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Made in us
Brutal Black Orc




The Empire State

How exactly do I go about doing this?

Is there a starter set/box?

I'm not sure what game I want to get involved with, I don't really care on the theme as long as it is newbie friendly. I tried to play DnD many moons ago but my mom burned, said it was Satanic and makes people murder.

How do RPGs work?

Do they all use a map with squares?

Anyone play in Binghamton, New York?

 
   
Made in se
Camouflaged Zero





Where the sun crosses the field of blood.

There are sometimes starter boxes, sometimes not.
I think Pathfinder could be a good start if you're into Fantasy. Perhaps Warhammer Fantasy RPG too. DnD 4e. and the upcoming 5e. are getting a lot of hate for seeming too much like board games and too little like roleplaying games.
And in my opinion, no RPG should use a map with squares. It could be a tool for when things get messy, but no RPG should rely on it.

As for how they work... If you've tried DnD, you should have a fair idea. Each of the players make a character, and the Game Master makes the adventure. The players control their characters actions ("I dive from the cliff!", "I tell him that the bandit lord is hiding in the woods.", "I punch the bartender!" and whatever your character might do.) whilst the GM controls the world and forces the rolls ("Roll a climb check, DC 25", "The sheriff thanks for the information", The bartender stumbles back, bleeding from his nose." and whatever consequences your actions might make).

Ideally, this should be done without a squared map in m opinion, since the players collective imagination should be sufficient. However, for large battles or labyrinths, a squared map could be nice.


The following might be too much for a beginner, but I think if you read them you might understand what makes a RPG different from other games. It's really the best way I could explain what a RPG really is.

Some golden tips for the best experience:
For the GM:
Vivid descriptions. The better you describe the world and the player's surroundings (Smell, sights, sounds), the more players will feel they are really there. Write down paragraphs before the adventure for when the players enter a new area.

Make the non-player characters alive. Make sure you have a clear vision of how each NPC acts and reacts. What is their goal? Their motivations? You don't need a detailed background for everyone, just a personality. That innkeeper is a much more interesting character when he has a daughter, his own accent and some motivation.

Have a decent story. Don't just wing the adventures, make sure you've got a good idea of your adventure.

Never say no. Never. If the players are trying to tackle a mountain wall, let them. Their characters will dislocate a shoulder or something, but never ever take the option of tackling the wall from them. This is really the golden rule.

And for the players:
Give your characters a good background. What made them adventure? What is their goal? Do they have a goal? Do their family miss them? Or is their family dead? Maybe you're out for revenge? And what's your personality like?

Give your characters a flaw. Many players try to make their characters invincible, and unless that is the point of the game it really isn't that funny from a roleplaying perspective. You want your character to be able to grow as a person and overcome his hardships, and that can't happen if your character is perfect. It doesn't even have to be a bad stat or something, it could be that he's a little too aggressive and have troubles controlling his temper.

Interact. The best way for your character to develop is through other characters. Talk to them. Get to know them. Let them get to know you (though not too fast, little by little throughout the adventure is good). Eventually your characters might get into a fight. Don't take it personal, but use it as a way to better and develop your character.

Develop your character. I've already mentioned this, but this is the golden rule for the players. Your goal isn't to kill the boss and grab the loot... Unless your dungeon crawling, in which case it is. But if you really want to ROLEplay, then you need to live into the role of your character. See the world through his/her eyes. Let him change. Let him have wrong sometimes and let him see that he was wrong. Your character should be more that just some numbers and skills, it should be a person.


It has often been said that a RPG is a play (like on the theatre) where the players are the actors, the GM is the surroundings, and you as a group develop the manuscript together.



And as for DnD making people kill each other... Well, the same goes for a lot of video games today. I know many who play first-person shooter games, GTA and so on. So far they haven't killed anyone, and neither have I.


Anyway, I hope this helps.
Oh, and don't hesitate to ask if there's anything you don't understand or if you're wondering anything.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2012/08/22 07:56:02


 
   
Made in ca
Deadly Dire Avenger





Also, some people like to just make up some stuff, and roll dice and eat pizza and beer. This is not bad or wrong fun to have. You don't have to be a theatre afficionado or an aspiring actor to enjoy roleplaying games.
   
Made in ie
Hallowed Canoness




Ireland

For people new to these games, I would actually recommend the Dragon Age P&P. Its ruleset is so incredibly more simplistic than the other examples mentioned here that I think it'd be a perfect start, whilst its stunt system still mixes things up sufficiently to prevent combat from getting boring. Also, the setting is rather cool and somewhat innovative.
http://greenronin.com/dragon_age/

Other than that, The CF has really already said all the important stuff.

