Dungeons and Dragons

Sat, 06/13/2009 - 10:37am — lambert

Fun post. Go read.

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Comments

Total D&D fanboy

By danps on Sat, 06/13/2009 - 11:14am

I saw that link at Avedon's place and here's what I commented:

I was an absolute crazy D&D geek growing up for a lot of the reasons the article describes. I loved playing, I've kept all of the books & modules (including an orange cover Palace of the Silver Princess, thank you very much) even though I don't play anymore, and would gladly play again if I could find a good group. And what's funny (or maybe not) is that I never geeked out on any other sci-fi/fantasy stuff. I couldn't tell you much of anything about Star Trek, enjoyed LOTR & the Star Wars movies as a casual fan, etc. But D&D, forget it. Best game ever.

Pencil, paper, 3 books, dice and an active imagination can provide endless hours of entertainment. I'm a pretty enthusiastic video game player but nothing compares to a quality D&D campaign.

Became engulfed in the surrounding culture, that only came about, IMO, because of D&D. I never actually played D&D myself, though I tried my hand at Magic The Gathering, until I went away from my group to go to college, and had no chance in hell of finding a group there(the local town was in a fit over Harry Potter when I arrived).

I mean, fantasy novels had been around forever, but I don't think that outside of Tolkien, many had any commercial success, until Dragonlance.

But I was drawn to the culture, for the fantasy, as I'd always been a fan of comics and became a Star Wars fan at the age of 3, upon sighting my first Ewok. Grew up watching Star Trek reruns every time they aired on TV, thanks to my mother.

So D&D has helped shape the lives of people who didn't even play the game.

He who will not reason is a bigot; he who cannot is a fool; and he who dares not is a slave.
- Sir William Drummond

Same Here, Aeryl

By BDBlue on Sat, 06/13/2009 - 3:03pm

only with me, it's not so much movies (although I loved and grew up with Star Wars) as it is role playing videogames, which a lot of the time are based on the D&D model. Something I didn't know until my husband, who grew up with D&D, saw me playing Oblivion and instantly knew as much, if not more, about the game than I did (since I had just gotten it).

"Do what you feel in your heart to be right -- for you'll be criticized anyway. You'll be damned if you do, and damned if you don't. " - Eleanor Roosevelt

ZOMG OBLIVION!!!!

By danps on Sun, 06/14/2009 - 3:47am

Let's see:

Played it through the first time and did all the extras - head of Mage's Guild, Grey Fox, etc..
Immediately upon finishing I started a new game so I could level more efficiently.
Went through every side quest I could find.
Bought the Game of the Year edition when it came out and did all of those.
Bought the mostly crappy online extras.

Yeah, I liked it. Word has it there may be a new Elder Scrolls sometime next year. Also: You might want to check out Fallout 3. Bethesda made that too so it's got a lot of similar gameplay elements (totally different milieu though). I didn't like it as well as Oblivion but still dug deep into it. Also - if you haven't played Bioshock do yourself a favor and get it. The environment, storytelling and gameplay are all amazing.

Haven't been blown away by anything this year so far, and we're almost halfway through. I hope they're holding the best stuff back till the holiday season....

ZOMG Fallout 3!!!!

By BDBlue on Sun, 06/14/2009 - 9:30am

Love it. Spent several months on Oblivion and did pretty much every quest. I loved it and while I play it on the PS3, my husband plays it on the computer and he's not only gone through all the official content, but has added a lot of cool extras made by fans including some fairly extensive new quests, that's been amazing to see. I then moved onto Fallout 3. I just found out yesterday that the extras are going to be made available on PS3, which is what I play on and originally they weren't going to be made available, so I'm looking forward to getting several, including the one that lifts the level cap and extends the main quest (the ones where they have the war simulator and the alien invasion, I'm less keen on).

And speaking of morality, no matter how many times I play Fallout 3, I can never bring myself to side with the slavers. The people are a bit too real for playing evil to be any fun. At least for me.

I will definitely look into Bioshock.

If you haven't played Valkyria Chronicles, I recommend it. Totally different than most of my other games. It's turn based, but every soldier you recruit into your unit seems like a real and distinct person and the story and style are excellent. It's one of those games that should've been a big hit, it got great reviews, but wasn't. Came out late last year. So far I'm unimpressed with much of this year's releases, too.

"Do what you feel in your heart to be right -- for you'll be criticized anyway. You'll be damned if you do, and damned if you don't. " - Eleanor Roosevelt

I'll check out Valkyria Chronicles

By danps on Sun, 06/14/2009 - 10:23am

Thanks for the tip. And agreed on the slavers. One interesting part of the game is that it doesn't identify them as enemies (red dots) like it does with other evil humans (e.g. raiders). When I went through it the first time I kept waiting for my refusal to help to get them to start firing on me, but nope. If you want to follow the "good" path you have to initiate the attack (back away from the Lincoln Memorial, load up the sniper rifle...) I liked that part - that you have to decide to go after the bad guys instead of having them all fall upon you.

