Posters: The how's and why's of our gaming.

[Silverblaze]

This may need moved to another section, but i think it could fit here.

I notice lately that we have a good portion of posts that seem incredulous to other posters.  I think we could promote more useful debates, converstions, and content if we understood each other a little better.  We used to be far more helpful to one anotehr and I want to get back to that as a community.  This may be a total flop, but I think it could be worth a shot.  There are no wrong answers, this is more or less an attempt at empathy for other posters.  Feel free to answer as many or as few of these questions as you like.

1. How did you start gaming?
2. What system did you start with?
3. What systems have you played?
4. What system/s are your favorite?
5. Is this your first system?
6. What caused you to try DFRPG?
7. What is your preference in gaming group size?
8. How open are you to gaming with people you don't know or hardly know?
9. What is your best quality as a player?
10. What is your worst qulity as a player?
11. What is you best quality as a GM?
12. What is your worst quality as a GM?
13. Importance of game balance 1 - 10 (1 being lowest 10 besing highest)
14. Importance of setting/canon of universe 1 - 10 (1 being lowest 10 besing highest)
15. Custom setting or established setting?
16. During character creation are freedom of powers more important or the chracter concept and the powers and skills fitting that concept? EDIT: FIXED!?
17. Roll play or role play?  Something inbetween? ( Role playing skills vs dice for resolving things in game)
18. Other: anything notable to volunteer that could explain your view of gaming or your posts on here (obviously mood, upbringing and personality has an affect here, but lets not get too personal eh?)

I'll start out hoping I start a trend.

1. Age 13. The local Magic (CCG) players at my local comic shop started playing this new game I never heard of and invited me along. Mind's Eye Theatre LARP based on White Wolf's Vampire the Masquerade (I think we all pretended to be other people or things growing up, I figure I'd start with my first official gaming group)  I took to it well.  I always liked video game RPG's also.

2. Mind's Eye Theatre LARP based on White Wolf's Vampire the Masquerade

3. MET (minds eye theatre), World of Darkness (1st-3rd editions) setting which has had over a dozen pseudo settings within it, D&D 2nd ed., D&D 3.X ed., (all associated game worlds) D&D 4.0 (once), D20 Star Wars, D20 Spy Craft, Pathfinder, Gamma World, Gurps, Palladium, Shadowrun (varous editions), Cyberpunk, Mechwarrior (battletech RPG), Big Eyes Small Mouth (anime system), MEGS (DC Heroes/Blood of Heroes), Marvel Roleplaying Game, Champions, Dragon Storm, West End Starwars, I tried Star Trek..kind of, I tried battlestar galactica, buffy, and a final fantasy RPG...played New World of Darkness, played Scion, have tried plenty of home spun systems.  those do not include video games CCg's etc.  I'm sure I left out varioussystems I try to forget.  Oh my bad...DFRPG!
 
4. I rather like old World of Darkness best.  I've enjoyed 2nd ed D&D.  MEGS can be fun.  I enjoy the DFRPG.

5. No

6. My friends convinced me to read the novels.  Then one got the Game Supplement books, said he wanted to try running it.  the rest is history.

7. TT(tabletop) - 3-6 players 1 GM  -----  LARP 1-4 ST's (usually more than 1...so hard wiht just 1) 18-50 players.

8.TT - not very but I will.  i prefer to get to know them first.  LARP - perfectly fine...odd eh?

9.getting into character or ingenuity during play

10. I am hard to get to metagame - this can lead to party conflicts if i won't budge because my character i stubborn even if the story would flow better if I would.  I have learned to be a munchkin and power gamer out of necessity due to some groups I have been in. I min/max fairly well.

11. compelling story/plot or ability to improvise

12. scaling difficulty of encounters/scenes

13.  depends on the group generally I'd say 8 but I can drop as low as 6 if I havea good group.

14. assuming it is not a homebrew world 7 or 8.  otherwise I don't care. The Incredible Hulk can be chinese and fly for all I care if the plot is good and we are clearly playing in an alternaverrse.

15. Both, but stick to it once you choose for the duration of the campaign 9long running game)

16. concept, but I like some room to stretch my creativity of course

17.  Something inbetween -  Roleplay with mechanics there to strongly back up play and to help reinforce roleplaying moments with skills as needed.

18. In my group I usually get stuck plying a leader type or the "talky one". This doesn't bother me.  I like to play a "sack of hammers" who just hits stuff sometimes as a diversion.  I try to play many diverse things/concepts to really be as different from me as possible.  I have enjoyed trying to see some of myself in my character though.  I p[refer to immerse myself into the setting and world I am in, but I don't mind distractions or table talk.  RL comes first even when I'm indulging my hobby.  Staying away from personal stuff for the most part, but I do like playing devils advocate and am a "epic wise ass", I root for the underdog.  I should mention I'm a pessimist and prefer to be wrong about things as a result.  I tend to mediate and be moderate rather than stick to my guns since I have many stubborn friends and think life is too short to argue in circles forever.


