Buddy of mine grabbed Lords of Waterdeep, and we played a couple of games of it yesterday. I had never played it before, and was curious to check out one of the modern classics. Turns out I liked it, but didn't love it.
First game, I waaaay overthought things. The hidden identities got me thinking that other folks would be paying attention to me, trying to block me if they figured out my deal, so I varied what I was doing and never really built a solid engine for the late game. My paranoia left me in third place out of a four-person game.
Second game, I internalized the lessons of the first. I knew then that nobody was paying attention to what I was doing, so I did not hesitate to hit my secret goals and hit them hard. I ended up winning with about 75 points of daylight between me and the second place finisher. Felt real good.
I liked the sense of progression in the game, the feeling that you're building a successful network for yourself. Seeing the plot quests line up and the buildings splay out. I liked the flavor of it, and I like how targeting your identity's bonuses really makes the character come alive. The game I won, I was an evil doppleganger who was impersonating a priest, so I got bonuses on Piety and Skullduggery. So I'm doing these big public good deeds, and then sneakily buying up property all over town and building a criminal enterprise. That much was really, really neat.
But I didn't like how easy it was for everyone to ignore everyone else. This could certainly be a result of the group at the table, but it was so much easier to just focus on your own shit and build yourself up than it was to impact anybody else's tableau. It ended up feeling a bit like competitive solitaire.
Still, though, a nice little change of pace from the combat-and/or-lying games that are the bread and butter of my gaming group.
I feel like it is less player blocking, and more realizing what others are going for, and if you need to be getting the first player marker to accelerate your plans, or be concentrating on the other bonus you get. Sort of a little meta game.
Mandatory quests are devastating in low player count games, but are more like net negative play with any more. You are really sacrificing a lot to play them. I think really building a strategy involves knowing the plot quest cards that might come up, and judging if you can make the quests you have or not. It is also important to know the value of different buildings, some are definitely a head above.
And a quick note about the card wording. Some plot quests say that you get certain cubes or gold when you take an action that provides cubes or gold. Taking an action is strictly placing one of your mans on a spot. It does not include scoring a quest. So if you place on a spot that provides black, and you have the plot quest where you get gold after getting a black, you would get the gold. However, if you score a quest that provides black you would not get the gold. Also, "provides" includes producing it to someone else. If you play on someones building, and playing there gives them a black, and you have the plot quest that gives you gold when you provide a black, you would get the gold, despite not receiving the cube yourself.
The last thing that comes to mind that people tend to forget is one quest may be scored per placement.
JebusUD on
I write you a story
But it loses its thread
0
JacobkoshGamble a stamp.I can show you how to be a real man!Moderatormod
Super generalized conceptual writing is what I excel at
I'm garbage when it comes to writing dialogue or a competent mystery or whatever
The good news is that those are things you can work on and improve, though! Like, they're not innate talents, they're just craft skills that can be leveled up with a bit of practice. Check out Robert McKee's classic guide to screenwriting, Story, or more recently John Yorke's book Into the Woods. Obviously not all skills are fungible from like novel or screenplay writing to a collaborative process like gaming but they still have very good advice about how to pace, how to find the point of a scene, and so forth. There's also a lot of good RPG-specific advice - the Dungeon Master's Guide 2 for 4E has some really great suggestions, lots of White Wolf books have useful advice on narrative and atmosphere, and Robin Laws and Ken Hite do a podcast all about this sort of thing, how to plot mysteries and stuff, and it is a phenomenal resource.
Oh, I know how to write, don't get me wrong
My theatre degree required a fair bit of playwriting
It is just macro conceptual work that I excel at
Way back, like... 8 years ago in Critical Failures we had a PbP game in a blank setting, where there was basically nothing predefined other than "Standard Generic D&D Things exist" so the PCs could just make reference to names, locations, historical events and they'd just roll with it, and there was a group of people not playing, but reading the thread who would collect all these things and flesh them out into wiki entries. It was pretty fun.
I'm fond of doing this when playing generic fantasy games. I feel like maybe Dungeon World actively encourages it? I know @DE?AD's Hobgoblin game does as well. Unless the DM has a good reason for very specific setting requirements, I feel like player collaboration can help the world feel way more authentic than it might otherwise.
This is something I always try to do but that my players are always extremely timid about.
That FF on the box probably means it comes with cards and tokens and sliders. Little clicky things. 6 or 7 different boards. some little models. cubes, coins, a 100 page rule book, smaller cards. Meeples.