If you're desparate for an RPG I'll give a lukewarm recommendation to Fable 2. It's a lot more confined than the Bethesda games; cities consist of just 2 or 3 main roads, wilderness areas aren't open enough - and the mapping function sucks so you may spend a good amount of time wandering about. Also there was a lot of what I can only describe as snickering in the press about the "you can get married! and have sex! and have affairs!!!" features, which I'm sure put some people off.

That said, the main quest is pretty good and it's got Sims-type breaks in gameplay available. You can invest in shops, set prices and communities respond to how you treat them. And the getting married part isn't just about trying to get your spouse hot enough to have sex with you - if you don't make it a point to take breaks from the quest and visit, bring gifts and otherwise be attentive it can hurt your marriage, hurt your standing, etc. It's a pretty cool wrinkle to the genre. Like I said, definitely get Bioshock first - it's unbelievable - but if you're just waiting around for the next big thing it's a good game to tide you over.

"ZOMG"

By lambert on Sun, 06/14/2009 - 10:36am

Does this locution, then, come from D&D?

First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win. -- Mahatma Gandhi

No, I just never thought

By danps on Sun, 06/14/2009 - 10:55am

I'd see Oblivion mentioned here at Corrente or have a comment thread with one of the regulars about it. It seemed like the best way to register my surprise and (slightly abashed) enthusiasm.

Slavers in Fallout & Torture in Oblivion

By BDBlue on Sun, 06/14/2009 - 11:09am

Yes, it's a bit unnerving that slavers don't register as bad guys. Personally, I've always enjoyed going into Paradise Falls and killing them all and freeing the slaves (just like that Tucky Tiersman did). Plus, their leader has some cool shit on him.

If you love Oblivion and play on the PC, you may want to check out a few of the unofficial mods that alter the game. If you're interested, let me know and I'll send you a list of the better ones. They've kept my husband enthralled for months. Although we were both disturbed that one that permits you to torture characters had been downloaded, like, 6,000 times. Ick. There's a sickness in our society and it runs deep.

I don't think Fable is available on PS3, but I'll double check that. And I'll definitely look into Bioshock.

"Do what you feel in your heart to be right -- for you'll be criticized anyway. You'll be damned if you do, and damned if you don't. " - Eleanor Roosevelt

Played Oblivion on Xbox 360

By danps on Sun, 06/14/2009 - 12:00pm

Oh well. Thanks for the offer though.

Yes I'm pretty sure Fable 2 is Xbox exclusive. I wouldn't feel too crushed about missing it.

Bringing it back to D&D, there's a concept of alignment where you can choose lawful/neutral/chaotic and good/neutral/evil (e.g. neutral good or lawful evil). There was always a debate - maybe still is - about whether it's in the spirit of the game to play an evil character. Mostly people think it's not, but you can't stop folks from doing that any more than you can stop people from making torture mods. At least as far as games go I think it's best to fight it with social disapproval and marginalization. I think people get the hint and know what's considered acceptable.

I started out with

By Aeryl on Sun, 06/14/2009 - 12:21pm

Final Fantasy on the Super NES, though the PS and PS2. I unfortunately haven't moved up to the newer platforms yet, though I borrowed a friends old school XBox for a few months, and have gotten hooked, so my money will probably go to a 360, though a few games on PS3 look awesome(like Heavenly Sword).

The Champions of Norrath Series was pretty cool on PS2, as was Demon Stone, which was also really cool, because instead of only being allowed to play the party leader, giving commands to other players, in Demon Stone, which is based directly off Forgotten Realms, you got to control all three characters, each had different abilities, so you would have to use certain ones in specific places to accomplish tasks.

Star Wars: Knights of The Old Republic 1 & 2 were both pretty good, again you got to control multiple characters, your characters were Jedi, and it had some great dialog. With KOTOR you also got to decide if you were going to be a Light side Jedi or a Dark side Jedi. Not only did you get different interactions from certain characters based on your alignment, but it also opened up different powers.

He who will not reason is a bigot; he who cannot is a fool; and he who dares not is a slave.
- Sir William Drummond

easy to see, now, why the religionists disliked it

By Sarah on Sat, 06/13/2009 - 12:02pm

if you have to try things, if you have to care about others, if you have to face (even in only your imagination) choices and stresses and dangers -- it does something to you that sitting in a pew being ranted at can't undo.

We can admit that we’re killers … but we’re not going to kill today. That’s all it takes! ~ Captain James T. Kirk, Stardate 3193.0

1 John 4:18