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Other Tabletop Rpgs You Play / Like

I thought I'd take a sort of informal poll here, for those interested in replying, or reading and seeing other peoples' responses.

Unless otherwise stated, these questions apply specifically to tabletop RPGs, so if you reply to a question, if your answer is about online RPGs, please indicate so.

This poll is quite informal and if you choose to answer, just answer however much you want. Thanks. (smile)


1. Have you ever played a "normal" face-to-face tabletop role-playing game, with character sheets and dice and such?

2. Which, if any RPGs have you played, and did you like them? If any RPGs stand out, what did you like least; most; what, if anything, would you change on any of them?

3. If you are currently part of a gaming group, how often do you meet, and how long is a typical session?

4. Are there game systems/mechanics that you like and prefer to use or play, and if so, which ones and what did you like about the sytem?

5. What style or genre (fantasy, sci-fi, horror, etc) or elements/themes do you prefer in games, and why? Any you actively dislike or don't want?

6. Have you participated in online forum RPGs (Play by Posts), and if so, for how long? Did they use a system or was it mainly narrative?

7. Are you more often a player or GM, and why - what do you think of each?

8. 6. On a scale of 1 to 10, how much detail/complexity/bookkeeping do you prefer in game systems/mechanics, where:
(1) = "nil"
(5) = average/don't know/care
(10) = "make sure your Lingual Intellect is high enough to roll dice to read the dead language your Zengorian calendar is written in - you did remember to mark that down on your sheet, right? Because you'll need it to mark off each day until Frelickday, which is the double full moon, when all spellcasting chances get +15%."

9. Are you okay with having "stats" (Strength, Life Points, maybe skills, etc) and weapons/equipment lists in an online game, that you can/might need to refer to during play, and if so, do you prefer easy, loose and "lite" management of all these things, or detailed (ok, mark off you used 2 arrows, and the letter opener weighs .4 grams...)?

10. If you haven't played a tabletop (or forum, please specify) RPG, why not? What would persuade you, or is it a lack of opportunity?

Thanks to anyone that answers. Like I said, I figured this might help people have their voice heard where it comes to "unofficial" RPGs here, and also allow anyone else considering starting one to get some idea of the preferences of people around here. -JP

Like Play Rpgs Tabletop Other

1. Yes
2. D&D and the role-playing games here. I like JB's medieval world. I'm now starting out in the science fiction version.
3. Well I come on here daily but sometimes I miss a day
4. I like everything kept simple but I rather see all the items of my character at a glance or in one place
5. Mostly dark ages
6. Well yes here! I have been to other forums but did not like the immature way they play
7. Player but I might GM something in the future just for the experience
8. 5 not too much - just enough to get by
9. I'm okay with stats but when its too complexed then I lose interest. I'm playing to be entertained not to go back to math class

Other Tabletop Rpgs You Play / Like Reviews RPG & Card Board

1. Yes

2. AD&D, Star Trek, and Star Wars. I find that I preferred the AD&D the most as I am more of a fantasy fan. I did enjoy the different systems though.

3. Yes I am we have been going back and forth for the past 20 some years. We meet when ever we get the chance and use e-mail when we can not meet.

4. I like the easy to read,easy to access games. So far the different dice rolls in AD&D.

5. I am a fantasy fan with some Sci-fi mixed in. I am not a great fan of horror.

6. Yes I am fan and a player of the RPGs here in this forum. I do also play Evony. I also have played Runescape.

7. I am both a player and a GM. I like being both. As Gm I have to make sure everything is ready for the next turn of events no matter what they may be. As a player I can relax more but have to make sure I make a good decision to keep my character alive.

8. I would say about a 6-7. Having some details is very important so it allows the characters to get a feel of the world their characters are in. I think too little detail is not enough to roleplay and too much detail can drive one crazy with making sure you can move.

9. I like when I can keep track of my own stats. I do however like to know the the GM is also keeping track of everything. Having things at a easy access on line is something that is very good to keep in mind.

