NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Toben the Many" data-source="post: 3700355" data-attributes="member: 19273">Going back to the Original Post, however....We can talk about the state of the industry all we want or TRPGs vs. MMORPGs. It's all been said before.Ryan Dancey makes some intriguing points. Basically, what if D&D were more like <a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/1634" target="_blank">Warhammer Quest</a> or <a href="http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/arkhamhorror.html" target="_blank">Arkham Horror</a>? Both of these board games are cooperative and require no DM. Yet, in Arkham Horror, the game very much follows the "plot" of a Cthulu Adventure. The players can decide upon the main villain or threat, or it may be chosen randomly. Then, various encounters are decided upon by cards being drawn. As the players progress through the story, they find clues, put them together, and shut down gates to other dimensions. There is rising action as the Elder God in the scenario grows closer to coming to earth. Warhammer Quest follows the outline of a basic dungeon crawl, complete with an end room featuring a final boss and mounds of treasure. Either of these formats would only need a slight push to turn them into full-blown communal storytelling type games.My only problem with such a proposal is how NPCs would be handled. For example, if you head into a tavern and decide to talk to the barkeep, who plays the barkeep? One of the players? This to me, presents more problems than one of having a bad DM. Because it now requires all of the players to be really good roleplayers. In a typical D&D game, if the DM is at least halfway descent at roleplaying, and most of the players are not...the game can still cost along fairly well. In a true DM-less game, there really is no roleplaying, because the DM's role is determined by random card draws or chart consulting. The players might have to convince a barkeep of something, but that barkeep is merely stats on a card, and the player needs to make a role to convince him. The idea of taking on a "role" is absent, because there is no one to reflect or respond with the player. Anyone want to tackle this? In a true DM-less game, how do you handle NPCs?</blockquote>

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