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JMeganSnow

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I was a bit curious to know if anyone else here plays role-playing games.  I've found it to be an enjoyable, albeit expensive, hobby and almost a form of performance art.  I'm aware that RPG's aren't held in much esteem, and I'd love to hear from anyone wanting to express that side of things, too.

Here's my favorite systems:

Dungeons & Dragons (the NEW new one) 

Deadlands

Mutants and Masterminds

Unless you're a serious fanatic I doubt you'll find a system I haven't seen, though.

Actually I am quite fond of playing RPG's. I have played Vampire: The Eternal Struggle, D & D and Advance D&D and Necromunder. The game, though not a RPG, is Magic: The gathering by Wizards of Coast. Great Game magic :confused: .

Ash :)

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I don't play Warhammer myself, though I have friends that do. I like painting minis, too, but I'm not very good. I have a different style from what I see commonly used: I don't like to distort the clean, bright colors with excessive drybrushing and layers. It tends to make the minis I paint look like little cartoon characters.

I've also played Magic. My favorite part of that game was always the art on the cards. Fantasy art is riddled with heroic human figures, and it's generally very representational, although I HAVE seen the "watercolor smears" method even on Magic cards.

Tortured one, you might enjoy playing Deadlands (or at least checking out some of the art, a lot of it was done by Brom and is FANTASTIC; he does some Magic cards too btw). I'd stay away from the d20 conversion if you do check it out, though, I don't know WHAT Pinnacle was thinking when they allowed that.

Does anyone else like fantasy art? Any particular artists? One of my favorites has always been Michael Whelan.

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I wouldn't call the thread redundant. The topic is RPGs, and that can encompass all types of RPGs. I don't see why we can't talk about all forms, differences between the types is mostly aesthetic.

I would disagree with your reasoning on drybrushing and what-have-you. I tend to find bright, monotone colors cartoony, while drybrushing, inking, and highlighting adds depth to the model.

I don't have any particular favorite artist, though I really like some of the artist work done for 40k. Despite the gothic atmosphere and religious overtones, most of the art is realist. Some of them use a distorted, gothic or surrealist style, but those are the artists I do not care for.

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I would disagree with your reasoning on drybrushing and what-have-you. I tend to find bright, monotone colors cartoony, while drybrushing, inking, and highlighting adds depth to the model.

I use some, but I actually like the cartoony look. Minis have distorted proportions anyway so they're not going to be realistic no matter how hard you try; why not have brightly colored ones that stand out on a board?

I haven't had much time to experiment with inking, but I do some highlighting.

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If we're going to talk about Warhammer and fantasy art we may as well talk about CRPG's, too . . . if the thread gets deleted for being redundant so be it.

Why do you think this thread is in danger of being deleted?

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Why do you think this thread is in danger of being deleted?

Um, because it has the potential to be a bit redundant. I'm brand-new, I just read the rules, no doubt I'll relax after a while. It's not because of that mess with Mr. Speicher, if that's why you're asking.

Moving on . . .

Vampire: The Eternal Struggle . . .

Is this the same thing as Vampire: The Masquerade? I'm not fond of the Storyteller system in general, possibly because any time I've played it I had a dysfunctional group. I know there's approx. 13,000 versions of Storyteller, including Vampire, Werewolf, Mage, Wraith, Abberant . . . of course I play d20 so I can't complain about THAT.

I'd like to play Exalted with a non-dysfunctional group, though. I think my general difficulty with Storyteller is that the backstory for all the separate games is so involved and set-in-stone that there's not much room to fiddle with it. You can play an excellent game within the dictates of the story, but you can't make up your own from scratch.

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People, the discussion has been respectful so far, so talk to your heart's content because this thread is perfectly fine. Yes this forum is for people interested in Objectivism, but it is also a social forum which means recreational threads are important as well.

All right, then, but I'm still going to refrain from posting my 30,000+ stupid gaming stories. :confused:

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Is this the same thing as Vampire: The Masquerade?  I'm not fond of the Storyteller system in general, possibly because any time I've played it I had a dysfunctional group.  I know there's approx.  13,000 versions of Storyteller, including Vampire, Werewolf, Mage, Wraith, Abberant . . . of course I play d20 so I can't complain about THAT.

Vampire: The Masquerade was the first set released. Click here for Vampire: The Masquerade. Vampire: The Eternal Struggle is now what the game is called. Vampire: The Eternal Struggle was printed on better cards but the withdraw was that a few cards went out of the original set. Click here for the Vampire: The Eternal Struggle webpage. Anyway they released a RPG of Vampire: The Eternal Struggle. It was alot of fun playing the different clans.

