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Week 9 [11.12 - 17.12.2017] FRPG


At first let’s explain what it actually is. FRPG, stands for Fantasy Role Play Games  which aren't computer games or card games.

It may seem strange or uninteresting to people who only play computer games with their friends via Internet seeking adrenaline and competition, however FRPG were invented when both computers and the Internet weren't as popular as they are now or maybe not even existing in world wide spectrum. So what is needed to start playing if it doesn't require any kind of hardware?



File:Dados 4 a 20 caras trans.png
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2d/Dados_4_a_20_caras_trans.png

The only things needed are a rule book or someone who knows it pretty well or you can create new set of rules by yourself, a few k6 (six-sided dice or twelve-sided dices, there is even a hundred-sided dice for those systems that 6k wouldn’t be enough), some paper, a pencil and your imagination. In addition you can have your own map or create a new one to visualize where your character is at the moment or a scenario book (and there are plenty of them. For sure you have heard of “Warhammer” or “Dungeons & Dragons”).


Znalezione obrazy dla zapytania dungeons and dragons book
https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1312030573l/847071.jpg

Creating game rules may sound easy but most of the common game systems are complicated enough to be unplayable without the knowledge of the basics. The complexity of these rules is the result of “describing life with numbers”, because almost every action taken by a player, his or her character, or unindependent character (NPC – non-player character, ruled by the narrator) is decided (considered success or failure) by a dice roll.

The so-called Game Master is the narrator of the game. He isn’t one of the players.  He guides the players through the game, explaining every situation, describing locations and objectively deciding about the results of their characters’ actions or playing as NPC’s.

 After we know how the game works it is time to create our character. In most FRPG to create them you use a character sheet. There are tables that contain all information needed by the game system to rationalize the character’s actions. For example, their race (human, elf, orc, etc.) their statistics (strength, agility, dexterity, charisma, etc.) and their abilities like lock picking or 2-hand weapons wielding. Furthermore it contains equipment and experience which rises after every survived adventure so you go stronger and better.

Although the game is mostly taking place in your imagination, it allows you to do whatever, whenever and however you want with your imagined character in an imagined world, but always keeping in mind that sometimes it may end for your character with his imagined death before reaching the goal of the scenario.

1. Have you ever played one of those?
2. If yes, what was strangest situation that GM created?
3. Besides FRPG, do you know any other things that use D&D branding?



------------
Source: 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Role-playing_game
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warhammer_Fantasy_Roleplay
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungeons_%26_Dragons

Comments

Unknown said…
I've never played real FRPG - and I actually regret. But it is really hard to find good game master, who will lead interesting and breath taking play.
I've played "Talisman" - we made basement climate by switching off light, lighting candels and our friend has turned on some background music, so it was really great. What made it even better was the fact that this game belonged to father of one of frinds, when he was younger, so it was really old edition of game (older than us).
I have never played any FRPG but I want to try Warhammer and Call of C'thulhu- I love games based od Lovecraft's novels.
I know that there is also a MMORPG "Dungeon & Dragons Online" but I've never played it.
Unfortunately I've never played any of FRPG games, but I'm a huge fan of board games tho. When it comes to fantasy board games I would say that Talisman is my favourite one (it's called "Magia i miecz" in Poland). Still, there a ton of other board games that I like, for example: Ticket for ride, Dooble, Pandemia, Caracosone and Polish game called "Kolejka". It's sad that nowadays people do not enjoy spending time with friends offline and things like board games are becoming less popular every year.

