No, give me a third Reich, risk, battlegrounds...And I'm sure I'll be called a heretic, but I prefer to do it on the computer. It can be fun sometimes, but calculating modifiers and results wears you down and slows the game down -- let the 'puter handle all that stuff. Something is lost, but it makes it easier.
I actually tried to take it up, but I found it not to my liking. This was also after it became identified as “nerdy”.
>> The lack of order in it annoys me, and it seems to rely a great deal on having a good “dungeon master.”
Yes it does. In my 35 years of playing rpgs, I’ve found that a good DM was easier to find back when people had been kids who used their imagination.
Most DMs today play it like it’s a miniatures game, and the 3rd and 4th edition reflect that lack of imagination by catering to the rules lawyers.
The old Avalon Hill games.....they were neat. now kids play computer games. Shame.