"I don't think we are playing the same game"

[alsih2o]

Do you ever talk to other D+Ders and feel "We aren't paying the same game"?

Where are you coming from?

EDIT: well, this was supposed ot have a poll, but I screwed up

So, whre are you coming from?-

Fiction influences my playing

Electronic games influence my playing

History influences my playing

Wargaming influences my playing

 

[fredramsey]

My wife and I tried joining two groups before forming our own.

One allowed (and encouraged) the party to split up constantly. Each character had a mission, and no one hardly cooperated to help each other. We were split up constantly into two or more groups. We would spend long stretches scratching our... heads, waiting for the DM's attention. Not D&D, IMHO.

The other group had too many people, and not enough action. We spent 2 hours just putting together an equipment list, and distributing such equipment, in preparation of going into a "dungeon" that consisted of storms sewers with one Gelatinous Cube. Not sure what that was, either

But it's all subjective. Both of those groups had happy players in them, and now so does mine

 

[DungeonmasterCal]

I actually think this is one of the great things about D&D (and I include all editions here). I'm not one who normally has the patience to stand in a game store and listen to someone go into detail about their world or characters, but I do admire the diversity and creativity that abounds in the gaming (and D&D in particular) community.

 

[JoeGKushner]

All the time.

Part of the nature of running something that's not controlled by a third party who can't be influenced by other players ala X-Box of PC.

 

[MerakSpielman]

One of the things I love about D&D is that, not only is it a different game depending on what group you're looking at, but it can be a different game at different times within the same group.

There's the wargame-combat game.
There's the go shopping game.
There's the improv acting game.
There's the plan the voyage game.
There's the map the maze game.
There's the solve the riddle game.
There's the political machinations game.

They're all played at some point during my campaigns, and each is a welcome break from the others.

 

[Whimsical]

Do you ever talk to other D+Ders and feel "We aren't paying the same game"?

This has occured a lot less since 3e came around. It seems that a large group of gamers decided to try running 3e without any house rules. And that a significant portion of that group still games that way to this day.

Of course, you have groups that have adopted a misunderstood version of a rule and are pretty shocked when they are shown otherwise.

 

[Wombat]

Do you ever talk to other D+Ders and feel "We aren't paying the same game"?

Yes, but I've never really had a problem with this.

I come to D&D 3e via a deep love of medieval (and other) history (what I got my degree in), mythology, the Arthurian legends, and desperately running away from AH/SPI boardgames and miniature wargames.

I also come to it through multiple other rpgs over the years -- OD&D (pre-"1st edition", pre-"Basic Set"), Traveller, RuneQuest, Call of Cthulhu, Pendragon, TORG, GURPS, Ars Magica, Over the Edge, Paranoia, Champions, Golden Heroes, Space: 1889, Mage, Changeling, FASA Star Trek, Morrow Project, Fuzion, Cyberpunk, HarnMaster, and probably a few others (and this is only to list the games I have actually played).

So I bring a lot of baggage to the table. I also skipped over all the intervening iterations of D&D, except for a couple of spot-checks. I was never comfortable with plane-hopping, epic level of play, magic shops, monocultural nonhumans, and the gold standard.

Thus I play a very different game from the mainstream. My players & I are happier with this version than the vision of the core rules. We know that few other people play our way and we are cool with that.

Games are open to a lot of interpretation. That's why I like 'em.

 

[Henry]

Whimsical, only mods can delete posts, but if you edit it to say "double post" or similar, a mod will usually come along and clean it up.


To the question above,

Do you ever talk to other D+Ders and feel "We aren't paying the same game"?

Strangely, I'd have to say, "no." The only time I've ever had that feeling is someone who does something drastically different - LARPing while sharing blood, or those confuse their character's personality, that sort of thing. Everyone else I've ever met, I've ever gamed with, we played the same way - we rolled dice, we roleplayed, we laughed, we talked, we shared victuals before, or after, or sometimes during, and most of the time, we beat the bad guy. The only real difference is in what proportion we did those things. Some fight more, some clown around more, some roleplay more. But never in an extent where I've said, "we're playing something totally different, here." Heck, at a seminar in 1999, I listened to Gary Gygax talk about his early groups of D&D diehards. Good God, it was like listening to my group the previous 12 years! That experience made me feel like I was roleplaying "the right way" more so than any experience I've ever had to date.

Someone a looooong time ago on these forums said words of wisdom: "We're all just rolling dice, here." And it's stuck with me ever since.


Fiction influences my playing? Not so much. I got into D&D long before I was really into fantasy fiction. My first Fant. Fict. was Dragonlance, believe it or not.

Electronic games influence my playing? Almost none. Again, count the early D&D influence on computer games, rather than vice versa.

History influences my playing? Very much, for I find much fodder in the past for adventures and flavor.

Wargaming influences my playing? Only on the most superficial level, and moreso lately since minis were more integrated. I came to the game between the wargame stage and the White Wolf stage, so I was more influenced by...


NEW CATEGORY: Movies and TV influenced and stil does influence me greatly. Movies like Conan, cartoons like Johnny Quest, and Star Wars paint me a bbetter picture of my gaming sessions. I look for the cool scenario or visual, the powerful hook, or the clear-cut characterizations to frame my DMing within.

 

[Ashrum the Black]

Yes, yes I have. Some times within my own group too!

I think of this as strength of the game most times, but other times it's a real pain. When the folks in my group descide that they want to play evil epic games within my legendary heroic game, I get a bit testy. There are days I wish I could just look at the folks and say "See, it's not in the rules. We don't play like that!"

Of course then I look at FR, Eberron, Midnight, Iron Kingdoms, and Greyhawk and shout hooray for differences!

-Ashrum

 

[Psion]

Of the choices you have, I would say that electronic games (Ultima and Final Fantasy) and History influence my gaming. Literature, there will be obvious influences that authors put in the game, but I don't read that much fantasy. SF is more my fare. Wargaming, I used to do from time to time, but I play RPGs much more because of what they offer me that wargames don't. (I will confess that the background for WHFB influences me quite a bit.)

I do feel like I have an emphasis on humanoid characters and organizations more than many GMs do; flat out "monsters" are rare at my table.