ccrrick@ucdavis.UUCP (Rick Heli) (05/13/85)
> Having just got onto the net i was glad to see the newsgroup games.frp ,so with great excitement i subscribed. > > After reading over 1000 articles i have one question to ask -DOES > ANYONE PLAY ANY OTHER GAME OTHER THAN D&D ? > > There are many other games than D&D the majority of which are a damm sight better.So lets here it for some of the better games. Yes indeed! For fantasy role playing, it's _The_Fantasy_Trip_ from the now defunct Metagaming and for super hero role playing, Champions by Hero Games. Death before D&D. -- --rick heli (... ucbvax!ucdavis!groucho!ccrrick)
billp@ISM780.UUCP (05/13/85)
Yes, there are lots of us out here who wouldn't (and don't) touch D&D and related garbage even with very loooong poles. Unfortunately, there are many misguided souls out there who can break away from the stuff. They spend long hours arguing Alignment and Class while the rest of us enjoy something more akin to Fantasy Role Playing. Hang in there. If you have interesting FRP topics to discuss, it will be heard in spite of the noisy channel. Bill Putnam UUCP: decvax!ima!ism780!billp (`: If I wanted your opinion I'd beat it out of you :')
plutchak@uwmacc.UUCP (Joel Plutchak) (05/15/85)
In article <28700004@ISM780.UUCP> billp@ISM780.UUCP writes: > >Yes, there are lots of us out here who wouldn't (and don't) touch >D&D and related garbage even with very loooong poles. Unfortunately, >there are many misguided souls out there who can break away from the >stuff. They spend long hours arguing Alignment and Class while the >rest of us enjoy something more akin to Fantasy Role Playing. Hang >in there. If you have interesting FRP topics to discuss, it will >be heard in spite of the noisy channel. > >Bill Putnam >UUCP: decvax!ima!ism780!billp > This kind of thinking abounds here on the net. People feel they need to unintelligently criticize what they don't like. [Inflammatory statements edited out...] If you don't like what's being discussed, simply whining about it won't do a speck of good. Neither the above nor the original article made any attempt to add to non-D&D discussion besides merely stating the fact that it would be welcomed. Why not initiate discussion on other topics? I for one would like to learn of other FRPGs, having only had the opportunity to enjoy (yes, I enjoyed it) AD&D. I realize that I'm not enriching the discussion either; I *would* like to contribute to the broadening of the discussions, but, alas, don't have the necessary credentials. So, Bill, how about it? Enlighten us misguided D&Ders. -- - joel "The only thing worse than a hacker is a hacker who's proud of being one."
don@umd5.UUCP (05/15/85)
In article <183@ucdavis.UUCP> ccrrick@ucdavis.UUCP (Rick Heli) writes: >> After reading over 1000 articles i have one question to ask -DOES >> ANYONE PLAY ANY OTHER GAME OTHER THAN D&D ? >> >Yes indeed! For fantasy role playing, it's _The_Fantasy_Trip_ from >the now defunct Metagaming and for super hero role playing, >Champions by Hero Games. > >Death before D&D. >-- > --rick heli > (... ucbvax!ucdavis!groucho!ccrrick) Finally, someone out there actually has heard of TFT and even plays the game! I started out with the original Melee and Wizard , eventually graduating to Advanced Melee & Wizard , plus the In The Labyrinth book. (Sigh. I just wish others would share my liking and start up a game...) As for other RPGs, I like both Traveller and Star Trek:The RPG for space RPGing and Car Wars for Nasty RPGing [:-)]. Call of Cthulhu is another good FRPG system ; It's certainly a change of pace (Look! Hastur just ate your uncle!). Non-D&Ders Unite! Start posting!! -- --==---==---==-- "Space, the final frontier ..." What ?!!? ^ No more ?!? But it's a frontier of frontiers !! --==---==---==-- ___________ _____ ---- _____ \ //---- IDIC ----- _\______//_ ---- ---------- ARPA: umd5!don@maryland.ARPA BITNET: don%umd5@umd2 CSNET: don@umd5 SPOKEN: Chris Sylvain (transient user of Don Preuss' account) UUCP: {seismo, rlgvax, allegra, brl-bmd, nrl-css}!umcp-cs!cvl!umd5!don
scifi@ukc.UUCP (I.P.Gordon) (05/17/85)
Having just got onto the net i was glad to see the newsgroup games.frp ,so with great excitement i subscribed. After reading over 1000 articles i have one question to ask -DOES ANYONE PLAY ANY OTHER GAME OTHER THAN D&D ? There are many other games than D&D the majority of which are a damm sight better.So lets here it for some of the better games. THE REAPER! "watch out for the fruit bats, they make strange music "
pop@bunkerb.UUCP (Paul Pederson) (05/17/85)