10. N/A

Like Play Rpgs Tabletop Other

1. Yes, unfortunately about 90 percent of my rpg experience is from video games, the other 10 tabletop.

2. Vampire, Star Wars, Hack Master, DnD, and probably a few others I can't remember right now.
I would have to say Hack Master is my favorite right now, there is also a 4th edition version of Hack Master but it is very complicated. I don't have a least favorite, I'll play any tabletop rpg happily.
I like Vampires feel because I fee like my character is a secret super hero in world with other secret super heros a mundane world.
Star Wars has vast options available, I like the detail to ships, guns, technology and such.
DnD will always have a special place in my love for RPG's in that it was what I was hooked on from my youth.

3. I was playing Hack Master, we were about to convert over to the dnd 4rth edition version. I'm not dying to get back into the campaign though, due to lack of focus from other players.

4. I quess I'm just too happy to play anything to form much of an opinion on that.
5. Same answer as 4.
6. No

7. I prefer to be the GM, however finding players who are interested enough to last threw more than level 4 seems impossible. I enjoy playing as a character just a little tiny bit less than GM'ing though.

8. About average I would say. It is important to keep in perspective on how much detail is needed and how much add to the fun and life of the game. Keeping track of needless information can make fun games a chore.

9. I had a GM recently who was proud that he made wizard characters keep track of all thier spell components. Though if I had the right components for a spell only came up once. Meanwhile another player would secretly make up at the moment what spells they had memorized. This is a good example of how focusing on the wrong things leads to shoddy game play.
All in all you need to have stats. And things of that nature otherwise your telling a story and pretending. Everything becomes insubstantial, but having to many things to remember and be accountable to make games like a tightrope walk. If you had experienced gamers who were focused and serious about the campaign I would say detail the heck out of it. For the average campaign it is a not needed burden.

Like Play Rpgs Tabletop Other

Just keeping everyone here informed. Tonight I had two cousins, Jon, 22 and Gary, 26, brothers, and Gary's 22 year old 21 year old girlfriend, Flo, make characters for Feng Shui, a modern Hong Kong action movie RPG. I'll spare you the names for now , although I have one existing character for each of them, Jon and Flo claim to not remember having made them, while Gary remembers playing but doesn't remember anything that happened, and wanted a new character because "that character is out of date, I made it when I was 18".

So now we have Jon's "Drifter" - I looked it over in the fan material - it looks more or less okay, I think he liked the Type name the most but I'm just wanting to get them used to the game so I let him take it. Gary took a Masked Avenger and Flo took a Magic Cop. I'm leaning toward running the Baptism of Fire intro scenario from the book. As I do not have a large selection of FS material, and most of what I have is free PDFs.

I ran FS last night for my 40 yr old friend Rod, his 15 yr old stepson Seth and his 14 yr old friend Lyle. Rod had an existing ninja, Lyle made a ninja (he makes a ninja in fantasy games, but wanted to use guns for some reason), and Seth made a Martial Artist. I ran a river adventure for them, or at least the first two fights (one in a bar and the other with the jet skis) because I'd already run BoF for them.

Anyway, just wanted to say FS is active with/for me, here in NE Oklahoma, in two different groups, and I'm also still working on some things in the background. (smile)

I also like Warhammer fantasy roleplay (WFRP) and Call of Cthulhu (CoC) and am still occasionally looking over a couple of simple superhero games.

Message Edited...
LDS_forver: Please do not use net talk like "gf" and "y/o".

Other Tabletop Rpgs You Play / Like

My favorite so far has to be Hackmaster. There are about 4 times as many rules for it than ADnD though, which many find annoying. I like it though because everything is so unique and specific. You can play everything from a fairy to a half - giant. There is also a huge assortment of different classes that are very specific in their abilities and skills.

At one time I was a pretty big fan of Star Wars. That is when a couple of friends and I got together pretty regular though. It was more their game than mine but it grew on me. Same with Hackmaster, there are a ton of races and classes that are pretty specific.

