Miscellaneous Monday - Role Playing Games

[Andy Gladstone]

To borrow a line from Community Leader Extraordinaire @Kristján Geir Mathiesen :

That the first (and most famous) Role Playing Game (RPG) released was Dungeons and Dragons?

 

Since its original release in 1971 it has spawned an ecosystem of hundreds of game versions, and started the RPG craze that jumped from board games, to card games, to game console and PC based gaming. 

I recently read an article that listed (at least according to the authors) the 50 Best RPGs of All Time which reminded me of this history and the changes that have taken place in the RPG world over the past 52 years (not that I have been alive for all of them). The progression of the games from analog mail-chain based platforms to multi-player cloud based online gaming is a microcosm of the shifts we have seen in the world around us.

But I'm not here today to theorize on whether this change has been good, bad or ugly. I'm just here to ask:

What's your favorite Role Playing Game? 

Make it a great Monday and week ahead!

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

Ohh, that's a hard one.  I've played a lot, both on a computer and in real life.

In real life, Runequest and AD&D were firm favourites with my groups, but I enjoyed Call of Cthulhu more.

On a computer, it's mostly series:

• Fallout 3, 4 and Vegas
• Elder Scrolls: Oblivion, Morrowind and Skyrim
• D&D-based ones: Icewind Dale, Baldur's gate, Neverwinter nights
• My favourite is Planescape Torment

I'm currently replaying Baldur's Gate - Shadows of Amn, and my gaming group has gaming Sundays every 4-5 weeks.

(Does "Among Us" count as Roleplaying?  As you have to do missions, tell stories, and kill things...)

[Gabriela Koleva]

Hi @Andy Gladstone ! Thank you for the awesome titbit.

I think that the game industry and especially RPGs have really come a long way over the past 52 years. If you think back with first starting with the "Choose your adventure" gamebooks by Ian Livingstone and Steve Jackson, the very first edition of D&D rules book, the text based adventure games and before you know it we have a full blown cinematic RPG games.

I love RPGs way too much to be able to choose just one that's my favorite. The two RPGs I am currently obsessed playing are Final Fantasy 16 and Baldur's Gate 3 ❤️

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

There's a storage box somewhere around here with a copy of "The Warlock of Firetop Mountain in it", which was my first adventure book.

[Jimmy Seddon]

@Andy Gladstone I have never thought that I could talk about any subject for an extended period of time, but RPGs is one I could easily do a 45 minute presentation on.

Everything that both @Nic Brough -Adaptavist- & @Gabriela Koleva have mentioned are fantastic!  And, I would tend to agree that I can't pick just one.  However, I will highlight a few that are very close to me.

• Super Mario RPG was the first RPG game I played and was the gateway to this amazing genre for me.  I'm extremely excited for it's return (and I'll have an 12 hour Extra Life Stream of it on Nov. 24th). 
  
• Chrono Trigger - The first RPG I played after Super Mario RPG and the game still holds up today (I'm waiting on the remake for this one too).
• The Final Fantasy Series - I own every main line game (and some of the spin offs) on multiple platforms.
• D&D's Waterdeep Campaign - During the pandemic, I had a group of friends that I would play baseball with in the summer and curling in the winter.  We always talked about never having time to be able to play a D&D campaign and when we were unable to play baseball that year (and the next) we started a 2 year D&D campaign online which was some of the most fun I have had.

Have a great week everyone!

[Summer.Hogan]

I am really not at all into video games, but wanted to answer so there it is @Andy Gladstone! Great question though for those who are. 

[Preston VanSanden]

Used to play 3.0/3.5 almost every weekend in highschool. Had some absolutely stellar times. My absolute most fun times was a wizard I had that really wasn't very good in combat, but was beyond good at not dying. 

I've tried as an adult but darn is it hard to schedule with other adults. Schedules, timezones, work/life just get in the way.

Mostly taken my RPG onto the PC. Which I am a sucker for a good solo RPG. Fallout: New Vegas is the one I've replayed the most. 

[Shawn Doyle - ReleaseTEAM]

I'd have to go with AD&D.  Most of my RPG days were in the 70s and 80's.