Tell me about the time you played tabletop roleplaying games

Have you ever played tabletop RPGs? Like Dungeon & Dragons. Like the ones that they show in TV shows, where players dress up in weird costumes and talk in accents?

I haven't exactly played with it.
(Unless you count being mistaken for such a character and playing an MMO...)

I've seen some videos on Nico Nico Douga and other sites that have gone to the trouble of making videos based on the records of playing those TRPGs.
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It seems to be a case of introducing a good story to others.

Rime of the Frostmaiden

I think there are more videos on the subject here, so I recommend that one.

Well, from my almost 20 year experience I can tell that I've yet to see a real tabletop campaign where people would dress up in weird costumes and talk in accents. :)

As for the two adventures you've mentioned, I'm unfamiliar with The Wild beyond Witchlight, but since it's in Feywild then it's not my cup of tea anyway (fairies, bleh). On the other hand, Rime of the Frostmaiden is something I'm considering DM'ing myself once we finish Curse of Strahd which my girlfriend is running (or once it finishes us because it seems really cursed and we're playing it for 2.5 years already and not even halfway into it, as everytime we're trying to get together one of the players gets covid or breaks a leg or gets a new job in Kenya or something else happens :/ )

I tried to play such games a couple of times, but to be honest, I didn't really understand the rules and I wasn't interested.
However, I have a few friends who genuinely love it.

I started Pen & Paper Rollplaying in 2011 with a scifi fantasy setting called "Shadowrun" (4th Edition). We tested different other rulebooks and settings like "Star Wars - Edge of the Empire", DSA (The Dark Eye - Similar to DnD), Deadlands (Horror western setting) but mostly we kept playing Shadowrun were I wrote or played around 50 adventures till 2016. Lately I have a group to play DSA every two or three months.

We never did it in costumes but we played the roles acording to the personality of our characters (For example an Orc with low intelligence spoke in very simple words). Also I provided several images, maps and music to create more immersion.

There are so much memories from that time ... so much adventures we usually talk about ... a friend of mine used to add recuring strange elements to the story like the same two elves have been spotted in every second adventure ... we never got to know if they were bounty hunters or ghosts ... and what their mission was or why we crossed paths with them so often ... it was a simple but very mysterious little story element. He never told us who they were and they used to disappear around a corner every time we tried to approach them.

I guess I would go for "The Wild beyond Witchlight" ... that setting looks really nice.

View attached image.

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Played a lot of pen & paper RPGs in the 90s. Shadowrun, Vampire the Masquerade, Runequest, MERP, AD & D and a few others. Best experience was to play MERP the first time not as a DM and with a bunch of people I barely knew. The DM was great and really acted out all the NPCs. It was a fairly simple scenario, but all the players brought their characters to life. And no, noone dressed up in weird costumes though there was talking in accents ;)

I am also one of the Shadowrun people, starting with 3 and mostly staying there, as Shadowrun 4 never quite hit the same spot (which is probably more for the sentimental value as my first pen&paper experience than for the differences in the rules. Soon I got to be the permanent DM for two groups and also got to play some DSA ("german" Dungeon&Dragons aka The Dark Eye), Cthulhu, Vampires the Masquerade and "Plüsch, Power & Plunder" where you played as stuffed animals :D
Fun times.
We had a list for the best quotes made during the games, but somehow it got lost after a few years without playing. The most fond memories are probably the ones when it finally clicked between players and DM and the riddle got solved or there was a great idea how to go on with the storyline when the campain got terribly derailed.

I have a group with my cousins, although the group is too big (9 players), which makes it very unstable (as a DM, this is my personal hell :^) ). Still, since we have the confidence to joke among us because we know each other for too long, we do the voices of the characters, makes it funnier (the sillier the voice, the more enjoyment we get). Having said that, we dont do the cosplay thing, I think that would be a bit too much for all of us.

I play Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay (Edition 4) for longer time already. But it is not exactly full experience as we play by discord. But I was always interested in such RPG but never had chance to play it. Now I have and it is cool even by discord:).

