THE BORE

General => The Superdeep Borehole => Topic started by: chronovore on March 15, 2015, 01:07:35 AM

Title: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: chronovore on March 15, 2015, 01:07:35 AM
I loves me some tabletop RPGs. I haven’t regularly played face to face in ages, but I do have a Google Hangouts-based group which plays for two hours every week. It’s a far cry from the 6~8 hour sessions I enjoyed in college, but it keeps the addiction from going full-blown.

During a recent trip to the USA, I had an former player from my old campaign tell me I am still the best Game Master he’s ever played with, and it was just a huge thrill for me that he still remembered our games, and that they were remembered fondly.

Is anyone else here into traditional RPGs?

If you were, but no longer play, why is that?

Also, feel free to use this thread as a catch-all “Let me tell you about my character” thread.
Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: Eric P on March 15, 2015, 08:00:15 AM
i currently DM DnD 5th Ed with some people at work.  It's pretty fun.

I like the weird and wild stuff that doesn't get played very often, which is a shame.  I have a shelf of DnD which has everything from BEMI box sets, AD&D, 2nd Ed, 3.5 and boxed sets like Dark Sun, Hollow Earth, Starjammers and Raventloft) but I also have a shelf full of OSR stuff like Labyrinth Lord, Lamentations of the Flame Princess, Torchbearer, Kult, Call of Cthulhu 6th ed, Eclipse Phase (amazing horror Sci-Fi), Night's Black Agents, Dread, Dogs in the Vineyard, Fiasco and more.

If you like RPGs check out Bundle of Holding which is like Humble Bundle except for RPGs.  It's usually amazing.

They're currently doing a bundle for the Laundry Games and also a second bundle for Torg.  TORG!  https://bundleofholding.com/index/current

I love systems and attempts to model reality so I love reading RPG books as I can sometimes get the quick dopamine hits from that like when i actually get to play.
Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: Kara on March 15, 2015, 02:47:18 PM
Jay Dub's thread to shine. :rejoice
Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: Kara on March 15, 2015, 02:50:19 PM
OT: I only really give a shit about FFG's 40K games atm. I find they blend the "you are already dead" style of Chaosium's Cthulhu game with made up names you can actually pronounce. Plus one of their products more or less invalidates the notion that you can't play PnP with chaotic evil PCs.
Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: CatsCatsCats on March 15, 2015, 03:51:09 PM
I have an informal 4E group that rarely meets. Dwarf cleric :)
Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: Kara on March 15, 2015, 04:00:17 PM
I tried so hard to get into D&D stuff but the rules seem so archaic. I wanted to learn so I could understand games like Baldur's Gate and Neverwinter Nights better but I gave up on that shit.

Listen and watch the Penny-Arcade D&D stuff. I hate to rec their shit, but you'll get a grasp of how a game should operate instead of looking at a bunch of crunch and getting overwhelmed.
Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: chronovore on March 15, 2015, 10:12:38 PM
“Crunch and overwhelmed” pretty much describes our weekly game. It’s especially difficult to stay with, because the DM is an engineer who wants to make sure the rules are respected, and who wants to stay strictly with the adventure module, while I’m a fan of improvising when the players go off the rails from the planned adventure.

And we all know that’s “when,” not “if.”

I’m also really curious about FFG’s Star Wars game and its weird dice system.
Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: Phoenix Dark on March 15, 2015, 10:32:06 PM
One of my regrets is that I never got into tabletop RPGs as a kid. Back when I collected comics I'd sometimes see people playing D&D at my local comic shop, and sometimes would chill and watch some of it.

There's a comic shop about 6 minutes from my place now...I bet they play tabletop shit there. I'll have to stop buy and try to get into it.
Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: chronovore on March 15, 2015, 11:46:17 PM
I hope you do. It can be a lot of fun, though like online games, it is more fun by far with a group of friends than a group of randoms. You should try sitting in with randoms, and if you get even an inkling of what makes it great, invite friends over to play something simple you run for them.
Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: Kara on March 16, 2015, 12:10:06 AM
“Crunch and overwhelmed” pretty much describes our weekly game. It’s especially difficult to stay with, because the DM is an engineer who wants to make sure the rules are respected, and who wants to stay strictly with the adventure module, while I’m a fan of improvising when the players go off the rails from the planned adventure.

And we all know that’s “when,” not “if.”

Someone else should volunteer to DM, this sounds way unchill.

Or, conversely, insist on playing Paranoia. :lol
Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: chronovore on March 16, 2015, 12:18:21 AM
It’s just barely chill enough to qualify as chill, while still not feeling chill.

I also come from a background where character death is very, very uncommon (no Resurrection), while this DM is fine with Resurrection and has also TPK’d (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Total_party_kill) a previous group through misadventure which cascaded out of a series of statistically unlikely and player-unfortunate die-rolls.

Your suggestion to have someone else volunteer is the same conclusion I came to. I’ve been reading my new copy of FATE CORE and plan to run something there. I’d hoped to use FATE to run for my kids as well, who have loved a couple improv’d games I ran for them, but FATE is a little too meta for my 10-year-old.
Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: chronovore on March 24, 2015, 07:39:46 AM
Session today, our DM seemed much more open to improvising. We ran into an old semi-enemy who was trying to flee. Instead of killing them, we ended up hiring them. Pretty sure that solution wasn't anywhere in the module. :rock
Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: chronovore on May 18, 2015, 02:03:27 PM
My Google Hangouts D&D/Pathfinder group had the Worst Session Evar. We had a minor misunderstanding at the outset of the session, and the DM (possibly drunk) decided to fixate on this misunderstanding as a catalyst for every other problem with the game which had reached saturation in his mind.

End result: We’re abandoning the campaign to start something simpler, with which our DM is more comfortable (the new DnD edition) so we can focus on more beer-n-pretzels style campaigning.

Sheesh, though; what a fucking drag.
Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: Human Snorenado on May 18, 2015, 02:49:44 PM
Our Pathfinder group lost two members at the beginning of the year, which wasn't a big deal because they were the two least involved in the game (younger players, first timers, etc) and we had SEVEN fucking party members, which is just too many.

But, we've been sporadically playing (just 3 game sessions this year when I'd really like to do once every 3 weeks or so) because of schedules and the fact that while I love him to death, and have been friends with him for over 20 years, our DM is easily overwhelmed and spends too much time pre-planning sessions.

