Side note, my Gamma World player characters found a copy of the Call of Catthulhu rules in-game as a joke item, but the players now want me to run a session of that game in-character, which is to say, the Gamma World PCs play Call of Catthulhu characters, while I play an NPC who is playing the Cat Herder. Levels!
I've wanted to do the game-within-a-game for a while now, but was never sure how exactly to make it work. Bravo for you solving the puzzle in a way that feels natural, not forced, and even more impressively has your players asking for it to occur!
Side note, my Gamma World player characters found a copy of the Call of Catthulhu rules in-game as a joke item, but the players now want me to run a session of that game in-character, which is to say, the Gamma World PCs play Call of Catthulhu characters, while I play an NPC who is playing the Cat Herder. Levels!
I've wanted to do the game-within-a-game for a while now, but was never sure how exactly to make it work. Bravo for you solving the puzzle in a way that feels natural, not forced, and even more impressively has your players asking for it to occur!
Honestly, making my Gamma World game's campaign plot be about collecting pre-Mistake gaming books has been the most fun gaming idea I've ever had. I hand out books from my old collection, and the players have something to page through while they wait for their turn in combat, and makes non-combat loot a joy for them.
In case I haven't spelled it out here, one of the PCs has cancer, and they've heard of a "wizard" called "The Gygax" who grants wishes, Emerald City style. The trick is you need 10 "points" of D&D books; a D&D book is worth a number of points equal to 4 minus its edition number. So 1st edition gives you 3 points, 3rd edition gives you one point, and fourth edition is worthless. Fifth edition actually costs you points.
So the players have been obsessively following leads on stashes of gaming stuff. Sometimes they get lucky and get D&D books worth points, sometimes they find, like, Vampire: The Dark Ages or the Alternity edition of Gamma World (meta!), or Call of Catthulhu.
They just got the last book they needed for 10 points, a 1st edition Deities & Demigods with the Cthulhu & Elric mythos in it. But now they're on the moon, with no way of getting back to The Gygax for the healing wish yet. This all helpfully coincided with them hitting 10th level, max for the Gamma World ruleset. So running CoCat will stand as a breather session between the end of the campaign and the beginning of a new one.
XP, especially when it's only awarded for combat encounters in which the monsters are dead at the end, is literally the worst reward system in the world.
It is a tremendously stupid mechanic that we are, gradually, moving away from.
But a flat XP game is still nowhere near the nightmare that are multi-track XP games. Fuck those things.
I think the only system I like XP for anymore is MHR because its not just for leveling but also buying stuff to give you things in the story. Like you can spend 5xp to get a piece of information from your contacts in the criminal world or spend 10xp to get the Wreaking Crew's Crowbar or 15xp to summon the Hulk as a playable character! That's why I'm again and again prefer the Cortex system over any others I've played.
How is Torchbearer as far as a system goes? I threw down for it and Burning Wheel Gold, but I'm still curious as to the learning curve and crunch level of it.
Torchbearer is my favorite game ever and it's easily the best thing the folks at BW have put out. Burning Wheel is definitely more ambitious, but for bread and butter fantasy adventures focusing on exploration and resource management, nothing else comes close to Torchbearer for my money.
In terms of crunch and learning curve, Torchbearer is the easier of the two. It's still a hard game with a lot of moving parts, but people looking to play the non-magical classes could easily jump in without having read the book so long as others are familiar with the rules. The magic classes require you to be a little more savvy and I would steer new players away from them if they're not looking to master the system. I did a pretty in-depth review covering a lot of this. You can find it here, here, and here. I'm happy to answer specific questions regarding mechanics, too.
Burning Wheel is an incredibly crunchy game, probably moreso than any edition of D&D, but the basic rules are fairly simple. Even using the basic rules, the game challenges a lot of assumptions and habits that people might have developed from playing more traditional games, which accounts for a pretty steep learning curve, I think. I would strongly recommend playing "The Sword" demo for first timers and, if possible, finding someone familiar with the system to GM it. Of course, if that's not an option, one can still learn it, but I would pick the most patient, open minded members of your group to test it out with. If you have fun with the demo, burn characters and dive in. There's a lot there, and it's not possible to experience the whole of the game within a single campaign.
Oh man, great, thanks for the feedback and the links! This will help me quite a bit.
Completely different subject, but I've been dying to run/play in a 40K P&P game. I, uh, sort of went a got all the DH, DW, RT, and OW books years ago (except for DH2) because I love the WH40K fluff and background, and Dan Abnett is my hero. I've never played in one though. Some day!
Dungeon World has excellent XP. You get XP when you fail at something, and levelling takes about two minutes, so it's painless if players are at different levels.
XP, especially when it's only awarded for combat encounters in which the monsters are dead at the end, is literally the worst reward system in the world.
I have to disagree with you. If a campaign is combat focused, then XP for combat is MUCH better than simply telling people to level. The reason is that this allows people to level up between encounters during a session, and has the ability to give them a boost of power when they need it, such as in a tough dungeon or just before facing a difficult boss fight. It also adds to the the joy of players the same way that getting gold, gems, or magic loot does.
Frankly, I think the worst XP system in the world is one that only rewards for story based actions. Its a dumb system because it forces the players to keep track of arbitrary numbers for a situation that can be completely removed by just having the GM say "Okay, guys, time to level" when they complete a significant plot point.
Basically, I'm of the opinion that you either treat XP like loot in that you give it out for defeating the villains of the campaign, or just skip it all together.
EDIT: The exception, of course, being XP Buy systems (like Shadowrun, L5R, etc) where there aren't traditional levels. In those cases, I like a flat XP gain for each session, with a bonus if the players do something outstanding.
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VanguardBut now the dream is over. And the insect is awake.Registered User, __BANNED USERSregular
XP, especially when it's only awarded for combat encounters in which the monsters are dead at the end, is literally the worst reward system in the world.
I have to disagree with you. If a campaign is combat focused, then XP for combat is MUCH better than simply telling people to level. The reason is that this allows people to level up between encounters during a session, and has the ability to give them a boost of power when they need it, such as in a tough dungeon or just before facing a difficult boss fight. It also adds to the the joy of players the same way that getting gold, gems, or magic loot does.
Frankly, I think the worst XP system in the world is one that only rewards for story based actions. Its a dumb system because it forces the players to keep track of arbitrary numbers for a situation that can be completely removed by just having the GM say "Okay, guys, time to level" when they complete a significant plot point.
Basically, I'm of the opinion that you either treat XP like loot in that you give it out for defeating the villains of the campaign, or just skip it all together.
EDIT: The exception, of course, being XP Buy systems (like Shadowrun, L5R, etc) where there aren't traditional levels. In those cases, I like a flat XP gain for each session, with a bonus if the players do something outstanding.
Honestly, if my game is going to be that combat heavy, I would rather just play a wargame. Putting that aside, I find that approach problematic because players who overcome a monster encounter through smart thinking rather than brute force should still rewarded. The issue then becomes the disconnect between level benefits and play experience. This is pretty much the core of why the XP system is garbage, in my opinion. It advances abilities that may have had no bearing on your success while stunting others that were vital.
While it's pretty rare for me to run a game that uses XP these days, I tend to reward players for overcoming challenges, be they story, combat, puzzle, etc. So long as it made the players expend resources, they will get a reward.
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AegeriTiny wee bacteriumsPlateau of LengRegistered Userregular
I haven't used XP in systems like DnD for so many years now, I can't remember why I ever bothered. Technically speaking in games like Trail or Shadowrun I tend to hand out build points or Karma at the end of a session, but otherwise I never bother keeping track. I just ensure that the PCs are as powerful as they need to be based on the number of encounters they have faced and when levelling up should show progress within the story.
ThomamelasOnly one man can kill this many Russians. Bring his guitar to me! Registered Userregular
I really like the nWoD 2.0 XP rules with the group beats optional rule. I gain XP for accomplishing character goals. Character goals are short, middle and long term so they get changed up fairly often. The group beats spread out the pool so you don't have someone skyrocketing away.
