D&D Variations

[Lord J]

  I'm a bit new to the D&D universe, I played my first game in...January or February I think and I found it quite fascinating.

  The first D&D game we played was the Wheel of Time RPG.  It featured the basic D&D system, feats, and classes, but based on a different universe of play.  Afterwards we were going to play the Star Wars variation, but the GM decided against it.  Now we're playing straight D&D (Kinda, we're playing with the psionic rules, and mixing a few things around to make them really interesting...Anyway).

  Anyway, What I made this post about is the different ways you could change the D&D system to function for different universes.  A Dune RPG would be awesome, obviously, but how about one from the Wild West?  Or Ancient Egypt?  How about pirates?  How about a modern war setting, with soldiers, engineers and medics?

  Comments?

[Jack Leaf]

Well, if you want medics, just call mana or spellpower whatever it is healing points and ban all spells expect the healing ones... :P

[tutuco21]

well i aways play classic Ad&d

dark sun is the cooler expancion ever

all the classes are stronger

there are lots of psionics and theres a powerfull psionic mage dragonn floating around and destroing everithing

and the universe sound like dune in many aspects

u can try ravenloft to.. is very cool

or planescape....

if u are planing to buy a adventure set buy the dragon montain set... its a aventure for 6 weeks

ps : are u talking about book rpgs?

[Nyarlathotep]

Lord, quite a few of the things you listed already exist I think. For sure the pirate one exists.

You could ask more info from the guys at the Gameheaven D&D forum

[ExSPlug]

Actually what things would one need to have if he wants to start playing TRPGs?

[Jack Leaf]

1) Rulebook

2) Bunch of dices

3) Pen & paper

4) Adventure

[Alexander_Ordos]

I usualy create my own world and put Forgotten Realms races in there....

[Bi-lalKaifa]

I'm building my own campaign setting at the moment. It started as just an ad-hoc sesison that I was running with some friends who hadn't played before, just to ease them in. But they got really into it,a nd now I'm actually building up the world around them, complete with countries, histories, political intrigues, pantheons, mythologies, heroes and (of course) villains.

[Caid Ivik]

Dune D&D? Good idea!

[Bi-lalKaifa]

Actually there's a Dune campaign setting out for one of the other TRPG systems... the five stones or whatever it's called. I personally don't like the system, and the setting looked rather baddly thought out and implemented. Character classes were rather limited... house trooper, ixian technician, Imperial reserve, stuff like that. Nothing meaty like a sardaukar soldier, fremen warrior, bene gesserit, swordmaster of ginaz, harkonnen spy, mentat master of assassins...

[nemafakei]

WoTC have brought out loads of d20 games for all sorts of settings, modern, space-age, etc.

Regarding Dune, I've seen a Fremen and a Fedaykin Prestige Class for v3 on the wizards boards.

[Bi-lalKaifa]

D&D classes and prestige class posted on the WotC website tend to be a tad overpowered. Remember the "Dragoon" ? THe guy who invented that pretty much took a level 100 cloud and slung him into the d20 universe. For crying-out-loud... "Omnislash" ? Could have at least used some imagination.

[bryorama]

Wait a minute, I'm severly confused.

This is an RPG on a board, as in boardgame !!  ???

[Bi-lalKaifa]

No, this is Dungeons and Dragons. Tabletop role playing. Roll a dice, kill some monsties. It's a like a computer game, but instead of fancy graphics and shiney things, you have what we call in Laymen's terms "Imagination"

[ExSPlug]

Talking about D&D...I just had my first game a few days ago and is still deciding what skills and feats to give the char, any suggestions?

The char is a blacksmith, stats as below:

Human Fighter

STR 16

DEX 15

CON 12

INT 18

WIS 10

CHA 12

28 skill pts.

[bryorama]

Crap, I wanna play now, but noone to play with !

[Bi-lalKaifa]

A blacksmith?  Well he'll need craft weapons and armour for feats. Skills, he'd need Profession: blacksmith (maxed out, so 4 ranks at 1st level). Knowledge: local (again 4 ranks at 1st) might be a good one, it would help him in knowing where the best places to mine/buy ore.

Another good feat to take would be weapon focus: warhammer.

At higher level, start getting feats like skil focus, weapon prowess: warhammer, and the better 'craft' feats so he can forge  magical items, although you'd need the help of a wizard/sorceror or cleric for the spells (saying that, you have an intelligence of 18 - multiclass to fighter/wizard?)

Just some ideas.

[bryorama]

How would I start to play ?

[Bi-lalKaifa]

Eventually, you'll need the three core rule books (Dungeon Masters Guide [DMG], Player's Handbook [PHB] and the Monster MAnual [MM] -

[bryorama]

The problem is: I don't know anyone who does play D&D.  :-

[Bi-lalKaifa]

Hmm. Could be a bit of a problem then. To be honest, I only started playing when I was 18 because I, too, never knew people who played. Then I went to a 6th Form College (after highschool, before university) to do my Advanced-level studies, and I met loads of people who played it, and who brought all the books and stuff in with them to organise their sessions. I got interested in it, and read the rulebooks when they weren't being used. Even tried to create a character but messed it up. A couple of friends helped me out with it, and eventually I was asked whether I'd like to play a game.

[bryorama]

Well I'm 12 years old in 7th grade.

[Bi-lalKaifa]

Well just stick in there, be patient, and I'm sure you'll meet people who play. You're not an old man like me yet.

And on that note, I have shopping to do before the girlfriend arrives.

[ExSPlug]

You may try to find some clubs or groups that play near you and join them...that's what I did. You can join a few games first, then decide whether to continue playing, then buy a PHB.

About when you actually start playing...my DM actually started playing from at about your age.

[nemafakei]

"D&D classes and prestige class posted on the WotC website tend to be a tad overpowered."

Yes, but some 'core' PrCs are overpowered.

Hmmmm... I'm breaking down the D&D system at the moment, I might be able to use a template system quite effectively in Dune.

Problem is the Dune universe is serverely unbalanced in terms of society and factions...

I know there's a GURPS Dune somewhere which looked quite well-made and properly researched.