I think that there are some computer games and movies from D&D world, but I haven't had any experience with it.
Im not so sure about board games becoming less popular or something, there are some pubs/cafes which main focus is on "borrowing" those. The one that I like most is called paradox. You pay 10 pln to borrow a game, grab a bear, find table and play it. And what is more it is really hard to find a spot without having a reservation.
Unknown said…
At first, I thought I've never played and never heard of it. But then. Wow. It reminds me of Dungeons & Dragons. It's a mini-quest from the wonderful game Life is Strange: Before the storm, which I adore. Here you can see the fragment with this game: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5bn9RSxAfQ
If I understood right, this is an FRPG. There are dice, a master, a story. So, seems like the FRPG to me.
Unknown said…
yes I played D&D when I was a child. I really like it. It's an amazing game. This game influences your imagination very much. I haven't played it fo a long time but I want to do it again. I remember one sitation in D&D. My friend tried to kill a sceleton by bow and arrow and he didn't understand why he couldn't kill it. You can't kill a sceleton by arrow beacuse arrows fly trought sceletons. In the past we could sometimes play all day outside. Sometimes we used figures, usually from Warhammer.
Haha, love it. My Best moment was when friend tried to sneak by as warrior in full plate armor.
This comment has been removed by the author.
Didn't know about it as i have not played before the Storm yet. But i guess i have to :D First part was awesome.
Filip Sawicki said…
Playing FRPG is a great idea to spend some time with your friends. This is much better option than drinking and partying each and every meeting. I have played Talisman and Warhammer 40k, possibly something else, but I can’t recall. Warhammer was a bit too expensive to truly enjoy the whole game and universe. Nevertheless it was quite of a nice experience, I have even created “Tau empire” army and played with it for some time. Talisman is much cheaper as you don’t need to buy any additional things (excluding extensions, but this is something very different) to “feel” the game. Also rules are simpler than Warhammer’s so you can play it with almost everybody. I would certainly recommend buying Talisman!
Magdalena Popek said…
I've never played any of these games, but I have some friends who are really into FRPG. Unfortunately, I have never had a chance to play with them, neither have I ever been interested in it. But after reading your article I became quite interested in it, especially how playing FRPG looks. Maybe I'll ask them if they can show me how to play.
Andrzej Gulak said…
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said…
I was playing FRPG with my cousin and his friends when I was 10 years old. It was great, time-consuming game. My cousin was always the GM, because he could create interesting adventures and had many scenario books. I also really enjoyed reading his main guidebook where races etc. were described. Unfortunately, today I don't remember almost anything about D&D and adventures that my cousin created.
Yeah, that's a pity. My problem about FRPG sessions was that we almost never had scenario book and we had to make up some new ones so now i can't remember almost anything.
For me it was always oposite :D. Even AAA movies were branded with D&D i think.
Marcin Górski said…
I know that people can spend good time because it based on teamwork. Personally, I've never played FRPG games. I don't understand idea of that type of tournaments. It can be something with my imagination because I can't see rules and when GM would tell me "you are blocked by monster" - monster? where?
As I said, I'm not similar with that kind of games and I don't know any other things that use D&D branding.
Vladlen Kyselov said…
I used to play FRPG, because it was really easy to entertain. I had a lot of free time in my childhood so I had to waste it somewhere. Actually, I don`t remember nothing interesting about those games that I have played, but the thing that I remember is that I enjoyed that time playing FRPG games.
Unknown said…
I have never played FRPG before. I don't want to. It is just some imaginary game. It is not close to realit. I heard about Warhammer. I thought it is some strategic game. I don't like strategic games. Overall I am very bad game player. It would take me some time to get used to this kind of games and gain experience to not be the worst when I play multiplayer.
Unknown said…
Unfortunately I don't know a lot about FRPG games and I have never played it. I am a fan of RPG computer games so maybe I should try also a board game someday. I have to say that I don't know anything which is branded by D&D. I hope that it makes you fun and I feel that it can be very engaging.
Zygmunt Z said…
Unfortunately I haven't played any FRPG games and I can't say that I had any strange situation that GM created... And I don't really know any other things that use D&D branding it is just not my cup of tea
I have never played any FRPG yet but I would love to. It sounds like a good fun. I saw in Netflix series called "Stranger things" there were kids who were playing probably Dungeon & Dragons. Unfortunately that was my only expierience in this type of board games so far.
Unknown said…
I have never tried FRPG (I didn't even know its called like that. In my mind it was just a pen and paper RPG) even though I always wanted to. I just never go around to do it because of amount of preparation it requires. I've done something similar though - I've taken part in many online RPG sessions through various internet forums. I remember one that I was a GM of that is still used as an example of a perfect role playing session on this website. I've taken my players to a post-apocaliptic bunker full of sentient zombies. Fun times.
Jakub Lisicki said…
I have played an FRPG for a while when I was in the elementary school. I think it was 'Warhammer,' but I'm not sure about that. It was pretty funny, we took turns in becoming a GM. I think it's pretty essential in these games to have a pretty creative game master, since he is the one who creates all of the situations, encounters, etc.
I can't really recall any specific situations since I can barely remember what FRPG game I've been playing. From what I remember, though, our scenarios involved many travels and ambushes involved in them. We didn't really want anyone from us die in these scenarios, the worst thing that happened in them is one of us losing his arm in the battle.
FRPG's still seem to be pretty popular among some groups of people. There are even some computer adaptation of those board games, but I've never been interested enough in them to actually give it a shot. What makes them even more remembered is the fact that they're becoming part of some mainstream TV series like "Stranger Things." In this specific series, the kids were playing the original D&D board game.
Unknown said…
I think you've delivered a very... incomplete description of FRPGs. There are so many RPG systems, that it's a bit of an insult for those who play something different than the most popular D&D or Warhammer. Not every RPG system is based on dice rolls, character classes, races and hundreds of tables and statistics. There are systems, where you don't even need to use any kind of book nor pen and paper.