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VanguardBut now the dream is over. And the insect is awake.Registered User, __BANNED USERSregular
Not that this will surprise anyone, but my favorite reward system is the Burning Wheel/Torchbearer. Each skill/ability has its own advancement track (this sounds miserable in concept; in practice it's incredible) and there are other rewards for playing up/against your Beliefs, Instincts, and Traits. It is, in my opinion, the perfect mix of fluff and crunch.
I played in a Serenity game (using the CORTEX rules) and we had a house ruled plot (XP) point system. Basically the system allows you to use plot points for a bunch of different things, from advancing skills to affecting die rolls to just ass-pulling something useful at the right time ("I'm going to burn these documents. Uh, do I have a way to start a fire? Uh... Oh yeah! [spends plot point]I picked up a book of matches from that hotel...").
You can spend plot points towards skill-ups, but the problem is, the most dramatic way to spend plot points was to spend them during a skill challenge, when success was critical. Points spent this way do not normally count towards skill-ups. Our game master was of the opinion that character advancement should not be at the cost of drama, and vice versa, so he changed the rule so that skill points spent towards modifying a skill check DO count toward ranking up.
This policy was rampantly successful, and actually led to some interesting and unexpected character improvements. Like, my cowardly doctor character, who rarely got into dangerous situations, ended up skilling up in Athletics just by spending a lot of plot points to improve her shot of surviving the jump from an exploding vehicle.
Leverage has an improved version of the Serenity system, wherein you collect "jobs." You can recall a job while on another job to help you bypass a challenge, or you can "spend" jobs to gain new things (at which point the jobs and their recalls leave your bag of tricks).
Really, it's very close to Fate and Refresh and I find that acceptable. "You gain 400XP and 300NUXP"? Barf.
They tried to bury us. They didn't know that we were seeds.2018 Midterms. Get your shit together.
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RingoHe/Hima distinct lack of substanceRegistered Userregular
Talk to me, oh masters of FATE!
In my Dresden Files game, while I'm not a powerhouse on the Social Skills, I am at least somewhat specced to make use of them. And I'd like to! So far the GM has set a preference for not interrupting RP with dice rolls if not necessary, but there's some NPCs I'd really like to tag with aspects after taking them out through social conflict.
So I ask you guys: How best to go about it?
I'm thinking some kind of rope-a-dope strategy where my character is all friendly and chatting and basically rolling social maneuvers so I can stack +2's until I can hit them with a good line and either force them to concede the scene or take a consequence. Is this workable? What would some good maneuvers to use as tags look like?
In my Dresden Files game, while I'm not a powerhouse on the Social Skills, I am at least somewhat specced to make use of them. And I'd like to! So far the GM has set a preference for not interrupting RP with dice rolls if not necessary, but there's some NPCs I'd really like to tag with aspects after taking them out through social conflict.
So I ask you guys: How best to go about it?
I'm thinking some kind of rope-a-dope strategy where my character is all friendly and chatting and basically rolling social maneuvers so I can stack +2's until I can hit them with a good line and either force them to concede the scene or take a consequence. Is this workable? What would some good maneuvers to use as tags look like?
The big thing for me is whether to do the traditional 'RP then dice' way, or the weirder, but interesting, 'Dice then RP from the result'. I think FATE social conflict works better with the latter. Fail the roll to make a bon mot and then everyone at the table laughs as you make up the lamest putdown imaginable.
Remember social conflict is CONFLICT. It's not just chatting. If you are 'attacking' then they will 'Attack' back. And be aware of the conflict.
Maneuvers would be the kind of things you would do if you wanted to mess someone up. Depends on the situation. At a party, it might be 'make them look stupid'. One on on, it might be 'threaten to punch them'.
But social conflict with dice is something very different from many people's idea of RPGs. Your DM may never be OK with it. Or the other players.
'Dice then RP from the result'. I think FATE social conflict works better with the latter. Fail the roll to make a bon mot and then everyone at the table laughs as you make up the lamest putdown imaginable.
I agree, and would add that I think doing 'Dice then RP' can work in any system and if the players/DM are wanting to engage in whatever social systems the game system offers, I'd say this method is the more entertaining way to go about it.
It's basically improve with the dice providing a starting prompt.
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AegeriTiny wee bacteriumsPlateau of LengRegistered Userregular
Night's Black Agents: The Hangman Conspiracy
Tonight I got to run my first session of Night's Black Agents, which is a Vampire Conspiracy RPG featuring Bourne Identity and other spy thriller types engaging the supernatural. I was immediately in love with the book having read through it and I was extremely excited to run this, especially because I already have quite the sordid love tale with Trail of Cthulhu as it is. This also was a one-shot adventure, which meant that I could have high stakes right from the get go and not overly worry about the survival of characters whatsoever. It's also worth noting that this was doubly special because it was birthday roleplay for one of my Trail of Cthulhu players, so happy birthday, here are some vampires!
I started off the scenario with some pregen characters and a selection of players from around the gamers club I go to, with of course the birthday player. I used a great collection of pregen characters from Pelgrane Press' website, which let me focus more or less entirely on the actual Operation I was going to run. Eventually I settled for Berlin in Germany (partly to evoke memories of the Berlin wall) and the backstory being that an old contact, friend and asset (albeit a crazy one) called the PCs to him with "Important information" about a vast European conspiracy he had collected, but that he feared someone was after him. He needed to give it to them so the right people could get it before it could be buried again.
When the players turned up at the old East Berlin apartment bloc, it was clear from the get go something was dreadfully wrong with this Op. The building was shrouded in darkness and the assets room, on the fourth floor, was dark with only a small hole in the blinds peeking out. The lack of activity anywhere else, except for the high rise apartment on the Western side of the nearby river, gave them a bad and ominous feeling. Entering the building, they soon noticed that the security guard had been killed and wasn't just blobbing out to an overly dramatic German sitcom. His spine had been crushed and the whole situation was getting worse, so they quickly got up to where the asset was and noticed someone had been there first. The door had been kicked in, the place firmly tossed and a foul smell of ammonia was lingering in the air. Nothing like starting something with a bang I say, as the PCs rapidly discovered the bomb hidden in the bedroom.
The bomb of course was the least of their worries and they soon discovered that the asset was dead, but many of his conspiratorial notes were left behind and whoever killed him failed to destroy the computers hard drive - leaving valuable evidence behind. The players quickly deduced the meaning of a couple of referenced Bible passages (referring to Judas hanging himself and the field where he did so, called "The Field of Blood") to get access to the computer, while the Irish explosives expert ( :O) didn't manage to disarm the bomb. When one of the PCs looked through the telescope to see what their asset had been looking at they were greeted by a woman in a black dress who, just as it happens, had a detonator to the bomb in the apartment.
Oops.
Shooting out the window and throwing out the bomb later, still damaging most of the building and sending glass everywhere, the PCs made a hasty exit. Thankfully for them the woman who tried to bomb them was seen leaving from the other building and a dramatic high speed chase through Berlin was on. Chase scenes in NBA are intelligently done and work fantastically, with the chased party needing to hit a certain number (like 10) and the other group needing to catch up (reduce the lead to 0). It's a bit more complicated than this in practice, but it is a simple, elegant and stylish way of working out a chase. A car full of henchmen didn't phase the players much and eventually the woman crashed her car into a nighttime open fish market (just my sense of style I guess).
Here they picked her up and changed vehicle. For a taco truck. No, that's not sarcasm that's.... what actually happened. In any event they interrogated the woman, who despite the high speed crash was considerably still together (this is the result of being a ghoul, aka a human fed Vampiric blood). They soon learned where she had to go to meet her Vampiric masters contact and then they executed her... In the taco truck. Which they proceeded to clean up, put some bleach over and then take on a road trip to Paris. There were questions asked about what happened to the body and why the mincer on the truck had become rather.... broken.
