I’m pretty sure my characters are always Chaotic Stupid.
I’ve been running a game for my daughter (nine) and her best friend (ten) with the boy’s father and it’s been a hoot. Now that we tracked down copies of the core books in Chinese, they are really getting into it . . . since finals are next week we’ve had to hold her back from spending all of her time reading D&D books. After finals, we will take her to see Return of the King (we didn’t take her to the theatre for the other two but let her watch with us on DVD but now she really wants to see the third film in the theatre).
I got Neverwinter Nights back when if first came out . . . and was all ready to play with my old buddies back home via online madness . . . but the blasted thing would never install right on my machine so I finally just gave up. Normally, I find cRPG games too stilted and wuliao and I never had a sense of being the character like I do with tabletop or LARPS but was really interested in the online possibilities . . . I have friends who swear by those old RPG text adventures and MUDs which I always found limited and boring . . . for me, the computer games that most captured the in-person feel of a “real” RPG are the first-person shooters, especially the ones that incorporate deathmatch and co-op play that are compatible with stereoscopic 3D environments . . . now that’s something.
Albeit . . . I still prefer in-your-face-person-to-person play to anything that’s been invented so far . . . so, I am at a loss when I encounter folks who prefer cRPG to tRPG or lRPG. Maybe I’m just an old fogey or an elitist (I used to write the tRPG column for the Chinese edition of PC Gamer and so I can appreciate a good computer game as well). Different strokes.
Did you get those here in Taiwan, via mailorder, or overseas?
I have a ton - well half a ton - of old metal minis from my high school days . . . which was a loooooonnnggg time ago so a bunch of them actually are lead-based . . . and whenever we go to the States (not often, twice in the last fourteen years) I pick up some more . . . I got one of the plastic Warhammer sets (Orc and Dwarf armies) and have pillaged old Heroquest boxes for games.
Now that I’ve finally found someone selling Mage Knight stuff in Taipei, I’ll probably get a few more sets of those for D&D use.
The WotC minis are plastic. They really aren’t too bad if you don’t want to spend too much money. Some of the lead/pewter pro-painted minis can be quite expensive (the big red that I mentioned earlier was about $250USD). But usually the pro-painted stuff can be reasonable cost-wise. A PC goes anywhere from 10-20USD. Monsters are more. On this same trip I also got a pro-painted black dragon for $150USD. I also had the same lady make some customized fire and ice walls used for spell effects. I think before that the most I have spent was for three beautiful driders for 75USD total.
I picked up the WotC minis just to check them out. I bought them at Borders (a bookstore) but I am sure Amazon has them. The starter set ran about 20USD and there are lots of “booster sets” that run for about 10USD. MK has some good minis (especially golems) and they also put out a nice trap set than can be used in different gaming systems.
Overall the WotC minis are a good low cost alternative.
Dwarven Forge puts out some oustanding stuff. I just picked up a lot of new pieces from their new Cavernous Cavern set. Outstanding quality but very pricey. If you use DF then it is very important to have a buying plan in order to maxmize your bang for the buck.
Yeah, if anybody wants to check out the “room” then let me know. Everybody is welcome…just wait until I get back to Taiwan. I am always willing to talk Dungeons and play with my little men.
Well, jiawen.net seems to be down. Are there any gaming groups in Taichung? I have been getting the bug lately after a couple of years in Taiwan.
If nobody else is running a game I might be willing to set something up, run a few sessions, and see what happens.
I have a few books here, my main RPGs were always Shadowrun and Cyberpunk and such futurish things. But these days I’m not too picky. AD&D is fine, though I’m not at all up to speed on 3e.
Hello, I have been looking for ages for people in Taipei who play AD&D! I am happy to see that there are others here like me.
I have the 3.5 collection of AD&D books in English, here in Taipei, as well as some dice and some modules and character sheets. I don’t have any minis though, at least not here in Taiwan.
A couple of other people who play AD&D that I know will be arriving in Taipei soon. One is returning from Xmas holidays and the other is moving here for the first time. I have been a DM before and am willing to give it another go, but I do prefer playing.
I also play NWNs. I don’t play on the internet at all though. I just don’t prefer playing with people I can’t see. Nor do I like to play with people I haven
I just checked out the 3.5 set (I was a little hesitant about forking over money for 3.5 when I thought 3.0 was doing just fine) and the updated rules are really good. It made movement and combat a lot clearer.
Really? My page is down? Can anyone confirm this? I’ve gotten intermittent problems at work, but I thought it was the work LAN. If anyone else is unable to access my page, this is clearly something I need to notify my hosting company about. Please check and tell me if you’re unable to access it. Thanks!
