The Gaming Den

The way I hear you guys talk about the games you play in makes me wonder why mine have been so different. I’m going to briefly lay out my gaming resume. Feel free to share yours.

I have been gaming since November of 1990. I have played about 50 characters, 35 or so of them in campaigns that lasted more than 10 levels. With few exceptions, these characters started at 1st level. With few exceptions, these games have involved various combinations of the same ten or so people.

I’ve only ever played pickup games at tournaments and RPGA OPEN type events. I’ve Guest DM’d for two different groups right after 3rd Edition came out, but never for more than a few sessions. In both instances it was just a case of the DM needing a break for whatever reason.

I’ve been DMing since March of 1991. I was 13 years old and made all the classic mistakes. One of the guys in that group and I still game today, both D&D and Star Wars D6. We’ve played in a total of four long running campaigns together, including two that are still ongoing (Tome-ish D&D and Star Wars D6)

Gaming stagnated in 1992 when my family moved to San Antonio, but by 1993 I had a group together. Two of the guys have since dropped out (one lost interest, and one had control freak/paranoia issues. Seriously.), but that group stayed together for the three or so years it took to get 2nd Edition characters from 1st to 20th+ level. True to Old School Form™, two of the characters retired as gods, and as an in-joke in our 3rd Edition/Tome Games they are mentioned as gods. (Don’t worry, they don’t make Mary Sue-esque Deux Ex Machina cameos. They are just mentioned as an in-joke.) One of the guys I’ve gamed with off and on (mostly “ON”) since 1993. We’ve easily done half-a-dozen long running campaigns, taking at least 10 characters from 1st to 20th+ level in 2nd and 3rd Edition. Either I or my wife had DM’d the overwhelming majority of the time. We’ve also done three long running Star Wars D6 games, including one ongoing. He and I are both in grad school and he still lives in San Antonio, but we found time to get together this past Christmas and started a Tome Game. We played for two days straight and made 2nd level. We plan on getting together again this summer.

I was asked to DM for some guys that I work with in 2002, and although I was reluctant at first, we gamed together for eight years, taking one set of characters from 1st to 20th, and another from 1st to 10th or so. We did this despite my moving to Ft. Worth in 2004 and my having to travel to San Antonio (200 or so miles away) once a month in order to get the game on. One player moved to Virginia in 2005 and stayed on with us until 2007, flying to San Antonio once a month to game with us.

My wife and I game at least twice a month, often just the two of us, either Star Wars D6 or 3.5/Tome D&D. I have been gaming with her steadily since 2001 (before we were even dating), and I have to have logged more gaming hours with her than anyone else. We’ve done two campaigns from 1st to 20th, have a long running Star Wars D6 game, and are about to finish another D&D game with plans for a new campaign after that already in the works. We trade off MCing.

Tl;dr: I don’t do a lot of pickup games and have, for the most part, always had someone I knew and trusted to game with. I accept that most of you guys haven’t, but I can’t really relate.

Game On,
fbmf

I started in 1991 and had similar experiences - almost no pick-up games, campaigns lasting for years with the same characters and players.

How old are you two? What you're describing sounds like my childhood, but only because I was playing with my father and his friends. One campaign went 5 years playing once a month, taking my Shugenja from 2 to 17. It's also what I gather their gaming life was like when they all met in college.

However, as soon as I moved out of the house, that all evaporated. Young people move too frequently, change interests too rapidly, and change schedules too often to keep a game running for long. And, the downside to gaming becoming mainstream is that most of the people I game with have lives outside gaming that they will often prioritize.

What's a TOME game? Sorry for the dumb question.

I've been playing D&D since the mid to late 1970s. I began under 1st edition, then gravitated over to 2nd edition where I spent most of my time. Somewhere along the line I became a DM. I didn't bother with 3.x until 2003. That stint lasted a few years after which I decided to go back to 2E, because I had had enough of 3rd edition to last me an eternity. Forget 4th, old-school gaming is where it's at for me.