Hope this helps explain some of my positions on matters.

[Sanctaphrax]

1. How did you start gaming?

Been playing board and card and video games all my life; I think I made my first board game when I was six. Started playing RPGs when I bought a D&D book off of E-Bay out of curiosity. Dragged some friends into a badly-organized game eventually, and got into the whole scene.

2. What system did you start with?

D&D, I guess.

3. What systems have you played?

D&D, Shadowrun, DFRPG, and sort of Exalted. I own more than I play, by a lot. And I've made characters and so on for games I've never played.

4. What system/s are your favorite?

This one. I'm attached to Exalted too, though.

5. Is this your first system?

Nope.

6. What caused you to try DFRPG?

Saw it on a shelf. Read it, liked it. Posted here a bit and discovered I liked it here. That kinda kept me involved.

7. What is your preference in gaming group size?

Dunno.

8. How open are you to gaming with people you don't know or hardly know?

Pretty open.

9. What is your best quality as a player?

I'm reliable and I know rules.

10. What is your worst qulity as a player?

I'm stubborn as all hell.

11. What is you best quality as a GM?

I'm reliable and I know rules.

12. What is your worst quality as a GM?

I'm not the best at reading what players want.

13. Importance of game balance 1 - 10 (1 being lowest 10 besing highest)

6ish. I'd say 9 when writing, but only 3 when playing. I hate worrying about balance while I play, so I want a system that can take a bit of carelessness.

14. Importance of setting/canon of universe 1 - 10 (1 being lowest 10 besing highest)

2.

15. Custom setting or established setting?

Bit of each.

16. Freedom or concept during character creation?

I don't know what this means.

17. Roll play or role play?  Something inbetween?

Again, I don't follow.

18. Other: anything notable to volunteer that could explain your view of gaming or your posts on here (obviously mood, upbringing and personality has an affect here, but lets not get too personal eh?)

I'm super privileged, and I really like math. Writing rules is fun for me. I don't have much experience with being wrong. I'm extremely optimistic. And I'm often the smartest person in whatever room I happen to be in.

[Todjaeger]

Okay, I'll give this a whirl, why not?

1. How did you start gaming?

I got started gaming (RPG's) as a little kid.  No idea when I started playing board games, but that would've been as a really little kid.

2. What system did you start with?

D&D Basic (Red Box - Frank Metzer ed.)

3. What systems have you played?

D&D Basic, D&D Expert, AD&D (1st & 2nd ed.) D&D 3.0, D&D 3.5, D&D 4e, Star Wars (D6/WEG ed.), Star Wars D20, Star Wars Saga ed, Marvel Super Heroes (TSR ed.) the Marvel RPG by Margaret Weis Productions (playtester), Runequest (I have one of the red hardcover copies...), Runequest 2nd ed. Rifts, Dungeon Crawl Classics, Savage Worlds, Gamma World (original & 4e versions),  Wheel of Time (D20 version), Spirit of the Century, MERP, Twilight 2000, Lord of the Rings (ICE & Decipher games editions), Battletech/Mechwarrior (1st, 2nd & 3rd editions) Star Trek (FASA, LUG & Decipher editions).  Various editions different White Wolf games,  Cyberpunk, Shadowrun, DFRPG (of course! and I was on the playtest) and there are at least three other games which I've forgotten the names of, nevermind any other games which I've forgotten that I've played over the years.

4. What system/s are your favorite?  Honestly, the DFRPG

5. Is this your first system?

Not by a long shot.

6. What caused you to try DFRPG?

I'm a big fan of the novels and I really like the setting.  Once I found out about the RPG being in development, I wanted in.

7. What is your preference in gaming group size?

It depends on the game, as well as what's going on, generally 4 - 6 players works best for me.

8. How open are you to gaming with people you don't know or hardly know?

I'm fairly open to it, since I enjoy running DFRPG convention games.

9. What is your best quality as a player?

No idea

10. What is your worst quality as a player?

Not sure, aside from some GM's hate it when I get creative.

11. What is you best quality as a GM?

I can be very creative as a GM.

12. What is your worst quality as a GM?

I can be very creative as a GM.

13. Importance of game balance 1 - 10 (1 being lowest 10 besing highest)

Hard to give a specific number, since what people consider 'balance' can be different

14. Importance of setting/canon of universe 1 - 10 (1 being lowest 10 besing highest)

Setting is a 10, very important as far as I'm concerned.  Whether or not that setting is 'canon' is going to depend a bit on the game and setting.  For my DFRPG campaign, I'm attempting to stick as closely as I can to canon, therefore no one can become another Knight of the Cross, or Summer of Winter Knight, Senior Council member, etc. 

15. Custom setting or established setting?

Depends on the game.  For the DFRPG, established setting.

16. Freedom or concept during character creation? (Powers = Tools?)

Not sure I understand the question.

17. Roll play or role play?  Something inbetween? ( Role playing skills vs dice for resolving things in game)

I don't particularly like roll-playing games, I much prefer running/playing role-playing games.

