This mentality needs to die

[nedjer]

OK, I understand. I'll just delete that post rather than leave it there with red letters in it.

Cheers

Gimme back my Red Badge of Courage dude

 

[ST]

For me it's a matter of what "fits", I guess. Hack and slash and puzzle stuff, I get my fix hanging out with my wife playing computer and console games. So I like the stuff that involves a group of people in person to be more about the social and character development elements.

I totally get the "beer and pretzels game" scene, though, it makes sense.

 

[Plane Sailing]

Gimme back my Red Badge of Courage dude

Since you ask so nicely, I'll undelete it

 

[Turtlejay]

So 24 pages in, it feels like this thread has mellowed a little, right? No more rage about what happened, though it seems like the prevailing opinion is that the call was fine, but the reasoning was flawed. I think D&D's strength lies in the human moderator. The ability to stretch and bend the rules to make things smoother.

The video game connection, where you must have tab A in slot B, is kind of hard to break sometimes. In fact, I think the labelling of video games as RPG's is kind of flawed. It has come to mean a system where the character advances in power, through levels or power aquisition. Do you play a role in RPG's more than you do in other video games?

Jay

 

[Gimby]

For me it's a matter of what "fits", I guess. Hack and slash and puzzle stuff, I get my fix hanging out with my wife playing computer and console games. So I like the stuff that involves a group of people in person to be more about the social and character development elements.

I totally get the "beer and pretzels game" scene, though, it makes sense.

Theres an interesting side point here actually in terms of what DM's get out of hack'n'slash games.

We can mostly agree that computer games do that niche in a faster and more accessable fashion for the players. However, *creating* content for a computer game is generally massively more time consuming than for a tabletop game. If your desire is to create, then, you will get more satisfaction from the tabletop game than the computer game.

 

[Lanefan]

Lanefan , you mentioned that your DM expects the players to think (the horror!). What do you think he/she means by that? Is this a game heavy with puzzles and mysteries that the players need to work out on thier own?

The whole overarching plot in that game is a massive mystery, stretching back to the same DM's old campaign from 1981-90 (which a few of us were in). We're nearly 3 years into this new campaign, and are slowly starting to make some headway...but there's little if any opportunity to "just go bash some Giants".

Also, when you are the DM do you enjoy the game more,less, or the same when your players are actively thinking about the game world & events therein during play?

I enjoy it when they're thinking about the game world, the plot, and so on; but it doesn't matter much to me if they go bash Giants instead, as long as they're having fun. That said, when they drop the plot for a while it's usually so they can bash each other...always fun for me, as I don't have to do very much.

I understand that sometimes just switching off the brain for some good old hack n slash is exactly what is desired from the player perspective. I am more curious to find out what makes such games attractive to DMs.

Hackin' and slashin' right back at 'em!

Lanefan

 

[nedjer]

The whole overarching plot in that game is a massive mystery, stretching back to the same DM's old campaign from 1981-90 (which a few of us were in). We're nearly 3 years into this new campaign, and are slowly starting to make some headway...but there's little if any opportunity to "just go bash some Giants". I enjoy it when they're thinking about the game world, the plot, and so on; but it doesn't matter much to me if they go bash Giants instead, as long as they're having fun. That said, when they drop the plot for a while it's usually so they can bash each other...always fun for me, as I don't have to do very much.

Hackin' and slashin' right back at 'em!

Lanefan

I can see why you'd appreciate a bit more hack and slay. My personal dislike is elaborate puzzles - and I'm gonna want to use a spell or a lethal sword if I went to a lot of trouble to get it.

Too little in game action maybe feels like going to Center Parcs and realising you forgot to book the Laserquest.

 

[Mark Chance]

I can see why you'd appreciate a bit more hack and slay. My personal dislike is elaborate puzzles - and I'm gonna want to use a spell or a lethal sword if I went to a lot of trouble to get it.

 

[nedjer]

lmao

 

[Hussar]

Thanks for sharing. Do you find this sort of satisfaction sustainable over the course of a campaign?

Well, that depends. What do you mean by campaign? Something like Lanefan is playing? Not so much for me. I think I'd get pretty bored of it.

But, when I did the World's Largest Dungeon, which is pretty high hack, I think the players really enjoyed it. It was story light, plot light, and lots and lots of combat. Now, the combat did have a purpose (usually) but, it was mostly puzzles, traps and tactics.

To answer your question, I think the mega-dungeon shows that yes, it is sustainable over the course of a campaign. Whether it's Temple of Elemental Evil (one I didn't care for) or WLD (which I obviously did ) you can certainly have a great time playing D&D without a great deal of drama.