Post by Lily on Oct 18, 2022 1:44:08 GMT
Before I start wittering on - this thread isn't for role playing video games. This for table-top role playing games. Those where you use real or virtual dice to play, and not buttons on consoles.
About 5-6 years ago now I started watching Critical Role. It is a Twitch stream where voice actors get together and play Dungeons and Dragons. I started though on YouTube and bingewatched around 90 episodes in a matter of weeks (they last around 3-4 hours so that was quite the binge). At the time it was about all I could manage to do, as soon as one episode finished I started the next, watching about 4 episodes a day. I eventually caught up and so could now watch live, though a bit difficult as streams start at 3 am for me, finishing at about 7.
That was their first campaign, which they initially started off-stream as a home game. They are now on their third campaign. Also through a record-breaking Kickstarter campaign, they have an animated series of their early adventures. A trailer of their second season was released only last week.
I was completely bitten by the DnD bug, and once I caught up, I started to watch other streams. In particular a British one called High Rollers. In the past few years the Dungeon Master for that show, has come out as gender-fluid, as has included a number of trans characters in his games, as they have in Critical Role also. The DM's of the shows have been friends for years, long before either started streaming. The DM of Critical Role, Matt Mercer, has proved himself to be a trans ally, clearly stating that trans women are women, and trans men are men.
I'd love to play the game myself but you need to be in a group to play, and I'm not. There are some solo RPGs I have played one quite extensively, namely Ironsworn. I've played extensively with two characters in different campaigns. As you'd expect both are female, and both have found girlfriends along their adventures. Before I joined this forum and going on my own adventure of exploration, I was in the middle of a campaign with the second character. I've also got Maria to play that game with me for a few sessions. The plan was to make it a regular thing but life has gotten in the way.
In playing that game I wasn't just playing I was more or less writing a story. I'd write dialogue for all the characters and explore how they felt about what was happening in their adventures. However I kept coming across the same problem. I had to come with all the ideas myself, and even with prompts from random tables, that was difficult. It often felt like my adventuring world was only very roughly drawn, or that I was putting pieces into a white box. I've tried to start new campaigns with new characters but while I love coming up with ideas for characters and builds, I soon find the same problem of giving them a world to live in and adventures to go on.
Last week I watched a video about Solo DnD roleplay. It mentioned very good resources to do this, so I downloaded them. I eagerly spent a couple of days fleshing out two characters that I already had made. I make a lot of these, but not all of them really feel like proper characters. I can't always envision what they look like, or what their personality is. However with these two recent creations I could.
I really enjoyed the process of giving them a proper background and story, and was looking forward to begin playing. I did that a bit today, and got on fairly well for a while. I could picture how they looked, their personality and typical demeanour. However again I got stuck at given them a decent quest to go on, and can see it all grinding to a halt again.
What I'd really love is to be in a group and have someone to run the adventure for me. I can just react to the scenarios presented before me, and really be my character. Whereas now I constantly have to switch between my two characters and also think what the NPC is thinking and feeling. Also I have to come up with how the world looks and interacts. A DM would just describe it all to me. Finding such a group to join is very difficult though, and so I'm stuck playing on my own for now.
About 5-6 years ago now I started watching Critical Role. It is a Twitch stream where voice actors get together and play Dungeons and Dragons. I started though on YouTube and bingewatched around 90 episodes in a matter of weeks (they last around 3-4 hours so that was quite the binge). At the time it was about all I could manage to do, as soon as one episode finished I started the next, watching about 4 episodes a day. I eventually caught up and so could now watch live, though a bit difficult as streams start at 3 am for me, finishing at about 7.
That was their first campaign, which they initially started off-stream as a home game. They are now on their third campaign. Also through a record-breaking Kickstarter campaign, they have an animated series of their early adventures. A trailer of their second season was released only last week.
I was completely bitten by the DnD bug, and once I caught up, I started to watch other streams. In particular a British one called High Rollers. In the past few years the Dungeon Master for that show, has come out as gender-fluid, as has included a number of trans characters in his games, as they have in Critical Role also. The DM's of the shows have been friends for years, long before either started streaming. The DM of Critical Role, Matt Mercer, has proved himself to be a trans ally, clearly stating that trans women are women, and trans men are men.
I'd love to play the game myself but you need to be in a group to play, and I'm not. There are some solo RPGs I have played one quite extensively, namely Ironsworn. I've played extensively with two characters in different campaigns. As you'd expect both are female, and both have found girlfriends along their adventures. Before I joined this forum and going on my own adventure of exploration, I was in the middle of a campaign with the second character. I've also got Maria to play that game with me for a few sessions. The plan was to make it a regular thing but life has gotten in the way.
In playing that game I wasn't just playing I was more or less writing a story. I'd write dialogue for all the characters and explore how they felt about what was happening in their adventures. However I kept coming across the same problem. I had to come with all the ideas myself, and even with prompts from random tables, that was difficult. It often felt like my adventuring world was only very roughly drawn, or that I was putting pieces into a white box. I've tried to start new campaigns with new characters but while I love coming up with ideas for characters and builds, I soon find the same problem of giving them a world to live in and adventures to go on.
Last week I watched a video about Solo DnD roleplay. It mentioned very good resources to do this, so I downloaded them. I eagerly spent a couple of days fleshing out two characters that I already had made. I make a lot of these, but not all of them really feel like proper characters. I can't always envision what they look like, or what their personality is. However with these two recent creations I could.
I really enjoyed the process of giving them a proper background and story, and was looking forward to begin playing. I did that a bit today, and got on fairly well for a while. I could picture how they looked, their personality and typical demeanour. However again I got stuck at given them a decent quest to go on, and can see it all grinding to a halt again.
What I'd really love is to be in a group and have someone to run the adventure for me. I can just react to the scenarios presented before me, and really be my character. Whereas now I constantly have to switch between my two characters and also think what the NPC is thinking and feeling. Also I have to come up with how the world looks and interacts. A DM would just describe it all to me. Finding such a group to join is very difficult though, and so I'm stuck playing on my own for now.