I have faced this religious fanaticism twice from family members. Once, my uncle told me that I should stop playing D&D, because he had a friend who was into it, who killed himself- as if playing the game was the reason why. I tried to use logic, and explain that many people who played the game were nerds and outcasts in high school society, and that demographic also happened to be the most likely to kill themselves- teenage misfits with few friends. Plenty of people also played the game and had no suicidal tendencies, as well as plenty of people who killed themselves without ever playing D&D. It was the "bowling for Columbine" logic all over again. I asked what else his friend was into, and he said pineapple pizza... "Of course" I said, "That is what made him kill himself." He obviously could not understand how the two things were related (pineapple pizza and suicide), but didn't have that same problem with D&D and suicide; I also could not get him to see how neither pineapple pizza nor D&D made a lonely, bullied virgin want to kill himself. It seems simple to me- a lot of sad people use D&D to escape/have fun, and some sad people kill themselves. His friend had no romantic interests, and was bullied, so he was sad, which made him like D&D, but also made him kill himself- but it is the sadness, not the hobbies, that did him in. I also faced it with my mom, regarding both D&D and Magic. She had been convinced that they were evil, even though she had never seen them played, knew a few people that she loved who did play it, and loved the LotR books. It took a long time to convince her that the rules/mechanics allow you to build whatever world that you want, just like writing a book. You can make a demonic hellscape where evil is glorified, sure, but that is on you; you could just as easily use D&D to tell a Christian allegory in a fantasy setting, like Tolkien did. She eventually let us play in our older teen years, but to this day she is uneasy about it. To be fair, I usually find darker settings more interesting, and all of her clamping down only made it more interesting and taboo, but that is not the fault of D&D. I choose to write stories where my friends kill gods in order to replace them as deities. I choose to make angels uptight, arrogant jerks, and to make demons amenable to mutually-beneficial partnerships with characters- but that is because that is what I like/how I feel. If my mom wanted, she could make a story that rewarded following a hippy demigod resembling Jesus, and have characters smite evil demons instead (it would just be trite and boring). In short, D&D is what the players & DM make of it.
I am SO glad this wasn't about digital RPGs. We've had such an emphasis on video games so far and I like that crash course is starting to diversify and acknowledge the wide array of games.
My group just finished a session of the new edition (from the Kickstarter.) It was most of the group's first game. It was kinda insane, but that's why I love the game.
I think it's just people who are genuinely very, very scared about their lives on a religious scale, so they unnecessarily get involved in the lives of other people. There is no need to hate them, but to show them that there is certainly no devil worship going on when you're exploring the Blackborough Mines for signs of goblin opposition.
You're not really helping yourself by hating religious "fanaticism," by taking it into your own hands to make it an argument rather than a calm discussion. You're not in the right just because they're in the wrong.
Oh, _yes!_ This is pretty much _the_ episode (besides the one tabletop board games) that I've been waiting for since this series began. Thanks, Andre! **
0:14 Pikachu joins your party! You'll definitely need its help if you want to make it through Tomb of Horrors. At the very least, it can go ahead and take the traps for the rest of the party.
A demilich is actually weaker than a lich, as they were originally liches but lost much of their power after forgetting or refusing to feed souls to their phylactery. Just nitpicking, great episode!
Roleplaying games? Ooh! What kind? Tabletop? Western? J-RPGs? Tabletop! Nice. I've gone through and actually made my own ruleset and world for one. It's not very polished, but my friends and I have fun. I call it "The Finest of Perseus," and it's loosely based around Star Trek, with plenty of inspiration from games like FTL, Star Wars: X-Wing, and the XCOM series. So... yeah.
I also find cool to create new systems and worlds. I had to create a system so players could use fire weapons, while at the same time balancing them so none of them got overpowered. I came up with a system with 3 variables for each gun: damage, rounds and range penalty. Some guns, like a double barrel shotgun, have good damage, but few rounds and poor range. Others, like sniper rifles, have good damage, but only from a very far distance and only 1 round before having to reload.
Rick Apocalypse What I did to manage ship's movement also turned into how I manage weapons with a spread. I made it so each ship had a certain amount of "Bars" (inches they could move) in a turn, and also a certain number of maximum degrees they could turn per bar. In order to do this, I needed to make a 3 inch radius semi-circle with degree markers (basically a protractor but clearer), with marks for each inch out from the center you were. I use that for my shotguns and stuff in ground combat.
bartosso As a relativly new GM (of only about four years now, and only with one group), I haven't really gotten through a lot of different games over my time. Though, after looking up Eclipse Phase it doesn't really seem like something I'd love in the first place. Don't get me wrong, I like the idea, but I'm never really a fan of post-apocalyptic settings for GMing purposes. That being said, from its description this is one of those post-apocalyptic settings that I'm actually intrigued by. I might check it out further. Thanks for sending it my way!