And really, the vampire was the bad guy.
Once in Paris the PCs ambushed the vampires main ghoul and some of his cultist like worshippers in the park in a reasonably dramatic shootout (helped considerably by the enemies ability to roll over a 1). This eventually led the agents to the Vampires lair in the Catacombs of Paris (PS Paris is an awesome place for a horror game, those Catacombs have nigh infinite potential). After wiring up the entrance with explosives - let's face it this was always going to end this way - they made their way into the crypt where the Vampire lord, Malovich, was reading through the notes of their crazed asset. Now at this point, one of the PCs went up to the vampire and talked to him and while I roleplayed this interaction out the other players took their die/tokens off the map. So when I looked back to ask what they had done while the first PC willingly submitted himself to be eaten by the vampire, who was most miffed at being disturbed, they were long gone.
It's worth noting that one of the first things I did was establish just how resilient the ghouls and this guy were: In the apartment at the start fired bullets that had impacted something, yet done no harm to whatever it was were found in the apartment. So they knew the vampire was a death trap (it's also a one off, where I have no qualms about murdering everyone and anyone for fun and profit) and got out of there, leaving their fellow PC behind (but again, if nobody sees you actually die on screen as they say....). This resulted in a very brief chase scene and then they detonated the mausoleum and the catacombs - but to no avail as the vampire still found his way out! It was then that they had to get to the truck, but one character got left behind and caught by the Vampire who nearly managed to down them - but then the rising sun drove the monster off....
For now.
Overall it was a very interesting session and while only a one off, I intend to run a NBA game in future. One where the players actions in this scenario - however short - are going to have huge repercussions indeed...
So, my friendly neighborhood DM is planning a 13th Age game in the very near future. I threw this together and was looking for opinions. He's already approved it, but I know him and he definitely will rule in favor of cool over anything else. I just don't want this dude to be dumb or ridiculously overpowered because of something I thought might be fun.
Name: Puriel
Race: Aasimar
Class: Cleric
Feat: Linguist
Class Features:
Heal: 2/Battle
Domains: Strength, Justice, and the Sun
Spells:
1st Level (4 spells) Javelin of Faith, Spirits of Righteousness, Hammer of Faith, Turn Undead
FencingsaxIt is difficult to get a man to understand, when his salary depends upon his not understandingGNU Terry PratchettRegistered Userregular
So we had our character creation session for our first Shadowrun game last night. Once we get more experienced at the combat, it should go faster. But yeah, decker is neato.
So we had our character creation session for our first Shadowrun game last night. Once we get more experienced at the combat, it should go faster. But yeah, decker is neato.
This week in our new Shadowrun campaign one player is joining us via Skype.
She's speccing a drone user so her character can stay in the van and operate remotely, and it'll be practically LARPing.
I might get some Lego and play around with putting my iPad on wheels to make it seem more real, then take a long hard look at myself.
So we had our character creation session for our first Shadowrun game last night. Once we get more experienced at the combat, it should go faster. But yeah, decker is neato.
This week in our new Shadowrun campaign one player is joining us via Skype.
She's speccing a drone user so her character can stay in the van and operate remotely, and it'll be practically LARPing.
I might get some Lego and play around with putting my iPad on wheels to make it seem more real, then take a long hard look at myself.
So, my friendly neighborhood DM is planning a 13th Age game in the very near future. I threw this together and was looking for opinions. He's already approved it, but I know him and he definitely will rule in favor of cool over anything else. I just don't want this dude to be dumb or ridiculously overpowered because of something I thought might be fun.
Name: Puriel
Race: Aasimar
Class: Cleric
Feat: Linguist
Class Features:
Heal: 2/Battle
Domains: Strength, Justice, and the Sun
Spells:
1st Level (4 spells) Javelin of Faith, Spirits of Righteousness, Hammer of Faith, Turn Undead
One Unique Thing: Puriel is a descended angel from the court of Raguel, God of Justice and Harmony.
He'll use a Greatsword, of course.
Sounds cool. Don't worry about a Unique being overpowered - they don't give you any bonuses, just story effecfs. And did you know Angel blood is incredibly valuable?
So, my friendly neighborhood DM is planning a 13th Age game in the very near future. I threw this together and was looking for opinions. He's already approved it, but I know him and he definitely will rule in favor of cool over anything else. I just don't want this dude to be dumb or ridiculously overpowered because of something I thought might be fun.
Name: Puriel
Race: Aasimar
Class: Cleric
Feat: Linguist
Class Features:
Heal: 2/Battle
Domains: Strength, Justice, and the Sun
Spells:
1st Level (4 spells) Javelin of Faith, Spirits of Righteousness, Hammer of Faith, Turn Undead
One Unique Thing: Puriel is a descended angel from the court of Raguel, God of Justice and Harmony.
He'll use a Greatsword, of course.
This is all fine. I've had characters with OUTs that basically assure their endgame is becoming one of the Icons (and thus moving the world into a new Age) and all that means is if they figure out how to do it on their own (and do) the game ends.
So we had our character creation session for our first Shadowrun game last night. Once we get more experienced at the combat, it should go faster. But yeah, decker is neato.
Shadowrun combat does not forgive errors. I hope that was made clear to everyone at the outset. Otherwise you're going to have a lot of corpses and irritated players, at a guess.
I tell people new to the setting to focus first on the Combat section and then we'll walk you through whichever path you choose: magic or technology after you've survived your first bulletstorm.
My character is definitely not optimised for combat compared to the rest of the party. I think I realised this when we were going over Initiative, and I said that I thought it was weird that Initiative was re-rolled each turn.
Street Samurai: Yeah, but we get multiple passes per turn, so it doesn't take up that much extra time.
Me: ...Wait, what?
Turns out that I'm the only character who hasn't got more Initiative passes through either magic or improved bionics. I probably should have spent more time in that part of the book instead of researching which cricket players my character would have grown up watching and which tailor he would use for his shirts.
Oh well, I still have fun, and as long as I'm not a millstone I don't mind. My gun can shoot round corners so that should give me an edge now and then.
My character is definitely not optimised for combat compared to the rest of the party. I think I realised this when we were going over Initiative, and I said that I thought it was weird that Initiative was re-rolled each turn.
Street Samurai: Yeah, but we get multiple passes per turn, so it doesn't take up that much extra time.
Me: ...Wait, what?
Turns out that I'm the only character who hasn't got more Initiative passes through either magic or improved bionics. I probably should have spent more time in that part of the book instead of researching which cricket players my character would have grown up watching and which tailor he would use for his shirts.
Oh well, I still have fun, and as long as I'm not a millstone I don't mind. My gun can shoot round corners so that should give me an edge now and then.
Depends. A properly built Troll isn't really going to care about corners. Or getting shot, for that matter.
Turns out that I'm the only character who hasn't got more Initiative passes through either magic or improved bionics. I probably should have spent more time in that part of the book instead of researching which cricket players my character would have grown up watching and which tailor he would use for his shirts.
This happens to everyone left to their own devices. They get all caught up in the shiny bits that they miss the ridiculous brutality of the actual combat rules and worry more about what sort of neat things their character would have.
My character is definitely not optimised for combat compared to the rest of the party. I think I realised this when we were going over Initiative, and I said that I thought it was weird that Initiative was re-rolled each turn.
Street Samurai: Yeah, but we get multiple passes per turn, so it doesn't take up that much extra time.
Me: ...Wait, what?
Turns out that I'm the only character who hasn't got more Initiative passes through either magic or improved bionics. I probably should have spent more time in that part of the book instead of researching which cricket players my character would have grown up watching and which tailor he would use for his shirts.
Oh well, I still have fun, and as long as I'm not a millstone I don't mind. My gun can shoot round corners so that should give me an edge now and then.
