25-01-2005 11:35									#1
	ADnD Help yourself to an AD-FREE life

Anybody here played it before, or actively play it?

I just started the beginners version this weekend with some friends. The DM and myself were the only two REALLY into it, but I htought it was teh w00t!.

Anybody got any handy tips, tricks, or strategies, or even general DnD discussion would be nice.

	25-01-2005 14:40									#2
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I used to play 1st Edition with family until we moved apart.

	25-01-2005 14:55									#3
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On a certain other side that shall remain nameless, we play a modified version of 1st ed. AD&D.

	25-01-2005 17:39									#4
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quote: Originally posted by bipolarbear Anybody got any handy tips, tricks, or strategies, or even general DnD discussion would be nice.

I have a tip for you: ROLEPLAY!

It's only fun going round and collecting stuff for a very short time, and if your approach solely concerns getting a bigger and better sword/suit of armour/pair of magic trousers/house/ego every time your characters adventure, then you'll get very bored very quickly and either go off roleplaying altogether, or grow up and start to enjoy your different characters.
It's great having an elven wizard and a dwarven fighter in your party, because they're going to be pretty useful when the bad guys turn up, but it's even better having them in the party if they're both roleplaying properly, because they'll bicker all the time and make snide comments about one another. Besides, who says that you aren't the bad guys yourselves? You can have very very different games if your present the same character to different people and then encourage them to inhabit it because they'll play in different ways. Try to take different types of character in different adventures because you'll expand your range. It will turn out boring for everyone if all your characters are identikit human barbarians or whatever. So mix things around!
Good luck!
You've just started on what can be a very entertaining, highly rewarding hobby and I wish you the best in your adventures. As long as you don't take it personally when your character dies, or is robbed by another party memeber then it'll be fine. Remember it's just a game and enjoy yourselves.

	25-01-2005 20:21									#5
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I have played in a 3 and a 3.5 game and had a lot of fun in both (they were better than the GURPS and Paladium games I played) (but honestly the GURPS was only a singleshot so maybe I am not judging it right)

Jon Miller

	25-01-2005 21:10									#6
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Biggest tip: don't piss off the DM.

	25-01-2005 21:19									#7
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A healthy, cynical attitude towards them is recommended though.

	25-01-2005 21:26									#8
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It sounds like we're talking about the old-fashioned, round-the-table, pencils-&-dice game here. After more years than I should probably admit to, I still play in a modified 1st ed game, when I can find the time between job, wife, and child. To my mind, tricks, tips, and strategies are secondary. I agree with duke o' york here: roleplay. Sure, it's fun to squash the orcs and to grab that Teakettle +2. But the real fun is in the playing. Sure the group will bicker and make some snide comments towards each other. As long as the bickering doesn't turn too ugly, that's part of it.

I usually try to balance the group out. While it can be fun to play, for example, a whole troupe of wizards-in-training, most well-balanced campaigns will require some muscle, some magic, some healing, and some outright thievery. Don't take it personally when a character dies. And, sooner or later, it will be necessary for that Lawful Good Paladin to stay behind and fight, and probably die, so that the rest of the party, and the Helpless Princess that they've rescued, can escape.

And don't be a DM that judges the success of a module by the body count. If you rack up corpses too fast, you'll lose all of your players eventually. Make the modules challenging, not impossible.

So that's my two-cents worth. . .

	25-01-2005 21:29									#9
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quote: Originally posted by joncha Biggest tip: don't piss off the DM.

Corollary: If you do happen to piss one off, try bribery. Pizza appears to be the currency of choice.

	25-01-2005 22:10									#10
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Welcome to the world of REAL gaming.

D&D > *

Oh, and we play a modified version of D&D on xxxx but if we get any more players we'll need to start another (4th?) party.

-Jam

Last edited by Jamski on 25-01-2005 at 23:14

	25-01-2005 22:14									#11
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*cough*

I believe you're referring to "a certain other side that shall remain nameless", Jamski?

