'Poly D&D? - Page 2

Boris Godunov · July 10, 2003, 16:12

Quote:

Originally posted by Solver
No. Paper RPGs are different.

But the PC games can be great learning tools for newbies for learning the basic mechanics and atmosphere of the game.

They are like foreign language tapes. A good, firm grounding in the basics and concepts, but by no means a way of achieving fluency.

SlowwHand · July 10, 2003, 16:13

Sounds interesting to me.
I don't imagine I'd slow anyone down or anything.

Victor Galis · July 10, 2003, 16:17

NWN gets many things wrong though. The sad thing is, I know 3rd ed. rules well enough to be irritated by this (yes, this is sad). Sometimes these tweaks work in my favor (it uses a very liberal interpretation of what constitutes flanking, and it allows a halfling to use weapon finesse on a short sword, and weapon finesse is not specific to a weapon type (though 3.5 rules also make this change)) othertimes they suck (why is it that only plate armor and padded armor are good in terms of max dex bonus and ac bonus? In PnP AD&D most armor types have the same +dex cap + AC bonus, prices are all funky, no item seems to be masterwork, etc.) Still NWN does a pretty good job of 3rd edition rules considering it's real time and llacks an explicit grid of 5 ft. by 5 ft. squares.

That being said 3.5 improves a lot of the classes that were front-loaded. (The ranger in 3.5 really is a class you'd take more than a level of).

Boris Godunov · July 10, 2003, 16:18

Quote:

Originally posted by Japher
My wife would kill me if I broke out the D&D stuff again...

I have the PHB, DMG, and Psionics Handbook for the 3rd edition, not a big fan of it. I also hated the 2nd edition Player's Option books (Skills and Powers stuff).

Are you kidding? 3rd edition rules, while not flawless, are vastly superior to 2nd edition rules, especially in Psionics.

Japher · July 10, 2003, 16:18

My first character was a mage/cleric... That was a nightmare, keeping track of all the spells and such, as well as the multi-class skill progressions and weapon/armor restrictions.

An easy first character would be a fighter, a lot of fun and a lot less easier to kill. Just play a human, that way you will have the opportunity to switch to another class if you desire.

I have played two pure fighters in all the games I have played one was a dwarven fighter (LN) who rocked and an albino half-orc with a nasty mouth (LE), loads of fun.

Sloww should have no problem picking up the game.

Japher · July 10, 2003, 16:21

Quote:

3rd edition rules, while not flawless, are vastly superior to 2nd edition rules, especially in Psionics.

I do like the specialty/prestige classes (or whatever they call them). I liked the old method of psionics, but taking the Dark Sun version into Forgotten Realms or Dragonlance did overpower the character.

Anyway, no use arguing I'd play either one.

Velociryx · July 10, 2003, 16:22

Ahhh....just thought of an even better analogy....imagine a "choose your own adventure" book, but rather than having a menu of choices to select from, each player in the game can invent his/her own choices on the spur of the moment....now imagine the synthesis OF those choices all happening at once, in the story backdrop provided by the GM....its definitely one of those games that you get back what you put into it....if it's not really your thing and you're less than excited about it, you prolly won't enjoy it much, but if you get into the spirit of things, you'll have a blast!

Another thing to consider....sometimes you need more information to make an informed choice. Going back to the example I mentioned earlier, perhaps you don't yet know what you want to do, so you'd ask questions for clarification "Out of Character" (OOC for short), and that might be something like this (we'll assume your warrior's name is Braal).

Braal shakes the sand and cobwebs out of his head and moves first to see if any of the people on the beach still live (OOC: Do any of them appear to be crew members? If so, I will attend to them first....also, do the drums sound...."threatening" in any way?)

Stuff like that....

-=Vel=-

MattH · July 10, 2003, 16:23

It might be easier to start something in phpBB, there will be a lot of information.

If anyone wants to voulnteer to GM, feel free to do so. I don't know if I have enough experience to actually run the game... Maybe it could even be Apolyton-themed

.

Solver · July 10, 2003, 16:26

Fighters fun? Maybe, but wizards are always the funniest

.

I remember having a half-orc with extreme strength, a huge axe and abysmal intelligence of 3.

Victor Galis · July 10, 2003, 16:27

3rd Edition multiclassing is much, much easier, and racial restrictions on classes are largely non-existant. (Yay for Halfing paladins of Yondalla.)

