Dice/Stat Based RPG'ing?

[lem0nhead]

Well what do you want to know CG?

http://shadowsystems.laurencemartin.org/DND_35Ed/

You can dl all the D&D books there for version 3.5 (which is better than 4 anyway) so it wouldnt be hard to for everyone....

[CarpeGuitarrem]

As far as "better", I haven't played enough in 4e to make a comparison (from looking at the rulebooks, it seems to be far more streamlined/shiny/TCG-like than the more simulation-esque 3.5), but I have seen that site before. Not entirely sure if it's legal...

[FM]

If anyone wants help on this one, drop me a PM, I'm a DM for 3.5 D&D (have been for 7 years now), and I'm used to developing rules, systems, items, spells, feats, skills, special abilities, etc. I also used to DM an online RPG, so I'm fairly used to developing entire Rules Systems.

[Gate Troll]

*Bump*  Cool idea! Anyone going to start a dice rpg soon?

[FM]

CG developed a hybrid system and it's supposed to be going on right now as a stickied post. Chameleon, 72 hours.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

At the moment, it seems to have stalled...

[sickofpalantirs]

we need more peoples....

[FM]

We need a stats/rule system, that's what we need. Seriously, I see no reason why not make a "short story" Forum, for all I care, Free-styling is pretty much writing, not a lot of RP'ing, specially since characters "can't" die, unless stated otherwise, so you lose a whole branch of RP'ing, which would be survival, protecting others, etc.

[sickofpalantirs]

thats really what are RPG's are...your right about that.

[FM]

Also, careful planning on combat strategies, approaches to leaders, that sort of stuff. Since you pretty much go ahead and write what happens, there's no such thing. I think it's fun, I really do, but it's not RP'ing, and it takes a good chunk of the fun of it away. Rules are not to make it boring, it's to make it realistic enough that you FEEL you're roleplaying, while keeping it fantastic enough that if you're high enough on levels, you CAN swim up a waterfall (read Epic level).

[CarpeGuitarrem]

"Free-form" RP also has rules. It's called the rule of common sense. By formalizing the rules, you add more of a game element. For example, using a d20 doesn't cater to roleplaying so much as it caters to a game. It doesn't add realism, it adds unpredictability. (And lest you note that unpredictability exists in the real world, unpredictability follows a bell curve, not a flat curve. GURPS does a much better job, for example, in this regard)

[FM]

Not really. It does add realism in what not all attacks always land. And THAT'S realism. You don't succeed in everything you do, be it telling a story or climbing a mountain, sometimes, you'll perform poorly on those tasks, that's a fact. The higher your level (thus, the more experience you have on doing it), the lesser the chance of it actually happen, but it'll still happen every now and then.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

http://lotrplaza.com/forum/forum_topics.asp?FID=17

Have a look at some of the threads there.

With regards to the realism issue...you're talking about a simulationist approach to storytelling. D&D is not a great simulator, because of the lack of a bell curve in the probability. It is a good game to play around with, a meld of a game of chance and of storytelling.

[FM]

http://www.lotrplaza.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=223909

I particularly liked what I saw here. However, I think we're a long way behind to rising up to that level of expertise, and they have rules on their system, sometimes ENFORCED rules, like class-related weaponry, spells, etc.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

The enforced rules, though, are "arbitrary", and not backed up by any one set ruleset. In a nutshell, freeform. That's what freeform RP is. The GM sets the parameters, and you operate within them. And those generally don't include stats for freeform. Realism takes a backseat to storytelling, when it must, like in most novels.