Turn the water to cold.
It’s a cold sweat
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After an overly long silence, the next chapter in the how-to series is complete! This time penned by @ajtazt, it tackles how making your players’ character sheet template can radically change how your players view the game, and is 100% his opinion. Any edits made by me were formatting only.
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Look, Ghid, you just have to be smarter than the boards.
(and put <ol></ol> around your text) 
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I didn’t realize that worked here. I’ll keep that in mind for the future.
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I mean technically ajtazt has to be smarter than the boards
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Well, you did say:
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so, i’ve never done one of these things before, but i’m considering it. like, 50/50 chance i’ll do it.
how do they… y’now… actually work?
like, who talks/posts about what their dude is doing when? is it turn-based? am i just incompetent and it’s really obvious? IS THERE A LIMIT ON SEMICOLONS?
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so, as long as it works in context, you can say whatever whenever wherever?
oooo, dude …
That’s … not what D&D is at all. Because there’s no way to quantify “what D&D is”. That’s one way people play D&D. The thing with D&D though is that it’s infinitely flexible. Some games are heavy on combat, because that’s the way a group prefers their games - other tables, however, are entirely roleplay driven, focusing on character development over combat.
That’s, like, my entire struggle. I prefer roleplay-heavy games, but to run that I need to plot out a cohesive storyline, which I suck at.
The only “turn-based” part is in the combat stages of the game, where nearly all of the rules come into play. The other (for the game I run at least) two thirds to three quarters of the game are exploration and roleplay, which are entirely player- and story-driven, with a few occasional die rolls.
It all depends on the kind of group you play in.
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Well this is my topic so I’m always right
That’s the greatest advantage over DnD that boards RP has - Get a simple goal in site, and let the middle decide itself. A compotent GM can turn an incredibly vague outline into a compelling narrative all by taking opportunities as they are presented.
But, uh, the players also have to be decent.
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wait no
-glances inconspicuously at my long “sovereign TTV” document-
wait no
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If you’re putting character building at the rear in Dungeons and Dragons you’re gonna have a bad time.
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This is true.
@ghid did you just have a bad experience?
dungeons and dragons is a bad experience
Eh, that’s a bit of an open-ended question. Write naturally and consistently with each character in every circumstance and you’ll be golden.
Ahh, my friend, mon amie, mio amico, mein freund, mo chara, mngani wami, mano draugas, mo charaid, fy ffrind, kuv tus phooj ywg - you planned out every encounter and occurrence in advance and are calculating for every circumstance off a pre-planned series of events?
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Hmmm…
Someone has played 4th Edition.
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no, not at all.
The document is just … long
DEMON!
BEGONE!
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I have to hard disagree with on you that. Regardless of how it’s used, D&D proper is definable, for if it was not, no one would know what you’re talking about. And D&D is built entirely around stats and combat. It’s a wargaming system built around individual characters rather than entire units and armies. Experience points, leveling up, new gear; as far as rules, system, and often even story structure is concerned, the base game by itself is combat focused. That’s why other TTRPGs specify their systems are narrative-based.
I do agree that, despite how the system is set up, plenty don’t use it that way. Just like plenty of families rarely play Monopoly as intended, using house rules and other changes. And while official D&D has been incredibly supportive of this attitude over the years, changing their game to better match this attitude to some degree, it is hard to argue that on a fundamental and system level it isn’t built mainly for combat. Even after all this time, it’s just wargaming on a smaller scale with extra dialogue and acting.
And that’s why some, while no doubt still under D&D’s influence, leave that system entirely. Start over, build something from scratch to better fit their purposes. More often than not, Forum/Message Boards RPGs* fall closer to storytelling games than D&D. It is a similar, but very different culture and way of play.
Personally speaking, the combat focus is not the turn off for me. Not even armies, unit miniatures, or constant need of grids of the wargaming siblings. That’s fine to me, I love combat. It’s the stats and constant need for almost everything to be decided by dice that burns my soul. It’s tabletop, so it needs some board game element, and simulated randomness for the unpredictable nature of battle. I get that, but if I’m fighting someone I much prefer to be out witted and maneuvered than defeated purely on the whims of some dice idols.
*Or Play-by-post role-playing game if you’re Wikipedia. Accurate, but that’s such a long name.
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All your opinions on RPGs will now be discarded. Thanks for playing.
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