18. Other: anything notable to volunteer that could explain your view of gaming or your posts on here (obviously mood, upbringing and personality has an affect here, but lets not get too personal eh?)

Honestly, not sure.

-Cheers

[Haru]

1. How did you start gaming?
I've always liked any kind of games. We've been playing family games regularly, and I build my first own boardgame at the age of 9 or 10. I guess RPGs just followed logically. I think I played the first game around 14 years of age.

2. What system did you start with?
Technically, I'd have to say it was "Das schwarze Auge" (The Dark Eye in english, I think), but it was kind of short lived with a group of friends where one of them got the box from an older brother and none of us really knew what to do. Two years later, I actually started playing more frequently with Shadowrun.

3. What systems have you played?
The Dark Eye, Shadowrun, AD&D 2, DnD 3, Ars Magica, 7th Sea, and some others I've read and dabled around with, but never actually played.

4. What system/s are your favorite?
TDFRPG definitely. I love how aspects can make everything go smooth.

5. Is this your first system?
Nope

6. What caused you to try DFRPG?
Loved the novels, love roleplaying, it was inevitable, I think.

7. What is your preference in gaming group size?
3-5 Players plus GM. Less and there is often something missing, more and you can get overwhelmed pretty fast.

8. How open are you to gaming with people you don't know or hardly know?
Pretty open, just lately joined a group full of strangers.

9. What is your best quality as a player?
I usually know the rules very well and can point to the page in the book to most if not every question.

10. What is your worst quality as a player?
I'm pretty creative and often find ways to solve a problem that baffle most GMs. Not every GM can deal with that.

11. What is you best quality as a GM?
I think my creativity as well.

12. What is your worst quality as a GM?
I rarely calculate the powerlevel of my enemies right. They usually tend to be way to heavy or wimps.

13. Importance of game balance 1 - 10 (1 being lowest 10 besing highest)
That's sort of a tough one, I have to say. A balance of fun is more important to me than actual balance between characters. I usually try to give every character a moment that is tailored to him/her. That way actual balance isn't that important.

14. Importance of setting/canon of universe 1 - 10 (1 being lowest 10 besing highest)
2, though I prefer kitchensink settings, so there isn't much that can ever be out of canon.

15. Custom setting or established setting?
Established as a starting point and then see where that takes me.

16. During character creation are freedom of powers more important or the chracter concept and the powers and skills fitting that concept? EDIT: FIXED!?
Especially with TDFRPG, you don't really need powers to create a character. If you create a character with his aspects, and a power doesn't derive naturally from those aspects ("Ah, that power resonates with that aspect, I see"), the power probably isn't for you. So concept before powers, though some concepts might build around a certain power (which should still be represented aspect wise).

17. Roll play or role play?  Something inbetween? ( Role playing skills vs dice for resolving things in game)
Both. Pure role playing is too open for me, and for a pure roll playing, I could go play a video game. Working with the rolls, but describing and playing a cool scene around that.

18. Other: anything notable to volunteer that could explain your view of gaming or your posts on here (obviously mood, upbringing and personality has an affect here, but lets not get too personal eh?)
I've got spreadsheets and diagrams for all kinds of die roll rules on my computer. Along with 5 Roleplaying games that I am halfway through building and a couple where I only have an idea for a setting or a special kind of rule and didn't have time or ideas to go further. And some Board/Card- Games that I've created or started to create. Sadly, none of the finished ones have found a publisher yet.
Oh, and my first ever dice I bought was a D30. was way before I got into RPGs, I just saw it in a toy store and thought it was cool.

[Richard_Chilton]

1. How did you start gaming?

Saw D&D being referenced by various TV shows and thought it looked cool.

2. What system did you start with?

Basic D&D (Blue Box)

3. What systems have you played?

Countless.  Everything from Boot Hill (Guy who shots firsts - and hits - lives) to Chasium's Runequest and CoC to Star Frontiers to Elemental Masters to various Rolemaster systems to 5 different superhero systems (V&V was nice) to most White Wolf games (all editions, oWoD to nWoD to V20) to Amber to Over the Edge to Ars Magica to Star Fleet Battles to various Palladium systems (Black Cover PRPG was great) - and many, many more.

4. What system/s are your favorite?

It's hard to say.  Amber will always hold a special place in my heart.  There was a time that I was White Wolf junkie, but the switch from oWoD to nWoD slowly sapped my love for that system.  DFRPG is (at the moment) up there as a favorite.

5. Is this your first system?

Nope.

6. What caused you to try DFRPG?

I liked the books.  Jim's a great author - I'm glad he was able to get that Glen Cook blurb that attracted me to Jim's writing.

7. What is your preference in gaming group size?

In a LARP - 20 to 30.
At a table - 4 to 8

8. How open are you to gaming with people you don't know or hardly know?

Very.  Over the years I've found that gamers are gamers.  Sure, I've come across some assholes (mostly in LARPing) but over all we're a great group.

