Tabletop Gaming Anyone?

[erisi236]

Since I often have 40k related sigs, I kind of wonder if anyone else here is a tabletop gamer?

Building armies, waiting on codexs, raging when said codexs come out and rape your army, good times for all.

['Foretold' Joker]

Used to be, now I tend to just paint the numerous models that I still have. (Mostly 40k)

Here is a couple of Skeletons and a Zombie I have painted though.

[BoilerRoomBrawler]

Not a miniatures or card gamer, but a role-playing gamer most certainly.

System of choice is the HERO System, though I also love FUDGE and Risus.

[Dr. T is an alien]

I am a formerly rabid player of many a game. I have played Battletech, the various D&D editions, Rolemaster, Mage: The Ascension, James Bond, and home-spun games including a game called Adventure Quest, a game that has been played at Purdue University for about 35 years now.

I have creeped back into playing a bit as my son and his friends play 3.5 frequently and needed a DM one day when my son played host. They had a blast, which is good as my last time DMing (albeit several years ago) went poorly because I had been sick before hand and had not planned well at all.

['Foretold' Joker]

As a follow up a brief history of my Warhammer interests.

I started back in the days of heroquest and 2nd Edition 40k which lasted until about halfway through 3rd edition 40k, with a side portion of Necromunda.

Now I mostly paint models when I find the time (which is quite rare.)

What armies I gamed with were Orks & Chaos, but I have some Eldar and a minor swarm of Tyranid lurking around. Alongside them I have several Necromunda gangs (great game), a small contingent of undead and a fair few random models unrelated to any of the above which I just wanted to Paint (Like the older Dark Elf Hydra or the default 40k Assassin form the 2nd Edition days)

[YAKMAN is ICHIBAN]

The closest I ever got was

[Cyno]

More of a roleplaying gamer than anything. Also used to play Magic the Gathering a lot in my day (and make fun of my friends playing Yu-Gi-Oh by being all dramatic when they made moves). Never really got into Warhammer 40k or its ilk.

Roleplaying games I've dabbled in include: AD&D2E, D&D3E, 3.5, and 4E, Stuperheroes, d20 Modern, Star Wars Revised and Saga Editions, d20 Future, and Pathfinder. Also tried playing a GURPS-based game but I couldn't get into it.

Would love to try out White Wolf's Storyteller system, mainly the Classic World of Darkness form. Problem is finding players that aren't like, creepy. Also would really like to get into Shadowrun, Mutants & Masterminds, ASOIAF (Green Ronin, not Guardians of Order; never liked their products), and Dragon Age. Also really looking forward to 5E after my disappointment in 4E.

[Dr. T is an alien]

Mar 16, 2012 17:16:45 GMT -5 Cyno said:

More of a roleplaying gamer than anything. Also used to play Magic the Gathering a lot in my day (and make fun of my friends playing Yu-Gi-Oh by being all dramatic when they made moves). Never really got into Warhammer 40k or its ilk.

Roleplaying games I've dabbled in include: AD&D2E, D&D3E, 3.5, and 4E, Stuperheroes, d20 Modern, Star Wars Revised and Saga Editions, d20 Future, and Pathfinder. Also tried playing a GURPS-based game but I couldn't get into it.

Would love to try out White Wolf's Storyteller system, mainly the Classic World of Darkness form. Problem is finding players that aren't like, creepy. Also would really like to get into Shadowrun, Mutants & Masterminds, ASOIAF (Green Ronin, not Guardians of Order; never liked their products), and Dragon Age. Also really looking forward to 5E after my disappointment in 4E.

I had no interest in even trying 4E. I got pissed when my library of AD&D 2E was made obsolete, got over it when d20 proved better, and started to get a library of 3E and 3.5E only for it to be made obsolete as well. Now that Pathfinder is a real thing, I have no real interest in moving on unless 5E causes such a buzz amongst players due to being that much better.

[Louie Bloodspill]

I haven't been able to paint or play in about two years, but in finally finding some time so I plan to start up again.
I have roughly 3000-3500 points of Tyranid and a very small Emperor's Children army. Once I finish painting the models I have lying around, I plan on doing a small force of Crimson Fist. Originally I was planning Imperial Fist, but yellow is such a pain to paint. God I've missed 40k.