Andre, I love your enthusiasm. Thanks for explaining what a Lich and Demi-Lich is. I was a bit confused about that when I read Ready Player One (best book ever!).
Older D&D, the Demilich is guaranteed blood bath. Liches came in all shapes and sizes, and a good (and large) group could easily take the weakest of them around 3rd level, but the Demilich of old came in one size, and that size was pain.
Now can you do an episode on wargaming? Starting from tabletop then to computer simulation? You're going to have to cover things like Warhammer and Starcraft eventually. I'm also surprised that CRPGs were never brought up.
I feel like tabletop has changed my life for the better. I've gained precious friends, become more confident, imaginative, and been able to play out scenarios that I'd have a hard time with in real life (my favorite character is tough and stands up for herself better than I've ever been able to in real life). It makes me happy to see crash course give it some time, and it will hopefully inspire other people to check it out and see what's so great about it!
Andre is just the best show host ever. Every time I listen to him I want to go buy a bunch of books on the subject he's talking about. Andre, you are freakin' awesome! :D Thanks for your work with the DFTBA team :)
Indeed, that was basically my thought at that moment as well (campaigns that I run that are not completely open ended and player driven tend to last 2 years or so)
I've been playing in the same campaign for 3yrs, and it went on for a year before I came in. And it will likely go another year before we reach completion. I'm so attached to my character that I will likely go into actual mourning if she dies. I've played her for so long she's developed a realism that's hard to describe.
They didn't include my favourite Gygax quote. In reference to the accusations of satanism, he responded, "It's a game. The magic is as real as the gold". I thought that was pretty perfect.
One of the biggest elephants in the room where RPGs were concerned in the 80s was LARPs (Live Action RPGs) where players would go into forests and whatnot and act out these games personally rather than around a table. This resulted in injuries and a few deaths because of simulated combat between players getting out of hand. This hurt D&Ds reputation at least as much as the religious controversy.
I randomly know something that might be interesting. Workshop Games, the company that made Warhammer and Warhammer 40k, were founded shortly after DnD was made and had started to become big. At the time, they were working out of their apartment, and actually contacted Gary Gygax at one point. The result was that Workshop Games became the first UK (and European) seller of DnD, as a mail order business, out of a shitty apartment. This arrangement didn't last long though, despite Gary Gygax wanting to work solely through the Workshop Game's people Also, Warhammer fantasy was originally an RPG-Wargaming hybrid, and included rules for progression for your general. Each game played would affect their version of Warhammer's world in a permanent way, at least until Warhammer v2 came out and started changing it into a more pure wargame. Oh, and lead models used to be common back in the 80s. They were technically toxic to humans.
I wanted to hear about RPG video games, I just finished playing the Mass Effect series!! But I'm also proud of my geek factor seeing as I understood every single D&D reference hahah
DM " Hey Irvine, what are the stats on that short bow you found?" Me " Its... *interrupted* DM " Mundane now! A beholder approaches, roll for initiative." Me "!!!!!!"
RPG today isn't just composed of the traditional knight, sorcerer, thief, cleric, dragon archetypes. JRPGs have featured roles like gunner, defender, tactician, etc. and there's also MMORPGs which have settings, worlds, universes that are as varied as the human imagination can take them from bugs living underground to futuristic highly-advanced alien worlds to explore.
I have to say that when I was a kid it was a pretty bad time for me. I was picked on, I had no friends. I was spurned by my peer and probably would have done something very stupid to 'get back at life' for the poor hand I was dealt, even tho I felt as if I did nothing wrong. Then I discovered Dungeons & Dragons, and with it friends. I worked together with people in a much more intimate way and gained friendships that lasted all my life. RPGs are really great for people and I try to foster love of it however I can and really want to give back to the genre. I run a RUclips channel about RPGs (might get flagged for spam but whatever... I love them) to show my love and devotion to it. If you are a long time player or just getting into RPGs, send me a message. Fostering a good RPGs community is a wonderful thing.
I've always loved TSR, or RPGs in general. I grew up reading AD&D, and Choose Your Own Adventure type books, and even started collecting them recently. If you're a D&D fan, you will like Lone Wolf, it's single person D&D with an evolving character from book to book, depending on your choices. As I was never able to find anyone as geeky as me, I've never actually played tabletop Dungeons and Dragons, though I've always wanted to. Instead, I've played enough video game RPGs on almost every platform, and style from Moria (pure text, map and all), and Torchlight (a Hack and Slash with a storyline), to Minecraft (A moddable sandbox game without a story). There's nothing quite like finishing your taxes one minute, and descending into the dungeons under the wizard's tower the next.
One of my favorite episodes of the TV sitcom, 'Community,' was when the gang tried to cheer up a school mate by playing a game of Dungeons and Dragons.
I just LOVE these Crash Course Games videos! I love them because they are nostalgic, history educational, and also helps me discover some games ive missed along the way while growing up for various reasons. Id love a 'JRPG' video as well please. I also agree with other commenters here, 'Steam' is an EPIC EPIC gaming site which is the future of gaming here & now, that's where the party is on the web in 2016, you def. need to start doing a Crash Course Games for PC games for the older gems and new releases.