In 3rd Edition, when you gain a level you chose which class that level is in fairly freely. What amount of exp it takes to gain said level is the same regardless of class. (Though if you end up taking too many classes there's some exp penalties for having vastly different levels in your classes, and some classes (like paladin) don't allow you to both take a level in another class and continue gaining levels in that class. (Lawful Good characters retain their paladin powers, but can't ever gain another level of paladin if they decide to take a level of something else after becomming a paladin. And yes it is possible to be a paladin/rogue, though I can't really imagine how you would roleplay that.)

Japher · July 10, 2003, 16:27

Quote:

Fighters fun? Maybe, but wizards are always the funniest

It's all how you play them.

I played with a guy who had an npc that was a feces-mancer...

Japher · July 10, 2003, 16:31

I did like the lifting of racial restrictions. Yet, in one of my 2nd edition games we lifted class restrictions anyway... Yet still had humans de the only ones to Dual class, and not be able to multi-class...

Like I said. I have the PHB and DMG for 3rd edition (and have played a couple of games in it), I just prefered 2nd edition.

Another game I played allowed one to play intelligent creatures from the Monster Manual.

One of the guys played a ghost that evolved into other forms of undead. It was lame, but fun, and sometimes funny... Especially for the guy who played an intelligent slime mold.

Victor Galis · July 10, 2003, 16:32

I always wanted to play in a Ravenloft campaign, but FR is nice too.

Japher · July 10, 2003, 16:33

Planescape?... Though Ravenloft is still pretty much unreachable...

Victor Galis · July 10, 2003, 16:35

Yeah, playing intelligent things from the MM can be fun... I once had a halfdragon halfing. There was this one fight where a white dragon dropped in on us and hit me with it's breath weapon for something wimpy like 13 points of damage, to which I responded by breathing back for like 70 points of damage... unfortunately, half dragons only get to do that once per day, and the white dragon kicked my ass pretty badly in melee. Still, the 26 STR halfling was kind of fun. Generally though, my characters tend to be rogues (or rather have mostly rogue levels with some other stuff thrown in).

Victor Galis · July 10, 2003, 16:38

Nah, just a pure Ravenloft campaign, but that would require a really good DM to create the appropriate athmosphere. I do play in one campaign that's sort of a cross between 1890s Earth and Ravenloft in many ways, but it isn't technically D&D, but it uses the same d20 based system. (Classes are different to suit 1890s earth with minor access to magic.)

Japher · July 10, 2003, 16:39

Ever play MAGE?

Felch · July 10, 2003, 16:41

I'm down with it. You guys bring out the inner dork in me.

Solver · July 10, 2003, 16:44

One of the fastest growing threads here...

MattH · July 10, 2003, 16:45

Maybe it could go into neverending stories

So, we going to start organizing this now or what?

MattH · July 10, 2003, 16:50

I was writing the neverending stories reply before I read Solvers post. I meant the game it self going into the nes forum...

Hot Mustard · July 10, 2003, 16:51

I'm interested. I've only played 3E. I have the three core books and one supplemental (Masters of the Wild). Start at 1st level, or higher?

Japher · July 10, 2003, 16:59

I think the PHB for 3rd E. has starting rules... level 3 for single I think...

This should probably be done on IRC or something...

Also, what of those without the rule books?

MattH · July 10, 2003, 17:03

Ok, Sam Stoddard of rinkworks.com (you know, the dialectalizer) is probably going to publish the new RookChat soon. It looks like the perfect solution for playing D&D online.

Or we can get it going here at 'poly. Any takers for GM? We might need to split into seperate groups in the same world because of the number in interested people...

Japher · July 10, 2003, 17:04

One group will be "evil" and the other "good" and we will pit them against each other

... that might be fun.

Solver · July 10, 2003, 17:05

You'd have to ask Ming if he supports the tons of threads about D&D, if the game is underway.

Velociryx · July 10, 2003, 17:05

I'd LOVE to, but....don't have the time it'd take to devote to it (in fact, I'd dearly love to run a Candle'Bre game...

Now how's THAT for creating synergy!)....but until we get to the public release....no can do...

But...for whomever DOES run the show, I'd heartily recommend NOT having more than seven to a group....

-=Vel=-

MattH · July 10, 2003, 17:10

Vel: would you have time to play a character? I was hoping this would be a relaxed game, nothing to panic about...

Is NES a feasable location for a D&D game? After a little more discussion, I'll PM Ming (unless he reads and responds in here...). D&D is sorta turn based, ya know

Lonestar · July 10, 2003, 17:15

I'll play. Can we do prestige classes? I want to be a Dragoon of Bahumet.

MattH · July 10, 2003, 17:18

Ask the GM