What do you look for in a tabletop game?

What tabletop game do you play most?

Dungeons & Dragons 4.0	13.3%	[ 4 ]
Dungeons & Dragons 3.5	23.3%	[ 7 ]
Pathfinder	13.3%	[ 4 ]
World of Darkness	16.7%	[ 5 ]
GURPS	0.0%	[ 0 ]
Warhammer Fantasy/40K	6.7%	[ 2 ]
Call of Cthulhu	0.0%	[ 0 ]
Other	26.7%	[ 8 ]
Total Votes:			[ 30 ]

[Icarus Bonekind]

Hey there tabletop players! Question: What are you looking to get out of your RPGs? Do you prefer games that focus on combat and sweet loot, or are you more interested in storytelling and character interaction? Do you love dice, or hate them? Are you a dab hand at stats, or do you dread crunching the numbers? Love or hate filling out character sheets? Do you like reading flavor text, or skim over it to get to the core mechanics?

What do you NOT want? What turns you off to a game?

Tell me all about it!

[Ronan_Shade]

I'm more of a mind to enjoy the storytelling elements of a system. Not only that, but deep interpersonal character interactions.

[kvon78]

I LOVE reading! gimme rules rules rules! rules to break and bend and rub in other people's faces. I really like the pictures of characters and the psuedo-stories a lot of RPs put in their books.
FEATS! I still play a lot of DND (3.5 thank you very much) and Nothing makes me feel better than getting spring attack as quickly as possible to better WIN DnD! XDD
Supplements? I've got em all, and I've read em enough to make even the DM scratch his head when I bust out my character builds.

[Masiakasaurus]

Ossochanter

Hey there tabletop players! Question: What are you looking to get out of your RPGs? Do you prefer games that focus on combat and sweet loot, or are you more interested in storytelling and character interaction? Do you love dice, or hate them? Are you a dab hand at stats, or do you dread crunching the numbers? Love or hate filling out character sheets? Do you like reading flavor text, or skim over it to get to the core mechanics?

What do you NOT want? What turns you off to a game?

Tell me all about it!

I like games that offer good tactical combat, that are fast in play, can be improvised on the fly easily, involve minimal dice rolling, and are well-designed or well thought out (not just a bunch of stuff slapped together).

I do not want to see: binary pass/fail, lack of player involvement/narrative control, clunky rulesets, inelegant dice rolling, or anything resembling anything in F.A.T.A.L.

But I play D&D anyway, go figure.

[Pirate_Cook_Sangi]

I like to think I'm in the middle in terms of mind sets. I enjoy rules and storytelling a lot, though I find that GMing is far more about storytelling (as you can always brush up on what rules you need before gaming starts) while the player side is more based in rules that you need to have memorized about your character, especially for combat. Whenever I can merge rules and storytelling to make an interesting twist in a game, I'm really happy. And when I have a GM who focuses either entirely on rules or entirely on storytelling, I find myself easily uninterested in the game.

[Threx]

I look for arousing anime pics in RPGs. So far I believe Exalted is winning.

[from blue to]

It's really about getting people together to have fun, so whatever I can find people willing to play. Given options, I suppose I want the game that least limits the players.

[Celisasu]

Generally speaking as long as I have a fun crew I'll play damn near anything, even if it's an honestly bad system(D&D 3/3.5E I'm looking at you). In the grand scheme of things we play mostly what fits our mood at the moment. If we want a tactical RPG we'll play D&D4E. If we want light hearted RP we'll play Fiasco(the incident involving the gay brothel and the mail order bride in the Wild West being the single most hilarious moment I can think of in RP). Right now one of our crew is DMing....I think he said it's called Dungeon World which we'll be starting next week. We made characters two weeks ago but IRL has gotten in the way the last three weeks preventing us from playing together. We're also hoping to eventually give Smallville a shot, mostly because we know one of the creators in that case so we figure as friends we should try his game right? xd Having never watched the show myself I know very little about it. I'd love to run or play a game of either Wraith: The Oblivion or Orpheus or Werewolf: The Forsaken or Prometheus but there's not enough interest at this time so I just stare sadly at the books.

[Laertes Ursus]

I'm a NSG. I like my games to be story first and foremost. If there's no plot, or if the play is mindless rolling and Monty Python jokes, I'm just going to leave. That said, I prefer games that have a system that works. If it makes sense and the mechanics don't get in the way of the story, I'm happy. I do like to crunch the numbers and memorize the rules, but I also like to immerse myself in the lore of the game. The deeper and richer the setting, the more I'm going to bury my head in it and get into the game. Legend of the Five Rings is a good example here. The Rokugan setting is so finely-detailed that there is information pertaining to what wood the chopsticks of a given clan-member are likely to be made of. I eat that stuff up.

