was an option to me why would I be asking for a play-by-post in the first place?

At this point, I am going to go with "Because you are scared of interacting with real people."


I know players normally don't like games that require you to spend hours making a character, or adding together a huge number of dice (even though there are games that do these things).

Clearly you know nothing if you think there is such a thing as "normally" in this hobby. :P Especially when the biggest games on the market DO take quite a while to make characters in and many other popular ones can involve huge piles of dice.


People also normally despise insanely complex rpgs,

Yeah, everyone hates 3.5/Pathfinder/4E. That's why they're dead and no one is playing them. /Where'sMyBlueText.

Everything you open your virtual mouth, you just convince everyone here that you think you know way more than you do.

Do yourself a favor and go actually play some games before trying to talk about them.

xBlackWolfx
2014-04-18, 11:34 AM
Heh, and the sole reason I actually LIKED with this site was bc of the lack of trolls. Now, I've blocked half the ppl who have posted on it.

Forget this ****, I'm never ever going to play a play-by-post on this site of all places, or any forum in general. I can't think of a single forum now where I DIDN'T encounter a ****-ton of trolls.

Jenrock
2014-04-18, 11:44 AM
Before you completely abandon us BlackWolf, Here is a free quick start to a game that requires 1 player and 1 GM (http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/127458/Scarlet-Heroes-Quickstart?term=Scarlet+Heroes+) and Here is a site with so freakin' many free rpgs that, if buying games is an obstacle, you can still be set for life. (http://1km1kt.net+)

In fairness to the so-called "trolls," (I disagree with your use of the term, but I'll use it anyway), you are being a little aggressive about a hobby we all hold dear. So dear, in fact, that we come to this exact forum to discuss it, joke about it, and make it better as a community. We'd like you to be a part of this community, but that's your call.

Rhynn
2014-04-18, 11:58 AM
Pssssh. Could be way worse. Let me quote my friends and me, age about 14:

[...]

We immediately wrote the worst combat system ever. Three days later, we had the idea to use dice and it felt like the greatest revelation since the invention of the wheel.

This is the true old-school way! :smallcool:

Amphetryon
2014-04-18, 12:05 PM
Heh, and the sole reason I actually LIKED with this site was bc of the lack of trolls. Now, I've blocked half the ppl who have posted on it.

Forget this ****, I'm never ever going to play a play-by-post on this site of all places, or any forum in general. I can't think of a single forum now where I DIDN'T encounter a ****-ton of trolls.

I'm extremely confused.

Airk
2014-04-18, 12:09 PM
Heh, and the sole reason I actually LIKED with this site was bc of the lack of trolls. Now, I've blocked half the ppl who have posted on it.

While I'm probably on the block list, because I lack tolerance for people who say one thing and do another, I should point out that you might want to think long and hard about why this happened instead of just blaming all of these other people. After all, there must be some reason why a bunch of people from diverse backgrounds who often get into heated arguments with one another on this very topic ALL decided to tell you that you were wrong.



Forget this ****, I'm never ever going to play a play-by-post on this site of all places, or any forum in general. I can't think of a single forum now where I DIDN'T encounter a ****-ton of trolls.

It's really hard for me to resist linking to a particular demotivational poster here.

Eldan
2014-04-18, 12:12 PM
He's right, though. I have the distinct impression that there is at least one troll involved in this thread.

Rhynn
2014-04-18, 12:14 PM
It's really hard for me to resist linking to a particular demotivational poster here.

I will heatedly argue about whether that is the most appropriate demotivational poster for the situation!


He's right, though. I have the distinct impression that there is at least one troll involved in this thread.

:smallbiggrin:

Anxe
2014-04-18, 12:52 PM
He's right, though. I have the distinct impression that there is at least one troll involved in this thread.

That's what I was thinking. Fun to read though!

NikitaDarkstar
2014-04-18, 04:30 PM
What? We never get into arguments on this site! Never!


EDIT: So I have an awesome poster for this... but further consideration makes me realize I don't feel like getting smacked around by a mod today.