For the past 20 years, I've DMed at least three table-top campaigns and more online games than you can shake a stick at. My longest running online game is my Saturday evening game that occurs on OpenRPG. Our eighth anniversary will be this upcoming October. My longest table-top game was a game I ran from 1993 to 1997 that became the genesis for Andurin.

When I read about games that go "ka-blooey", I think to myself that maybe if there was a way for newbies to playing and DMing to learn more about the game from vets, from people who have patience, that it can only benefit the entire community. And I often wonder why that isn't the case more often.

People that I gamed with in real life, I didn't know for the most part but by the time a campaign concluded we were good friends. You got to know people over time. The same phenomenon happens in my online games. There was one player who I first met when I ran a game on AOL (if you remember that far back, when the Internet was young), who I brought over to OpenRPG and who retired his character in 2005. He literally grew up while playing in my games. He graduated from high school, attended college, graduated college and now works for a software development company in Chicago. That's pretty cool if you ask me.

TaliesinNYC wrote:What's a TOME game? Sorry for the dumb question.

Please read the stickies in the IMHO subforum.

Kaelik wrote:

TaliesinNYC wrote:What's a TOME game? Sorry for the dumb question.

Please read the stickies in the IMHO subforum.

Okay, but none of those explain exactly what a TOME game is. They assume basic knowledge, of which I have none.

Send me a PM if you want to engage in this line of discussion further.

The threads look interesting enough that I'll bookmark them for future reading.

TaliesinNYC wrote:

Kaelik wrote:

TaliesinNYC wrote:What's a TOME game? Sorry for the dumb question.

Please read the stickies in the IMHO subforum.

Okay, but none of those explain exactly what a TOME game is. They assume basic knowledge, of which I have none.

Send me a PM if you want to engage in this line of discussion further.

The threads look interesting enough that I'll bookmark them for future reading.

Sticky: List of Frank & K Tome threads

Kaelik wrote:

TaliesinNYC wrote:

Kaelik wrote:
Please read the stickies in the IMHO subforum.

Okay, but none of those explain exactly what a TOME game is. They assume basic knowledge, of which I have none.

Send me a PM if you want to engage in this line of discussion further.

The threads look interesting enough that I'll bookmark them for future reading.

Sticky: List of Frank & K Tome threads

The threads assume basic knowledge. They don't answer the question.

TaliesinNYC wrote:The threads assume basic knowledge. They don't answer the question.

The threads are the basic knowledge. They literally are the Tomes. A game is a Tome game if it uses Tome rules, and those are the Tomes.

Kaelik wrote:

TaliesinNYC wrote:The threads assume basic knowledge. They don't answer the question.

The threads are the basic knowledge. They literally are the Tomes. A game is a Tome game if it uses Tome rules, and those are the Tomes.

Thank you.

That sounded like "What's A D&D 3.5E game?" and someone responds "A game using the SRD as it's core rules, here's a link" and you answering "Sorry, that material assumes basic knowledge."

In reponse to the OP:
While in highschool I played 3-4 random one shots with people I met at a Youth Parliament. We met up during march break once and did a full campaign from 2-10ish over 4 days.

One I got to University, I've been playing with a group that has involved
4 Core players (that have been together for 4 years), plus 3 players that lasted about 1 year, a player that has lasted about 2 years (and is still here) and a player that has lasted about 3 years. We've played a bunch of one shots of various peoples campaign worlds, and 3 year long campaigns, moving from 1st level to 8th, 1st to 9th, and 4th to 14th. All in 3.5E, but the 2nd and 3rd of which were in heavily homebrewed systems.

Ikeren wrote:That sounded like "What's A D&D 3.5E game?" and someone responds "A game using the SRD as it's core rules, here's a link" and you answering "Sorry, that material assumes basic knowledge."

Or he could have just answered my question instead of saying "Read the stickies".

The sticky he referred to, which I quote:

Bigode wrote:Dungeonomicon
Races of War
Tome of Fiends
Tome of Necromancy
Unsorted Material

And this is the thread for the current .pdf with the Tomes and forum material compatible with them, by Surgo.

Also, try this:

http://code.google.com/p/awesometome/downloads/list

doesn't answer my question "What is a TOME game".

It took about 10 seconds to type his answer out. Was that so hard?

