Role playing games and that...

[JonnySpeed]

Does anybody play those role playing games? I rememeber Adavnced Dungeons and Dragons and Call of Cthulhu from school - and one based around Rollerball. Went into one of those Games Workshop shops today and that's a whole different thing - building your army and that - and doing war gaming.

They used to run these kind of things through the post, do they still do that or is it all t'internet now?

I'm only asking cos I'm interested.

[thembuzz]

i used to collect them warhammer figures when i was a bairn. i didn't actually play with them (far too complicated), i just liked painting them

[Hagbard]

I had some Judge Dredd lead figures which I painted. Then I tried to melt them. That's about as close as I got.

[JonnySpeed]

funky ass dice. all kinds of shapes. ws good though cos it teaches you about probability and playing to your strengths as a team. Still much prefer a good game of capture the flag on Quake III

[Mui]

http://www.ifilm.com/filmdetail?ifilmid=220487&htv=12

an oldie but a goodie.

[Mirsha]

I did ye olde Warhammer type games when I was at school then when I went off to uni I got involved with al the roleplaying lark, a bit of AD&D and a bit of White Wolf's "wooo, it's all very gothy" range of games.

I had some ace times, many funny situations resulting from being complete bastards to other people. I eventualyl got fed up with it all just because the people were really starting to get on my nerves with their grimer than grim attitudes to pretty much everything and too much interpersonal drama.

[nikrem]

i once stuck my head through the door of games workshop out of curiosity and there was a gaggle of weird looking blokes (all wearing glasses, and smelling faintly of piss) huddled round a board looking intense and cackling. that was all i wanted to see.

[thembuzz]

anyone read douglas rushkoff's 'cyberia'? there's a chapter in there about a bunch of role-playing types that he hooked up with that really puts a new spin on gaming. i don't know if his spin is so much representative of the whole scene as it is just this small hardcore of people, but it's interesting nonetheless. i won't tell you what the spin is. i can't quite remember. but it was interesting

[pongoid]

Funny that you should mention this as I've just won a set of original cover AD&D 1st edition books, and am DM'ing on Saturday afternoons. Good stuff.


Ape

[djerome]

haven't played a role playing game with a group in many y ears. But since 2000 with Ultima Online i went to MMORPGs (massive multiplayer online RPG), and now i play World of Warcraft. you dont have to bathe and I think it's just as fun.

[Boing!]

God, back in the day I played AD&D. Wicked stuff.

Call of Cthulhu was a great game, but sadly I think you inevitably went mad.

My favourite was Ars(e) Magica.

[dSort]

I used to be a Cyberpunk 2020 freak,aleso loved to play Call of Ctulhu...good old days ;]

[Ava]

I played a few of these games, starting with advanced heroquest, then some epic-scale games. Eventually I got put off by the ridiculous amount of money, time and effort it took to get a full army going. I then started playing Magic: The Gathering (a card game), but got put off by the epic amount of money you needed to spend to get a good deck going. Then i discovered techno records, and spent my money on those instead....

but yes, good days all round.. i've still got my old magic cards, might start playing again, that was the game i enjoyed most. And i still go into games workshop, to buy acrylic paint (really good thin acrylic for cheap), and it is still much as nikrem described.

[bracket]

I was into Warhammer 40k... I wasnt really into the playing aspect - i just loved the models and the painting etc. I was well into Space Marine and Terminator squads - i loved all the hard basterd robots.

Still got them somewhere...

[Ava]

games workshop and art of perception did that warhammer 40k record series, each one was based on a different race from the game. i have tyranids versus space wolves - thomas brinkmann and heiko laux

[bracket]

Yeah - there were a few split Warhammer 40k 12's. I got the Space Marines one by John Starlight and the Kitbuilders.

[May Kasahara]

Originally posted by Mirsha
I had some ace times, many funny situations resulting from being complete bastards to other people.

Same here! I used to play AD&D and then loads of Warhammer with my brother and two of his mates, it was a wicked laugh. My brother's friend Julian was always the DM and used to come up with loads of quality ideas, evil traps and long-term situations that would develop over time etc. Also his other mate Joe Hole was extremely gullible, so me and Si took total advantage of him by constantly picking his pocket, sending him into trapped room first and so on. Good times.