9. What is your best quality as a player?

Immersing myself in the character. 

10. What is your worst qulity as a player?

Occasionally breaking character to think about the rules.

11. What is you best quality as a GM?

Being able to ditch the notes and run with it.

12. What is your worst quality as a GM?

Once I've ditched the notes, I make notes of what the players are doing.

13. Importance of game balance 1 - 10 (1 being lowest 10 besing highest)

It depends on how you define balance.  I used to like balance, then I saw 4th Ed where every character is effectively the same - just with a slightly different colour to their powers.  By going for total balance they lost sight of the elements that made each class special.

14. Importance of setting/canon of universe 1 - 10 (1 being lowest 10 besing highest)

Depends on the game.  If the system is written around a certain world (V:tM and the WoD, <Blah the RPG and <Blah>) then 8 - 10.  If the game is generic, then custom worlds are fun.

15. Custom setting or established setting?

Depends on the game.  GURPS, D&D (any edition), etc - Custom settings can rock.
When it comes to V:tM I've seen many non-WoD setting crash and burn.

16. During character creation are freedom of powers more important or the character concept and the powers and skills fitting that concept?

Character concept is the most important part of a character.  Give the same stats on a sheet (including the same Aspects) to two different players and you'll have two different characters.  A concept based around taking a power or set of powers is usually the weakest type of concept (i.e. Tremere with Dominate, Warador type Toreadors

17. Roll play or role play?  Something inbetween? ( Role playing skills vs dice for resolving things in game)

It depends on the group and the system.  ICE steers you more to Roll than Role.  White Wolf - there's not enough of a system for it to be anything except a Role play one.

18. Other: anything notable to volunteer that could explain your view of gaming or your posts on here (obviously mood, upbringing and personality has an affect here, but lets not get too personal eh?)
I've been involved in the Camarilla for 15 years - and have held most of the ST positions (CST, DST, RST, acting NST, VST, GST, and a couple of others whose abbreviations escape me).  During that time I've met some people that I would prefer not to play with, and a few that I'd prefer not to have met.  Some of them have been power players of an extreme sort who try to win at role playing (much like Chevy Case in that episode of Community) and now where I look at rules I look at how people can intentionally misuse them.

Richard

[Mr. Death]

1. How did you start gaming?

By accident. My background's in freeform, and my first RP started when a bunch of us were in a chatroom, just acting in character (I was part of the Bob and George webcomic scene back in the day), and it just sort of spiraled from there into a (not entirely coherent) story.

As for videogames, I got my NES when I was 3, and have been playing ever since.

2. What system did you start with?
3. What systems have you played?
4. What system/s are your favorite?
5. Is this your first system?

DFRPG is the first real system I've used, so it's the answer to all of these.

6. What caused you to try DFRPG?

I'm a fan of the books, and mostly first got the RPG books just to read the character write-ups and the margin comments from Harry, Billy, and Bob. Then another person in my freeform gaming group mentioned he was looking at it and was considering a game, and I figured what the hell.

7. What is your preference in gaming group size?

Our freeform groups have ranged up to 8 or 9 people, but for anything with dice, 4-5 people seems ideal.

8. How open are you to gaming with people you don't know or hardly know?

Pretty open, at least if someone I know will vouch for them.

9. What is your best quality as a player?

I think it's my ability to get into my character's head, and come up with novel ideas.

10. What is your worst quality as a player?

Probably the degree to which I get into my character's head, and a tendency to take the game too seriously.

11. What is you best quality as a GM?

I think I've got a knack for scaling challenges, and for weaving different characters' aspects and backgrounds into a story (though it's still something I'm getting the hang of).

12. What is your worst quality as a GM?

A tendency to either plan too much (so that when the players jump the rails, I'm caught off guard) or to not quite plan enough (I've had a couple sessions end sooner than I'd anticipated, leaving me with buggerall to do). Also, sometimes I get too into the moment and forget to do something I had planned until it's too late.

13. Importance of game balance 1 - 10 (1 being lowest 10 being highest)

7. It's important, but any system's going to have some inherent imbalances, so I don't worry about it too much.

14. Importance of setting/canon of universe 1 - 10 (1 being lowest 10 being highest)

8 or 9. I'm a writer first, and consistency of setting is something very important to me.

15. Custom setting or established setting?

I've done both, though using an established setting and having something existing to work with helps me a lot.

16. During character creation are freedom of powers more important or the character concept and the powers and skills fitting that concept? EDIT: FIXED!?

Skills and powers fitting the concept, definitely.

17. Roll play or role play?  Something inbetween? ( Role playing skills vs dice for resolving things in game)

Roleplay, mostly. Well, for character interactions that don't involve weaponry, anyway. I've never gotten the hang of dice-based social interaction, and as I said, me and most of my players have background in freeform, without using any dice, so that comes more naturally to us.

18. Other: anything notable to volunteer that could explain your view of gaming or your posts on here (obviously mood, upbringing and personality has an affect here, but lets not get too personal eh?)