Ash B)

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Oh, you were talking about the CARD GAME!!! I thought you were referring to the Vampire RPG. I had some cards a while back (I think the name of the set was Jihad, IIRC) but I never actually got to play a game: the number of people and amount of time required were just too much for me. Ditto for Legend of the Five Rings.

Since I'm trying to improve my writing skills I may post some short fantasy stories (in the Essays thread), please feel free to critique the heck out of them.

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Um, because it has the potential to be a bit redundant.  I'm brand-new, I just read the rules, no doubt I'll relax after a while.  It's not because of that mess with Mr. Speicher, if that's why you're asking.

Okay. I second Free Capitalist's comments.

Of late, only one thread has been closed, and that was by me. Your comment came on the heels of this event, so I wasn't sure if that was the catalyst for your comment. I accept that it wasn't so no harm done. B)

With respect to the thread that I did close, it was 17 pages long, on a very controversial subject, which had been discussed in numerous threads before, in which the arguments were being redundantly stated with no new ground being covered. In other words, I wait a long time and for a multitude of reasons before I even consider closing a thread, and were I to consider it, I would give advanced warning of such intention.

This forum can be a calm friendly place. It's just a sensitive time at the moment.

Edit to correct a factual error by me: The thread was 15 pages long, not 17 pages.

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I use some, but I actually like the cartoony look.  Minis have distorted proportions anyway so they're not going to be realistic no matter how hard you try; why not have brightly colored ones that stand out on a board?

I haven't had much time to experiment with inking, but I do some highlighting.

The reason that miniature companies construct their models in heroic proportions is so that it is easier to pick out and complete details. Heroic proportions is basically an enlarged head, hands, and weapon. When placed under a microscope it looks rather silly, but at a glance for when viewed as a whole, the multitude of detail really brings the army to life.

I have four armies, two fantasy, and two 40k. My skaven(think upright rats known for their "selfish" tendencies) army is old, and is painted as yours is, cartoony. But back in those days, even the professionals painted their armies in a cartoonly look.

my second army is my imperial guard. Seeing as how they require tons of individual models, my paintscheme is detailed but nothing fancy. When painting 60+ models, efficiency is important. They wear a forest camo scheme.

my third army is the Daemonhunters, mostly Grey Knights, Storm troopers, and Inquisitors. Since the army is smaller (around 35 models) I can afford to be more picky with my paint schemes. Since the army is more used for frontline assault against daemons rather than stealth, I go for a flashy, metallic paint scheme. I use a shiney metal with a watered down blue ink finish to go for that blue steel finish. Weapons are black and drybrushed grey to give them depth.

my fourth army are my Dark elves, once again going back to my roots of playing a selfish race. This army wears very dark and sinister colors, so their clothing is predominatly black, and like I used on the Daemonhunters, I drybrushed gray to give their clothing depth. their armor is metal with a thick purple ink, to represent adamantium alloy.

I will see if I can get some pictures posted. It's a very rewarding hobby.

I personally did not like Card games. I prefer holding the model in my hand. I can understand their lure though.

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My personal favorite mini-painting experiences were when a friend asked me to paint up a box of Planescape minis he'd found and with probably the best game I've ever run.

The Planescape minis were on a slightly smaller scale and VERY detailed, but the setting itself is so harsh and jagged-edged that I was able to use my pallete of colors to great effect.

I originally painted the Lady of Pain with a gold robe as requested but it just didn't look right at all. I dug through my computer games until I found the trailer for Planescape: Torment. The Lady is only in the preview for a couple seconds, but she's surrounded by a dark, murky, maroon aura that, when placed against the pale green verdigris of her mask looks AWESOME. My friend was quite pleased.

My second fun mini set came about because I got tired of my group being constantly displeased with the selection of minis I had available to represent their characters. I had them make up characters far in advance of a campaign and then I went and bought minis for them. Three of them decided to make life tough for me and play very similar characters: I had the devil of a time finding enough different minis.

It was a huge boost for the game that everyone could just put their mini down and say "THIS is my character."

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one of life's finer pleasures is having a fully converted mini to call your own. Mine is a dark Elf sorceress. Based off of a 40k figure, with a sratch-made staff/flail and a 40k spore mine glued to her outstretched hand and painted up to look like a magic missile. I am very pleased with how she came out,

here is another trend among gamers: this crome scheme. It looks very difficult to me: http://ne.games-workshop.com/chapter.asp?ChPlace=14

there are other conversions in there, just as beautiful. Remember that is only 14th in a top 15, so the other models look spectacular.

check out the 11th place if you think the look of drybrushing doesn't look great on a model.

for those who clicked the link but don't know much about the hobby, remembe that those models are 28mm, which is barely an inch in height.

