How old were you, your first time?

[cplmac]

heheheh. i've done that one before. as long as you don't ask for magic items, or out of the ordinary spells, and normal equipment, one can pick up a fair amount of savings.

I'm not sure if it was the fact the a couple of the guys in our party had been playing for years and knew to ask for all that stuff, or if it was because this was the very first time for the guy that was our DM. Out of the 9 of us, including the DM, 6 of us were doing this for the very first time.

[rabkala]

I once asked to use a wagon, DM said yes. I then told all the players to ask for just about everything they could possibly imagine. DM said we could have all the normal items we asked for. I filled up the wagon and drove it into town to sell all the junk. Boy was he mad at the hundreds of gold we acquired that way!

[nijineko]

beware the merchant pcs... for they have lots of stuff. ;D

(should make a prestige or template for that... get to sell your stuff at market value rather than half as a class ability....)

[cplmac]

I once asked to use a wagon, DM said yes. I then told all the players to ask for just about everything they could possibly imagine. DM said we could have all the normal items we asked for. I filled up the wagon and drove it into town to sell all the junk. Boy was he mad at the hundreds of gold we acquired that way!

A trick I learned from that first DM to help offset the chance of the party getting a huge ammount of gold is to at best, let them sale stuff but they only get half price for it, at best. Only once did I have a group question this, but I pointed out that the merchant they were selling the stuff to had to be able to make a living. If he gave them regular price for the item, then he would have to try to sell it at a higher price. They agreed that they would not want to have to pay extra for stuff.

[spotlight]

Say Rabkala, your first name ain't Monty, is it? That wagon sure made it a real Haul!!

By the way, thanx fer the save, teseral and cpl.

My brother reminded me of something yesterday. Thou my first experience at rpg was at age 18 (C. 1975), He and I did have a space game that came in a little plastic pouch about ten years before that. We liked it so much, I actuall drew a hexagonal map on a painted wall in our bedroom and we used thumb tacks to represent the units and stuff.

A few years ago, the kids and I went out to the Homeplace, the map was still visible. I just wish I could recall the name of that simple game.

[rabkala]

Say Rabkala, your first name ain't Monty, is it? That wagon sure made it a real Haul!!.

One of the best things about having many years of experience is catching the younger players trying to pull stunts I actually did about 25 years ago.

[Nord_drache]

Quote:
Originally Posted by spotlight
Say Rabkala, your first name ain't Monty, is it? That wagon sure made it a real Haul!!.

One of the best things about having many years of experience is catching the younger players trying to pull stunts I actually did about 25 years ago.

I guess it just goes to show everything old is new again. I don't know too many player who haven't gone through a Monty Haul phase - its just monetary power gaming. It usually goes away when the thrill has gone.

Its actually more fun to take a Monty Haul / power gamer and introduce them to good roleplaying and see them change.

[Webhead]

My first experience with RPGs was when I was about 13 and a new friend I played Magic: The Gathering with (back when it first started and was actually cool) asked me if I'd ever heard of AD&D. We played a few "no-rules" adventures (to that date I had never seen any rule books for AD&D) but not much else came out of that.

About a year later, I learned that West End Games was publishing a Star Wars RPG and for the several weeks while I was waiting for my pre-order book to come in, I was already running a campaign (with no rules, of course) with a friend over the phone 4 or 5 nights a week. In fact, I still have the scribbly notes on faded scraps of paper that I took during that game. Probably one of the coolest campaigns I ever ran.

The rest, as they say, is history...

[boulet]

Very interesting first experience Webhead ! One can say you have pure role-play in your blood. Who needs rules anyway ?

[tesral]

Very interesting first experience Webhead ! One can say you have pure role-play in your blood. Who needs rules anyway ?

At the most basic level RPG is "let's pretend" as played by every child on the planet. The main differences are the moderator "Gamemaster" that writes and directs the action, and the fact you have a rules set to handle the random aspects. But at the very core it's cowboys & Indians, cops & robbers or any number of let's pretend game. We just use dice to handle the incidents of "I shot you!" "No you didn't!"

I too was "Role-playing" before I knew that systems existed. In the case of my friends and I the shared Universe was Star Trek. We created characters and invented adventures. Once D&D got invented and came down our way we jumped on it with everything.

I still write stories about that first character. Jerry LaSaille.

[Webhead]

Very interesting first experience Webhead ! One can say you have pure role-play in your blood. Who needs rules anyway ?

Thanks. The Star Wars campaign in particular was a lot of fun. I have to chalk it up a lot to my friend being one of the most awesome players I ever knew, but there was never once during that game that I encountered a "I shot you!...No you didn't!" situation. The game mostly revolved around a "Ok, this is happening, what does your character do?" play style. It was a very stimulus-response kind of thing. This meant, in part, that combat for example tended to play out in broader exchanges instead of by finely structured "rounds". I would set the scene, he would describe his general tactic and I would narrate the scene accordingly...lather, rinse, repeat. Perhaps we were more innocent or enamoured by the sheer fact that we were "roleplaying" but we both had a mutual acceptance and respect for what the other was contributing to the direction of the story and thus I can never recall us arguing over anything in the game. This is something I sorely miss during my past few years of gaming, as many games have tended to reek of players distrusting the GM or vice versa, disolving into a contest of "who knows the rules more thoroughly". Blech...

It is for this reason that I continue to have a fascination with "rules-lite" games. Games that let you paint your characters in broad strokes and have just enough rules to establish "random and arbitrary" resolution (by rolling dice), but don't focus on the rules as the central part of the game and don't limit your imagination by forcing it to conform to the rules.

Even though I almost never get to actually play them (because my friends think they are too lite for their tastes), I have a soft spot for games like Risus, Wushu, The Pool, and Spirit of the Century for this reason.

Of course, I like some of my games with a little heavier rules as well, but I find the heavier and more intricate the rules get, the less attached I get with the game. If playing in such games, I tend to find other ways to enjoy myself (usually by creating oddball or quirky characters), as the rules-mongering holds little lasting appeal for me.

[nijineko]

i used to scribble out maps and narrate the adventures of the various kids going through them out on the playgrounds in elementary school. ^^

[hippie_mama]

18, but i was a "significant other" gamer; wasn't really into it. I was 23 when I found my love for RP. Now I'm insatiable. *winks*

But I also played TMNT on the playground in Kindergarten, if that counts.

[tesral]

18, but i was a "significant other" gamer; wasn't really into it. I was 23 when I found my love for RP. Now I'm insatiable. *winks*

But I also played TMNT on the playground in Kindergarten, if that counts.

Me and my friends played Batman & Robin among other things. Run around the yard with a towel pinned to your shirt. I guess that makes us early LARPers.

Every kid does this. RPG is the same thing with more structure.

[Webhead]

Me and my friends played Batman & Robin among other things. Run around the yard with a towel pinned to your shirt. I guess that makes us early LARPers.

Every kid does this. RPG is the same thing with more structure.

Sure. The main difference being, as you said, the presence of a "Game Master" who directs the action.

Man, I remember using clothes pins and towels to play "super hero". Good memories!