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Monde
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Yes the new Serenes update has made me inclined to post a Topic.

Interested in knowing Serenes' perspective on WRPGs and its mother systems such as DnD, Pathfinder, etc.

  • What WRPGs have you played? Which one would you say you liked the most?
  • Ever played Tabletop? What systems? If DnD, which editions? 
  • Favourite Class?
  • Favourite Character from a series? Maybe favorite OC character of your own?
  • post em alignments

For me, I started with Gothic III back as a kid, then jumped to Elder Scrolls, Fallout, Dragon Age, (I guess Mass Effect would count too), etc. Recently though, have been delving into Planescape: Torment, Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines, Deus Ex, and Gothic III. For the love of me though, I keep trying to finish Baldur's Gate I to get to II but just ended up finding myself replaying Dragon Age Origins, whoops. The one I am adore a lot atm is Planescape tbh, updated my journal. For tabletop, only have done DnD 5e, 3.5e, Pathfinder, Star Wars Saga. Pathfinder more recently, though I wish I could try out 5e more. Favourite Class, no idea, I like trying new things, but usually I go back to a rogue-type class. Fav OC character would prob be the chaotic neutral bordering evil gray jedi who is a really eccentric asshole and smuggled sith holocrons behind the party's back. best alignment chaotic good/neutral for maximum edge

also if anyone is interested in getting into WRPGs or Tabletop. etc, ask em!

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I didn't get into WRPGs until relatively recently due to not having a system on which to play them, and iirc my first was actually Skyrim. After that, I played the Souls series up to the current generation (I consider these WRPGs in spite of the Japanese developer because of the aesthetics and mechanics), Mass Effect, Fallout 3, Dragon's Dogma (same reasoning as Souls for why I think it's better classified as a WRPG), and... that's all I can recall right now. My experience with tabletop gaming is even sparser, as I've only played one game (can't even remember the name of it, but it was sci-fi) once despite wanting to play more. I would like to get into DnD but it's been hard finding a group that's open and has a schedule that works with my own. 

As for the other questions, I don't really have answers. In video games I find most classes to be fun so I don't know what my favorite would be, and I don't tend to get attached to the characters in WRPGs. Don't have a favorite OC, and I haven't played enough tabletop to know what alignment I enjoy the most (though it's probably neutral good or true neutral). 

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/index.php?/profile/13940-knight-falchion/" rel="">@Knight Falchion If you're more inclined to play online dnd, roll20 and mythweavers are okay places to find a group of sort. If you're looking for a more Play-by-Post format to accommodate your schedule, Giant in the Playground has a section for that iirc. We have a roleplay section here but I don't know if they use any actual standardized systems tbh, would be an interesting thing if someone hosted something like that though.  I feel like live sessions would be the most rare ones to come by unless you live in the city, i'm sure. A friend of mine irl wants to get into it and I might be roped in to dming since i'm the only one with exp in it. 

Edited by Monde
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Have not finished more than a few unfortunately, like DA:Origins, Skyrim, Mass Effect, etc. Finished Oblivion, and that's what I remember at present. Probably done more.

Am currently in a tabletop group rotating between two games at present: 7th Sea (Which I just joined) and Degenesis. Then again, said group is pretty consistently missing members (myself included), which doesn't help things.

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I Have Played to Completion, Skyrim, Fallout 3 & 4, Knights of the Old Republic 1 & 2, Jade Empire, Mass Effect 1-3, and The Witcher 3. 

I also played but never completed, Dragon Age: Inquisition, Morrowind, Oblivion, and Fallout: New Vegas.  I fully intend on completing New Vegas someday though.

 My favorite probably a toss up between, KOTOR 1, ME 2, and the Witcher 3. I also adore Fallout 3.

I have never played D&D but do I have a couple friends that did.

Favorite class probably infiltrator from Mass Effect.

Favorite character that is easy Legion from ME 2 & 3, a absolutely fascinating and incredibly well-written character and also very useful in the battlefield.  I don't do OC's....

Edited by Locke087
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@Monde: thanks for the tips; I'll probably look into those sites and see how they work for me. 

And now that Locke's post has reminded me that Mass Effect's characters are quite likable, I'd say that either Garrus or Urdnot Wrex is my favorite WRPG character. 

