I don't get it...

[electric_wizard]

I'm afraid that I've never really played a PnP RPG and I don't really understand how it's supposed to work. Am I right in saying that you have a 'dungeon master' who just makes up a story and decides what happens to people? How does that actually work as a game?

[theotherhiveking]

The dungeon master is the 'engine' he decides if a player finds a trap in a door or if a monster suddently appears, same with loot.

Each players take the role of his character, so if the player opens a door, the DM decides if it is trapped, and then decides (or maybe it is already set) the number that the player should get in the dice to evade it.

So, I open a door, but the DM says "You try to open the door, but it is stuck" then you kick the door, and..

"The door suddently opens and you see a blue fireball coming straight to you"

Then the DM can say.

"You must get a 5 in the dices to evade the fireball"

So if you get a 6 the DM can tell you the following:

You aren't fast enough to completely evade it, the fireball its you in your hand, you lose your sword and your gloves are burning your skin, you are unable to use it for 4 turns.

So you should take off gloves, wield other weapon with the other hand. /or find the sword after it gets cold again if it hasnt been destroyed or if it is still usable.

[electric_wizard]

I guess that makes sense...

Don't think it's for me though, I'll stick to computerised Dungeon Masters!

[theotherhiveking]

I guess that makes sense...

Don't think it's for me though, I'll stick to computerised Dungeon Masters!

Human dungeon masters are better to enjoy a good game, as they can make up a look of weird situations and other things that would requiere a stupid amount of work to get with a AI.

To play a computer rpg you only have to click the binary.. (or the main script if it is writen in java or in python)

Sadly, it is not that easy to start a game with real people.

[Nearsighted]

Meh... PnP has always had waaay too much manual computing for my taste. I don't like having to take the time to roll forty of fifty dice sixty or seventy times every one event. Just too slow, I guess. Maybe if I'd been drinking, or something...

[spectre]

Well, in my experience PnP gaming was more about being a social event: you and a coupla friends, you could have a beer, you could watch a film, instead you make up a story for yourselves.

Computer-based role playing as a solitary activity is simply a different thing.


@ Nearsighted - many people think the same way you do, game mechanics can be cumbersome if there are way too many rolls & tables & calculations.
That's why some people choose to reduce the number of number-crunching to the minimum in their plays, rolling only when something important is about to be decided.
That's also probably why diceless RPGs were invented. And yeah, drinking helps most of the time (-:

[Worst Player... ever]

Meh... PnP has always had waaay too much manual computing for my taste. I don't like having to take the time to roll forty of fifty dice sixty or seventy times every one event. Just too slow, I guess. Maybe if I'd been drinking, or something...

That's a big part of why I got out of PnP, too. In 1st edition D&D every player knew the special features of each character class, each spell, and gaming was quick because the underlying rules were kept basic. When you told someone, 'I'm running a 6th level thief', it didn't matter if they were in your campaign or not... they generally had a great idea of what you were running.

As soon as they started making fruity character class types and combinations and specializations, I was done. It added too many rules and dice rolls and min/maxing. All that ruined the play for me.

I sound old and ornery, don't I?

[theotherhiveking]

That's a big part of why I got out of PnP, too. In 1st edition D&D every player knew the special features of each character class, each spell, and gaming was quick because the underlying rules were kept basic. When you told someone, 'I'm running a 6th level thief', it didn't matter if they were in your campaign or not... they generally had a great idea of what you were running.

As soon as they started making fruity character class types and combinations and specializations, I was done. It added too many rules and dice rolls and min/maxing. All that ruined the play for me.

I sound old and ornery, don't I?

No.. or maybe yes.. i can't hear you...

I prefer to play simple games.. making it too complex ruins the play.

[kala]

I think adom as a pnp can have something that curent pnp cant offer.. or atleast I cant think of any game where the GM can say "Its a room filled with green quotation marks and one red capital D sleeping in the corner" .. so that the players can actually get the meaning

[spectre]

That would have been.... experimental (-:

You hit the yellow capital O with full force, burying your paranethesis up to the hilt. He gurgles and collapses with a thud into a bloody, crumpled yelow percent signt to the ground.