What ROLE-PLAYING have you been doing?

i have the eclipse phase book, but am yet to run it. The setting really interests me though.

I didn't even know this thread existed!

I ran a Pathfinder campaign for over a year before I realized I hate 3.5. Too much homework, too many rules exceptions, time spent looking shit up at the table is precious time wasted. We took a couple of side trips on off nights into DCC RPG and Dungeon World, and those games brought back the excitement and joy I hadn't felt since playing D&D in the 80s. Now I'm full bore into Dungeon World. I converted my Pathfinder campaign to DW and my players are loving it. We get the same amount of stuff done in half the time.

I wrote up my first experience GMing a DCC Funnel Run here . On another forum, I got some people to get together to create a world using Microscope, and now we're playing Dungeon World in that world. I wrote about that here .

It's great to see so many people here are playing RPGs.

Well I'm not running or playing anything right now despite some stuttering steps towards getting a group together. We even had a one off adventure of Savage Worlds so we could learn the combat rules. It was super fun.

I HAVE bought Luke Cranes new game Torchbearer, a fantasy themed game using the Mouseguard system. This purchase was based solely on the interview he did on the Power to the Meeple podcast.

I do enjoy the Mouseguard system, but my group was not keen on playing in the world. I'm definitely going to check out Torchbearer.

Jason Lutes wrote: I ran a Pathfinder campaign for over a year before I realized I hate 3.5. Too much homework, too many rules exceptions, time spent looking shit up at the table is precious time wasted. We took a couple of side trips on off nights into DCC RPG and Dungeon World, and those games brought back the excitement and joy I hadn't felt since playing D&D in the 80s. Now I'm full bore into Dungeon World. I converted my Pathfinder campaign to DW and my players are loving it. We get the same amount of stuff done in half the time.

Thanks for sharing that link Jason!! It's definitely piqued my interest in Dungeon World. While I can't say I hate 3.5/Pathfinder it definitely wears on me for the exact reasons you've mentioned. Though IMHO - the other iterations of D&D are even worse for other reasons.

My group has stuck with Pathfinder merely for the reason that we all can wade through the rules ok and that we all have the expensive core books. I'd love to try Dungeon World, but there's no way I can involve myself to the extent you did with converting Pathfinder. I'm fairly certain my group would play it as a one-off. Convincing them to do it as a regular would be tough.

The questions I always ask myself before investing in yet another RPG: Is it a one-off filler game (like Fiasco) or can it work as a campaign? How easy is it to teach/pick up for people with tabletop RPG backgrounds? Is there a disadvantage if there is only one core book amongst a group of 6 (including the GM)?

So what's the distinction between Dungeon Crawl Classics and Dungeon World in terms of gameplay?

Everything, DCC is some weird monster that uses fucking d20 rules for classic D&D gameplay, Dungeon World is refreshingly designed with a modern ruleset that doesn't arbitrarily punish you (only specifically) that does classic D&D better than any old school clone.

So team Dungeon World, then?

That was an objective and unbiased opinion.

SJN wrote: The questions I always ask myself before investing in yet another RPG: Is it a one-off filler game (like Fiasco) or can it work as a campaign? How easy is it to teach/pick up for people with tabletop RPG backgrounds? Is there a disadvantage if there is only one core book amongst a group of 6 (including the GM)?

It's a perfect intro RPG and super easy to pick up, but veterans of other systems will have some adjusting to do. The game puts the emphasis firmly on "the fiction" over mechanics, suggesting that players just describe what their characters do and leave it up to the GM to interpret their actions in game terms. It's not that players shouldn't learn the rules (which are dead simple, though a conceptual challenge for some), but that they shouldn't put the rules ahead of the story. The other thing that can be hard to get used to at first is that DW asks the players and GM to build the story together. It's not necessary, but it really is a great part of the game.

You can read the rules online here , and there's a good "how to play" thing someone put together, but I can;t find it right now.

It's great for both one-off fillers and campaign play. It's a great pick-up game, and is geared toward highly improvisational play (though I have also run AD&D modules with no problem, adapting on the fly). Ther eis absolutely no disadvantage to having one core book. All the players need are character sheets (called "playbooks") and maybe a copy of the "basic moves," if they are really uncomfortable with the GM handling all the mechanical stuff.

It is not crunchy. It is not loot-centric. You don't get XP for killing things in the usual sense -- you get XP for doing things in character and for doing things that advance the story. I ran a session once with a Bard, a Ranger, a Thief, and a Barbarian, and the Barbarian killed every single monster they encountered. Other people tried to kill stuff, but she just mowed through it all. It was thrilling and awesome and hilarious for everyone at the table. At one pivotal moment a water elemental was trying to get into her mouth and drown her, so she decided to drink it. She succeeded.

Gary Sax wrote: So what's the distinction between Dungeon Crawl Classics and Dungeon World in terms of gameplay?

I love them both. DCC is a brutal, crazy, old school good time. No other game has anything comparable to the experience of putting a crowd of level-0 characters through the meat grinder of a "Funnel" adventure, and watching the survivors come out the other side as heroes. I discovered DCC shortly before Dungeon World, and the spirit of the game really won me over.

But Dungeon World stole the show. It's hard for me to imagine playing any another system at this point. I am so into it that I adapted the DCC Funnel to DW so if I run another Funnel I'm all set to use the DW rules. I'm also writing an adventure that I might try to kickstart down the road.

DCC RPG is old school style, adapted to modern D20-esque mechanics, but quirky and baroque and packed to the gills with crazy, fun tables. Dungeon World is sleek, elegant, and suggestive rather than prescriptive. It takes DNA from the "story game" and injects it back into D&D. Thye do have some important things in common, though: they both depend heavily on GM fiat, and they both emphasize player creativity over following rules by the book.

Share the DCC funnel adapted to Dungeon World or else I will give you a swirlie, nerd.

Thanks again Jason. You've definitely sold me on giving DW a shot.

So, has anyone given Monte Cook's Numenera a shot? Looks gorgeous, but is the world to alien for casuals to just jump in? Definitely doesn't look like stock fantasy.

I still lean towards Savage Worlds as my default system. Can anyone compare the new systems to SW?

I have a thing where I once a year or so buy an RPG because I like to read them, and, well, I'm rich enough to buy useless things I know I'll never do more than read and put on my shelf. I wish I had a group of really good friends to play RPGs. But, you know, adulthood in the random location I ended up.

Maybe I'll buy Dungeon World or Dungeon Crawl Classics this year. Last year it was a copy of the old west end games Star Wars.