FORUM D&D GAME (UPDATED: FINALIZED DETAILS) JOIN NOW!

So if anyone's been following Game Design and Theory lately, Dungeons and Dragons keeps coming up as examples to follow for video game RPGs. Maybe it's just that Fourth Edition just came out....or maybe it's because we're a bunch of meganerds.

So anyway, my fellow meganerds, it brings up the question: why haven't we started a forum DnD game? Not only are there apparently those among us who love PnP RPGs, but there's also a lot for non PnP'ers to learn about RPG theory in general.

So what's say we run a game? I'm not sure of the logistics and how it needs to be handled (I'm not a big fan of Play by Post, but I don't mind IRCing it up. There are other options available, though, like OpenRPG and probably some sort of voodoo using Ventrilo or Skype that anyone with experience can throw in), but I'm more than willing to do my part. I'll play Dungeon Master if no one else will, though I don't insist on that role just because I broached the subject--if anything I'd like to play.

So, discussion in this thread about how to set up a game, which version to run (I'm partial to 4th just because I haven't had a chance to play it yet, but it might be easier to throw together a 3.5 game), and what tools we'll be using to play. Assuming anyone's even interested. I'll take a lack of responses to mean "Oh, Shadowtext, you nerdy, nerdy person! Don't you know that the rest of us have lives?!"

(Also, let's keep it to Dungeons and Dragons for this first game because it's the best-known of PnP games, and therefore easiest to obtain. If it goes well I'd be more than willing to explore the option of a PnP Club type dealie for holding the same sort of thing using whatever different systems the players/DMs want).

UPDATE:
I have posted the finlized details for joining the campaign and making your characters. The post can be found here: Finalized Details

Oh, I also wanted to add that I think it would be cool to post the logs to am RMN thread with commentary on how different things might be useful in video games, be they story or mechanical. Again, though, logistics!

Also, I think the 4E SRD (or whatever) is supposed to be out this week, so it wouldn't be impossible to figure something out, sourcebook wise, if people don't have them, though I'm still not insisting on that being the version. Only the Dungeon Master really needs all three books handy (players just need the PHB, and can probably get away with the SRD), and I've got access to them if I end up being Dungeon Master.

PnP means "Pen and Paper". I don't think the term existed before the development of video game RPGs, but it's meant to distinguish between tabletop RPGs and cRPGs.

It's a bit of a misnomer, though, since it's not always played with pen and paper these days. Still, players know what you mean when you say "PnP."

Okay, I'm glad there's some interest. But we should probably talk about schedules and suchlike now, to see if any of you are not going to be able to because of schedule conflicts or something. And we haven't settled on the player lineup yet (it'll probably be at least a week or two before I can get a campaign ready anyway), so anyone who's interested please don't feel like you've missed the boat yet! The sweet spot is probably between four and eight players (not counting the Dungeon Master, and it's looking like that means me at the moment)

I live in CST, which is GMT-6:00. I am free weeknights from let's say 7:00 PM to 12:00 PM. Weekends I can make time at just about any time, and Fridays and Saturdays I can go later than 12:00 PM if need be. Weekends tend to be the best time for sessions in case they run long (and believe me, they can), but on the other hand, weekends are also the times that most often get preempted for social concerns. Generally that's not an issue for me, but it might be for some of you.

In my experience it's usually best to plan for about one session a week. Two might be possible, but it'd probably be pretty frantic. I'm not one for logistics, though, so anyone who has any tips here could be a big help.

Also: other than having or not having books, does anyone have any real issues with Fourth Edition, or for that matter any issues with 3.5?

Tentatively, I'd like to look towards OpenRPG as the meeting tool here, rather than IRC. I've always used IRC in the past for this stuff, but OpenRPG has the advantage of having a map / whiteboard dealie that can make things a lot easier. Potential players should have a look at OpenRPG, maybe play around in it and see if they like it to see if it'll work for you.

Once we lock in players, we'll talk about books and how to handle players without access to them (may as well wait until we've written the Engine we'll be using in stone, though). Not having the books will not necessarily mean you can't play, so don't let that scare you off! When D&D Insider comes out, if this stuff is still going well I might subscribe to that, and if so it sounds like there'll be a way for non-subscribed players to use the Dungeon Master's account to use D&D Game Table, which should be the best solution....though it sounds like it's PC only, so it might not be an option if any of you are on Mac or Linux. We'll see about all that in the future, though.

