-//- Mods, please feel free to move this thread if needed. I'm not sure that I'm posting this in the proper section. -//-

This thread is for all of Vizzed's members both young and old to discuss the wonderful world of Dungeons & Dragons, colloquially known as D&D. Mostly, this thread will be about the actual tabletop game. Discussion about the games for the NES and other D&D video games probably belongs in the game discussion forums.

This will be where you can discuss your scenarios, characters, equipment, and any great stories from games past. I myself am fairly new to D&D, having only played for a little over a year, but I'm making this thread because I like to talk about D&D, and since the game has been around for about 40 years, I'm sure there are some great stories to be heard and some good advice to be given for newer adventurers like myself.

I'm currently playing as a CG Swashbuckler who isn't very good at being a sea dog, so he gave up to try his hand at being a hero, but he's not too good at that either! Mostly he just hoards gold and stabs himself in combat! I'm level 4 right now, using a dagger and a rapier, and playing with a Dragonborn LG knight who takes damage like crazy (and seems to enjoy it), a Neutral fighter/mercenary who likes to drink a lot, and our newcomer to the group is an arcane mage who sleeps with anything that moves!

So, does anyone else here at Vizzed play D&D? Describe your characters and scenarios!

I have never played Dungeons and Dragons. When I was younger I really wanted to play and I still kinda want to try it but sadly I have no friends or money to buy all the what nots required to play it. I really know nothing about the game but it seems to be pretty neat. I have played a lot of D&D video games but you said those didn't count for this thread.

I played both Dungeons and Dragons and AD&D when I was in middle school.  We had woodsy areas outside our houses and we took it to real life and LARP'd in the early and mid 90s.  It was maybe five guys who played.  It was great fun.

Now? I live D&D through RPG games.  I live in a city that has a strong presence for D&D but I haven't met anyone and I don't have the time to set it up any more.  I had some great experiences and I remember my two best characters.  One was Manay, a mage that was as close to a fire mage as you can imagine.  I also had Lyss, a female thief who has insanely fun.

GenesisJunkie : You can play with all the special adventure aides like maps and stuff, which does cost money, or you can do it on the cheap like I do. The most expensive aspect is buying the special dice which will cost you only a few dollars. Then you just need to find some creative friends. Craigslist helps for that. That's how we met some of the members in my 3rd game.

Don't forget sites like Sovelior Sage's 3.5 SRD and Paizo's own Pathfinder reference.  Those are invaluable for the gamer on the cheap, and in many ways are easier to look things up in than the actual player's handbooks. 

I've messed around with D&D a lot more than I ever played with it, the players at my location being highly insular, trollish or both.  (Don't get me started on the forums... I've gotten massive complaints because I figured out when the guy who only posts once a week does so and got my response in about an hour afterward, which somehow 'made him look bad and feel unwelcome.'  Not to mention the simply toxic players and DMs who apparently turned to online because nobody would willingly play with them in person anymore.)  World building, filling in backgrounds, establishing well-rounded characters who'd never see actual play... but I have had a few worthwhile quests here and there via IRC.

My best character would have to be the LG cleric who, after consulting with the DM, wound up with his first level in fighter.  Among his achievements was nearly single-handedly defeating three clerics, two level ones and a level three, that the DM had intended to slaughter us in this lovely little no-killing arena smackdown that would get three total stranger player characters together.  After that made him a level 1/1 fighter/cleric, he hit an ambush group (four clerics and a wizard) and dropped one per round for four straight rounds while the barbarian ran around in blind panic from a Prismatic Spray.  The NPC that was meant to be the only thing keeping the two PCs on their feet for this decided he'd simply watch the fun.  Before that session ended so we could get our levels, he was abandoned by the barbarian to be apprehended by a squad of the region's ridiculously corrupt town guard... only to grapple the jerk in charge, use him as a human shield while making an impassioned plea to stop following him and the power-mad duke feeding him highly unethical and immoral instructions, and toss him at the crossbowmen for cover while casting Sanctuary.  At least the barbarian was waiting in the shadows to throw a javelin at the head guard's knee to disrupt the chase, and this was long before Skyrim was produced.  About half the town guard wound up quitting or going AWOL over it, thanks to a high Diplomacy roll. 

After that, successfully infiltrating an evil temple to free a captive noblewoman (admittedly, the temple was being dismantled and some stolen robes meant the panicky clerics and priests didn't suspect a thing) and finding the kidnapped democratic-leader types the head of the guard had made look like they'd been murdered, the character was regrettably retired.  The DM had simply gotten fed up with the barbarian's crudeness, raw greed and inability to look at the game as more than an exercise in manipulating mechanics, the rogue's sheer stupidity (he was the kind of player who, when poison darts are shot from hiding, jumps into the middle of the street to get a better look... and the kind of player who thinks humans should be awed by this elf rogue who has 14 whole dexterity and 6 constitution) and the wizard having gone AWOL over a month ago, ne'er to be heard from again.

This thread was incredibly fun to read! It brings back so many memories of good adventures with great friends and evil adventures with shady people.

My favorite character that I ever created was a Psionic. That was 3rd Ed., I believe. Some of the powers were absolutely wicked. Shape-shifting into various creatures, implanting thoughts and other things I don't remember now. The DM at the time was like "YOU WANT TO DO WHAT? --- Let me see that handbook!" I don't think he liked my character nearly as much as I did.

Good adventures with great friends - I created a LG Paladin once named Elvis, lol. One of my best friends was the DM and the story revolved around this town on the edge of a Badlands area. The townsfolk were constantly being murdered by one creature or another. They elected me sheriff and I set to work fortifying the town. Walls, sentries at the gates, cauldrons of hot oil constantly at the ready to dump on would-be invaders. The town grew in population based on my charisma. I trained an army. All for what? One night a tunnel opening was discovered inside the city walls. Some kind of creatures had been burrowing massive tunnel systems under my city. They emerged by the thousands. A horrible death for Elvis, he died on the toilet...

Evil adventures with shady people - I was hanging out with these people and they played, so I rolled up a ... fighter I think. The entire story involved Murdering all of the townspeople in a tiny village. I really don't like that memory but it's there forever.

warmaker : I tried LARPing Vampire: the Masquerade once, wasn't for me. Maybe it was the people I was with or maybe it was me, I don't know.

Noyb42 : You tell a great story, did you ever DM? Are there websites where audio chat games are played? Because text chat seems like it could get tedious quick. I always thought most of the fun came from joking and being spontaneous.

thephantombrain: Funny, I could always manage to joke and be spontaneous in a chatroom... in any case, your best bet if simply using Skype's voice chat or something similar doesn't work for you would be roll20.? It's all about bringing tabletop gaming online 'the right way,' meaning with as much face to face interaction as possible.

I never have done any DMing, and highly doubt I will.? I take things quite seriously (at least, in character) and tend to made decisions based on what makes sense for a character's personality and motivations rather than what does well mechanically; as a player this leads to a fair amount of derision, but as the DM it'd mean your average power-build team would roll right over things and never even notice the little details that flesh out the story behind what they'd remember as a boring plot hook.