	25-01-2005 22:39									#12
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I shall edit that url

	26-01-2005 00:52									#13
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quote: Originally posted by Kassiopeia A healthy, cynical attitude towards them is recommended though.

especially DMs with characters

JM

	26-01-2005 01:48									#14
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as much as I know about D&D, most of it comes from computer games . I did play a little as a kid. But I only had 1 friend that was into it. I usually DM'd. But I wasn't that great a DM. I let him talk me into all sorts of ****. Needless to say, he was a pretty powerful cleric.

I generally prefer to play rather than DM, but could never find a DM. I didn't play much D&D as a kid. And I think I'm too old to play that today.

	26-01-2005 03:53									#15
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Nonsense. All the D&D players I know are in the 25-40 age bracket.

-Jam

	26-01-2005 04:43									#16
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quote: Originally posted by Jamski Nonsense. All the D&D players I know are in the 25-40 age bracket. -Jam

I'd play if there were any other geeks in town. For now I've had to resort to CRPGs and The Dungeon of You-know-where.

	26-01-2005 08:41									#17
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You-know-where

	26-01-2005 09:50									#18
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Dissident, Jamski's right.

Although with the new 'boxed editions' the game is being marketed to youngsters again, so the hobby is youthening.

A good site for Dungeons and Dragons advice is: http://www.wizards.com/dnd although the sheer wealth of material can be overwhelming sometimes.

Myself, I've been playing since 1999. 2nd ed, 3rd ed, 3.5- I've played them all (Never had a chance to do 1st ed though)

Tips? Well, for the DM- Don't waste time on rules. Put a note to look up complicated things later, but make a house rule for the time (if you waste too much time researchign things during play- it bogs down the game)

Players- know what your feats, spells do AHEAD of time, don't waste people's time looking up things in-game.

DM- don't be afraid to make up sh**.

And now let's all roll the d20...

	26-01-2005 10:50									#19
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My comment:

Once you've had enough with D&D for the day, and particularly if you have people upset at each other for something stupid, make sure you have the following game handy:

"Munchkin", by Steve Jackson (GURPS dude)... a card game RPG that's entirely funny Basically just a card game that makes fun of RPGs, but it's hilarious and can break up bad humours all around. Cheap (not a CCG, just a one-shot buy, unless you want more exps.) - and highly expandable so you can end up being more into it than the actual RPG

	26-01-2005 17:43									#20
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In Munchkin I once got to level 10 (Thus winning) while all the other players were still level one.
It wasn't a short game either.

	26-01-2005 21:16									#21
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quote: Originally posted by Kassiopeia I'd play if there were any other geeks in town. For now I've had to resort to CRPGs and The Dungeon of You-know-where.

I agree that there are a lot of gamers in the 25-40 age group. They're just hard to find. The problem is that we geeks can be tough to spot. As some of you may recall, back in the 80's, there was a big backlash against D&D, accusations of devil-worship, drug use, etc., and gamers learned very quickly that it was just easier to hide the fact that we played D&D. If you asked a gamer what his hobbies were, the answer was "I read. . . a lot." That's a hard habit to break after all these years.

	26-01-2005 22:21									#22
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Well, I saw the guy on the next desk to mine in the office reading a MERP sourcebook and that was a clue

-Jam

	27-01-2005 00:08									#23
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quote: Originally posted by GameGeek I agree that there are a lot of gamers in the 25-40 age group. They're just hard to find. The problem is that we geeks can be tough to spot. As some of you may recall, back in the 80's, there was a big backlash against D&D, accusations of devil-worship, drug use, etc., and gamers learned very quickly that it was just easier to hide the fact that we played D&D. If you asked a gamer what his hobbies were, the answer was "I read. . . a lot." That's a hard habit to break after all these years.

My town has 6500 people, rest assured, if there were any others interested in D&D here, I'd know.

	27-01-2005 01:25									#24
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what is a good one to play?