I'm playing "Das Schwarze Auge" (The Dark Eye in the english version) since 1992, both as a player and GM. The core group is still the same, though nowadays we only play 3-4 times a year in person... due to RL. I own most material for DSA there is from 2nd edition to the 5th edition, that's the most recent one.
I also played some Vampire the Masquerade, but that was ages ago.

Not once was anyone wearing costumes, but we did and do play out our characters.

We were kids and didn't had money to buy official campaigns so our DMs were creating their owns campaigns. We got our hands on Player Handbook and also searched some info in the internet about D&D.

I loved Fighters and Dwarfs so that was what I was playing. I still love Fighters and Rogues and Dwarfs and Half-Orcs the most :)

But this story is not about me :)

It is about 2 different groups of friends and how stupid and crazy wizards were back in the day!

ONE:

This party DM rule was that magic is powerful and real so it leaves an impact on everything so if you cast a fire spell something close can start to burn if you are not careful...

Party was in woods during autumn close to a keep protecting a small town hidden in the mountains. Captain of the keep gave us a mission to kill the goblins in the woods as they were getting annoying. The keep was the only thing that stand between them and a small mining town and safe roads for trade were a priority so the town would not starve as it needed to buy food from traders and also sell their iron and everything that the blacksmith was able to craft from it.

We were getting ready for a night rest after doing some investigation in the woods. We had a nice campfire and food ready then suddenly the goblins tried to ambush us! Us the mighty heroes! Well the starting heroes! Well the beginning adventurers! But we didn't start at level 1 we were level 3 if I remember correctly.

Well the ambush was not a big surprise as we spotted them before they could surround us so our quick thinking Wizard rolled great initiative and already had a great plan as all the goblins were in one area at that time. He screams: FIREBALL!!!

Long story short the entire forest was on fire and the guards hiding in the keep were pointing fingers at us and laughing while we were running down the road chased by all the wolves, bears, goblins and a few trolls escaping the burning forest. Also the closed keep gate was a small symbol we are no longer welcome there :)

TWO:

Party number 2 where DM rule was that party should communicate on what they want to do and how they approach a problem and when they make a decision they tell GM exactly what they do or give him a piece of paper with who takes what actions if it is more complex plan or if they can't decide each player can just give him a piece of paper with information what he will do. If it is not a complex plan that means all actions happen at the same time.

Well the party was in a dungeon and we found a stone door without any handle and with many pictures of flames and fire on them and some runes and dark red gem in the middle.

We also had 2 wizards in the party! What can go wrong when you have 2 wizards and they want to show everyone which one is the better more intelligent one?! Nothing can go wrong right? Right?

The first wizard screams he is going to open that doors while the 2nd wizard screams he will be the one to open these doors! They started to shout at each other who is the best as a good roleplay ;) The rest of the party was just laughing at two mad wizards. Suddenly they both gave a note to GM.

The fallout:

Wizard number 1 runs close to the door to read the runes.
Wizard number 2 screams FIREBALL and cast it at the door.
Wizard number 1 flies back to the party thanks to the shock wave of fireball exploding on the door but one of his hands fly faster than the rest of him.
Wizard 1 is still alive and the party panics as the dark red gem on the door starts to light up and become more bright with time.
Cleric starts to cast healing spells, I hold the wizard arm in a place where it should be connected to the rest of him and the rogue put our only regeneration potion that we looted in the dungeon into the wizard mouth and screams at him to drink it till the last drop.
While the arm starts to join the rest of the wizard and regenerate in a matter of seconds the doors gem glows brightly red and the doors open.
Wizard number 1 screams: Taaaadaaaaaa!
Wizard number 2 screams: You ruined my robe you &%^$^^$%!

From now one firedoor were a running joke in the group.

Have you ever played tabletop RPGs? Like Dungeon & Dragons. Like the ones that they show in TV shows, where players dress up in weird costumes and talk in accents?

I have. I have played Pathfinder, Mutants and Masterminds, Dungeons & Dragons 3e & 5e; as well as Mutants & Masterminds.

Tell me your favorite memory/campaign/session if you have played these types of games!