DnD being "satanic" just makes me roll my eyes. I know it was the subject of a Christian propaganda campaign which, by modern standards, seems uninformed, hyperbolic, hypocritical and ridiculous. Check out the insane comic on this website here to see how they attempted to twist it: http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/0046/0046_01.asp
For more informed background information, read this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungeons_%26_Dragons_controversies
Personally, I'm fairly sure that the Church has motivated more murderers, even in the most recent times, than some RPG.

If you're not sure what kind of game you'd like to play, perhaps we can help you find something. Is there some genre you like most from movies or novels, like sci-fi, fantasy, horror, etc? Would you prefer a more optimistic or a dystopian setting? How much combat would you want to have compared to, say, investigation or exploration?
   
Made in us
Consigned to the Grim Darkness





USA

If you prefer sci-fi over fantasy, I actually would say that FFG's d100 system is very user friendly-- because it's a percentage roll, and most of hte modifiers are in quantities of ten, it's quite easy to keep a handle on compared to d20 systems.

I've been running an Only War game where three of my five players are new to d100 and two of those three are new to roleplaying period, and it's been fairly easy for me to explain it to them-- they all picked it up rather fast.

Although I should say, my Only War game is less of "I shoot him" "roll your dice." "I got a twenty, I hit." and more narrative in focus-- it's done in steam chat, so the way I have it set up, dice rolls aren't done in the main chat window, leaving that window for the players to tell a collective narrative.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2012/08/22 13:54:50


The people in the past who convinced themselves to do unspeakable things were no less human than you or I. They made their decisions; the only thing that prevents history from repeating itself is making different ones.
-- Adam Serwer
My blog
 
   
Made in us
Servoarm Flailing Magos







 Piston Honda wrote:
How exactly do I go about doing this?


The best bet is to find some interested gamers with an existing group.

 Piston Honda wrote:
Is there a starter set/box?


Depends on the game. Some games (D&D, for example) might, but this might be a bad first purchase for you. Many games have a "Player's Guide" and a "Gamesmaster's Guide" as core books... You generally only need one or the other (though the GM needs to be aware of how player-stuff works). For many, it's sections of the same book, and there's a few RPGs that don't have a player/gm setup.

 Piston Honda wrote:
I'm not sure what game I want to get involved with, I don't really care on the theme as long as it is newbie friendly. I tried to play DnD many moons ago but my mom burned, said it was Satanic and makes people murder.


That would be incorrect.

 Piston Honda wrote:
How do RPGs work?


GM describes a situation, players react to it. Players generally control one character with well-defined abilities, while the GM controls both key opposition and minor characters. The end-goal is to have fun going through a story. it is not an adversarial conflict either between the players or between the players and the GM, althoguh elements of this may pop up. The GM is generally expected to be fair and challenge the player characters, but needs to avoid throwing unbeatable challenges against them.

 Piston Honda wrote:
Do they all use a map with squares?


No. For many it's an option. Some use tabletop minis game rules (measuring with a tape) or various abstract systems. Others avoid maps altogether.

 Piston Honda wrote:
Anyone play in Binghamton, New York?


Probably, but not me.

Working on someting you'll either love or hate. Hopefully to be revealed by November.
Play the games that make you happy. 
   
Made in us
Brutal Black Orc




The Empire State



That would be incorrect.


I know that.

I just came from an overly religious house hold.




GM describes a situation, players react to it. Players generally control one character with well-defined abilities, while the GM controls both key opposition and minor characters. The end-goal is to have fun going through a story. it is not an adversarial conflict either between the players or between the players and the GM, althoguh elements of this may pop up. The GM is generally expected to be fair and challenge the player characters, but needs to avoid throwing unbeatable challenges against them.


Is there a limit to actions you can do?

List of actions and abilities?

Or is it that you make stuff up as you go along?

Say you want to kick the enemy between the legs.



Don't really have a preference between SciFi or Fantasy other I am an aesthetics snob. Not to interested in say something like star trek with pointy ships and spandex clothing.

FFG's 40k RPGs, DnD, Pathfinder, Shadow Run all seem cool to me.

I saw these guys in a gencon video

http://www.tripleacegames.com/SunderedSkies.php

interested in that particular game, they have a few others as well.