This is not as much of a problem with Shadowrun 5th edition. It's fairly easy for a mundane (non-Cybered/non-Magic) to have extra Initiative passes each combat round if you have a high Reaction and Intuition. It is a problem in 3rd edition (which has a similar initiative system), though, because you only add Reaction + 1d6 for Initiative, so it's slightly difficult to reach that multiple-action threshold.
I've never liked the "hardcoded" nature of initiative passes in 4th edition. Locking out even the possibility of having more actions for everyone regardless of aptitude or training basically made it impossible to play a talented shadowrun who isn't burned out on 'ware or glowing like a beacon in Astral space (barring specific Positive Qualities or using Edge), at least in combat situations.
One way you can get around this problem is combat drugs. If you are willing to resist some addiction or willing to roleplay an addiction to combat amphetamines, there are a lot of drugs in all editions of Shadowrun that boost initiative. Lone Star cops, by 2070, carry Jazz "poppers" (an initiative-boosting inhaler drug) to even the score between them and the heavily cybered/magick'ed shadowrunners, so this is something that is explicitly mentioned in the universe. Also, one of the themes of Shadowrun is "Selling Yourself to Survive". Some people do it through cyberware (selling bits of your soul), some people do it through magic (selling the one gift that makes you special), but a lot of people sell themselves by riding the metaphoric dragon (as opposed to the literal one).
Also, sometimes, the initiative thing isn't even an issue, if you're the decker or rigger. You're not SUPPOSED to be really fast until you are in your "home turf" of the Matrix or jacked into a drone.
Clever GMs can get around this by emphasizing the inhumanity and inconvenience of having a bunch of 'ware/magic (patrolling Watchers, cyberware scanners, social penalties), but then it starts to feel like the whole team is being penalized for the sake of the one player who wants to accurately portray a "hide in plain sight"-type of character.
When we played Shadowrun, and then also when we played Eclipse Phase, we changed the way that Initiative Passes/Speed works
Basically you get a number of simple actions equal to your passes (or speed) +1 on your go
So, if you have Initiative Passes (1) then you can take two simple actions, or swap them for one complex action
If you have Initiative Passes (2) then you can take three simple actions, or a complex and a simple
and so on
The interesting thing about this is that it really changed the dynamic of the game, as on your turn you could do more and thus more awesome acrobatics, gunplay, swordfights and so on were attempted. It probably reduces the power of such enhancements a bit, but that was fine by us, and it still makes sense that being faster in combat means you can just do more. I like that.
I remember, I played a character in Shadowrun with 2 initiative passes(!) and it would be, like, okay, this turn I run out onto the balcony, throw a knife into that guy at the door, and then throw a flashbang into that group of guys below. Okay this turn I do a flip over the balcony into the middle of them, then close combat attack one. Okay this turn I close combat the other guy to take his gun, and shoot the other two dudes coming through the door with a short burst.
It felt like you didn't need to arduously plan your actions turns in advance, only to have them scuppered by a single enemy step, you could spot an opportunity to do something cool and badass and then do it, in one turn (rolls permitting). I remember another player had stealthed up to an enemy vehicle with a gun mount, in one turn he jumped onto the vehicle, blasted the dude out of the gun-seat, got into the seat and started to shoot, tearing into the back of an enemy squad. It felt so cool and cinematic.
My character is definitely not optimised for combat compared to the rest of the party. I think I realised this when we were going over Initiative, and I said that I thought it was weird that Initiative was re-rolled each turn.
Street Samurai: Yeah, but we get multiple passes per turn, so it doesn't take up that much extra time.
Me: ...Wait, what?
Turns out that I'm the only character who hasn't got more Initiative passes through either magic or improved bionics. I probably should have spent more time in that part of the book instead of researching which cricket players my character would have grown up watching and which tailor he would use for his shirts.
Oh well, I still have fun, and as long as I'm not a millstone I don't mind. My gun can shoot round corners so that should give me an edge now and then.
One way you can get around this problem is combat drugs. If you are willing to resist some addiction or willing to roleplay an addiction to combat amphetamines, there are a lot of drugs in all editions of Shadowrun that boost initiative. Lone Star cops, by 2070, carry Jazz "poppers" (an initiative-boosting inhaler drug) to even the score between them and the heavily cybered/magick'ed shadowrunners, so this is something that is explicitly mentioned in the universe. Also, one of the themes of Shadowrun is "Selling Yourself to Survive". Some people do it through cyberware (selling bits of your soul), some people do it through magic (selling the one gift that makes you special), but a lot of people sell themselves by riding the metaphoric dragon (as opposed to the literal one).
That could make my ageing veteran into a decently tragic figure, desperately trying to keep up with the tricked-out youngsters he's ended up working with and fooling himself into thinking that he can keep up with the modern world, despite his incompetence with computers and Simsense vertigo...
I could hide my drug use from my peers, pretending that I got some more cyberware but secretly popping Cram before each mission, leading to discovery, shame, tearful confessions, anger, and eventual redemption...
Although they'll probably be all, "You're using Cram? That's terrible - you should be using Kamikaze to boost your other stats."
[Muffled sounds of gorilla violence]
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FencingsaxIt is difficult to get a man to understand, when his salary depends upon his not understandingGNU Terry PratchettRegistered Userregular
My character is definitely not optimised for combat compared to the rest of the party. I think I realised this when we were going over Initiative, and I said that I thought it was weird that Initiative was re-rolled each turn.
Street Samurai: Yeah, but we get multiple passes per turn, so it doesn't take up that much extra time.
Me: ...Wait, what?
Turns out that I'm the only character who hasn't got more Initiative passes through either magic or improved bionics. I probably should have spent more time in that part of the book instead of researching which cricket players my character would have grown up watching and which tailor he would use for his shirts.
Oh well, I still have fun, and as long as I'm not a millstone I don't mind. My gun can shoot round corners so that should give me an edge now and then.
This is not as much of a problem with Shadowrun 5th edition. It's fairly easy for a mundane (non-Cybered/non-Magic) to have extra Initiative passes each combat round if you have a high Reaction and Intuition. It is a problem in 3rd edition (which has a similar initiative system), though, because you only add Reaction + 1d6 for Initiative, so it's slightly difficult to reach that multiple-action threshold.
I've never liked the "hardcoded" nature of initiative passes in 4th edition. Locking out even the possibility of having more actions for everyone regardless of aptitude or training basically made it impossible to play a talented shadowrun who isn't burned out on 'ware or glowing like a beacon in Astral space (barring specific Positive Qualities or using Edge), at least in combat situations.
One way you can get around this problem is combat drugs. If you are willing to resist some addiction or willing to roleplay an addiction to combat amphetamines, there are a lot of drugs in all editions of Shadowrun that boost initiative. Lone Star cops, by 2070, carry Jazz "poppers" (an initiative-boosting inhaler drug) to even the score between them and the heavily cybered/magick'ed shadowrunners, so this is something that is explicitly mentioned in the universe. Also, one of the themes of Shadowrun is "Selling Yourself to Survive". Some people do it through cyberware (selling bits of your soul), some people do it through magic (selling the one gift that makes you special), but a lot of people sell themselves by riding the metaphoric dragon (as opposed to the literal one).
Also, sometimes, the initiative thing isn't even an issue, if you're the decker or rigger. You're not SUPPOSED to be really fast until you are in your "home turf" of the Matrix or jacked into a drone.
Clever GMs can get around this by emphasizing the inhumanity and inconvenience of having a bunch of 'ware/magic (patrolling Watchers, cyberware scanners, social penalties), but then it starts to feel like the whole team is being penalized for the sake of the one player who wants to accurately portray a "hide in plain sight"-type of character.
Yeah, we got our passes automatically, cause we're in 5th edition. My one problem is that I don't have much in the way of cyberware yet, cause it's expensive, and I spent most of my money on my deck.