But I'm 35?! Also, had 3 older sisters so we also had the 1978 Atari home console and the arcades in the malls to game on too before the first NES & SMS came out. And now, I'm chillin on Steam with 700 games! :D
Something I find worth noting is that, while D&D specifically might have been based on the Kriegsspiel, I think the basic format and appeal behind it are based on something much older. When I try to explain RPGs to someone who has no idea about them, I find that the most succinct way to explain their point is by comparing them to the kinds of make-believe games you play as a child, except with rules that try to ensure that you won't run home crying because the other kids aren't playing fair and keep making up overpowered weapons to counter your own.
I've used the godly DM Matthew Mercer's description to help a few of my less geeky friends understand it. D&D is communal improvisational group story telling, with dice that determine how well your improvisation goes. I like your description as well. It's like a bunch of adults getting to play make believe again.
Sarah CB Yeah, that's another way to put it, too! It kinda depends on whether you're talking about the D&D sort of battle-heavy system that's more about coming up with something cool and putting it to work, or a more storytelling-focused kind of system that's more about the common creative effort.
Fawriel Right. I think a good game should have a bit of both, preparation for battles and scene setting on the part of the DM but for social interactions let the players have their moments and even during battles have them describe and dictate what it is they want to do.
But that's just my preference. The awesome thing about RPGs is that it's very open ended so you can curb it to the style you and the players like most.
In the beginning one, you get more than gold and stuff at the end of the tomb of horrors, you get a copper key, which you can use on the gate in another planet to open up the war games movie fliksync.
I always found playing the DM to be the most fun. I love watching how the party will (or wont) find a way to do an objective I never thought of. For example a party I was DMing wanted to assassinate a cultist leader so they checked her room for hiding places. However the ranger saw her and warned the party she was going to the same room. They decided to hide in a wardrobe, however it was guarded by an acid explosion trap, so as she walks in they open the wardrobe and set off the trap killing the paladin and sorcerer while also killing the cultist.
I need a group to DM for. But that sounds like an interesting adventure. Did the paladin and sorcerer get resurrected, or did new characters have to be rolled? Also what edition were you using?
FishWaffle Oh, I only know 4e sadly, but it's good to hear they weren't dead for good. Sounds like that was quite the clusterfuck though, plenty of laughs.
Great job on this one! Although I would've liked to see more time spent on some of the most popular systems in the last 20 years. Also some on the RPG community. And I got the Usagi Yojimbo reference!
Gosh damnit. You have gone and blown our cover...I thought we agreed we would stay out of trouble and just observe human life in 2016...You know before THAT happened...Now we very well may have caused THAT.
Gosh damnit. You have gone and blown our cover...I thought we agreed we would stay out of trouble and just observe human life in 2016...You know before THAT happened...Now we very well may have caused THAT.
Tom Hanks' character didn't kill himself in mazes and monsters. He went insane and thought he was his character in the game. His friends came to visit him at his parents house in the end.
As devout Christian and possible future minister, you'd think I'd agree with the remarks about the demonic themes of D&D. You'd probably be surprised to find that I find it Hilarious and Ridiculous!
Then you obviously are not devout. The Bible is quite clear about this issue. You are an apostate. You cannot decide which parts of the KJV to adhere to or not, to interpret or not, to accept on its face or not, etc. I hope for your future flock that you hew to the Word as stated and not to your necessarily imperfect opinion of it lest your lambs get slaughtered.
I AM advocating Paranoia! It's a very unique game system that fosters a black humor otherwise unavailable systemically in the world of RPGs! Fun is mandatory!
Interestingly enough the christian panic wasn't unfounded, at least in it's origin. Many of the terms, ideas and spells used in the game have various sources both biblical (sticks to snakes, water walking, tongues etc) as well as pagan (the entire druid class, necromancy, the deck of many things is a tarot deck) and later editions even drew ideas from occult ritual, the divine comedy and recycled symbolism of modern quasi-religious movements such as the freemasons and the necronomicon of Lovecraft.
You imply here that D&D has vaguely realistic combat. It's just a person walking up to another and just hitting them, then the other walking up and hitting the first. No parrying, and a guy with a dagger can slash through plate armour. Runequest is a superior system.
I love that Andre's fantasy self has dreads/long hair. I often enjoy seeing how people portray themselves, or at least aspects of themselves, in fantasy.
Great video! I would like to see another video about miniature wargaming. I think a more comprehensive look at it would make the hobby more well-known as well as being entertaining and informative.
Sword and sorcerer anime owe much to RPG's. In 1986 some Japanese gamers called Group SNE published a Dungeons & Dragons "replay" called *_Record of Lodoss War_* as a serial in the Japanese magazine Comptiq. It proved so popular that Dungeon Master Ryo Mizuno started to adapt the story into some of the earliest Japanese-language domestic high fantasy novels in 1988. In 1990 a Lodoss 13 episode OVA anime was released, followed in 1998 by a 27 episode TV series.
