Dungeon and Dragon players

Post Reply New Topic

roleplaying it up since the 1980's

iv only being playing for about 1 to 2 years, but what about you hard core players, have any of you been there since the start, if so how much has it changed over the years?

another point of discussion is the steriotype of "satans game", have you ever told someone that you played dungeons and dragons and someone thought you were a satanist?

please, post your thoughts and experiences

also, i need some quick xp, any ideas of how?

I wouldn't say I am a hard core player. Haven't played in a couple of years. Though, I usually play it when I go to a convention. I have not played the online version. Not really big into online role playing games.

I was introduced to the game back when it came in a white box with paper booklets. Much has changed over the years and, yeah, there was a time when religious groups attacked the game, mostly in the 80's. The D20 system is much better than before.

Oh no, you had to go and trigger my Special Interest, didn't you? This is going to be a very difficult post for me and I will try to control myself.

I started D&D at 12 and never quit. I took to this game like a duck to water. I could use my foreign accents! I could keep my eyes averted and look down at the stats and sheets! I could indulge my ability to relentlessly memorize every obscure fact about the game and it was USEFUL! I DM exclusively, probably because I am a control freak. I still play, even today with a regular every-other-Sunday session. But you have questions. I'll try to stay focused on them or I'll write another mini-novella.

How much has it changed?
OMG, dude, GOOD question. A FRIGGIN TON, man. A friggin ton. I started during the Basic D&D "Blue Book" set (which is where it really started, not counting the stuff from the 70's where it was basically a collection of pamphlets and ideas). AC was completely different having only 1 thru 9 rather than the +/-10 we have today. Also, most of the rules were NOT written. You had to make up quite a bit on the fly.

After this came 1st ed which I bought immediately. This edition did a good job of tying many needed rulings together for campaign consistency. At this point, the expansions and add-ons and magazines started coming out of the woodwork. My parents pulled me aside for a talking to in order to be sure I wasn't getting involved in satanism. More on that later.

Then came 2nd edition which was where AD&D reached perfection. Incorporating the best parts of the magazines and providing much-needed clarifications this set is the most comprehensive and fun while still maintaining enough open-endedness to cover all contingencies. Pure excellence. Miniatures were helpful, but not required at all.

<pause>

Comes now before ye the turdburglars at Wizards of the Coast. They buy out Gygax and decide to produce moneymaking monkey-filth flying the AD&D banner. The 3rd edition rulesets are made so that you will need to buy miniatures and maps and other garbage to play. All rules are re-written to use D20's. Can you frikkin imagine? D20's. For EVERYTHING. My dice are my BADGE, man. Then they (of course) have to reprint every rule book and manual out there (which by this time there are a lot) to reflect the 'shiny new stats' they've put on every creature and character. Bah. Might as well have been putting lipstick on a pig.

4th edition is even worse. Not only is it time to reprint everything, but they're stripping out all the individuality of D&D and making everything comparable to MMO charater classes. You don't play a warrior or a myrmadon or a barbarian anymore, you play a TANKER. HA! Tanker indeed. They can tank my arse.

<GAAH! rage... fading... red zone retreating>

Okay now, you asked something else?

Satan's game / Satanism connection
Oh yeah, thanks. Yeah, my parents talked to me about it and my friends' parents talked to them about it too. Then came this STUPID movie Mazes and Monsters trying to villify D&D. I swear before all the allmighty powers-that-be that I still, STILL haven't forgiven Tom Hanks for that and I probably never ever will. I hate you Tom Hanks. I hate you. <sigh> but I still watch your movies.

Jeez, now I've gone and written another mini-novella. STOP WRITING INTERESTING POSTS, tk5800! Hey, is that like TK421? TK421, why aren't you at your post?

Wow, what just happened to me there? I guess next time, I'll tell you how I really feel.

I'm going to have to disagree with ViperaAspis slightly. While 3rd edition did dumb the rules down, it did so the right amount. Everything became easier to understand, and the entire game was standardized. Everything used the same system, which made the game easy enough to understand that it was more open to people who had an interest in D&D, but no previous experience. Then they released 3.5, which really did nothing but standardize the remaining few anomalies within the system and make character customization easier than ever before. More people began to play D&D under the 3rd Edition and 3.5 rulesets than in the previous editions combined, which led to a general increase in the gaming community, which means we all get to have more people to play with.

That said; as far as I'm concerned, there is no D&D 4th Edition.

Have you seen the 80s animated series? I own the box set on DVD which shouldn't be surprising after looking at my name and avatar.

I'm pretty sure the entire show takes place in either purgatory or hell although they never actually say it of course.

Unfortunately, I have some bad news for you Venger. Uni told me you are now bound by the Code of D&D to seek out and destroy fellow WP user Tiamat. You can't help it. You were just drawn that way.

Tiamat: http://www.wrongplanet.net/forums-profi ... 13939.html

She spells her name "Taimaat". Dragon claws must be too big to use a keyboard correctly.

I kind of like reading the lore, but i never really understood those damn rules <.< (i have a faint grasp about the whole stuff though, since i've played Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights and Icewind Dale...)

Och! No worries about that, old bean... here:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zng5kRle4FA[/youtube]

Okay... I've been playing D&D/WoD/d20 Modern/Amber/Star Wars (d6 & d20)/Rifts/ect.. for a good 20 years now. You name it, I've tried it. I especially remember this fun game where you played a B-movie flick toon where you got extra points for doing stupid things (running up the stairs in a bra while the guy with an ax chases you.) But, I digress.

D&D 3.5 is the way to go. 1st edition was cute, 2nd edition was okay (WTF is thaCo anyway?) and 3rd was nice until 3.5 came along which is the trump card. 4th edition is a waste of the trees that were cut down to make the paper it was printed on.

All in all, I mainly DM but I can play as long as I know that the DM knows the game as well as I do. But I do have to admit I've taken a liking to d20 Modern to place the campaigns out of a fantasy world and combining it with a more up to date setting.

As for the religion stuff? Dude we are playing a game and telling stories and learning what is "right" and "wrong" and how our actions impact other things in our environment. Granted my social skills suck, but if we are attacked by a gold dragon, I'll bet you it's us gamer geeks that will survive. Or at least become slaves.

Wouldn't that be a little out of character for a gold dragon? I thought they were good?

4th edition????...........WTF i need to crawl out of my cave more often....i have 3rd edition books and thought it was cool...i liked arcana unearthed.....and the legend of the five rings expansion (i love the l5r card game)

I've heard of DnD for a very long while and I've played the computer games, but I've only gotten into the paper and dice type recently. (Recently as in, last year. >.> ) However, I'm just going to stick with 3.5 edition. Both that and 4th edition have flaws, but I find it easier to house-rule with 3.5. Plus, I don't like some of the changes in 4th edition.

I'm just playing in the fantasy world, though. Never played any of the other types. Plus, all of the computer game versions were based in some sort of fantasy world (Forgotten Realms). I'll probably just stick with that, though it's not going to be restricted to FR by any means; I may even make my own world.

I've only finished one campaign and I'm in the middle of another one. Once I play enough games and get the idea for all types of characters, I plan on DMing a game. I have a good grasp of the rules for spellcasters, but I don't entirely know all the rules for the fighter types. It'll probably take awhile, though; I'm balancing it on top of school-work.

If you read up on occult then you can see why religious people think D&D is satanic, it follows occult theory and mythology to the letter in many cases, on many levels both obvious and insidious.

Although most people who claim it is are just echoing what they heard with no real understanding.

That being said, people are idiots. Religion = overactive survival instinct + overactive feelings of self importance + romanticism IMO