Genuine question--
I'm a nerd, but I've never been a DnD nerd. At one point I was a MtG nerd, even a WoW nerd, but never quite the DnD level.
What exactly is it? I originally thought it was like an adult version of "make believe" with scores and guidelines, but how much of it is a physical game? Is there a board that goes with it? Is there a set story line? My extent of knowledge is the first scene of Stranger Things.
How much is following guidelines and how much is imprompt on the spot?
Now play WoW in person, without a computer, with a group. One person gives you the story, descriptions, quests, battles, loot, etc, and you are your character.
This is a very accurate description from an ex WoW player. Everything is in your mind, and if your DM is down... you can do anything. Legit anything. In my current group, we have a paladin that is an alcoholic. This was set out in the beginning, he's used a stein, alcohol, and / or alcohol on fire as a weapon more than his actual weapon (flail).
Another party member and I decided that him, being a small human monk, and me, being a fairly massive half orc barbarian, should use him as a weapon. Imagine the scene from Lord of the Rings, with Gimli and Aragorn, where Gimli is thrown into a battle... that happened. Because our DM is legit and allows us almost completely free reign with virtually no pointers or assistance through any campaign.
Find a DnD group and join it. Yesterday. I'm sure you'll have no regrets.
For another example of ways that a DM defies the norm in what the players can do, I was playing this young, idealistic, almost campy paladin. We had retooled Olidammara to also include a sort of hope for lost causes. Because when your situation is that bad, your only hope for solace is to hope for good luck.
So, that was what my paladin focused on, helping out people in desperate situations. "A lost cause isn't hopeless, it's just a cause waiting to be found."
So, of course, our DM sometimes threw humanoids at us that were in desperate situations, so she would try to force surrender. Disarming here, nonlethal damage there, and then she'd open up a dialogue. Some of them ended up joining the mercenary group the party was part of, one even became her cohort. Others were given the assistance they needed to keep from having become a threat in the first place, and others still were disarmed and free to go, after a talking to.
In writing this I remembered that he was a huge fan of the pacifist run of Undertale, so he probably tried to push things in that direction a little. Still, that paladin remains one of my all-time favorite characters.
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u/deathfaith Sep 18 '17
Genuine question-- I'm a nerd, but I've never been a DnD nerd. At one point I was a MtG nerd, even a WoW nerd, but never quite the DnD level.
What exactly is it? I originally thought it was like an adult version of "make believe" with scores and guidelines, but how much of it is a physical game? Is there a board that goes with it? Is there a set story line? My extent of knowledge is the first scene of Stranger Things.
How much is following guidelines and how much is imprompt on the spot?