Tabletop RPG's (D&D)

[Jesster]

Best advice I could offer is focus on the story and characters ... much more interesting than endless dice-tossing.

And this is the biggest thing that got me to stop playing with my roommates. Thank you.

[Jackalope]

I haven't played pen and paper RPGs in a very long time - I miss playing.

[Jackalope]

I used to play and DM AD&D, Gamma World, and Arduin. Been a while.

Best advice I could offer is focus on the story and characters ... much more interesting than endless dice-tossing.

This ^^^

D&D is fantasy, not an exercise in random number generation. It's about the story, not rolling a 16+ to escape some gruesome death.

The worst DMs I ever knew were random number generator who delighted in offing PCs wholesale. Why put any time I to a character when you've only got a coin flips chance at best of living past your second beverage?

[Faith No More]

I tried playing D&D a few times, but most of the time we spent so much time creating our characters that we ran out of time/got bored when it came time to start the actual game.

It wasn't an RPG, but my favorite table-top game was BattleTech, which is what the Mech Warrior video games are based off of.  I liked it because you didn't have to create a character, but there was a lot of strategy involved, like managing your heat level and moving around the levels of terrain to get better shots.  Plus, you got to play with cool little mech figures.

[KevinM1]

If a DM is simply trying to kill players, then they don't know what they're doing. That said, I don't mind games being mostly tactical affairs so long as the DM is fair. That's how my childhood games would go. My oldest brother was the DM. Every session was, essentially, a puzzle. We had more than enough resources at our disposal to beat the bad guys, but it was balanced enough that there were always more than a few close calls.

In Star Frontiers, for example, he'd have enemies attacking the city from opposite sides, or a sniper on a roof, or a hostage situation, etc. It was intense, exciting, and forced us to think.

[Aroura]

So, we ended up getting Pathfinder, and spending ages rolling (and rerolling) characters.  Then we only played 3 or 4 sessions. 

Hubby asked me to put a lot of effort into it, because he was doing a lot of reading and research to DM for us. He gave us a limited list of races and classes to pick from.  Not too limited, some expanded classes.  I took it seriously and spent many hours researching for my own and my daughter's characters.

So after a ton of reading, I picked Witch.  I have a thing for witches right now.  Getting older, I'm starting to embrace my inner crone, I guess, lol.  I loved the idea of debuffing, buffing, battlfield control, etc.  I built a character in my head and on paper, details of her life, history, birthplace, experiences, family, everything!  She was slightly batty, but wise, overly curious about everything.  I planned to give her prehensile hair (not a full white haired witch, but similar), a raven familiar, and the wonderful cackle hex.  I had her planned to lvl 6.  Sleep, Fly, fortune, misfortune, prehensile hair, etc and all the feats and everything for every level.

I was very excited to play her.  I even spent a whole day drawing her on the place on my character sheet.  

One session in, and my husband tells me he hates her.  He doesn't like that she's old, or that she's a bit batty.  He does not think I'm taking it seriously, because I'm having too much fun and laughing a lot I guess?  He says, we already have a 9 year old playing, he doesn't need me to be like that too.  Plus, he's worried I'll be bored after a while, since I don't do a lot of straight out damage in battle.  I said, but half the game is the roleplay, and I'm still plenty useful in battle!  Our daughter picked Druid, and she's got a pet, plus hubby is playing a Teifling mage.  He made us plenty powerful, so it worked for the druid and wolf to tank/off tank, me to sleep extra creatures, and him to nuke stuff.  It seemed fine to me.

Meh, he threw the whole character sheet in the trash.  I told him not to, I wanted to keep it.  So I have her stored, and I rerolled.  I told him, just let me make a paladin then.  Easy to play, not a ton of effort, and I can play it serious, like HE wants.  But no, he rolled me an effing Magus.  Seriously, THE MOST complicated class in the game.  Google it, you'll see everyone says (not for beginners).  I tell him, I'm worried we'll fight over the mechanics, he dismisses my concerns, but of course we end up fighting over the mechanics.  I finally basically just tell him I'll do whatever he wants.  Just let us play the effing game.

I don't know jack about this character, her background or anything.  I honestly at this moment cannot remember her name, because he had a fit over the names I was picking as well.  We did play a few more sessions.  I tried very hard to be invested and have a good time, and not dwell on shit.  2 weeks ago, I asked if we are gonna play again, but he says he's too busy now, maybe over holiday break.

I'm SOOO GLAD he could spend our entire summer budget on this.  What a blast.  I love roleplaying, and gaming, but not with him.  He's a control freak and an utter killjoy.  I literally do not know what I'm doing anymore.

Oh, roleplaying tabletop games, pfft.  Yeah.  Love em, if you have a good group and DM who facilitates roleplay, and not just doing what THEY want.

[KevinM1]

Yeah, that was incredibly rude of him, on multiple accounts, but especially throwing away your character sheet. Roleplaying doesn't need to be super serious all the time. There are plenty of examples of fun and foolishness, and apparently fun and foolish characters/creatures who are actually quite wise and powerful under their facade (I mean, shit, Yoda, anyone?) in fantasy. Besides, even in real life, as harsh as it can be, most people find ways to be silly and have fun for their own sanity. I don't see why people in armor and people wielding magic wouldn't engage in the same kind of behavior.

Part of the horror surrounding witches is that their age and apparent frailty belies frightening power. Plus, their cooky craziness makes them scary and unpredictable. I think your initial character choice was pretty inspired given how pedestrian regular mages and sword types are.

Can you find an IRL group to play with? Because I think that would be your best bet, especially if they allow kids to play.

[Joods]

My pathfinder character was a tiefling sorceress with draconic bloodlines from the red dragon. She also had an awesome tailwhip ability.

We had a great DM who threw a bit of comedy in the game. At one point, I was flying and chasing a dragon when I, in mid air, managed to shoot a fireball up it's ass, thus saving our entire party. It was epic.

[Jesster]

I'm going to be running a fantasy game using the Savage Worlds system very soon. I was going to play with a group before, but drama drove that idea into the ground. I've found some other people interested in the game with one person from the last group. This should go much better this time. Hopefully I can start this in about a week.

[CapnAwesome]

Yeah, I am a part time Dungeon master. My suggestion is to not be too strict about the rules. Start out by playing with a simple set of rules and ignore the more minute details until you are more into the game. Just play loosely and and have fun, and the more that you get into it, the more you can incorporate more complexity of the game. Also they make pre written adventures, you can find tons online. It's a good idea to have your husband read one to get an idea of how to write an adventure.