[simetradon]

I enjoy a game that removes the straitjackets that some games enforce on characters. That's why Chaos 6010 has to be my favorite, as characters are entirely customizable, predominantly at the whim of the player. Just because a character is a Mage doesn't mean he can't dive through the air, dual pistols unloading hot lead into the zombie horde.

I also like a multitude of special abilities to choose from, each one granting a character another interesting facet. Chaos 6010 has around 500 special abilities in the core book alone.

A deep and interesting setting is also paramount to catching and holding my attention in a game... hence why when I am writing setting material, I attempt to paint an elaborate picture of what is going on, as well as integrate minor hints about what is really going on behind closed doors.

[Celisasu]

Laertes Ursus

I'm a NSG. I like my games to be story first and foremost. If there's no plot, or if the play is mindless rolling and Monty Python jokes, I'm just going to leave. That said, I prefer games that have a system that works. If it makes sense and the mechanics don't get in the way of the story, I'm happy. I do like to crunch the numbers and memorize the rules, but I also like to immerse myself in the lore of the game. The deeper and richer the setting, the more I'm going to bury my head in it and get into the game. Legend of the Five Rings is a good example here. The Rokugan setting is so finely-detailed that there is information pertaining to what wood the chopsticks of a given clan-member are likely to be made of. I eat that stuff up.

Yeah, the Rokugan setting is filled with great setting info. It tends to go wrong when it has to explain how the CCG wins affect the Empire, but luckily when it just ignores that part it's quite awesome. I like the chapter in the Imperial Histories about the "lost century" where they discuss a major peasant rebellion(they effectively controlled huge chunks of Lion and Dragon territory) that happened in a major drought under the leadership of an exceptionally nasty Hantei and how nobody in the Empire even knows about it as the Shosuro, Ikoma, and Imperial Families basically wrote it out of history, just describing his reign as an era of peace.

[Laertes Ursus]

Celisasu

Laertes Ursus

I'm a NSG. I like my games to be story first and foremost. If there's no plot, or if the play is mindless rolling and Monty Python jokes, I'm just going to leave. That said, I prefer games that have a system that works. If it makes sense and the mechanics don't get in the way of the story, I'm happy. I do like to crunch the numbers and memorize the rules, but I also like to immerse myself in the lore of the game. The deeper and richer the setting, the more I'm going to bury my head in it and get into the game. Legend of the Five Rings is a good example here. The Rokugan setting is so finely-detailed that there is information pertaining to what wood the chopsticks of a given clan-member are likely to be made of. I eat that stuff up.

Yeah, the Rokugan setting is filled with great setting info. It tends to go wrong when it has to explain how the CCG wins affect the Empire, but luckily when it just ignores that part it's quite awesome. I like the chapter in the Imperial Histories about the "lost century" where they discuss a major peasant rebellion(they effectively controlled huge chunks of Lion and Dragon territory) that happened in a major drought under the leadership of an exceptionally nasty Hantei and how nobody in the Empire even knows about it as the Shosuro, Ikoma, and Imperial Families basically wrote it out of history, just describing his reign as an era of peace.

Yeah, I love that bit. I've had players ask to play during that era, and I always put on a blank expression and say "Nothing happened then. That era is boring. We're going to play (Insert other time period here)." It goes alongside such other classics as "Ninja don't exist." every time Ninja are mentioned, and "Maho BAD!"

[Celisasu]

Laertes Ursus

Celisasu

Laertes Ursus

I'm a NSG. I like my games to be story first and foremost. If there's no plot, or if the play is mindless rolling and Monty Python jokes, I'm just going to leave. That said, I prefer games that have a system that works. If it makes sense and the mechanics don't get in the way of the story, I'm happy. I do like to crunch the numbers and memorize the rules, but I also like to immerse myself in the lore of the game. The deeper and richer the setting, the more I'm going to bury my head in it and get into the game. Legend of the Five Rings is a good example here. The Rokugan setting is so finely-detailed that there is information pertaining to what wood the chopsticks of a given clan-member are likely to be made of. I eat that stuff up.