I’ve restarted Baldur’s Gate I one on my computer and the game is pretty awesome. I’d reccomend it to those with no time for RPG’s . BGII is good as well but is a little easier to play…
I am hoping that WoTC comes out with some of those awesome boxed sets (Return to the Tomb of Horrors, The Rod of Seven Parts, etc.) for 3.5 rules. Oh boy, the Tomb really kicked my ass…the first five minutes into play I go from a 15th level cleric to a 13th level. Then there was that mess in the Academy with the 18th level Wizard who was also a vampire. Then Hed, who went around spanking all of our kittys in the City That Waits.
It is really great in that people don’t have to worry as much about where they will meet (and transportation). I remember when we moved a game from downtown to a distant suburb, one of the guys had to pick me up from his house far away. That meant a lot of driving for him and it was really very kind of him to do that.
People are lead to believe that “interactive” is good. And it is! But what is the ultimate interaction? Think hard now!
Yes, you got it: face-to-face HUMAN interaction.
Role-players are renowned for lacking social skills. In fact, that is one reason they need to create fantasy characters, so that they can forget about who they are for a while without having to resort to Hollywood’s latest shtick or romantic comedy to hypnotize them.
RPGs should be played face-to-face to give gamers a feeling of solidarity and also to teach each other how to interact with others face-to-face. I used to be an awkward, young role-player. Then I met other gamers who are also awkward, but not so young.
I grew up with through real-time/offline roleplaying to become older and more awkward and I learned that that is okay. I fear people who bury themselves in online games will descend into loneliness and not learn social skills that role-playing lets one develop in an environment that temporarily suspends the ego, but does not hypnotize. Incidentally, conservatives feared D&D in the 80s because people were allowed to zone out, but remain fully aware that they were doing it – that made them nervous.
I can remember people acting really stupid and anti-social vicariously through D&D and the PCs would yell and hiss at each other, but when the game was over, the players would laugh about it and say “it’s just a game”. Funny thing is, there are still high emotions and lots of criticism in an RPG context, but the players are free of their egos because they transpose it onto their characters. Players learn and develop human interaction, or, “networking”, if you will.
Social skills can not be learned very well online because one can not move one’s hands and make facial expressions that are part of developing them. One can not raise one’s voice, soften it or make it sound bold or timid. One can only point and click, qwerty and uiop.
So… When you get here. If you wanna play in the flesh and we can find a DM, I’m all for it. If you want to play online, I wish thee luck, my friend and may Thor grant thee victory, but I, for one, shall fight another day in another way.
Just give my halfling barbarian a cave complex to loot and lots of bad guys to bash and I’m a happy hobbit. [/quote]
Chaotic Good 8-)[/quote]
Well, Hubert is Chaotic but I’m not sure it is Good.
Perhaps Chaotic Randy? [/quote]
Well I said Chaotic Good because he was ransacking “bad guys,” and I assume that “bad” refers to Evil. Then again, Chaotic Neutrals and Evils are more than happy to ransack just about anyone if they could get away with it, but they sure as heck would not bother to point out that they were “bad,” now would they?
OK, OK, you were just trying to make a joke, and I turned it into a boring tretise on alignment. Sorry!
Ever see a drunk halfling barbarian try to get some action with a human barmaid? Ugly, really ugly. I guess the only reason we take from the bad guys is that they usually have all the really good stuff.
I am currently working on a website that will show some of my minis and terrain. Will post a link as soon as it is ready.
Wow… I started this thread in the vain hope that there would be other gamers out there… and it seems there indeed are…
Anyway, I live in Taichung… I think bobdobba said that he also played shadowrun and cyberpunk, I have also dabbled in these games and would be interested in playing…
I am also interested in any AD&D going down in taizhong…
And as I said before, Warhammer too…
If anybody is interested in setting up a group then email me on daryl_ks@yahoo.com
I apologize if I’m not using this site properly – it’s my first time… be gentle.
Anyways, I run a home-grown 3rd edition D&D game in Taichung on Sunday afternoons and play in a friend’s Thursday morning/afternoon game. If you’d like more information on either of the games, please let me know. If the times do seem quite right to you, email me anyways – even if your free times don’t mesh with mine, I’d still be interested in trying to help others get games going.
I find that gaming restores the insanity brought upon by Taichung traffic!
I am going to run an adventure using the 3.5 rules(AD&D) this Sunday. The new rules really clears up what was presented in 3.0. I will give you a review next week. Got a party of 2nd level halflings to punish
The WoTC website also has some good, and free, adventures to down load.
I have a dusty campaign world that would like to be played in. I have been a D&D addict for more than 20 years now. If there is a Taipei group, I would be interested in more information.
I just finished my second week of using the 3.5 rules for D&D. It kinda sucks having having to buy a whole new set of books but I think it is worth it. Everything is much clearer and some of the spell durations have been made more resonable. For example, Bull’s Strength is now measured by minutes, not hours. 3.5 is the way to go.
I would have had my first taste of halfling blood last night but the sorcerer’s weasel familiar rolled double 20s to knock off the otyugh (sp?)
I am always willing to talk Dungeons and play with my little men.
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