So, I'm thinking about picking up my DM hat almost 20 years later and running a 5th edition game.
Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: chronovore on May 18, 2015, 06:45:35 PM
Is your current, overwhelmed DM writing the campaign, or working from a module?
Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: Human Snorenado on May 18, 2015, 07:25:28 PM
I think he's adapting from modules. Honestly, knowing him it probably wouldn't matter if he was just running straight from modules- he's just the sort of person that needs a fuckton of time to sit around and do basically nothing or he whines about being overwhelmed. He and his wife have a graphic design company and she basically has to nag him to death to do work, and it still takes him 3 times as long to get it done as it should, if they're lucky.
Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: chronovore on May 18, 2015, 08:44:26 PM
Yikes.

Yeah, our DM is self-employed as well, and it is crazy how things take him forever. "Tasks will expand to fill all available time," and all that. I'm hoping our situation gets solved by the DM being more comfortable with the new system, but I suspect the problem is more personal. 

Good luck with your DM effort.
Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: chronovore on May 28, 2015, 09:17:03 PM
Vin Diesel DMs a game, just for you:

http://a-dire-fawn.itch.io/diesel-dm

From this article:
http://www.polygon.com/2015/5/27/8674087/vin-diesel-dungeons-dragons-calm
Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: Yulwei on May 28, 2015, 11:15:17 PM

(http://i.imgur.com/r5UInQD.jpg?1)

Played this with my family two or three times when I was a teen. I had an immense amount of fun. Time to look into this tabletop thing again
Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: chronovore on May 29, 2015, 01:08:39 AM
Games Workshop games, or licensed versions of them, are the real deal.
Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: chronovore on June 17, 2015, 09:09:38 PM
My weekly virtual-tabletop game had a meltdown a few weeks ago, the tl;dr result of which was abandoning the rules-heavy Pathfinder campaign and a restart in a shiny, new DnD 5 game.

Our first session was a couple days ago. We finalized first-level characters, figured out the high concept of the rules, and got into our first fight.

Heaps of fun!
Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: Kara on June 17, 2015, 09:30:35 PM
Games Workshop games, or licensed versions of them, are the real deal.

I wanna play one of the Fantasy Flight Games... games really bad.
Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: Kara on June 17, 2015, 09:37:13 PM
In Deathwatch, for example, you can roll a SPEHS MEHRINE who upon failing an insanity check slips into speaking High Gothic and no one understands him. I WAS BORN TO ROLE PLAY A CHARACTER FROM THAT CHAPTER OF THE ADEPTUS ASTARTES. :'(

(This would be like a Roman legionnaire speaking Classical Latin, though not entirely similar as knowledge of High Gothic exists with some frequency in the Adeptus Terra.)
Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: chronovore on August 24, 2015, 05:02:10 AM
(http://0.media.dorkly.cvcdn.com/90/72/b23d05bf6a405b0c0ed1e2b3010aba62.jpg)

http://www.dorkly.com/post/72105/out-of-context-dungeons-and-dragons-quotes-is-my-new-favorite-thing
Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: chronovore on August 24, 2015, 09:23:08 AM
(http://i.imgur.com/wBpdDIg.jpg)
Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: studyguy on August 24, 2015, 10:40:06 AM
You know I always wanted to try one of these table top things.
I've never had the kind of friends who are interested in that shit.
Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: Kara on August 24, 2015, 11:48:00 AM
People play on Skype or Mumble, you could probably get in on that.
Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: chronovore on August 25, 2015, 05:24:36 AM
There's also Roll20.net which is built around getting disparate groups virtually together.
Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: Madrun Badrun on August 25, 2015, 09:46:51 AM
You know I always wanted to try one of these table top things.
I've never had the kind of friends who are interested in that shit.

I always wanted to play D and D too but never had any friends.
Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: chronovore on August 28, 2015, 09:38:58 AM
http://lookrobot.co.uk/2013/06/20/11-ways-to-be-a-better-roleplayer/

I liked this quite a bit. So many times, there are players who want to convey that they're the solitary, brooding type by just sitting there quietly during the session. That's not a silent and brooding character, that's a silent and brooding player.
Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: chronovore on October 01, 2015, 07:20:23 AM
https://imgur.com/gallery/Cvrey

(https://i.imgur.com/5ldOJzg.jpg)
Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: chronovore on October 19, 2015, 09:14:48 PM
http://nerdist.com/watch-vin-diesel-play-dungeons-dragons-as-the-last-witch-hunter/

The Vinmeister role-playing to promote his movie. How. Cool. Is. This?
Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: Joe Molotov on October 19, 2015, 10:46:37 PM
http://nerdist.com/watch-vin-diesel-play-dungeons-dragons-as-the-last-witch-hunter/

The Vinmeister role-playing to promote his movie. How. Cool. Is. This?

This was his birthday cake this year, lol.

https://www.facebook.com/VinDiesel/photos/a.101465923312.101581.89562268312/10153582925078313/?type=1&theater

(http://i.imgur.com/gJTmfd2.jpg)
Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: chronovore on April 12, 2016, 12:51:34 AM
https://medium.com/@ken.burnside/for-good-men-to-see-nothing-c1be3e65c52f#.x3erp5h9e
I loved this:
Quote
If you’re reading this article, you game because you like to be “the one who confronts the monsters.” Here’s a chance to do it in real life, and the things I’ve written above are your weapons and special gear to do the job well.

The article which inspired his response is also very moving, and either anger or shame inducing depending on one's history:
http://latining.tumblr.com/post/141567276944/tabletop-gaming-has-a-white-male-terrorism-problem
Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: chronovore on October 13, 2016, 01:44:31 AM
My DnD 5e game is still going. The DM has not had another breakdown, so that's a plus. In fairness, he is much more comfortable with 5e than Pathfinder. I was about to say he seems to be trying to not actively overwhelm us, but then he got all the PCs in a hallway and fireballed it through an undead flying skull, so we're back to feeling like he's trying to kill us.

I haven't run anything further with my kids, but I've got the Beginner Boxes for both FFG's Star Wars Edge of the Empire and Pathfinder, so I'm hoping to run one of those.

Also found out there's a Kansai-based game group, though they seem more active in Kobe than in Osaka.

Lately I got in touch with a friend of mine from my brief tenure at CSULB, and he's not only hardcore back into RPGs but also running a moderately popular podcast:

http://www.happyjacks.org

The Actual-Plays are pretty good, but it's more the metacommentary in the weekly drink-beer-and-talk-about-games podcast that keeps me intrigued and anxious to find a group with which to play.
Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: chronovore on October 19, 2016, 06:36:06 PM
https://mythjae.wordpress.com/2016/01/28/fated-3/
:lol

If the Bore actually tabletopped...
Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: chronovore on November 14, 2016, 10:27:50 AM
https://www.humblebundle.com/books/fiction-faves-rpg-book-bundle

Humble Bundle has a great set of SFnal based RPGs on sale this week. The $1 level gets you GRRM'S ASOIAF rulebook, Stross' Laundry rulebook, and Atomic Robo.