This video does an amazing job of explaining Pen and Paper RPGs! The next time one of my non-gaming friends or coworkers asks "How does D&D work?" or "How do you actually play D&D;" I'm going to show them this video. Also, my Mom thought D&D was bad news because of the bad press in the 70s and 80s.
You are such a freaking geek. Don't ever change.
I have faced this religious fanaticism twice from family members.
Once, my uncle told me that I should stop playing D&D, because he had a friend who was into it, who killed himself- as if playing the game was the reason why. I tried to use logic, and explain that many people who played the game were nerds and outcasts in high school society, and that demographic also happened to be the most likely to kill themselves- teenage misfits with few friends. Plenty of people also played the game and had no suicidal tendencies, as well as plenty of people who killed themselves without ever playing D&D. It was the "bowling for Columbine" logic all over again. I asked what else his friend was into, and he said pineapple pizza... "Of course" I said, "That is what made him kill himself." He obviously could not understand how the two things were related (pineapple pizza and suicide), but didn't have that same problem with D&D and suicide; I also could not get him to see how neither pineapple pizza nor D&D made a lonely, bullied virgin want to kill himself. It seems simple to me- a lot of sad people use D&D to escape/have fun, and some sad people kill themselves. His friend had no romantic interests, and was bullied, so he was sad, which made him like D&D, but also made him kill himself- but it is the sadness, not the hobbies, that did him in.
I also faced it with my mom, regarding both D&D and Magic. She had been convinced that they were evil, even though she had never seen them played, knew a few people that she loved who did play it, and loved the LotR books. It took a long time to convince her that the rules/mechanics allow you to build whatever world that you want, just like writing a book. You can make a demonic hellscape where evil is glorified, sure, but that is on you; you could just as easily use D&D to tell a Christian allegory in a fantasy setting, like Tolkien did. She eventually let us play in our older teen years, but to this day she is uneasy about it. To be fair, I usually find darker settings more interesting, and all of her clamping down only made it more interesting and taboo, but that is not the fault of D&D. I choose to write stories where my friends kill gods in order to replace them as deities. I choose to make angels uptight, arrogant jerks, and to make demons amenable to mutually-beneficial partnerships with characters- but that is because that is what I like/how I feel. If my mom wanted, she could make a story that rewarded following a hippy demigod resembling Jesus, and have characters smite evil demons instead (it would just be trite and boring). In short, D&D is what the players & DM make of it.
+
+
It's like that crazy priest who said Pokemon GO is actually cyber demons that were released onto this earth. You can't argue with stupid.
Are you legit? There really is a person who said that?
Zachary Vowles My Uncle Steve did. He is ultra Christian conservative, which means he is not exactly a deep thinker.
I am SO glad this wasn't about digital RPGs. We've had such an emphasis on video games so far and I like that crash course is starting to diversify and acknowledge the wide array of games.
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I however will advocate Paranoia. It's one of the best and most fun RPG's you'll ever play, Happines is Mandatory, what could possibly go wrong . .
And the Computer is your friend. What more to wish for.
ALPHA COMPLEX UBER ALLIES!
Happiness pills for everyone... well, the loyal, non commie mutant citizens.
Keep your laser handy!
My group just finished a session of the new edition (from the Kickstarter.) It was most of the group's first game. It was kinda insane, but that's why I love the game.
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I just remembered why I hate religious fanaticism above everything else.
Was born and raised a Jehovah Witness, I suspect 80% of the fanaticism in the 70's and 80's came from them.
Personally I can not just blame them. There are just way too many stupid people in all walks of life!
+Eric Montford so true 😆
I think it's just people who are genuinely very, very scared about their lives on a religious scale, so they unnecessarily get involved in the lives of other people. There is no need to hate them, but to show them that there is certainly no devil worship going on when you're exploring the Blackborough Mines for signs of goblin opposition.
You're not really helping yourself by hating religious "fanaticism," by taking it into your own hands to make it an argument rather than a calm discussion. You're not in the right just because they're in the wrong.
Who hurt you Andre? Show us on the minifig where the DM killed your PC.
Oh, _yes!_ This is pretty much _the_ episode (besides the one tabletop board games) that I've been waiting for since this series began. Thanks, Andre! **
I like the Stranger Things lights up on the wall during the intro.
Those are just lights... not special
0:14 Pikachu joins your party! You'll definitely need its help if you want to make it through Tomb of Horrors. At the very least, it can go ahead and take the traps for the rest of the party.
Yeah, the worst that could happen is he'll just faint. Lucky stiff...
That's a Nice sight you have
LIGHTNING BOLT!
LIGHTNING BOLT!
LIGHTNING BOLT!
