All you roleplayers - live vs. computer?

[Wayward Clam]

Okay, I once again think I'm in the minority, but I'd like all the roleplayers out there who care to share their opinions to do so now. I played roleplaying games like D&D and GURPS all the time as a kid, and I've never found the computer versions anywhere near as satisfying. They do have great things in their favour like balance, lack of need for other players, etc., but I have never found them any comparison to my own imagination and that of my friends. In a computer roleplaying game, you can't choose to do something not covered by the rules. And there's very little room for spontaneous character interaction -- love, hate, rivalry, jealousy. In many ways, "real" roleplaying is like these forums here, where we adopt personas and play at being part of Evil, Inc. I don't think Evil, Inc. could have grown to exist the way it is now in the Final Fantasy environment.

Now the games are getting better in this respect, I admit, but do any of the other RPG'ers miss the simple books and dice versions? Are there any computer games you might recommend that bring back that level of freedom and imagination to you yet?

Just my 2c worth...

[Lise]

Tell ya what it is, Clam... It's the lack of imagination and screwing over the DM. One of the things I like best about live D&D/RPGing is being able to blast the parameters on a mod, or do stuff that makes the DM go "How did they...? But they're not supposed to -DO- that!"
That's what's missing from the computer ones. there's no 'magic' to it anymore. It's very point A to B with maybe a side road to 1.

[Radical Dreamer]

Originally posted by Wayward Clam:
Okay, I once again think I'm in the minority, but I'd like all the roleplayers out there who care to share their opinions to do so now. I played roleplaying games like D&D and GURPS all the time as a kid, and I've never found the computer versions anywhere near as satisfying. They do have great things in their favour like balance, lack of need for other players, etc., but I have never found them any comparison to my own imagination and that of my friends. In a computer roleplaying game, you can't choose to do something not covered by the rules. And there's very little room for spontaneous character interaction -- love, hate, rivalry, jealousy. In many ways, "real" roleplaying is like these forums here, where we adopt personas and play at being part of Evil, Inc. I don't think Evil, Inc. could have grown to exist the way it is now in the Final Fantasy environment.

Now the games are getting better in this respect, I admit, but do any of the other RPG'ers miss the simple books and dice versions? Are there any computer games you might recommend that bring back that level of freedom and imagination to you yet?

Just my 2c worth...

Well, when it comes to "Magic the Gathering" I refuse to play unless its with my friends, because the rules change so much, we like to keep the same original rules and be able to use what cards we want without having to go and consult to see if its still legal.

But when it comes to D&D I like Baulders gate and eye of the beholder

[ilovetheusers]

Played D+D when I was a kid. Most fun. Tried on line stuff but it all lost the magic. I only had one guy who was a really good DM and had some really creative ideas and atracted a large group of very intelligent people together. I miss that.

[Lycia]

Baldur's Gate 1 & 2, Icewind Dale, are the best ones. I know what you mean though Clammy. When I was reintroduced to computers while in high school, my friend had a Mac which we used to play Wizardry. OMG I loved that game.

[CobraTekMax]

I used to play BattleTech all the time as a kid (which is what made me such a Mechwarrior nut), and loved it. That was the only pen and paper RPG I ever played.

But RPG video games never really have been my thing. The Final Fantasy series was the lone exception, and I stuck with it until FF7, and after that I just lost interest.

So I'm not much of an roleplayer, but I DID like the experience of BattleTech better than that of FF.

[KCroom]

Hell i played virtualy every pen&paper rpg as a kid tried computer and console rpg's but the only one that felt close Troika (the fallout series) i'll give black isle close second on the story but all in al way to linear for my tastes. i mean 7 out of 10 times we as a party would never end up anywhere near what was planned for us by our dm.

[DJMyst]

I have to admit that I've never played a pen RPG. (go ahead flame) but happen to LOVE LOVE LOVE RPG's on the PC or console. Still workin on FF7 for the PC since I finally got a copy from my friend. My best friend has FF9 and 10 and says they aren't anywhere as near as good as FF7 was though. He also goes by the name medi-4 on here. Whatcha been up to medi?

[Budster64]

yeppers I use to love Pen & paper RPGS, the last one I played was Vampire the Masquerade. That was fun. I like some of the RPG comp games but there's something missing, I guess the certain spontaneity that we used to have when playing. There are only so many ways to react and respond to problems in comp games. It's was pretty cool coming up with an off the wall solution for an encounter.

[http://forums.windrivers.com/cgi-bin/forum1/noncgi]

"I wanna cast Magic Missile!"

"Why do you want to cast Magic Missile? There's nothing to attack!"

"I... I'm attacking the darkness!"


I agree, there's so much you can do in a live RPG that can't be done on the computer. I don't even consider the computer stuff to BE a true RPG, more of an interactive story.

I mean, how many computer RPG's let you have a "seduction" skill.

[snoodle69]

Computer based RPG's do not interest me at all... I used to really be in to p&p RPG'ing, but it seems as we get older it gets harder and harder to find people to game with. I have not gamed in 6 years or so. I found a guy about 5 years ago who was selling all his star wars rpg stuff for cheap and I bought it all, like 8 books and some other ramdom stuff, for like 40$! I have yet to find anyone who wants to play, so the books have just started collecting dust.

[Wayward Clam]

That is the real b*&^% of it all, finding other people to play with, and then finding a regular time to play with them when you are all grown-ups trying to lead adult lives.

*sigh*

[Sparky625.NET]

I love AD&D, Heroes Unlimited, Vampire, BattleTech and many other p&p RPGs, while at the same time I'm a big fan of all the MechWarriors, both Baldur's Gates and similar ilk, and so forth. They give you different experiences. My group of friends that played D&D had many sessions of alomst pure silliness (i.e. "You come to a fork in the road." "I pick it up."), but we always had fun. With a PC game, you always have to stick to the rules (unless you like hex), but it does all the hard stuff for you, and even draws pictures and makes up a decent story at the same time. I would have to say that the PC versions are easier to play and easier to get into, but the live ones can be much more fun.

[SNAFU]

*sigh*...I miss AD&D and RoboTech. I still have all the books and such in a huge box. If I had to choose between playing that live or PC...In a heartbeat I'd say live!! Nothing can beat the reatime imagination of a group of creative people indulging in their critical thinking skills and imagination. You can do soooo much live then on a PC.

Getting together to play AD&D as much like getting together with friends to play poker...you play the game, but you also BS about other things in your lives.

Damn I miss it....(though BG and BGII are the closest to the real thing on a PC)

[mahdi]

RoboTech was great, I use to lead a bunch of players through the Macross Sage, that was great!
CyberPunk 2020 is still one of my favorites (still waiting for a computer game that comes close to that!)
Anyone ever LARP Vampire: The Masquerade? (Live Action Role Playing) That is great! Like being in a play with no boundries!

Oh ya, the computer version of Vampire: The Masquerade has a 'storyteller' option for multiplayer, which is a cool concept for 'on the fly' game changes'