If you like Dresden, you can get digital copies of both core game books for US$15.
Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: fistfulofmetal on January 09, 2017, 10:18:17 AM
So as I said in another thread, my girlfriend and I recently bought the Pathfinder Beginners Box and we're looking to start some games soonish. I'm interested in being the GM.

I think we'll just do the included adventure first to get our feet wet but I fully intend to create my own game. Any helpful tips for me? I've also been listening to Adventure Zone and Friends at the Table to get an idea about how a GM does their thing. I really like how FatT weaves storytelling into their games.
Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: chronovore on January 09, 2017, 04:09:52 PM
I'll check out Friends at the Table and Adventure Zone. Thanks for the heads-up.

I've been listening to Actual Play podcasts from RPPR (http://actualplay.roleplayingpublicradio.com) and Happy Jacks RPG Podcast (http://www.happyjacks.org). The latter originated as a GM advice podcast, so have a listen to those if you like. The early ones are jam-packed with good advice.

Are you a first-time GM?

The best advice is to respect your players' autonomy, and allow them to come up with solutions which aren't covered in the source material, module, or whatever you'd thought of on your own. Frequently my players came up with better ideas than I had, and the campaign benefited from adopting their facts over mine, as long as everything made cohesive sense.

Can't wait to hear how it turns out for your group.
Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: fistfulofmetal on January 10, 2017, 11:07:40 AM
Last night we finally finished creating our characters. Had a bit of difficulty with it. We finished then looked it over and thought it looked odd, then compared it to the premade characters and a bunch of stuff wasn't adding up. It took about another hour of both of us reading the guidebook and going back and forth until we figured out what we did wrong. But now it's all done.

It's good that I went through and created a character even though I plan to GM. Now I have a better understanding about how the characters work. Also understand gear works and how damage works.

Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: fistfulofmetal on January 13, 2017, 01:06:52 PM
After going back and forth I've decided that just going through the provided Pathfinder campaign will be too boring for us so I'm gonna dive right in and create my own even if it ends up being a disaster.

I've started detailing the locations and NPCs and have the basic plot down. I'm trying not to over document everything so things can be a little loose. I've also built in a little murder mystery side quest which I think is cool but they may never even find LOL
Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: fistfulofmetal on January 17, 2017, 04:52:09 PM
I finished the first draft of my campaign which will probably just be my campaign. It's 12 pages with a bunch of random stuff. I'm not sure a lot of this will work but I figure what the hell. I didn't put the side-quest in yet but I'll just write that up later. If anyone wnats to take a look it can be found here:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ucgwORr2RUioW0lXuuDZgXx8geCoSiQkUyBRhQ_u1e4/edit?usp=sharing
Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: chronovore on January 17, 2017, 07:56:14 PM
Neato.


I can't read the whole thing right now, but I did notice you're using Perception checks to reveal information to the players. I've listened to a lot of podcasts lately where GMs have eschewed Perception checks in favor of divulging any plot-critical information automatically. They can reward high Perception characters by revealing it to them, or through them.


It's a good way to keep the action from stalling because your group failed their Perception checks.
Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: fistfulofmetal on January 18, 2017, 09:16:48 AM
I can see that, yeah. Though in the cases I use it for I'm only doing it for information the players can get earlier than I would reveal to them anyway. So in one instance if they pass the check they know earlier that one NPC was manipulated into fighting the PC's and they might be able to use that to talk their way out of it. That's info they would have got anyway after the fight.

So it's like a little benefit for having those stats.

Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: fistfulofmetal on January 23, 2017, 09:26:03 AM
We did our campaign yesterday! It went pretty well overall. I kept it mostly linear and the players didn't go off track too much so I did a good job at steering them in the correct direction. A few times they would waver and I was able to think on my feet and get them the information they needed to proceed.

There was a problem with the final battle. My enemies were wayyy too hard. Their AC was too high and nobody could hit anyone. A few times I had to nerf them and in one instance I actually had to gamble that I would wiff a roll and the result ended up being a friendly fire that lead to one of the enemies dying. Though in the end they managed to succeed.

The two puzzles I created worked better than I expected. The first was a puzzle where the players needed to use a magic mirror to peak into a bubble dimension to find an object and then literally reach into the mirror to pull it out. They actually caught on pretty quick and solved it. The second puzzle was a bit harder which required them to go through a series of portals in a specific order and they weren't getting the clues so I had to nudge them a bit. But overall it went well in that respect.

One thing that I will need to do more of is create scenarios where the players and actually role-play. There wasn't a lot of down time to learn anything about their characters.

It was fun! Now I have to get to work on creating the next campaign.
Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: chronovore on January 23, 2017, 09:16:56 PM
How many hours did you end up playing?
Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: fistfulofmetal on January 24, 2017, 12:39:38 PM
How many hours did you end up playing?

Little over 5 hours.
Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: chronovore on January 24, 2017, 06:31:09 PM
That's a good length of time to play. Going much shorter than that doesn't leave time for player shenanigans or socializing. Or, rather, the shenanigans become the focus instead of the game.


My current group is playing D&D 5E for 2 hours a week. One of our constant struggles is to get the game going on-time and moving quickly. Last night we lost ½ an hour to teleconferencing problems. The previous session was 45 minutes of nerding out. Unsurprisingly, the 75-90 minutes of actual gaming session did not see much accomplished.



Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: fistfulofmetal on January 26, 2017, 09:49:55 AM
For our next session I'm trying to open things up a bit. One thing that I keep going back to is the idea of not actually scripting a linear campaign but rather building a world for the players to do things in.

So I'm thinking of creating a decently fleshed out town. Giving the players a clear objective then dropping the players into the town and seeing what happens.

My thinking is that if I have properly fleshed out the location, given the NPC's enough depth and dropped enough resources into the world they should be able to reach their goal. Everything that then happens will be dictated by who they talk to and where they go.

It seems like a difficult thing to construct but I'm super interested in seeing how it all works.
Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: chronovore on January 26, 2017, 07:41:05 PM
If you build an entire city, odds are that your players will --without knowing you've invested all that time-- pick up and leave for a new city.


In that case, use all your NPCs and establishments in the new city.


The best-laid plans never survive contact with the players.
Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: fistfulofmetal on February 01, 2017, 01:31:40 PM
Hey chrono, I'm working out the finale of my next campaign and I want it to be set in a huge manor. I want it be basically "being stuck in a single location with monster loose" scenario.

I'm starting to think about how this could work but I'm not 100% sure yet. You have any ideas? I'm gonna completely map out the manor (in fact I may just make it the Resident Evil mansion...) but I don't know how I can do the mechanics of the monster being around and a threat.

