But what if I LIKE Anime/Video-game tropes in my D&D?

[Rallek]

Warhammer armies are divided largely by race. Thus one of my players has abour 200 high elf army models, one has a couple hundred orcs, and orc siege equipment, likewise with another player for dwarves, another for undead.... I'm sure you can see where this is going.


Of course they didn't bring them all, they just grabbed two or so cases of a range of minis out of each army they owned and brought those. That's still about 80 minis per army.


Now I could have called them ahead of time and told them exactly what models to bring, but I think that might have tipped them off a bit as to what they would be up against. Saying nothing, of course, for the possibility that they might decide to jump on a ship, and sail halfway around the world, so instead of the planned orc models I would now need those cool dark elf ones that I neglected to tell them to bring....


In any event minls aren't for us in D&D. Maybe we're too slow, maybe we have too many minis, maybe we're inefficient in our use of our available mini resources, it doesn't really matter. At the end of the day, we didn't like them, we ditched them, we're well satisfied.




Sorry to the OP to derail this into a discussion of my groups mini-related ineptitude, I assure you I'm done now.

 

[kennew142]

Hrmm, I don't know if you can really argue this man..

I mean the guy's opinion is that his game was slower with minis. Opinions are opinions.

I'd agree minis slow things down.

You're right that everyone's opinion is different. My group started using minis during the 2e era. We never found that it slowed down the game. Before I run a game, I pull out all of the minis I will be using. That makes it go much faster.

IMO, the main factor slowing combat in 3e would be the mechanics. I can't wait for an end to iterative attacks. The designers have promised us faster combat. I hope they can pull it off. I'm one of those players/GMs who prefers to get combat out of the way so we can get on with the story/role-playing.

As an aside, the D&D plastic minis have really increased our use of minis. I am a terrible painter and my wife seldom has the time to paint anymore.

 

[Rechan]

I've seen many of the posts you're referring to. What I would like to know is what video-games contain the abilities these posters have a problem with? How are per-encounter abilties video-gamesque? What video game uses them? Video games, especially the much maligned WoW, seem to use a per-minute (or other time based) refresh rate.

How does a dragon using salient abilities instead of casting spells make the game more video-gamey? Is it like a video game when demons and devils use spell-like abilities? or is this just a rule that applies to dragons?

Again, I don't know. But I'm just repeating what they have said to give an example of "What is being talked about" when people say "It's like Videogames". Whether it is Right or it is Wrong is not the point.

The biggest claim that I could say 4e is like videogames is the Warlock, whose powers sound very, very similar to the Necromancer and Warlock classes from Diablo II/WoW. The powers of all three revolve around curses, de-buffs, damage over time, and summoning (at least, given R&C it suggests that warlocks can do some summoning).

Which is fine to me; I loved the Necromancer and Warlock from those respective games, and the Warlock class excites me. I think debuffs are sexy.

But here, let's make a thread of this.

 

[ArmoredSaint]

Nah, I was actually referring to ArmoredSaint's posts on the first page.
Which is funny because when I see his/her screen name the first thing that comes to mind is
Saint Seiya...

I don't know what Saint Seiya is (and a quick google image search tells me that I don't really want to know...); I took the name from an '80s hair-metal band. I am an enthusiast of both European armour and Church history.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armored_Saint

I'm sorry--and a little disappointed--that the name evokes anime imagery for you. For me, it conjures up medieval and Renaissance paintings of martial saints: Saint George killing the dragon, Saint Michael, etc.

 

[Mallus]

I took the name from an '80s hair-metal band.

Now that's disappointing. Couldn't you have used something more significant vis a vis the Western Canon? Like "Metallica", for instance?

I am an enthusiast of both European armour and Church history.

Good for you. It's nice to have idiosyncratic interests. But why would you think yours are, in some objective fashion, better than somebody else's? Last time I checked, knowing the ins and outs of European armor ranked about the same as an encyclopedic knowledge of anime on the "Things that Won't Get You a Raise Scale".

