Dungeons and Dragons: Official TL Thread - Page 7
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United States10328 Posts
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DONTPANIC
United States340 Posts
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Falcynn
United States3597 Posts
Edit: Also the reason I'm kind of hesitant on the set in the link is that there are six of us, and that set specifies 1-5 players. | ||
OoFuzer
Chile436 Posts
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DoctorHelvetica
United States15034 Posts
Other great tabletop games: Dark Heresy (If you're into Warhammer) Shadowrun (cyberpunk) Cthulu D20 I suppose 4E is alright for complete beginners to tabletop games but it's not a great system. They overcomplicated combat and made the books focus way more on the adventuring/combat element of the game rather than the roleplaying and DM Creativity. If you can't find the 3E or 3.5 books and some dice at a better price then you might as well get this I suppose. The Pathfinder game is an updated version of D&D 3.5 without the stuff that makes a lot of gamers hate 4E: http://www.d20pfsrd.com/ Really good SRD/Online stuff for that. Having a physical book is best of course though and if you enjoy tabletop I highly recommend going back to an earlier edition, checking out some different games that are available that aren't D&D derivatives, and getting yourself a battle mat. The battle mat is one of the best tools for a DM/tabletop group to have: http://chessex.com/mats/Battlemats_MegamatsReversible.htm Wet erase vinyl grid maps (1 sq = 5sq ft in game). Use the water soluble markers to essentially draw the game world on the mat quickly. Quickest and easiest way to draw rooms/obstacles/etc and they're very portable and easy to clean. | ||
Falcynn
United States3597 Posts
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DoctorHelvetica
United States15034 Posts
Tabletop RPG's need a game master. This is the person who roleplays the part of all NPC's, describes and maps out the environments, and has complete control over the game world. Essentially the GM is the game that the players are playing. Because it is not a video game with preset environments and algorithms that determine what happens in the game world, the GM must describe the environments and determine what occurs in the world on his own. I recommend looking for pre-made adventures written by professionals or by very talented writers/DM's to start with. If you're interested in DMing learn as much as you can from them. The DM tools you get from a DM guide are things like: wealth tables (how much money/value should your players get from an encounter) experience tables random encounter tables combat modifiers (weather/environment mods) lists of traps, magic weapons, treasures, events, adventure hooks, etc. lots and lots of random generator tables (generate an NPC, generate a town, generate a dungeon, etc.) advice from professionals Once you get a feel for mechanics and balance and what your players like you can go outside the premade stuff and create your own settings, storylines, items, monsters, etc. If you print everything I would organize it into different sections, perhaps in binders. Label one as "PLAYER INFORMATION" or Player's Handbook, whatever you want that should include (exclude all the 3rd party material to keep things simple): Basics & Ability Scores Alignment & Description Races Classes (just include Core and Base classes for now) Feats Traits Equipment Magic Then make a separate folder/binder for the DM and include: Gamemastering Magic Items Also separate out the Beastiary. This contains all the stats for the various monsters that will be encountered. http://www.d20pfsrd.com/extras/pathfinder-compatible-modules-and-adventures Has a list of adventures that are compatible with the pathfinder system. I recommend running one of these for a level 1 party. http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/oa/20030530b&page=1 These adventures are very easy to adapt to the pathfinder system as it is mostly based on D&D 3.5. I recommend picking this book up though: http://www.amazon.com/Pathfinder-Roleplaying-Game-GameMastery-Guide/dp/160125217X/ref=pd_vtp_b_5 or http://www.amazon.com/Dungeon-Masters-Guide-Rulebook-Dungeons/dp/0786928891/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1329087193&sr=1-1 Again, Pathfinder is based on D&D 3.5 and this will give you a lot of useful intangible information about the art of DMing rather than things like all the tables/lists which you can simply find free online. It's a bit difficult for an entire group of noobs to run a game by themselves, it's overwhelming for someone who has never played before to DM a game or even totally get the concept. Most games shops have D&D groups that play there regularly and some participate and some participate in RPGA which is a Wizard run sort of organization for shared D&D campaigns. This is the easiest way to jump into a game with an experience GM. http://www.wizards.com/DnD/Events.aspx will look up events in your area. If you're interested in finding a group or a GM you can try http://www.meetup.com as well. To finally answer your last question: D&D is a game of imagination. You need as much as is helpful to you. Dice, paper, and having the rules on hand are pretty essential in my opinion. Miniatures, mats, and other things are very helpful especially to new players but are not completely needed. I've played D&D with army men on graph paper and it was fine. Look on ebay or amazon for a good cheap set with tons of bundled dice. Don't buy into the fancy flashy dice that cost 30 dollars for one set, DwarvenWorkshop or whatever sells dice that cost like 35 bucks just for gold speckles and the color designs. So shop around and always look to see what you can find used or online first. Good luck with your first session! | ||
DoctorHelvetica
United States15034 Posts
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Falcynn
United States3597 Posts
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nanoscorp
United States1237 Posts