We also played another quite mad RPG but I can't remember the name of it now.

[jukka]

aleks once told me that i look like someone who plays rolegames, but i don't play rolegames.

[Boing!]

Sad fact #1

I once held the world record (briefly) for organising the largest ever cardgame of Magic the Gathering in 1995. 76 people all playing the same game. It took 6 hours to play and needed 15 referees.

[JE:5]

Nope, I just used to paint the figures. Although I did have heroquest lol

[P Rex]

the best rpg was paranoia
bloodbowl was good too
it all turned shit in the 90s
ive still got a bag of lead

[marcel]

Originally posted by jukka
aleks once told me that i look like someone who plays rolegames lol
harsh but quality insult

[Spandex]

Mate of mine works at Games Workshop... when he moved departments, one of the artists gave him the original painting that's used for one of the boxes. Apparently it'd be worth thousands to some Warhammer geeks.

Also.. they have a 6foot model of Helms Deep to play on. Sounds like a cool place to work... he's been on a few freebies to see premiers of LOTR too. Think the shops are a different kettle of fish tho... they're like creches where parents dump their nerdy teens while they go off shopping.

[Dangerman]

I've picked up Warhammer several times. But only to find out I suck at painting models and I never got the rules anyway. Played it once in a shop with a couple of crazy Orc freaks who couldnt stop yelling Yaargh! Seemed like a lot of fun at the time, but I dunno why I got into it, its o so expensive so Id rather play RPG on the computar.

[cut out]

Originally posted by P Rex
the best rpg was paranoia
bloodbowl was good too
it all turned shit in the 90s
ive still got a bag of lead

i only ever really properly played paranoia and it was brilliant... i tried a couple of other games but they bored me somewhat. too much dice rolling not enough fun. Bloodbowl was excellent fun - i also used to play chainsaw warrior, whiich was a single player game for lonely spods with weapon-lust

i did used to love reading the warhammer 40k book though and the artwork inspired me a lot.

we need grobelaar here to impart some insider knowledge...

[wheezer]

gurps
ad&d
warhammer
blood bowl
cyberpunk 2020

all been played to some extent (though technically warhammer/blood bowl ain't rpgs anywho). dungeon masters never liked me much since I always went for a brute force character with brute force solutions to any problem ;)

[thembuzz]

Originally posted by Boing!
Sad fact #1

I once held the world record (briefly) for organising the largest ever cardgame of Magic the Gathering in 1995. 76 people all playing the same game. It took 6 hours to play and needed 15 referees.

good work!

[Boing!]

I'm a bit gutted that I sold my Magic the Gathering collection. At one point it was huge, although I did make a considerable sum from it. Some of the first cards to be released that were later withdrawn now fetch up to £1000.

The game itself is a work of art. I can't think of anything quite as addictive, combining the art of collecting with the idea of your deck being unique. The endless combinations made it a joy to play, and I'd spend hours dreaming up new possibilities and dark schemes on how to make them work. The problem was that I was a collector, so I felt the urge to get every card printed, rather than just concentrate on the ones that would suit my deck. The feeling one had when you wasted an opponent for the first time with your new combination was akin to you dropping a record that no-one else has heard in a club, but then it was mirrored when you were on the receiving end of a pasting and had to rethink your strategy. Favourite cards without a doubt -- Fork, Killer Bees, Howling Mine, Underworld Dreams.

[grobelaar]

My small claim to fame is I used to be a Games Designer. I've designed - Warhammer, Warhammer 40,000, Warhammer Quest, Blood Bowl, Necromunda, Space Hulk, written untold numbers of articles in White Dwarf and went on to edit their comic and graphic designer for the Black Library.

It was great fun, I'd probably still be there if it wasn't for the fact that they pay their staff jack shit. After 7 years, I was still only on £13K a year!!!

GW, doesn't do roleplay games any more, they haven't for years - they do Tabletop battle games, it grew out of mixing of the fledgling roleplay industry of the late 70s and 80s and the second generation of post-war historical wargamers. A lot of the founders of GW play and still play Ancients Wargames - they've even written a set of Warhammer rules for playing ancients period wargames.

