Does anyone else still play the older stuff?

[nikolokolus]

DCC RPG is indeed awesome. My players are mostly newbies, so we're doing a mashup of Swords and Wizardry with some bits and pieces borrowed from other systems (AS&SH, DCC, Lametations of the Flame Princess). DCC RPG might be worth the price just for the amazing artwork inside.

[Raithe]

I really cannot understand the rhyme or reasoning behind DnD 4.0 or how it became sort of popular. I mean, sure it's got some amazing art, but the rules just feel..  It feels like a table top version of WoW rather then a pen & paper rpg.

[nikolokolus]

 

I really cannot understand the rhyme or reasoning behind DnD 4.0 or how it became sort of popular. I mean, sure it's got some amazing art, but the rules just feel..  It feels like a table top version of WoW rather then a pen & paper rpg.

 

 

I've played it a off and on and I have some gaming friends who swear by it, but it's never been my cup o' tea. For one thing no matter if it's trying to emulate WoW or not, it's unbearably slow in combat - it's not unheard of to have a single fight drag on literally for hours at higher levels because of hit points bloat and it's apparent design goal of taking the "swingy-ness" out of the game.

 

Every character does indeed occupy a very MMO-like combat role (striker, tank, healer, controller) but because everything is so "balanced" they all mostly feel the same in actual play; no matter what textual descriptions they have for their daily, encounter and at-will powers, every character is basically a lot like a magic-user with buckets of hit points.

 

For better or worse, all of the quirkiness and character of the older game was pulverized and banished; replaced with a well made, highly polished, turd ... IMHO.

[aluminiumtrioxid]

It looks fine and functional for very combat-light chronicles. I'd actually DM it, but it looks like the upcoming D&D Next will have everything good about 4E, while retaining the simple elegance of the retroclones I prefer.

[nikolokolus]

Next intrigues me and I've spent a little bit of time reading the playtest packets, but until I get to sit down and play it I'm reluctant to pan it or endorse it. At the very least it looks a whole lot more like D&D than 4th does.

[bhex]

Been the group gamemaster since (A)D&D 1st edition to 4th edition and my group has been playing all the editions and they all have their strengths and weaknesses, my personal and group favourite was the 3rd edition.

 

Around 15 years.

 

Ars Magica now only though as the fourth edition was a huge fail with all the big talk.

[Aldalar]

Well, I stopped with 3.5...does it count as "old" now with 4th on the street?

Did the same with Vampire...never followed to Requiem. Masquerade for me!

[agris]

'Retroclone' is a new term for me. I started playing PnP about 1.5 years ago with HackMaster 4e which is a retroclone of 1st ed AD&D. It's very similar with some new and clarified mechanics like Honor, extensive non-combat skills, and a punishing GM-vs-the-Players attitude that suits our table well.

 

I thoroughly enjoy it.

 

@Al2O3- how do you like HM 5e?

[aluminiumtrioxid]

@Al2O3- how do you like HM 5e?

 

You mean Hackmaster? Never played 4e, so I'm only familiar with the new edition, called (surprisingly) Hackmaster. (Yeah, 4e was the first edition, this is the second. It's funny like that.)

 

I'm actually very happy with it. Dunno how things were in 4e, but stuff like the flat power curve (every second level gives you a new HD, but you can re-roll it at the next level, and keep the better result), the "memorization+mana points" spell system (spells cost mana, but memorized spells cost way less), and the fact that every class gets its own unique mechanisms is awesome. You can actually download Hackmaster Basic (first five levels, very limited chargen options) for free and try it out for yourself; my actual playtest experience is somewhat limited (we're also experimenting with DCC, LotFP and Helvéczia, which leaves little time for either game).

 

Also, Aldalar: you're really losing out not playing Requiem.

Edited February 24, 2014 by aluminiumtrioxid

[agris]

Interesting, sounds a lot different. I'll download the rules at some point, but we're committed to our 4e campaign right now. If you're interested in taking a peak at the old 4e player/GM handbook, shoot me a PM

[aluminiumtrioxid]

If you're interested in taking a peak at the old 4e player/GM handbook, shoot me a PM

 

I have it lying around somewhere already, but thanks for the offer

[greylord]

Unlike some of you, I love AD&D.   Love it more than 3e (AKA D20 D&D), love it more than 4e, in fact, love it just about more than any other RPG system other than possibly BECMI.

[Christopholis]

I just bought rules compendium for basic DnD mostly for nostalgia, but I am slowly putting together a PBEM. I will change a few things, but am aiming to keep it at least 80% pure. PBEM just always dies though, so I want to streamline somethings as well. I am looking for a place to have an asynchronous room map hang out where I can modify the character locaitons easily. Everything I've found is a "let's all log in at the same time" sort of thing. I may be overthinking it and just need to find whatever the current version of Geocities and MSN communities is.

[nikolokolus]

The Rules Cyclopedia is pretty cool, but damn, it's gotten expensive if you want ot buy a dead-tree copy off of the interwebz. If people are really into it, dndclassics.com or RPGnow.com have the pdf for a somewhat reasonable price. If people don't want to plonk down northwards of $70 dollars, there's also a retroclone project called Dark Dungeons that does a pretty decent facsimile of the BECMI rules for a lot less money ... if that's your thing.

[Christopholis]

Yeah, DnD Classics is where I got my pdf.

[AlperTheCaglar]

I have always been a zealot for AD&D 2nd Ed.

 

Mathematically it was the most coherent role-playing system. Statistics and alignments we very well enforced and combat was exhilarating-- before over-simplification destroyed what strengths it had in 4th edition.

 

3rd edition was so-so, but their fixation on "oooh you can play a mage with an axe" was the beginning of the end.