I write you a story
But it loses its thread
+1
StraightziHere we may reign secure, and in my choice,To reign is worth ambition though in HellRegistered Userregular
Super generalized conceptual writing is what I excel at
I'm garbage when it comes to writing dialogue or a competent mystery or whatever
The good news is that those are things you can work on and improve, though! Like, they're not innate talents, they're just craft skills that can be leveled up with a bit of practice. Check out Robert McKee's classic guide to screenwriting, Story, or more recently John Yorke's book Into the Woods. Obviously not all skills are fungible from like novel or screenplay writing to a collaborative process like gaming but they still have very good advice about how to pace, how to find the point of a scene, and so forth. There's also a lot of good RPG-specific advice - the Dungeon Master's Guide 2 for 4E has some really great suggestions, lots of White Wolf books have useful advice on narrative and atmosphere, and Robin Laws and Ken Hite do a podcast all about this sort of thing, how to plot mysteries and stuff, and it is a phenomenal resource.
Oh, I know how to write, don't get me wrong
My theatre degree required a fair bit of playwriting
It is just macro conceptual work that I excel at
Way back, like... 8 years ago in Critical Failures we had a PbP game in a blank setting, where there was basically nothing predefined other than "Standard Generic D&D Things exist" so the PCs could just make reference to names, locations, historical events and they'd just roll with it, and there was a group of people not playing, but reading the thread who would collect all these things and flesh them out into wiki entries. It was pretty fun.
I'm fond of doing this when playing generic fantasy games. I feel like maybe Dungeon World actively encourages it? I know @DE?AD's Hobgoblin game does as well. Unless the DM has a good reason for very specific setting requirements, I feel like player collaboration can help the world feel way more authentic than it might otherwise.
This is something I always try to do but that my players are always extremely timid about.
Yeah, it can be tough to get your players to go big enough with it.
I'm going to continue to shill out for the micro-system that DE?AD made, because I am very fond of it, but one of the things it does is provide a series of prompts that are kind of reminiscent of, say, the Dungeon World character bonds. Each player has to fill in one, with some DM veto power.
Anyone checked out the new Pathfinder core-book Ultimate Intrigue yet? I'm curious to know if there's anything good for Gunslingers within since one of the ATs for the new Vigilante class is GS-based. I also want to know if it's true the Vigilante AT based around anime magical-girl heroines has a lengthy transformation time.
Super generalized conceptual writing is what I excel at
I'm garbage when it comes to writing dialogue or a competent mystery or whatever
The good news is that those are things you can work on and improve, though! Like, they're not innate talents, they're just craft skills that can be leveled up with a bit of practice. Check out Robert McKee's classic guide to screenwriting, Story, or more recently John Yorke's book Into the Woods. Obviously not all skills are fungible from like novel or screenplay writing to a collaborative process like gaming but they still have very good advice about how to pace, how to find the point of a scene, and so forth. There's also a lot of good RPG-specific advice - the Dungeon Master's Guide 2 for 4E has some really great suggestions, lots of White Wolf books have useful advice on narrative and atmosphere, and Robin Laws and Ken Hite do a podcast all about this sort of thing, how to plot mysteries and stuff, and it is a phenomenal resource.
Oh, I know how to write, don't get me wrong
My theatre degree required a fair bit of playwriting
It is just macro conceptual work that I excel at
Way back, like... 8 years ago in Critical Failures we had a PbP game in a blank setting, where there was basically nothing predefined other than "Standard Generic D&D Things exist" so the PCs could just make reference to names, locations, historical events and they'd just roll with it, and there was a group of people not playing, but reading the thread who would collect all these things and flesh them out into wiki entries. It was pretty fun.
Can we do this again?
+5
Zonugal(He/Him) The Holiday ArmadilloI'm Santa's representative for all the southern states. And Mexico!Registered Userregular
Anyone checked out the new Pathfinder core-book Ultimate Intrigue yet? I'm curious to know if there's anything good for Gunslingers within since one of the ATs for the new Vigilante class is GS-based. I also want to know if it's true the Vigilante AT based around anime magical-girl heroines has a lengthy transformation time.
I'll take a look at its content once it's up on pfsrd.com
Super generalized conceptual writing is what I excel at
I'm garbage when it comes to writing dialogue or a competent mystery or whatever
The good news is that those are things you can work on and improve, though! Like, they're not innate talents, they're just craft skills that can be leveled up with a bit of practice. Check out Robert McKee's classic guide to screenwriting, Story, or more recently John Yorke's book Into the Woods. Obviously not all skills are fungible from like novel or screenplay writing to a collaborative process like gaming but they still have very good advice about how to pace, how to find the point of a scene, and so forth. There's also a lot of good RPG-specific advice - the Dungeon Master's Guide 2 for 4E has some really great suggestions, lots of White Wolf books have useful advice on narrative and atmosphere, and Robin Laws and Ken Hite do a podcast all about this sort of thing, how to plot mysteries and stuff, and it is a phenomenal resource.