LIGHTNING BOLT!
liches are immune to lighting damage
Then use Charizard X, for that fire/dragon combo that can easily damage everything.
A demilich is actually weaker than a lich, as they were originally liches but lost much of their power after forgetting or refusing to feed souls to their phylactery. Just nitpicking, great episode!
Roleplaying games?
Ooh! What kind?
Tabletop? Western? J-RPGs?
Tabletop! Nice. I've gone through and actually made my own ruleset and world for one. It's not very polished, but my friends and I have fun. I call it "The Finest of Perseus," and it's loosely based around Star Trek, with plenty of inspiration from games like FTL, Star Wars: X-Wing, and the XCOM series. So... yeah.
Most interesting.
I also find cool to create new systems and worlds. I had to create a system so players could use fire weapons, while at the same time balancing them so none of them got overpowered. I came up with a system with 3 variables for each gun: damage, rounds and range penalty. Some guns, like a double barrel shotgun, have good damage, but few rounds and poor range. Others, like sniper rifles, have good damage, but only from a very far distance and only 1 round before having to reload.
Rick Apocalypse
What I did to manage ship's movement also turned into how I manage weapons with a spread. I made it so each ship had a certain amount of "Bars" (inches they could move) in a turn, and also a certain number of maximum degrees they could turn per bar. In order to do this, I needed to make a 3 inch radius semi-circle with degree markers (basically a protractor but clearer), with marks for each inch out from the center you were. I use that for my shotguns and stuff in ground combat.
Nice, I'm a storyteller(GM) myself, too :) Glad to see some non-fantasy inspiration here. Did you play Eclipse Phase perchance?
bartosso
As a relativly new GM (of only about four years now, and only with one group), I haven't really gotten through a lot of different games over my time. Though, after looking up Eclipse Phase it doesn't really seem like something I'd love in the first place. Don't get me wrong, I like the idea, but I'm never really a fan of post-apocalyptic settings for GMing purposes. That being said, from its description this is one of those post-apocalyptic settings that I'm actually intrigued by. I might check it out further. Thanks for sending it my way!
Andre is easily one of my all-time favorite CC hosts. Such a cool, enthusiastic guy.
WHERE THE CHEETOS? WHERE'S THE MT.DEW?? CAN I HAVE A MT. DEW?? I'M GOING TO GET A SODA, ANYONE WANT ONE?
Are there any girls there? If there are any girls there, I wanna do theeem.
I cast magic missile at the darkness
Andre, I love your enthusiasm. Thanks for explaining what a Lich and Demi-Lich is. I was a bit confused about that when I read Ready Player One (best book ever!).
As to your claim at the end of the comment, I must say, not hardly.
Demi-Lich is actually less powerful...at least in most recent D&D. I don't know about older editions and other rpgs.
Older D&D, the Demilich is guaranteed blood bath. Liches came in all shapes and sizes, and a good (and large) group could easily take the weakest of them around 3rd level, but the Demilich of old came in one size, and that size was pain.
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Ready Player One is so awfully cringe it made me want to avoid gaming communities.
Now can you do an episode on wargaming? Starting from tabletop then to computer simulation? You're going to have to cover things like Warhammer and Starcraft eventually.
I'm also surprised that CRPGs were never brought up.
I feel like tabletop has changed my life for the better. I've gained precious friends, become more confident, imaginative, and been able to play out scenarios that I'd have a hard time with in real life (my favorite character is tough and stands up for herself better than I've ever been able to in real life). It makes me happy to see crash course give it some time, and it will hopefully inspire other people to check it out and see what's so great about it!
I admire the amount of work and dedication put in this crash course!!! 😌
Andre is just the best show host ever. Every time I listen to him I want to go buy a bunch of books on the subject he's talking about. Andre, you are freakin' awesome! :D Thanks for your work with the DFTBA team :)
games to last weeks or months? year long campaigns is what it's about
Indeed, that was basically my thought at that moment as well (campaigns that I run that are not completely open ended and player driven tend to last 2 years or so)
If a game I'm in ends that quickly, it's because of DM burnout or TPK. We never plan for a game to be that short.
While personally I agree with this statement many 'newer' gamers prefer shorter campaigns of only a few months. Personally I blame Vampire. :P
I've been playing in the same campaign for 3yrs, and it went on for a year before I came in. And it will likely go another year before we reach completion. I'm so attached to my character that I will likely go into actual mourning if she dies. I've played her for so long she's developed a realism that's hard to describe.
+StoryFromTheStars And that is why we game.
PRUSSIA
YES, IM NOT THE ONLY ONE WHO REMEMBERS PRUSSIA
spacemarines
They didn't include my favourite Gygax quote. In reference to the accusations of satanism, he responded, "It's a game. The magic is as real as the gold". I thought that was pretty perfect.