I'm thinking that the PC's will need to accomplish 2 or 3 goals to lure the monster to a specific place to do a thing, something that they'll know about.
Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: chronovore on February 01, 2017, 10:33:30 PM
Hey chrono, I'm working out the finale of my next campaign and I want it to be set in a huge manor. I want it be basically "being stuck in a single location with monster loose" scenario.

I'm starting to think about how this could work but I'm not 100% sure yet. You have any ideas? I'm gonna completely map out the manor (in fact I may just make it the Resident Evil mansion...) but I don't know how I can do the mechanics of the monster being around and a threat.

I'm thinking that the PC's will need to accomplish 2 or 3 goals to lure the monster to a specific place to do a thing, something that they'll know about.


Wow, that's going to be challenging! Horror is difficult to pull off in an RPG, which typically tend to be wish fulfillment and power fantasy oriented. Horror is about tension and feelings of helplessness. Then again, what I understand about Resident Evil (I'm not a fan of the series) is that the PCs are powerful but have limited resources, and Pathfinder/D&D are all about controlling your players' access to their special abilities, which can only be used daily, per encounter, per session, etc.


So if you can keep them from hoarding their abilities, get them to spend to survive, and then keep them on the edge of feeling powerless, you have half of it solved.


The other problem is suspense. Give foreshadowing of the main encounter. You can do this literally by showing them the monster from afar, through gratings. You can give them a forensic check on victims they encounter. You can have them enter a room just as the door on the far side is closing, or having an elevator arrive at a different floor, just as they discover it. Hinting at things moving around them, letting them know that the other forces are aware of them, will keep them on edge.


You can also look at Dread (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dread_(role-playing_game)), a mechanic using Jenga to accomplish horror-story type goals. You could mix this into your system, or even just do your Resident Evil adventure as a side thing, unattached to your regular campaign.


Hope this helps!
Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: chronovore on February 23, 2017, 07:10:21 PM
Tiny update for me: Met a roleplaying dude in Osaka. Sounds like his group is playing a couple times a month, but their current game is already bloated with 7 players. I'm hoping they decide to break into two simultaneous groups, so I'd make it two groups of four -- pretty good to have a GM with three players.

Also trying to start a new campaign with my aging college group. Two of the players married each other after college, and their daughter has now LEFT for college, to give you an idea of how long ago this game was. The players are all up for it, but since we're mostly tech professionals, scheduling is difficult.

My D&D 5e group is still going on weekly, and it's improved a bunch since the time our DM was overwhelmed with Pathfinder's rules minutiae.

In case I haven't posted this here, or the rest of you have forgotten the last time I posted it:
http://larptrek.com
A fumetti webcomic where the  ST:TNG crew is roleplaying DS9.

...GOLD.
Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: chronovore on April 24, 2017, 09:45:00 PM
Hey, Fistfull, how did your finale end up going?


Update for my groups: Haven't spent any more time with the Osaka RPG guy, but we're staying in touch on Twitter.

My 2-hour a week group planned a heist, but the DM had tummy troubles and cat troubles and we had one week where two people couldn't make it, so we haven't managed almost any progress in two months. I can't remember what our heist plan was. There is no way this will end well. We play in a few hours, so I'll report back just how much comedy ensued.

The college gang, on the other hand, has been super receptive and we have run two sessions – three if we count character generation – and it has been an absolute blast. We're all old and weary now, but the game has a fantastic, comfortable vibe similar to what we loved about playing together in college. We've had to skip a session, and I'm hungry to run the next one at the end of this week.

Maybe one of the best things about the FATE CORE system we're using is the acknowledged nature of just how collaborative the nature of tabletop role-playing games are. When we sat down to make the game, we discussed setting, scope, tone, and even what major themes and entities would be involved. Really inspiring.
Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: chronovore on April 24, 2017, 09:45:57 PM
Ooh, forgot to post what I meant to:

Savage Worlds bundle is available for what the Savage Worlds PDF or softcover usually sells for:
https://bundleofholding.com/presents/EastTexasU
Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: fistfulofmetal on May 01, 2017, 11:48:38 AM
We just had our finale last night. After several week delay one of our four players had to back out so we continued on with three and I decided to hit the accelerator to the end. We had a good time, but I severely underestimated how long it would take. I think I need to narrow the focus a bit so we don't end up going on 3-4 month spanning adventures. I also cut the entire Resident Evil finale because it would ahve taken waaayyy too long. I'll bring it back for the future.

I'm debating switching things up, whether we convert to DnD legit, or Dungeon World, or the full version of Pathfinder. Going forward I'm going to start having the players encounter more weird things. Not just standard fantasy. I have a few ideas including introducing some weirdly technologically advanced Orcs from the north,
Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: chronovore on May 01, 2017, 09:14:38 PM
Glad to hear your group found its way to the adventure's end.

I hear really good things about Dungeon World, but don't own it and haven't played in it. Apparently it's well-designed and even has ways for making failed dice rolls fun.

My FATE CORE game is going well. We'll be having our 3rd or 4th session this week, with a wrap-up that I hope to figure out in the next day or two. It has been REALLY fun to play with my old college group, and I'm grateful that the internet has allowed all of us to collaborate again despite time and location differences. Just a heap of fun.
Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: Madrun Badrun on May 01, 2017, 10:34:59 PM
Been watching Critical Role like crazy.  Lot it.  Wish my pathfinder group would start up again :(
Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: chronovore on May 02, 2017, 01:44:03 AM
Been watching Critical Role like crazy.  Lot it.  Wish my pathfinder group would start up again :(
Why not hit them up about it?

Or start your own game, with blackjack and hookers?
Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: Madrun Badrun on May 02, 2017, 06:39:02 PM
We'll start up again in the late summer.  Our DM is going to be in another city and a player in India/Japan for a month.  We're also going to try to set it up so everyone can take turns DMing.
Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: chronovore on May 09, 2017, 01:27:47 AM
https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/dungeon-classes

As a UCSC graduate and bleeding-heart lefty, this kind of thing actually occurs in my games.  :-\
Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: fistfulofmetal on June 09, 2017, 09:31:48 AM
My group is getting together again finally next weekend. Super excited because I'm building the next campaign to be less standalone that has a clearly defined end. Instead it'll be a constant progression from event to event to event.

I also started using a program called Scrivener which is a tool for writers to organize and design my game. It's super useful because it lets me organize characters, locations, scenes, and concepts super easily and efficiently.
Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: chronovore on June 09, 2017, 10:28:03 PM
That's awesome!