I find all the power gaming that often occurs in 3.5 to be annoying

I like Sci Fi stuff, and I like Tolkien stuff (pre3rd age tolkien would be best)

I don't like broken systems (Palladium, I am looking at you)

Jon Miller

	27-01-2005 01:29									#25
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to be fair, I think some of my problem with AD&D is that I and another guy (who was in incredible power gamer, he would come up with ways with prestige classes and the like to get ~20 some attacks) knew the rules far better than the GM

take that and the fact that the other guy was a huge power gamer, and I am a bit of one (and another guy, who knew the rules as good as the GM was a bit of one as well) and everyone was taking fancy classes and prestige classes and the like to be way more powerful than just some standard character

Jon Miller

	27-01-2005 03:03									#26
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quote: Originally posted by Kassiopeia My town has 6500 people, rest assured, if there were any others interested in D&D here, I'd know.

Card in a newsagents window works wonders, I've heard.

-Jam

	27-01-2005 03:31									#27
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quote: Originally posted by Jamski Card in a newsagents window works wonders, I've heard. -Jam

No newsagents in Finland , but I get the general idea. Thing is, people below 30 ~never read bulletin boards for anything over here (I don't even know where the closest one is, at the school prolly). Another thing is that there aren't any people between 20 and 30 here, they are all off studying in a bigger city like I'll be. I'd know all the people even slightly inclined to D&D, because I've went to the same school with the same people for 12 years - all the children in this town fit to the same school building.

In other words, I'd know. There was a batch of cool guys who probably played D&D, but they were two years older than me, and while I don't know about England, here the difference between being 16 and 18 is massive, interested in D&D or not.

Damn it, let me whine in peace.

Edit: OOh, and don't even get me started on the fact that you can't get the books in print form anywhere here, not even in English. I'd probably have to place a special order to a specialised shop in Helsinki, which would cost way too much to be worth it. (I suppose I could "acquire" the materials, read the .pdfs on the screen and print the parts you need to have at hand.)

	27-01-2005 03:37									#28
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quote: Originally posted by Kassiopeia My town has 6500 people, rest assured, if there were any others interested in D&D here, I'd know.

My hometown was just about that size, so I don't doubt that at all.

	27-01-2005 04:08									#29
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quote: Originally posted by Jon Miller what is a good one to play? I find all the power gaming that often occurs in 3.5 to be annoying I like Sci Fi stuff, and I like Tolkien stuff (pre3rd age tolkien would be best) I don't like broken systems (Palladium, I am looking at you) Jon Miller

Well, a "good one to play" is awfully subjective, but here's my take on a variey of games:

AD&D - Always a great standby: basic, but fun. This is what I've been playing (1st ed) for about the past year and a half.

Shadowrun - a very good setting with the potential to be a number-crunching nightmare in terms of game systems, especially in 3rd ed. I ran a 1st ed campaign for a couple of years.

Rifts (by Palladium) - another good setting setting, but, while I've only played this one once or twice, the system seems to suffer from the same number-crunching hazard as Shadowrun, and also seems to have a huge power gap between one character class and another (e.g. compare the 1st level Rogue to the 1st level full-conversion cyborg or dragon).

Vampire/Mage/Werewolf/Changeling - I like the systems in the Storyteller series (again, without having played them much), as it appears to be really flexible and easy to learn. I've listed the games in the order I'd rank the settings. I think each game has one modern setting and one past-era one, medieval, wild west, etc.

Gamma World - very fun, but only if you get the right gamemaster. Easy to get the mood all wrong and totally hose a campaign from the gm's perspective.

Tales from the Floating Vagabond - sort of cartoonish and amusing. Probably not great for an extended campaign, but a great break from something more serious.

	27-01-2005 05:03									#30
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quote: I find all the power gaming that often occurs in 3.5 to be annoying

Jon I try not to blame the game for harboring jackasses (my definition of powergamers- sorry, it's nothing personal- but they ruin the game for roleplayers and people like myself by forcing the DM to create harder to kill monsters just to satisfy that ONE player- in games, I would do 5 damage a turn when my friends were doing 20-40... that just wasn't fun Then I became the DM and tried to even out things a bit- but the powergamers are annoying whiners.)

However, I wouldn't blame the game for things like that- if the DM knows what he's doing, he won't allow things like that- or at least will try to mitigate it.

Personally, I create underpowered but fun RPG characters when I play (which is why I don't play- I DM.) but no one else seems to care

---
A game that really limits powergaming, I understand is: Mage: The Ascension (only played it 3 times)...