Dungeons & Dragons (or your RPG of choice)

[Pirate Bill]

Any players or DMs here?

I'm a new player.

I've been looking for a fun game or gaming system I can play with my ultra-competitive children (so competitive that fights break out among them whenever we play because one of them is upset that someone else won). I figured cooperative games would help them to learn the fun is in the playing and not in the winning, develop better team skills, and just have more fun together without fighting all the time.

I've been reading about 4th edition D&D on several blogs and got interested. I looked into GURPS for a little bit. It looks interesting, and being ultra-adaptable certainly has an appeal, but decided that I'd stick with something that has more support in the local gaming stores. A friend invited me and my oldest over to a game of Harn a few months ago. Also a fun game, but from what I gather is really old and doesn't have much of a community.

I started out with a D&D starter kit that had some pre-built characters and a simple adventure with 3 encounters. The kids loved it. They fought a lot less (fights that broke out were about people taking too long to make their move). And there were significantly fewer tears involved than with other games we have played (my daughter almost broke down when her character nearly died).

Since our first try was a success I then had to make more effort to learn the rules and get better so I can DM more home games. I bought the player manual, DM manual, & monster manual. And I see there are still a ton more manuals I need to buy, but those will just have to wait. The main difficulty I had been dealing with through all this was just trying to take a drink from the fire hose of information. Then I learned that my local game store has free weekly game nights with pre-built adventures. I just have to build a character and show up. Awesome!

Last Friday my son and I played our first RPGA sponsored game and had a great time. My character is a human wizard. I'm learning the rules better and will be able to start DMing some home games using the same RPGA adventures (Living Forgotten Realms) soon.

[Moonliner]

Teach them poker. That way you can earn a little walking around money while at the same time teaching them some life lessons.

[Andrew]

In ages long past, a group of friends would gather at the local Denny's lounge every Thursday night for a marathon D&D session. We'd take over a corner booth and, for sustenance on our monster-slaying & treasure-seeking quests, would order groaning platters of victuals. Ah, Moons Over My Hammy, how I miss thee.

This would have been around 1998-1992 or so. I haven't played since that group broke up, but have fond memories.

Of course, no D&D thread would be complete without: Dungeons & Dragons ("Where's the Mountain Dew?")

[Kevy Baby]

I know that Frodo Potter is a big D & D fan, so hopefully Disneyphile lets him know.

I also know he is a big B & D fan, but that is for a different thread.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Dorks! With your dice and silly make believe worlds and monster compendiums and detailed character sheets and your DM guides and your saving throws and your effective hit point increases.

Dorks.

[Pirate Bill]

Originally Posted by Andrew

Of course, no D&D thread would be complete without: Dungeons & Dragons ("Where's the Mountain Dew?")

Awesome! And oh so painful...

[JWBear]

Gee... I first played D&D back in 1979 (senior year in HS). I haven't played since... Oh... about 1987/88.

[Andrew]

Originally Posted by Ghoulish Delight

Dorks! With your dice and silly make believe worlds and monster compendiums and detailed character sheets and your DM guides and your saving throws and your effective hit point increases.

You demonstrate an impressive knowledge of the details of D&D.

[flippyshark]

Here are a couple of games that are not strictly RPGs, but they are very cool and cooperative.

First up, SHADOWS OVER CAMELOT. This board game is a jewel - every player is a knight of the round table, and all are working together to defeat the forces of darkness, so it's players VS. the game itself. Every single turn brings new bad events, and the knights must go on quests, together or alone, to turn the tide of evil. Quests are carried out on different areas of several different boards, by traveling and then playing various cards from each knight's hand. Even with everyone's combined efforts, the game is tricky to beat, BUT THEN, there is a fun (though optional) twist. ONE of the loyal knights just might be a traitor, working underhandedly to see that the forces of darkness win. So, a great, relatively easy to learn co-op game, and since the traitor is assigned in a random blind draw, it shouldn't matter to your kids. (They may indeed relish the chance to be the secret lone wolf.) I recommend for 3 or 4 players. Visually, I think it's the prettiest game I have.

A very similar style of play is used in Reiner Knizia's popular LORD OF THE RINGS board game. This is also a co-op, players are one of the hobbits from the Fellowship. There are action paths through the entire narrative of the book (along paths of friendship, travel, fighting and hiding) and a simultaneous path along a corruption track. Carrying the ring draws the hobbits inexorably over the corruption line and closer to the Eye of Sauron. Slightly more complex than Camelot - it may be an advantage that in this game there are never traitors. Everyone is in it together here. Four players maximum, and it can take a couple of hours. There are several expansions - I recommend the "Friends and Foes" expansion, because it completes the location boards so that the game goes through the entire narrative line of the novel, and it adds some considerable additional challenge to the game, along with some fun new ways of playing. The whole thing is really pretty, too.

The big enchilada in this category is ARKHAM HORROR, based on the fiction of H.P. Lovecraft. Everyone is an "investigator" in 1930s New England, trying to track down clues, weapons, companions and arcane objects to prevent one of the elder gods from awakening. Portals to other dimensions keep opening up all over town, and monsters are shambling (or flying) through the streets. I like this one, because the players are librarians, scientists, students, con men, etc. Just regular folk in cosmically bad circumstances. This one is VERY complex, with a bit of a learning curve - but it is cooperative, and the game itself is just downright evil in how badly it wants you to lose (either the game or your sanity.) There are now about half a dozen expansions available. Even the base game is HUGE and will take up your entire dining room table.

I play all of these, and I sometimes play 3rd edition D&D as well. I like the fact that these board games have a self-limiting time factor, even if they take a few hours. One thing I have always disliked about D&D is the ongoing nature of it. I like closure, and I've never been able to commit to showing up somewhere on any regular basis to participate in an endless campaign.

A couple more quickies - If your kids enjoy D&D and you want to try a board game along those lines, there is DESCENT, which is another gargantuan Fantasy Flight superbox game. It comes with tons of plastic figures and a modular board that can be re-arranged in endless ways. Like D&D, this is guided by a dungeon master, but in this case, the DM is actively, and aggressively, trying to defeat the team of players.

Another game I really enjoy, and it is back out in a nice new edition, is TALISMAN, which is very easy to learn, and is really a Fantasy Lite game. It's great for occasions when you want to play something more casual, without prep. On the up side, it's got a gorgeous board, the events and creatures are ever-shifting, and everyone's fortunes rise and fall in truly riotous fashion. (Plus, people get turned into toads. Totally worth playing for the toad factor!) On the downside, this game is unusually dependent on the luck of the dice - randomness is very high and strategy is low. Also, it is ridiculously competitive, unlike the other games I mentioned. Because it is so casual, this might not matter. I just mention it because it is in the same fantasy vein, and super easy to learn and play.

[lashbear]

Dungeons & DragQueens is teh awesome !!

(that's what we call our version)