*** REPLACE THIS TSR PRODUCT WITH YOUR OWN *** I've played a few of the other systems in the past, but have yet to find anything as grandoise as ol' AD&D. You would think that other, newer game systems would remedy the problems of the older systems, but that is not always the case. Take for instance Tunnels & Trolls. At first glance it seems to be a non-difficult, streamlined FRP system. Not so many trivial rules to attempt to keep track of all the time. A big plus is that they have many solo scenarios to be used with the game. Our gaming group played it for awhile, however, after playing the system for a while, it seemed to lack potential. On the other hand, the ICE series by Iron crown has the inverse problem. Sure, charts sell. New variant rules sell. The combat and magic systems are more "realistic". Our gaming group played this game also, but we soon found out the combat system was too laborious and boring. A few simple fights could take a whole evening.....one of the players fell asleep during one of the fights. We've strayed away from AD&D on other occasions, but have yet to find anything which can replace it. Sure, it's not perfect. It has its shortcomings -- as any other gaming system -- but most DMs have their own variations of the rules anyway. When we tire of medeval type role-playing, we try other games such as Traveller, Chill, Super Heroes, Toon, etc.. They are all OK (I like Traveller the best). Anyone else out there play any of these games?
ncg@ukc.UUCP (N.C.Gale) (05/18/85)
Contact lenses: Don't complain about there being so much talk of AD&D. It is a trait of human nature to enjoy insulting people/things. And there's just so much in AD&D to criticise, well, the temptation is just too much. Despite all its warts, AD&D can still be fun to play, given a good scenario, and a good DM,and good players (or tolerant ones). It wouldn't survive if this were not the case. I hate it, that such an imperfect system should be so prolific, but I fear it's here to stay. So discussion on how to improve the game is inevitable. AD&D is in the stocks, here. Try throwing a few rotten tomatoes, you'll feel much better. -Nige Gale. We meet at last, Frognorton
srt@ucla-cs.UUCP (05/19/85)
In article <28700004@ISM780.UUCP> billp@ISM780.UUCP writes: > > They spend long hours arguing Alignment and Class while the >rest of us enjoy something more akin to Fantasy Role Playing. Hang >in there. If you have interesting FRP topics to discuss, it will >be heard in spite of the noisy channel. > >Bill Putnam I think this is a somewhat discharitable attitude. I'm happy to see traffic and reasonable discussion in this newsgroup even if does pertain to subjects like alignment and paladins :-). I think you can get something out of such discussion even if your system isn't D&D. I doubt that many of us play the same system, and even those of us who do play published systems - D&D, RQ!, etc., - play heavily modified versions. So don't worry so much about the system. -- Scott Turner
ttorgers@udenva.UUCP (Troy Torgerson) (05/20/85)
In article <> ccrrick@ucdavis.UUCP (Rick Heli) writes: > >Death before D&D. Ok, death it is! :-) >-- > --rick heli > (... ucbvax!ucdavis!groucho!ccrrick)
goldman@umn-cs.UUCP (Matthew D. Goldman ) (05/22/85)
In article <503@bunkerb.UUCP> pop@bunkerb.UUCP (Paul Pederson) writes: > >When we tire of medeval type role-playing, we try other games such as >Traveller, Chill, Super Heroes, Toon, etc.. They are all OK (I like >Traveller the best). Anyone else out there play any of these games? Traveller, Traveller, rah, rah, rah!!!! Chill??? -- ------- Matthew Goldman Computer Science Department University of Minnesota ...ihnp4{!stolaf}!umn-cs!goldman Home is where you take your hat off... Banzai! Kyllara : What did you just do? Moederan : I don't know but it's going to be fun...
michael3@garfield.UUCP (Mike Rendell) (05/23/85)
[] Being a newcomer to net.games.frp, I've noticed not only an overabundance of D&D/AD&D articles, but an overabundance of fantasy game articles in general (yes yes yes, I know that is what frp stands for). Some of my favorite games have no- thing to do with dragons whatsoever.Would anyone out there throw screaming tantrums of rage if gamers suddenly start- posting articles on Traveller and Champions? I've also noticed that, unlike other newsgroups, we never seen to get any reviews.In an expensive hobby like this one reliable reviews are invaluable. Not to mention rare. (In particular, is TSR's Marvel Super Heroes really as wretched as it sounds?)
