Roleplay?

Wicked Jester · Joined: 16 Feb 2006 Posts: 113

Just wondering if anyone here is into roleplaying? And I do NOT mean in the bedchamber :shock:

Just plain old roleplaying... y'know, Baldurs Gate, Planescape, that kind of thing...

Just curious...
cheers...

masterjedi · Joined: 03 Feb 2005 Posts: 210

I like roleplaying, but more often than not, people who play those games don't actually roleplay their characters.

It's funny cause roleplaying has such a negative stigma attached to it, but when we were kids, most of us roleplayed all the time. I challenge anyone to find me a person who didn't pretend to be someone or something else at one time or another.

I played Baldur's Gate for a while, but didn't dig it too much. I played Star Wars Galaxies for almost three years, and I play World of Warcraft off and on. (that game only holds my attention for so long though)

I've never heard of Planescape, what is it?

Wicked Jester · Joined: 16 Feb 2006 Posts: 113

Hey man, World of Warcraft rocks! But you're right, most people don't roleplay their characters... So eventually, roleplaying games, such as BG, just turn into a different kind of hack 'n' slash.

As for Planescap: Torment, it's another rpg by Black Isle Studios, using the same graphics engine as Baldurs Gate, except in Planescape, you can only play one character. You start out waking up at the local morgue, only to be addressed by a floating skull. Turns out you're immortal, and you have to find a way to die, either by getting you mortality back, or destroying it, thus destroying yourself (guess which is preferable). In the course of the game, you meet a few characters that some of your previous incarnations have also met... Other that that, your alignment is not preset. It does start out as 'true neutral' but depending on your actions, it can go all the way up to lawful good or all the way down to chaotic evil...

What about Fallout and Arcanum, have you played those?

masterjedi · Joined: 03 Feb 2005 Posts: 210

Sorry, never played either of those either. Heck, I've never even heard of them. Are these PC games on console games?

That Planescape sounds pretty wild. Maybe I'll check it out sometime. Right now I mostly play Star Wars: Empire at War and I'll be buying Battle for Middle Earth II within the week.

I played the Star Wars roleplaying game for a while and I really enjoyed it, but it's so hard to find people who are actually willing to play it. Maybe I need a support group or something 8)

Wicked Jester · Joined: 16 Feb 2006 Posts: 113

They're both PC games. Fallout 1 and 2 take place after World War 3. It's a turnbRPG, and it takes you all across northern California. High tech guns, that sort of thing. It runs a classless system, you still get to level, but you don't choose a class at the beginning. There are several skills, such as first aid and stealing, and of course big guns, small guns and energy weapons. Your reputation varies from town to town, and goes on a scale from hated to toast of the town. There is also an overall reputation ranging from Demon Spawn to Savior of the Wastes.

Arcanum runs on the same classless system, but takes place in the 1800's. There is both magic and technology, so you can choose whether to be a mage, thief, swordsman or gunslinger... there are other options of course. You can also build your own guns and forge your own swords...

masterjedi · Joined: 03 Feb 2005 Posts: 210

Hmmm, that Fallout game sounds pretty tight. I'll probably check that one out instead of the others. Thanks for the info!

Wicked Jester · Joined: 16 Feb 2006 Posts: 113

Heh, just found a so-called RPG called Aveyond.. you can find it at www.amaranthia.com... pretty fun, though... you should check it out...

cheers...

LabrnMystic · Joined: 27 Jul 2005 Posts: 1481

I find I only fall out of roleplaying when I'm doing repeatative stuff with local buddies where we drop the roleplaying formailty to get stuff done.

I have fall out, and am currently playing fallout 2.

I myself try to stay in characte, at least with new characters, and even find myself acting in character to NPCs who really could care less. ^_^

Some of us try, so don't give up all hope on roleplayers.

Martin · Joined: 09 Jan 2004 Posts: 446

Well, I'm a heavy duty roleplayer, being an avid gamer, collector and GM...
Got enough games on my shelves to last me a century, and I even wrote a few modules.
That's for pen 'n paper RPGs: as for computer and console RPGs, well, I do those too, and with just about the same intensity, which means that either I'm very passionate about my hobbies or I don't have a life :D

Wicked Jester · Joined: 16 Feb 2006 Posts: 113

Everything depends on the eye that sees, mate :wink:

Regarding whether or not people roleplay their characters, that's one thing I really like about WoW: the fact that they've PvE, PvP, AND RP servers in the game. Otherwise, people who were in it just to hack'n'slash would probably feel pestered by those immersing themselves in their characters.... just a thought.

Cheers...

LabrnMystic · Joined: 27 Jul 2005 Posts: 1481

Martin wrote: Well, I'm a heavy duty roleplayer, being an avid gamer, collector and GM...
Got enough games on my shelves to last me a century, and I even wrote a few modules.
That's for pen 'n paper RPGs: as for computer and console RPGs, well, I do those too, and with just about the same intensity, which means that either I'm very passionate about my hobbies or I don't have a life :D

A man after my own heart! I'm an avid GM/DM as well! Made plenty of my own campaigns, and some day I plan to send in a few to Wizards of the Coast. I got a couple of my players who are going to illustrate it for me.

Martin · Joined: 09 Jan 2004 Posts: 446

Quote: A man after my own heart! I'm an avid GM/DM as well! Made plenty of my own campaigns, and some day I plan to send in a few to Wizards of the Coast. I got a couple of my players who are going to illustrate it for me.

