what happened to role playing?

ammama · Post by **ammama** » Tue Feb 22, 2005 2:44 pm

What happened to roleplaying? all of a sudden everyone arround me is int 'powergaming', which i think means just sitting with a calculater and trying to figure out the best possible team. im starting a new game, and want to hear other peoples fav.s 4 ROLEPLAYING. so no people telling me how a paladin asimar level 52 is better than a sorceror half elf level 55.
here are some of my fav. characters to play as: (i havnt included names) THEYRE ALL EVIL

the ranger/druid-i always play her as a Red Indian sort of character, wearing only leather or no armour. she always uses barstard swords, scimitars or axes. shes more shape shifting orientated, more of a beast master really, and i even pick her spells so that they fit her character(very kool i think). i tend not to give her a helmet, but if i do its always the kl feathered one.

handmaiden of lolth-a drow duh. shes really a cleric of talos but still, its the closest i thought i could manage. again very lolth sort of spells and all that stuff. wears medium or heavy armour, and uses a shield and some sort of sword.

Wild mage-a sorceress, wild elf, with no armour, with wilderness type spells duh. and she comes with.....
her familiar, a neat thing i did with dale keeper by creating a character then putting it in animal form. very kool. i might give someone else the familiar, like the handmaidens spider, or the druids hound. still.

there are others, like bounty hunters, assasins (sneaky combat rogues), beserkers (unarmoured or light armoured barbarians with BIG WEAPONS), and dancers (bard/monks with other stuff with them

vorpal_rabbit · Post by **vorpal_rabbit** » Tue Feb 22, 2005 3:26 pm

A good question. Back in the day when I played P-N-P roleplaying games, I'd long-since given up on D&D. A game that only gives you experience for killing things seemed completely antithetical to roleplaying, at least to me. I heard a story once about a bunch of "good" players slaughtering a bunch of kobold children because "they're not worth EXP to us alive."

IWD2 feels little better to me. It seems more like a tactical simulation game than a roleplaying game. By this, I mean there is so little depth. The skills, spells, almost everything is focused on combat. I invent backstories for my characters, but they have almost no effect on anything except how I equip them, and the spells they get. When the game is focussed on how much mayhem you can wreak, what opportunity is there for true roleplaying?

Don't get me wrong, I think this game is moderately fun (though it gets repetitive), and at least you get EXP for things other than murder. But, come on, if I'm playing a thief, I want to get EXP for picking pockets, opening locks, and disarming traps. If I'm playing a cleric, what am I doing for the greater glory of my god? Why's a druid fighting to protect a bunch of townies?

Anyway, I'll get off my soapbox now. What do the rest of you think?

l__TK__l · Post by **l__TK__l** » Tue Feb 22, 2005 4:47 pm

Well my opinion on this case is I like roleplaying but I like to build up my haracters as godly as possible

I have never played PnP but enjoy roleplaying games over anything else on pc. Well maybe the next time around I'll play more like ammama and focus on the characters stories and things like that rather than just blast away. Thats what I did on BG 1 and 2. As vorpal_rabbit said it's weird that you don't get exp for opening locks or disarming traps as in BG. Well you can't have them all. IWD has a better cahracter developement than BG cause of the 3E rules. Maybe I'll move on next time to Icewind Gate for both good things

Nice to know other opinions too. Thank's guys (or girls).

TK

FweL · Post by **FweL** » Wed Feb 23, 2005 1:58 am

I doubt that there will IWD3.. IWD2 didn't sell so well.

It has been while since i played IWD2.. and barely remember any of my partymembers.

But i admit that i see that powegaming little bit silly. This game isn't that hard. I openly admit that i miss 3d6 rolling for ability score. Then i was able to craete smart warriors and such.

Brynn · Post by **Brynn** » Wed Feb 23, 2005 2:12 am

I think powergaming comes after you've roleplayed enough

Like, I've been through IWD2 about three times and now I'm about to create the best party I can - according to my liking, of course. I don't like the idea of creating an UPP just b/c those are the most effective... I want my chars to be as powerful as possible, but I'm not gonna play with a half-orc just b/c that's said to be the best with double axes (or whatever).

Another point is that for HOF you really need a well-prepared party... All the chars should be well built to beat that part of the game!

FweL · Post by **FweL** » Wed Feb 23, 2005 2:20 am

Well.. in HoF you can be just fine with summons and WotB. It is repeative as i am sure it has been stated before many times.

silverdragon72 · Post by **silverdragon72** » Wed Feb 23, 2005 2:50 am

.

normally just play RPGs and hard-core strategy on PC - with this background IWD2 is more some sort of tactical game from my point of view...

...I'm powergaming (means trying to build the tactical most effective party) but according to my own house-rules and (dis-)likes!

...personally I don't like UPP cause it's not really effective - and don't like JUPP (have to admit that JUPP has some very powerfull builds) cause of the very strange builds (don't like the pure decoy idea) and therefore that I don't like to have DG in my party.

...just my 2 cent!

.

FweL · Post by **FweL** » Wed Feb 23, 2005 3:56 am

But i could say that thing that realy happened to multiplayer is 3D graphics and multiplayer.

l__TK__l · Post by **l__TK__l** » Wed Feb 23, 2005 4:29 am

You're right Brynn. I have played BG so many times trough thinking about roleplaying that I took the tactical attitude to my gaming now as silverdragon. So I created the 2 parties that were in JUPP, and I got to say that I have enjoyed it.
FweL, Icewind Gate is a mod for IWD2 and BG2 that converts BG2 for IWD2 engine. I think I will try that one next. It's only in beta stage and I doubt it will ever be completed but what I have read it should still work properly.
Silverdragon, is the caracter a pure decoy if it's a powerful wizard at the same time like in JUPP? In the melee Party the "decoy" is a monk/rogue/cleric that can deal a lot of damage. So I wouldn't consider that one a pure decoy either.

