/vidya/ gamer here.
I am just wondering why do you guys play traditional games when there are cheaper alternatives like you know video games. What's the appeal of playing table top games? It all seems primitive to me and yet I don't get why it's apparently so popular.
>>46007519
Short version:
Have you ever been playing a video game and thought, "I wish I could see what's off the edge of the map," or "Why can't I just talk things out with these guys?" or "Actually, I would rather be working for the other side." In vidya, you can't step outside what the developer has provided. In a tabletop game, you have the developer right there to say, "OK, let's work out what happens!"
>>46007575
That was a remarkably calm and intelligent answer. Five XP for civility.
At any rate, I think a large appeal is the open ended nature of the game, as my compatriot here says. Also the social aspect is really cool. Most of the time.
Because I only like RPGs, and every RPG out there is either old as fuck, already beaten by me, made by CuckoldWare or combination of the above. This is not enough. I must have more.
>>46007519
Are video games cheaper? You need a console or PC, the games themselves and internet for many.
Alternative is to buy some cheap dice and a second hand book and you have everything you need to play.
Though the main reasons are they're simply very different activities. One is a spectacle and a puzzle to solve on screen, the other is social storytelling and roleplay.
It's like cinema and theatre. They're somewhat similar on paper with an auditoritum and stage but they are both very different in practice and feel.
>>46007519
Because I can play them in a social setting and engage in problem solving to a degree that vidya doesn't allow me.
Because I gain a higher level of control over my character and their actions.
Because I can do whatever I want each session, varying between wacky and serious at will, without needing to buy multiple games consoles or discs.
Because, aside from wargaming, the investment is minimal if its present at all. I have personally spent literally no money on TTRPGs. The only thing of my TTRPG related kit that was purchased is a set of dice which were quite cheap.
Because there is a certain charm to sitting down with a group of friends, getting a bit buzzed and seeing where our imagination takes us.
Because you can develop a character on a more nuanced level in a TTRPG while not being beholden to the few cliches/niches the game devs might have pushed, as in Mass Effect with the emphasis on Paragon and Renegade paths
There's what has already been said, but then there's also why you'd play /tg/'s instead of their videogame counterpart, like MTG and Netrunner. Or why anyone would play games like Dead of Winter, where the game itself is so close to hving a videogame feel anyway.
For me, this all drags back to the primitive aspect of getting to physically touch gameparts, roll dice, shuffle cards in hand and deck. It's not something you can recreate in a videogame, rolling dice with a mouse in Tabletop Simulator just doesn't give any satisfaction.
>>46007519
>cheaper alternatives like you know video games.
>Picture is from a game that would cost nearly $2000 to play from release to now
>>46007519
Try playing Meanwhile, Time Wizards! on computer.
>>46007519
>cheaper
For the price of a AAA game and a season pass, you can play a game that gets you and your friends hundreds of hour of enjoyment for years, with no repetitive gameplay.
And tabletop books can be pirated just as easily as (sometimes even more so than) video games.
Unless we're talking about miniature games, that can throw the price out of whack, but honestly it seems most people buy them so they can be painted and displayed as well.
>>46007519
Because a videogame doesn't let me play as the disembodied psychic head of Philip K Dick attempting to spend time with his adopted daughter who he feels he has let down, as he was always off going on adventures whenever she needed her father to be there for her.
>>46007519
Video games aren't cheaper.
Basically to put the R in RPG
>>46007519
because Tabletop is actually far less expensive than you think?...
for the cost of a dozen pairs of d6, a couple of spiral notebooks, and some pencils you can be playing an RPG the big fancy books are just props sometimes they just aren't needed.
there's something that can be said of sitting around a table with a bunch of like-minded human beings and not being interrupted by screaming 12 year-old children, or Russian or Brazilian players fucking your shit up.
>>46007733
>this all drags back to the primitive aspect of getting to physically touch gameparts, roll dice, shuffle cards in hand and deck.
while this is also true for many of us, it is far from the only reason there's also interacting face-to-face with people.
and yes, these games CAN be played online with people from everywhere and I have no doubt that people play them online almost exclusively. but the programs are clunky sometimes. also, there is the chance of hacked cheating, but cheaters are everywhere so that is less of an issue.
and again, for games like Netrunner, and MTG your actions are clearly defined and limited. TTRPGs aren't, a GM could just decide to seat-of-the-pants run things and allow ANYTHING.
>>46007791
>with no repetitive gameplay.
arguable on a case-by-case basis, seeing as some GMs are less creative(myself included).
Essentially it's because people and dice are far less predictable. When I run a game I have no idea how my players will react to a situation, save for how well I know them and the character they play. I have no idea whether they'll think talking it out with the street gang is a better idea than unloading on them and leaving their corpses to cool in the rain, or whether their rolls will force them to go to plan B or utterly shred the enemy in seconds/turn them into their new best friends.
