kalmarjan
October 3rd, 2016, 06:07
Hey all! Yes, that DOES say I've been a member THAT long. WOW. FG has changed so much since the little program I used back in the day (crashed every time you looked at the screen wrong LOL)
I just wanted to introduce myself to all of you, and I would like to start getting active again in the community.
I've been playing D&D since before everyone started talking about it in hushed tones...openly in a grade 3 class. This was Basic D&D, and I was hooked!
Went straight to AD&D when I hit 10, and read everything I could get my hands on. Played through module after module! LOVED that.
Then came 2nd ed, and I was just getting into high school. To me, this is the golden time of D&D. Yes, it was 2E, but there was a MAGAZINE for play, AND for dungeons too. They had books on roleplaying, and it was slowly becoming less ostracised... right? Sorta. You were still a geek and loser if you played anywhere aside from the music/drama hall. You NEVER told your girlfriends, and sessions of D&D were sometimes DAYS long.
I liked 3rd edition. I actually liked the revision too. I got behind the crunchy rules. It was easier for a DM, because there were less rule fights because everything had a freaking rule. If it wasn't core, chances are really good SOMEONE wrote a rule for it. (Looking back... eww...)
The only problem is that it got so big. There was no possible way that I could read everything. I was newly married, and frankly, My wife is NOT a fan of D&D. So, this is around the time that I found FG. This solved a problem for me, and I gleefully ran campaigns with Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil. Let me tell you, that level creep in d20 is ridiculous. I ended up using DMGenie with FG running that campaign. It was crazy to keep up with all the buffs, conditions, battle conditions, the SPELLS all the NPC, Players, etc had...
Then came the announcement of 4e. The "End" of the OGL. Man, it was like the apocalypse.
I tried 4e. I really did. But to me, it was too simple. More like a MMORG, and I hadn't played any MMORG to truly appreciate how 4e would be set up. Today I would probably enjoy 4e more, but not like back then.
So I switched to SW. I even owned SavageWorldsOnline.net and ,org for a while. I had a blog about that, and I wholehearted embraced Savage Worlds. I played several games and campaigns with friends...
But then I had a kid. ooooo.... Yeah, you fathers out there know the drill. It's way harder to play, even online.
Finally, my wife and I are friends with a couple who the guy plays D&D. Several couples all convince my wife that it's a good thing that I play d&d. So, it's no longer a sticky issue with the missus.
So, I roll into playing with Pathfinder. Meh, to me Pathfinder's okay.. but with even MORE rules, splat books, a new way to do weird things that I never cared about before -- and the level creep was worse. Looking at a stat block for a level 20 NPC for a CR 23 encounter? Man, brutal. I thought 1E was like lawyerly... this to me is worse. I'm not saying it's bad, just not really for me.
Fast forward to D&D Next. Interesting...here was a throwback to the 3.5 era, but with the intent behind 2E. A bit of the feel of 1E, and with the functionality of 4E optionally thrown in. Best yet? I could pretty much play WHATEVER I own. Now THAT really got my attention.
Any one reading this have a stupid large collection of D&D stuff from over the years? Were you like, "Yeah, I'll totally use the 2E Priest Spell Compendium!" and totally refused to throw it out all these years? Ha ha. Looks like it paid off! (A rare win!) Side tangent. The other day I actually cracked open my 2E Players Handbook to look up a rule for how many pages a spell took in a wizard's spell book. The rules in that book were SHOCKINGLY light. Yeah, I found the rule (1d6-1 pages plus spell level -- I mean, we actually could have said to the wizard of our party -- "Hey, COOL! 7th level spell Delayed Blast Fireball! AWESOME! Okay, that's 12 pages... Aww crap! I only have 10! I can't learn it, copy it, or do anything with it until I buy another book!")
Unlike 4e, I really enjoyed the D&D Next playtest. It erased a lot of rules, kept things back with the 2E spirit, but clarified, and still let you do the cool stuff the newer editions let you do (Wizards could wear armor! Use a sword? Shhhwing!)
5e did not disappoint! They hammered up the playtest and produced a core set that I can honestly say is D&D's best iteration. It is lean enough to do it all, but both crunchy and fluffy enough to do what you want to do -- and that's play.
Gone were the "you have to: be a THESPIAN to gain XP!" or "NO WAY! You have to OPTIMIZE, KILL, MAIN, DESTROY, ERASE!!!!" or "Solve these puzzles my man!" You could do all of them. No one was wrong, they are all there to have fun. Player wants to only grunt and roll to kick some butt, roll massive damage, and nothing else? Cool. At least you know what she wants. Is that other guy want to interact? Solve through diplomacy? Sure! Do that too, AND give the girl the attacking. It;s your job as the DM to do all of that, if possible.
If the players are having fun, then so am I.
D&D has gotten a whole lot better.