jagardner@watmath.UUCP (Jim Gardner) (05/24/85)
In article <2949@garfield.UUCP> michael3@garfield.UUCP (Mike Rendell) writes: > Would anyone out there > throw screaming tantrums of rage if gamers suddenly start- > posting articles on Traveller and Champions? > > I've also noticed that, unlike other newsgroups, we never > seen to get any reviews.In an expensive hobby like this one > reliable reviews are invaluable. Not to mention rare. (In > particular, is TSR's Marvel Super Heroes really as wretched > as it sounds?) TSR's Marvel Superheroes is mostly a game for munchkins. It lets you play all your favourite Marvel heroes (if you have any), but forget trying to roll your own character. Every time they bring out a new hero description, they invent new powers or new glitches to the existing rules... in other words, they have to kludge their system for every hero in the universe. The character generation system is a joke. On the other hand, they have one interesting glitch that imitates one aspect of comics better than other superhero RPGs: the concept of "karma points". Karma points are experience points in some sense, since you can trade in karma points to improve your powers and skills. However, you can also trade in karma points to improve individual dice rolls. I think this is very true to the comics: when your punch absolutely has to connect, you can spend those points to make sure it does. In that final second when only you can save the world, you can...provided that you've saved up a few points for emergencies. I have adapted this to fit in my Champions campaign. One Champions experience point buys one Karma point. At the cost of one karma point, you can dictate one 3D6 roll without rolling. Therefore when you absolutely must take down the villain, you say "Surprise, I roll a 3" (which in Champions is an automatic hit). When you are going to die if you don't make your DEX roll to grab the flagpole as you're falling, you can roll a 3 there too. Activation rolls for armour, luck rolls, EGO rolls...all those things can be purchased with a karma point. But once you spend the karma point, it's gone and so is the experience point you used to buy it. In my campaign, where heroes average 2 experience points a week, this means that karma points are grossly expensive. Moreover, I have set a limit of 2 karma points at any one time, which means that you can't save up to waltz through emergencies. They are only used in direst emergencies. By the by, the way Marvel Superheroes awards karma points is silly. For example, you can get more karma points spending two weekends with Aunt May than saving the world. Also, if you ever take a human life, you automatically lose all your karma points. This means that villains seldom have points they can use against you, but it's hellishly difficult to play a character like Wolverine and get anywhere. Jim Gardner, University of Waterloo
euren@ttds.UUCP (Leif Euren) (05/24/85)
Quote I C Gordon:
>DOES ANYONE PLAY ANY OTHER GAME OTHER THAN D&D ?
And I wonder, WHY are we playing nothing but [A]D&D? Myself, I do
it because it has some great advantages:
Combat - is fast and fair and has just as much luck-dependance to
make it a thrill. With luck, you may slay a slightly more powerful enemy,
but there are sure deaths too.
Balance - is not very hard to achieve. I think it's easy to create
balanced adventures (as TSR's modules are not).
Rules - exist in a unparallelled vastness, even without non-TSR
extensions|modifications|variations. Everything (almost) is covered; and if
it's not there is certain some similar case that be used as base for own
rules. A DM may choose what he like, and discard the rest.
Character Classes - though severely restricting the players i their
choice of character personality, it greatly helps the DM create interesting
NPCs. And even the most simple NPC is more interesting than a monster.
A Life of its Own - as seen in this newsgroup. The original rules
were in some cases so bad that they had to be modified. Players exchange
their modifications (as said above) and other ideas, which mostly makes the
game better, easier and more exciting to play. This atract the interest from
new players to the game, thus breeding even more modifications and ideas in
the end.
May I say, as a final statement to my defence, that I don't like
[A]D&D when played 'by the book'. But I certaily enjoy/enjoyed every
AD&D-based campaign I've had the luck to be in.
Leif Euren
martin@yale.ARPA (CHarles Martin) (05/29/85)
Re: Other FRP besides D&D. Anybody out there do EPT (or S&G, in its new incarnation)?
