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Author Topic: Tales From the Game Table  (Read 1574 times)

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McDohl

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Tales From the Game Table
« on: July 06, 2008, 05:14:39 AM »

Tonight, I just played in the raddest 3rd-edition-esque game.

We were gods, trapped in avatars.  So, we were badass, but the encounters that we were faced with were suitably challenging.

Bahamut, played by General Iroh(me), along with Odin (without Slephnir), charge down the Tarrasque...and turns tail.  High-larious.

Other appearances by Hera from the Greek pantheon, Masque from Faerun, Set from Egypt, and then some.

See, our divine spark was being slowly drawn out of us, so we're sort of forced to cooperate.

That's not even the best part.  THEN, Lich-ified Elminster and the mind-controlled 7 sisters of Mystra show up.  I'll let you fill in the blanks from there.

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sei

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Re: Tales From the Game Table
« Reply #1 on: July 06, 2008, 06:27:52 PM »

"You had to be there...and a total nerd."
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McDohl

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Re: Tales From the Game Table
« Reply #2 on: July 06, 2008, 07:00:09 PM »

yeah pretty much
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DarkSchneider

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Role Playing Games
« Reply #3 on: January 25, 2009, 07:58:50 PM »

I have a shelf full of roleplaying games.



Check out all those roleplaying games.

Holy fuck that's a lot of roleplaying games.

I'm half tempted to offer to run a one-shot of whatever-the-fuck there's enough interest for.  But only half. 

Post roleplaying games.  Or vote and maybe I'll decide to run.  Or just talk about them.  I dunno.
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Doom

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Re: Role Playing Games
« Reply #4 on: January 25, 2009, 09:28:23 PM »

Running a D&D 4th Edition Game on a once-a-week basis.

Have Kazz, probably Psychick and a Stranger. Could use 2-3 more, fine with running with four. If interested, simply post your schedule.

Emphasis on ability to attend or ability to send me a PM or E-mail if they cannot. This was the entire basis of the last game falling apart.  ::(:

Delicious details later this week.
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Rosencrantz

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Re: Role Playing Games
« Reply #5 on: January 25, 2009, 09:36:16 PM »

I don't see After the Bomb (or any Palladium books, for that matter) on that shelf.

I bought all the TMNT/After The Bomb books when I was 12, but despite a friend or two showing some interest, I have still never actually played them. I even bought the revised ATB last summer, thinking that my weekly RPG group would be interested... if only for one or two sessions. (They weren't.)

One day I'm going to play it online with some people. One day.

(Oh yeah. Apparently the FF RPG people finally finished their third edition after seven years. My gut tells me that it must suck, but I'd love to test it out sometime.)
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DarkSchneider

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Re: Role Playing Games
« Reply #6 on: January 25, 2009, 09:39:28 PM »

Ooh ooh.  I can play.

Can I play?

What time do you start/wrap up?  Because I have most weekday evenings open.

also: Damn right you don't see anything Palladium on that shelf.

There's a reason for that.  I'll leave it up to you to determine what that reason is.  (Hint: Palladium is not good.)
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Rosencrantz

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Re: Role Playing Games
« Reply #7 on: January 25, 2009, 09:48:04 PM »

(Hint: Palladium is not good.)

I knowwww, but I've had these books for so long and they've never been officially used. I need to just ebay the damn things.
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Norondor

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Re: Role Playing Games
« Reply #8 on: January 25, 2009, 09:50:36 PM »

tried reading palladium's fantasy roleplay book a while ago. i honestly cannot imagine who in the world decided that the layout was ok.
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Rosencrantz

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Re: Role Playing Games
« Reply #9 on: January 25, 2009, 10:01:19 PM »

I've actually never read any non-ATB/TMNT Palladium books, but I heard that they were considerably better because the writer (Erick Wujcik, who just died last year) rejected almost everything that Palladium tried to force into his books. They apparently let him do his own thing for the most part, but one of the head guys at Palladium put his foot down when it came to their Alignment system (of all things) and forced it into ATB. Someone made sure to indicate that that particular chapter was written by someone other than Wujcik.
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DarkSchneider

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Re: Role Playing Games
« Reply #10 on: January 25, 2009, 10:05:52 PM »

I mean I don't wanna get too terribly down on Palladium stuff because some people like Rifts or something apparently but yeah it really isn't that great.

Then again I have BESM and BESM d20 on my shelf.  In my defense, they were gifts.  That I didn't ask for.
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Büge

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Re: Role Playing Games
« Reply #11 on: January 26, 2009, 08:56:35 AM »

No Dark Hersey? Please.