[Mozenrath]

I enjoy 4th Edition D&D a lot, so I am skeptical of the upcoming 5th. Hope we're not going back to the broken CoDzilla way of gaming, where spellcasters were far and away more powerful than every other kind of class and left their teammates mostly redundant.

I have played a decent amount of Rogue Trader, that was fairly fun.

[The Line]

I think I read something about there being a tabletop RPG set in the Fallout Universe. If I could find a crew to play that game, I'd nerd out about as much as humanly possible. The FO Universe is easily my favorite video game world.

[El Pollo Guerrera]

I'm a member of a gaming club (table-top RPG's, Magic, army games, etc.).

I've tried playing Warhammer but I've found that I can't think like an army. The rules of battle and how units behave baffles me for some reason. I'm always in the mind of the third guy from the left thinking "Geez, the enemy general is just OVER THERE and I have this gun, why are we fighting hand-to-hand with this unit of combat machines?"

I'm a Magic player, and love the occasional RPG.

[Goldenbane]

Big time roleplayer here. My group of 8 years still gets together every weekend to play.

Personal favorite of mine:

Vampire: The Masquerade (2nd, 3rd, and Anniversery editions)

DC Super Heroes RPG/Blood of Heroes RPG: I know, I know, my rants against Batman are stuff of legend, but the old Mayfair system was absolutely the best system for super heroes I've ever played

Dungeons and Dragons 3rd/3.5/Pathfinder: Adore the living crap out of this game(s) and could always play.

Games I own/played that I wish were better:

Star Wars saga edition: A ton of the personal combat rules are great, but Jedi are way over powered and soldiers suck the big one. Space combat is confusing as crap and I've yet to have a memorable and beloved space combat in game.

Star Wars d6 System: Old favorite, but as a general rule I hate d6 systems. Lots of awesome fluff and crunch, and don't remember too much over powered stuff, but a bad experience playing with an ex-friend and the fact it's d6 make this one difficult to love.

Marvel Super Heroes RPG: Love all the "stats" for the game (Monstrous, Amazing, Unearthly, Good, Remarkable, ect) but the system is a tiny bit...well...too basic for me. Some stats are flat out useless (like agility and nearly all three of the mental stats) and by the rules, Karma is a bitch to come by (a measely 50 points if you save the entire universe...and it costs 600 points to raise a stat of typical (6) to typical (7). Beyond that, Karma doesn't nearly do as much for you as it does in DC/Blood Of Heroes, and there's all sorts of stupid charges and penalty fees for trying stunts and other such things.

Heroes Unlimited: Love the fluff and the names and such for many of the powers/hero classes, but the system is broken as hell. Hand to hand combatants (especially thos with super strength) have a clear advantage of ranged attackers (specifically blasters like energy and fire). Various actions are too confusing and muddled...many of which don't even work very well. Power balance is null in void (an Alter Physical Structure Fire guy is FAR more powerful than an Alter Physical Structure Acid guy could ever hope to be). The random roll tables are for the most part, a lot of fun, but some of the stupid stuff (you're guy's face looks like a bird or you have 5x the body hair...not fur...body hair all over your body!) needs to be done away with. Probably the worst thing about the game, and while it freely admits to doing this and I can respect that to a degree, it doesn't allow for the MEGA MEGA MEGA super heroes like Hulk, Silver Surver, Green Lantern, or Superman. You can kinda copy them, but they'll be weak as hell and probably missing 70% of the powers the real heroes have. It's cool that the system wanted to keep it to "street level" heroes, but sometimes I want to throw down with Galactus...and if I can't, then Heroes UNLIMITED is kind of a fake title. (Yes, for those who play, I'm aware of the mega hero class...but again, it's way watered down compared to what the above mentioned are capable of doing.)

Games I can't stand:

Any d6 system: Just don't really like the rules for the vast majority of these games. On top of that the bad experience with the ex-friend still boils in the back of my mind.

Dungeons and Dragons 4th Edition: It seems like it's a marriage of Star Wars Saga Edition and Dungeons and Dragons 3rd edition...but then they do stupid things with it. They raped the alignment system and gave various gods and monsters really stupid and puzzling alignments in a feeble attempt to justify players fighting them (such as Angels). Hate the "powers" all the classes get (for example, choosing an at will strike that gives a +1 to hit...why ever do a normal attack when you can do the +1 to hit attack all day long? Makes several actions utterly useless or pointless). The books are filled with beautiful artwork, but the World Of Warcraft feel I get turns me off.

