Anything wrong with just playing D&D?

[Dogbrain]

How I found time for so many games?

I had a severely extended adolescen--adoless--adol--teenage party time, aka "college" at a school where even the girls played roleplaying games and people were happy to play "rotating campaigns", since the addition of the extra social element meant that "advancing" in the game somehow became less important. And after that, I sampled here and there over some length of time--how long? Well, let's just say that I'm old enough to start getting phone calls from alumni fund drives and all reunion messages automatically mention things to do with the kids and leave it at that.

 

[Thresher]

Play whatever makes you happy I guess.

For me, D20 is the best level based game system out there at the moment so its a little easier to live with than most of them. However its not been long since we've begun to heavily house rule our games of DnD to make it-
Scale properly
Remove cheesiness
Improve the lifespan of play
Reduce the amount of 'must be more uber than you' attitude.
Cut down on metagaming

The last two in particular earn my rancor as the game seems to have hit a point where it was launched where it actively encouraged people to plan out a character from 1-20 and the addition of PrC's was something that was optional but now seems to carry the brand of being 'essential'.
Im sorry, but I prefer people to play organic characters that develop over a course of a game, yeah maybe you wont be one of the elite kids like over on the Wotc forums, but you'll have something worthy of being called a character.

Personally I dont like level based systems and I really dislike games with an alignment system as well, but DnD is so heavily reliant on both theres not a lot I can do to house rule them out of it yet
Have a crack at some of the other games out there, many dont have nearly as steep a learning curve as D20 either and any geeky gamer dude(tte) worth their salt shouldnt have much trouble with them over 1-2 game sessions before they get a grip on them.
I'd recommend: Shadowrun, SLA Industries and most of the White Wolf stuff worthy of a look as I had a lot of fun playing and running them and they also have some immersive background too them which is essential for getting the imagination going.

 

[Son_of_Thunder]

Excellent question Johnsemlak!

This thread must have been inspired by the muses.

I, myself, have spent a not inconsiderable amount of time over the past week researching other game systems. I, like many others have grown up with D&D and its many incarnations. That's not to say I haven't played other systems as well. But I occasionally frequent the rpg.net boards and there have been several threads lately of people asking which fantasy game system to us.

I felt that I didn't want my game experience to be clouded by D&D alone. So I went to these companies message boards, I did, what I'd consider, extensive research, read errata threads, threads on unclear rules and so forth. Ya know, there appear to be several good systems out there. I made a list of three systems, that if I had to give up d20 I'd try.

1. Hackmaster.
2. HARP(Rolemaster).
3. BRP (Stormbringer, Cthulhu)

There were several others that looked good but did not make it on the list. Riddle of Steel, Grups, Hero, HeroQuest, BESM, Savage Worlds, Burning Wheel, Exalted (don't forget Exalted). Ya know what I found out, nothing profound really, but every system was imperfect.

On rpg.net, the anti-d20 threads fly thick, even though many posters admit to owning the rulebooks (some almost admit it ashamedly- they regularly reply to d20 question threads). Is d20 the perfect system? Of course not. The posters on dragonsfoot.org have driven me away with their distaste (yes, I'm talking to you diaglo

So, what does all this long winded oratory mean? Well, it means that d20 D&D is for me. I can really have the system emulate whatever genre I want, despite people who say that d20 doesn't do 'x' genre well. You know what argument really makes me wonder, is people who say that the Lord of the Rings isn't done well with D&D. "LotR is low-magic" and nonsense. I can and have made the system do LotR well, just ask my players.

Son of Thunder

 

[bubbalin]

All this talk makes me think I want to play other games more.
not that I've ever played D&D, just d20 games exclusively...

 

[CCamfield]

So, what does all this long winded oratory mean? Well, it means that d20 D&D is for me. I can really have the system emulate whatever genre I want, despite people who say that d20 doesn't do 'x' genre well. You know what argument really makes me wonder, is people who say that the Lord of the Rings isn't done well with D&D. "LotR is low-magic" and nonsense. I can and have made the system do LotR well, just ask my players.

Well, if you look at the LotR RPG, there's a fairly coherent presentation of the magic in Tolkien's books that is somewhat more subtle in character that what D&D's is - by default. Which isn't to say that I doubt your ability to have run a great LotR game with (a somewhat customized version of?) D&D.

To me it's a certain issue of mindset and style emulation. Could D&D/d20 be used for swashbuckling... yes, probably. I know there are a number of swashbuckling d20 books out there, but I personally would find it more comfortable and easier to use 7th Sea. For Hong Kong style martial arts/guns/magic madness, I'd turn to Feng Shui first. etc.

 

[pogre]

I like D&D. I do think it is what d20 does best. It's about all I play these days, and I'm fairly satisfied. However, other systems can bring some different atmosphere to the table.

When I play other genres its fun to try new systems that bring real flavor into the game. Deadlands does this well for wild west. Fvlminata has awesome mechanics for bringing a real Roman atmosphere to a Roman campaign. Rolling tali for skill checks is just so cool. I love the way combat works in Charles' Ryans Millennium's End using transparency overlays. I think all of these systems bring flavor to the table with their mechanics.

I would say if you get a chance to play another game with a GM who is enthusiastic about the system - give it an honest shot.

 

[Nightfall]

Well, according to some, just liking D&D makes you a small minded simpleton. Because you are missing all of the other allegedly better games out there.

Allegations are like pajamas. You wear them once people laugh at you.

 

[Turjan]

The favorite RPG's on the rpg.net forums seem to change from time to time. Once I read a thread where a lot of people agreed on the superiority of the Hero System over everything else (especially D&D, of course ). I have to admit that I can't tell whether they are right or wrong, because I don't know the Hero System. Shame on me .

Anyway, I think I just don't have the time to cope with dozens of different rule systems. Sad, but true.

 

[Bodah]

I dont think there is anything wrong with sticking to one game. I did that for years too. Now I play 2 games regularly. First it was d&d for quite some time.. eventually I felt the need to play something else. That something else ended up being Rifts (as said earlier, wonderful world, horrible rules) with a good GM though its still fun now and then. Then back to d&d.. however d20 Starwars sparked my interest. To be honest I am not much of a star wars fan, but the game is great fun if you play in the right era. Then I went back to d&d. So I guess like you and many others in this thread I too always end up back with d&d. Though nowadays starwars is in our regular rotation as well.

 

[johnsemlak]

This thread must have been inspired by the muses.

No, just me

Ya know, there appear to be several good systems out there. I made a list of three systems, that if I had to give up d20 I'd try.

1. Hackmaster.
2. HARP(Rolemaster).
3. BRP (Stormbringer, Cthulhu)

There were several others that looked good but did not make it on the list. Riddle of Steel, Grups, Hero, HeroQuest, BESM, Savage Worlds, Burning Wheel, Exalted (don't forget Exalted). Ya know what I found out, nothing profound really, but every system was imperfect.


Son of Thunder

Just wondering, is the CODA system, used by the LotR RPG and IIRC the Star Trek RPG, included in one of those systems above?