Before Word of Darkness, all was pointless dungeon crawl

[GM Joe]

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

I both think you're writing like a White Wolf commercial blurb

Really! They were more humble than I give them credit for.

[ak_aramis]

Originally Posted by Anthony

Mage could do that too. My experience was that Werewolf was the third place game, but it depends on the group and the area (the other games were basically never played; I've never even encountered a Wraith or Changeling campaign).

I've encountered (watched, not played in) both wraith and changeling.

Both of which were followed by the same group doign an "Everything BUT mummies." (I wanted to play a mummy.)

[DocRailgun]

I had just the opposite experience. Most of the WoD tabletop players I knew were interested in combat (of various types) and conflict, where the D&D (AD&D) players were more interested in roleplaying and telling stories. Admittedly, these were special players, but still.

Originally Posted by vicky_molokh

I would be more inclined to believe that storytelling-oriented players didn't play VtM if not for the fact that I've seen the differences between the D&D/GURPS/Fusion crowd and the VtM/MtA/WtA crowd among my acquaintances during the times when WoD was still in its height. With the differences being that yes, VtMists were much more storytelling-oriented. (And yes, there were and still are VtM LARPs too, in addition to tabletop, albeit non-MET, homebrew ones.)

[Bruno]

Originally Posted by ak_aramis

I've encountered (watched, not played in) both wraith and changeling.

Both of which were followed by the same group doign an "Everything BUT mummies." (I wanted to play a mummy.)

We still play Changeling periodically, and have the new C20 kickstarter (FINALLY). I have a nearly complete set of Wraith here on my shelf too...

But in high-school and college we mostly played Thing: the Thing and romped around doing completely random things. Anywhere from tea parties, or spending an entire session on one werewolf trying to take a shower and everything that went wrong with that, through to total mayhem in the Amazon rainforest. Having a party with a werewolf, a werecat, a wraith, two different kinds of changeling, and a mage so far into Quiet he'd nearly come out the other side was Business As Usual.

Of the core, our most-common system was Werewolf, with Changeling as a second, Mage as a third, Vampire and Wraith kicking around tied for fourth. So every region is different.

[Bruno]

That said, and relevant to the OP: That's also how we played AD&D, and then the hojillion D20 games that popped up. Smashing goblins one day, roleplaying being a barbarian minotaur at an important diplomatic dinner party hosted by our enemy the next.

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by Bruno

That said, and relevant to the OP: That's also how we played AD&D, and then the hojillion D20 games that popped up. Smashing goblins one day, roleplaying being a barbarian minotaur at an important diplomatic dinner party hosted by our enemy the next.

Yeah, my experience was that there was a certain subgroup of WoD gamers that were deliberately pretentious about what they were doing and might create straw man targets to prove how they were better than common gamers (which is what the OPs link reminds me of), but they weren't actually all that different.

Not that they were the only group of gamers to think they were superior and create straw men, of course.

[Boomerang]

Dungeon crawls are not pointless. For the characters it is a tough challenge on the journey to self improvement. For the players it's a fun experience.