TK

FweL · Post by **FweL** » Wed Feb 23, 2005 4:44 am

Have fun.

nathan.crandell · Post by **nathan.crandell** » Wed Feb 23, 2005 5:34 am

not really a reply just an idiot

okay i can't figure for the life of me how to post a new thread i am a new user and this is just aggravating, pls hlp

Brynn · Post by **Brynn** » Wed Feb 23, 2005 5:50 am

Welcome Nathan,

I sent you a PM (private message) about the useage of the board. You can check it by clicking the "private messages" underlined link (right-top just above "Quick links", seen on any page).

Please reply so that I can be sure you got it.

ammama · Post by **ammama** » Wed Feb 23, 2005 2:09 pm

y

recently ive been thinking i should have got BG2 instead of IW2. but not sure. dont want to buy a game i wont like. in your oppinion wots the best RPG? especially from a Role playing point of view cos thats wot i like. To be honest, the only reason i keep playing IW2 is cos i want to complete the game and cos i like developing my characters. levels are kool, yees, but i wish there was a bit more to developing characters, with stuff like prestige classes. I also wish the game had more Role playing in it. it all seems so linear. Kill Goblins . Kill Orcs. Kill tribe. Kill Priestess. Kill witch. I wish you could let targos be invaded. Or maybe side with Torak and take over the village. Or help the priestesses invade Kuhldadar (i like being evil, v. fun)

Brynn · Post by **Brynn** » Wed Feb 23, 2005 2:39 pm

Ammama, this is totally offtopic. Will you please start a new thread to discuss this so that I can remove your post? Thanks

l__TK__l · Post by **l__TK__l** » Wed Feb 23, 2005 7:23 pm

Well Brynn I think that ammama wasn't totally offtopic cause he was asking about roleplaying which this topic is all about. I think that if you are looking for more rolplaying on your character developement then IWD2 is your game. If you still want more character creation then I think the only solution is Neverwinter Nights, but I didn't like it so much because everything is made so easy because it has to be playable with one character. If you are thinking of more roleplaying in dialogue options and different ways of playing the game trough, then BG2 is your game. I just wish they would make a game that combines BG2 atmosphere and NWN character creation. I bet I would get hooked on that one for years

TK

FweL · Post by **FweL** » Thu Feb 24, 2005 12:34 am

[QUOTE=l__TK__l]Well Brynn I think that ammama wasn't totally offtopic cause he was asking about roleplaying which this topic is all about. I think that if you are looking for more rolplaying on your character developement then IWD2 is your game. If you still want more character creation then I think the only solution is Neverwinter Nights, but I didn't like it so much because everything is made so easy because it has to be playable with one character. If you are thinking of more roleplaying in dialogue options and different ways of playing the game trough, then BG2 is your game. I just wish they would make a game that combines BG2 atmosphere and NWN character creation. I bet I would get hooked on that one for years

TK[/QUOTE]

Don't finn's know how to be in topic? BG2 and IWD2 mixture would be better.

Brynn · Post by **Brynn** » Thu Feb 24, 2005 1:36 am

The BG2 vs. IWD2 comparison does worth a new thread, imho.

l__TK__l · Post by **l__TK__l** » Thu Feb 24, 2005 3:32 am

OK Brynn maybe it's worth it. But anyways FweL I think it's still on topic if the topic says what happened to roleplaying and ammama was wondering as I was that is IWD2 in-between 2 great roleplaying games (BG2 & NWN) or is IWD2 embodiment of forgotten realms RPGs. First when I tried IWD2 I was not so enthusiastic about it but now that I got into it I can't seem to do anything else than play. Although IWD2 is more hack and slashing type of game than BG2 I just got to love the 3E rules and cahracter creation. And FweL don't you go starting on finn's. Well chew you off faster than you can say teether if you suggest something disrespectful about our nation

TK

FweL · Post by **FweL** » Thu Feb 24, 2005 3:44 am

[QUOTE=l__TK__l]OK Brynn maybe it's worth it. But anyways FweL I think it's still on topic if the topic says what happened to roleplaying and ammama was wondering as I was that is IWD2 in-between 2 great roleplaying games (BG2 & NWN) or is IWD2 embodiment of forgotten realms RPGs. First when I tried IWD2 I was not so enthusiastic about it but now that I got into it I can't seem to do anything else than play. Although IWD2 is more hack and slashing type of game than BG2 I just got to love the 3E rules and cahracter creation. And FweL don't you go starting on finn's. Well chew you off faster than you can say teether if you suggest something disrespectful about our nation

TK[/QUOTE]

Quite smart i must say, but still missed few points have you. Off-topic i went but what did i say?

l__TK__l · Post by **l__TK__l** » Thu Feb 24, 2005 3:59 am

Well I just made my point clear and I just got irritated about you pointing out finn's. If I write something you shouldn't go talking about finn's not knowing about keeping in the topic. But anyways I'm not getting mad or anything cause I'm just not that kind of a person. Now this post is completely offtopic but it's now because FweL, so I'll stop here. Brynn!! why is Wrath banned?

TK