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March 28, 2024, 12:48:19 PM

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D&D and other such RPGs

Started by madhair60, April 20, 2011, 09:48:19 AM

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madhair60

I bought my first D10s the other day.  Felt momentous.

Over the last, ooh, year or so, I've been getting into board games, tabletop RPGs, etc.  Started with a short three-session game of Vampire: the Masquerade, which opened the floodgates for board games like Mansions of Madness, Arkham Horror, Battlestar Galactica (It's good!), some space-based card game I forget the name of, and RPGs like Dark Heresy, Warhammer Fantasy, Mutants and Masterminds etc. etc, and now I'm playing Rogue Trader with eyes on starting a campaign of my own.  I'm thinking I'll go with D&D, because it's apparently the easiest for a relative beginner such as myself.

Anyway, I'm seeking advice for virgin GMs.  And I guess this could be a general RP/board game thread?

Cerys


Still Not George

CaB's Resident RPG Nerd reporting for duty!

I've often wondered why people suggest D&D to beginner GMs. It's easier to find players for it, which does help, but if you've already got a local scene with vaguely reliable players it's less helpful in that regard. D&D 3rd Edition is really quite complex, and D&D 4th Edition is essentially an overcomplicated board game masquerading as a RPG. They're also both overly focused on combat, which is perhaps not the best way to get going on gaming.

The Warhammer/Dark Heresy family of games is actually a really good place to start in my opinion. They have the advantage of a setting familiar to many nerds, very snappy action rules, and really excellent advancement systems (especially Warhammer Fantasy). The original WFRPS was the only game where you could start out as a Farmer and work your way into being An Fantasy Hero from there, which was a revelation at the time and is still kind of awesome now.

The "New World of Darkness" books (Vampire: The Requiem, Werewolf: The Forsaken, etc) are actually surprisingly good for beginner GMs, especially if the flaws in the old games annoyed you (FUCK OFF MALKAVIANS! Whoever thought it would be a good idea to add a "ker-aaazy!" clan was a dipshit). Werewolf: The Forsaken, in particular, strips a lot of the cod-spirituality from the old Werewolf and replaces it with a good dollop of body-horror. It's still basically just a combat game though.

I would be remiss if I didn't mention Shadowrun, which is still amongst my favourite settings, but it's not really for beginners - between deckers, riggers, mages and normal folk with guns, there's a hell of a lot to keep track of at once.
Exalted, likewise, despite being possibly my favourite game ever (any game in which your players decide the most efficient way to deal with an enemy trireme with a giant steam cannon is to fire one of their own out of a catapult at it is inherently awesome) is also probably not the best game for a beginner, as it involves a truly mind-bogglingly massive range of possible powers and artifacts and so on.

Don't even look at Rolemaster. Seriously, just don't. Same applies to FATAL, albeit for different reasons.

Ignatius_S

Quote from: madhair60 on April 20, 2011, 09:48:19 AM
.... And I guess this could be a general RP/board game thread?

Think that would be a nice idea, but perhaps keep this one about RPG and the board game discussion in a separate thread? Like to hear more about the Battlestar Galactica one!

Mister Six

Oooh. I'm a nerdy guy but I've never played D&D or any pen and paper RPG and would really like to give it a try. The one that really interests me is Paranoia - would that be suitable for a complete beginner.

Still Not George

Quote from: Mister Six on April 22, 2011, 09:22:45 PM
Oooh. I'm a nerdy guy but I've never played D&D or any pen and paper RPG and would really like to give it a try. The one that really interests me is Paranoia - would that be suitable for a complete beginner.
That's an interesting question, actually. Comedy games in general are pretty good for new GMs and players alike because the amusement factor can easily override any awkwardness caused by inexperience. The problem is that most RPGs don't play like Paranoia, not even remotely. Most of them aren't PvP, for starters, and most of them don't give you clones that are effectively poorly-disguised additional lives.