I guess the biggest influence on me as far as gaming and everything goes is I'm a writer/storyteller first and foremost, setting, story, character interaction and the narrative in general is what takes precedence to me.

[Harboe]

1. How did you start gaming?
A few people I was playing badminton with invited me to try it.

2. What system did you start with?
Dungeons and Dragons Third Edition

3. What systems have you played?
Dungeons and Dragons Third Edition, Dungeons and Dragons Fourth Edition, FATE, Savage Worlds (orig., revised, explorer's, deluxe), World of Darkness (old and new), Exalted, SIFRPG, Shadowrun.

4. What system/s are your favorite?
In general, FATE has a lot of appeal.
Shadowrun is the sort of setting where the system fits the setting amazingly.
D&D3e has a special place for me, of course.

5. What caused you to try DFRPG?
I heard about it and bought them on a whim Then, when I was moving (involving a lot of trips with the train), I bought some books to read, including Storm Front. Two months later, I'd read them all and looked over the roleplaying system from a new perspective. Then I tried getting a group started up and that brings us to the present.

6. What is your preference in gaming group size?
I've had groups between 2 and 8. Each type of group lends itself to particular types of games, so I fit the game style to the group size.

7. How open are you to gaming with people you don't know or hardly know?
Fairly open, though if a total stranger stopped me on the street and asked I'd be creeped out that he knew I was a roleplayer.

8. What is you best quality as a GM?
Willing to fit plotlines to whatever the players want.

9. What is your worst quality as a GM?
I'm **** at preparing for sessions.

10. Importance of game balance 1 - 10 (1 being lowest 10 besing highest)
5.
Game balance needs only be observed if the players care. Infinite loops or malicious reading of the rules are banned, but if you've found a superior strategy, then, by all means, use it.

11. Importance of setting/canon of universe 1 - 10 (1 being lowest 10 besing highest)
#.
Depends on what the group agrees on.

12. Custom setting or established setting?
Yes.

13. During character creation are freedom of powers more important or the chracter concept and the powers and skills fitting that concept?
I expect the characters powers/skills to fit their concept. Whether powers inspire concept or concept inspire powers, I really don't care.

17. Roll play or roleplay?
Stormwinds Fallacy.

[devonapple]

1. How did you start gaming? A few brief exposures in high school to tabletop games, but nothing solid until sophomore year of college. I played computer games all through high school, mostly adventure games like King's Quest, SpaceQuest, etc.

2. What system did you start with? I touched Marvel, RoboTech, and Talislanta, as well as read some AD&D 1e books in high school. My first actual actual regular RPG was a Champions game.

3. What systems have you played? AD&D 2e, D&D 3 and 3.5 (and Blue Rose), d20 Modern, Champions, Mutants & Masterminds, Dread, Dogs in the Vineyard, Heavy Mettle, ShadowRun, Call of Cthulhu, Trail of Cthulhu, Creeks and Crawdads, Star Wars (FASA d6 version), Star Trek, Spirit of the Century, Dresden Files, PDQ, RISUS, Fiasco, Skullduggery, RuneQuest (old school), Villains and Vigilantes, Mage: the Ascension, LARPS (my troupe's LARP ruleset).

4. What system/s are your favorite? I greatly enjoyed the d20 systems (D&D 3.x, Mutants and Masterminds), as well as Dresden Files. I've been playing a bit of Fiasco as well - it's almost like a party game

5. Is this your first system? No.

6. What caused you to try DFRPG? Several of my indie gaming buddies were into FATE, so I wanted to see the latest incarnation. It prompted me to read the books so I could runa  game for some other friends who were into the series.

7. What is your preference in gaming group size? 4-5

8. How open are you to gaming with people you don't know or hardly know? I do it at conventions all the time, but for regular, weekly games, I do like to know that a new players has been vetted by another friend.

9. What is your best quality as a player? Archiving. But that's a meta-game quality, really, so I'd have to say that my flexibility regarding plot and narrative is something I'm proud of. If I know a GM is going somewhere with something, I'll roll with the punches and improvise. I happily sublimate what most people would call "victory" in order to make a good story.

10. What is your worst quality as a player? Sometimes my drive to "play honest" will result in me bringing up a rules consideration which hoses the group or just another player. When I see a rule being abridged or forgotten, especially when I also run games in the same game system, I might do the equivalent of telling the teacher he forgot to assign us homework. I've been working on just shutting up in those cases. It takes effort though, as part of me feels it is setting dangerous precedents which will make it harder for me to keep my own games fair and "honest." I feel it is unfair for me to get away with something with a GM, then turn around when I'm a GM and say "well, I know you let us do that one thing in that way in your game, but I'm not going to let you do it in my game."

11. What is you best quality as a GM? World-building. When I devote the time and resources to planning out a world, governments, dungeons, new monsters, it really makes a big difference and the players have a great time.