One of the biggest elephants in the room where RPGs were concerned in the 80s was LARPs (Live Action RPGs) where players would go into forests and whatnot and act out these games personally rather than around a table. This resulted in injuries and a few deaths because of simulated combat between players getting out of hand. This hurt D&Ds reputation at least as much as the religious controversy.
2:13 I almost cried of happiness and excitement seeing Hero Quest figures.... PAINTED!
I randomly know something that might be interesting. Workshop Games, the company that made Warhammer and Warhammer 40k, were founded shortly after DnD was made and had started to become big. At the time, they were working out of their apartment, and actually contacted Gary Gygax at one point. The result was that Workshop Games became the first UK (and European) seller of DnD, as a mail order business, out of a shitty apartment. This arrangement didn't last long though, despite Gary Gygax wanting to work solely through the Workshop Game's people
Also, Warhammer fantasy was originally an RPG-Wargaming hybrid, and included rules for progression for your general. Each game played would affect their version of Warhammer's world in a permanent way, at least until Warhammer v2 came out and started changing it into a more pure wargame.
Oh, and lead models used to be common back in the 80s. They were technically toxic to humans.
I wanted to hear about RPG video games, I just finished playing the Mass Effect series!! But I'm also proud of my geek factor seeing as I understood every single D&D reference hahah
DM " Hey Irvine, what are the stats on that short bow you found?"
Me " Its... *interrupted*
DM " Mundane now! A beholder approaches, roll for initiative."
Me "!!!!!!"
"If you survive"? You just described the Tomb of Horrors. The party is *not* going to survive that.
RPG today isn't just composed of the traditional knight, sorcerer, thief, cleric, dragon archetypes. JRPGs have featured roles like gunner, defender, tactician, etc. and there's also MMORPGs which have settings, worlds, universes that are as varied as the human imagination can take them from bugs living underground to futuristic highly-advanced alien worlds to explore.
They already did a separate video on MMORPGs when they were doing videos specifically about video games.
Primalxbeast Oh I didn't see that episode yet. I must've missed it.
I have to say that when I was a kid it was a pretty bad time for me. I was picked on, I had no friends. I was spurned by my peer and probably would have done something very stupid to 'get back at life' for the poor hand I was dealt, even tho I felt as if I did nothing wrong. Then I discovered Dungeons & Dragons, and with it friends. I worked together with people in a much more intimate way and gained friendships that lasted all my life. RPGs are really great for people and I try to foster love of it however I can and really want to give back to the genre. I run a RUclips channel about RPGs (might get flagged for spam but whatever... I love them) to show my love and devotion to it. If you are a long time player or just getting into RPGs, send me a message. Fostering a good RPGs community is a wonderful thing.
That ending made me grin so hard. The DM says he rolled a twenty.
I've always loved TSR, or RPGs in general. I grew up reading AD&D, and Choose Your Own Adventure type books, and even started collecting them recently. If you're a D&D fan, you will like Lone Wolf, it's single person D&D with an evolving character from book to book, depending on your choices.
As I was never able to find anyone as geeky as me, I've never actually played tabletop Dungeons and Dragons, though I've always wanted to. Instead, I've played enough video game RPGs on almost every platform, and style from Moria (pure text, map and all), and Torchlight (a Hack and Slash with a storyline), to Minecraft (A moddable sandbox game without a story).
There's nothing quite like finishing your taxes one minute, and descending into the dungeons under the wizard's tower the next.
One of my favorite episodes of the TV sitcom, 'Community,' was when the gang tried to cheer up a school mate by playing a game of Dungeons and Dragons.
Marlon Moncrieffe Best show ever. That episode, and the one in the IT crowd got me wondering about rpg's.
HEY! FUNDAMENTALISTS! STOP FLIPPING MY PENTACLES UPSIDE DOWN!
02:13 is a picture of painted "Hero Quest" figures, which was a 90's Milton Bradley board game. Babby's first RPG!
Not enough dakka.
What do you do if the red one doesn't go fast enough, my eloquent Krok friend?
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Xeno filth.
I just LOVE these Crash Course Games videos!
I love them because they are nostalgic, history educational, and also helps me discover some games ive missed along the way while growing up for various reasons.
Id love a 'JRPG' video as well please.
I also agree with other commenters here, 'Steam' is an EPIC EPIC gaming site which is the future of gaming here & now, that's where the party is on the web in 2016, you def. need to start doing a Crash Course Games for PC games for the older gems and new releases.
While Steam certainly is grandoise, it does have it's issues...
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I'd love a JRPG video too, so long as they do a WRPG one as well.
I love how you use the word nostalgic, when you are clearly not old enough to see the birth of any of these games. let alone having played one.
But I'm 35?!
Also, had 3 older sisters so we also had the 1978 Atari home console and the arcades in the malls to game on too before the first NES & SMS came out.
And now, I'm chillin on Steam with 700 games! :D
The sneaky Usagi Yojimbo gag was perfect.