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Cuddle
Sweden1345 Posts
I want to define the level of the encounter and how many players are in the party and I want to know how much loot I should give them (I think this is in the DMG) but I also want to randomize the specifics of the loot. | ||
DoctorHelvetica
United States15034 Posts
On March 10 2012 17:39 Cuddle wrote: Hey, something I'm really missing in 4ed is the random loot generator. Does anyone know of a good way of doing this? I want to define the level of the encounter and how many players are in the party and I want to know how much loot I should give them (I think this is in the DMG) but I also want to randomize the specifics of the loot. http://www.asmor.com/scripts/4eMagicItems/randomTreasure.php | ||
DnameIN
Poland146 Posts
Anyway, don't get me wrong. Everyone have their own favorites. I am really glad there are some players that still are able to play that kind of games (no matter the system). I think they shaped me more then anything else in my youth. Without them I would propably be different person atm. | ||
DoctorHelvetica
United States15034 Posts
I think the biggest issue with D&D now (and what makes AD&D superior) is the lack of focus on storytelling/role play and the focus on MMORPG like perks/minmaxing and combat. People worry about making the strongest character and not the best narrative in my experience, it's backwards. I think it's just how the video game generation thinks. | ||
Cuddle
Sweden1345 Posts
On March 10 2012 17:48 DoctorHelvetica wrote: http://www.asmor.com/scripts/4eMagicItems/randomTreasure.php I love you, thank you so much! | ||
unnar
Iceland211 Posts
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Cuddle
Sweden1345 Posts
On March 11 2012 07:34 unnar wrote: Hey me and my friends were looking out to try playing this i was wondering if anyone has links and some info how to get started out playing and what to buy etc. Look at the top of this page, you'll find some solid advice there. | ||
entropius
United States1046 Posts
I've been DM'ing for 10 years or so (3rd and 3.5, and most recently Pathfinder). IMO this system is far superior to 4th edition, which feels like World of Warcraft with dice. 3rd edition is flexible enough to have epic storytelling moments. You probably want Pathfinder or 3.5 Edition: Pathfinder is a community-made "revision" of 3.5. New DM's and players should probably start with a prewritten adventure as a starting point. Some of the old ones are very very fine. You are always free to embellish as much as you want, but just starting out it's sometimes hard to know how to design combat encounters and monsters and so on. Let someone else do the work, and you can focus on storytelling and bringing the world to life. A couple of good ones to start with might be Sunless Citadel and The Forge of Fury for 3.5; I don't know about Pathfinder, although the adventures are cross-compatible since the rules don't change that much. The great granddaddy of 3.5 adventures, and one which I highly recommend if you are ambitious, is Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil. It is an awesome balance between exploration, puzzle-solving, roleplaying, and fucking awesome combat. You don't need to buy lots of stuff. There is the Player's Handbook, which you need a couple of copies of; the DM's Guide, of which you need one, and the Monster Manual, which you will want one copy of, plus maybe a second if you have a druid PC. All of the information is online, though -- see http://www.d20srd.org/ (3.5 edition) or http://www.d20pfsrd.com/ (Pathfinder). The best thing that you and your players can do is to read adventure logs to get a feeling for how D&D plays, and the sorts of awesome things that can happen. The best one I know of is Andorax's log from Return to the Temple, which lives at http://www.zansforcans.net/page21/5/573_1.html. (DO NOT READ THIS if you are going to be a player, not a DM, in this adventure!) Note that this is on an archive site -- to change pages you have to go back to the main page and select another page, not use the links on each page itself. The most epic moment from mine: + Show Spoiler + In Return to the Temple, the players explore the crater of a dormant volcano that's filled with water, with an island in the center. The rim of the crater is full of mining tunnels, and in those tunnels are four temples devoted to the evil aspects of the classical elements. It turns out that they're all actually working for Tharizdun, who is a Lovecraftian deity of madness, entropy, and annihilation: the higher-ups, the clerics of Tharizdun and their strongest lieutenants, are on an island in the middle. There are four doors, one for each element, that lead inside the island; there are three bridges across the lake. (Water doesn't have a bridge, for obvious reasons.) To get in, you need a key attuned to that element. They figure this out while they're traveling through the mines and slaughtering the residents of the elemental temples. By the time they decide to head to the island (called the Outer Fane), they've got the Fire, Air, and Water Keys, and are ready -- after a year and a half of real time! -- to go down a bridge. They choose Fire. It's a quarter-mile span with a 20-foot-wide door at the end. There are flying sentries, so they cross the bridge under cover of invisibility. They don't use their sorcerer's clairvoyance spell to peek on the other side of the door, or use any protection from fire spells -- they just open the door. Bad idea. The door takes three rounds to lower slowly, and once it does, they see ... a giant pile of coins with a depression in the middle. The party's rogue, who's fallen victim to a curse that makes her greedy and evil, gets googly eyes -- but her reverie is broken when their world turns into an inferno. Turns out all this loot belongs to Chymon, an elephant-sized red dragon (a relatively small one), who has been recruited as a guard for the Fire Door. (Dragons are quite rare in D&D, but they are Serious Fucking Business.) She heard them coming (dragons