So, onto learning the fabulous Fantasy Grounds. There are so many bells and whistles LOL.
I can't wait to start playing!
Cheers,
I just wanted to introduce myself to all of you, and I would like to start getting active again in the community.
I've been playing D&D since before everyone started talking about it in hushed tones...openly in a grade 3 class. This was Basic D&D, and I was hooked!
Went straight to AD&D when I hit 10, and read everything I could get my hands on. Played through module after module! LOVED that.
Then came 2nd ed, and I was just getting into high school. To me, this is the golden time of D&D. Yes, it was 2E, but there was a MAGAZINE for play, AND for dungeons too. They had books on roleplaying, and it was slowly becoming less ostracised... right? Sorta. You were still a geek and loser if you played anywhere aside from the music/drama hall. You NEVER told your girlfriends, and sessions of D&D were sometimes DAYS long.
I liked 3rd edition. I actually liked the revision too. I got behind the crunchy rules. It was easier for a DM, because there were less rule fights because everything had a freaking rule. If it wasn't core, chances are really good SOMEONE wrote a rule for it. (Looking back... eww...)
The only problem is that it got so big. There was no possible way that I could read everything. I was newly married, and frankly, My wife is NOT a fan of D&D. So, this is around the time that I found FG. This solved a problem for me, and I gleefully ran campaigns with Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil. Let me tell you, that level creep in d20 is ridiculous. I ended up using DMGenie with FG running that campaign. It was crazy to keep up with all the buffs, conditions, battle conditions, the SPELLS all the NPC, Players, etc had...
Then came the announcement of 4e. The "End" of the OGL. Man, it was like the apocalypse.
I tried 4e. I really did. But to me, it was too simple. More like a MMORG, and I hadn't played any MMORG to truly appreciate how 4e would be set up. Today I would probably enjoy 4e more, but not like back then.
So I switched to SW. I even owned SavageWorldsOnline.net and ,org for a while. I had a blog about that, and I wholehearted embraced Savage Worlds. I played several games and campaigns with friends...
But then I had a kid. ooooo.... Yeah, you fathers out there know the drill. It's way harder to play, even online.
Finally, my wife and I are friends with a couple who the guy plays D&D. Several couples all convince my wife that it's a good thing that I play d&d. So, it's no longer a sticky issue with the missus.
So, I roll into playing with Pathfinder. Meh, to me Pathfinder's okay.. but with even MORE rules, splat books, a new way to do weird things that I never cared about before -- and the level creep was worse. Looking at a stat block for a level 20 NPC for a CR 23 encounter? Man, brutal. I thought 1E was like lawyerly... this to me is worse. I'm not saying it's bad, just not really for me.
Fast forward to D&D Next. Interesting...here was a throwback to the 3.5 era, but with the intent behind 2E. A bit of the feel of 1E, and with the functionality of 4E optionally thrown in. Best yet? I could pretty much play WHATEVER I own. Now THAT really got my attention.
Any one reading this have a stupid large collection of D&D stuff from over the years? Were you like, "Yeah, I'll totally use the 2E Priest Spell Compendium!" and totally refused to throw it out all these years? Ha ha. Looks like it paid off! (A rare win!) Side tangent. The other day I actually cracked open my 2E Players Handbook to look up a rule for how many pages a spell took in a wizard's spell book. The rules in that book were SHOCKINGLY light. Yeah, I found the rule (1d6-1 pages plus spell level -- I mean, we actually could have said to the wizard of our party -- "Hey, COOL! 7th level spell Delayed Blast Fireball! AWESOME! Okay, that's 12 pages... Aww crap! I only have 10! I can't learn it, copy it, or do anything with it until I buy another book!")
Unlike 4e, I really enjoyed the D&D Next playtest. It erased a lot of rules, kept things back with the 2E spirit, but clarified, and still let you do the cool stuff the newer editions let you do (Wizards could wear armor! Use a sword? Shhhwing!)
5e did not disappoint! They hammered up the playtest and produced a core set that I can honestly say is D&D's best iteration. It is lean enough to do it all, but both crunchy and fluffy enough to do what you want to do -- and that's play.
Gone were the "you have to: be a THESPIAN to gain XP!" or "NO WAY! You have to OPTIMIZE, KILL, MAIN, DESTROY, ERASE!!!!" or "Solve these puzzles my man!" You could do all of them. No one was wrong, they are all there to have fun. Player wants to only grunt and roll to kick some butt, roll massive damage, and nothing else? Cool. At least you know what she wants. Is that other guy want to interact? Solve through diplomacy? Sure! Do that too, AND give the girl the attacking. It;s your job as the DM to do all of that, if possible.
If the players are having fun, then so am I.
D&D has gotten a whole lot better.
So, onto learning the fabulous Fantasy Grounds. There are so many bells and whistles LOL.
I can't wait to start playing!
Cheers,