Yeah, the Rokugan setting is filled with great setting info. It tends to go wrong when it has to explain how the CCG wins affect the Empire, but luckily when it just ignores that part it's quite awesome. I like the chapter in the Imperial Histories about the "lost century" where they discuss a major peasant rebellion(they effectively controlled huge chunks of Lion and Dragon territory) that happened in a major drought under the leadership of an exceptionally nasty Hantei and how nobody in the Empire even knows about it as the Shosuro, Ikoma, and Imperial Families basically wrote it out of history, just describing his reign as an era of peace.

Yeah, I love that bit. I've had players ask to play during that era, and I always put on a blank expression and say "Nothing happened then. That era is boring. We're going to play (Insert other time period here)." It goes alongside such other classics as "Ninja don't exist." every time Ninja are mentioned, and "Maho BAD!"

Ninja don't exist. Silly peasant superstitions. ninja

[Laertes Ursus]

Celisasu

Laertes Ursus

Celisasu

Laertes Ursus

I'm a NSG. I like my games to be story first and foremost. If there's no plot, or if the play is mindless rolling and Monty Python jokes, I'm just going to leave. That said, I prefer games that have a system that works. If it makes sense and the mechanics don't get in the way of the story, I'm happy. I do like to crunch the numbers and memorize the rules, but I also like to immerse myself in the lore of the game. The deeper and richer the setting, the more I'm going to bury my head in it and get into the game. Legend of the Five Rings is a good example here. The Rokugan setting is so finely-detailed that there is information pertaining to what wood the chopsticks of a given clan-member are likely to be made of. I eat that stuff up.

Yeah, the Rokugan setting is filled with great setting info. It tends to go wrong when it has to explain how the CCG wins affect the Empire, but luckily when it just ignores that part it's quite awesome. I like the chapter in the Imperial Histories about the "lost century" where they discuss a major peasant rebellion(they effectively controlled huge chunks of Lion and Dragon territory) that happened in a major drought under the leadership of an exceptionally nasty Hantei and how nobody in the Empire even knows about it as the Shosuro, Ikoma, and Imperial Families basically wrote it out of history, just describing his reign as an era of peace.

Yeah, I love that bit. I've had players ask to play during that era, and I always put on a blank expression and say "Nothing happened then. That era is boring. We're going to play (Insert other time period here)." It goes alongside such other classics as "Ninja don't exist." every time Ninja are mentioned, and "Maho BAD!"

Ninja don't exist. Silly peasant superstitions. ninja

That's right. Intelligent, well-educated individuals like you and I know full well that Ninja don't exist, and never have. They're like dishonourable Crane, especially ones that use Gaijin pepper. Don't exist, never have.

[Celisasu]

Laertes Ursus

Celisasu

Laertes Ursus

Celisasu

Laertes Ursus

I'm a NSG. I like my games to be story first and foremost. If there's no plot, or if the play is mindless rolling and Monty Python jokes, I'm just going to leave. That said, I prefer games that have a system that works. If it makes sense and the mechanics don't get in the way of the story, I'm happy. I do like to crunch the numbers and memorize the rules, but I also like to immerse myself in the lore of the game. The deeper and richer the setting, the more I'm going to bury my head in it and get into the game. Legend of the Five Rings is a good example here. The Rokugan setting is so finely-detailed that there is information pertaining to what wood the chopsticks of a given clan-member are likely to be made of. I eat that stuff up.

Yeah, the Rokugan setting is filled with great setting info. It tends to go wrong when it has to explain how the CCG wins affect the Empire, but luckily when it just ignores that part it's quite awesome. I like the chapter in the Imperial Histories about the "lost century" where they discuss a major peasant rebellion(they effectively controlled huge chunks of Lion and Dragon territory) that happened in a major drought under the leadership of an exceptionally nasty Hantei and how nobody in the Empire even knows about it as the Shosuro, Ikoma, and Imperial Families basically wrote it out of history, just describing his reign as an era of peace.

Yeah, I love that bit. I've had players ask to play during that era, and I always put on a blank expression and say "Nothing happened then. That era is boring. We're going to play (Insert other time period here)." It goes alongside such other classics as "Ninja don't exist." every time Ninja are mentioned, and "Maho BAD!"

Ninja don't exist. Silly peasant superstitions. ninja

That's right. Intelligent, well-educated individuals like you and I know full well that Ninja don't exist, and never have. They're like dishonourable Crane, especially ones that use Gaijin pepper. Don't exist, never have.

Indeed. And who's ever heard of a strange word like "Kolat"? That's even crazier talk than ninja.