Star Wars Revised Edition: Every time you use your force powers, you DIE a little more! (lose hit points) 'Nuff Said.

Games I've also played or would love to try out some time:

Dungeons and Dragons 2nd edition (old favorite, but probably wouldn't go back to it as I feel 3rd edition is better)

Werewolf the Apocolypse: If a GM got rid of the stupid "Gaia, Wyrm, save the planet and stop global warming" crap, I'd love to give this a try.

HERO System: Heard so many raves about this, but from what I understand, it's d6 and I kinda tend to shy away.

[Fiddleford H. McGucket]

Just started in on a Rogue Trader Campaign.......I'm playing a Tech-Priest by the name of Pi-314.

On out first mission so far I've:

-Pissed off our Missionary by singing "The God-Emperor loves me this I know, for the codex tells me so" when asked to qupte scriptur (In my defense it's my first 40k campaign and I've got a -5 to the Church anyway

- Secretly Videotaped a Dinner between The same missionary and our Navigator to blackmail/send to The Imperium's Most Heretical Home Videos

- Taken an Everything-full of warp thanks to our navigator's Third Eye after the missionary charged me. I ended up burning a Fate Point for Cybernetic Resurrection and our missionary has been turned into a servitor (At my character's request as a show of gratitude).

Oh......and we've never actually left port yet.

[BoilerRoomBrawler]

Mar 17, 2012 0:48:05 GMT -5 Goldenbane said:

HERO System: Heard so many raves about this, but from what I understand, it's d6 and I kinda tend to shy away.

HERO's primary appeal is its power creation rules. Imagine if every D&D supplement was technically accessible from the core rules themselves, but you either had to build it all yourself to save money or buy the supplements to save time. $80 for two mammoth volumes looks and sounds intimidating until one realizes that it's quite the bargain compared to $90 for the core rules and another $30-40 per rules expansion.

Its secondary appeal is that it is built to simulate almost any genre, which is aided by its ability to build powers from scratch. When you buy D&D, you get a fantasy game - nothing more, nothing less. It is a fine Fantasy RPG, but you must take your business elsewhere if you want Sci-Fi, Modern Day Action, Superheroes, etc. You can do it all with just two HERO books.

That said, HERO has many rules (many are optional though) and expertise comes with time. It also involves "homework" as while you get to define how a world mechanically works, you must roll up your sleeves and do it (or else buy the appropriate supplements to save time). Its greatest strength can be its greatest weakness. While D&D defines the world entirely for you and you get little say in the matter, it is nonetheless more "pick up and play" for the same reason.

So if you aren't intimidated by lots of rules, have always had your own ideas for worlds that you get to define, and aren't afraid of a little work to get exactly what you want, give HERO a try. There is also a $20 "Basic Rule Book" if you only want to dip your toes into the poll first.

Last, the fine folks at the www.herogames.com forums are always happy to help and discuss with fellow players. You can find me there as "The Main Man" if you're looking for an incomplete stranger.

[Dr. T is an alien]

Since we started talking about how the different systems compare to one another, I guess I will chime in with my opinions:

3.0/3.5
This is the old standard and has so many committed fans that Pathfinder has become a successful thing in and of itself. Like any other system, it can be victimized by people that know more than the DM. One of the worst ideas that I heard towards the end was the introduction to the rules involving gestalt characters - there were enough people who knew how to maximize a character already (I should know, I was one of them).

One change in the system that I did not like was the manner in which low-level deities were handled. I took part in a low-epic level campaign (levels 24-27) in which we tried to stop a lich from becoming a deity. We got to the final battle and he was kicking our collective asses until he finally put his plan into action and became a low-level deity. At that point many of the advantages he had as a lich was cancelled out and the combination of the party mage and my half-dragon dragonslayer (a character transported over from 2E) were too much together for him to tolerate. He died when I literally cut him in twain. That was just wrong as becoming a deity is supposed to be an upgrade.

2E
The classic standby. The mechanics ultimately was not as good as 3E, but way that the setting was engineered was better. The basics to making house rules was perfect. I love the way that options were set up so that the game mechanics could be as complex as 3E or much more simple.