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Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights, Deus Ex, The Witcher 3, Fallout, etc. are great. Diablo II is my favourite game of all time, though I'm not sure if that strictly counts.

Sadly, I have not played Planescape: Torment, despite it being praised heavily.

Would like to play Pathfinder or D&D at some point, but haven't really had a chance to. I particularly like the concept of Clerics and Rogues for classes. and chaotic good is the best alignment 

I've been in the RP section and the ones actually using stats just use the Fire Emblem system, really. Though I did look into the possibility of it on roll20 myself and it could probably be easily done.

Edited by Tryhard
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4 hours ago, Dayni said:

Have not finished more than a few unfortunately, like DA:Origins, Skyrim, Mass Effect, etc. Finished Oblivion, and that's what I remember at present. Probably done more.

Am currently in a tabletop group rotating between two games at present: 7th Sea (Which I just joined) and Degenesis. Then again, said group is pretty consistently missing members (myself included), which doesn't help things.

Aw man, the unfortunate fate of most games I've seen is death by inactivity. It's difficult to schedule games that are long hours every week of course. I know that there is a thing on Roll20 called living campaigns, which are live all the time for RP, and adventures are hosted every now and then, almost like instances that you can join whenever you're available. Just recently am trying it out since school and work is messing with any time for planned stuff.

3 hours ago, Locke087 said:

I Have Played to Completion, Skyrim, Fallout 3 & 4, Knights of the Old Republic 1 & 2, Jade Empire, Mass Effect 1-3, and The Witcher 3. 

I also played but never completed, Dragon Age: Inquisition, Morrowind, Oblivion, and Fallout: New Vegas.  I fully intend on completing New Vegas someday though.

 My favorite probably a toss up between, KOTOR 1, ME 2, and the Witcher 3. I also adore Fallout 3.

I have never played D&D but do I have a couple friends that did.

Favorite class probably infiltrator from Mass Effect.

Favorite character that is easy Legion from ME 2 & 3, a absolutely fascinating and incredibly well-written character and also very useful in the battlefield.  I don't do OC's....

KOTOR is great, it sucks that KOTOR2 ended up in a weird rushed state though. Mass Effect's lore is probably my favourite bc it makes a good sci-fi setting. Ye, most Bioware games have that great character writing focus like in DA and ME, Legion best unit with a soul tho. Actually KOTOR being bioware reminded me that it had some great characters as well, I fucking loved HK47, best unit WITHOUT a soul tho.

3 hours ago, Knight Falchion said:

@Monde: thanks for the tips; I'll probably look into those sites and see how they work for me. 

And now that Locke's post has reminded me that Mass Effect's characters are quite likable, I'd say that either Garrus or Urdnot Wrex is my favorite WRPG character. 

No problem.

8 minutes ago, Tryhard said:

Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights, Deus Ex, The Witcher 3, Fallout, etc. are great. Diablo II is my favourite game of all time, though I'm not sure if that strictly counts.

Sadly, I have not played Planescape: Torment, despite it being praised heavily.

Would like to play Pathfinder or D&D at some point, but haven't really had a chance to. I particularly like the concept of Clerics and Rogues for classes. and chaotic good is the best alignment 

I've been in the RP section and the ones actually using stats just use the Fire Emblem system, really. Though I did look into the possibility of it on roll20 myself and it could probably be easily done.

I've heard great things about Diablo II, sadly never played it. I tried Diablo III when it came out but wasn't really into it. Also it got hacked, shit.

Planescape is a nice change of pace from traditional RPG settings like Balder's Gate, it's also EXTREMELY edgy, what can change the nature of man??

I think what pathfinder does a lot well in, is it has way more resources than 5e has currently afaik, and the variety of classes is just really fun to browse through sometimes (http://www.d20pfsrd.com) The only rogue I played was my initial half-elf edgy rogue and it was really enjoyable. Chaotic Good truly best

That's a sick ass setup @ roll20 map and tokens, I think it would be interesting if a PbP pathfinder/dnd campaign set in one of the fire emblem worlds were tried in the RP section, I'm not exactly sure how many people would want to tackle the systems, but it could certainly add a lot more variety and engagement to the mix. Mind you, I don't have much exp playing in the RP forum so i'm sure everyone has made by without it for years so I'm sure it's not a necessity. 

