D&d

[Space05us]

Ive heard great things about it, how back in the day it was the game, and practicaly all RPGs nowadays claim to be based on it, but Ive never played it before

So how is it played anyway? Can it be a one player game? Or do you need other people to play too? Does it have a board, or is it 'pen&paper' (and what exactly does pen&paper mean?)? Is it worth buying?

there, I've confessed my sins. Please have mercy on my soul

also what does the 'A' in AD&D stand for?

[centrifuge]

I haven't played since about 1987, and the rules have changed quite a bit since then. ...but I'll try to answer some of your questions.

1. I't's pen and paper. Meaning you create your world and characters on paper and in your mind, based on the the many, many rules and the mind of "the dungeon master" who is the guy that plays"god", so to speak. Dice are used for to determine the outcome of battles and other events.

2. The A stands for advanced :Advanced dungeons and dragons, There used to be a "simplified version of it" don't know if there still is. Though simplified isn't a good word, it just had slightly different rules, and not as many books.

3. You can't play single player, and usually you would want at least 3 players. 1 "dungeon master", an 2 "adventurers"

4. By it if you are interested, but only if you can spend the time and have others that would be interested. I personally, prefer the PC versions these days, as I've "grown out" of the original.

One good thing about D&D is that it gets kids to read, which is a major benefit. If they start to play they want to learn more and more about it, which can make some kids who aren't very interested in reading do so. As for me, it led me to a strong interest in mythology in my younger days, so I began to read a lot of history and mythology books that weren't D&D related.

[centrifuge]

Oh and if you do intend to buy it, don't expect to be able to buy 1 package and have the entire game. The game spans dozens of books, though not all are needed to play.

[Space05us]

One good thing about D&D is that it gets kids to read, which is a major benefit.

thats actually why I was asking about it. I prefer a good book to any computer or video game but I hate how you can only 'watch' what happens in a book. (I had an idea that there was reading involved since Ive seen tons of books for it, and guessed you wouldnt need that many instruction manuals )

You can't play single player, and usually you would want at least 3 players. 1 "dungeon master", an 2 "adventurers"

well there goes that idea. People up here dont even like playing a good rpg on computers or consoles they say its too dumb (guess what I think of them)

I personally, prefer the PC versions these days

what are the PC versions? or do you mean all of the games that are "based" on it?

[Standup]

I started playing around 1979 with the blue Basic D+D book but i haven't played much over the last few years.

Essentially you need a group of people - we had around 15 but people would drift in and out and a lot of spare time was needed. The best bit i found was not the actual combat but the roleplaying of your character. For this you want interesting people (does that sound harsh ?) The run around killing things and getting powerful wanes after a while.

You can do it all with a bit of imagination and some paper to keep stats on but i think most people ended up using miniature figures, floorplans, maps etc

There use to be Basic D+D, Expert D+D and Advance but i don't know if that;s still the case. If you want to play then you'll probably want the Player's Handbook, Dungeon Master's Guide and the Monster Manual as a starting point (well it was circa 1985).

I too prefer the PC version now mainly because i don't have the time to play a proper campaign, the save function makes it easy to pick up where you let off and at the local D+D club everyone was half my age !! The only downside to PC version is that the ability to actually role play is very limited.

[centrifuge]

Originally posted by Space05us

what are the PC versions? or do you mean all of the games that are "based" on it?

Meaning, Baldur's gate, Icewind Dale and others

[General Ludd]

Get neverwinter nights, look up some people who're into roleplaying and real D&D fans, and play multiplayer. ALFA is one group to consider.


Or, there are also communities of players that play Pen and Paper style through IRC chats, or even email. I don't know of any personally, though.

[Space05us]

multiplayer

yeah I could play the slug!!!

I cant MP anything over the net. I once tried BF'42 on the net and I kept getting killed by my own teamates. Ive also tried to play Warcraft and they asked me kindly to leave cause I was "****ing everything up" but they asked kindly. I also tried America's Army, they kept booting me out.

On the other hand I can play MUDs and Ultima Online (not on the official shards though, too laggy) But they get boring really quickly, the muds are either too small or crappily cut and pasted together and all of the UO shards Ive found are either too laggy or have really crappy features that ruin the gameplay.

[General Ludd]

That still leaves the IRC / email D&D.

[quantum_mechani]

Hmm... I have been trying to get into a multiplayer RPG as well (either online or IRL) but havn't been able to for exactly the reasons Space05us described.

[centrifuge]

Originally posted by Osweld
Get neverwinter nights

I don't have it yet, but from what I know of it it's probably the closest to pen and paper DnD, because of the fact that modules can be made for it. Appareently there are a lot of decent single player modules as well.

[Elias]

Personally I hate never winter nights but im a huge fan of baulders gate. im only 15 and started playing D&D a couple of years ago. If you do play i highly reccomend geting a good dungon master if you do the game can see much more livley and you will get a lot more instreted in it. my problems with D&D though are i havent had a good dm for a long time my friends always talk about starting a really cool campagne that we will actually do more then make charachters for then we will play twice and that will be the end of it. The dm must also love being dm other wise he will likely end the campagne before eveyone elso wants to. But for the most part when i play its usualy just an excuse to get togther with my friends and make sick jokes for a couple of hours.

[Jamski]

Get neverwinter nights

YES! Then you can play the Dungeon of Apolyton ! Release sometime next week !

[/blatant advert]

-Jam

[General Ludd]

Originally posted by centrifuge



I don't have it yet, but from what I know of it it's probably the closest to pen and paper DnD, because of the fact that modules can be made for it.

That, and someone can also play as the DM and direct the story by taking control over NPCs, creating events, ect..


I haven't actually played multiplayer, though, so I can't say how well it works...

[Urban Ranger]

Re: D&d

Originally posted by Space05us
and practicaly all RPGs nowadays claim to be based on it

That's not true, not for the pencil-n-paper type anyway.