Dungeons and Dragons.

Gearran

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Oct 19, 2007
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Hoo boy, this is a fun one. Personally (although I've never played it) I would say start off with 4th edition D&D. Before I get strung up and burned for my heresy, let me explain. 4e, as others have said, are a lot like video game RPGs, so that takes away some of the learning curve. Yes, it's like D&D's version of WoW, but at least it has the basics there. Explore dungeons, kill hideous monsters, loot their stuff. In-depth Story it's not, but it will give you the basics of the tabletop RPG in a way that's a little easier to understand than some other games. Once you get tired of doing the same damn thing over and over for a million play sessions, go on to other games and expand your horizons.

Personally, while I've only been playing tabletops for a few years, I've been in on D&D (both AD&D and 3/3.5), Alternity (futuristic space scifi with aliens), GURPS (oh gods the equations!), Mage and Vampire (the OLD ones, thank you; Malkavian for the gerbil!), Imagine (the most complicated, yet closest to realistic system I've ever seen), Dark Heresy/Rogue Trader/Deathwatch, Mechwarrior (A Time of War is the newest edition), and Shadowrun (which is basically a playable version of the book Neuromancer, aka cyberpunk). I've also run a couple games of Dark Heresy (and gotten the questionable compliment of being a twisted GM. Yay?)
 

David Alexander

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Jul 31, 2010
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in my opinion 3.5 works incredibly well and I was able to pick it up in less than half a hour, pathfinder is decent, but if you have played one you have played either
 

Soupy George

Ejerkashun Prufshnal
Jan 8, 2010
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I got back into tabletop RPGs through Meetup.com - I'd be surprised if there wasn't a gaming group in your area.
 

Soupy George

Ejerkashun Prufshnal
Jan 8, 2010
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I got back into tabletop RPGs through Meetup.com. I'd be surprised if you don't already have a local gaming group you could join. I'd wait until you'd actually played a game or two before splashing out on rulebooks. Get some dice though. You can never have too many dice.

EDIT: Double post, sorry.
 

Nightmonger

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Jul 1, 2010
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I'm going to give my usual advice and say go for it :D
Also check out the Critical hit podcast it's basically some guys running a 4.0 campaign with new people included great narrative really funny at times and helped me learn 4th edition
 

eyel2kay

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Sep 3, 2011
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if you are interested in sci-fi too, you should try shadowrun. Its a futuristic setting with tech, hacking, vehicles, and all the old stuff like swords, bows and magic
 

SilverHammerMan

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Jul 26, 2009
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I too think that tabletop gaming sounds like fun, but it seems like a very insular thing to me. You've got to learn the rules of each individual game, you've got to get people to play with, buy the game itself.... It seems like a hassle.
 

SilverHammerMan

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Jul 26, 2009
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Takuanuva said:
I have bought all of the core DnD 3.5 edition books I could find. And quite a lot of 3.0 supplements.
...I've never found anyone to play with.
D:
Therein lies the problem, D&D and other tabletop games are by the nature, very social. Unfortunately you can't know for sure if your friends would actually be interested in playing. It seems like a major deterrent to me, someone who would be interested in tabletop gaming but doesn't really have an "in" to the culture.
EDIT: Double post. Hmm, there seems to be a lot of this going around.
 

pvaglueman123

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Aug 6, 2009
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The main pieces of advice i can give you are as follows
1. get some friends who actually want to play and would be interested in that sort of thing
2. Decide if you are more of a Dungeon Crawler or a Dungeon Master
3. Set aside a lot of time, this ais a whole day epic adventure not a 10 min quick board game
Finally Have fun with it, if your doing an adventure that you think sucks make sure you say to your DM (Or to yourself) that it sucks and have a do-over, it is a much better game if you are enjoying the goblin slaughter
 

Wushu Panda

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Jul 4, 2011
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just get the most recent edition of starter manual. that has all the basics and walks you through the motions. then once you and your friends have played a few games and get comfortable with the system you can start buying specialized books for the classes you like and find more monsters to fight.
 

JesterRaiin

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Apr 14, 2009
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NnyTheV said:
Hello, Escapians! I've recently gotten it into my head to learn how to play dungeons and dragons, and I was wondering what I should get to start myself off. For discussion value: What are your experiences with tabletop RPGs?
Interesting thing - all my posts from this thread were deleted. Ah well... Let's see...

To keep things short :
System isn't THAT important. Really, there are many alternatives, deratives, variations both commercial and free that provide good set of rules and intersting background for any rpg session you'll ever need.

However, what really does matter most are adventures, scenarios and so forth. Imagine such situation. You've bought your books, you've read them, you're ready to play. Ok. You and your friends went through a couple of scenarios and then what ? From my experience, it is not that easy to invent good, interesting scenarios at the beggining of rpg career. So you'll reach for official/fanmade products.