Plus it's generally more social, even than online gaming.
>>46007575
>This man. This gentleman right here.
>This guy gets it.
Don't get me, or us, wrong on this, OPAnon. I do enjoy playing muh vidya gaem now and again, in both the RPG and Shmup style, as well as forays into racing, puzzle-solving, simulation and resource management. It's also very much enjoyable to be toddling along and see something in the horizon, come to wonder, "hey - what would happen if I did this weird stupid thing..?" and then find out the Devs actually predicted -and- planned for it, making the moment an awesome, humorous or just plain fun discovery.
But most of the time, I can't spend four months in a video game convincing the gnome tribe who I've accidentally convinced to follow me as their spiritual liege to assist me in turning the canyon outpost into a giant transforming clökverk mecha in order to wrestle, bodyslam and ultimately perform a Stone Cold Stunner on the invading army's Collossal+ Demon Lord general in the climatic battle. Or if I can, well...that was the plan all along, and that makes it kinda, just, less special.
Crazy awesome stories are less crazy awesome when everyone else who's played the game did it too, I guess.
>>46007519
>What's the appeal of playing table top games?
Because I get to hang out with my friends while playing them.
>>46008116
>screaming 12 year-old children, or Russian or Brazilian players fucking your shit up.
That's racist.
As a Brazilian with slavish heritage, I find your implications to be highly offensive. You're spreading the toxic myth of the "le Brazilian and Russkie" gamer.
>>46007519
The Savage Worlds Deluxe Explorer's Edition (the only book you need to play) costs $10. The entirety of Pathfinder is free online, as are the basics of D&D 3.5 and D&D 5e. If you're a little loose on morality, you can get any game for free if you really want. Other than that, you need a set of dice and some pencil and paper. Hell, with some games you don't even need the dice.
How are video games cheaper again?
Oh, wait, do you have to buy your friends or something? 'Cuz most of us just already have those.
With the exception of solitaire games like gamebooks (the exclusive use of which is actually kinda pathetic) /tg/ is a necessarily social hobby. Video games aren't. Some video games are better with friends, true, but relatively few video games actually hinge on reacting with other human beings.
That's not to get down on video games at all! I love 'em as much as anybody else does. But video gaming cannot replace traditional gaming for me, because it cannot emulate the bonding between friends that traditional gaming provides.
That all probably sounded incredibly normalfaggy and maybe a little arrogant, but that's my two cents.
>>46007575
>"Actually, I would rather be working for the other side."
This is the most important one for me.
If Mass Effect 2 were a tabletop RPG, only That Guys would be dumb enough to work for Cerberus.
But because it's a vidya RPG, everyone who plays has to.
>>46007519
Building and painting units is fun in and of itself. I've been doing this for 5 years now, and producing models I am proud to show off is my favorite part. Becoming a more skilled and experienced painter is very rewarding to me.
Putting a fully painted army in the table for the first time is exhilarating. When everyone walks over to admire my work, its a good feeling.
The game can be a lot of fun too. Hanging with like minded bros in person, checking out each others armies' is can be as much or more fun than playing a video game with friends. Plus you're in person, and the objects of entertainment are actual physical objects as opposed to images on a screen.
Not OP, but I've been lurking around for months now and got interested in table-top games, i'm familiar with warhammer 40k and shadowrun, just asking any recommendations for starting?
>>46007575
This guy!
>>46009859
What recommendations are you looking for friend? How to find a game and start playing? General tips on how to play? Tips on what game system would be closest to your interests?
>>46009859
You just asked the equivalent of
>I've been lurking here for a while and I'm interested in drag racing and scottish claimore golf, any reccomendations for starting?
Either play what people play near you, or start a new group with friends.
Don't play pickup games and avoid playing at your LGS like the plague.
If you want anything more concrete than that, you need to tell us if you want to play a TCG, RPG, Boardgame or Wargame.
>>46007519
I'll abandon tabletop wargames entirely when a video game exists that adequately replicates them.
I'm pretty sure that won't exist until we have holographic tables, though, because clicking on tiles over Skype isn't the same.
>>46008675
>myth
jej
>>46009940
the first two, finding a game and start playing and tips on how, what and rules but from what i read GM decides the rules am i correct?
>>46010028
>Don't play pickup games and avoid playing at your LGS like the plague.
will do, but the problem about starting a group with friends is, i don't think i have friends with this kind of interest.
and I'm interested in RPG.
>>46007519
Actual reason:
We enjoy it more.
>>46010787
>I'm interested in RPG.
40k RPGs, shadowrun, and DnD all have generals. You can get more specific advice there, pick one. If you want help deciding between the three, that's different.
