Game Geeks #62 Live from No Brand Con part 1

[toaofender]

funny I was working this con and I don't remember this....

[MicahWolfe]

@toaofender

You realize this is from the 2008 No Brand Con?

[toaofender]

@MicahWolfe

yes, I was working that con also

[LazerLuger]

I think WoW is making TT games more "Niche". People who roleplayed just to kill monsters, take their stuff and feel a slow rise in their characters power went to WoW, because that's the game's point in its most undiluted form. Soon all that will be left are the "real" roleplayers (whatever that means...)

[chef704]

Weirdly my current group started because they all played WOW and wanted to do roleplaying 'for real'

[shamrockduck]

WOW ruined my last campaign...I lost three players to that fucking game

[Jimalcoatl]

I gave op Pen and Paper gaming for WoW for nearly 4 years. It's been about a year now since I quit WoW and I'm back to running 2 games a week (Deadlands Reloaded and Savage Worlds Starcraft homebrew) and playing in a third (D&D 4th). I feel much better not playing WoW. that game is like a bad drug more than a hobby

[vinkeveen2]

Love the part where the dude "next" to the dude explaining larp just cracks up.

[poutouellet]

Improvisational radio theatre is a good description.

That's pretty much the kind of description I give as well (I often try to recruit in my group of improvisational theatre friends...they make EXCELLENT players!)

[doomymcmassacre]

great vid....btw Guess who's going to the no brand con?bwahahaha~!

[mysterycycle]

I've just begun playing WoW over the last two weeks, and I have a number of friends who also play. Yet, none of the tabletop RPGers I know have stopped playing or purchasing tabletop RPGs in favor of WoW. Has this been a problem for others? Because I don't see how WoW could be "pulling players away" from RPGs.

And while the guy in the video suggested that WoW is roleplaying, I have yet to meet anyone there who actually RPs their character, and I'm on an RP server!

[lancerCNCS1]

MMOs are not RPGs.

[mysterycycle]

Roleplay is certainly *possible* in MMOs - I've finally met some other people there who roleplay characters rather than do the rulespeak thing. But I would still agree with you: they're two completely different animals.

[aramanx]

OH! Great vid!

[azirk83]

I'd kill to see you interviewing some game designers. Going to Gencon? Take your camera!

[BrerRabbitBDA]

Wanted to write more in that last post but rand out of space - anyway I think you get where I was going.

[BrerRabbitBDA]

One other thing Id like to throw out there is an idea an old gaming buddy and I have been tossing about for the last few months. We were talking about how in the old old days of hex based wargaming there were so few wargamers around that many games were conducted via mail.

Moving ahead to today, I find it surprising that gamers havent made use of internet voice chat (Ventrillo, Teamspeak, etc) to conduct long distance cross-country RPG campaigns.

[mysterycycle]

I very nearly did - I was living halfway across the country from my gaming group while attending art school, and conducted more than one game session via AOLIM. Now I've got some microphone-headphones and a Skype account in preparation for running another game with friends who live a two-hour drive away. With gas prices being what they are, this seems a pretty good way to roleplay!

[BrerRabbitBDA]

I agree with kaosdevice. But Id go even further - Id like to see Kurt have his own gaming/RPG podcast!

Kurt youre a great host of these reviews - the series actually got me to buy Spirit of the Century and get my long running gaming group involved in RPGs again(we long ago migrated away from RPGs to board games / card games).

Anyway, thanks for the inspiration to get back into RPGs and thanks for all the great reviews.

[kaosdevice]

On second watch, I wish there was an older crowd talking about the RPG thing. The very things you talk about Kurt (organization etc)make it harder for us grognards to make it to cons. Perhaps that is some of the shift we are seeing in the game community.

I'd like to have a sit down via skype or whatever with you about the future of gaming and how us old guard (so to speak) will deal with it.

[knwiegel]

This would be interesting. Let me know how to do it?

[kaosdevice]

Wow, was this a really small con or what?

[knwiegel]

Reasonably. It was a small grouip though.

[acm4bass]

First, I was pleased to see that you and I come from them same demographic...37, married, son, and DnD 79-89 era.

Second, What I wished to see for DnD is a streamlined mechanic like old second edition and maybe a way to go beyond the gamming table and use ventrillo or something to gain that accessability that computer games have.

will be eagerly watching this new conversation.

[Talanuel]

LOL@ 1:51

[Zenpanteki]

Too bad there was so much background noise at points.

Man, Kurt, you really are a professional speaker! You really kept the conversation going in an interesting way.

About the WoW thing, I think it's more a miscommunication because 'Roleplaying game' can mean both the computer game genre, and the tabletop gaming experience.

I generally refer to it as "Tabletop RPG'ing" in order not to confuse people that don't play tabletop games.

[knwiegel]

Thanks. Being a teacher (or professor, in my case) helps a lot.

[MoltenPlastic]

"When I was little my father used to disappear into the basement on tuesdays and come out on wedsneday morning..."

Brrr...talk about therapy-fodder :)

[digitalmorphine]

I'm staggered on how much importance people give to D&D when there are so many other great games out there. Of course it was "the first" RPG, but anyway...

Great talk going on there. I wish the other parts were up already!

[zompire]

Ok this is coming form an 18 year old in the UK here people, I see MMO, and RPG, CCG, LARPs and Board Games as being things that will always have there niches of people. Think about it, if people like Sci Fi and watch Star Treck does that mean Firefly is going to suddenly take over for them cause its proven to have tapped into a new audience? no i dont think so,I Believe Table Top gaming has MANY more year ahead of it and (where i live anyway) there is a huge number of teens playing TT RPGs

[walt776]

My only surprise with computer gaming is that no companies have created decent virtual tabletop software that gamers can use to play their favorite games/systems online. The closest is the adventure editor for Neverwinter Nights. While there is tabletop gaming software out there, it is hard to use and not fun to play. If a company were to develop system-neutral 3d tabletop software with reliable voice support, and host stable servers for it, I think that could put a big dent into weekly games.

[ConayR]

It's about to change with D&D 4ed. Not sure if that's something I'd use though. I never liked using software during sessions outside of programs that support character sheet filling/printing.

[ConayR]

I think that the problem is exaggerated. It's not that the gaming audience (for any type of games) is still the same in terms of volume. It expands and IMO lots of ppl playing MMOs today have never played or would never play or even hear about a P&P RPG game. Even if only a small % of them gets attracted to the social experience RPGs are and not grinding, P&P RPGs may benefit from that. The only problem we're facing today is that there are no attempts at pulling those ppl off their screens.

[lordmonfort]

great video Kurt...very interesting to hear other gamers speak on the RPG subject.

I guess I come from the next push for RPGs since I played when AD&D was out with the orange spine back in the mid 80's... Back in the days, playing D&D, Top Secret, Star frontiers and the best Supers game Marvel...

[Ogma01]

One of the saddest things I have recently encountered is that when I talk about RPGs with strangers, they IMMEDIATELY assume I'm talking about MMOs, etc. I actually had someone say to me: "I didn't think anyone played those any more."

[lordmonfort]

I heard you...and the worst thing is that MMOs and computer or god forbid console RPGs are so different than pen and paper roleplaying...

I shed a tear when people make that same assumption.