In junior high school I used to play rpg with my friends an we used a very simple system designed by ourselves, where we didn't use dice and our character sheets consisted mainly of player's equipment, race and gender. The rest was just a story made up by a Game Master and players' choices. That was a real rpg game for me, without bureaucratic constraints that other systems have.
Vyvyan said…
I have to agree with Marcin Macieszczuk. Not all RPG systems are based on dice rolls, statistics, races and classes.
In fact, it's not true that FRPG are not present in computer games. Because early RPG games (Baldurs Gate, Icewind Dale, Neverwinter Nights etc.) was delivered on classical FRPG system where Game Master was your computer, your character has specific statistics, class, race and abilities. Also: damage, spell criticals, chance to persuade NPC, etc was based on dice rolls - it's a pity that this aspect was omitted.
I never played FRPG because none of my friends was into it. But I'd love to try it some day.
Unknown said…
1. No i have never played it but i would like to try.
2. Cannot answer because of the above reason.
3. Yup early computer games like Baldurs Gate and The Elder Scrolls Arena used that system.
Unknown said…
Unfortunelly, I have never played FRPG but I would love to try it. After this interesting article maybe I will give it a shot.About D&D, I played Dungeons & Dragons on PC long time ago.
It's a kind of gaming that relies heavily on something we don't really use much in our modern everyday lives, our imagination. The rules are there to quantify the world, to be able to introduce a dramatic random element to the fight with dragons you're gonna inevitably get yourselves into, but in its core, is about spending time with friends and having fun while creating new crazy stories for your in-game characters. Unfortunately I've only played in a few times, since it's always a problem to get multiple people into one place with several free hours to spend, plus it often takes some prep work to create a story for your characters to follow. But when you manage to pull it off, it's definitely worth the hassle.
Unknown said…
I've actually played D&D when I was much younger, I remember even having the same book (or a very similar one) that you posted as one of the pictures. Unfortuantely, I do not remember very much apart from the fact that I enjoyed it very much. I do recall a D&D game I saw in the Xbox Store once - Neverwinter - but I never tried it so I don't really have anything else to say about it.
Unknown said…
I’ve played D&D and some Warhammer aswell. What’s cool nowadays is that you can play those games over the Internet with friends living abroad. There’s plenty of software available to help simulate a “physical” table, webcam to see everyone else and it’s “almost” as you’re sitting in the same room!
There's a cafe in Warsaw called Paradox where people gather to play various RPG, board and other variety of games. If you don't have people to play with, you can always try visiting it and joining a game there, while also making some new friends.
I've played a couple of sessions of D&D 3rd edition back when I was still in an elementary school. I really enjoyed these evenings and had a lot of fun during all the encounters and tries of our group to role-play as much as possible, and even though we were just a bunch of kids we still managed to immerse ourselves in the created world. I still own almost every book from 3rd edition, maybe except for some complete adventures texts and to be honest I probably spent more time reading and skimming through these books than anything else. I've created so many living worlds, locations and characters that I can still remember nowadays. It was quite a huge part of my youth till the point I started playing WoW, which made it easier to visualise the setting and adventures, but looking back in time it made them less real. No video game or other modern media will ever have the budget of our own imagination.
I've never played this type of game. It is familiar only with Munchkin and Talisman, but these games use maps. Many times I heard about the game Dungeons & Dragons. I think it would be interesting to play it. But this requires friends who already have experience in such games. And all my friends prefer either cards or computers. Thanks to the author for an interesting article.
Patryk Pohnke said…
I played some games very long time ago. I remember it was really entertaining. The real downside of FRPG is that it is very time consuming.
In fact it was so long ago that I don't remember the details.
Unfortunately I don't recall any other brands that are using D&D system.
Haven't really got to play one yet but i was thinking about doing so. Main issue for me with FRPG is time constraint u need a group of people willing to pour lot of time not only into preparation phase of your game but also in actual playing as it can take months depending on skill of the players.
As for strange GM situations i saw one GM make players betray each other without each of them knowing that they all are trying to betray their team. By the end of the game noone could be trusted.
I believe i saw one or two PC games Labelled as Dungeons and Dragons - they were turn based strategy games.
Sadly I never really played FRPGs when I was younger, and nowadays I just prefer typical RPG games that bring much more fun than just plain imagination and made-up situations. Although I kinda like D&D universe and I wish I could get into it at some point, maybe when I'm old guy that doesn't want to play video games anymore :).
Unknown said…
No, I've never played FRPG game, but I think I'll become bored quite quickly- I'm that kind of a person that does, as the guy in one interview said:
Ok, you have 15 minutes to tell me the pace and introduce me to the world of this game, and I'll enjoy it. You keep improvising or breaking the image you made during those first minutes, I will simply get bored.
I also don't "feel it" when some nerdy-looking guy is telling me a fairy tale, we are all sitting at the table and are making up imaginary stuff- even computer games have more reality in themselves, as you can actually see your surroundings, and play by already defined rules.
Wojtek Kania said…
I have played in D&D and it have been very exciting experience. I have been played in D&D when I was 12 and I reallly don't remeber what was the strangest situation that GM created. I do not know any other things that use D&D branding.
Unknown said…
I have never played that games but i heard about it and it looks very nice. We can meet on real life and play game with checkers so its good for me. I like games like that. Also every game have a different story so we should be bored because everything could happen.

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