12. What is your worst quality as a GM? It used to be that I was a pushover for well-articulated power abuses. I fear that I've come full-circle, and I may be too tight about these things now. But aside from that, it is now that I don't spend as much time as I feel is needed to prepare for my games.

13. Importance of game balance 1 - 10 (1 being lowest 10 being highest) 8

14. Importance of setting/canon of universe 1 - 10 (1 being lowest 10 being highest) 8

15. Custom setting or established setting? Either.

16. During character creation are freedom of powers more important or the character concept and the powers and skills fitting that concept? I tend to pick a niche character archetype and then create from there. I think that means that character concept is more important to me. I *like* being a "Swiss-Army knife" character, but I usually want them to have some sort of unifying theme.

17. Roll play or role play?  Something inbetween? ( Role playing skills vs dice for resolving things in game) I can swing either way, but for optimal fairness, I gravitate towards dice.

18. Other: anything notable to volunteer that could explain your view of gaming or your posts on here (obviously mood, upbringing and personality has an affect here, but lets not get too personal eh?) I really like the story, and I take pains to make sure that, if I'm *in* a setting, that I'm true to it. I'm also a LARPer (social "drawing room" LARPs, as opposed to boffer NERO-style LARPs), so I'm no stranger to relying on characterization, improvisation and articulation in order to move the story along.

Age: 38

[Sanctaphrax]

How old is everyone here?

Because judging by the lists of games played, you guys are probably much older than I am. (I'm 17, in case I never mentioned it.)

Concerning the clarifications:

I've never encountered a conflict between concept and desired powers. Then again, I usually pick concepts to fit powers. That tends to prevent this sort of issue.

I guess I'm a rollplayer, going by that description.

[Silverblaze]

How old is everyone here?

Because judging by the lists of games played, you guys are probably much older than I am. (I'm 17, in case I never mentioned it.)

Concerning the clarifications:

I've never encountered a conflict between concept and desired powers. Then again, I usually pick concepts to fit powers. That tends to prevent this sort of issue.

I guess I'm a rollplayer, going by that description.

I'll be 28 by the end of May.  You remind me of me at 17.   

EDIT: It was meant as a compliment.

[eri]

1. How did you start gaming?
I found the D&D basic rulebook in the bargain bin at a local bookstore. I was still in elementary school and couldn’t really find anyone who wanted to play with me in any major way until years later, but I got to play a bit when I could badger my little sister and my 3rd cousin to play. My little sister didn’t take to it, but my cousin did. Unfortunately, she lives in another country, so I didn’t get to play much.

2. What system did you start with?
D&D.

3. What systems have you played?
D&D in all its permutations, except the latest, WoD (Vampire, Changeling, Werewolf and Exalted), Star Wars (d20 version), Mutants & Mastermind, Legend of the Five Rings, Pathfinder and DFRPG, obviously. Also a few others I’ve only played once, like Blue Rose, BESM, GURPS Discworld and Legend of the Five Rings. I have more than I’ve played. I also LARP a bit. Mostly one-shots, mostly vaguely historical, mostly indoors.

4. What system/s are your favourite?
For GMing: DFRPG, hands down, for playing it’s a toss-up between Exalted, DFRPG and Mutants & Masterminds. I think I’d love GURPS, but I’ve never really gotten a chance to play it. It depends a lot on the group I'm playing with.

5. Is this your first system?
Not by a long shot.

6. What caused you to try DFRPG?
Love the series, love RPG, easy choice.

7. What is your preference in gaming group size?
3-6? Depends a lot on the GM, and the game. I had ten players once, that was a bit too much for me. But I’ve played with a GM who could handle that, no problem.

8. How open are you to gaming with people you don't know or hardly know?
Very.

9. What is your best quality as a player?
I’m reasonably inventive, a decent RPer and never get angry or riled up.

10. What is your worst quality as a player?
Impatience, also I keep forgetting rules to games I haven’t GM’d in, and even there I’m sometimes iffy.

11. What is your best quality as a GM?
I do the Sandbox thing pretty well, and I hope I do interesting characters.

12. What is your worst quality as a GM?
I’m seldom as prepared as I could be.

13. Importance of game balance 1 - 10 (1 being lowest 10 being highest)
2? There’s something to be said for it I suppose, but mostly I couldn’t care less. People are unequal, that’s how it is. Two different players, playing the same character, could be vastly different. edit to clarify: I have nothing against playing the least powerful in the group. I even prefer and enjoy playing (actual working) servant in LARPs.

14. Importance of setting/canon of universe 1 - 10 (1 being lowest 10 being highest)
Depends on the table (and also the setting/game)

15. Custom setting or established setting?
Both please?

16. During character creation are freedom of powers more important or the character concept and the powers and skills fitting that concept? EDIT: FIXED!?
Sorry to say this, but the question could still be clearer. How about you ask if they adapt the powers/skills to the concept or the concept to the Powers/skills? If that’s what you’re trying to say obviously. I mostly adapt the powers/skills to the concept, but sometimes I get inspired by particular powers so then it’s the other way round obviously.