My character is definitely not optimised for combat compared to the rest of the party. I think I realised this when we were going over Initiative, and I said that I thought it was weird that Initiative was re-rolled each turn.
Street Samurai: Yeah, but we get multiple passes per turn, so it doesn't take up that much extra time.
Me: ...Wait, what?
Turns out that I'm the only character who hasn't got more Initiative passes through either magic or improved bionics. I probably should have spent more time in that part of the book instead of researching which cricket players my character would have grown up watching and which tailor he would use for his shirts.
Oh well, I still have fun, and as long as I'm not a millstone I don't mind. My gun can shoot round corners so that should give me an edge now and then.
This is not as much of a problem with Shadowrun 5th edition. It's fairly easy for a mundane (non-Cybered/non-Magic) to have extra Initiative passes each combat round if you have a high Reaction and Intuition. It is a problem in 3rd edition (which has a similar initiative system), though, because you only add Reaction + 1d6 for Initiative, so it's slightly difficult to reach that multiple-action threshold.
I've never liked the "hardcoded" nature of initiative passes in 4th edition. Locking out even the possibility of having more actions for everyone regardless of aptitude or training basically made it impossible to play a talented shadowrun who isn't burned out on 'ware or glowing like a beacon in Astral space (barring specific Positive Qualities or using Edge), at least in combat situations.
One way you can get around this problem is combat drugs. If you are willing to resist some addiction or willing to roleplay an addiction to combat amphetamines, there are a lot of drugs in all editions of Shadowrun that boost initiative. Lone Star cops, by 2070, carry Jazz "poppers" (an initiative-boosting inhaler drug) to even the score between them and the heavily cybered/magick'ed shadowrunners, so this is something that is explicitly mentioned in the universe. Also, one of the themes of Shadowrun is "Selling Yourself to Survive". Some people do it through cyberware (selling bits of your soul), some people do it through magic (selling the one gift that makes you special), but a lot of people sell themselves by riding the metaphoric dragon (as opposed to the literal one).
Also, sometimes, the initiative thing isn't even an issue, if you're the decker or rigger. You're not SUPPOSED to be really fast until you are in your "home turf" of the Matrix or jacked into a drone.
Clever GMs can get around this by emphasizing the inhumanity and inconvenience of having a bunch of 'ware/magic (patrolling Watchers, cyberware scanners, social penalties), but then it starts to feel like the whole team is being penalized for the sake of the one player who wants to accurately portray a "hide in plain sight"-type of character.
Yeah, we got our passes automatically, cause we're in 5th edition. My one problem is that I don't have much in the way of cyberware yet, cause it's expensive, and I spent most of my money on my deck.
There's an easy way to solve this. Stick your deck in a van, and always stay 3 or 4 blocks back from the action. That way if everything goes wrong, everyone else dies while you casually drive off with your one action a turn.
PSN|AspectVoid
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FencingsaxIt is difficult to get a man to understand, when his salary depends upon his not understandingGNU Terry PratchettRegistered Userregular
My character is definitely not optimised for combat compared to the rest of the party. I think I realised this when we were going over Initiative, and I said that I thought it was weird that Initiative was re-rolled each turn.
Street Samurai: Yeah, but we get multiple passes per turn, so it doesn't take up that much extra time.
Me: ...Wait, what?
Turns out that I'm the only character who hasn't got more Initiative passes through either magic or improved bionics. I probably should have spent more time in that part of the book instead of researching which cricket players my character would have grown up watching and which tailor he would use for his shirts.
Oh well, I still have fun, and as long as I'm not a millstone I don't mind. My gun can shoot round corners so that should give me an edge now and then.
This is not as much of a problem with Shadowrun 5th edition. It's fairly easy for a mundane (non-Cybered/non-Magic) to have extra Initiative passes each combat round if you have a high Reaction and Intuition. It is a problem in 3rd edition (which has a similar initiative system), though, because you only add Reaction + 1d6 for Initiative, so it's slightly difficult to reach that multiple-action threshold.
I've never liked the "hardcoded" nature of initiative passes in 4th edition. Locking out even the possibility of having more actions for everyone regardless of aptitude or training basically made it impossible to play a talented shadowrun who isn't burned out on 'ware or glowing like a beacon in Astral space (barring specific Positive Qualities or using Edge), at least in combat situations.
One way you can get around this problem is combat drugs. If you are willing to resist some addiction or willing to roleplay an addiction to combat amphetamines, there are a lot of drugs in all editions of Shadowrun that boost initiative. Lone Star cops, by 2070, carry Jazz "poppers" (an initiative-boosting inhaler drug) to even the score between them and the heavily cybered/magick'ed shadowrunners, so this is something that is explicitly mentioned in the universe. Also, one of the themes of Shadowrun is "Selling Yourself to Survive". Some people do it through cyberware (selling bits of your soul), some people do it through magic (selling the one gift that makes you special), but a lot of people sell themselves by riding the metaphoric dragon (as opposed to the literal one).
Also, sometimes, the initiative thing isn't even an issue, if you're the decker or rigger. You're not SUPPOSED to be really fast until you are in your "home turf" of the Matrix or jacked into a drone.
Clever GMs can get around this by emphasizing the inhumanity and inconvenience of having a bunch of 'ware/magic (patrolling Watchers, cyberware scanners, social penalties), but then it starts to feel like the whole team is being penalized for the sake of the one player who wants to accurately portray a "hide in plain sight"-type of character.
Yeah, we got our passes automatically, cause we're in 5th edition. My one problem is that I don't have much in the way of cyberware yet, cause it's expensive, and I spent most of my money on my deck.
There's an easy way to solve this. Stick your deck in a van, and always stay 3 or 4 blocks back from the action. That way if everything goes wrong, everyone else dies while you casually drive off with your one action a turn.
Oh yeah, I'm not planning to be directly on site. But my stats are high enough that I get a couple actions a turn.
In the end, I didn't go for drugs or wired reflexes - I need to save all my pay to keep up the High lifestyle. I've decided that my character is more used to being a Johnson in his home city, but is lying low cross-country while some heat dies off. He can't stomach the idea of dropping down a lifestyle bracket, so he uses his connections to attach himself to a local Shadowrunner outfit. He's been out of the game for a while, but can bankroll a fair amount of the mundane gear needed for a mission as well as providing a variety of vehicles.
In a "me making myself useful during a session" sense, there's more than enough firepower in the group to take care of the bad guys in a fair fight, so I busy myself with ensuring that we have the upper hand. I find that having a character not optimised for combat helps me think of plans that don't rely on shooting straight away.
Last night we had to infiltrate a brothel, take down the security and management, and not cause non-combatant casualties. We drove round the block, climbed up to the roof of the adjoining building, and blew a hole in the top floor. It got us straight into the security room, bypassing all the automatic defences, and when we closed the session I was manning the monitors to let the combatants know where the security guards were, and our magic user was using an earth elemental to block the only exit.
I'm also making myself useful by coordinating all the combat rolls and looking up rules during everybody else's turns. The main obstacles to progress currently are an unfamiliarity with the combat procedure and the GM's need to digress into lectures on the wider Shadowrun world, and while I don't want to cut him off in the middle of a lecture on the relations between China and Japan, I can at least let him know which dice pool is needed next.
So after playing Crimson Shroud on my 3DS for a few hours, I got the DM'ing bug. I've been assembling ideas, room descriptions, and basically light worldbuilding for the past week. I put the idea of a campaign to my coworkers, but only two of them were interested, and only on super restrictive schedules. I've been thinking about doing a PbP, but I've never done it before. I've seen from some of the other PbP threads that geth has a dice roller, but is there some kind of guide to it?
I also haven't DM'd since 4th edition, and I'm not even sure which system to use. Pathfinder seems like the obvious choice since I don't feel like dropping a bunch of cash on rulebooks. But I'm thinking maybe you guys might have some advice based on campaign particulars.