 
   
Made in ie
Hallowed Canoness




Ireland

Piston Honda wrote:Is there a limit to actions you can do?
List of actions and abilities?
Generally, yes.

Some games are more limited than others. For example, one book might say you can only do one thing per round. Others may assign specific "values" to certain types of actions and then let you combine them. For example, using a single "Full Action" or two "Half Actions". In terms of abilities, it is usually a mixture of creativity backed up by the rules. For example, the player says he wants to do something, and then the GM looks up what sort of skill or attribute would be most appropriate to test. Some games have loads of lists for each individual ability and allow you to improve each one, others are more freeform and generalise them.

The specifics depend on the game you're playing. Rules may differ a lot from one to another, and some are more complex than others.
   
Made in us
Servoarm Flailing Magos







 Piston Honda wrote:

GM describes a situation, players react to it. Players generally control one character with well-defined abilities, while the GM controls both key opposition and minor characters. The end-goal is to have fun going through a story. it is not an adversarial conflict either between the players or between the players and the GM, althoguh elements of this may pop up. The GM is generally expected to be fair and challenge the player characters, but needs to avoid throwing unbeatable challenges against them.


Is there a limit to actions you can do?

List of actions and abilities?

Or is it that you make stuff up as you go along?

Say you want to kick the enemy between the legs.

Most games have a firm divide between 'in combat' and 'outside combat.' In general, 'in combat' you may have some firm guidelines and limits on allowed actions. For example, D&D 4th Edition has very firm pre-defined 'powers' for every class... So a fighter might have a power they can use once per encounter that allows them to make an attack that also knocks an enemy prone, and is themed as a sweeping leg strike or similar. This is an extreme example: most RPGs have some pre-defined rules for common combat maneuvers like grabbing an enemy , attacking to subdue, or similar, but don't have as heavily defined actions. Some of this varies by group, but even in 4e (which has a reputation for the somewhat rigid tactics options imposed by the powers rules) you can still improvise at GM whim...

I am somewhat guarded with my language here because there's very few true statements about all RPGs. Some are diceless or use dice in usual ways, some don't really have a 'combat' section, etc.

Outside of combat actions are generally a bit less defined. Most games have some sort of skills you can roll against to investigate, search for clues, use a computer, sneak around, etc.

 Piston Honda wrote:

Don't really have a preference between SciFi or Fantasy other I am an aesthetics snob. Not to interested in say something like star trek with pointy ships and spandex clothing.

FFG's 40k RPGs, DnD, Pathfinder, Shadow Run all seem cool to me.


All of those are good choices. Again, the best bet would be to find a group that plays any of them and try it out. Many RPG groups are pretty open to interested new players, especially if they play in a store.

 Piston Honda wrote:

I saw these guys in a gencon video

http://www.tripleacegames.com/SunderedSkies.php

interested in that particular game, they have a few others as well.


Sundered Skies is a Savage Worlds based game, which would be great for a beginner. Simple rules, but not overly simple, and a focus on mid-length campaigns at the most.

To give you an example, here's a very brief overview of Savage Worlds: You have a few Stats, like Strength and Agility, whicha re rated with Die Types. d4 is very poor, d6 is average, d8-d12 are above. You get to assign some dice to these, then pick a number of skills.

Skills are related to attributes... It's more expensive to go above the linked attribute, for example. So Shooting is based of agility, so if you've got a D8 Agility, it's cheap to buy Shooting to d4 then to d6 then to D8, more expensive for d8 to d10 or d12.

Characters also have Edges and Flaws. These are positive and negative 'features' of a character. If your character has a crippling fear of snakes (I.E. Indiana Jones) that's a good flaw. Why choose flaws? Flaws make life fun for you and the GM, and give you an upgrade to an attribute, skill, or more Edges. Edges might be things like weapon focuses (I.E. when using a Whip, the character has a +1 to all rolls), low-light vision, or access to arcane powers.

That's the core of Savage Worlds. In general, '4' is a baseline roll, and dice 'explode' so you roll another die of the same type if you max out the first die. So if you have a D8 shooting, you roll a d8 to shoot and if you roll an 8, you get to roll another d8.

In SW, player characters, major opponents, etc. are "Wild Cards' so they get a few special benefits. They're the stars of the story! The first major thing they get is the Wild Die: Whenever rolling, a Wild Card rolls a Wild Die d6 along with their normal die... So the shooter above would roll a d6+d8 and take the highest. Both can explode as above. Wild Cards also have some rules for wounds and such, but basically they're "important" and thus a little harder to truly kill.