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I used to play Das Schwarze Auge (The Dark Eye / literally the black eye, but since black eyes are blue in Germany, that's without the violent connotation), a German tabletop RPG that basically started as a DnD ripoff which over the years tried to become less combat-heavy than DnD. I played with a few friends from school, but we dispersed across Germany after we finished school and I haven't played since then.

DSA's rule system is frankly rather bad, looking at it now - combat is neither fast nor balanced and I find the huge amount of skills needlessly convoluted. I appreciate that they tried to make the game about more than just slaughtering evildoers, but do I really need a number on my character sheet that specifies how good my character is at agriculture and pottery? I've missed one major rule update and one completely new edition since then, though, so take this with a grain of salt.

On the plus side, DSA's setting is extremly detailed. In a way, it's just your average medieval fantasy world, but it has a good number of distinct cultures. The biggest nation is really just medieval Europe, but the continent also features renaissance Italy, semi-democratic vikings, late-roman decadence, south american natives, Arabian lands and city states, feudal Russia, ancient Greece, some far east-inspired weirdos (amazing weirdos, but still weirdos), vaguely caribbean pirates, and - of course - orcs, elves and dwarves. Also some lands that have been perverted by demons if you're into some horror stories as well as lizard folks (remnants of a highly advanced culture), fish people and crab people, if memory serves. And (almost) all of these regions and cultures are developed in detail, in some parts down to the ruling family over 100 acres of land. It is really impressive, but obviously also really costly if you really wanted all the sources about the setting. So in the case of six pupils, we were satisfied with "Bornland = Russia" and went from there. ;)

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Time is definitely an issue for me these days with regards to Western RPGs, especially as they're either not available on mobile systems, or simply don't work as well as on bigger consoles/TVs. But I do love some Western RPGs, and many are in my top games of all times.

I started in the 90s with D6 Star Wars, and I've also played 3rd edition Star Wars/3rd and 4th edition D&D tabletop, but not very often, and we're talking years ago, now. I don't generally have fun with tabletop RPGs unless the GM is a really compelling storyteller - I'm definitely less interested in the strategy/character building element, which my university tabletop club was all about.

If BG1 is really holding you back, I say skip it and go straight to BG2! BG2 is my favourite game of all time and it's considerably more interesting (and a little better paced) than BG1. What's funny about BG1/2 is that none of the characters are incredibly likable for me, but I still have a lot of fun with the other elements. I think Watcher's Keep, the BG2 expansion, is probably the best dungeon I've played.

My other favourites are Bloodlines, Skyrim (although I sunk 110 hours into Skyrim, then never actually completed it!), KotOR 1/2 and Mass Effect (again, sunk hundreds of hours into the series then never actually completed Mass Effect 3).

Although I really love KotOR2, I never got into Obsidian's other RPGs. I didn't find the synopses compelling enough to keep me playing, although I know they're highly regarded by many other people. 

Garrus is probably my favourite WRPG character. 

 

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/index.php?/profile/25602-ping/" rel="">@pingThe setting sounds well developed. Maybe instead of using the system you could just take the setting and drop it into another system. I know pathfinder has a variant where you can specify in specific professions and crafts as well, for non-combat type characters

2 minutes ago, Res said:

Time is definitely an issue for me these days with regards to Western RPGs, especially as they're either not available on mobile systems, or simply don't work as well as on bigger consoles/TVs. But I do love some Western RPGs, and many are in my top games of all times.

I started in the 90s with D6 Star Wars, and I've also played 3rd edition Star Wars/3rd and 4th edition D&D tabletop, but not very often, and we're talking years ago, now. I don't generally have fun with tabletop RPGs unless the GM is a really compelling storyteller - I'm definitely less interested in the strategy/character building element, which my university tabletop club was all about.

If BG1 is really holding you back, I say skip it and go straight to BG2! BG2 is my favourite game of all time and it's considerably more interesting (and a little better paced) than BG1. What's funny about BG1/2 is that none of the characters are incredibly likable for me, but I still have a lot of fun with the other elements. I think Watcher's Keep, the BG2 expansion, is probably the best dungeon I've played.

My other favourites are Bloodlines, Skyrim (although I sunk 110 hours into Skyrim, then never actually completed it!), KotOR 1/2 and Mass Effect (again, sunk hundreds of hours into the series then never actually completed Mass Effect 3).