How are you using Scrivener, specifically? I've seen many people go to Evernote for games, but this is the first time I've heard Scrivener referenced.
Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: fistfulofmetal on June 14, 2017, 10:34:23 PM
That's awesome!

How are you using Scrivener, specifically? I've seen many people go to Evernote for games, but this is the first time I've heard Scrivener referenced.

here, take a look:

(http://i.imgur.com/LFIEnZm.jpg)

it's not perfect. I have some redundant stuff, like "Places" and "Locations/Characters" but I need to tie a person to a place and also a spot to put just general regions/locations. But you can see the structure to it. The program allows you to create scripts with specific formatting built in. It's pretty cool.
Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: Trurl on June 23, 2017, 10:33:45 AM
Has anybody here played the Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG? I ran a zero level funnel the other day where every player controlled 3 classless characters and it was a blast.
Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: chronovore on June 26, 2017, 03:34:27 AM
Has anybody here played the Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG? I ran a zero level funnel the other day where every player controlled 3 classless characters and it was a blast.

Huh, no. I assumed that was an "OSR" style thing, but I see it's based on the OGL instead. I don't mess with 3.5 stuff right now. I've got my hands full with a D&D 5e "proper" game (with an improper DM), and a text-only play-by-turn game using The Black Hack, which is an ultra-simplified version of AD&D.

How did it work out to have three characters played by each player? Is it role-playing heavy, or mainly just hack-and-slashy?
Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: Trurl on June 26, 2017, 07:52:15 PM
Hack and slashy but in a quick and fun way.

I would say that it is definitely part of the OSR family. There are no feats, few class abilities, race-as-class, rulings over rules, a lack of a section on the character sheet called "skills," etc. As far as I can tell the only things that it took from 3e are  ascending ac, a unified mechanic and the the three saving throws.  Even the d20 mechanic is subverted somewhat because if you're in an advantageous situation you might get throw a d24 or d30 (this game uses an expanded dice chain to get a comparable effect to 5e's advantage system).

One of the great things about DCC is that that it eliminates minmaxing. In the first session players roll a handful of of level zero characters by doing 3d6 in order. This first session is super deadly and is called a funnel. Most characters end up with only 1 or 2 hit points and instead of having a class they just have a background like "potato farmer" and their weapons are trade tools like pitchforks. In a way there is less role playing because each player has 3 characters, but each of these characters is so much more relatable than a typical d&d superhero. By coincidence our group ended up with three dyers and and there was a lot of fun banter about that.

Other things that make DCC special: its warrior class has a super simple mechanic that allows players to do whatever crazy stunts that they can imagine.

Its magic system is mercurial. I'll just post this video to explain why that's cool. https://youtu.be/ZxguQF3mDQI
Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: chronovore on June 26, 2017, 08:57:17 PM
Between that red hat and the bottle of Jameson's in the foreground, I will definitely be watching that video over lunch. :lol
Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: chronovore on July 13, 2017, 07:51:26 PM
I watched this but forgot to write back:

I like his attitude, and agree that the usual representation in magic in D20/F20 games tend to be overly predictable and analytical, and also oddly unbalanced: the early game mage is a frail little creature who will get stomped by accident, an arrow intended for a different target. They are very fragile. Meanwhile, after level six or seven they tend to outpace the fighter class significantly.

 If I was running a DND like a campaign, I would think about adopting that book after his impassioned plea.

As for my own game, yesterday I ran the seventh or eighth session. It is very curious to see how my players game to compared when they were gaming in college. Many things are similar but so many other things are different.  As I said this is the sixth or seventh session, and we have only been running two hour sessions, so I was not handing out character progression until we finish this first scenario. I started the session yesterday with an offer to do character progression, but everyone was more hungry to continue the story. I was stoked and surprised.
Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: Trurl on July 14, 2017, 05:47:45 PM
I listened to this episode of Tabletop Babble about the OSR today and recommend it:
https://dontsplitthepodcastnetwork.com/table-top-babble/2017/7/9/028-the-osr

Among other things they mention an alternative to a hexcrawl called a "point crawl" that sounds really interesting to me. As far as I can tell it means doing outdoor environments like a flowchart.
Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: Trurl on July 14, 2017, 09:48:29 PM
I actually had a chance to get into DCC'S spell system and in practice it started to feel a bit too random. There were a lot of difficulties  that night that had nothing to do with the system so I'm not going to make a judgment and would love to give it another chance. Still, it was a reminder that randomness comes at the cost of agency and that it can go a bit too far.

The other problems include a lack of time so set up was rushed, we only had one book, I had very little time to prepare as a DM, and some of my players didn't seem to read the class descriptions that I printed off.
Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: fistfulofmetal on July 21, 2017, 07:39:26 AM
I'm learning The Sprawl and planning on running a game in the next few weeks. Have some cool ideas on how to connect the Pathfinder fantasy world to a weird scifi cyberpunk world. The Sprawl seems like a neat game. Less rule heavy with more options and flexibility.
Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: chronovore on August 17, 2017, 12:47:40 AM
I'm learning The Sprawl and planning on running a game in the next few weeks. Have some cool ideas on how to connect the Pathfinder fantasy world to a weird scifi cyberpunk world. The Sprawl seems like a neat game. Less rule heavy with more options and flexibility.

Have you met the Shadowrun world?

I'm not being facetious, FWIW. I know there was a kickstarted Adventure Game built on it, and there was an abandoned FPS theoretically based on the license years back, but as an RPG, it is the grandfather of the concept you're espousing.
Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: Madrun Badrun on November 12, 2017, 09:40:40 PM
Critical Role is amazing


Also, would any of you be interested in a Bore pathfinder game in the new year? We can do it in a thread and just play over reply. 
Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: chronovore on November 12, 2017, 09:44:25 PM
Critical Role is amazing


Also, would any of you be interested in a Bore pathfinder game in the new year? We can do it in a thread and just play over reply.
That could be fun! Are you volunteering to DM?

I'm not sure it's safe to put any Borito in an actual Father Mike dungeon, but carpe DM.
Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: Madrun Badrun on November 12, 2017, 09:47:07 PM
Ya I could DM.  I'm thinking of making a campaign like Sliders where we keep shifting into other dimensions, so potentially we could make it semi-episodic and switch DMs, if others have a story to tell.
Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: Trurl on November 13, 2017, 02:22:54 PM
I'd be interested in being a part of this if there's room at the table.  I've only ever played in person games.
Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: CrazyDiamond on November 13, 2017, 04:29:23 PM
Anyone here into Vampire?

I want to start a campaign with a couple friends, but I've only DM'd online and it was kind of a mess. The thing ran from 3 years on and off and we still couldn't finish it. I think I might come up with a smaller plot to play through in a session or two to see if I'll manage to be a decent storyteller, and if it works start working on something bigger.