(An example of how this could work is the movies Alien and Aliens. In Alien we have one Xenomorph, and it's a big deal. It's a Wild Card, so is a bit harder to kill, a bit more capable, etc. In Aliens, there's tons of basic Xenomorphs. Same base stats, but not Wild Cards. They're a bit less capable (no wild die) and easier to kill, but still use the same basic stats (with some sort of nasty 'acid blood' rule...)

In SW there's a few pre-defined combat maneuvers like using Intimidate or Bluff. The GM is encouraged to give bonuses to players that describe these in interesting ways to reward player creativity.

Working on someting you'll either love or hate. Hopefully to be revealed by November.
Play the games that make you happy. 
   
Made in us
[MOD]
Solahma






RVA

 Piston Honda wrote:
I tried to play DnD many moons ago but my mom burned
Your mom burned as a result of you playing D&D??? It looks like those evangelicals in the 80s were right!

In all seriousness, you need to answer a few questions:

(1) What genre? fantasy/sci fi/horror/detective/western/combo/etc?

(2) Do you want to play a game focused more on tactics (like with movement in combat) or more on telling stories?

(3) Do you want to play a game that focuses on combat or something else? If something else, what? (Investigating mysteries, political intrigue, etc.)

(4) Do you want complicated rules that determine nearly everything that can happen or rules that require interpretation and mostly act as guideposts for play?

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2012/08/22 21:27:50


   
Made in us
Brutal Black Orc




The Empire State

Doh! Burned it.

Burned it on the BBQ :(

(1) What genre? fantasy/sci fi/horror/detective/western/combo/etc?

If I had to pick, SciFi first then Fantasy. Horror does sound interesting if it is Cthulhu related

(2) Do you want to play a game focused more on tactics (like with movement in combat) or more on telling stories?

I don't have a preference here as long as it is enjoyable and involves people working together.

(3) Do you want to play a game that focuses on combat or something else? If something else, what? (Investigating mysteries, political intrigue, etc.)

Having never played an RPG before, combat/adventures sound the most appealing at the moment with my background of video game RPGs and miniature wargaming. But and RPG involving a person as a leader of a nation trying to screw each other economically, use military might, use religion or propaganda to brain wash a population, etc would sound fun if such an RPG exists.

(4) Do you want a complicated rules that determine nearly everything that can happen or rules that require interpretation and mostly act as guideposts for play?

Right now I want something a bit more easy, basically a set of rules that holds your hands, at least until I find a gaming group in my area, if there still exists one.

THere was a big one in town but slowly shrunk. Moved away, started a family, went to college, join the military, etc.

 
   
Made in us
[MOD]
Solahma






RVA

Based on your answers, I would recommend Dark Heresy. It's an expensive book (60 USD) but it has a great step-by-step discussion of character creation. Also, it is presumably a setting with which you are already familiar. But before investing in anything, you may want to find a group to play with -- and of course, that means determining whether you want to play by post as on a forum, play over skype, or be super old fashioned and play in person.

   
Made in ie
Hallowed Canoness




Ireland

Piston Honda wrote:But and RPG involving a person as a leader of a nation trying to screw each other economically, use military might, use religion or propaganda to brain wash a population, etc would sound fun if such an RPG exists.
There are RPGs for just about anything.

I tried something like what you are talking about here many years ago - it was a book called Fields of Blood which was supposed to be an expansion to d20 games where the player characters would end up as warlords and rulers, but you could perfectly just start a campaign in this situation as well. My group ended up playing it like a game of Civilization, but we had loads of fun fleshing out our custom-made nations with background. That's one of the great things that pen&paper games allow you to do - you are not bound by whatever a developer presents you with but can let your creativity flow free.

For your first game, Balance gave a very good advice - try looking around for existing groups in your area where you could join up. There are directories specifically for gaming groups on the internets, and I'd say N.Y. in particular should be chock-full of P&P gamers.
   
Made in ca
Enigmatic Chaos Sorcerer





British Columbia

Here's a link to a sample adventure for DH someone posted a while ago.

http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=142

See if you enjoy the system

 BlaxicanX wrote:
A young business man named Tom Kirby, who was a pupil of mine until he turned greedy, helped the capitalists hunt down and destroy the wargamers. He betrayed and murdered Games Workshop.


 
   
Made in us
Brutal Black Orc




The Empire State

Thanks for the link Eldarain.

Your signature,

AWESOME!

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2012/08/22 23:02:20


 
   
 
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