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What I've found in MMORPGs (I know, a different animal) is that for a truely free-market (perhaps anarchic, then in that case not free-market) system, its users tend to be sold on "need before greed" and assorted types of communitarianism and socialism. Those who are "selfish" tend to be shuned in groups, including those who roll for loot they are looking to sell for credits/gold, whatever it may be.

Another thing about MMORPGs that I've found is that players genuinely can before disconnected from reality due to the strenuous nature of "leveling up" or gaining "phat l3wt". Before discovering O'ism, I'd play this one MMORPG for 12 hours straight, trying to squeeze every XP I can in the night. Then, while sleeping I'd "dream" the MMO which is quite scary when you think of it. I was not alone, and had guildmates that suffered from that same problem.

Now I'm just a casual gamer. I tool with WoW, which is the Fisher Price of MMOs. It's fun, easy and social.. you don't have to dedicate every waking hour to have an enjoyable time (mostly due to the lack of time-sinks and the soloablity of it).

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I've never had any interest in MMORPGs, but I play Neverwinter Nights online with my father and brothers. What a family togetherness activity, huh? We've gamed together since I was eight and we got our first home computer. My father bought the then-current Gold Box AD&D computer games. He made three characters, I made three characters, and we played through them together.

Later, we played Magic together, along with my brother Gareth when he learned to read. My brother Benjamin learned to play Magic before he learned how to read, in fact, he was desperate to learn to read because we wouldn't let him use cards unless he knew what they did. He memorized a lot of them just watching us play, we were really impressed.

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What I've found in MMORPGs (I know, a different animal) is that for a truely free-market (perhaps anarchic, then in that case not free-market) system, its users tend to be sold on "need before greed" and assorted types of communitarianism and socialism. Those who are "selfish" tend to be shuned in groups, including those who roll for loot they are looking to sell for credits/gold, whatever it may be.
I don't think this is truly socialism. I have played many MMORPG'S, and am currently playing WoW. I think that players are actually just more generous (and they also realize that it is a game instead of the real world).

It reminds me of the Golden Rule. For example, as a Rogue in the group-I get an awesome staff. Will I use it? No. Now maybe I could sell it to the Auction House for about 50s...or I could give it to the mage in the group. This way, the mage is better off-and consequently, my group is better off-and consequently, my "team" (Alliance or Horde) is better off-which then comes back to me. The stronger my guys are, the better prepared we will be for Raids and for PvP. Also, I know that if that mage got an awesome dagger, he will (and it has always been the case), give it to me.

So I see no issue of "Socialism" in the MOG economy :).

Another thing about MMORPGs that I've found is that players genuinely can before disconnected from reality due to the strenuous nature of "leveling up" or gaining "phat l3wt". Before discovering O'ism, I'd play this one MMORPG for 12 hours straight, trying to squeeze every XP I can in the night. Then, while sleeping I'd "dream" the MMO which is quite scary when you think of it. I was not alone, and had guildmates that suffered from that same problem.

Now I'm just a casual gamer. I tool with WoW, which is the Fisher Price of MMOs. It's fun, easy and social.. you don't have to dedicate every waking hour to have an enjoyable time (mostly due to the lack of time-sinks and the soloablity of it).

Amen to this. I used to play FFXI, which if you know anything about, is probably one of the greatest grind games. THANKFULLY WoW was released-so that now I can play for about 30 minutes, enjoy it-and leave.

I'm totally in love with the Instance Dungeons and think Blizzard shines here. Though they take a bit longer-it makes raids fun...for ALL levels-instead of having to wait for the end-game to do Raids.

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Amen to this.  I used to play FFXI, which if you know anything about, is probably one of the greatest grind games.  THANKFULLY WoW was released-so that now I can play for about 30 minutes, enjoy it-and leave.

The grind was miserable, but I kept up with it. The nights where I couldn't sleep were horrible, although sometimes I'd dream of working from my bed which wasn't normal either. The positive of my MMORPG experience was travelling to Norway to meet my guild, which was out of this world! I truly "met" some interesting characters in my MMO days.

WoW is great in that the time-sinks are far and few between. You don't have to wait 30-60 minutes just to get a group together to XP; the soloibility is key in WoW since the XP bonus for grouping is miminal and groups are only needed to take on elite mobs. I still play a little more than I should, but it's really my only time-wasting hobby (I don't play any other games and WoW doesn't impede on my life at all).