And here we are. Most of modern systems support hack and slash types of scenarios. "Go there, kill monsters, loot the place, return to rejoice, finito". Think : Diablo enhanced style of play. Take mentioned "Dark Heresy" system for example. It has good set of rules, it has interesting and unique setting (world). But it provides only a few oficcial scenarios - all combat oriented. Only difference from path i mentioned earlier is an addition of "learn that person x is heretic and, burn heretic". Even fanmade scenarios are similiar.

"Risus" is also good choice. However there are very short, very few really interesting scenarios for it.

Pathfinder does it job way much better. It still considers combat as very important part of every adventure, but does not claim it as a main point of rpg session. Take for example "Council of Thieves" campaign. it is real masterpiece. It contains everythnig what beginner players (and Game Master) should need. Intrigue, multilayered scenario, travels, socializing, betrayal, fights, justice vs injustice, good vs evil. From my point of view "Council of Thieves" is best point to start your rpg experience.

Also : there's a chance you're fan of some tv show, book, or even a videogame. There are systems that covers some of them. Maybe you want to dwell into world of G.R.Martin's "A song of Ice and Fire" ? Maybe you're willing to become next Captain Mal and with your crew of bigger than life characters travel throguh universe of "Firefly" ? Maybe you want to fight zombies (numerous systems are based on this idea, "All Flesh Must be Eaten" for example). Maybe you always thought it would be nice to recreate "Dragon Age", "Doom", or "Fallout" as a tabletop experience ? There are plenty of such systems.

Whatever you try : good luck and have a good fun. :)
 

triggrhappy94

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Apr 24, 2010
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Yeah I got the same idea about 6 months ago, so I downloaded all the basic books for DnD 4.0
I have a pretty good idea of how to play, a little if-y on combat and movement, but I get the basic principles of it. Never played it though.

If you want to know where to start, then look into the player handbook for the edition you want to get into, I'm not sure what the differences are between editions.
Look into podcasts for DnD. I think the Escapist has one, and I know the Wizard of the West coast (that one "Wizard" company) has one.
Also, your going to want to find a group near you, see if you can sit in on a game to see how they do it. Then when your confident, join their's or make your own.

After you get started don't be afriad to bend the rules abit. Most groups alter the rules a small bit to make it easier to play.

Finally, the old Xbox original game Star Wars Knight of the Old Republic (KOTOR) is a faithful game version of DnD rules. Its also an amazing game. Deffinately worth checking out.
 

toughguyjoe

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Mar 26, 2009
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I would recommend Pathfinder, actually. I enjoy the changes they made, some of them were in the very nature of the house rules my friends and I used in 3.5 games.

There are many ways to purchase the Pathfinder core book, and I know there is an extensive SRD out there on the web as well, so you could give it a look before deciding which to go with.


At any rate find a system that works for you and you should be able to find people who want to play.
 

The_Critic

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Aug 22, 2011
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I just created my own Game. Coarse this means I am always DM but meh, it's fun. I was working on a guide for mechanics but I think I stopped writing it a long time ago. Also from my understanding there is also a Dragon Age RP game but I don't know if its any good.
 

Hides His Eyes

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Jul 26, 2011
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Anyone played True20? It's really good. Essentially a generic, non-setting-specific version of the D20 rules, where each player only needs one die (a d20), and the character creation is much more open-ended than in D&D. It has a couple of rubbish rules but they can be amended without too much trouble.

I really like tabletop RPGs but haven't played them much at all as I don't have an easily accessible group to play with.
 

Ryan Quirt

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Oct 11, 2010
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If your into story driven games Strands of Fate can do any setting and has a rule system that will make your story better.

http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product_info.php?products_id=84757&filters=0_0_0_44284



For tactical games that are very combat with maps. Fantasy flights 40K system (rouge trader/deathwatch/dark herasy) is the best.

http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/index.php?manufacturers_id=6&filters=0_0_0_0
 

Ryan Quirt

New member
Oct 11, 2010
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Yes

But I would use deathwatch. Same system but your more bad ass.

http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product_info.php?cPath=5611&products_id=84793
 

Rednog

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Nov 3, 2008
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I've played D20 Modern and a few of the World of Darkness games, one or 2 games of D&D, never really found a steady group to game with though.
 

ThePurpleCube

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Aug 30, 2011
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I thought I was the only one... I bought 4th edition after hearing how amazing it was. Unfortunately, I was unable to persuade my friends to play, so yeah.
 

subtlefuge

Lord Cromulent
May 21, 2010
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I don't understand the hate for 4E. I guess people like the old, less engaging party balance mechanics so much that they refuse to move on. I guess that people also hate the awesomeness that comes with epic tier play, and a more satisfying endgame. If nothing else, the roles are an objective improvement.

OT: You are going to need PH 1-3, or access to copies of them. Every other book you find is just going to give you more options.