The Culture: Conventional RPGs Cheaper Than Current Edition

Is it possible to get the gameplay experience that the Cargo Cult insists is normal at a fraction of the price, with no inconvenience, and no issues with weirdos?

It is if you have a decent PC and an account with either Steam or Good Old Games ("GOG"), both of which are now in Winter Sale season.

Below is a short selection of titles on sale on both storefronts that do Conventional Play, as the Get-A-Long Gang insists.

• One True Party
• We Do Everything Together
• No PVP
• No timekeeping accountability
• Muh Narrative
• Muh Path

Also, as all of them are either Current or Former Darlings (or are Old As Fuck) they are all documented and thus have Walkthroughs in text or video form for those too impatient, stupid, or a games journalist to just play the game and Git Gud enough to beat it instead of getting filtered.

Links to both Steam and GOG store pages will be provided with each entry.

Phantasie Memorial Set

Click on the image for the Steam page. GOG link here.

This is way old school, showing that videogames had Conventional Play nailed generations ago. As this is part of the SSI Collection, you'll see a lot of familiar elements if you ever played the officially licensed AD&D games that SSI did.

Speaking of-

D&D Classics Collection

Both Steam and GOG have ALL of SSI's licensed games from the AD&D1e and 2e years. Some are set up like Phantasie, some not, but the Coventional Play experience delivery is the same.

And while we're here-

Baldur's Gate

The three games in the main series are the original (Steam, GOG), the sequel (Steam, GOG), and the latest Darling (Steam, GOG).

The first two are under AD&D2e rules, and the latest Darling uses Current Edition, but the experience is firmly Conventional Play.

Icewind Dale

Another totally Conventional Play adaptation of AD&D2e. (Steam, GOG), with a sequel of its own (GOG). As good as Baldur's Gate.

The Bard's Tale Trilogy

Three more games set up like Phantasie, which turned into a CRPG IP franchise in its own right at the time. The first three games are sold now as a trilogy (Steam, GOG), and the first game is bundled into Wasteland 2.

There is a fourth game now (Steam, GOG) that's gotten good reviews.

The Wasteland Series

The lesser-known competitor to the Fallout series (Note: Fallout 1 and 2 are also good Conventional Play CRPGs), with the original being Phantasie style. While it got remastered recently (Steam, GOG), the original is bundled into Wasteland 2 (Steam, GOG) and Wasteland 3 (Steam, GOG) has decent reviews.

Dungeon Siege

This three-game series is more on the Action RPG (ala Diablo) side, but it's still you controlling a party in Conventional Play. GOG has a page for the entire series, while Steam spreads them out by game (Original, Two, Three). Solid play experiences all around.

And Here's Some More

In no particular order (all available on one or both storefronts; go look): Wizardry series, Pathfinder series, Divinity: Original Sin and its sequel, Star Command, the aforementioned Fallout games, Tyranny, Pillars of Eternity and its sequel, and so many others old and new alike.

But About That Cost

To buy into Current Edition you're spending about $150+tax, plus a set of dice if you don't have any. Using an online substitute nickles and dimes you on the backend instead of paying up front (which is why Magic-Users By The Water is making Current Edition into a digital product).

Take a look at those prices. Some are less than a six-inch sandwich at Subway. Others are, at most, the price of a Current Edition rulebook (including tax). You win big here if you prefer Conventional Play, and if you buy from GOG then so long as you store the install files offline in a hard drive you will never lose them and thus the ability to play.

You also lose the detriment that is Scheduling Your Fun and (for those insufficiently gatekeeping) dealing with future Neckbeardia video subjects. You play when you want, for as long as you want, and play proceeds how you want- no negotiating with pig-headed retards that insist on being LOLsorandom and fucking things up for everyone else.

If you can't handle the better gaming that the Bros offer--if you can't Git Gud and learn to #winatrpgs--then these videogames, not tabletop games, are where you will get what you (think you) are after in gaming.

And you will soon see, after playing a bunch of them to completion, why the tabletop versions pale in comparison- and thus why the Bros are right about RPGs, about the hobby, and its future in the tabletop medium.

Merry Christmas! (I have Wish Lists at both stores.)