Although I really love KotOR2, I never got into Obsidian's other RPGs. I didn't find the synopses compelling enough to keep me playing, although I know they're highly regarded by many other people. 

Garrus is probably my favourite WRPG character. 

 

Yeah they definitely require a lot of focus into the game to get into. Obsidian tried to make their new Tyranny more short and focus on replayibility, but afaik the reception was lukewarm, as it wasn't that long. 

SW tabletop is so cool tbh. It plays so much like you're in a fantasy with the Jedi and all, and the setting is so known to the player.

I've heard BG2 is when Bioware started to realize an emphasis on character writing. While BG just feels so slow at first, at least for me, I'll need to force myself to when the plot picks up and hopefully it'll be smooth sailing from there. I've been replaying Dragon Age Origins instead, and I still love it.

Yeah, Legend has it the world will crumble the day Obsidian makes a game that wasn't rushed out by publishers. Vampire: The Masquerade is one of those such games that has a cult following for how much detail they put into writing and voice-acting, hell they redid the entire game's lines just for one vampire type variant where you are pretty much crazy. Everything technical about the game though is kinda a disaster, Activision rushed them to fuck to finish it, and even worse, they were under contract to release it on the day Half Life 2 came out bc they were using the source engine.

Garus best. Or most of the party members in DAO tbh:

 

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I'm not sure I've ever played a WRPG that wasn't a direct Dungeons and Dragons property, like the Champions of Krynn series type games, back from DOS days.

As far as tabletop goes, I've got experience with a fair few systems, to various degrees. Started with original Dungeons and Dragons, before moving on to 2nd edition, then 3, 3.5, Pathfinder, and 5e (yes, I completely skipped 4). Also played a shortlived campaign of Vampire: The Masquerade (old WOD), and a longer lasting one of Mage (new WOD). I barely remember anything of the one-shot using GURPS that I was a part of from back in my college days, but I might as well list it as a system I at least poked at briefly. I am still disappointed to this day, that the Burning Empires campaign that gaming group I was a part of at CERN attempted to get going never made it past character creation, it seemed like a fascinating system and lore.

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Mass effect is weird. ME1 had the best level up things, ME2 had the best combat and IMO the best dialogue, ME3 had nothing. Something that was consistent over all three iterations was the horrible, useless, detrimental companion AI, which made playing on high difficulties unfun.

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I played AD&D 2e, 3.5, some 4e and a lot of 5e(mostly running semesterly campaigns for club). Touched on Anima and liked the customisation. L5R mixed 3e and 4e system felt good though I had a good DM.

Mostly looking into all sorts of other cool systems such as Symbaroum for PbP and comparing how smoothly they run in the medium.

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I've played Fallout 3 and Skyrim, if those count as WRPGs. Otherwise... Undertale? Does that count?

Anyway, I actually write tabletop RPGs-as in, making the game from scratch. Though honestly, I've only played D&D 3rd ed. and some light GURPS. Aside from that, it's just my stuff: Worlds Above (failed), Planar Dawn (reworking it), Super Mega Double Neon Turbo Flow II Extreme Arcade Edition (working title), and Gray Moon (almost complete).

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For w/e reason i can't quote posts so

@Balcerzak Searched it up and read a bit about it, the mechanics sound neat as hell

@CloudControl Super Mega Double Neon Turbo Flow II Extreme Arcade Edition sounds like a title that already works tbh, just needs a subtitle

 

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WRPGs:

I played a few random WRPGs back in the 90's but I'm not really a big fan of the genre. (I was pretty surprised when I discovered Baldur's Gate was well-loved, for instance.) I've never actually finished one, though I got close with Exile III. I did watch my fiancee play the entire Mass Effect series and I have a fairly high respect level for those even though the gameplay looked unappealing to me.

Tabletop:

I'm a pretty big D&D fan; I've played every edition except the 2nd, and currently DM a 5e campaign. As a gameplay engine I think D&D has some warts (there's a reason D&D's near-coinflip accuracy and heavilly random damage has been abandoned by the system's video game successors) but there's nonetheless a lot to like; the system has a LOT of material, is flexible, and the fantasy setting is a good one which I am personally a big fan of, as are many of my friends. (When I say setting I'm referring to fantasy in general, not the specifically made first-party settings like Forgotten Realms; I don't care about those and my games are set in original settings.)