I'm over it, but it's seriously not a good first impression of this board.

TaliesinNYC wrote: I'm over it, but it's seriously not a good first impression of this board.

You're kidding?
It's one of the better first impressions anyone's got in some time.

Blasted wrote:

TaliesinNYC wrote: I'm over it, but it's seriously not a good first impression of this board.

You're kidding?
It's one of the better first impressions anyone's got in some time.

It's even funnier because it's the best first impressions anyone's ever gotten from me on this board.

Since half the posters who joined after me got their first impression of me when I told them they were idiots.

I think we need the official greeting:

Welcome to the Den. We will steal your car, burn your house, rape your wife, and kill your dog.

And then we will say mean things to or about you. On the internet.

-Username17

I'm a touched surprised someone started posting here and didn't know anything about the Tomes. I was under the impression that most people who come here at at least aware of their existence here. It's certainly how I found this board (I was looking for a Jester base class). Live and learn, I think.

Welcome aboard, Talies.

Orion wrote:How old are you two? What you're describing sounds like my childhood, but only because I was playing with my father and his friends. One campaign went 5 years playing once a month, taking my Shugenja from 2 to 17. It's also what I gather their gaming life was like when they all met in college.

However, as soon as I moved out of the house, that all evaporated. Young people move too frequently, change interests too rapidly, and change schedules too often to keep a game running for long. And, the downside to gaming becoming mainstream is that most of the people I game with have lives outside gaming that they will often prioritize.

I am going on 40 these days. I still play twice a week, with overlapping but not identical groups.

The first proper campaign I played in was an AD&D game back in the 80s that lasted four years.

In 1989, I joined a MERP/Rolemaster game that had been going on for two years at the time. I left it in '94 because I moved out of the country, but the damn thing is still going on today. Different players, different PCs (you die a lot in those systems), but the same continuous storyline for 24 years of gaming!

I also played in a Talislanta game for a couple of years in the early 90s that I ran a spin-off/sequel to later (different people, different city), for another 5 or 6 years of continuous storyline in total. This was followed by an Earthdawn campaign that lasted for four years. My main current game has been going on for six.

As to Tome, it took me a little while to figure out what it was, too. I don't even play (or like, for that matter) D&D or any of its myriad derivatives. So never mind those who take it for granted, and welcome to the Den!

I started in '94. Until college, almost all of my gaming was with several of my cousins, most of whom lived out of town. So, I'd semi-regularly run solo games with the one cousin I had who lived in town. We never really got any character past 7th level before we'd try a new one.

Once I got into college, I joined two groups for a year, then started running my own game for the next three years. A typical game would last one or two semesters. After college, I gamed with a combination of relatives in town and one friend from college. A typical game would go from 1st level to about 10th to 15th.

I DM almost every game I've been in, playing only sporadically. This changed a couple of years ago when my daughter was born. Now, I play a weekly solo game with my cousin DMing.


On a side note, I came to these boards after reading about the Tomes.

I'm looking forward to hear more of the stories about people's experiences.

My first experience playing D&D was probably 1986. I was about 10 and one of the older neighborhood kids had some books and ran a few games for the rest of us. After he moved away a few months later, we wanted to keep playing but didn't have any books and didn't know where to get them. So we made up our own D&D based on the rules we remembered, plus a whole lot of crazy. We had armor classes measured in shades of color, e.g. "My armor class is tan." "Mine is black!" I don't even remember how we determined hits. Anyway, we played this way for a while until we found the Basic set boxes (Red, Blue, Black, etc.) and then played that until 2nd edition came out.

By this time, I'd started high school and met up with a group of 8-10 guys that I gamed with pretty regularly until graduation. We played D&D, Cyberpunk 2020, Shadowrun, Risk, Axis & Allies, Mechwarrior, TMNT, Boot Hill, Paranoia, Street Fighter, Vampire, Warhammer, Talisman, Twilight 2000, Space Hulk, and anything else someone brought to the group. Most games only ran for a few sessions before getting abandoned, though a D&D or Vampire campaign would usually last a few months of weekly gaming. Inter-party conflict was pretty normal for this group, and many game sessions (of any game) involved PC on PC violence. Lots of games ended when one or two people killed off the rest of the party, either deliberately or unintentionally. We had a lot of fun though.