17. Roll play or role play?  Something in-between? ( Role playing skills vs dice for resolving things in game)
Roleplay, unless the character is good at something the player is bad at. If it’s the other way round I trust the player to downplay his/her skill.

18. Other:
I’m in my late twenties, Norwegian, and not the best at reading people/jokes, but since I’m also rather mellow I usually take everything the best possible way, so it usually ends up okay anyway.

[sinker]

1. How did you start gaming?
2. What system did you start with?

Some friends introduced me to a freeform game they used to call oral D&D in primary school. No actual hard copy rules at all, just players with control over their singular character's actions and a GM that governed the results. That was my first actual role-playing game, but I'd been playing games (card, board, video) nearly all my life.

3. What systems have you played?

Palladium/Rifts, Shadowrun (2nd, 3rd, & 4th ed), Deadlands/Hell on Earth/Lost Colony, D&D (2nd, 3rd, & 4th ed), Heavy Gear/Gear Kreig/Jovian Chronicles, Spirit of the Century/DFRPG/FATE, Gurps (3rd & 4th ed), Big Eyes Small Mouth (2nd, 3rd, & 4th ed), Tristat RPG, Mechwarrior/Battletech, Savage Worlds, Don't Rest Your Head, Final Fantasy RPG, Star Wars (a couple of editions, don't remember which ones), Spy-Craft (D20), Gamma World, nWoD (a little tiny bit), Wheel of Time (D20), Amber Diceless, RISUS, Fiasco, Buffy, Serenity, Bulldogs, Little Fears (nightmare ed), Threshold (Beta), Many more printed systems that I'm forgetting because I don't have my full library with me and a few homebrewed systems too.
 

4. What system/s are your favorite?

I like systems that are fun in and of themselves. Deadlands (classic) is one of my favorites for it's integration of cards and poker chips. Heavy Gear was good for being a hybrid RPG/Tactical minis game (and having both sides unique and well built-ish). FATE is one of my favorites too, just from the story/narrative side. I also tend towards Horror settings (again, Deadlands, DFRPG, I really want to play Call of Cthulhu).

5. Is this your first system?

Not by a long shot.

6. What caused you to try DFRPG?

I'd read the novels before, but having a friend of a friend who was a burner really helped pique my interest.

7. What is your preference in gaming group size?

I refuse to play with less than four, I just don't like it. I'm also good at large groups. 4-8 is my preference, but we've done 12 successfully.

8. How open are you to gaming with people you don't know or hardly know?

I run con games and recently invited a person I met online to our local game, so I'm fine.
 

9. What is your best quality as a player?
10. What is your worst qulity as a player?

As a player I'm two sided. The Player in me is very helpful to the group as a whole, good with rules, and great at working together. However I really get into the character, so my desire to work as a team only extends to outside the character. In character I will bring any conflict I feel the character would bring.

The thing that others complain about the most is the fact that I'm a rules lawyer, sans the encyclopedic memory. In other words I instantly know when a rules call is wrong, but I have to look up the right way every time. Slows things down when we're unfamiliar with a system.

11. What is you best quality as a GM?
12. What is your worst quality as a GM?

I'm a storyteller first and foremost. I have a tendency to weave these grand epic tales (the last deadlands game I ran spanned centuries, planets, and character groups). I'm good with rules, and great with paying attention to my players and knowing how to adapt to what they need. I do sometimes get stymied in the details though, and my stories can outlast my attention span.

13. Importance of game balance 1 - 10 (1 being lowest 10 besing highest)

I'm weird on this one. A game never needs to be balanced. However it needs to be enjoyable to the players, and sometimes equity (yes equity, not balance) can be important to that.

14. Importance of setting/canon of universe 1 - 10 (1 being lowest 10 besing highest)

I'm going to go with what I assume you mean here and say 0. I have little interest in playing something strictly by canon. Canon can serve as a framework, but without adding bits it's just too rigid to allow play. Setting can have value, but it isn't necessary to tell a story.

15. Custom setting or established setting?

Sure? Same thing as above applies though, even if I use a setting I'm not going to use it without tweaks.

16. During character creation are freedom of powers more important or the chracter concept and the powers and skills fitting that concept? EDIT: FIXED!?

Anything should fit with the concept. Judging by where you posted this (in the DFRPG forums) I think you're going to get a lot of similar answers here. Aspects are king in DFRPG, and since we like DFRPG we're going to feel similarly.

17. Roll play or role play?  Something inbetween? ( Role playing skills vs dice for resolving things in game)

Yes. I prefer Role-play, but I recognize that even I am not capable of perfection in all things   Dice and stats fill those gaps that we all have and allow us to be something that we aren't, which helps us see things we never would have without them.

How old is everyone here?

Because judging by the lists of games played, you guys are probably much older than I am. (I'm 17, in case I never mentioned it.)

Wow, I would not have guessed that Sancta. You come off as quite a bit older (in a good way of course). I'll be 29 this year.