The GW product is 'the hobby' - which is basically the whole bit, the miniatures, the rules, the paints, brushes, terrain, dice etc. It's quite expensive in terms of time and money.

[Boing!]

I loved the earlier Games Workshop products when I was a kid - but to be honest when they steered away from roleplaying I lost all interest.

However compared to other companies until White Wolf came along in the 90's with Vampire they were easily the best for artistry, figures and innovation.

I've still got the Judge Dredd boardgame. Cracking little game to play for 2 hours or so. Got bored of Talisman as it was too fiddly and could go on for hours. There was another - Warrior Knights - that I really enjoyed but that was discontinued early on.

[drop]

i loved ad&d and traveller (anyone remember the stainless steel rat)
and battletech was the shit.

[pongoid]

It's funny to hear some folks talking about spending loads of dosh on this stuff. I just spent $5 on dice, and $25 to get the books I wanted, and I'll have to spend maybe another $2 on graph paper, pencils, and lined paper, and that's it. That's enough for a load of people to play D&D for years if they so choose, and the limits are ONLY the imagination. I see people spend more than that on ONE Magic card. And there's no fucking plot to Magic either. It's just a pissing contest to see who has the better deck of (i.e. spent more dosh on) cards. Still...whatever makes people happy. I LOVE 1st edition D&D before all the 2nd ed rules supplements and pigeonholing silliness with a million different types of characters and scores table came out. Simplicity works best for that type of game. I never really liked WH40k either because it relied on miniatures, as did so many other games that while they seemed neat, by making material the objects of the game, you diminish a bit of the imagination involved. Perhaps some need that kind of anchor, but I prefer not to use it when I can avoid it.

$.02

[Boing!]

Totally agree with you Pongoid. Whilst I did love Magic the Gathering, there was no doubt that it was always about who had the biggest wallet at the end of the day.

I think my dissatisfaction to a certain extent with RPGs however came from my niggling requirement for attention to detail. I would essentially get fucked off with the DM after a while because the world to me didn't seem believable. That I think came down to who I was playing with or the DM themselves. I also was sucked into getting handbook after handbook that fleshed out the world for me, rather than using my imagination. However, creating your own believable world was an enormous and essentially thankless task. There are so many factors to consider when designing one that it becomes a behemoth of a project unless you devote a vast amount of time to it. I loved DMing AD&D when I was 18 or so, it was great fun especially when your players were your mates.

I spent a lot of time playing Ars Magica because it was set in Mythic Europe allowing me to use history textbooks rather than making up stuff. The game's mechanics were also unique - in that you didn't necessarily play the same character week in week out. As the game was set around a "Covenant", one could play any number of characters from a Mage to a Squire to a humble beggar. It's an excellent game.

It's a shame that RPGs get a lot of stick from most of society. True, a lot of the people that play them are, to say the least a bit "weird" but they rely on using one's imagination, something that Computer games have destroyed to a certain extent. It's enjoyable from time to time to slot into being another person, and acting out. If you can get away from the "power-hungry" gaming that afflicts a lot of younger players and enjoy fleshing out a believable character in a believable world, then I think you can get a lot of enjoyment out of the hobby.

Whilst I love computer games, it's interesting that one of the most popular of all time, Championship Manager, is essentially just statistics, allowing the user to use his imagination when playing games and wondering what players are really like. The similarity between RPGs and that is quite quirky.

[grobelaar]

Magic The Gathering is still a pretty good card game - yeah granted to begin with the decks got a bit out of hand, but that's because they were trying to mix the dynamic of the collectable card market - like bubblegum stickers with a card game - it didn't quite work. Some of the cards were changing hands for hundreds of dollars and the ones that were, were just badly designed and unbalanced teh game.

Later additions are far more balanced and good for competition play.