Needless to say, they're also tied on the "Things that Won't Get You Laid Scale"...

 

[AllisterH]

The reason why I tend to look towards anime/videogames for influence is that anime/manga/videogames seem better to understand the implications of the D&D MU.

There are very few anime/manga series which have magic users as powerful as high-level AD&D 1E wizards and they seem to understand that if the MU is making reality sit and roll over, a fighter that is basically Conan/Aragorn is not going to be seen as interesting.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

But is it really overcooked/seasoned or is it only because you personally prefer less spices?

Actually yes, and I speak as an accomplished cook (good enough to impress pros)- mainly in my native Cajun cuisine.

If I'm cooking a meal designed to appeal to the largest possible group, I know I can't use the same amount of spice for certain dishes as I might at home. I restrain myself and let those who prefer more spice (like myself) add it at the table.

(And if you ever go into a high level steakhouse and ask them for their best cut well done, you're almost 100% not going to get what you ordered- most chefs will not cook their best stuff that much, seeing such requests as the result of an uneducated pallate)

Again to continue your food thing...

To me the races are ingredients, not how well cooked it is.

Some people like chicken in their chili, some people like beef.

Perhaps tieflings are beef, and they're saving the chicken gnomes for people who like chicken in their chili? (Ebberon players...)

But if you look at classic chili (D&D), the original main meat you're talking about is beef (the classic D&D races- Gnomes, etc.)- everything else is a later variation on the recipe (making Tieflings, etc. the "chicken"). (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chili_con_carne)

And while I'm not a native, I've lived here long enough to know you just don't serve a Texan "chicken" chili without asking.

ArmoredSaint


I took the name from an '80s hair-metal band.

Now that's disappointing. Couldn't you have used something more significant vis a vis the Western Canon? Like "Metallica", for instance?

C'mon! Armored Saint was big enough to do several albums, and only disbanded after their lead singer left to replace the lead singer of Anthrax.

ArmoredSaint, I give you props for taking the path less chosen.

 

[AllisterH]

I never really considered gnomes a main ingredient but something more along the lines of a local variation (to keep with the cooking analogy).

Pre 3E, when you asked me "What's a gnome" what I would think was "Madcap inventors who blow themselves up and preen about their big schnausers".

Few people actually took gnomes seriously (Darksun got rid of them, GH rarely mentions them, SJ and FR were the same). They were just there and I'm surprised at the support for them.

 

[Scribble]

Actually yes, and I speak as an accomplished cook (good enough to impress pros)- mainly in my native Cajun cuisine.

If I'm cooking a meal designed to appeal to the largest possible group, I know I can't use the same amount of spice for certain dishes as I might at home. I restrain myself and let those who prefer more spice (like myself) add it at the table.

(And if you ever go into a high level steakhouse and ask them for their best cut well done, you're almost 100% not going to get what you ordered- most chefs will not cook their best stuff that much, seeing such requests as the result of an uneducated pallate)

So perhaps then you should trust the professional game designers to cook the appropriate game?

But if you look at classic chili (D&D), the original main meat you're talking about is beef (the classic D&D races- Gnomes, etc.)- everything else is a later variation on the recipe (making Tieflings, etc. the "chicken"). (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chili_con_carne)

And while I'm not a native, I've lived here long enough to know you just don't serve a Texan "chicken" chili without asking.

Sure, but since there's more to life then Texas, you have to make what the majority wants. If the majority out there wants chicken, while you might annoy a few texans, you'll make a product more in demand by more people.

now I'm hungry.

 

[ArmoredSaint]

Good for you. It's nice to have idiosyncratic interests. But why would you think yours are, in some objective fashion, better than somebody else's?

Where did I say that my interests were better objectively? Review my first post in this thread; I think I was very up front about the opinons expressed in my post being my own personal subjective prejudices with words and phrases like "seem" and "my feelings."