Also if you're taking juniors I'd like to play
spoiler (click to show/hide)
though I've never played Pathfinder or even D&D
[close]
Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: chronovore on November 13, 2017, 09:55:10 PM
I played a couple White Wolf games back in college, but not as much as other systems. It was always a matter of it being a giant world with all kinds of stuff happening, but difficult to track across months' worth of sessions spaced weeks apart. It's probably the kind of game which could be EASIER to play-by-post, where we can go back and read the thread to catch up at any time.
Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: CrazyDiamond on November 14, 2017, 09:22:17 AM
Yeah, all the chronicles I took part both as player and storyteller were online through a chat thing, so keeping logs helped. They did turn out to be too convoluted for their own good though, but half of that is my fault.

Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: chronovore on November 14, 2017, 06:40:54 PM
It is an easy world in which to overly con-vo-lute. It's also harder to track if the GM has all the great stuff going on in their head but only gives the barest clue to the players. There should be a formal term for when the GM is too clever by half for the party, mainly by the GM's own poor communication.
Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: CrazyDiamond on November 15, 2017, 12:00:14 PM
World of Darkness lore is fucking insane. It never ends and there's a lot dumb shit, and I never really dabbled much beyond Vampire. It's kinda overwhelming. Best to keep the crazy shit away.

These new campaigns I'm planning, if we ever go through with it, will be much more streamlined. I'll probably base it on New Orleans by Night.
Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: chronovore on November 15, 2017, 07:01:09 PM
 Lore in tabletop games is a fascinating topic for me. I run a homebrew world, but I like reading other games’ backstory, and taking what I like from them. I think that’s the way it should be even when you’re running a game in a set campaign system. Take what you want, move along.

 People who get upset when the official lore is not adhered to, when canon is not present in their game, crack me up. 

The best scenario is that it’s everyone’s game together, the next best is that the GM running the game knows what’s best for the narrative… but some people act like they are going to have to submit their game experience to some higher authority who will grade it on the form and content like a graduate student’s thesis paper.

It ain’t going to happen.
Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: Trurl on January 08, 2018, 08:34:10 PM
Any of you have experience using background music?

Tomorrow I'm going to play episodes of Hearts of Space and I think it should work pretty well.
Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: chronovore on January 08, 2018, 08:53:02 PM
When I played in person, I used quite a bit of music, mainly Dead Can Dance, historical folk, and classical. I didn't change it up to match the current actions in-game, because (a) combat takes longer than a concerto, and (b) changing physical media breaks the mood more than having only-quasi-appropriate music playing.

I play remotely now, so it's more difficult than having a stereo in the same room with the group.

Roll20.com previously had a contract with SoundCloud to stream the GM's choice of music, but that functionality disappeared a year or so ago. Hilariously, SoundCloud had plenty of bad remixes of mainstream music, barely evading copyright problems.
Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: I'm a Puppy! on January 09, 2018, 10:37:46 AM
I miss playing these. I had a resolution to start again, but finding a group would be difficult then to justify that much time away from wife and kiddles isn't something I want either. Wife said she'd be interested in playing with, but she's never done it and is still hazy on the concept. But I had a thought, I could DM a game, I've done that before. But what game would be
1) Good/easy for beginners
2) Doesn't have a huge cost of entry

I've DMed D&D and Warhammer 40k games and Shadowrun. So I think I could pick up a new game pretty quick. Any suggestions?
Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: chronovore on January 09, 2018, 05:53:27 PM
 Both D&D and Pathfinder have online SRD websites which contain all of the rules. DN&D up to 3.5 still has all of their open gaming license content available for free as well.

Fate Core is my current jam, and the base core game is available for a pay-work-you-wanted price at DrivethruRPG.com

The light variant of the rules are Fate Accelerated Edition (FAE), which might also be PWYW pricing, AND is $5 for the print version.

There’s also GURPS Lite and Ultra-Lite for free.

All good choices. Pick yer poison.
Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: fistfulofmetal on January 09, 2018, 05:58:42 PM
Games powered by the Apocalypse system are IMO the best for people who want a RPG experience but want something streamlined and easy for beginners and easy to setup. There's a bunch of flavors, Dungeon World for fantasy, The Sprawl for scifi/cyberpunk, Apocalypse World for post apocalypse... there's even a version for doing a monster of the week style adventure in the vein of Supernatural or X-Files

It's a super cool system where you only ever roll 2D6 + a modifier. The stats are only ever at most a +3 or a -1. Your actions are governed by a set of basic moves and some custom moves based on your class. The roll system has built in mixed success. So a roll of a 6 or less is a miss but a 7-9 is a hit, but with a catch, and a 10+ is a success. That's basically it. Everything filters down from that.

I've been running The Sprawl for awhile and it's fucking great.
Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: chronovore on January 09, 2018, 06:36:10 PM
Still good:
https://youtu.be/BRjNl64zYxI
Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: I'm a Puppy! on January 09, 2018, 06:36:31 PM
You guys have links for these? 

Chrono, you got a link for the D&D stuff? I'd love to start another D&D campaign.
Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: chronovore on January 09, 2018, 07:31:10 PM
Puppy, it’s also New GM Month! This stars have aligned!

https://newgamemastermonth.com/

Here’s the D&D freely available stuff:
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=d20/article/srd35
Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: I'm a Puppy! on January 09, 2018, 07:43:13 PM
I would kiss you if you were just closer. D&D it is. Soo.....is there a good beginner campaign or should I stick to the basic town-inn-dungeon stuff?
Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: fistfulofmetal on January 09, 2018, 07:48:18 PM
You guys have links for these? 

Chrono, you got a link for the D&D stuff? I'd love to start another D&D campaign.

The Sprawl: http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/171286/The-Sprawl----MIDNIGHT

Dungeon World: http://www.dungeon-world.com/
Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: chronovore on January 09, 2018, 08:53:07 PM
I would kiss you if you were just closer. D&D it is. Soo.....is there a good beginner campaign or should I stick to the basic town-inn-dungeon stuff?

 :-*

I honestly improv every adventure I run, and have felt dissatisfied by every module my current DM has run us through, but I do believe they're fantastic seeds with which to START an adventure.

Google is as much your friend as mine, so I suggest doing what I just did and search for "free D&D adventures" and then just eschew anything referring to 4th edition (it was a system revamp which made it play like an MMO).

