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I care how it is treated by those in control of it (WotC), those who add to it (3pp), and those who detract from it (pirates, trolls, and publishers of poor material).
I loved second edition, loved third more, and find fouth a good direction, and a quality product (though not for me, sorry).
BUT... I'm saddened and frightened by where the captain of the ship has been steering it (possibly drunk?) lately. (pdfs, D&Di materials promised in July for August, but still not out, the direction of the e-mags, the business model, the change of the WotC website away from web enhancements, the delays of the GSL, the lack of emphasis on 3pps, and so on).
I wanted to post this, not to threadcrap, but to emphasize that one can ABSOLUTELY LOVE D&D while still feeling the effects of the recent situations. I'm not a glass half full guy...I wish I could be, I'd be happier.
So, yeah, I LOVE D&D (I likely spend 20-40 hours a week on the hobby, unpaid...I own several bookcases full of books...I frequent multiple message boards). That only means that the recent events are that much more grave for me.
Sorry to bring down the joyride with my "negative vibes"...but they're real, and the OP did ask what we thought.
My thoughts, in a nutshell: I love D&D, and I hope it can recover from its present state.
EDIT: And I'll add: D&D is so many different things to me. Green Ronin's Freeport, Paradigm Press's Arcanis, WotC's Eberron, Privateer Press's Iron Kingdoms, the online conversions of Dark Sun and Ravenloft, etc.
Nothing is going to take away those things from me.
Last edited by Aberzanzorax; 11th April 2009 at 03:06 AM..
I love RPGs and particularly fantasy RPGs.
The name D&D has no special meaning there beyond historic significance.
I play the best game. Not whatever game had the D&D label slapped on it.
__________________ It was one of those nights when you turn out the lights, and everything comes into view
The combat system should be based on the world design. The world design should not be based on the combat system.
My 4 year old ties a towel to her shoulders and pretends to be a superhero. Roleplaying is not between the covers of a book.
As an extension of that, if you tell me that any game is the same just because you roleplay the same, then as far as I am concerned, you don't get the point.
"I just want D&D to run smoothly, palpate my gamer gland, and bring the metal." - A 4E fan
"I've got to have all that, but I require intelligent conversation as well." - Me
Seriously, I think this is the ONLY time I've ever seen a "why is everyone so negative" thread get a positive reception Any other community and this thread would be nothing but cynicism. (Source: Every forum ever)
If my friends and I didn't love D&D we wouldn't do such horribly things to it every other Friday night (like spend an entire adventure inventing the Bollywood musical...).
__________________ "We're pimps and killers, but in a philanthropic way." -- Boyd, Dollhouse.
I just have to chuckle at all this doom-and-gloom, "D&D is dying!" stuff. Maybe it's because I just started playing in December. And maybe it's also because I've managed to get all of my friends from high school playing it, friends who used to consider it social poison. Friends who now all but beg me to run a game when I'm in town.
Fine, D&D might be in a death spiral. Whatever. It's still my favorite new hobby, and one I plan on enjoying for a good, long time, and sharing with lots of new friends.
I had a taste of D&D around high school, but never got involved with a group to play. Now I have found (2) great groups to experience D&D 4th with and I'm enjoying myself immensely.
I played D&D last weekend with my friends. It was as awesome as it has ever been.
Count me in on the D&D love!
__________________ "It is important to keep in mind that, after all is said and done, ADVANCED DUNGEONS & DRAGONS is a game. Because it is a game, certain things which seem "unrealistic" or simply unnecessary are integral to the system."
While I can't say I love 4e, I will say that it seems like an interesting game that has potential for all gamers. It takes the game I know in an entirely new direction. I'm not likely to DM 4e but I might play it at some point. Anything is possible.
I love 3rd Edition! 3e is my favorite edition by far. It suits my need to create and create and create. I love its complexity. I love its insane scope. I love its ability to become anything under the OGL.
I still like 2nd Edition. It's like an old girlfriend that you remember fondly and would like to have a fling with again but without the baggage of your past relationship.
And I'm learning to love 1st Edition and BECMI. I'm fascinated by the old school. I'm enjoying my look into the game's history. Will I play 1e? Not likely. (OSRIC maybe). Would I play BECMI? I think I would if I could find local people who are interested. I'm not sure. I'm more likely to play BECMI online.
Now if I could only find a copy of the D&D Rules Cyclopedia and Wrath of the Immortals (and maybe Creature Catalog).