Mechanics-wise 4e is my favourite; I love the roles, the well-defined mechanics, the fact that physical characters get more interesting options than "attack", etc. But I like 5e quite a lot too; it eschews a few of those advantages but is faster, which is nice for some groups. I'm more lukewarm on earlier editions for sure, and couldn't go back to them now.

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@Monde: Yeah, a few guys in a forum about that system did exactly that, although I think they used GURPS of which I know basically nothing other than the name and that it's supposed to be quite easy to adapt to any kind of setting.

I suspect that for us, plain ol' DnD would have been a better choice anyway, since our playstyle mostly revolved around fighting and our heroes becoming increasingly awesome at that. ;) The occasional mysterious-crime plot, too, I guess, but even then we didn't really integrate the 'official' world into our adventures. And the game is balanced in a way that a single fighter will be threatened by three random mooks, even if he would outclass them completely in 1vs1 combat. It's supposed to be semi-realistic (the authors loved the term 'phantastic realism'), which isn't a bad thing in itself, but it's not necessarily what a group of teenagers is really looking for. ;)

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Haven't really played any WRPGs, but used to be really into Tabletop Gaming. Played a lot of D&D (3.5) and Star Wars systems (mostly Saga and a bit of d6). I generally learn towards support roles, so I enjoy Bards/Clerics in D&D and Nobles in SW. My most memorable character, though, was a Wilder in a Psionics-based campaign. Sadly haven't played in ages since I was mostly reliant on my (now ex-)boyfriend to find/run groups, and now I live in a country where I don't even speak the main language and I don't really care for online campaigns. Still, it's a fun part of my past and something I hope to get back into some day.

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>What WRPGs have you played? Which one would you say you liked the most?
As I wouldn't quite consider Diablo a RPG, not that many, actually. The AD&D Masterpiece Collection (composed of 6 games - though I couldn't finish either of the Dark Sun's titles, because I didn't have a mage in my party to handle the brutal final battle of Shattered Lands and Wake of the Ravager simply glitched), Baldur's Gate 1 & 2, Dragon Age Origins... and I think that's it? I've been meaning to play a few others, but... too many games, too little time. BG2 is still my favorite.

>Ever played Tabletop? What systems? If DnD, which editions?
I've played a little of a few systems, but the only campaigns I've done, either as DM or player, were on 2E AD&D. I've been playing a 2E Ravenloft campaign for over roughly twelve years now (for reference, the party is around levels 10-14), though that one is finally nearing completion. While I do own a few basic 3.0 books and generally appreciate the d20 system in abstract, I've never actually played it.

>Favourite Class?
Though I've been stuck with a depressingly frail mage for a decade and mained a fighter in BG1 and a fighter/mage in BG2... I actually like clerics. If I had the chance, though, I'd probably try and roll an archivist.

>Favourite Character from a series? Maybe favorite OC character of your own?
Does Keldorn qualify

>post em alignments
I tend to shy away from evil or chaotic aligments in general
 

Edited by TheEnd
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Baldur Gate 2 is still one of the best for me. Mass Effect 3 is almost a pure FPS, even Dead Space franchise has more RPG elements than it. Dragon Age is so-so, a little too boring for me. Elder Scrolls were fun but they keep doing the same thing again and again, this franchise couldnt surprised me no more. Diablo 2 is still fun no matter how many times I played it. Vampire: TM was fun but the combat is kinda bad if you ask me. Fallout 4 is a colossal disappointment, this franchise is death for me. Mount&Blade is simply the best. Stars war KoTR is simply Neverwinter Night 2 reskin, while it's fun, I simply dont understand why people adored it so much like that. Neverwinter Night 1 was okay, 2 was good but too buggy. Icewind Dale 1&2 are good but also buggy. Dues Ex failed big time. Torchlight franchise is so boring. Grim Dawn is great. Titan Quest is like....good, I think. The Witcher franchise is so great, TW3 is the best RPG I have ever played. Divinity franchise is odd with bad game, bland game and good game. Pillar of Eternity is lite Baldur Gate with some new features. Hand of Fate is a nice little game. Legend of Grimrock 2 rocks! Victor Vran is garbage.

Never play any table top game.

Being evil is simply the best feeling so evil classes are my favorite.

None.

Edited by Magical CC
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