Poll of the Day > Tabletop RPGs Topic LXXXVI

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@Lightning_Bolt
@Mario_VS_DK
@ParanoidObsessive
@shadowsword87

Thought it might be a good time to start up another one of these, since I have been picking up assorted retroclones and comparing / contrasting them.

Of the ones I have examined so far, White Box (not Swords & Wizardry Whitebox, though it is derived from that) and Basic Fantasy seem to be the most promising for the types of games I like to run, but the sheer number of choices is great, and almost all of the books involved are available either as free (and legal) PDFs or at-cost hard copies (e.g. the Basic Fantasy core book only set me back $3.80 U.S. before tax). Hoping to get hard copies of OSRIC and Labyrinth Lord (and possibly Swords & Wizardry Complete), but not yet. Champions of Zed is arriving in the mail soon, and I need to set that next to Iron Falcon and see if I am looking for more of a 1st Edition or Zero Edition feel.

There. Got that out of my system. Feel free to discuss anything tabletop-y here.
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I am joining a game with 8 players, 2 of which are new to DnD, 2 of which are new to 5e.

It's going to be bad, there's already a splinter group forming my gf and I are probably going to join.

Oh, for the record, PO probably won't show up for a while him out of spite because you pinged him.

the only one I ever really liked was the Storyteller System from White Wolf, with the World of Darkness setting. I love how simple and easy to learn it is. the other systems seem more complicated for no reason. I think I tried 3rd edition DnD and it wasn't too bad. but still, I prefer White Wolf games. I used to game with a friend of mine and some other people and when we were younger, we couldn't get together often enough to play and he loved White Wolf. then we got older and I was able to go to his place once a week. and for some reason he had switched to DnD. I think cause of his boyfriend preferring it. the boyfriend was the DM. and I hated his DM style. so anyway, I always was annoyed about that. I wanted to play White Wolf.

Several of my coworkers started a 5th Edition group that meets on Wednesday nights, and they invited me to join, so ... been doing that for a month or so. My first time playing 5th Edition, though I have had the books for a good while (five years, IIRC). Going from Pathfinder to that feels downright bizarre, especially considering how skills play. Example: My ranger, because he has a criminal background (and the bonuses that grants), is basically a rogue who is a crack shot with a bow, and, at first glance, that feels like it should not be possible with a vanilla class.

shadowsword87 posted...

Oh, for the record, PO probably won't show up for a while him out of spite because you pinged him.

I remembered that he does not like that ... after I made the first post, so that one is my bad.
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I_Abibde posted...

Several of my coworkers started a 5th Edition group that meets on Wednesday nights, and they invited me to join, so ... been doing that for a month or so. My first time playing 5th Edition, though I have had the books for a good while (five years, IIRC). Going from Pathfinder to that feels downright bizarre, especially considering how skills play. Example: My ranger, because he has a criminal background (and the bonuses that grants), is basically a rogue who is a crack shot with a bow, and, at first glance, that feels like it should not be possible with a vanilla class.

Well, you can make the argument for that's what the skill points are for in Pathfinder, so you can customize.

But I really do prefer it that way, mostly because holy poop it's tough trying to teach new players Pathfinder or 3.5. 5e is just "select from this small list" over and over again, and you can explain more complicated things as they level up.
It's really smart now that I think about it.

shadowsword87 posted...

It's really smart now that I think about it.

I noticed that several OSR fans consider 5E to be OSR in its own way, and the stripped-down approach does make sense from that standpoint, though recent 5E releases are gradually bulking the game back up again (... if one does not mind very expensive, oddly thin hardcovers for everything).
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Please excuse the bump, but Champions of Zed arrived, and it is good. I also managed to get leads on the hard copies I mentioned above, but I have noticed that Swords & Wizardry Complete seems to be limited to PDF format, though Swords & Wizardry Core is not. *shrugs* Either way, it is cool to have all of these low-priced options for old school play.

I think the next series I pick up (next month, possibly) will be the Adventurer Conqueror King System, or ACKS for short. That one is neat because it is specifically tailored to the strongholds and followers that your characters acquire upon reaching certain levels, and it focuses on that aspect of the game, up to and including empire-building.
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One more bump -- and I will not do another after this -- because I was incorrect. You can get a hard copy of Swords & Wizardry Complete, but only if you order it directly from Frog God Games. Seems like a missed opportunity if you consider that the other variants of the game can be found in a variety of places online.
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