Tabletop Gaming & CRPGs/MMOs

[The Gnome King]

How popular are tabletop RPGs with the CRPG gaming community in general? I've been playing Dungeons & Dragons for over 20 years now, the tabletop kind. I've loved the CRPG adaptations of the games - SSI's old "Gold Box" games like Pools of Radiance, etc. Even currently I play Dungeons & Dragons Online because it's a way to get my D&D fix and my MMO fix all in one. (I just can't get into other rule systems... I'm probably the only person in the MMO world who CAN'T for the life of himself get into WoW - I get bored around level 30 because I miss my familiar D&D character system.)

That having been said, did it seem like D&D 4th edition was just *made* for computer adaptation? I know Cryptic is working on its "Neverwinter Nights" D&D MMO; Cryptic certainly isn't my favorite MMO developer but I am looking forward to seeing this just because I think the rule system for 4th edition D&D will fit an online MMO like a glove. 3.5 rules work OK in Dungeons & Dragons Online but they're a bit... complex for some. (Just check out the forums devoted to character builds... yikes.)

One last question... of those who play tabletop games, what are you playing now? I play both 4th edition D&D and Pathfinder; I don't have a visceral hatred towards 4th edition like some folk do. (I'm also one of *those* people who loved both Dragon Age 1 and 2, though.)

 

[King of the Sandbox]

I'm playing 4th Edition after 20+ years of 2nd. I like it. Especially since I'm DMing for a bunch of tabletop virgins. 3rd and 3.5: Money Grab/We Effed Up on the Previous - Edition, can suck my balls. That game was nothing but a munchkin's wet dream.

What you say about 4th being easily converted to video game usage could very well be true, as I explain a lot of my PC's feats to them through video game metaphors, and they seem to grasp it quite easily. It's basic character stat builds, with what basically amounts to a skill/feat tree, which has long been a staple of videogame rpgs.

Right now I'm playing 4th, as I said, and we're just over halfway through the first adventure pack I picked up for it, 'Keep on the Shadowfell'. I'm also keen to get a game of Marvel Super Heroes RPG going whenever anyone that wants to play comes over, and I've been trying to get a friend of mine to start either a Rifts or GURPS game, but he's an old fuddy-duddy now and always says he 'doesn't feel like it'.

 

[The Gnome King]

I'm playing 4th Edition after 20+ years of 2nd. I like it. Especially since I'm DMing for a bunch of tabletop virgins. 3rd and 3.5: Money Grab/We Effed Up on the Previous - Edition, can suck my balls. That game was nothing but a munchkin's wet dream.

What you say about 4th being easily converted to video game usage could very well be true, as I explain a lot of my PC's feats to them through video game metaphors, and they seem to grasp it quite easily. It's basic character stat builds, with what basically amounts to a skill/feat tree, which has long been a staple of videogame rpgs.

Right now I'm playing 4th, as I said, and we're just over halfway through the first adventure pack I picked up for it, 'Keep on the Shadowfell'. I'm also keen to get a game of Marvel Super Heroes RPG going whenever anyone that wants to play comes over, and I've been trying to get a friend of mine to start either a Rifts or GURPS game, but he's an old fuddy-duddy now and always says he 'doesn't feel like it'.

The... multiclass system... was a bit of a sticking point with me for 3.5 - I didn't like it much; it did tend to encourage min-maxing like nobodies business. That having been said, I do kind of miss the old magic system - a wizard in 4th edition feels remarkably like any other controller class, the ability to do amazing things like "charm person" and "knock" and illusions and all sorts of other things not able to be covered in a strict numbers based system makes me pine for it. But that's what Paizo's Pathfinder is for.

The MMO/4th edition link is pretty much part of the system and it is trying to monopolize on the popularity of games like WoW - teens and 20somethings who grew up on WoW understand the party concept of Tank/Defender - DPS/Damager/Glass Cannon/Striker - Controller/Crowd Control - Healer really well; and 4th edition basically takes those 4 roles and makes a tabletop game out of them. A stroke of marketing genius by WoTC, I think.

What do you think of the "power cards" 4th edition just came out with? I hate the idea... the thought of using pre-packaged cards like in Magic: The Gathering in my D&D game just doesn't sit well with me. So I ignore those rules (and the cards)... my favorite part of 4th edition has to be the $10/month "insider" subscription. You get access to the awesome character builder and the adventure tools and ALL the content online and offline, basically.

It's pretty sweet. The "power cards" ... not so much.