Something I find worth noting is that, while D&D specifically might have been based on the Kriegsspiel, I think the basic format and appeal behind it are based on something much older. When I try to explain RPGs to someone who has no idea about them, I find that the most succinct way to explain their point is by comparing them to the kinds of make-believe games you play as a child, except with rules that try to ensure that you won't run home crying because the other kids aren't playing fair and keep making up overpowered weapons to counter your own.
I've used the godly DM Matthew Mercer's description to help a few of my less geeky friends understand it. D&D is communal improvisational group story telling, with dice that determine how well your improvisation goes. I like your description as well. It's like a bunch of adults getting to play make believe again.
Sarah CB Yeah, that's another way to put it, too! It kinda depends on whether you're talking about the D&D sort of battle-heavy system that's more about coming up with something cool and putting it to work, or a more storytelling-focused kind of system that's more about the common creative effort.
Fawriel Right. I think a good game should have a bit of both, preparation for battles and scene setting on the part of the DM but for social interactions let the players have their moments and even during battles have them describe and dictate what it is they want to do.
But that's just my preference. The awesome thing about RPGs is that it's very open ended so you can curb it to the style you and the players like most.
"...they CLAIM to roll a TWENTY."
This man has endured a bitter DM. I know that feel, buddy. I know that feel. :(
love the mysterious pikachu! at the beginning jajajaj
In the beginning one, you get more than gold and stuff at the end of the tomb of horrors, you get a copper key, which you can use on the gate in another planet to open up the war games movie fliksync.
I miss those days when people play RGP together on the table and not online.My friends and I really enjoyed playing and have snacks thereafter
I am so glad you're back André!
I always found playing the DM to be the most fun. I love watching how the party will (or wont) find a way to do an objective I never thought of. For example a party I was DMing wanted to assassinate a cultist leader so they checked her room for hiding places. However the ranger saw her and warned the party she was going to the same room. They decided to hide in a wardrobe, however it was guarded by an acid explosion trap, so as she walks in they open the wardrobe and set off the trap killing the paladin and sorcerer while also killing the cultist.
I need a group to DM for. But that sounds like an interesting adventure. Did the paladin and sorcerer get resurrected, or did new characters have to be rolled? Also what edition were you using?
FishWaffle
Oh, I only know 4e sadly, but it's good to hear they weren't dead for good. Sounds like that was quite the clusterfuck though, plenty of laughs.
FishWaffle
That's tabletop rpgs for you! haha
+maxwell simon Wouldn't have it any other way!
Talks about fantasy wargaming and shows 40k figures... just giving you a hard time crash course. Love you guys.
I mean, 40k is a fantasy setting.
+Woodthorn Technically.
Not sure if heresy...
+Venerable Dreadnought Now my Lord... we don't need to bring up heresy here...
this guy doesnt want us to seek out heresy! GET HIM!
1:14 DID SOMEBODY SAY PERSONA! I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS!
Great job on this one! Although I would've liked to see more time spent on some of the most popular systems in the last 20 years. Also some on the RPG community. And I got the Usagi Yojimbo reference!
I love that Blaster from G1 Transformers is sitting in the background of the opening animation (:
Noticed that too. Should have been Soundwave though. He's the real boom box transformer..
my favourite type of games
Woah. I've never been "Uploaded 40 seconds ago" early
For me it says 11 minutes ago but you commented 48minutes ago so you are a time traveller?
Gosh damnit. You have gone and blown our cover...I thought we agreed we would stay out of trouble and just observe human life in 2016...You know before THAT happened...Now we very well may have caused THAT.
Gosh damnit. You have gone and blown our cover...I thought we agreed we would stay out of trouble and just observe human life in 2016...You know before THAT happened...Now we very well may have caused THAT.
+Reagan Maxwell are you so unsure of the future that you had to comment twice? :)
***** The time continuum is very tricky.
Tom Hanks' character didn't kill himself in mazes and monsters. He went insane and thought he was his character in the game. His friends came to visit him at his parents house in the end.
I wanna cast.....MAGIC MISSILE!
Why are you casting magic missile there's nothing to attack here?
I attack the darkness!
I fire.....two arrows! At his feet! I wanna keep him!
Is the reference from an old sprites animation on Newgrounds or other source that i dont know?
google dead alewives d&d
Big ups for name dropping Tomb of Horrors right off the bat.
Been waiting for this episode since the series started.
Every time I cook my meals on a frying pan, I intend to draw a pentagram with the liquid butter. XD I haven't even played D&D or DOOM that much...
oh! It's a blanket over your head, I thought it was hair, and I was thinking... "Damn! How long have you been down there?"
As devout Christian and possible future minister, you'd think I'd agree with the remarks about the demonic themes of D&D. You'd probably be surprised to find that I find it Hilarious and Ridiculous!
Then you obviously are not devout. The Bible is quite clear about this issue. You are an apostate. You cannot decide which parts of the KJV to adhere to or not, to interpret or not, to accept on its face or not, etc. I hope for your future flock that you hew to the Word as stated and not to your necessarily imperfect opinion of it lest your lambs get slaughtered.