Probably when I played an Alchemist class in Pathfinder. I went out of my way to find and spend most of my money on random alchemy items that did unique things. Bubblegum 60 Ft Rope, Instant Cement, Defoliant {Plant Killer}, and many others. I still remember the DM at one point calling me a Metal Man Batman Ripoff; for which I took it as a challenge and went unarmed from level 3 to 20 except for what I could pull from my pack and toolbelt. I also leveled up certain traits of my alchemist in order to gain more arms so I could throw more objects. :P

Bonus question to avid players: I got Rime of the Frostmaiden and The Wild beyond Witchlight for my birthday. As a forever DM, which one should I run first?

I would say it depends on your playerbase. Ask them if they want more of a survival aspect or more of an adventure mystery. Some players don't like playing survival based campaigns.

I played a lot during my teenage years, like every week or so, before the group scattered all around the world (literally). Since then I've played a few games with (other) friends now and then but nothing as regular. I started playing around 10 with The Dark Eye (German game which was already mentioned a few times in the thread), tried a few popular things like Warhammer, D&D or Vampire, some less popular, but quickly settled on a custom system - no need to buy tons of rulebooks when you have a bit of imagination :)

Never, unfortunately :\

Never and I don't know anybody who played it. So I wonder if it could be more popular in some country or not...

I've played D&D video games since the late 90's (Baldur's Gate and Neverwinter Nights) but never actually had a chance to play the tabletop version until a few years ago. My friends and I decided to play through Curse of Strahd as our first taste and it was absolutely fantastic, I think all of us immediately fell in love with D&D.
Since then I've become known as "that guy" in our group because I always find ways to "break" the campaigns we play by finding unconventional ways around things (such as skipping a puzzle and avoiding a really tough fight in the Curse of Strahd prologue by using the spell Mold Earth to create a staircase out of loose dirt).

I've also been really interested in the Star Wars RPG, Delta Green, Alien RPG, MOTHERSHIP and a few other TTRPGS but I haven't had a chance to properly play any of them yet.

In regards to your question though, I'd go for The Wild beyond the Witchlight as I've heard it's a more whimsical type of adventure and there are lots of ways to progress through the adventure without fighting, if your players are smart enough.

I have played for a long period from my youth until finishing my PhD ... from dnd to gurps.... and in the end gettting stuck with dnd 3.5 for over 15 years (never migrated to 4, since it was not to our taste cough it was crap cough)
we never went as far as changing voices... but just the regular change in behaviour to fit character background. /class and the story.

Sadly I cannot recommend you any of the two adventures... we were mostly set in homemade territory around Tormenta world setting

Another forever-DM here. :-) In the homebrew campaign (and a whole homebrew system) we played, I tried to focus on information -- gathering it, deducing connections, resolving situations when different PCs had conflicting info about something... And also on details, and on believability and logic -- there may be elements of magic or supernatural, but generally, things need to make sense to the PCs, be it magic, politics, or simply how the world works. For instance, no-one is born an undefeatable, highly skilled hero. The PCs started as complete commoners, were only discovering their talents, and it wasn't until the third adventure of the campaign that the party killed anything in combat (not counting hunting for food), and that was in self-defense.

One of my favorite episodes was when the party was trying to find out who sent puppeteers (this world's highly illegal/feared necromancers) to skeleton-terrorize some villages along an established trade route. They managed to kill the puppeteer endangering one of the villages, and found out among his notes that in a few days, he was supposed to meet in secret with another puppeteer, who did not know him, in a crossroads inn further along the route. So the party decided that one of them, a smith/tinkerer, would take the dead puppeteer's hooded cloak, pose as him and go to the meeting to find out more from the other one.

The place was called The Black Noose Inn -- as a clear warning that despite being a lonely crossroads inn, the law still applies here, an actual hanged corpse swings from a gallows next to the gate at all times. The inn gets the corpses from neighboring villages whenever a criminal is executed, and since it's not that often, they keep them from rotting away by covering them in tar, which has blackened the noose over the years.