granvold@tymix.UUCP (Tom Granvold) (05/30/85)
- I too have become tired of all the D&D material. I have not played D&D for over five years now, and I have never played AD&D. This is not to say that D&D is no good as a set of rules. But, I do feel that there are several other games available with better rules. As someone pointed out, who the GM, game master, and other players are is of much more importance than the particular game used. Idealy role playing game rules serve two purposes. First they provide a structure in which the action can take place. While I have heard of games where the only rule is that what the GM says is it, I think that most people find it more enjoyable to have a set of rules. In this way a known foundation is established on which that play can proceed. If Humungus the Powerful bangs a poor orc on the head with his maul, the players and the GM know how to find the damage done and its effect. The rules are there to take care of the details and let the people get on with the important, i.e. fun, stuff. This implies that the rules should not get in the way of the play. My biggest complaint about RuneQuest, my favorite game, moves too slowly. I have not given up RuneQuest since the rules feel more 'realistic' to me and I find the world of Glorantha fascinating. D&D combat on the other hand plays faster. Second the rules should save the GM time. Most people do not have the time, interest and knowledge to create their own game system. So long as the GM is not hesitant to change the rules to fit the effect that s/he wishes to create. Changing the rules as needed is especially important for the rules that are not so much concerned with the machanics of play, like combat, as they are with creating a world. I would call rules on on alignments as ones dealing with creating a world. The GM should be the one to create the world. If s/he wishes to buy a world already created, find. But something else is wanted, then create your own or change the existing one. Enough of this tangent that I have gone off on. I want to say that I too want to see more written about games other that D&D. It is not that there has been no articles on other games, just no enough. About a year ago there was a nice long review and response on the third edition of RuneQuest. There was spurt of interest in comic book super heroes a few months ago. How about some new stuff? Rather than just asking others to do it for me, I am following this article with a review of a new game called Pendragon by Chaosium. Tom Granvold I didn't even sneak in a comment about how many D&D games end up being an everlasting dungeon crawl or Monty Hal monsters. -:) Of course, D&D and AD&D are trademarks of TSR Inc. RuneQuest and Pendragon are trademarks of Chaosium Inc. (or does Avalon Hill now hold the RuneQuest trademark?)
steve@avsdS.UUCP (Steve Russell) (05/31/85)
> ......................................... I doubt that many of us play the > same system, and even those of us who do play published systems - D&D, RQ!, > etc., - play heavily modified versions. So don't worry so much about the > system. > -- Scott Turner Been to '84's Games Caucus and '85's DunDraCon.... *NEVER* seen anyone play by all the rules. DM: "First off--NO PSIONICS" Players: "Sure" "hey, OK" "No problem" "What are psionics?" steve AMPEX
scifi@ukc.UUCP (I.P.Gordon) (06/08/85)
In article <949@ttds.UUCP> euren@ttds.UUCP (Leif Euren) writes: >>DOES ANYONE PLAY ANY OTHER GAME OTHER THAN D&D ? > > And I wonder, WHY are we playing nothing but [A]D&D? Myself, I do >it because it has some great advantages: Okay lets look at these advantages...... > > Combat - is fast and fair and has just as much luck-dependance to >make it a thrill. With luck, you may slay a slightly more powerful enemy, >but there are sure deaths too. How can D&D combat be a thrill? It is totally to do with the luck of the dice roll and is only fair if your dice are. You would need a hell of alot of luck to slay a more powerful enemy or lots of nice powerful magic .He can hit you easier and take the damage you do without even blinking,while he can easily kill you just because you made a lousy roll on your hit points. > Balance - is not very hard to achieve. I think it's easy to create >balanced adventures (as TSR's modules are not). This is the the same for any game, the GM creates the balance. A good GM will have a good balance and a bad GM will not.It has no relavance to one game being better than another. > > Rules - exist in a unparallelled vastness, even without non-TSR >extensions|modifications|variations. Everything (almost) is covered; and if >it's not there is certain some similar case that be used as base for own >rules. A DM may choose what he like, and discard the rest. It would help if the rules wre writen properly in the first place then GM's would need to make up his own or alter the originals. > > Character Classes - though severely restricting the players i their >choice of character personality, it greatly helps the DM create interesting >NPCs. And even the most simple NPC is more interesting than a monster. UTTER BULLS**T! Any GM worth his salt can create an interesting NPC with having to resort to silly and restrictive charachter classes. Monsters can be very interesting it just depends on the GM thats running them. >The rules......... >were in some cases so bad that they had to be modified. Players exchange >their modifications (as said above) and other ideas, which mostly makes the >game better, easier and more exciting to play. This atract the interest from >new players to the game, thus breeding even more modifications and ideas in >the end. No Kidding! You mean these vast and comprehensive set of rules that cover just about everything.Make your mind up either you wany rules to change so they can be played properly or you want a set to actually play by. > > May I say, as a final statement to my defence, that I don't like >[A]D&D when played 'by the book'. But I certaily enjoy/enjoyed every >AD&D-based campaign I've had the luck to be in. Then you've either very lucky or you just haven't been in many games! THE REAPER Beware the friutbats they'll go for your private parts! Now you D&D lovers have got something useful to flame about.So get flaming,but don't worry I've got a TOUGH skin. P.S. Don't believe the name at the top of this article ,more than one person uses this login.