Pen-and-paper magic?

apalalas

Hey guys, Im new to the site, but Ive been lurking you folks for a long time.  I read massively and MMORPG.com pretty much every day, even though Im currently not playing any MMOs. Oh sure, Ive gone through a lot of them - EVE, WoW, Atlantica, RO, AshenEmpires, Fallen Earth, Darkfall - pretty much searching everywhere to quell my desire for a truly immersive MMO.

I think everyone is craving something that will unite interactivity between people, a dynamic world, limitless possibilities, and dynamic fun into a sandbox that we can all play digitally. Sadly, its getting harder and harder to see that become a reality.

I dont fault the game developers - it could be a lack of technology...or perhaps the risks of making such a game are just too high financially. Im sure it will happen sometime, but until then I had a thought:

 

How many of you folks got into RPGs through good old-fashioned Pen-and-Paper RPGs? D&D of course, but anything else really. RIFTS, GURPS...even some newer ones (relatively speaking) like the Warhammer RPG. It seems that personally, Im just looking for a game that allows me to experience a world that feels as limitless as the ones I created when I used to pore over a tattered notebook imagining my own [instances] and [epic loots].

Theres something about biting down into some core rulebooks and dealing with good old fashioned imagination to make up your own rules, settings, weapons, and stories - without having to worry about the limits of technology or expensive computers.

 

I suppose this post lacks focus, but I felt that maybe a few of you older gamers like myself might be around on these boards in a similar situation as myself. About 8 months ago I created my own version of an online rpg by bringing some pretty hearty homebrew pen-and-paper rules to create my own forum game ( http://empireinblood.lefora.com if youre curious ), playing some good old fashioned imagination-heavy RPG action with some old friends.

Its funny, we post once a day so it fills that need that MMOs held over me for so long. I quit WoW awhile back, and since then Ive found that this has been more fun than anything I ever did in the (thousands of) hours I played that game. Whats more, I have successfully recruited 2 complete strangers into the game that have become as close as any guildmates Ive ever had in any of the MMOs I played. The social gaming fulfillment I got by running raids or dungeons with random people have been replaced with an epic story woven between my good friends and myself.

Now, with over 1700 posts between 6 of us, its hard not to feel the same kind of accomplishment that one might feel when looking at a high-level character and his gear. Theres a full archive of the entire adventure that I can read any time, and its like looking at the living breathing history I so crave. The characters do whatever their imaginations feel like - they take on crafting professions and make whatever decisions they want outside of the confines of any defined ruleset. If something needs a rule, I make it up. Theres no waiting on development cycles; it takes a few hours to come up with a coherent ruleset. And posting once per day takes as little or as long as you could want.

 

I guess what Im getting at is - if there are any of you waiting on the next big thing, waiting for the true sandbox experience to come to you with all the features on your list...maybe you should dust off your old pen-and-paper books, find yourself some players, and make your own world.