[Sanctaphrax]

Wow, I would not have guessed that Sancta. You come off as quite a bit older (in a good way of course). I'll be 29 this year.

I get that a lot, even offline. I blame my beard and the way my parents raised me.

Anyway, I really shouldn't be surprised that everyone is significantly older than me. But somehow I am anyway.

[sinker]

I get that a lot, even offline. I blame my beard and the way my parents raised me.

One of my friends had a full beard in primary school (maybe 5th or 6th grade). We call him the dwarf (He's pretty solidly built too).

[InFerrumVeritas]

1. How did you start gaming?
I played Baldur's Gate.  I had recognized the "Dungeons and Dragons" logo and found other computer games like it (Neverwinter Nights, etc.).  From there, some friends and I got together our favorite RPG computer games and tried to extrapolate rules from them between range time at shooting practice.  It was a disaster, but made me curious.  I found the Player's Handbook (3.5) at a bookshop and read it cover to cover about twelve times, but didn't have a group to play with.

2. What system did you start with?
My first tabletop game was with a group who played 3E D&D, I was playing with the 3.5E rules myself.  We didn't really know the difference for about a year and a half.

3. What systems have you played?
D&D (3, 3.5, 4), Mutants and Masterminds, a Highlander Game adapted using the M&M rules, Star Wars (Saga Edition), GURPS (a Matrix game that failed miserably), and DFRPG.

4. What system/s are your favorite?
FATE.  Hands down.  It takes the flexibility of M&M and GURPS, the elegant design of SWSE, but adds a narrative focus and is by far the easiest to introduce new players into.  I'm working on both a Superhero and High Fantasy adaptation for personal use.

5. Is this your first system?
Clearly not.

6. What caused you to try DFRPG?
I think the Dresden Files are terribly written and hate the main character, but love the ideas explored and the world created within them.  It's what kept me reading.  The whole time, I was thinking that I'd like this world better as an RPG.  Then I did some googling.  My friend who recommended DF to me thought it'd be fun, so we gathered other friends to play.

7. What is your preference in gaming group size?
I like 3-5 players and a GM.  I can play with 2, but only with a really good mix.  More than 5 and people get bored too often because of having nothing to do.

8. How open are you to gaming with people you don't know or hardly know?
I've tried it and honestly don't like it.  I see gaming as something to do with friends while we eat junk and drink.  It's that thing we do while hanging out so that we're not just staring at each other.  I'm okay with meeting new people, but I need to be friends with at least a couple people in the group before we start.

9. What is your best quality as a player?
I think out of the box and can kick a stalling story into gear better than anyone I've ever played with.

10. What is your worst qulity as a player?
I can be a bit of a rules lawyer.  Also, sometimes my characters steal spotlight or are powergame'd.  I tend to try to have an answer for everything, which can make people feel like I'm stealing their thunder.  I don't mean to, so try really hard to sit back until we're out of options.

11. What is you best quality as a GM?
I create a large variety of scenarios and challenges, but can change direction at the whim of my players or the dice.

12. What is your worst quality as a GM?
I have no concept of how much time something is going to take, so long complex stories never get told or simple potent ones are over too quickly.

13. Importance of game balance 1 - 10 (1 being lowest 10 besing highest)
8.  I want to be able to play whatever I want and not be punished.

14. Importance of setting/canon of universe 1 - 10 (1 being lowest 10 besing highest)
4.  It's a starting point and should be internally consistent once established in game, but can change based on our needs and fancies.  Once something is fact in a game (that is, the characters have discovered it as such), it stays that way, but beforehand they're guidelines for the start of the game or answers to questions I haven't prepared for.

15. Custom setting or established setting?
I often go with established settings, but set in a time or place where I have freedom to tell my own stories.  I'd never play DFRPG in Chicago or Star Wars during the original trilogy.  Too many restrictions.

16. During character creation are freedom of powers more important or the chracter concept and the powers and skills fitting that concept? EDIT: FIXED!?
Create the concept, talk about how the characters will fit together as a group, who has what strengths so that everyone gets spotlight time.  Then flesh it out.  Sometimes the concept is based around a power thought though (I want to use magic, so what would be a cool wizard character/we need a healer, so how can I play an interesting character with that ability).

17. Roll play or role play?  Something inbetween? ( Role playing skills vs dice for resolving things in game)
Stupid question setting up a false dichomety.  We roleplay it out, setting up the scenario (and thus how hard or not it is to succeed), but the dice decide once that's done because otherwise it's too predictable.  (Your wonderful cover story is ruined by your tipsy ex-girlfriend giving you a slap, then a hug and joining the conversation).

18. Other: anything notable to volunteer that could explain your view of gaming or your posts on here (obviously mood, upbringing and personality has an affect here, but lets not get too personal eh?)
Improv acting, storytelling, and a bit of strategy.  I see tabletop RPGs as being unique in that they combine these and so try to focus on them as much as possible.  I'll drop the acting part if the group isn't interested, but still use improv concepts when dealing with new ideas and characters.