I think it's pointless comparing Warhammer/Warhammer 40,000 with a roleplay game because it's a totally different beast. Plus, if you are talented, you do have something magnificent to show for your efforts - an army of wonderful painted toy soldiers and a nice gaming table to play your games on. Probably being a total geek here, but you can't beat it, especially if you crafted it all yourself. A lot of people pay for their miniatures to be painted, you can usually get some mad Americans to part with a couple of grand for 40-50 well painted pieces.

[Mirsha]

Originally posted by P Rex
the best rpg was paranoia
Comrade P Rex-BLU-3, plese report to termination booth ARX-33 for a discussion on how you came by this forbidden knowledge.

[P Rex]

but i trusted the computer! i thought it was my friend!

[Mirsha]

Keep your laser handy citizen!

Now report to research lab FWJ-Delta, we have a new weapon we'd like you to test out on your next mission, unfortunately the weapon is so powerfull you are not allowed to use it anywhere in Alpha complex. Failure to test this weapon will result in your mandotory reassignment to the food vats as dinner.

[Dr Y]

Ah, my misspent youth.


Started with Palladium Games (Rifts, Heroes Unlimited), progressing to AD&D and Battletech. That went on for a few years, which kept up a good alibi for the parents, as much of the time we were inbibing various substances (which sometimes would pose problems in actually getting much gaming done).

Later this was replaced with PaperCrack (Magic:TG), and I spent a king's fortune on this addiction. I still have most of my cards, and haven't bought more than a pack or two since Legends (Magic-addicts, you can relate). Been a long time since I ran into someone who still plays...

This was supplemented with healthy does of MUDs (Multi User Dungeon). This was the final nail in the coffin for pen and paper games, as my trusty 2400 baud modem telnet'ed into various servers for different games. Many of which still run today....

MUDs were and are still great for role-playing, as it's a text based game. Just like a MMORPG, but without the graphics. Let's your imagination run wild. The best ones are themed, just like the better pen&paper games.

[drop]

yeah
ad&d and everclear made for some very entertaining moments.

[Hagbard]

I played the Steve Jackson Illuminati card game, that was pretty good. (The US Steve Jackson, not the UK fighting fantasy fellar)

[dSort]

whoa,so many players,maybewe should organize d&d session before the next board mash-up party?

[Boing!]

lol - the one thing I never did was roleplay on drugs.

re MG : Legends - I remember that. Boxes of cards going in nanoseconds once they hit the shelves.

[Paddy]

edit.

[Paddy]

Originally posted by thembuzz
i used to collect them warhammer figures when i was a bairn. i didn't actually play with them (far too complicated), i just liked painting them

i never played the game either thembuzz. it was shite. i got fuckin good at paintin them though, even got a few in the shop window. jesus, i cant believe im telling people this!
i ended up melting all mine with a heat stripper, i turned a lot of my pocket money into little lead lumps. remember how expensive the little fuckers were? that shop has a crazy monopoly on geeks pocket money.

[grobelaar]

Originally posted by nik-nak


i never played the game either thembuzz. it was shite.

You were too fucking stupid, more like :)

[zongkong]

Originally posted by Mirsha
Keep your laser handy citizen!

Now report to research lab FWJ-Delta, we have a new weapon we'd like you to test out on your next mission, unfortunately the weapon is so powerfull you are not allowed to use it anywhere in Alpha complex. Failure to test this weapon will result in your mandotory reassignment to the food vats as dinner.

Hahahahhahaa.. the memories, the memories.. ;)

"Fear. Ignorance. Ignorance and fear."

[Paddy]

Originally posted by grobelaar


You were too fucking stupid, more like :)

nah, just had too short an attention span, coupled with the fact all the gamers were sad as fuck. lol

[Mirsha]

Bad nik-nak! Nothing can beat moments of joy like the first time I took my Orc army against my mates undead, stuck a cheap goblin standard bearer on a Wyvern, gave him Mork's war banner and on the second turn had him charge the enemy unit with his sole 700 odd point necromancer in it. Ah the joys of watching my opponent cry as 1/4 of his army died in one swift movement due to the special power of Mork's war banner killing any spellcaster in a unit it touches, then watching his army crumble to dust without the presence of a necromnacer to keep it all together.

[Boing!]

The fact that you remember it in such detail is rather worrying though.