i first introduced myself to D&D through a 2E dark sun adventure
i have spent a lot of hours reading all the books from 4e back to 2e splat books - filling my head with other universes, i have dropped a fair bit of cash into it, ive got all the things i feel i need, ive outlined adventure ideas, ive gone through several adventure modules, ive ghosted and participated in the forums
i however have never felt the joy and excitement of a real campaign
ive sat in on a few sessions at a local FLGS to be disappointed by a lack of real serious d&d'n (they played pranks on eachother while letting their characters be coerced/railroaded into an assasination plot)
i showed up at friends houses, spent the night while everyone worked out their character for a 3.5 campaign - only to see real commitment fizzle past the "character building session"
i set up a biweekly night with two friends, me DM'ing 4E, one friend is now moving - and we didnt get past first session.
has anyone else experienced knowing well enough (in your inexperienced mind) about the game, but not actually about game play?
i work six days a week now and itd be a challenge to get even a monthly game working probably
Recently, I've been in another dry spell. I haven't played in about six months, partly because nobody I know wants to get into 4e and I never want to go back to 3e. So in the mean time, I've been writing up a new 4e-specific campaign setting and adventure, and working on the plot. The difference is this time I'm not buying any books. I've vowed to not buy another D&D book until I'm in a campaign where I'll need it. I've saved a lot of money because of that vow, although I am really curious about Adventurer's Vault.
If you get FGII it also automagically calculates a bunch of stuff for you too, which makes some things much easier.
I've wanted to get into one of those game that when your all done you can look back and go "Wow, That was amazing," ever since I was in my first module. I've just never found some one that has given it a serious attempt at an overall campaign that wasn't a "Battle of the week" style thing (Of course the fact that I play with a group of superb power gamers in just about any system doesn't really help).
I feel your pain, and what I'm currently doing is trying to make one, a little bit more work then playing in one but if the players like it, Mweehehe, all the better. I guess this is just the kind of thing where if you take the initiative your more likely to get results (blegh :raincloud ).
Hope you someday find a campaign
-Voot
yea there is a level of sadness, as i do see there being so much awesome value and fun in d&d beyond a mere game
im trying to connect with one guy and possibly opening up my place for a saturday night thing monthly, episodic based- but itll be hard to gauge the time as i dont always finish the same time after work
ill look into the FLGS again soon - im lucky to have two places as options
id go post public invitations but im scared to invite some psycho into my home, i have a fiancee to protect
im glad to hear some sympathy and that some other people experience a lack of a true awesome campaign experience
i just want to be able to have a worthless piece of paper (character sheet) become a treasured memento
There has only been 1 or 2 years in the last 20 where i haven't had at least a semi regular gaming group going. And have managed a couple of good campaigns in there. I think i have just been very fortunate in my aquaintances.
Good luck.
Back in the early 80's we had a group that would play regularly, we used the same characters for years and went through many modules together, although back then we didn't know we were playing in a 'campaign'...
In the late 80's while I was finishing up high school I had a group of friends that played every weekend for many months, it was probably one of the most fun I've ever had in D&D, things were still fresh and new, it's funny I can't remember the characters form this anymore (where as in the early 80's we used the same characters for years), but I do remember this was more fun.
In the early 90's through to the mid 90's I had several short sessions over the course of a few years with different people here and there, but nothing really 'stuck', I got out of D&D for quite some time, got married, started a family, 'grew up', etc., then in about 2004 or so I guess it was, I met some guys at the FLGS who all used to be into D&D, and we all got into 3.x D&D and I found myself one again taking on the role of DM. We played every other weekend for a good year, and had an awesome adventure that took us all over the world of D&D and we all had an excellent time. It was a different type of game from when I was a kid, we were all adults now, one of the guys in our group was a cop, another guy was a minister, we had a guy who was in a local biker gang, etc., it was a wide variety of players that you really wouldn't think would have gotten together to play.
Then again, that faded away as people moved on and left for other things, and again I didn't play for a long time, then 4e came out, my oldest son is now older than I was when I first started to play basic D&D in the early 80's, and he has found that he enjoys the game, and once again I've found myself in the world of D&D and having a great time at it.
Anyhow, bottom line is that although you may not find time or people to play right now, don't give up on it, it will once again return to you and you'll eventually find players and time again, keep reading and taking part in online chat, keep your imagination going and thinking of new ideas, adventures and campaigns, because when you least expect it, you'll be playing again and having a blast.
D.
What I would suggest is going to Gaming conventions, such as GenCon. Lots of people will take a few days off work in order to hang with other people who also like gaming, but don't necessarily have a steady group.
Another option is RPGA (rpga.com). It's a great way to find new friends who also like D&D, maybe you can either find one or run one at a local gaming store and get some playing time. Living forgotten realms is pretty popular in my area (Columbus, Ohio) and I have a pretty good time running them
I know the older editions fairly well through CRPGs and Wikipedia (:D) and I used to play Heroquest with my Dad and brother all the time as a kid. We actually used to own a copy of D&D, but after getting it out, Dad realised he'd have to learn how to play again before teaching us and...never heard about it again. That was about 15 years ago, probably. I'm 21 now.
I know I could get a game super easy via Play by Post, but that's not how I want to get into it. The idea of sitting around a table shooting the sheet with eachother and having a good time is a good part of the appeal to me. Trouble is it looks like I'm going to find a tough time sourcing players. D&D seems to be a bit of a dirty word in my circles. Even on the various nerdy forums I swim around in, mentioning D&D will get you a few puzzled looks. I know the sum total of one guy who has played the game, let alones plays the game, and he barely has time to play with his groups of friends, let alone help me start anything. Being Australian, looks like looking for strangers won't help much either. Most hobby shops seem to be only interested in toy planes and Warhammer, and the internet hasn't been as helpful as I'd have liked. Smaller population means a much smaller pool to draw from, I guess, but come on, I'd like to find at least ONE player database that actually has an Aussie on it. Just one, just to humor me, doesn't even have to be on the same side of the country.
But I'm not too fussed. Especially not right at the moment. I need my license first. :P I've been on my Learners since forever (I'm pretty lazy) but I'm almost there. Once I get it I can worry about finding myself a game. In the mean time I'm going to spend time pouring over a game I've never played!
The first was a 3.5 campaign. A teacher at my school was DMing, and we played once or twice a month, but the party was huge (15 people at the peak) so things went very slowly. Over the summer after the first year of playing, the DM's wife got pregnant, and that was the end of it.
The second one was also 3.5, just me and 3 of my friends. The problem was that with so small a group, if one person was missing, there was no game. It sort of fell apart because of how infrequently we got to play.
The campaign I'm in now is 4e with a decent-sized party, but we're still having attendance issues. I'm not the DM, but the game's at my house. Therefore, if the DM can't come, there's no game. If I'm busy, there's no game. Plus the DM has decided that if 3 or more players are busy, we postpone. Because of all this and people's busy schedules, we haven't gotten a session in for well more than a month now and we're still first level.