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RaptorsTallon wrote:Also, judging by the flags next to you guys, It seems D&D is much more popular in the USA. Is that right?

Fantasy roleplay games have a strong backing in the states, after all gary gygax was from here.

I wouldn't say it's more popular, I would just say most warhammer players also play other games.

RaptorsTallon wrote:From what I have read, 3.5 had more freedom where as 4 is more structured.

Overall, that's a fair statement. 'Open' and 'Structured' can both be good, for example.

Thanks for all the advice guys, you have been a great help.

If anyone has any other advice/ideas please feel free to post them.
One thing I am particulary interested in is characters. What characters do people play? Is there such a thing as a 'bad' character or just characters which you have to play in a different way?

RaptorsTallon wrote:One thing I am particulary interested in is characters. What characters do people play? Is there such a thing as a 'bad' character or just characters which you have to play in a different way?

A character that doesn't work with the party is a bad character.

Remember that all versions of D&D are a collaborative game. The newer iterations even include the DM in that collaboration. Your job as a player is to have fun and to help everyone else have fun. I find that best way to make parties is to sit down with the rest of the players and hash out who wants to play what. That way all roles are covered and everyone works together.

After all, no one needs the party of Paladin, Paladin, Paladin, Evil Necromancer.

pretre wrote:

RaptorsTallon wrote:One thing I am particulary interested in is characters. What characters do people play? Is there such a thing as a 'bad' character or just characters which you have to play in a different way?

A character that doesn't work with the party is a bad character.

Remember that all versions of D&D are a collaborative game. The newer iterations even include the DM in that collaboration. Your job as a player is to have fun and to help everyone else have fun. I find that best way to make parties is to sit down with the rest of the players and hash out who wants to play what. That way all roles are covered and everyone works together.

After all, no one needs the party of Paladin, Paladin, Paladin, Evil Necromancer.

Unless those are level one paladins and lvl 20 necromancer...
But in all seriousness the group depends on what kind of charachter you need. Keep in mind I can't stand 4th it is too structured for me as I like to be able to change my charachter up based on what is going on around him/her.
Basically I break guys down into primary, secondary, and tertiary. An example is a fighter or barbarian would be a primary CC guy. While a mage would be your primary spellcaster. Clerics can be extremely useful as I consider them a seondary fighter but a primary healer.
With that said pretty much the standard group layout is a face, lockpick/trap detect, healer, fighter, spellcaster. So pretty much in 3.5 that would be bard or rogue a wizard, cleric/paladin, and warrior or barbarrian or a mix of 3 cleric/paladin. So find out what your group needs. If you get to pick first and it is your first time with D&D go with a fighter as it is pretty simple to get the feel of things before jumping in with a bard or wizard or cleric.

pretre wrote:A character that doesn't work with the party is a bad character.

Remember that all versions of D&D are a collaborative game. The newer iterations even include the DM in that collaboration. Your job as a player is to have fun and to help everyone else have fun. I find that best way to make parties is to sit down with the rest of the players and hash out who wants to play what. That way all roles are covered and everyone works together.

A thousand times this. Asshat players playing disruptive characters is the quickest way, in my experience, to make D&D not fun.

juraigamer wrote:

RaptorsTallon wrote:Also, judging by the flags next to you guys, It seems D&D is much more popular in the USA. Is that right?

Fantasy roleplay games have a strong backing in the states, after all gary gygax was from here.

I wouldn't say it's more popular, I would just say most warhammer players also play other games.

The last time I saw figures going around, which was a good while back, it was assumed by Wizards that the percentage of players was about the same between the US and UK, something like 1% of the population had tried a RPG tabletop game.

The difference of course is the US has around three times the UK population for example, so if those figures where accurate (and to blatenly honest I have no idea, just something I remember reading that they'd figured out it was about the same percentage) then there will be more US RPG fans just due to the numbers difference.


Of course since that, we are in a post WoW world, so who knows the numbers now, as it seems many who might have found tabletop RPGs get sucked up into MMOs.

If you can find a local shop running Encounters, that's the weekly
newbie event with (I think) pre-gen characters and a single
encounter every week.

Cheesecat wrote:

RaptorsTallon wrote:Also, judging by the flags next to you guys, It seems D&D is much more popular in the USA. Is that right?

27% of DakkaDakka users are American.

http://www.sharenator.com/w/dakkadakka.com

I think it is a bit more skewed towards the US than that even!

Also, I still play 1E AD&D - and love every minute of it!

malfred wrote:If you can find a local shop running Encounters, that's the weekly
newbie event with (I think) pre-gen characters and a single
encounter every week.

I'd take a Living Forgotten Realms game over Encounters any day. Primarily because if I play a character, I want it to be my own.

LFR/DnDE can be a bit 'I go and kill the orcs and get my loot and i roll dice and I get a sword+1...'

Try to find a group who are happy to have new players. Where are you based?

Also you could pick up essentials which has more 'basic' classes. 3.5 is more complex and combat takes ages. 4E is more streamlined. Since combat is only one aspect (the other is being 'in character' and so on!) I prefer 4th. I only miss the fact that its hard to make a 'necromancer' and run around with a small army!

Ogiwan wrote:

malfred wrote:If you can find a local shop running Encounters, that's the weekly
newbie event with (I think) pre-gen characters and a single
encounter every week.

I'd take a Living Forgotten Realms game over Encounters any day. Primarily because if I play a character, I want it to be my own.

Yeah, but he's a newbie (as malfred pointed out) and pre-gens are MUCH easier for newbies to learn.

pretre wrote:I'd take a Living Forgotten Realms game over Encounters any day. Primarily because if I play a character, I want it to be my own.

Yeah, but he's a newbie (as malfred pointed out) and pre-gens are MUCH easier for newbies to learn.

Ogiwan wrote:[Oh, right. So, maybe Essentials after all.

....for now.....

Nah don't waste time with essentials. If you want to play D&D then go the full bore. Playing essentials as a way to get into D&D is like riding a moped to get into motorcycle riding. Yeah you might think you are doing the same thing, but it isn't even close.

Skriker

Skriker wrote:

Ogiwan wrote:[Oh, right. So, maybe Essentials after all.

....for now.....

Nah don't waste time with essentials. If you want to play D&D then go the full bore. Playing essentials as a way to get into D&D is like riding a moped to get into motorcycle riding. Yeah you might think you are doing the same thing, but it isn't even close.

Skriker

I have been playing Text Based RPG's for a while now, so I think I should be fine with D&D. I just need to find a club, and get some spare cash together to buy the stuff.

Thanks for all the advice guys, it has been a great help.

Hey dude,

Our D&D group have this blog http://solutionhole.wordpress.com/ which you might find fun to look at. We post all our adventures, character sheets, player diaries, miniatures and scenery we make. Take a look, we also are going to put up the custom adventures we have made, which are have been good fun

Also, I use a lot of GW figures in D&D. Hope you find a group soon. Where abouts in the UK are you?