J Arcane asked me why I use D20 only for D&D and GURPS for everything else.

I use GURPS because it really suits me. I use 4th ed because I came back to the hobby with it. I came to D&D 3.5 after my youngest son wanted to play REAL D&D and not just minis. Before then I'd played mostly 1st ed, a little basic, and a smattering of 2nd a long time ago.

I'm not really that interested in checking out D20 modern or anything like that (maybe if you can convince me), but I got to thinking, how many others here have come back to the hobby? What struck you as the weirdest change? How long have you been out?

I mean, TSR is gone? WTF?

Until 3E, I was out for half a decade or so, and even before then I wasn't buying or playing the latest stuff. I had never heard of WOTC, I didn't play any 90s games in the 90s. Then 2000 swings around, I saw the 3E core books, and I was like, gee, FULL COLOR? Elegant typography? For 20 bucks apiece? I'm there!

I got back into it last year after about 8-9 years off. The whole d20 thing intrigued me (I use a varient of it that is called True20, now) I just think it's cool how much stuff has changed in general. I think the games that I've seen are more suited to what I want than things were in the past- except i still love classic traveller.

You misunderstood my statement.  what I was implying by my statement is that I think D20 is completely useless for anything but D&D.  It was meant to be a criticism of the rules issue that became the focus of the thread you had linked.

In other words, I have no difficulty understanding why someone wouldn't want to use D20 for anything but D&D, because I myself do exactly that.

Ah. Well. I get it.

Still I'm thankful for sparking the question I've asked. Giving me a few moments of reflection that I rather liked.

and more power to you.

Well after we WW gamers killed gaming there's was nothing much left to do...oh sorry revealed a bit too much there

I left the hobby because my old group disbanded for a variety of non-gaming related reasons. I didn't game for about close to what five ...eight...shit maybe even ten years .

I did keep in touch with the hobby by lurking on forums which is kind of like viewing porn...so I more or less was hip to what was going on. My current group only ever played d20 and TSR games, but since taking over GMing duties we'ev been playing a whole load of stuff.

Funny thing is, that I'm revisiting some of the older games, which I may have missed out on before, so my gaming these days tends to be ten years behind...with the occasional new model being taken for a test drive.

Regards,
David R

Quote from: J ArcaneIn other words, I have no difficulty understanding why someone wouldn't want to use D20 for anything but D&D, because I myself do exactly that.

I, on the other hand, am stunned.

Indeed, I have come to believe that in many ways, D&D holds D20 back.

I had pretty much given up role playing for about 8 years when I switched to Warhammer

(with a good group, a game like Warhammer can be very satisfying, and a much more complete hobby as you always have something constructive to do with buying, assembling, and painting miniatures, or building terrain, or designing scenerios, and other stuff,  Not to mention you can play a lot more since it requires a lot less actual prep time and only one other player at a time (although groups are more fun)).

I got interested in role playing again when I found out about D&D 3.0 and especially when I found out about the new edition of Star Wars using the same rules.

To me, the biggest shock was the amount of indy games and internet forums.  Love the forums, decided after MUCH experimentation that indy games are a BIG waste of time, effort , and money for me.  From now on I'm sticking with the big names or old (proven) favorites.

Quote from: Caesar SlaadI, on the other hand, am stunned.

Indeed, I have come to believe that in many ways, D&D holds D20 back.

That statement doesn't even make any sense.

D20 IS D&D.  The two are the same thing.  The rest of the "D20" crap is just bad houserules for D&D.

D20 is a system that exists to emulate a universe that only exists in D&D.  It makes no real sense whatsoever, except in the D&D context.  Too many inbuilt system assumptions and silliness that when applied to anything else but D&D stick out like a sore thumb.

Quote from: J ArcaneThat statement doesn't even make any sense.

D20 IS D&D.  The two are the same thing.  The rest of the "D20" crap is just bad houserules for D&D.

D20 is a system that exists to emulate a universe that only exists in D&D.  It makes no real sense whatsoever, except in the D&D context.  Too many inbuilt system assumptions and silliness that when applied to anything else but D&D stick out like a sore thumb.

I would write a rebuttal, but it seems to me there is nothing to rebutt. There's no attempt at logic or cause and effect; nothing there but some ingrained perception, something you decided that's obviously not going to change.

Peace out and good gaming.

Quote from: Caesar SlaadI would write a rebuttal, but it seems to me there is nothing to rebutt. There's no attempt at logic or cause and effect; nothing there but some ingrained perception, something you decided that's obviously not going to change.

Peace out and good gaming.

I'll leave you to your gaming as well, but lest I be mistaken, I would like to qualify my statement by saying that I do like D&D.  I love it in fact, I think it's a great game, and a lot of fun.

I just accept it for what it is, and prefer not to try and make it be something it's not.

Quote from: J ArcaneI'll leave you to your gaming as well, but lest I be mistaken, I would like to qualify my statement by saying that I do like D&D.  I love it in fact, I think it's a great game, and a lot of fun.

Oh, I caught that. If I had perceived it as yet another tiresome "D&D sux" rant, I would have passed it by, having grown tired of that from too many such rants on RPGnet and usenet.

Left for about 10 years.

Came back and wow...

  I though it rather cool that there were actual forums for this stuff, but it took me weeks to figure out all the abbreviations in common use.

  Got into some new games and decided certain really new ones weren't for me. Universalis, shock, princes kingdom, agone, and a few other indie games I forget the names of were played, and given a fair shake. But I need the traditional GM/player thing and character sheets. I still can't think of them as real RPG's. Maybe a notch above LARPS, but that still isn't very much.

 D&D, well it's still D&D - hit points, classes, levels, races etc. But for me the muti-multi-multi classing thing, the feat trees of superpowers, and half-race bonanza are just not my thing. And when I was younger we played fuzzy games/houseruled with the whole levels/classes thing anyway.

  It really hit me at a con game when we all made PC's and a good third of the players at the table were half-orcs someting or others. WTF!? Where I come from orcs are for killing.

The culture has changed. But I found a few diamonds in the rough, and a few oldies that I seemed to miss back in the day.

And even paying full sticker, those hardback books are cheap for the amount of hours of good times I get out of them.



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