Now the party arrived a day too early, and to cover the cost of accommodation and to blend in, when the inn staff were recruiting helpers for some tasks, the party joined up. Some went to help in the bakery, some in the stables, and the tinkerer gladly signed up for “minor repairs”.

It turned out that “minor repairs” meant taking the slowly rotting corpse off the noose and applying a new layer of tar. After a couple NPCs who had originally volunteered for minor repairs chickened out (or rather stumbled away, vomiting), the tinkerer managed to finish on his own, and earned the respect of the inn staff.

In the evening, the other puppeteer -- a grizzled, cautious-looking, scowling loner -- finally arrived, and saw the tinkerer sitting alone at the agreed-upon table. He didn't pay much attention to the rest of the party sitting at a table nearby, secretly listening in, and he joined the tinkerer. After exchanging some improvised passwords (which was a hilarious bit of improvisation, but unfortunately not translatable into English), in order to establish that they both were the puppeteers sent to terrorize this trade route, they started talking. They were keeping quiet and very cautious, and both were making sure that neither of them would utter a single word which, if overheard, could identify them as puppeteers.

And then, in the middle of their dialogue, the barmaid who had been assigning the jobs earlier comes to the tinkerer with a tankard, and in a clear voice ringing across the whole common room, she says: “Here's one on the house for the only guy around here who can deal with corpses!”

Never in all my RPG experience was it so satisfying to act out a look of complete shock and disbelief, as the puppeteer thought that his partner carelessly told everyone who he is... because that look of shock was mirrored on the players' faces. :-) But somehow, they managed to get through it, and even quite successfully mask the fact that all four people at a nearby table suddenly choked on their beer. :-)

And after that, that kind of RPG magic that long-time DMs know and love, happened -- I saw how much the players enjoyed this puppeteer's character, and overnight, he got a completely different backstory. Got turned from a throwaway villain into a sad antihero, and later, ally. The moment I was most proud of the party was during one of the following sessions, when they got into a fight with the puppeteer and his minions, and they managed to stop the fight. And it was neither from the position of power, as a clear victor sparing the enemy, nor as begging for mercy, but as diplomacy at a moment when the fight could have gone either way. One moment, you have everyone fighting zombies and the party's fighter/fire-mage pinned to the cave floor by a reanimated corpse of an ancient cave bear, breathing fire and peeling off the remains of the mummified flesh to reveal the bear's snarling skull just inches away from his own face, the next moment, you have two sides sitting at a campfire and talking. And the whole setup it took was seeing a zombie gathering flowers, intercepting one pigeon message, and in the depths of the caves before the encounter, hearing the puppeteer sing a love song.

Always was curious about D&D. Comes my birthday in September, my sister bought me the starter kit. I read the whole rulesbook in my spare time. A few weeks later, we gather together - me, her, and my other sister. I explain how it all works based on my meager knowledge from reading the starter kit's rulesbook.

After getting that out of the way, we try to figure out how to fill out character sheets. We partially get through it over a couple of hours, with a lot of confusion that even the rulesbook doesn't really help with. We decide to continue later.

Few weeks pass, me and my sister who gave me the game find another opportunity to see each other to give it another go. We go through the rulesbook again, do a bit of progress, then give up for the session since we're not really getting anywhere.

Few more weeks (month?) goes by before all three of us can see each other again for a session. I get serious - rulesbook, laptop, we're alone in a quiet room so we can have full focus on the game. Through looking up the internet, we finally get a better idea of how the character sheet should be filled out. We correct mistakes, and progress a bit further. Takes a lot of time and research though, and we soon need to end the session.

And here we are.

...It's been 5 months in total since I got the game. All we did so far is partially fill out our character sheets. Pandemic restrictions hit hard in the last month, plus just life in general getting in the way, so we haven't really had any opportunity to "play" again. But maaaaan I feel stupid we can't figure this shit out. The rulesbook seems really confusing how it's designed, but even so, I feel it really shouldn't take that much time to figure out the very first step of playing.

We'll try to have another go at some point. I can be pretty patient, especially with nerdy stuff. :P