1) 3-4 players
2) The world is all humans
3) No backstories to start with*
4) Super simplified XP structure (if any? this page has been an interesting read)
5) magic-light fantasy (think Ivalice from FFT)
6) Focused on exploration, mystery, and investigation
7) I'd like to do combat, but I was planning on using miniature tokens and a battlemat. I have a hard time keeping track of unit positions in my head. Not sure how that works in a PbP.
8) No alignment. (specifically, no "evil" characters. you can be brash, quick to anger, selfish, but not cartoonishly malevolent)
* This is the part I had to explain most to my coworkers. Basically, there are 3-4 background "cores" that I'll assign behind-the-scenes after a session or two (so I can see how the players approach different things). The backgrounds are basically scaffolding, and the players, once they're aware of them, are free to fill in particulars. The example I gave is that after a few sessions, I might decide that one particular player fits the role of "knight who deserted the military because of unethical orders". Once that's shared with the player, they're free to embellish as necessary, and I'm free to start introducing plot elements or characters that stem from that.
So after playing Crimson Shroud on my 3DS for a few hours, I got the DM'ing bug. I've been assembling ideas, room descriptions, and basically light worldbuilding for the past week. I put the idea of a campaign to my coworkers, but only two of them were interested, and only on super restrictive schedules. I've been thinking about doing a PbP, but I've never done it before. I've seen from some of the other PbP threads that geth has a dice roller, but is there some kind of guide to it?
I also haven't DM'd since 4th edition, and I'm not even sure which system to use. Pathfinder seems like the obvious choice since I don't feel like dropping a bunch of cash on rulebooks. But I'm thinking maybe you guys might have some advice based on campaign particulars.
1) 3-4 players
2) The world is all humans
3) No backstories to start with*
4) Super simplified XP structure (if any? this page has been an interesting read)
5) magic-light fantasy (think Ivalice from FFT)
6) Focused on exploration, mystery, and investigation
7) I'd like to do combat, but I was planning on using miniature tokens and a battlemat. I have a hard time keeping track of unit positions in my head. Not sure how that works in a PbP.
8) No alignment. (specifically, no "evil" characters. you can be brash, quick to anger, selfish, but not cartoonishly malevolent)
* This is the part I had to explain most to my coworkers. Basically, there are 3-4 background "cores" that I'll assign behind-the-scenes after a session or two (so I can see how the players approach different things). The backgrounds are basically scaffolding, and the players, once they're aware of them, are free to fill in particulars. The example I gave is that after a few sessions, I might decide that one particular player fits the role of "knight who deserted the military because of unethical orders". Once that's shared with the player, they're free to embellish as necessary, and I'm free to start introducing plot elements or characters that stem from that.
I think you need to say why you are making those rules. Why no backstory? Why no humans?
Sorry, but as it stands, I wouldn't want to play in that game, particularly because of you assigning backstories.
You're probably right, I'll probably have to walk that back quite a bit. The premise is that the players are going to be plunked down into a world they don't know or understand, and the campaign I want to run is one where the players want to figure out the mysteries of that world. But "Who am I?" isn't a mystery that works in a tabletop setting. I think it makes more sense to say that the players' stories begin on the day of their scheduled execution, so as long as the backstory includes a reason why the character might be sentenced to death in a kingdom's capital, it's workable.
As for the humans-only rule, it's mainly to avoid pre-existing stereotypes about how a person should behave based on their race. There's nothing stopping a player from creating a slender character with long golden hair, an affinity for the bow, and a home in the deep forest. But you don't live 400 years and there's not a whole species of people like that. Nobody is going to know what to say if you tell them you're an elf. I'm not opposed to a player taking a non-human set of racial bonuses for mechanical purposes, for what it's worth.
The alignment thing is more to avoid having one of those players who insists on playing an evil character and having to come up with a totally ridiculous justification why the rest of the party would tolerate having him or her around.
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I've wanted to do the game-within-a-game for a while now, but was never sure how exactly to make it work. Bravo for you solving the puzzle in a way that feels natural, not forced, and even more impressively has your players asking for it to occur!
Rock Band DLC | GW:OttW - arrcd | WLD - Thortar
Honestly, making my Gamma World game's campaign plot be about collecting pre-Mistake gaming books has been the most fun gaming idea I've ever had. I hand out books from my old collection, and the players have something to page through while they wait for their turn in combat, and makes non-combat loot a joy for them.
In case I haven't spelled it out here, one of the PCs has cancer, and they've heard of a "wizard" called "The Gygax" who grants wishes, Emerald City style. The trick is you need 10 "points" of D&D books; a D&D book is worth a number of points equal to 4 minus its edition number. So 1st edition gives you 3 points, 3rd edition gives you one point, and fourth edition is worthless. Fifth edition actually costs you points.
So the players have been obsessively following leads on stashes of gaming stuff. Sometimes they get lucky and get D&D books worth points, sometimes they find, like, Vampire: The Dark Ages or the Alternity edition of Gamma World (meta!), or Call of Catthulhu.
They just got the last book they needed for 10 points, a 1st edition Deities & Demigods with the Cthulhu & Elric mythos in it. But now they're on the moon, with no way of getting back to The Gygax for the healing wish yet. This all helpfully coincided with them hitting 10th level, max for the Gamma World ruleset. So running CoCat will stand as a breather session between the end of the campaign and the beginning of a new one.
But a flat XP game is still nowhere near the nightmare that are multi-track XP games. Fuck those things.
Experience tied to "you completed a session, hand out some experience" is fine by me.
Rock Band DLC | GW:OttW - arrcd | WLD - Thortar
Oh man, great, thanks for the feedback and the links! This will help me quite a bit.
Completely different subject, but I've been dying to run/play in a 40K P&P game. I, uh, sort of went a got all the DH, DW, RT, and OW books years ago (except for DH2) because I love the WH40K fluff and background, and Dan Abnett is my hero. I've never played in one though. Some day!
I have to disagree with you. If a campaign is combat focused, then XP for combat is MUCH better than simply telling people to level. The reason is that this allows people to level up between encounters during a session, and has the ability to give them a boost of power when they need it, such as in a tough dungeon or just before facing a difficult boss fight. It also adds to the the joy of players the same way that getting gold, gems, or magic loot does.
Frankly, I think the worst XP system in the world is one that only rewards for story based actions. Its a dumb system because it forces the players to keep track of arbitrary numbers for a situation that can be completely removed by just having the GM say "Okay, guys, time to level" when they complete a significant plot point.
Basically, I'm of the opinion that you either treat XP like loot in that you give it out for defeating the villains of the campaign, or just skip it all together.
EDIT: The exception, of course, being XP Buy systems (like Shadowrun, L5R, etc) where there aren't traditional levels. In those cases, I like a flat XP gain for each session, with a bonus if the players do something outstanding.
Honestly, if my game is going to be that combat heavy, I would rather just play a wargame. Putting that aside, I find that approach problematic because players who overcome a monster encounter through smart thinking rather than brute force should still rewarded. The issue then becomes the disconnect between level benefits and play experience. This is pretty much the core of why the XP system is garbage, in my opinion. It advances abilities that may have had no bearing on your success while stunting others that were vital.
While it's pretty rare for me to run a game that uses XP these days, I tend to reward players for overcoming challenges, be they story, combat, puzzle, etc. So long as it made the players expend resources, they will get a reward.
Strangely, I choose not to incorporate extra accountancy into my free time hobbies.
Kinda the reason I don't really want to play 3rd again.
You can spend plot points towards skill-ups, but the problem is, the most dramatic way to spend plot points was to spend them during a skill challenge, when success was critical. Points spent this way do not normally count towards skill-ups. Our game master was of the opinion that character advancement should not be at the cost of drama, and vice versa, so he changed the rule so that skill points spent towards modifying a skill check DO count toward ranking up.