This Reddit thread even links to some of WotC's free assets:
https://www.reddit.com/r/DnD/comments/5qfxq0/any_good_free_campaigns/

Ooh, this tumblr, too:
https://dndadventuresonline.tumblr.com
Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: Madrun Badrun on January 11, 2018, 09:53:48 PM
new campaign of critical role starts in 10 min

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIGDn31bEq8

Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: Madrun Badrun on January 11, 2018, 11:04:19 PM
So good
Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: chronovore on January 12, 2018, 11:50:02 PM
Friends were nerding out online, so I made a comic of their dialog:
(https://i.imgur.com/tZm372P.png)
Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: fistfulofmetal on January 18, 2018, 09:11:19 AM
I've been running my The Sprawl game for a few months and it's been going relatively ok. We've had some sessions that were not great but others that were super fun. My girlfriend is one of the players and last night we had a talk because she's been getting frustrated because she's been feeling like she has to do too much to get things happening. The other players kinda sit and won't do things unless she does and it's getting tiring for her because she doesn't feel like she can play her character as much. There's more to it than that, like there's a feeling that I pull my punches... which is def true. I'm notoriously bad at holding back or waiting to see what the players do for too long.

Last nights game was our "season finale" of sorts and the next time we play I'm gonna shift a bunch of things around. One of my plans is to stop presenting missions or jobs to the players that span 5-6 months of play. I wanna try to do more one-two-off scenarios so there's a more immediate reaction to the stuff they do.

I've also found that when I plop the players into a little playset scenario, they tend to have more fun vs. when I am getting into the lore and they're talking to characters so I gotta figure out how to spice that stuff up.
Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: I'm a Puppy! on January 18, 2018, 12:41:31 PM
Actually, I ended up deciding on a pathfinder campaign. We'll start character creations today or tomorrow. We'll see how it goes.
Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: chronovore on January 18, 2018, 08:08:49 PM
I've been running my The Sprawl game for a few months and it's been going relatively ok. We've had some sessions that were not great but others that were super fun. My girlfriend is one of the players and last night we had a talk because she's been getting frustrated because she's been feeling like she has to do too much to get things happening. The other players kinda sit and won't do things unless she does and it's getting tiring for her because she doesn't feel like she can play her character as much. There's more to it than that, like there's a feeling that I pull my punches... which is def true. I'm notoriously bad at holding back or waiting to see what the players do for too long.

Last nights game was our "season finale" of sorts and the next time we play I'm gonna shift a bunch of things around. One of my plans is to stop presenting missions or jobs to the players that span 5-6 months of play. I wanna try to do more one-two-off scenarios so there's a more immediate reaction to the stuff they do.

I've also found that when I plop the players into a little playset scenario, they tend to have more fun vs. when I am getting into the lore and they're talking to characters so I gotta figure out how to spice that stuff up.

Throughout my career as a GM, it's ALWAYS been a problem to get the players to self-motivate. I wish they'd have more "this is my goal" and then I can put interesting stuff in the way, but they are much more responsive to me Raymond Chandler-ing them with a guy walking into the room with a gun fireball spell.
Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: Madrun Badrun on January 18, 2018, 09:58:47 PM
critical role episode 2 in a few mins

https://www.twitch.tv/geekandsundry
Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: Trurl on January 22, 2018, 07:48:36 AM
Actually, I ended up deciding on a pathfinder campaign. We'll start character creations today or tomorrow. We'll see how it goes.
How did it go?
Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: Trurl on January 22, 2018, 08:04:25 AM
Throughout my career as a GM, it's ALWAYS been a problem to get the players to self-motivate. I wish they'd have more "this is my goal" and then I can put interesting stuff in the way, but they are much more responsive to me Raymond Chandler-ing them with a guy walking into the room with a gun fireball spell.
Yeah, I have that problem.  I've run Dungeon World a few times and the problem REALLY shows up in that game.  When the first session is generated by me asking my players questions the result is that they're a group of petty thieves with petty enemies in a boring town.  They also seem to get annoyed when I kept pushing them to explain the bonds between their characters in interesting ways.

DW did work a lot better when I ran it with a crazy world that was thought up before the session along with some interesting enemies.  But to be fair that was also for a different group composed of people who also DM.

Basically DW seems pretty cool but it asks for a lot of creativity and motivation from the players.
Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: fistfulofmetal on January 22, 2018, 08:59:57 AM
Yeah games like DW and The Sprawl need you to have a lot of creativity and a group that is will to work with you.

Thankfully, I also think that the Apocalypse World does lend itself to fun combat playgrounds because of how moves roll into other moves so if players respond to that kind of stuff you can lean in that direction.
Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: chronovore on January 22, 2018, 09:50:52 AM
Yeah.

One of my players is an improv comedian and recovering thespian who is tremendously creative. He recently asked me if there was additional room to explore his character's wife's murder. Which is unsolved. And hasn't been touched since character creation. Which I've brought up at least three times in the campaign.

"Yes. Yes, there is."

At this point, I'm just happy he has finally taken the bait clue.
Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: fistfulofmetal on January 22, 2018, 10:01:26 AM
That's cool, I'd love for my players to do that kind of thing. One of the biggest problems I see is that my players don't know how to become their characters, or take the initiative to do things they want to do. They just wait for me or someone else to act.

When I developed the framework for my current campaign I tried to front load a shit ton mysteries and things for players to explore... and they never did anything with it and I spent the entire campaign trying to figure out how to engage them.

The last session I completely ripped up the world and I'm going to go in another direction when we get back to it next month and I'm hoping I can pull them in a bit more.
Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: chronovore on January 22, 2018, 10:08:20 AM
That's cool, I'd love for my players to do that kind of thing. One of the biggest problems I see is that my players don't know how to become their characters, or take the initiative to do things they want to do. They just wait for me or someone else to act.

When I developed the framework for my current campaign I tried to front load a shit ton mysteries and things for players to explore... and they never did anything with it and I spent the entire campaign trying to figure out how to engage them.

The last session I completely ripped up the world and I'm going to go in another direction when we get back to it next month and I'm hoping I can pull them in a bit more.

One thing that's helped me is engaging them in-character. If they say, "I want to buy a set of magic armor."

"Okay, you find an armory which has a wizened little gnome running it. He has a bright blue beard. He says, 'Oy dere misser, what d'ye want?!'"

By confronting them with NPCs in-character, they'll respond in their own character rather than, "I ask him about armor."

Occasionally it takes a couple lines of the gnome talking for them to take up the hint, but it happens.

