Which game play do you like best PBP, MMO's or Face to Face games?

Where to begin, I have been pondering this question for a long time wondering which game play do most people prefer wether most think Play by Post, Face to Face gaming, or Multi-player Online games are better. Here are a few points of my take on the game plays and why I think that Face to Face gaming is best.

I was involved in a play by post for over a year running a 2nd ed. AD&D game. Benefits included describing events and encounters in great detail, I never had to rush or make up things on the fly, pc's and npc's where made with complete backgrounds. Bad points, game play was very slow, never was able to see players faces or watch how they spoke while in character or how they acted. Especially after some major encounter, plot, or treasure was uncovered. The first set of points is what eventually led to me stopping the game because it was no longer fun for me, the players were doing a fine job, but for me the game became boring. I missed the interaction and face to face play you can only have in a gaming group sitting beside other people as you play the game.

I also have played MMO's a few times and it had become boring to me, while yes you do have the interaction with players you do not get in PBP games, you are able to pick up the game immediately after you buy it, and there are hundreds or thousands of people online playing the game already. You cooperate with players to achieve objectives or form guilds (if you can find players who will help you). But this is still not role-playing and you do not get to see any person face to face most of the time. It is basically a gigantic hack-n-slash game where you can always come back to life with the same character if you die, no matter how many times it happens. I believe this is the biggest reason why I prefer not to play MMO's anymore either.

Now onto Face to Face gaming, drawbacks you lug around your playbooks for the game, you have to find someplace to play with an understanding spouse or family if in the home, or a semi-public place to be able to speak freely, and most importantly you need to find people to play the game. Onto the good points, you actually meet and talk to people, you develop your pc with a detailed background (most of the time), you have one person who is a Dm, or Gm, who answers any questions you might have as they have taken the time to understand the rules. You immerse yourself into Role-playing as the Dm is able to bring the game to life by his ability (talking in funny voices, acting, etc.) and if the other players follow suit they also begin role-playing the game making it fun for everyone involved.

For me it is not much competition, the best game play hands down is the good old fashioned Face to face gaming.

So next time you play your favorite game, give a thought or two as to why you prefer PBP's, MMO's, or Face to Face gaming and what about it makes the game so fun to play.

Comments on new D&D 4th ed.

I was going on the RPG Bloggers site and ran across Happy Jacks RPG Podcast they were discussing the 4th edition of D&D, I highly recommend listening to the last post it is very insightful and they make some good points about the game and how they think it relates to the younger crowd now.

From all pictures and comments I have seen on this new version of D&D it seems to me as if the game is more of a headache to try to run as combat seems to be very complicated and drawn out. Comparing this to the 2nd edition I think that yes they may have made the game more accessible to the younger audience, but 2nd edition rules while not the best are clear and easy to understand even with the upside down AC. and skill rolls.

I still prefer the classes of 2nd edition where you have some structure and limitations to what races can or cannot do or become. What good is it if in the new edition almost everyone can have some sort of healing power, throw spells? The whole point of D&D to me anyway was having a group that cooperated together, to survive by using the strengths and weaknesses of each other's skills and characters. Not to become these mega-gamers.

In the 4th edition you can regain a life by saving up 500 gp, where is the role-playing for that, save up gp and then even if I die I will be brought back? I always felt that role-playing was what made the game regardless of the rules used whether home-brew or straight by the book. The whole thing I always enjoyed was you could use the rules as needed, but as the DM you could integrate your own to give the game a certain flavor. It didn't matter if you had some crappy rolls as you rolled up your PC, you made it yours. You put thought and imagination into what you created, it just seems to me that this 4th edition is going for players who are into MMO's where mega-gaming is a way of life.

I still prefer 2nd edition and will always play that before any other variation regardless of the stats, the only thing I think that might make the later editions any better is if you have a gaming group that role-plays the game, because they understand what role-playing is compared to playing the game.

Intro to my background

Hi, this will be my first blog so to speak. Lately I have been reading a lot of blogs, mainly to due with Dungeons and Dragons* as this is my favorite and best liked RPG game of all time. I was first introduced to Dungeons & Dragons in the fall of 1982, my first year in college where a student on the floor told a group of us about a game called D&D.

It was then I learned to play this fun game involving imagination, dice rolling, heroism, evil villains and so on. My first RPG was also where I saw friends cheat, fudge dice rolls, members of the group had finally had enough and telling the Dm, we watched as he destroyed the so called hero who had committed evil deeds, pillaging villages, killing innocents. It was done in spectacular fashion over a number of gaming sessions as he reduced the so called hero to a pile of ash.

I say play on purpose here, because I still had not learned the difference between playing and role-playing yet, it was because of this RPG that I also started a collection of games from single to two player to 2-6 player games, varying game systems Marvel, D.C., Talisman, and then I moved onto getting 2nd edition AD&D (which is my favorite version of D&D), But, due to the economy lately I had to rid myself of a lot of those games letting them go on e-bay.

I absorbed the 2nd ed. sticking with this once I had left school and finding another player. He and I developed our own world, from there we formed a gaming group that played for a number of years, This was also where I learned to role-play the game, not just hack-slash taking turns Dm'ing and playing. As all good things go the group dissolved due to a variety of factors and now I find myself wanting to start another gaming group again, but it seems that no one is interested as of yet. So I have decided to write some of my thoughts down as have a variety of others.

*Any reference to D&D or AD&D name is licensed to Wizards of the Coast and is their property