>>46010787
>i don't think i have friends with this kind of interest.
Are you sure? Trying and asking doesn't do harm.
90% of That Guy, That DM or other horror stories on /tg/ are only an issue because people play with randoms or pickup games.
>>46007519
>Positives
Creativity, content control, socializing in a (usually) positive way versus the (usually) hostile community video games form because 'muh epix pvp kdr im competitive tryhardest ggnore noob =^)' doesn't existas much
>Downsides
Grognards are rampant and vocal, high entry barrier for new people as many games still reward system mastery to an unfair degree, surprising amounts of elitism from the nerds that play them.
But the real killer can be that...
Developers are at least a decade if not decades behind their vidya counterparts when it comes to designing actually interesting game mechanics, much less balancing them. Avoid shitfests like Pathfinder if you can.
>>46011167
>Developers are at least a decade if not decades behind their vidya counterparts when it comes to designing actually interesting game mechanics, much less balancing them.
>Avoid shitfests like Pathfinder if you can.
Pathfinder plays like a decade old shitfest because it IS a decade old shitfest.
Most modern systems are fine.
>>46011375
>Most modern systems are fine.
5e is a terrible step backwards from any progress they made in 4e, Exalted 3e is fucking terrible unless you were deep into the Kool Aid from the previous edition, Onyx Path has been crazy about re-releasing oWoD despite everyone knowing how terrible the Storyteller system and its games were at the time, I can't honestly suggest nWoD to anyone either it has so much of its own baggage and despite making strides with the core game system it still has laughable imbalances that devs thumb their nose at when you bring it up, FFG has released its share of terrible games such as Warhammerincluding Dark Heresy sorry to say it lads but its not a good game, try looking past your blind 40k fanboyism, L5R is about to get raped to death by said FFGand even its last edition wasn't that great like a lot of systems lately they're kind of bland and really focused on being simulationist probably to get those grog dollars, same reason we're seeing tons of OSR shit being churned out without actually doing anything clever with it
Yeah no, the industry has issues.
>>46011564
>5e is a terrible step backwards from any progress they made in 4e
Aaaand shit opinions confirmed
>>46010028
>I've been lurking here for a while and I'm interested in drag racing and scottish claymore golf
>Scottish claymore golf
Please tell me this is a thing
Or if not a thing
That this can be a thing
>>46007519
>there are cheaper alternatives like you know video games
>xbox one, 500gb $400
>xbox one games ~$20~$80 ea.
>Warhammer 40k start collecting! Space marine $85
>citadel starter kit $78.30
>Warhammer 40k basic rule book $85
>Space marine codex $58
>Citadel brushes, paint $5 ~ $11, $4.25 ~ $7.50
>model boxe ~$40 ~$82.50 (tactical squad ~ stormraven gunship)
Let's assume you're "getting started" in video games and that you already own a TV you would pay $500 + $50 for an xbox + your average game. If you keep buying a game every month, you end up paying $1100 your first year, $600 the years afterward.
Now let's also assume you're "getting started" in Warhammer 40K and you don't already own brushes, glue nor paint, you would pay $85 + $78 + $85 + $58 for your start collecting! + citadel starter kit + basic rule book + codex. Then if you buy new models every month, you end up paying $977 your first year and $732 the years afterward. Add an estimate of 1 new brushes and 3 paints per year (strict minimum for tabletop, 1 base color with 2 detail colors) ~$8 + ~$18 you would add an extra $26 to your $732 increasing that years expense to $758.
Upfront it seems that tabletop (WH40K being expensive compared to other wargames) will be cheaper to get into, but slightly more expensive in the long run. But i'm not taking into account yhat your xbox/PlayStation will be obsolete every 3 to 4 years or that you should buy your brushes/glue/paint from other sources then GW. Arguably you'll get better price buying models from your LGS and you could be playing any other cheaper, non-GW wargame.
That's my 2 cents
>>46007519
Because all you need for tabletop is something to write on and a pirated PDF, and that's just for D&D.
For the low price of practically nothing, you can have a game with no boundries, no lack of content/updates, face to face communication, and any item, creature or person you could ever want.
Video games are inherently limited by their creators, TT is limited by your own imagination.
Why would I play something some annoying, bearded, orc-lover thinks is cool, when I can play something I think is cool?
>>46012320
>xbox live 12 months subscription $60
I forgot to take into account the network subscription's fee and Internet access fee. I'll assume you already have internet access and get the year long subscription to live (since it's the better deal) you pay $1150 your first year and $650 afterward.
It gets way higher if you incorporate Internet access fee (if you were to get Internet exclusively to play on xbox live) high speed Internet starts at ~ $35/month. For 12months your looking at an other $420 a year. In witch case your video games gets way more expensive.
>>46008675
>toxic myth