In the last few months I've bought over a dozen used, Old School modules as well as Domains of Dread for 2e Ravenloft, the 1e Dungeon Master's Guide, and my lastest purchases -- the Champions of of Mystara boxed set and the D&D Basic Set (the purple box version).
I just bought those last two today. (See this thread for more details.)
I also bought the 4e Manual of the Planes, which is fascinating. I'll likely take a look at DMG 2 (for Sigil) and The Plane Below when they come out.
Right now I'm reading Domains of Dread, The Forgotten Temple of Tharizdun, the 1e Dungeon Master's Guide (*), and I just started reading the rulebook from the D&D Basic Set and "The Guide Book to Taladas" from the Time of the Dragon boxed set.
*I haven't gotten very far with this book yet. Gygaxian prose is good.. but it's a little strange.
__________________ Robert Blezard I write; therefore, I am!
D&D v.3.5, d20 Modern, OSRIC, Pathfinder, True20... OGL Forever! Walk the Road
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I just have to chuckle at all this doom-and-gloom, "D&D is dying!" stuff. Maybe it's because I just started playing in December...
Fine, D&D might be in a death spiral. Whatever. It's still my favorite new hobby, and one I plan on enjoying for a good, long time, and sharing with lots of new friends.
LOL. Put it in perspective. I've been playing D&D for around 25 years. D&D has been in its death spiral at least 6 times that I can remember in my tenure.
I have faith. D&D is a survivor because it is the greatest game in the world. I'm glad you've joined the fun!
__________________ Stephen Radney-MacFarland
Developer, RPG R&D
Wizards of the Coast
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I've always liked you Byron, but you never know when to shut up. Even bad men love their mommas.
-- Ben Wade
Friends, ENWorlders, gamers, lend me your ears eyeballs...
4d20+7 years ago* the Creators brought forth on this continent world a new nation game, conceived in imagination, and dedicated to the proposition that sitting around a table, rolling dice, and pretending to be a fantasy character is a pretty good way to spend your leisure time.
Now we are engaged in a great civil edition war, testing whether that game, or any game, so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war...
I have a dream that one day this nation message board will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that sitting around a table, rolling dice, and pretending to be a fantasy character is a pretty good way to spend your leisure time."
I have a dream that my little children will one day log on to a message board where they will not be judged by the edition they play, but by the content of their posts...
I have a dream that one day in Gen Con, the players of former editions and the players of current and future editions will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood...
Now is the time to lift our message board from the quicksand of edition intolerance to the solid rock of brotherhood... Let imagination ring!
P.S. They may take our pdfs, but they'll never take our imagination!
A beat up copy of Keep on the Borderlands was my first exposure to D&D.
After I got my hands on the actual rules, my love affair with D&D began and only got crazier with getting my hands on copies of White Plume Mountain, Against the Giants, Decent into the depths of the earth, Vault of the Drow, Queen of the Demonweb Pits, Villiage of Hommlett, A1-4, Tomb of Horrors (5 PC's, 5 attempts, NO SURVIVORS...)...
These and many more sparked and drove my imagination even when I went to other fantasy adventure systems I always wound up back with D&D. All night gaming sessions have gotten my friends and I through breakups, bad semesters at school, boredom and many other trials of life.
I lost a little bit of that loving feeling with 2nd Edition and more recently with 4th Edition, but recently I've come to an important understanding: the very thing that I don't like is going to be someone's first exposure to that thing and they may well love it. Who am I to tell them that it sucks? Who is ANYONE to do that really? If someone had told me that D&D and RPG's sucked might I have still been involved so deeply in my hobby? Trust me there are days when I lurk on the WOTC boards and I wish that I wasnt part of this hobby. But for the most part I'm glad I picked up that beat up copy of Keep on the Borderlands all those years ago.
I love the in game victories and the losses as well. Each one has been a learning experience. For the most part I've had fair DM's and really try to be fair myself.
Thanks D&D.
__________________ I'm thinking you're totally out to lunch on this one. Find another form of foreplay that doesn't involve 3 hours of explanation and a pocket calculator.
From OD&D in 1974, right through to 3rd edition in 2000, and beyond, to those games that build on that legacy, or certain parts of it, helping the true spirit to live on - D&D is a great game.
Any other community and this thread would be nothing but cynicism. (Source: Every forum ever)
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