When I left for college in 1993, I stopped gaming for a few years, other than trying out a few pick up games here and there through the local gaming store. It was mostly a case of just having social groups get juggled every few months with class and housing changes. I was introduced to Vampire LARP in late 1995 and started playing a regular game at a local college coffee house. There were about 50 or 60 players in that game and it was a spectacular train wreck, awesome and glorious in it's carnage. When the coffee house closed because the owner literally blew all the money on hookers and heroin, I got together with a couple of friends I'd made there and we played 2E Forgotten Realms, Dark Sun, and tabletop Vampire fairly regularly for the next couple of years.

By 2000, I'd added a few more regulars to our group (we had around 14 people) and we jumped in to 3E whole-heartedly as we were all pretty much tired of the arbitrarium in 2E. I ran a 3E game periodically for about 3 years for 9-10 players that went from level 1 to 14/15. I also started my own Vampire LARP around this time at the local University and pulled in about 150 players to that. Both games involved copious amounts of PvP and PC sabotage, as that's apparently how we roll down here. In the D&D game, one player went so far as to desecrate a temple of another PC's god (both PCs were clerics) and there were secret dealings all around the table. The vampire game had 3 main player factions all fighting each other so hardcore that I didn't do anything as GM, other than arbitrate rule disputes and handle background actions, for like 4-5 months because of it.

After the LARP folded around 2003, we kept playing 3E, along with some 7th Sea and various boardgames, up until the group fell apart in 2007-8 due to life, personal fallouts, and everyone moving away. I started gaming again last year with a new group playing Pathfinder. And that's where we are.

Orion wrote:How old are you two? What you're describing sounds like my childhood, but only because I was playing with my father and his friends. One campaign went 5 years playing once a month, taking my Shugenja from 2 to 17. It's also what I gather their gaming life was like when they all met in college.

However, as soon as I moved out of the house, that all evaporated. Young people move too frequently, change interests too rapidly, and change schedules too often to keep a game running for long. And, the downside to gaming becoming mainstream is that most of the people I game with have lives outside gaming that they will often prioritize.

I am about to be 33. I have been playing since I was 12.

Game On,
fbmf

Blasted wrote:

TaliesinNYC wrote: I'm over it, but it's seriously not a good first impression of this board.

You're kidding?
It's one of the better first impressions anyone's got in some time.

I was thinking the same thing. I own the place, and unless I'm using the Mod Voice, I get the same treatment.

Its nothing personal. Welcome to the Den.

Game On,
fbmf

Seriously though, there's no reason anybody would know that "tome game" referred to a variant D&D ruleset.

reminds me of Critias coming into the shadowrun thread and complaining that Frank was mean to her in his review.

Frank,

mean to someone,

I'm shocked.

violence in the media wrote:My first experience playing D&D was probably 1986. I was about 10 and one of the older neighborhood kids had some books and ran a few games for the rest of us. After he moved away a few months later, we wanted to keep playing but didn't have any books and didn't know where to get them. So we made up our own D&D based on the rules we remembered, plus a whole lot of crazy. We had armor classes measured in shades of color, e.g. "My armor class is tan." "Mine is black!" I don't even remember how we determined hits. Anyway, we played this way for a while until we found the Basic set boxes (Red, Blue, Black, etc.) and then played that until 2nd edition came out.

I almost forgot. That's actually kind of how I started. Before I had my 2E books, I was using the instruction manual for Eye of the Beholder, which gave stats for a lot of things. Of course, I didn't know how AC worked or anything. I think we did something like a 1 - 9 on a d20 missed, a 10 was a graze, 11 - 19 hit, and 20 was a crit. We made so much stuff up, it was terrible.

I remember my cousin actually getting violent with me the first time I had the bad guys act first. We had no idea about initiative, and I'd always just had the PCs go first every time. I ambushed him once, and he lost his shit and started choking me. Let this be a lesson to all you fuckers who think Magic Tea Party works just fine.