I wish you the best of luck in that! I had a small thought about that, but it usually remained just that... Maybe I should muster a little more courage, and someday... Well, who knows? :lol:
As for now, I keep reworking my stuff over and over, polishing it to a shine, and learning from my past mistakes - and those of the others, as well. :D

Midnight Dragon · Joined: 03 Mar 2006 Posts: 2

Heya, people...

Talking about roleplaying, anyone here into live roleplay? Personally, I find that a bit more fun than just staring at a computer screen all day, being able to select only pre-set lines when talking to other people... dunno 'bout the rest of y'all, though... But I can really dig what Wicked Jester is saying 'bout WoW, though... When playing that game, I do it for the PvP action... Though I do have a character on an RP server for those rare occasions when I'm in the mood for some 'real' roleplaying...

LabrnMystic · Joined: 27 Jul 2005 Posts: 1481

Midnight Dragon wrote: Heya, people...

Talking about roleplaying, anyone here into live roleplay? Personally, I find that a bit more fun than just staring at a computer screen all day...

I've LARPed here & there. Mostly Vampire the Masquerade. I was a Malkavian, and we made it all the way to Gehenna when Kane/Cain (whichever way the Story Tellers prefer) comes back. I was even bonded to him, and was lucky enough to become the most powerful Malk in that particular game out of 30 other individual players. :D

Otherwise, I wander on & off of RPing games. Sometimes I just wanna get in there and get some action!

Tawitko · Joined: 30 Jun 2006 Posts: 1

Hey Wicked, I know I'm a little late on this, but I loved those games you mentioned. FO 2 is one of my favorite games. I'm sure you know this but the makers of FO1/FO2 and Arcanum are pretty much the same people. Just different companies. FO3 is being made by Bethesda.
Also if you liked Arcanum, you may want to try, Vampire the masquerade, Bloodlines. Also made by Troika games, sadly it was their last game. Its pretty buggy, but if you download the fan made patches from gamespot, it works pretty well.

JohnnyPsycho · Joined: 08 Jul 2006 Posts: 1124

Just thought I'd jump into this conversation too, I've been playing "pen and paper" RPGs for a few years now. I got into it when I first came to college and have been playing a long-running campaign in Hackmaster for almost two years now.
If you've never heard of Hackmaster, it's a parody of original (mostly first and second edition) D&D, and I usually try to tell as many other people about the game as possible. Like the name might imply, the rules are a bit more hardcore (character death is very, VERY easy in the game), but it's all done with a nod and a wink, and it's all very humorous. Just take a look at the illustrations in the Hackmaster player's handbook next time you're in a gaming/comics shop.
Most of my experiences with roleplaying games have included such games as Werewolf: The Apocalypse, 7th Sea, Deadlands, and B.E.S.M.

Wicked Jester · Joined: 16 Feb 2006 Posts: 113

Hey Tawit

Yeah, I know that the people FO1/2 and Arcanum are pretty much the same. But when you mention FO3, do you mean Fallout Tactics, or is there some other game on the runway I just haven't heard of yet?

Cheers...

Ronald · Joined: 18 Oct 2003 Posts: 2692

Wicked Jester wrote: Hey man, World of Warcraft rocks! But you're right, most people don't roleplay their characters... So eventually, roleplaying games, such as BG, just turn into a different kind of hack 'n' slash.

World of Warcraft (aka WOW) has RP servers for the role players...
Though, I've never tried to create characters on those servers. I've heard it's different on that server....

Being that I used to work at an MMORPG company, we used to roleplay after work... (GameMaster, and dice and all...)

The boss was actually one of the GMs... and the game was just a simple being ourselves "time traveling"... the fun part was 'figuring out as a group where we were.... how we got there, etc... walking around and interacting with the people (controlled by the 2 GMs) They did extensive research in the era we were in.... we completed one era and then we found our self in another era....

We each gained different powers / skills after completing each era...
We all started with 1-2 selected powers/skill - human skills... like being really good at something...

Haven't done that in a years....

It's kind of hard to translate some of that online tho- because the uniqueness and experience of the "quests/story"... Alot of work for the GM/Quest Giver....

Have you tried Elder's Scroll Oblivion yet? I heard it's really the best out there!

I've played Fallout 1 and 2. Was fun... so was Jagged Alliance. (they were similar to XCOM sorta). Played Balder's Gate when it first came out. Was okay... the sequels, I heard were better but I have not played them...

I stopped playing WoW... Too much guild drama and loot drama... The game is way too loot oriented and Blizzard just needs to come up with a better way to distribute loot for high end raids that takes days/months to learn and complete and then 'farm' so people get stuff.... Sadly, their system could be improved had they built in some sort of guild system that managed raid point/loot system that tracks attendance and contributions for you... determining merit (MPS) or DKP (Dragon Kill Points) for you... It was just a pain to manage all of the raiders...

I bought Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion but have not had the time to try it out...

Wicked Jester · Joined: 16 Feb 2006 Posts: 113

Ronald wrote: World of Warcraft (aka WOW) has RP servers for the role players... Though, I've never tried to create characters on those servers. I've heard it's different on that server.....

Indeed it does. And in the beginning, people were actually RP'ing their chars on those realms, but these days, people behave just like they do on any other realm :? Shame, though... was fun back when people actually roleplayed their chars on RP servers, but that quickly came to an end...

Marauder · Joined: 10 Jan 2007 Posts: 82

Funny, reading through this thread put me in mind of another old game I used to love. Anyone here remember GDW's Space: 1889 RPG? that and the boardgame they made based on it, 'Sky Galleons of Mars' were my favorites for the setting. Just wish the core rules had been better. /?In some ways, Bon Bon reminds me of it, the times both are set in are pretty close. (I think)