I just finished a chronicle of Vampire: The Masquerade (an RPG, for anyone that doesn't know it), and felt this slightly paraphrased final exchange was worthy of sharing
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The differences between D&D and Vampire are fairly complex. The basic description is here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vampire:_The_Masquerade but, more importantly, the fundamental style of the roleplaying remain different.
World of Darkness (including Vampire) is heavily story-driven. Experience is not handing out via the killing of monsters, gathering of treasure, etc. but by how well the players play their characters. In gaming, there is something called the three-fold theory (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNS_Theory) which divides games up into three "types". D&D is a traditional example of a gamist game, whereas WoD is generally considered a traditional example of a narrativist one.
Of course, this all depends on the group. I was lucky in that I had very good players this year in my group (including tikokino). It was also run online, which had very specific advantages and disadvantages to traditional tabletop gaming. Hopefully, my group in the upcoming Dark Ages: Fae game will be as good.
Hey thanks for the explaination, and the helpful links. I'm quite new to tabletop RPGs. I'm much more used to online narratives, like my new site Felinity. (http://www.angelfire.com/planet/felinity/felinity.html) <-shameless plug. :P But seriously, D&D was probably the best way for me to start at tabletops. I'm used to a lot of descriptions and character development online, but I never described things like that aloud before - so D&D broke my shell, if you will. I do feel that D&D falls short in a lot of character development, though. It seems really action-driven. Fun...but I get bored watching everyone else fight sometimes.
That's cool, most people start off playing something like D&D first. There must be a growing number of people who have actually played something narrative and freeform online. Narrativist, especially freeform, tabletop games are very good when played with a good group in the right atmosphere, but there are distinct advantages and disadvantages to it, as with everything.
World of Darkness (including Vampire) is heavily story-driven. Experience is not handing out via the killing of monsters, gathering of treasure, etc. but by how well the players play their characters. In gaming, there is something called the three-fold theory (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNS_Theory) which divides games up into three "types". D&D is a traditional example of a gamist game, whereas WoD is generally considered a traditional example of a narrativist one.
Of course, this all depends on the group. I was lucky in that I had very good players this year in my group (including tikokino). It was also run online, which had very specific advantages and disadvantages to traditional tabletop gaming. Hopefully, my group in the upcoming Dark Ages: Fae game will be as good.
Love the icon, by the by. :)
Be well,
Rob.
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And thanks about the icon. :)
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