The reason I think ADnD falls short in comparison to these is that there are pretty basic races and classes. Also they don't very from one another a whole lot in the big picture of the game. I think it is a nice game to play in a forum like this because of how basic it is.

As of right now I am playing only on this site. Medieval, Super Hero, KNtoran's play by post, and solo ADnD. I do want to get into Future Earth but have to wait for it to open up again.

Rather off topic, but...
Why do you not like the D20 system so much JPatt? I have heard you say it is stupid and not very good in general a few times. Yet you never have shared why in so many words.

Other Tabletop Rpgs Play / Like

I'm unsure as to whether to start a new topic or keep in this one. Since it would probably be just me ranting, I'll keep it brief and include it as as an offtopic in this post.

I'm very surprised Hackmaster is as complicated and even more detailed than AD&D as you say. For some reason I expected it to be more like the renaissance of retro redbox D&D games using the old system with almost no skills or abilities or rules, keeping things very simple and quick, the whole system being the thickness of a graphic novel at most - this is given that Hackmaster came from the webcomic like I'm thinking? I'm honestly disappointed if this is the case, that it is actually more complicated than the game it originally lampooned. What a shame.

I played Star Wars when it was made by West End games, and used the D6 system, and liked it, but I only got to play it a couple of times. I bought years ago and was looking through the D6 system book the other day and was thinking about trying a game with it, though it comes with no setting or campaign or world of its own, or even game structure itself, not even its own set framework of attributes, only suggestions of ones usually used. I like the idea and I kind of like dice pools though I'm iffy on the wild die idea but guess I could get used to the idea.

I bought played redbox D&D and then AD&D2E and learned a lot about gaming (as much as you can with just that) and GMing and such, with just me and a friend or two - we were even allowed to play in science class after getting our work done in high school. I enjoyed digging into the mechanics and such of the system but began noticing shortcomings but had no experience with any other systems (and in fact had only vague ideas that anything else existed, and presumed everything were extremely close cloned based on D&D - boy was THAT a long time ago).

Rather off topic, but...

I used to (and still do) work on my own RPGs and systems, dice and RPG. As I played more and different games with different systems, I originally emulated D&D and some adventure game books, but as I moved further and further away from D&D (AD&D 2nd Edition at the time) and watched as the volume of supplements and material for it grew from "awesome" to "cumbersome" to "absolutely ridiculous" to "money grubbing", I got a distaste for it, and when it came to see "the new stuff", it was quite a shock.

A friend, who I didn't get along with great to begin with, offered to run the brand new just-released Stargate RPG, which me and other friends all liked or at least agreed to give a try. And it was the brand new 3.5 D20 rules, so we figured, that's cool, we'll get a chance to see D20, but in a modern setting with modern rules, AND with a newish pop culture show setting, etc. He bought $75 worth of books at a game store, got them home, took them to his room and three hours later, came out and said "We can't play. We need the D&D Player's Handbook." I was baffled. D&D handbook to play Stargate? That made no sense. I SAW the SG book, it was thick and cost $35 like all the other hardbacks - there couldn't possibly NOT be a system for character creation in it. But there wasn't.

So we instead started the Temple of Elemental Evil campaign/module to get used to the D20 rules, but he had bought the 3.0 Players Handbook and the 3.5 GM Handbook (spending $60 MORE, plus probably a monster manual and such and modules), and we learned that YES, there ARE fairly big differences in different portions of the rules from 3.0 to 3.5, so that was a constant pain.

But overall, I disliked the 3.0+ system from step 1. I'd played games with chargen point-buy, attributes that ranged to 100, things with more cohesive and/or simpler stats, things with more reasonable structure. This thing had level-based Feats, you couldn't sneeze without a -4 to sneezing if you didn't have Improved Sneezing, even if it had no particular use in the game, "optimized builds", beyond ridiculous dual/multi-classing, senseless arbitrary class and level restrictions that never got scraped out from redbox, ridiculous economy structure with gold as the base unit, flying in the face of all historical and practical precedent, and RULES. SO MANY RULES. Ranges, squares, line of sight, small, medium, large size with differing damage ratings, crit threat ranges, slashing/piercing types, spell components, memorization of or praying for spells, uses per day, free actions, half actions, flat-footed, attacks of opportunity, etc. Just because you CAN make a rule doesn't mean you HAVE to, and for the GM's, just because a game HAS a rule doesn't mean you have to use EVERY ONE - but they almost always do.