have fantastic hearing), and cast invisibility on herself when she saw the door starting to lower. The PC's failed their Listen check to hear the spellcasting over the grating door. Once the door lowered, Chymon used her dragon breath -- an absolutely devastating attack, for 12d10 damage. I'd squirreled away a dozen ten-siders in advance, and tossed them all on the table; the PC's had never seen such a ridiculous damage roll before. Against blast attacks you get a Reflex "save" for half damage. The party's sorceress fails and goes from full health to DEAD in one shot. The remaining party members (6 of them) fight Chymon, both of them taking damage ... but the party has nobody who can withstand her for long at close range for more than a round. She's roaring and bellowing, and some of the other Temple guards and residents come to see what is going on. Two dark elves -- who it turns out are ambassadors, and who are cruel and twisted folk -- just come out of their rooms to watch the fun. The party's monk takes a swing at one of the clerics, who uses a touch spell that has the potential to insta-kill ... but keeps whiffing against the agile monk with it. Worse than that are a number of elite ogre guards who come charging out, and a cleric wearing a symbol of Tharizdun comes charging in in full plate armor with a mace. We have two PC's dead at this point, nobody above 40% HP, and the monk and sword-wielding ranger are cut off from everyone else at the back of the room. Finally Chymon gets low enough that she has to flee, flying out of her lair and out of sight over the lake, but the party is pretty clearly going to get overwhelmed. The cleric of Tharizdun has been clumsily trying to bash the monk with his mace, and in doing so knocked two wands with little scraps of parchment wound around them. So the monk and ranger are cut off. Everyone else runs away, with the rogue -- who picks this moment to show her true, corrupted colors (because of a cursed item she wound up with) in some brilliant roleplaying -- chucks the corpse of the sorceress into the lake. Having nothing else to turn to, and the ogres and the drow fighting them and more reinforcements on the way, the monk picks up one of those wands that the cleric of Tharizdun knocked off his belt. The scrap of paper has "Break this. Say darkness" hastily scribbled on it. Unsure of what to do and out of options, she does... and is teleported somewhere. Upon seeing his companion disappear, the ranger figures anywhere is better than here and dives for the other one. They appear in a small bedroom, lit by a peculiar violet glow coming from gemstones scattered around the room. They can hear the ogres bellowing from what sounds like a few hundred feet away through the door, so they know they're nearby. There are some violet robes hanging from a peg (violet is Tharizdun's color), along with a crystal ball covered with a cloth. They had been being periodically scried (possibly by a crystal ball) for a while -- is this who'd been doing it? Perhaps they've just gone from the frying pan into the fire. They are terrified to leave while all the guards are still running around, so they stay put -- both are seriously injured, the ranger is strength-drained a bit by magic, and they'd not do so well in a fight. With nothing else to do while they wait for whatever is going to kill them to come back and do it, they keep searching the room. The monk (a half-elf) sticks her hand under the mattress, and feels something metallic. She pulls it out. It's a silver emblem of the crescent moon... ... the symbol of the (good-aligned) elven god Corellon. Apparently not everyone in here is against them! After about fifteen minutes the resident of the room -- Varachan, the mace-wielding cleric of "Tharizdun" comes back, and reveals that he's now looking to take down the cult, having had a stroke of remorse and guilt, and has been watching their progress for a while with his crystal ball. He can't fight: he's got no spells since he no longer worships Tharizdun in truth, but has hidden this from everyone else in the cult. But he tells them what the cult is up to, and it's *far* worse than they had thought... and they're closer to achieving it than they'd believed. | ||
unnar
Iceland211 Posts
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Wrongspeedy
United States1655 Posts
On March 10 2012 20:21 DoctorHelvetica wrote: So you hate the D20 system? I think the biggest issue with D&D now (and what makes AD&D superior) is the lack of focus on storytelling/role play and the focus on MMORPG like perks/minmaxing and combat. People worry about making the strongest character and not the best narrative in my experience, it's backwards. I think it's just how the video game generation thinks. Thats the easy way to play D&D -_-. Roleplaying takes a lot of things that pure number crunching won't. I was more of a numbers player myself. But I understood that you should build a character from the personality up, its just that my roleplaying skills weren't as good as my ability to maximize a character. I think its a much harder aspect of D&D, takes time how to learn to roleplay well, usually what happens is a person learns how to roleplay one type of character and they just stick to that over and over. Actually learning to develop your own characters personalities and act them out correctly is the hardest part about the game. I've been lucky that most of my experience with roleplaying games has been with really experienced roleplayers or people who are professional actors. So it was obvious to me what they were doing, why they were doing things. But at the same time, being that way yourself is not easy. Its much easier to act out on your own personality than your characters . The best way to get most people into the game is also from a purely #'s perspective, thats probably why so many people skip the roleplaying aspect. I like 3.5 ed my self. But I also like Champions, L5R d10, Cyberpunk, Deadlands, Cthullu, pretty much every genre of Roleplaying game. | ||
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