| LoathsomePete |
08-25-2010 10:42 AM |
Quote:
Originally Posted by mr dave
(Post 922166)
i totally hear ya. getting a good and regular PnP group is a challenge, and one i've yet to accomplish. i think you're spot on in your view that the graphics of the 90s warped the ability to imagine. the biggest complaint i read about the newer editions was that they were 'video gaming' the mechanics behind the rules too much to cater to younger generations.
then again just finding people who get what's involved in playing a role playing game can be quite the challenge as well. especially in an age filled with so many digital distractions.
|
If I was still living in Vancouver I'd have no trouble finding gamers in my demographic. There are at least five or six game shops that I'm aware of and a very large collection of players who kind of bounce between groups of friends. As it stands in Reno, there is a small gaming scene but for the most part it is dedicated solely to D&D 4th Edition and I'd rather super glue my di ck to a bullet train than play that travesty. There's only two gaming shops in town, one focusing mostly on board games and the other on miniatures so neither is really helpful except for buying dice. If I want out of print material I have to go to used bookstores which sometimes have what I'm looking for but most often nothing decent.
It is kind of funny how the perspective of what is considered uber geeky has shifted in the last 6 years or so. Gathering your friends around a table to engage in story telling has become the image most people don't want to be associated with, while the excuse "I was in a raid" has become a valid one to get out of socializing. I know that WoW geeks catch just as much flack but when there's somewhere around 11 million people subscribed there's at least a feeling of connection.
As far as newer PnP RPG's trying to implement video game logic, it's definitely getting worse. Earlier in the summer I got a few friends together for a role-playing session, getting the book based off the Supernatural TV series because it's format worked for our schedule and it was something we were all familiar with. Holy crap is that game ever a waste of time. The game plays out exactly like the show so all creativity is thrown out the window. Not only that but the idea of using their mind to control their characters rather than their thumbs was completely foreign to them. To be fair to them though it was their first time and once they got into the groove of it they did pretty good for their second and third session, but it still felt like I was just running through the motions. Our last session had them up against the Jersey Devil, who I decided to give a tragic backstory in hopes that the players would try to dig deeper and uncover it... they chose just to kill him because they had slaughtered their last few antagonists, why would it be any different with this one?
I dunno what the solution is... video games are trying harder and harder to emulate the vastness of PnP RPG's, but there will always be limitations. No amount of slider bars will ever get your avatar looking exactly like you want, and you'll never get all the dialogue options you want. Action is always going to be limited and you'll never get the level of freedom that you have in a PnP RPG. Still with the mediocrity of video games as of late I don't think many people care too much. |