I played a realtime online game the other night using a virtual tabletop, of Pathfinder (Paizo's D20), and it was awful. I thought it was the "DM" at first, and while his style was pretty lacking and flawed, especially for a 30 year old, I realized I could only blame so much on him - if it weren't for the Gutenburg tome of obfuscatory gaming rules, he wouldn't have had the opportunity to force the players into an hour and a half of trying to remove giant teeth from a rescued comrade - garbage in, garbage out. I know plenty of people like it and use it and find it simple and applicable and adaptable to all kinds of things - I think D20 is probably one of the most unnecessarily complicated, intentionally bloated and jagged systems I've come across.

But your mileage may vary.

Other Tabletop Rpgs Play / Like Board Card & RPG Reviews

Rather off topic, but...
That is an interesting point of view, which I know many others share. Personally I look at the rules in ADnD as cute and basic. Though like you said you don't always have to use every single rule. For example, in the Huge Centipede battle I could have forced everyone to move at half speed because of the terrain. There are a lot of times were cover could be used by the goblins to make it almost impossible to hit them if they ambushed.

I think the key is like you said. Just because you can use the rules to your advantage, doesn't mean you should. I think when GM's do this, sometimes, they are just trying to punish the players for some unknown reason. Maybe it's a power trip or a vindictive power measure, I'm not sure. I have hung out with a group of GM's who were discussing how to eliminate problem players effectively and became very uncomfortable trying not to show I wasn't on board with that. I find most players like that will destroy themselves, if they are truly "problem players".

That being said I think many GM's try to be as fair as possible. Rules are there to keep things fair, the GM is the referee. I can in good spirit twist rules or exclude them to a point. However at some point you have to draw the line and say, these are the rules, sorry.

I see what your saying about having a different thread most of my post was off topic.

I was surprised to find in this forum in ADnD, that you can make Psionic Races, very cool. I wish I would have looked into that more before making a fighter character in KNtoran's game. Though Oliron is one of my favorite characters to pay. Also there is an extended list of feats which I find very cool.

If you look at the core rules for DnD, the combat rules don't vary much from edition to edition. There are ways to set up a situation were within the rules the PC's have little chance of survival. This is true for any game you are playing in.

Your comments about Hackmaster struck me as odd and sad at the same time. I had never even heard of hackmaster until very recently. The fact is the game is actually really detailed, many of the rules almost comical. To me I think this shows DnD doesn't have to be about the rules so much as about having fun. That is the main goal of playing games like this to me. If you are not having fun in a certain game it might be your GM is a "rules lawyer". Trying to point out any flaw or mistake you have.

Very recently KNtoran posted that he asked a goblin were the bridge was. In the text it says the goblin was speaking goblin when he spoke of the bridge. KNtoran's character does not speak goblin. I could have posted this fact and asked everyone to ignore his post. However that would not be in good taste an would slow down the campaign. Fact is he could have come up with the bridge thing on his own and it been a coincidence that he mentioned it.

In this type of playing role playing games I think it is more important to keep things moving rather than harp on specific rules. If you pick on every single rule that is bent you will be waiting a week to get threw one round. That is why I like this forum and rpg's within this type of style. It allows you to skip past a lot of red tape in the interest of keeping things going.

I could go on an on, like the goblin sleeping in the tree. I had everyone roll d20's to see if they could spot the goblin. However once a PC spotted him I found it more comical to allow the entire party to hear the goblins location. This was a twist on the rules but the outcome was the same in my view, only more fitting.