I AM advocating Paranoia! It's a very unique game system that fosters a black humor otherwise unavailable systemically in the world of RPGs! Fun is mandatory!
Tom Hank's character doesn't commit suicide at the end of Mazes and Monsters, he just gets trapped in his delusions...
Interestingly enough the christian panic wasn't unfounded, at least in it's origin. Many of the terms, ideas and spells used in the game have various sources both biblical (sticks to snakes, water walking, tongues etc) as well as pagan (the entire druid class, necromancy, the deck of many things is a tarot deck) and later editions even drew ideas from occult ritual, the divine comedy and recycled symbolism of modern quasi-religious movements such as the freemasons and the necronomicon of Lovecraft.
Thank you for taking this series to make it about games at large. Also, I spy a Blaster in the opening animatic!
I'm literally creating crew for a PC ship right now for my D&D 3.5 campaign....The timing of this episode is just perfect :D
I tried making an RPG used with regular playing cards based on turn based combat. As of right now, I'm calling the game Improv.
COOKIE PRINCESS IS MY FAVORITE ADVENTURE TIME EPISODE! IT WAS REALLY HEART WARMING!
You imply here that D&D has vaguely realistic combat. It's just a person walking up to another and just hitting them, then the other walking up and hitting the first. No parrying, and a guy with a dagger can slash through plate armour. Runequest is a superior system.
You may have conquered Asurak, but now you must still survive EVILAAAAK!!!
I'm so glad Black Magic was responsible for my "Glitter-Boy" Mech. Thank you, Satan.
(Yeah, I ain't got no rail-gun)
man ive only ever played a dnd game once in my life but god damn was it one of the most fun things ive ever done
Love the Blaster in the background
Been looking forward to this episode! Little disappointed that Battletech wasn't mentioned, though.
I love that Andre's fantasy self has dreads/long hair. I often enjoy seeing how people portray themselves, or at least aspects of themselves, in fantasy.
I've been waiting 17 episodes for this one.
Excited!
I love the fact that he showed WH40K while talking about Tolkien
It's good to see you back Andre. Although your substitute did do a solid job as well. It was also good to meet you in person at Power Morphicon!
-Sean
3:21 "Over time this evolved from a life or death situation to a game." XD
Nice Stranger Things reference at the beginning ;)
Great video! I would like to see another video about miniature wargaming. I think a more comprehensive look at it would make the hobby more well-known as well as being entertaining and informative.
Tabletop RPGs are my jam.
As soon as I heard Acererack, I thought immediately, "He holds the copper key."
Started playing 2nd ed D&D in early '96.... Been playing every game I could since then.
But part of the fun of Paranoia is the GM messin with ya!
Wizard School by DTBA said Dare to be August. Good thing Christmas comes every year.
Seriously, though, Bunnies & Burrows sounds like literally the best game ever.
That's was the tomb of hours module from D and D.
>Finishes watching crash course games on RPGS
>Goes to watch Heroes and Halfwits.
Always forget about Call of Cthulhu :'(
I'm so happy about this episode!
he seems like somone who would be fun to play d&d with just from that intro
Role play games are still being innovative, and also interactive gaming, makes for more global players.
Let me be a booster for Paranoia here - it really is a fun RPG, especially with a group that takes it only just seriously enough!
original d&d did allow nonhumanoids. gygax stated you can play as any monster, but didn't flesh out the rules for it, because he was crazy
Love these, keep up the good work
I played on the same campaign for 3 years... and it had been running for 10 before I joined in
The stranger things reference with the lights in the very beginning *screeching*
Dungeons and Dragons ppsshhh, that did nothing, now BUNKERS AND BADASSES, NOW THAT WAS SOMETHING BEAUTIFUL!
You forgot Marc Miller's Traveller and MAR Barker's Empire of the Petal Throne! Those were the other great 70s RPGs!
Sword and sorcerer anime owe much to RPG's. In 1986 some Japanese gamers called Group SNE published a Dungeons & Dragons "replay" called *_Record of Lodoss War_* as a serial in the Japanese magazine Comptiq. It proved so popular that Dungeon Master Ryo Mizuno started to adapt the story into some of the earliest Japanese-language domestic high fantasy novels in 1988. In 1990 a Lodoss 13 episode OVA anime was released, followed in 1998 by a 27 episode TV series.
Tomb of Horrors...."LET"S DO THE TIME WARP AAAGGAAAAIIIINNN!!!!!!"
This video does an amazing job of explaining Pen and Paper RPGs! The next time one of my non-gaming friends or coworkers asks "How does D&D work?" or "How do you actually play D&D;" I'm going to show them this video.
Also, my Mom thought D&D was bad news because of the bad press in the 70s and 80s.
Yes, I'm one of those guys... "MAGIC MISSILE"!!!!!! 5:14 .... I may never forgive for that!