tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3871409676946408069.post3421920178914845592..comments2023-10-14T03:58:59.333-06:00Comments on The Tao of D&D: Evidence From Unlikely SourcesAlexis Smolenskhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10539170107563075967noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3871409676946408069.post-13824861123715956642012-01-10T08:58:53.138-07:002012-01-10T08:58:53.138-07:00I think Sharon above hit the reason I love rolepla...I think Sharon above hit the reason I love roleplay, and this blog in general.<br /><br />Unlike any other game I've ever encountered, D&D is capable of growth and change with the player.Pandredhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03917809464727878157noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3871409676946408069.post-21999366811617372012-01-10T03:04:13.199-07:002012-01-10T03:04:13.199-07:00I think myself and my husband had been following t...I think myself and my husband had been following that same circular pattern. We play a lot. So much so, we're usually finished with entire campaigns in just a month or two, when we have time to play pretty much all day every other day. Because we play so much, we end up getting bored and switching to new game systems to try break the monotony.<br /><br />Something that has changed how we look at D&D was watching HBO's A Song of Ice and Fire adaptation, A Game of Thrones. Both of us loved how gritty and dark it was (we're now reading the series).<br /><br />As West End Games Star Wars RPG players, we both really enjoyed that combat was always quite deadly in that system, and we both felt that's what basic out-of-the-box D&D lacked for us. Hit points make for a lousy token-counting risk assessment game.<br /><br />We've almost done away with hit points since playing a Game of Thrones 3.5e rules variant that made hit points a lot less significant. (Yes, I know, 3.5 isn't your cup of tea, but I think it's possible to keep AD&D's feel if you're willing to be ruthless and cut 3.x to pieces. Really it ends up being AD&D with Skills and Powers and a couple other rules options.)<br /><br />It's made our games deadly enough that our current characters are very wary of dungeon crawling, unless the reward is significant. Their first adventure, rescuing a lady kidnapped by orcs, went very very badly, with all of them ending up captive themselves, and on death's door. With every failed escape attempt, the orc had less and less patience for the shenanigans of the PCs (it reminded me of The Great Escape). By the time they had escaped, all they'd gained was gold, an appreciation for their own mortality, and an undying hatred of all orc kind. From then on, they've done their best never to take an adventuring job that doesn't offer significant reward. By significant, I mean they have to gain something really special and rare: magical items. Gold just won't cut it, especially after the cost of recovery after their ordeal burned through most of the gold they looted from the orc and his horde of goblins. Of course, they dread having too many magical items, since those things attract rather too much attention. These characters are content to be normal every day people who only adventure if they're really having trouble make ends meet. They're real people, not Adventurer of the Week material.<br /><br />At last, I've found a kind of D&D I can enjoy, with all the elements I like, and none of the elements I don't! And to think, it only took me a decade.Keiran Colehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17001106731332971318noreply@blogger.com