This policy was rampantly successful, and actually led to some interesting and unexpected character improvements. Like, my cowardly doctor character, who rarely got into dangerous situations, ended up skilling up in Athletics just by spending a lot of plot points to improve her shot of surviving the jump from an exploding vehicle.
Really, it's very close to Fate and Refresh and I find that acceptable. "You gain 400XP and 300NUXP"? Barf.
If I didn't have to fly back home with a full carry-on, and my wife wasn't watching, I'd probably have bought it.
They tried to bury us. They didn't know that we were seeds. 2018 Midterms. Get your shit together.
In my Dresden Files game, while I'm not a powerhouse on the Social Skills, I am at least somewhat specced to make use of them. And I'd like to! So far the GM has set a preference for not interrupting RP with dice rolls if not necessary, but there's some NPCs I'd really like to tag with aspects after taking them out through social conflict.
So I ask you guys: How best to go about it?
I'm thinking some kind of rope-a-dope strategy where my character is all friendly and chatting and basically rolling social maneuvers so I can stack +2's until I can hit them with a good line and either force them to concede the scene or take a consequence. Is this workable? What would some good maneuvers to use as tags look like?
The big thing for me is whether to do the traditional 'RP then dice' way, or the weirder, but interesting, 'Dice then RP from the result'. I think FATE social conflict works better with the latter. Fail the roll to make a bon mot and then everyone at the table laughs as you make up the lamest putdown imaginable.
Remember social conflict is CONFLICT. It's not just chatting. If you are 'attacking' then they will 'Attack' back. And be aware of the conflict.
Maneuvers would be the kind of things you would do if you wanted to mess someone up. Depends on the situation. At a party, it might be 'make them look stupid'. One on on, it might be 'threaten to punch them'.
But social conflict with dice is something very different from many people's idea of RPGs. Your DM may never be OK with it. Or the other players.
I agree, and would add that I think doing 'Dice then RP' can work in any system and if the players/DM are wanting to engage in whatever social systems the game system offers, I'd say this method is the more entertaining way to go about it.
It's basically improve with the dice providing a starting prompt.
Tonight I got to run my first session of Night's Black Agents, which is a Vampire Conspiracy RPG featuring Bourne Identity and other spy thriller types engaging the supernatural. I was immediately in love with the book having read through it and I was extremely excited to run this, especially because I already have quite the sordid love tale with Trail of Cthulhu as it is. This also was a one-shot adventure, which meant that I could have high stakes right from the get go and not overly worry about the survival of characters whatsoever. It's also worth noting that this was doubly special because it was birthday roleplay for one of my Trail of Cthulhu players, so happy birthday, here are some vampires!
I started off the scenario with some pregen characters and a selection of players from around the gamers club I go to, with of course the birthday player. I used a great collection of pregen characters from Pelgrane Press' website, which let me focus more or less entirely on the actual Operation I was going to run. Eventually I settled for Berlin in Germany (partly to evoke memories of the Berlin wall) and the backstory being that an old contact, friend and asset (albeit a crazy one) called the PCs to him with "Important information" about a vast European conspiracy he had collected, but that he feared someone was after him. He needed to give it to them so the right people could get it before it could be buried again.
When the players turned up at the old East Berlin apartment bloc, it was clear from the get go something was dreadfully wrong with this Op. The building was shrouded in darkness and the assets room, on the fourth floor, was dark with only a small hole in the blinds peeking out. The lack of activity anywhere else, except for the high rise apartment on the Western side of the nearby river, gave them a bad and ominous feeling. Entering the building, they soon noticed that the security guard had been killed and wasn't just blobbing out to an overly dramatic German sitcom. His spine had been crushed and the whole situation was getting worse, so they quickly got up to where the asset was and noticed someone had been there first. The door had been kicked in, the place firmly tossed and a foul smell of ammonia was lingering in the air. Nothing like starting something with a bang I say, as the PCs rapidly discovered the bomb hidden in the bedroom.
The bomb of course was the least of their worries and they soon discovered that the asset was dead, but many of his conspiratorial notes were left behind and whoever killed him failed to destroy the computers hard drive - leaving valuable evidence behind. The players quickly deduced the meaning of a couple of referenced Bible passages (referring to Judas hanging himself and the field where he did so, called "The Field of Blood") to get access to the computer, while the Irish explosives expert ( :O) didn't manage to disarm the bomb. When one of the PCs looked through the telescope to see what their asset had been looking at they were greeted by a woman in a black dress who, just as it happens, had a detonator to the bomb in the apartment.
Oops.
Shooting out the window and throwing out the bomb later, still damaging most of the building and sending glass everywhere, the PCs made a hasty exit. Thankfully for them the woman who tried to bomb them was seen leaving from the other building and a dramatic high speed chase through Berlin was on. Chase scenes in NBA are intelligently done and work fantastically, with the chased party needing to hit a certain number (like 10) and the other group needing to catch up (reduce the lead to 0). It's a bit more complicated than this in practice, but it is a simple, elegant and stylish way of working out a chase. A car full of henchmen didn't phase the players much and eventually the woman crashed her car into a nighttime open fish market (just my sense of style I guess).
Here they picked her up and changed vehicle. For a taco truck. No, that's not sarcasm that's.... what actually happened. In any event they interrogated the woman, who despite the high speed crash was considerably still together (this is the result of being a ghoul, aka a human fed Vampiric blood). They soon learned where she had to go to meet her Vampiric masters contact and then they executed her... In the taco truck. Which they proceeded to clean up, put some bleach over and then take on a road trip to Paris. There were questions asked about what happened to the body and why the mincer on the truck had become rather.... broken.
And really, the vampire was the bad guy.
Once in Paris the PCs ambushed the vampires main ghoul and some of his cultist like worshippers in the park in a reasonably dramatic shootout (helped considerably by the enemies ability to roll over a 1). This eventually led the agents to the Vampires lair in the Catacombs of Paris (PS Paris is an awesome place for a horror game, those Catacombs have nigh infinite potential). After wiring up the entrance with explosives - let's face it this was always going to end this way - they made their way into the crypt where the Vampire lord, Malovich, was reading through the notes of their crazed asset. Now at this point, one of the PCs went up to the vampire and talked to him and while I roleplayed this interaction out the other players took their die/tokens off the map. So when I looked back to ask what they had done while the first PC willingly submitted himself to be eaten by the vampire, who was most miffed at being disturbed, they were long gone.
It's worth noting that one of the first things I did was establish just how resilient the ghouls and this guy were: In the apartment at the start fired bullets that had impacted something, yet done no harm to whatever it was were found in the apartment. So they knew the vampire was a death trap (it's also a one off, where I have no qualms about murdering everyone and anyone for fun and profit) and got out of there, leaving their fellow PC behind (but again, if nobody sees you actually die on screen as they say....). This resulted in a very brief chase scene and then they detonated the mausoleum and the catacombs - but to no avail as the vampire still found his way out! It was then that they had to get to the truck, but one character got left behind and caught by the Vampire who nearly managed to down them - but then the rising sun drove the monster off....
For now.
Overall it was a very interesting session and while only a one off, I intend to run a NBA game in future. One where the players actions in this scenario - however short - are going to have huge repercussions indeed...
Race: Aasimar
Class: Cleric
Feat: Linguist
Class Features:
Heal: 2/Battle
Domains: Strength, Justice, and the Sun
Spells:
1st Level (4 spells)
Javelin of Faith, Spirits of Righteousness, Hammer of Faith, Turn Undead
Backgrounds:
Angelic Lieutenant- 4pts
Warrior Priest- 2pts
Heavenly Negotiator- 2pts
Icons:
Priestess- 1pt Positive
Crusader- 1pt Conflicted
Diabolist- 1pt Negative
One Unique Thing:
Puriel is a descended angel from the court of Raguel, God of Justice and Harmony.
He'll use a Greatsword, of course.
This week in our new Shadowrun campaign one player is joining us via Skype.