[Talwyn224]

Does anyone remember Fantasy Gaming Unlimited's superhero  p&p RPG Villains & Vigilantes? 

 

Quite possibly one of the best games in that class/genre and so easy to play and so much fun! 

 

It'd be a game I'd like to see Obsidian transform into an online MMO.

[Darkeus]

Depends on what you call old. I call 1st Edition Paranoia and 2nd edition AD&D old. I had all of the original D&D box sets. I have been playing Shadowrun for 20+ years now. 

I still play Shadowrun. In the process of finally reading the 5th edition rules I have had for a while. 

[Darkpriest]

I have always been a zealot for AD&D 2nd Ed.

 

Mathematically it was the most coherent role-playing system. Statistics and alignments we very well enforced and combat was exhilarating-- before over-simplification destroyed what strengths it had in 4th edition.

 

3rd edition was so-so, but their fixation on "oooh you can play a mage with an axe" was the beginning of the end.

 

To me 3.5 seemed the best but the again i only had a brief contact with 2ed rules and up to this date did not bother to crunch the mechanics behind spells and most saving throws. I left 2ed to crpgs :D

 

I would be willing to give 5th ed a try though. 4ed for me does not exist.

Edited March 1, 2015 by Darkpriest

[Zorfab]

AD&D in both iterations (especially 1st ed) was an incoherent mess, filled with exceptions to rules. Ran it for 10 years or so. Also did another few years for 3.0 and 3.5, which are ok games for most part but still inflexible in terms of genre and filled with unnecessary crunch-fluff such as bazillion prestige classes. Best thing about 1e and 2e is the style, which it oozes. Both in prose and even in the cool old-school art in the books.

 

These days I use GURPS for pretty much everything else except Shadowrun, which is run using its own system. And that is mostly just because there is so much stuff to convert that I save the effort for other settings.

Edited April 5, 2015 by Zorfab

[Dadalama]

Or am I just some relic of a bygone era? I have never been able to get into D&D 3.x, 4.x, etc - I still prefer the original "AD&D" ruleset - I know people love to hate on THAC0 but I loved it. It is pretty much impossible to find anyone in my area who still plays the old stuff - everyone I run into either plays something entirely different and won't touch AD&D, or only plays 3.x+.

I like what I read of Palladium fantasy. Never got a chance to play it and iirc, it was an 80s/90s game. I also like Talislanta, but my favorite edition is 4th which I think was early 2k. First and second edition were pretty similar though.

 

Other than that, I rank D&D editions, best to worse, 5e, Basic (preferably Rules Cyclopedia/Dark Dungeons), Pathfinder, AD&D (1st/OSRIC), 3.5, 4th, OD&D. But I'm not a big D&D fan.

[UrielOWA]

Yeah, and still playing.

 

Every saturday some friends of mine are playing Pen&Paper.

Right now we are playing The Dark Eye.

But we also play DnD 3.5 Pathfinder, Warhammer 40k, Shadowrun, Warhammer Fantasy.

It depends on the master :D

I still love it, even though i have to work most weekends, i try to get every saturday i can get to play with them.

 

My favorite systems are shadowrun and D&D 3.5 Pathfinder.

 

What i am still searching for is a system with steampunk, i would like to test it, because i am a big fan of steampunk. )

[Atramagus]

2nd Ed is still my favorite system, although the people where I live now don't really care for it. We've switched to Pathfinder, which is... alright, I suppose, but a bit too heavy on the power gaming. I'm certainly curious about 5th ed, which seems to take a lot of inspiration from the older versions of DnD.

 

I also wouldn't mind trying out FATE, and am currently backing the Schlock Mercenary RPG on Kickstarter - the rule system for that looks very entertaining.

[Razorchain]

Yeah, and still playing.

 

Every saturday some friends of mine are playing Pen&Paper.

Right now we are playing The Dark Eye.

But we also play DnD 3.5 Pathfinder, Warhammer 40k, Shadowrun, Warhammer Fantasy.

It depends on the master :D

I still love it, even though i have to work most weekends, i try to get every saturday i can get to play with them.

 

My favorite systems are shadowrun and D&D 3.5 Pathfinder.

 

What i am still searching for is a system with steampunk, i would like to test it, because i am a big fan of steampunk. )

There is a supplement for Gurps called steampunk. Then you have Deadlands which is a western steampunk horror/fantasy setting.

I'm not quite sure but I think Castle Falkenstein had some steampunk elements in it, never played it though.

 

I came to loathe D&D, I started with the boxed set moved to Ad&d and stopped at 3e. I just remember the days when the combat was a grindfest and when we woke up the player who played the fighter he usually opened his eyes groggily and answered "I chop".

 

Now I mostly play Gurps and have been for the GMing it on and off for the last 20 years. Right now I'm GMing an Ars Magica campaign with a twist using the Gurps rules

 

But systems that are still close to my heart are RuneQuest, Call of Cthulu (chaosium) Fighting Fantasy and Cyperpunk 2020

[rredmond]

I'm in the AD&D 1E camp. Sometimes OSRIC, which is just 1E with the 1.5E bits that I like.

 

I have not taken a good look at 5E, but I get lost in some of the deeper 2E stuff... I'm not sure I'm going to like anything post first edition.

Plus there's the whole nostalgia thing.

I DM over at Unseen Servant (a PbP forum) and play there as well. I also DM my daughters (13yo, 11yo, and 8yo... the 4yo doesn't play... yet but she likes the dice) and I also am currently DMing some friends through G1 over Skype. The Skype game is only monthly at best, we hope to get on a better schedule, but real life is a killer.

 

Looking forward to seeing what's up here!

Be well,

--Ron--