Rolemaster
Chart Law was a bit of a pain in the ass at times, but it created so many options and helped spawn creativity on both the part of the players and the GM. The guys that worked on it clearly were creative and had a sense of humor.

Star Wars d6
I know, it was a d6 system, but that was not an inherent weakness. Any d6 system is designed to make low level characters more capable than they are in any other system, so there's that at least.

James Bond
The best part of that game was that the game rewarded balls and potentially punished it at the same time. Like any other system, the skills, knowledge, and creativity of the GM made or broke the gaming experience, but the rewards of leveling was that you both got more skills and could take more chances.

Adventure Quest
Jaern was a creative setting and the system was a fun one though it created situations where powerful characters can be on the same adventure as new characters, which is not so good.

Mage: The Ascension
I only played a few sessions, but it was fun enough though I cannot remember the specifics.

[El Pollo Guerrera]

I just wanted to add that the majority of players at the club are leaving Warhammer to play Warmachine. Lots of good buzz about that game.

[Mozenrath]

Games I can't stand:

Dungeons and Dragons 4th Edition: It seems like it's a marriage of Star Wars Saga Edition and Dungeons and Dragons 3rd edition...but then they do stupid things with it. They raped the alignment system and gave various gods and monsters really stupid and puzzling alignments in a feeble attempt to justify players fighting them (such as Angels). Hate the "powers" all the classes get (for example, choosing an at will strike that gives a +1 to hit...why ever do a normal attack when you can do the +1 to hit attack all day long? Makes several actions utterly useless or pointless).

So don't do them. The reason it works that way is because sometimes things (such as opportunity attacks, charging, or Warlords giving out attacks with some of their powers) only give you a basic attack. The benefit of some of the powers is that you can substitute your basic attack, which as you said has no benefit over the powers generally, in certain situations, or in the case of a select few powers, any situation. A wizard's cantrips are outclassed by his actual spell powers in most situations, so he doesn't use the cantrips then. I don't mop my floor with a toothbrush. It's okay to have better options available to you.

[B'Cup x]

used to be a big time games workshop fan back in the later 90's. Got assualt on black reach on released day and have a small space marine army in a batman colour scheme. I still followe the hobby, and take great interest in the history and background of the universe (Dan Abnett is the proverbial man). I was going to get back into wargaming by starting a lord of the rings army with the new resin minatures, I saw the prices and realised that the hobby has priced me out and passed me, which is a shame. There is a lot of animosity from the games community online about this, I'm not going to complain, its disapointing but I understand why they're doing it.

On the flipside however, it has given me more disposable money to explore boardgames, that I am finding far more enjoyable than wargaming. I always have an opponent in my girlfriend (who is getting me Rex for my birthday, which I cannot wait to play) theyre cheaper, and with the cheapness I can get a variety of differnt games. Nothing beats the child like feeling of opening a new game, its like Christmas.

I still have a skaven (clan eshin) bloodbowl team as it was the first game I ever got into and a skaven warmaster army (I hate warhammer fantasy as the armies are too small, this fixes that) which is the best game system GW have done. Unfortunatly its near impossible to ever find anyone who plays these games x

Edit: on the subject of Boardgames/GW. f*** Games workshop for re-releasing Space hulk but making it a limited release. I want this game soo bad but the second hand prices are ricockulous, I've got Death Angel (the space hulk Cardgame that can also be played solitaire and is amazingly more awesome than it has any right to be) but Im gutted I missed the big ass boardgame x

[EvenBaldobombHasAJob]

I play 40k, got a big Guard army. only problem is the local gaming group is a bunch of feebs. the kind of guys who act totally dickish if you don't go out of your way to have a gamebreaking army and get all superior aboout a f***ing game. it's kinda turned me off the hobby, which is too bad because a few years ago I had a large group of friends who all played Fantasy with me (I have huge Ogre and Skaven armies) and were really cool guys but now nobody plays Fantasy and the 40K guys are mostly dinks. guy who runs the store's an asshole too, basically told me I should convert models the way he sees people do it on the internet rather than doing my own thing, even though he'd get more money from me if I did it my way, and has repeatedly called me an idiot for not "understanding" a rule that he's factually wrong about.

I also play D&D but I'm currently without a group because my old group only plays thursdays and I have to work.

I have too many Magic cards to count.