Also, if anyone has special contributions or insights to offer even if they can't play, like Craze's, feel free.

If we go with 4e, you'll actually be in luck because most of us probably won't have played it yet. It's brand-spankin' new, just came out a week or two ago. And it's designed to be the simplest to play for beginners of all the editions to date. You're not going to have to calculate THAC0 or anything.

author=NoblemanNick link=topic=1335.msg20409#msg20409 date=1213712946
So if we are doing this how would we all meet go to OpenRPG and do what I never done this over online before and I don't have any D&D books.

OpenRPG is essentially a chat program with some added features for PnP RPGing (most significantly, a map) where players can make their own temporary chat servers to run a session in. You would run OpenRPG and just connect to my server when a session was going to take place. It'd be a good idea to screw around in OpenRPG before hand to get a feel for the chat interface, though.

And like I said, we'll discuss the book issue later, once we find out who all is going to be available. The easiest solution would be to buy a copy of the Player's Handbook (they're only $25 or so), but I hardly expect everyone to go out and do that, and I have ideas about how to handle people who don't have them.

Still, if this is your first time with RPGs in general, you should probably let me make your character for you, at least in terms of stats and all. You figure a character concept, maybe what race and class you want to be, and I'll give you appropriate stats and feats and all. You other guys should give us an idea of what characters you're wanting to play, so we can work towards a balanced party--it sounds like it's best if we have one Leader, one Defender, one Controller, and one Striker.

Here's a quick rundown for those who don't have the books. Keep in mind that these only skim the basics, and I'm not listing, for example, the skill bonuses, speed, vision, or most of the racial feats--this list is just to help get you started in determining what you'll be.

Races
Dragonborn - Dragon-like humanoids with breath weapons, suited towards being Fighters, Paladins, and Warlords. +2 Strength, +2 Charisma. Dragon Breath encounter power.
Dwarf - Stout, tough humanoids, suited towards being Fighters, Clerics and Paladins. +2 Constitution, +2 Wisdom.
Eladrin - The more mystical type of elf, strong ties to the Feywild, suited towards being a Wizard, Rogue or Warlord. +2 Dexterity, +2 Intelligence. Fey Step encounter power (teleports the character up to 5 squares).
Elf - Stealthy forest-dwellers, suited towards being Rangers, Rogues, and Clerics. +2 Dexterity, +2 Wisdom. Elven Accuracy encounter power (reroll an attack roll)
Half-Elf - Outgoing, charasmatic offspring of humans and elves, favors Warlord, Paladin and Warlock classes. +2 Constitution, +2 Charisma. Diletentte feat (choose an at-will power from a class other than your own at first level, and you can use it as an encounter power)
Halfling - Small, plucky humanoids, about 4' tall (this is larger than older editions), suited towards being Rogues, Rangers and Warlocks. +2 Dexterity, +2 Charisma. Second Chance encounter power (force an enemy to reroll an attack that hits you)
Human - Adaptable, passionate race. Suited to any class. +2 to one ability score of your choice. Bonus at-will power from your class. Bonus feat at first level. Bonus skill training.
Tiefling - Infernal humanoids, favoring Warlock, Warlord and Rogue classes. +2 Intelligence, +2 Charisma. Fire resistance. Infernal Wrat Encounter power (+1 power bonus to next attack roll against an enemy you've already hit. Add charisma modifier as extra damage)

Classes
Cleric (Leader) - Battle priests. Mix of melee and ranged powers that deal moderate damage and heal or buff. Especially effective against Undead.
Fighter (Defender) - Talented front-line combatants. Melee-focused. Your weapon is a big part of who you are.
Paladin (Defender) - Holy Knights, can force enemies to fight you instead of your allies, melee-focused.
Ranger (Striker) - Wilderness warriors who deal a lot of damage, either ranged or using hit-and-run tactics with dual weapons.
Rogue (Striker) - You could just as easily call them thieves or scoundrels. Deal massive damage through backstabbing and trickery, then retreat to safety. Heavily skill focused.
Warlock (Striker) - Arcane spellcasters who put out a lot of damage using dark contracts with otherworldly forces. Knwon for their Eldritch Blast.
Warlord (Leader) - Battle commanders who inspire and lead their allies with buffs and healing.
Wizard (Controller) - Spellcasters whose power comes from study. Carries an implement (wand, staff, or orb) that helps define their spellcasting style. Have many spells for attacking multiple enemies at once.

