I am just curious. Does anyone on the forum play “old school” pen and paper role playing games ?
I do, have played many and much since I was 14 and still do. Since I was 20, I have usually always been the Game Master in various groups.
Right now, my current group plays Warhammer Fantasy Role Playing Game 4th edition and we are having a lot of fun. I am using the campaign in the so called Starter Set, set around Ubersreik; and we have played through 4 of the adventures set around Ubersreik so far. The plan is to eventually take my players into the epic Enemy Within Campaign (which I probably will have to alter a bit due to my players having a bit too experienced characters for Enemy in Shadows).
Anyway, we are having a lot of fun and I am curious if anyone shares the hobby.
When I was about 14, spent a Sunday afternoon at a guy’s house (he ran a games shop) where we played Call of Cathulu (sp?) Was a brilliant afternoon, he ran the game and we eventually solved the puzzles. It has to be said that his insistence to have us back to play regularly did make us think twice but was good fun none the less. Should dig out something similar to play with Jnr.
Yeah, Enemy in Shadows (that’s Shadows over Bøgenhafen) is the first campaign book in the very long Enemy Within campaign. It is probably my favorite RPG campaign, that and Call of Chtulhu Masks of Nyarlathotep and Horror on the Orient Express. Cyberpunk I haven’t actually played much, though I have tried Shadowrun and similar cyber-punk style games. White Wolf I have also played for many years, but I prefer different games these days. But I had a lot of fun with Vampire the Maquerade in previous years.
I still love playing RPG, and I have more fun with it now than when I was 14-18, due to being a far superior role player and of course a much more intelligent and knowledgeable man than I was when I was a youth. RPGs are cool like that, the smarter and more knowledgeable you are, the more you can use your brain and imagination to create a vivid atmosphere and pictures for your players. It also helps obviously, that my players are mature adults
But yeah, few adults play it these days, was more popular in the late 90s early 2000s. Video games and MMORGPs have taken over a lot, but as you know, pen and paper is different and more detailed and sophisticated than any video game can ever hope to be.
I am grateful for the fact that I have always had a few friends most of them at my own age, that love gaming. And to be honest, you never get too old for this. If you can be 50 and play an rpg on a computer, you can certainly play pen and paper with some like minded friends. Indeed, it is a better experience. But most grow out of it, only having a taste in College or High School. I think it’s a shame, but very understandable as people move to different places, get family and kids, and then it is only natural that you stop playing. Playing an RPG on a computer is of course easier, as you can play it when you want, as long as you want, and your rpg session doesn’t have to suit the schedule of an entire group of people. That’s what makes playing rpg for mature adults rough in my experience, the scheduling, trying to find a day when everyone in your group can play.
Anyway, I love it. We usually play once a week, sometimes twice a month.
I am sure most people did ! There wouldn’t be rpg video games without pen and paper first though !
Call of Chtulhu is correct. That is the best horror investigating game I know of. One of my favorites for sure. I had a lot of angst filled nights when I was younger after having played Call, as my Game Master at that time had a fantastic ability to invoke a frightening atmosphere.
Was exciting though, so I always came back ! But yeah, when I was 16, I had a love-hate relationship to that game !
I’ve been playing a D&D 5e campaign with a group of friends for three or four years now, try to have a session weekly but sometimes life gets in the way. Great fun, playing tonight in fact.
Glad to hear it ! I tested 5ed last summer, like it more than the previous edition. Dungeons and Dragons have never been a favorite system of mine due to the rules, but there are some really stellar DnD settings. Although 5ed I liked a lot more than ADnD, although the leveling up part of the game is a bit linear (I enjoy a bit more freedom to upgrade characters) and I don’t really enjoy dungeon crawls where you meet random enemies that much.
Do you guys play a written setting like Forgotten Realms etc., or is it your Game Master that creates everything ?
And yeah, often life gets in the way, The older you get, the more it gets in the way
Yeah, we’re playing on the Forgotten Realms world map, but otherwise our GM has created the campaign, characters etc himself.
Most of the time we’re pissing ourselves with laughter as generally things go wrong, but in a very amusing way.
One of our players has had an item called The Deck of Many Things for about a year now, basically each card has a different effect, some really good but some really bad. We’ve used it a couple of times on NPCs with mostly hilarious(ly awful) effects.
Last week, apropros of nothing right at the end of the session, he pulled a card himself and was immediately banished to another plane of existence (we have no idea where).
We’re still debating whether or not to try to rescue him
When I was like 14/15, I played Warhammer 40,000 and Necromunda pretty regularly. Necromunda was great because you created your gang, and after every battle you would gain or lose money/weapons/gang members, so you’d be rewarded for progression, and it was an ongoing campaign.
Lol, sounds fun ! Glad you guys are enjoying yourself !
That’s fun too. Never tried Necromunda because I don’t know anyone that plays it. I like Warhammer 40k though (Got an Iron Warrior and a Death Guard army), but play it extremely rarely (2-3 times a year).
Yeah, you need a friend or two who’ll play Necromunda with you. It’s actually a fantastic game, but I’m not sure if the ruleset has changed since I was playing it nearly 25 years ago. The initial setup takes a long time. You have to pick your faction, agree on starting credits to build your gang, choose your weapons, then roll for stats for each gang member. The different skirmish options that came out of the box were great, lots of different fun scenarios with different objectives. Each of the starting 6(I think?) factions had different attributes, strengths and weaknesses that help determine their play style, etc. Kind of like 40k but with a much more scaled down and episodic approach. Feels like exactly the sort of thing that would make for a great sci-fi/futuristic MMORPG online.
There wouldn’t be rpg video games without pen and paper first though !