Seriously though, I'm running a D&D 3.5 game on statutory holidays. Is it necessary to have stats for noncombat NPCs? And what's the best way to feed the players clues about what to do next?
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DarkSchneider

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Re: Role Playing Games
« Reply #12 on: January 26, 2009, 09:13:39 AM »

Usually it's not worth the trouble of statting up anyone that's not going to be in combat, fully.  You might wanna have a sense of how well they can handle certain kinds of opposed checks--perception or sense motive or whatever the hell 3.5 has for such things, though.  Only worth coming up with the numbers that you're gonna use, overall.

Feeding players clues about what to do next depends on the players and the group style, really.  Some groups are fine with just going completely freeform and taking whatever comes up.  If you have a specific plot, consider dropping in hooks to lead the characters that direction on their own impetus.  Get backstory for everyone's characters, and dig for hooks you can use.  Sometimes it's money, sometimes glory, knowledge--but every well-written character has SOMETHING that they'll go after.  Then you just give hints through rumors or people hiring them or trails of clues or whatever that they should go wherever, with the bait on the hooks, and you should be able to get them to go wherever you want.

'course, if you don't have players who have any motivation to their characters beyond "Well we're playing D&D so my guy is a fighter", you don't need to be nearly as subtle.

It all depends on who and how you're running.
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Doom

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Re: Role Playing Games
« Reply #13 on: January 26, 2009, 09:17:57 AM »

Just develop a shorthand related to level. It's easy to gauge somebody's relative capabilities from level and class.

Dealing with a Fence? He's an eighth level rogue. He hits for +6-+10(depending on whether he's a wuss with negative strength or a graceful fucker with decent dex and weapon finesse) and he averages a +8 on any skill check that is IMPORTANT to a Fence.

So.. I'd throw an 8d6+16 at the Dicebot for HP, pick a random weapon based off mental image and work off that attack roll, and if somebody wants to test his bluff and sense motive, he's pimping a 1d20+8.

This covers feasible fighting and social interaction.

Granted, I've gotten to the point where I can spontaneously generate pretty easily.

It can also be skewered by your perception of the leveling scale. Some folks stick to lower levels where every non-hero is level 1-2 and somebody distinguished is like level 5. So your mileage may vary.
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Zach

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Re: Role Playing Games
« Reply #14 on: January 26, 2009, 10:01:43 AM »

That's a fair amount of Changeling on the shelf. Right on. Right on.

tried reading palladium's fantasy roleplay book a while ago. i honestly cannot imagine who in the world decided that the layout was ok.

The best worst best part is that from the eighties until about 1999, when my brother stopped buying Rifts books, every release contained the same essential layout and cut-n-paste rants. There's some fun, evocative stuff throughout the Palladium line, but it's like the worst excesses of the Marvel universe mashed together with D&D powergaming.
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McDohl

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Re: Role Playing Games
« Reply #15 on: January 26, 2009, 10:24:01 AM »

TSR Marvel

Once upon a time, TSR held the license for a Marvel tabletop game, and it was good.  I didn't discover this system until many years after it was defunct, through this website.  When my roleplaying buddies in California introduced me to it, I fell in love with it.

Character generation can range between very simple to extremely simple, where you generate 7 statistics (Fighting, Agility, Strength, Endurance, Reason, Intuition, Psyche, abbreviated FASERIP, pronounced FACE RIP, which is deliciously awesome).

There are a few oddities with the system, such as you burning your experience pool for luck-based modifications to your dice (in the event of do-or-die situations and the like), so there are a few house rules I put in to place.  Anyway, all you need to play the system are a pair of d10s to use as percentiles, and with the simplified initiative system I use (d10, high roll goes first with ties going to the higher agility rating, rolling off only when the agility ratings are equal), things are very streamlined.

It's very oriented toward the player masturbating their own awesomeness, as you describe your action, and the GM assigns rolls as necessary.  If you want to do something that's outside of the narrow definition of powers, then you can attempt a Power Stunt.  How it works is you describe the effect, and you attempt to roll against your power's rating (there's this table for determining what you need to roll), and if you roll high enough and expend Karma (the aforementioned EXP pool), then it becomes a permanent part of your character.  An example of this would be Cyclops bouncing eyebeams off reflective surfaces.

Anyway, TSR Marvel is fun, and I want to play more of it.  It's what I'd imagine an Avatar-based game to be played in.
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DarkSchneider

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Re: Role Playing Games
« Reply #16 on: January 26, 2009, 10:31:24 AM »

That's a fair amount of Changeling on the shelf. Right on. Right on.

I'm missing 8 of the non-kithbook releases.  And six of the kithbooks.  I have juuuuust over half the line.  If I can get the ones I'm missing...
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Mongrel

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Re: Tales From the Game Table
« Reply #17 on: December 29, 2009, 12:35:21 PM »

New York Risk

I've seen plenty of homemade Risk boards before, but LOL, this is brilliant.
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Doom

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Re: Tales From the Game Table
« Reply #18 on: December 30, 2009, 04:16:35 PM »

Dead 4 Life  :nyoro~n:
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