Computer-RPGs Vs. The Real MCoy

[SauronMaiar]

Seeing as a lot of people here like games such as Baldur's Gate, Planescape or Fallout, why not have a little discussion going as to how they compare to the pen and paper thing. Maybe this belongs somewhere else...

Personally, I don't really know. I like those games on my PC, but they are very limited if you know and played AD&D for weeks (or months) in some dark hole...

So, what do you say ?

 

[damunzy]

A friend and I have been trying to use the program WebRPG to play online. You can find it at www.webrpg.com .
Unfortunately it is writen in Java, so it is slow and pretty buggy.

 

[kcwong]

Originally posted by PaleHorse76
A friend and I have been trying to use the program WebRPG to play online. You can find it at www.webrpg.com .
Unfortunately it is writen in Java, so it is slow and pretty buggy.

Java is *NOT* slow and buggy.

If the program is bad, It's because of the programmer's skill.

 

[damunzy]

Even good Java is slower than precompiled software, but I will take back the buggy part on Java and blame it on the programmer or Windows.

 

[damunzy]

Found a new online RPG thingy, www.openrpg.com . This one is free, haven't tried it yet though....

As to which I perfer, deffinately paper and pencil, if I could find a good group to play with.

 

[Flatlander Fox]

I won't play computer RPGs, due to the whole scripted thing... I like choices, but not always the ones given to me by the computer.

I too would play with a good group, but it is practically impossible to find anyone these days who play "by the rules" without turning D&D into their own personal comic book...

 

[MajorGeneral2]

Unfortunately, I've never played pen-and-paper RPG's. I would certainly like to, if I could find someone to play with. Anyway, I'm a big fan of console RPG's (I'm more of a console guy than a PC one). Many do offer several options, but I could imagine how many more must be available with D&D and the like.

 

[Magnus]

I run an extremely free-form AD&D3 game. Nothing linear about it, the players must live with the consequences of their actions - and no restarts.

 

[damunzy]

Sounds harsh Magnus...I have never been in a game that wasn't fudged a bit, in the PCs favor. It would be refreshing to play a game like that, but I bet you are nowhere near Bensalem PA right? Oh, and I work weird hours too! So it would have to be a gam in the middle of the night on my "weekend" (Sunday and Monday) or in the morning one of those days.

 

[Magnus]

My philosophy is, the more realistic a game is, and the greater the threat of harm to the PC's the more excitement generated - the threat of annihlation is a powerful stimulant, and conversely, victory against grave odds is so much more rewarding too. I publicly roll all NPC combat results so I cannot pull punches (even if I would like to). I generally run every other Sunday noon - six.

 

[Lefty Scaevola]

Anybody here ever play Paranoia, the RPG where an insan computor runs the world.

 

[Flatlander Fox]

I played it MANY, MANY, moons ago...

Didn't really like it, although it was a fun idea.

But I liked it a hell of alot more than Gamma World!

How about Boot Hill?

 

[TrailblazingScot]

Paranoia is a great game...and your best friend Flatlander(RichassesII) really excels himself as the computer/GMing the game.

But since it is 3:30 am I'll refrain from some story telling, but needless to say that computer RPGs don't stand a chance versus face-to-face games...Baldur's Gate -for the hackmeisters and munchins is what I say

As for text based RPG via icq, e-mail or whatever, I can't see that recreating the team dynamic that forms in any player group...

 

[damunzy]

Over the internet play might achieve the level as face-to-face when everyone has superfast broadband connections and video camera and microphones. As it stand playing over the internet is a pain.

 

[Flatlander Fox]

I have cable, and the video is REALLY not needed... Maybe a CivFan D&D session is in order...

Only thing is that I am a 1st edition guy...

But I am really familiar with the second edition as well.

We COULD voice conference it in, but alot of things would be difficult to pull off...

 

[Magnus]

You could do it via a dedicated chatroom with perhaps an image of your character, and also a dice-rolling program that shows all results (except those deemed secret by the DM). The DM could then send relevant data files (descriptive jpg's etc) thru the IM service. It may be clunky but certainly possible.

 

[damunzy]

Flatlander Fox and Magnus:
I have done the IRC game route, I have even gone above that with OpenRPG and WebRPG. Both of these programs have figure representation (I have found battles much more satisfying knowing exactly where the enemy is instead of trying to image where all the party members and Xhundred orcs are) along with dice rolling. I feel that sound (hearing the other players) and video (seeing the other players) would go a long way in bringing internet RPGing closer to Face-to-Face. It will be a long time in coming befoe anything replaces Face-to-Face....maybe when we have holosuites like in StarTrek. Now that would be fun to fight an Orc or imagine a Giant in there!

 

[FearlessLeader2]

Well, if anyone in CNY is interest in a real RPG, I run a campaign going on four years old in CNY, and have been playing on and off, mostly on, for 22 years. Started with D&D, then Star Frontiers, Gamma World, and all that, and now I'm back to D&D. I don't use published game worlds, because I like knowing things the players don't know, and I'm tough bur fair. I've killed many groups off in a few quick brutal rounds when they ignored obvious warnings.

I have fond memories of routing a party of PCs after the paladin failed his save vs an Eye Killer's death beams...tee hee.

Then there was that one adventure where the godess of time wouldn't let tomorrow come until the PCs managed to stop two of her worshippers from duelling to the death, and the party got killed all or in part four or five times before they got it right. They kept waking up in their inn room on the same morning, running into the same events and people, until they finally figured it out. Probably some of my finest work as a GM. They were in way over their heads, at first level, trying to stop a duell between 10th level NPCs, and when the party samurai challenged one of them duellists to a duel, he was cut down before his turn on the first round. The look on the player's face was priceless... I thought he was going to cry. I might post my After-Action Report, if there is any interest...

Like I said though, if any of you hail from central NY, and would like to get in, we always need more players. Two players and a GM just isn't enough for a proper game.

 

[CenturionV]

how can anyone seriuosly even try and play pen and paper rpgs? they must take an absolute load of time to play i played game slike fallout and morrowind and they are very long and thats with the computer calculating all the battles, stats, inventory and movments how can people possibly have this great of detail in a pen and paper game? thats why i play computer rpgs they take less time and are less hard to udnerstand.

 

[polymath]

I love computer RPGs. Sadly I don't have any friends geeky enough (or as geeky as me, I should say) who will play pencil-and-paper RPGs.
I basically stopped playing pencil-and-paper ones when I was 14, when my 26th level Ranger got killed. I've actually forgotten all the circumstances involved except for what I just said, and that it upset me. I used to play before school, at lunch and after school and then just stopped.
The best computer RPG around right now is Morrowind. It is absolutely awesome.