Though the class list sort of covered it, to give you an idea of the roles (they're in parantheses next to the class names above), Defenders draw enemy attack and can take a lot of damage, Leaders heal and buff allies, Strikers deal massive damage to enemy weakpoints, and Controllers hit multiple enemies and change the battlefield to the party's advantage.

That should be a start to coming up with character concepts. Craze's link to the character sheets from the preview are another.

These podcasts are pretty helpful, too. They're a recording of Penny Arcade's Tycho and Gabe, and Scott Adams from PvP, playing through their first game with a Wizards of the Coast-provided DM. It also gives you a good idea of what a game plays like.

http://webcast2.wizards.com/podcasts_dandd/DnD_PA_Episode1.mp3 - Walks through character naming and preparation (character creation was done before this, but it goes over what the classes they went with can do)
http://webcast2.wizards.com/podcasts_dandd/DnD_PA_Episode2.mp3 - Goes through the first part of a session, including an encounter.
http://webcast2.wizards.com/podcasts_dandd/DnD_PA_Episode3.mp3 - A couple more encounters, including a trap.

Gabe has apparently never done D&D before, either, so the DM explains the rules to him as it goes on. I can see it being a big help to anyone who hasn't played D&D before. And it's fairly entertaining, besides. I even heard an Eddie Izzard reference in there, so yeah.

http://webcast2.wizards.com/podcasts_dandd/DnD_Episode23.mp4
There's also this one which I haven't seen yet, but which is a video podcast of a Paragon (i.e. Level 10-20) game played by a different group.

Wow. I really like MapTool. Might have to use that with IRC or something instead of OpenRPG. Thanks for the links!

And yeah, that was one thing that amused me about that question the dude (I assume Gabe) was asking in that podcast, about "How do we know he's not cheating?" The DM cheating is a logical impossibility....if he says something happens one way, regardless of the die rolls, that's the way it is! The idea of the Dungeon Master being bound by the letter of the law or the die rolls if he sees an opportunity for something cooler....it boggles the mind.

No worries folks. I'm definitely not the "Rocks fall everyone dies" type. Although there's every possibility I'm the "Rocks fall everyone has to explain to me why they didn't die" type.

author=NoblemanNick link=topic=1335.msg20570#msg20570 date=1213823231
Shadowtext is it like a GameBook let me type an example

You talk to the shopkeeper, he's selling potions for one-hundred coins

-If you buy the potions for one-hundred coins, subtract one-hundred coins from your inventory

-If you haggle, subtract two from CHARM if your a male, if your CHARM is higher than the dice-roll than the storekeeper offers them at half-price.

Is that what where doing?

The idea is that you say what you want to do, and the Dungeon Master tells you what happens when you try to do it. Dice come into play in challenges of skill--be they combat skills or other skills--but even then only when it's necessary to add drama.

Generally speaking, buying things would be handled outside of actual game play--between sessions, for example, and you wouldn't actually roleplay shopping. I mean there might be occasions where you'd roleplay shopping, like if you're searching for a particular unique item that would be expensive and where haggling might make a big difference, but just buying potions is just "I bought X potions while we were in town" or something. Money is kept track of, but generally if you're going to be rolling dice, it's going to be for something that actually makes a difference.

author=NoblemanNick link=topic=1335.msg20570#msg20570 date=1213823231
I downloaded OpenRPG it is kinda confusing so are we sticking with OPenRPG or are we doing MapTool or something else.

Don't know yet. Possibly. The players really aren't going to have to do too much with OpenRPG anyway, other than moving their characters on the map and typing their intentions and reactions and all. I'm considering looking into Ventrilo to do it voice chat rather than relying on typing, but I dunno yet. Voice chatting makes me feel paranoid. And wouldn't have a way to roll dice.