Who plays Roleplaying Games these days?

Question

I'm talking about games using pen, paper and dice here, not massively multiplayer online gaming. In other words REAL roleplaying games. Is this a dying pastime played only by ageing gamers (ahem) or is there a thriving underground 'yoof' market for these games? Also, how many older people who are settled with house, kids, job etc still find time to stretch their imaginations in this way?

It's interesting to see that Yahoo haven't even provided a category for this type of game. But I know loads of people who still play pen and paper RPGs, though they don't talk about it much in public!

I'm also curious to see how much hostility and prejudice this question attracts.

Well, I was half expecting some abusive remarks but pleasantly surprised with the responses so far. Keep 'em coming!

Answer 1

well me and about 25 people in california on one desolate army base have time in our lives to stop and play some d&d or starcraft and stuff like that so i say a good amount of people still play them yet they are also caught up in the new rpg's and/or are embaressed by the upper society about them being"nerds" or "geeks" welll what i say is **** em all and stick with what you do!

Answer 2

In fact, I'll be participating in a pen&paper RPG next week, but it will be the first time in years. I think the vast majority of traditional RPG gamers now seek the holy grail in online form, just from a time standpoint. It's very difficut for people to coordinate their work schedules, drive from all over, etc.

There have been some great single-player RPGs such as Neverwinter Nights, Daggerfall, Jade Empire and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic- all those games lacked was the social dynamic of interacting with other players.

Several years ago, the Vampire:the Masquerade game hit the nail right on the head: it introduced an online mode wherein players could join a campaign which had been created by the host (or GM)- the story would then proceed with host directing events, the only difference being the players were behind their own computers. All of the player interaction, banter & arguing was there, as was the human element behind NPC actions and story twists. It was really the online progeny of pen&paper gaming.

Unfortunately, it was too buggy. It also predated the widespread adoption of DSL/cable, so disconnects, timeouts and other ISP issues were common. I suspect the Internet infrastructure just wasn't robust enough at the time.

While plenty of MMORPGs are the antithesis of roleplaying, (like WoW, though it's a blast in it's own right) others achieved remarkable success in creating immersive worlds. To date, nothing has come close to the original Everquest. In it's first couple of years, THAT was an experience unlike any other.

It's possible the upcoming Vanguard: Saga of Heroes take the next step towards realizing the MMORPG dream. The issue for MMORPGs is that ultimately it all boils down to the online community. But for the classic RPG experience in which the epic storyline revolves around the actions of your small group and without any grief from huge guilds and newbies begging at the city gates- for that, break out the character sheets, pizza and Jolt Cola.

Now where is that massive stack of D6's I was using in the last Champions campaign...?

Answer 3

I don't at the mo' but I tracked down the old fighting fantasy series of books by Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone (both of whom I believe have gone on to presumably lucrative jobs with software houses that make the kind of online games you mentioned. Anyway I intend to buy some of these soon, both as a way of recapturing a happy part of my childhood and to see if I can complete one withouth cheating.

Answer 4

I do - have done since the 1980s ( I'm 39 years old) and still meet up every Wednesday for D&D. I've tried the D&D games on the PC - Baldurs Gate, Icewind Dale, etc, are quite good.

Answer 5

d & d and shadowrun and the like DO seem to be going the way of the dodo, and i find it sad. it DOES seem that many people are no longer content with setting up sessions with friends, but are more interested in the visual wysiwyg syle of video games.

i wish there were more people who still had an interest in tabletop rollplaying.

and by the way, i'm 21, if that makes you feel any better! haha

Answer 6

Do you mean besides D&D?

We play murder mystery games with adults and mystery games with the kids.... and last year, I wrote and coordinated an entire script for 16 girls plus props and everything for a mystery game for my daughter's bday party. It was a HUGE success!