She's speccing a drone user so her character can stay in the van and operate remotely, and it'll be practically LARPing.
I might get some Lego and play around with putting my iPad on wheels to make it seem more real, then take a long hard look at myself.
This is nothing short of a great idea.
Sounds cool. Don't worry about a Unique being overpowered - they don't give you any bonuses, just story effecfs. And did you know Angel blood is incredibly valuable?
Shadowrun combat does not forgive errors. I hope that was made clear to everyone at the outset. Otherwise you're going to have a lot of corpses and irritated players, at a guess.
I tell people new to the setting to focus first on the Combat section and then we'll walk you through whichever path you choose: magic or technology after you've survived your first bulletstorm.
Street Samurai: Yeah, but we get multiple passes per turn, so it doesn't take up that much extra time.
Me: ...Wait, what?
Turns out that I'm the only character who hasn't got more Initiative passes through either magic or improved bionics. I probably should have spent more time in that part of the book instead of researching which cricket players my character would have grown up watching and which tailor he would use for his shirts.
Oh well, I still have fun, and as long as I'm not a millstone I don't mind. My gun can shoot round corners so that should give me an edge now and then.
Depends. A properly built Troll isn't really going to care about corners. Or getting shot, for that matter.
I've never liked the "hardcoded" nature of initiative passes in 4th edition. Locking out even the possibility of having more actions for everyone regardless of aptitude or training basically made it impossible to play a talented shadowrun who isn't burned out on 'ware or glowing like a beacon in Astral space (barring specific Positive Qualities or using Edge), at least in combat situations.
One way you can get around this problem is combat drugs. If you are willing to resist some addiction or willing to roleplay an addiction to combat amphetamines, there are a lot of drugs in all editions of Shadowrun that boost initiative. Lone Star cops, by 2070, carry Jazz "poppers" (an initiative-boosting inhaler drug) to even the score between them and the heavily cybered/magick'ed shadowrunners, so this is something that is explicitly mentioned in the universe. Also, one of the themes of Shadowrun is "Selling Yourself to Survive". Some people do it through cyberware (selling bits of your soul), some people do it through magic (selling the one gift that makes you special), but a lot of people sell themselves by riding the metaphoric dragon (as opposed to the literal one).
Also, sometimes, the initiative thing isn't even an issue, if you're the decker or rigger. You're not SUPPOSED to be really fast until you are in your "home turf" of the Matrix or jacked into a drone.
Clever GMs can get around this by emphasizing the inhumanity and inconvenience of having a bunch of 'ware/magic (patrolling Watchers, cyberware scanners, social penalties), but then it starts to feel like the whole team is being penalized for the sake of the one player who wants to accurately portray a "hide in plain sight"-type of character.
Basically you get a number of simple actions equal to your passes (or speed) +1 on your go
So, if you have Initiative Passes (1) then you can take two simple actions, or swap them for one complex action
If you have Initiative Passes (2) then you can take three simple actions, or a complex and a simple
and so on
The interesting thing about this is that it really changed the dynamic of the game, as on your turn you could do more and thus more awesome acrobatics, gunplay, swordfights and so on were attempted. It probably reduces the power of such enhancements a bit, but that was fine by us, and it still makes sense that being faster in combat means you can just do more. I like that.
I remember, I played a character in Shadowrun with 2 initiative passes(!) and it would be, like, okay, this turn I run out onto the balcony, throw a knife into that guy at the door, and then throw a flashbang into that group of guys below. Okay this turn I do a flip over the balcony into the middle of them, then close combat attack one. Okay this turn I close combat the other guy to take his gun, and shoot the other two dudes coming through the door with a short burst.
It felt like you didn't need to arduously plan your actions turns in advance, only to have them scuppered by a single enemy step, you could spot an opportunity to do something cool and badass and then do it, in one turn (rolls permitting). I remember another player had stealthed up to an enemy vehicle with a gun mount, in one turn he jumped onto the vehicle, blasted the dude out of the gun-seat, got into the seat and started to shoot, tearing into the back of an enemy squad. It felt so cool and cinematic.
That could make my ageing veteran into a decently tragic figure, desperately trying to keep up with the tricked-out youngsters he's ended up working with and fooling himself into thinking that he can keep up with the modern world, despite his incompetence with computers and Simsense vertigo...
I could hide my drug use from my peers, pretending that I got some more cyberware but secretly popping Cram before each mission, leading to discovery, shame, tearful confessions, anger, and eventual redemption...
Although they'll probably be all, "You're using Cram? That's terrible - you should be using Kamikaze to boost your other stats."
Yeah, we got our passes automatically, cause we're in 5th edition. My one problem is that I don't have much in the way of cyberware yet, cause it's expensive, and I spent most of my money on my deck.
There's an easy way to solve this. Stick your deck in a van, and always stay 3 or 4 blocks back from the action. That way if everything goes wrong, everyone else dies while you casually drive off with your one action a turn.
Oh yeah, I'm not planning to be directly on site. But my stats are high enough that I get a couple actions a turn.
In a "me making myself useful during a session" sense, there's more than enough firepower in the group to take care of the bad guys in a fair fight, so I busy myself with ensuring that we have the upper hand. I find that having a character not optimised for combat helps me think of plans that don't rely on shooting straight away.
Last night we had to infiltrate a brothel, take down the security and management, and not cause non-combatant casualties. We drove round the block, climbed up to the roof of the adjoining building, and blew a hole in the top floor. It got us straight into the security room, bypassing all the automatic defences, and when we closed the session I was manning the monitors to let the combatants know where the security guards were, and our magic user was using an earth elemental to block the only exit.
I'm also making myself useful by coordinating all the combat rolls and looking up rules during everybody else's turns. The main obstacles to progress currently are an unfamiliarity with the combat procedure and the GM's need to digress into lectures on the wider Shadowrun world, and while I don't want to cut him off in the middle of a lecture on the relations between China and Japan, I can at least let him know which dice pool is needed next.
I also haven't DM'd since 4th edition, and I'm not even sure which system to use. Pathfinder seems like the obvious choice since I don't feel like dropping a bunch of cash on rulebooks. But I'm thinking maybe you guys might have some advice based on campaign particulars.
1) 3-4 players
2) The world is all humans
3) No backstories to start with*
4) Super simplified XP structure (if any? this page has been an interesting read)
5) magic-light fantasy (think Ivalice from FFT)
6) Focused on exploration, mystery, and investigation
7) I'd like to do combat, but I was planning on using miniature tokens and a battlemat. I have a hard time keeping track of unit positions in my head. Not sure how that works in a PbP.
8) No alignment. (specifically, no "evil" characters. you can be brash, quick to anger, selfish, but not cartoonishly malevolent)
* This is the part I had to explain most to my coworkers. Basically, there are 3-4 background "cores" that I'll assign behind-the-scenes after a session or two (so I can see how the players approach different things). The backgrounds are basically scaffolding, and the players, once they're aware of them, are free to fill in particulars. The example I gave is that after a few sessions, I might decide that one particular player fits the role of "knight who deserted the military because of unethical orders". Once that's shared with the player, they're free to embellish as necessary, and I'm free to start introducing plot elements or characters that stem from that.
I think you need to say why you are making those rules. Why no backstory? Why no humans?
Sorry, but as it stands, I wouldn't want to play in that game, particularly because of you assigning backstories.
As for the humans-only rule, it's mainly to avoid pre-existing stereotypes about how a person should behave based on their race. There's nothing stopping a player from creating a slender character with long golden hair, an affinity for the bow, and a home in the deep forest. But you don't live 400 years and there's not a whole species of people like that. Nobody is going to know what to say if you tell them you're an elf. I'm not opposed to a player taking a non-human set of racial bonuses for mechanical purposes, for what it's worth.
The alignment thing is more to avoid having one of those players who insists on playing an evil character and having to come up with a totally ridiculous justification why the rest of the party would tolerate having him or her around.