Edited by JMeganSnow
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I am a fan of Black Isle's/Bioware's Baldur's Gate games, and I am wondering, has anyone here tried Planescape: Torment, which was produced by the same group? I have read numerous reviews and comments written by general gamers, and it is supposed to have an exceptionally well-developed story for a computer RPG. One of the most heralded aspects of the game is that how you play the game affects your character's alignment and I have come across some reviews which seemed to suggest that the game touched on philosophical issues in some way or another. (I only remember vague details on this last part, so I cannot elaborate any further.) I have not yet purchased the game nor played it, and I am wondering if any Objectivists had played it, and if so, what they thought about it.

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I am a fan of Black Isle's/Bioware's Baldur's Gate games, and I am wondering, has anyone here tried Planescape: Torment, which was produced by the same group? 

I've played it and it was great. The thing I loved most about it was that the story revolves entirely around the main character; it is highly individualistic. It's also quite surreal, another thing that I enjoy.

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What I've found in MMORPGs (I know, a different animal) is that for a truely free-market  (perhaps anarchic, then in that case not free-market) system, its users tend to be sold on "need before greed" and assorted types of communitarianism and socialism.  Those who are "selfish" tend to be shuned in groups, including those who roll for loot they are looking to sell for credits/gold, whatever it may be.

I haven't found this to be true at all. I'm a current FFXI player (granted, it's the only MMORPG I've played), and one of my favorite things about the game is the heavy emphasis placed on trade and crafting. It's a completely free market economy. My character is fairly wealthy, and on a few occasions I've had people ask me to "give to the poor." I've said no every single time, unless they had some trade to offer, and have never been shunned.

Another thing about MMORPGs that I've found is that players genuinely can before disconnected from reality due to the strenuous nature of "leveling up" or gaining "phat l3wt". Before discovering O'ism, I'd play this one MMORPG for 12 hours straight, trying to squeeze every XP I can in the night. Then, while sleeping I'd "dream" the MMO which is quite scary when you think of it. I was not alone, and had guildmates that suffered from that same problem.

I've observed this problem in some of the people I play with regularly. I know guys who have stayed up all night playing, and others who openly admitted that the game was their entire life. Granted, I've had my fair share of lengthy xp sessions (I think the longest was 6 hours, which is rather short by MMORPG standards).

As I've noted in another thread, I think that the burden of responsiblity for MMORPG addiction lies on the player, rather than the game. These individuals are unhappy with the state of their life in general (I know this from talking to them in the game), and in the absence of an MMORPG to fill their time, they would most likely take up any other substitute for life that happens to come their way.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I used to play alot of 3rd Ediition Dungeons and Dragons, but my group fell apart and until recently I have not had the time, or been able to establish a new group.

I have been looking into the game : Mage; The Ascension. I must say that it seems a more intellectualy challenging game. The magic system requires alot of creativity and thought to manage, as it requires the players and game master to really think it through.

Magic in the White Wolf universe runs on beleif to a large extent, if you use magic that is very unbeleivable to those whom observe it, you suffer backlash, ie negative efffects imposed by reality, such as magically induced bouts of agony. If you think magic through, and use it in imaginative, yet more beleivable ways, you are more likely to succedd.

For instance...say you are a Mage, and someone shoots at you. You could try to save yourselves using a number of different applications of magic. You could say use Matrix type abilities and dive under the bullet. But you could do it more intelligently, and realistically my magically altering its path so it hits a nearby object, which is far more beleivable than you dodging a directly oncoming bullet. That way you would most likely not get backlash, where the first method would...

I find this system, which also encourages deepl and intense storytelling ,along as requiiring deep thought on alll the players behalf to run properly, a highly enjoyable expereince, more so than DnD.

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Magic in the White Wolf universe runs on beleif to a large extent, if you use magic that is very unbeleivable to those whom observe it, you suffer backlash, ie negative efffects imposed by reality, such as magically induced bouts of agony.  If you think magic through, and use it in imaginative, yet more beleivable ways, you are more likely to succedd.

Storyteller is to d20 as Macintosh is to PC.

The best way to play any Storyteller system is to treat the individual systems (Mage, Vampire, Werewolf, Wraith, Exalted, etc.) as completely separate systems, which they are. They do NOT work well together.

Storyteller is also not a good system for Munchkin gamers or larger groups (more than 4 players). Otherwise, it can be a lot of fun.

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