If you meant about looking into their own characters backstory, yeah, me too! I think EVERY game has trouble getting its players to self-motivate. I think part of the problem is that GMs ALWAYS know more about how their world works than the players, by definition.
Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: I'm a Puppy! on January 22, 2018, 10:15:02 AM
Actually, I ended up deciding on a pathfinder campaign. We'll start character creations today or tomorrow. We'll see how it goes.
How did it go?
It went pretty well. Haven't started the campaign yet. But the character creation went pretty well. The only sticky widget was choosing feats. There's just so many. I sorta liked how we did it for Warhammer where you just rolled for it. Much faster.
Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: Trurl on January 22, 2018, 11:06:00 AM
Yeah, feats in Pathfinder can be overwhelming especially if you allow all of them.

The crazy number of feats is part of the tradition of 3rd edition D&D that Pathfinder inherited.  Part of the idea is just to allow a lot of customization, but I think that some of the difficulty is on purpose. There was an idea that after playing a few times players would develop an expertise in what feats go well together and that this expertise should be rewarded.  A lot of people really like this and enjoy taking the time to create powerful characters.  On the other hand, over time people who focus on the the character creation game will completely outclass people who are just picking features that sound cool.  This can be mitigated by either having a party that are all either power-gamers or not power-gamers, or by some creative DM fu.
Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: I'm a Puppy! on February 14, 2018, 03:44:57 PM
So we've had about 3 playing sessions. It's gone pretty well. I think the group is trying to get accustomed to each other and me as a GM. I tend to go with a story and an arch with different paths and a mystery to try and solve so it's more than just "It's a tavern, do you go to the dungeon? Or to the spooky forest?" But they're learning. We're all learning.
Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: chronovore on February 24, 2018, 02:39:29 PM
Yeah, feats in Pathfinder can be overwhelming especially if you allow all of them.

The crazy number of feats is part of the tradition of 3rd edition D&D that Pathfinder inherited.  Part of the idea is just to allow a lot of customization, but I think that some of the difficulty is on purpose. There was an idea that after playing a few times players would develop an expertise in what feats go well together and that this expertise should be rewarded.  A lot of people really like this and enjoy taking the time to create powerful characters.  On the other hand, over time people who focus on the the character creation game will completely outclass people who are just picking features that sound cool.  This can be mitigated by either having a party that are all either power-gamers or not power-gamers, or by some creative DM fu.

It's true.

Our previous game in Pathfinder, we had a bird-man alchemist made by a player who knew the rules very well, and then the rest of us jackasses with our bog-standard characters. It was a bit overwhelming when he'd be quaffing this and regurgitating it after getting the effects, so he could cast XYZ spell and blah-blah-blah, and the rest of us were using are turn to "attack with sword… I miss" or alternately, "I hit, so here's 1d8."

There are certainly places where min-maxers are benefiting from their expertise in any system, but d20 stuff, I always feel it's more readily apparent.
Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: chronovore on March 02, 2018, 03:41:15 AM
(https://i.imgur.com/Eab9DNI.jpg)
Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: Trurl on March 02, 2018, 06:19:29 PM
I loved the couple interviewed in this episode of tabletop babble.
https://dontsplitthepodcastnetwork.com/table-top-babble/58

It made me want to hug my waifu
Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: I'm a Puppy! on April 24, 2018, 10:49:27 AM
Had a good session yesterday. It was fun. But my players really don't get the concept of running away. It makes things interesting.
Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: chronovore on April 25, 2018, 10:12:15 AM
Had a good session yesterday. It was fun. But my players really don't get the concept of running away. It makes things interesting.

players NEVER run away. most of the time they assume that the GM is running something that is scaled to their party's power. but even if the GM goes out of their way to show them that the Ancient Polychromatic Dragon wielding a Vorpal Katana is BEYOND THEIR POWER LEVEL, they'll still think they're supposed to figure out how to beat it.
Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: Trurl on April 25, 2018, 10:25:42 AM
Had a good session yesterday. It was fun. But my players really don't get the concept of running away. It makes things interesting.

players NEVER run away. most of the time they assume that the GM is running something that is scaled to their party's power. but even if the GM goes out of their way to show them that the Ancient Polychromatic Dragon wielding a Vorpal Katana is BEYOND THEIR POWER LEVEL, they'll still think they're supposed to figure out how to beat it.
This is the only kind of metagaming that bugs me.  Mostly because the assumption is wrong.
Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: chronovore on May 22, 2018, 11:33:48 AM
https://www.warhammer-community.com/2018/05/21/21st-may-warhammer-adventures-tales-for-younger-readersgw-homepage-post-1/ 
Quote
Warhammer Adventures is an exciting new range of books coming next year for boys and girls aged 8-12 years old featuring younger protagonists having thrilling adventures and facing off against dangerous enemies.

Warhammer Adventures stories are written by best selling authors with experience of writing fantastic fiction for younger readers, and will be the perfect way to introduce your children, siblings, nieces, nephews and other young fans in your life to the hobby you love – and to give them their first look at the awesome worlds of the 41st Millennium and the Mortal Realms.
Neat-o. I'm pretty curious about this. 

Also noteworthy, it's not just YA, but it's also the first time I think I've seen non-white 40K characters, and rarely non-males, so now EVERYONE can be a heretic! YAY!
Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: I'm a Puppy! on May 22, 2018, 12:14:56 PM
oh nice. I've always preferred 40k, but good to see table top RPGs having a bit of a revival.
Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: Kara on May 22, 2018, 09:37:18 PM
I'm not trying to insinuate that 40K doesn't have a chronic representation problem but one of the most famous series Black Library ever put out had prominent characters who were people of color. (Midas and Medea Betancore in Eisenhorn)

It's actually kind of damning that Dan Abnett is the most progressive writer they've ever published. (The sequel to Eisenhorn was somewhat about being differently able.) The next closest is... ADB and he foregrounded the rampant child abuse in the universe while writing some questionable depictions of women.

Anyway, I look forward to Disney buying Games Workshop and shitting out Horus Heresy movies in 15 years. The books might actually be done by then.
Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: chronovore on May 23, 2018, 04:14:22 AM
oh nice. I've always preferred 40k, but good to see table top RPGs having a bit of a revival.
Those YA books /will be/ 40K-set, from what I saw.
Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: chronovore on February 04, 2022, 10:53:57 PM
https://www.reddit.com/r/FATErpg/comments/skrjkx/samurai/

:expert
Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: Potato on February 04, 2022, 11:40:48 PM
Reading through this thread reminiscing about trying to DM campaigns as a teenager with my brother and cousins where they were just trying to game the rules as much as possible.


So frustrating.
Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: chronovore on February 05, 2022, 01:20:33 AM
There is a type of player who just wants to "win" at the game. There are also DMs who want to compete against their players instead of cheer for them.

You're right. It's frustrating.
Title: Re: Tabletop RPG "mega” thread :teehee
Post by: chronovore on February 27, 2022, 03:14:12 AM
https://vm.tiktok.com/ZSeTHNkKy/