Oh, I know how to write, don't get me wrong
My theatre degree required a fair bit of playwriting
It is just macro conceptual work that I excel at
Way back, like... 8 years ago in Critical Failures we had a PbP game in a blank setting, where there was basically nothing predefined other than "Standard Generic D&D Things exist" so the PCs could just make reference to names, locations, historical events and they'd just roll with it, and there was a group of people not playing, but reading the thread who would collect all these things and flesh them out into wiki entries. It was pretty fun.
Can we do this again?
I certainly wouldn't try and stop anybody, but I'm too lazy to run it. I'd play or wiki it again though. OOC Thread for the original.
Here's the IC thread for the original.
There were also couple short-lived 4e campaigns in the setting a few years, and I ran a similarly short-lived 3.5 campaign with a few IRL friends that contributed a few articles.
I'm a terrible DM.
Super generalized conceptual writing is what I excel at
I'm garbage when it comes to writing dialogue or a competent mystery or whatever
The good news is that those are things you can work on and improve, though! Like, they're not innate talents, they're just craft skills that can be leveled up with a bit of practice. Check out Robert McKee's classic guide to screenwriting, Story, or more recently John Yorke's book Into the Woods. Obviously not all skills are fungible from like novel or screenplay writing to a collaborative process like gaming but they still have very good advice about how to pace, how to find the point of a scene, and so forth. There's also a lot of good RPG-specific advice - the Dungeon Master's Guide 2 for 4E has some really great suggestions, lots of White Wolf books have useful advice on narrative and atmosphere, and Robin Laws and Ken Hite do a podcast all about this sort of thing, how to plot mysteries and stuff, and it is a phenomenal resource.
Oh, I know how to write, don't get me wrong
My theatre degree required a fair bit of playwriting
It is just macro conceptual work that I excel at
Way back, like... 8 years ago in Critical Failures we had a PbP game in a blank setting, where there was basically nothing predefined other than "Standard Generic D&D Things exist" so the PCs could just make reference to names, locations, historical events and they'd just roll with it, and there was a group of people not playing, but reading the thread who would collect all these things and flesh them out into wiki entries. It was pretty fun.
I'm fond of doing this when playing generic fantasy games. I feel like maybe Dungeon World actively encourages it? I know @DE?AD's Hobgoblin game does as well. Unless the DM has a good reason for very specific setting requirements, I feel like player collaboration can help the world feel way more authentic than it might otherwise.
This is something I always try to do but that my players are always extremely timid about.
I run a custom scifi game that has 130 worlds with almost-human races on it (ancient genetic modification tinkering), and I actually have a point bounty bonus for players who fill in races with their own ideas, as long as they make some sort of sense. One of the players made up the race that they play as.
I love running a custom setting for that kind of reason, being able to make things up as you go, even years on into the game.
Scooter on
0
Zonugal(He/Him) The Holiday ArmadilloI'm Santa's representative for all the southern states. And Mexico!Registered Userregular
After two weeks my player slowly gather for their continued voyage into the Catacombs of Wrath in The Rise of the Runelords.
Last we left off the party had fought a Vargouille which resulted in a battle looking a lot like this:
* Will the party succeed in their adventure? (Maybe?)
* Will Kaitlin's Dwarven fighter become the raw embodiment of the sin wrath? (You better believe it)
* Will the party's Druid had leveled up his character even though HE HAD A FULL MONTH TO DO IT (Probably not FUCK HIM!)
On the topic of Pathfinder Adventure Paths, the Carrion Crown campaign I'm a part of is nearing the end with the group I'm in having reached the next to last chapter. The last three sessions were pretty interesting too as we got hit with an unexpected challenge. Spoilers in the box for those that haven't played it yet or haven't gotten that far into their own take of the campaign.
The theme for the fifth book is 'vampires', our group having arrived at a city which holds a secret truce between the regular folk and the vampire population that resides there. A truce in danger as someone's killing high-ranking vampires which our group believe to be part of a plan to take out the community's leader who's old enough to been around during the time the Whispering Tyrant got shut into his tower and isn't at all friendly to the idea of letting him out, making him a threat to the Whispering Way. We met the guy with the help of a friendly Blade-expy, agreeing to find out for sure who's been killing the vamps. Our investigation ended up looping back towards a vampire tailor who supplied proof against the currently-incarcerated prime suspect only for us to discover that the weapons used on the victims were made out of furniture he bought. We visited the shop he runs publicly to the regular living populace of the city only for the six human guards there to jump us after the other employees were shooed out. It looked like a standard fight, 4 (5 with Blade-expy) vs 6.
Then the Paladin discovered and informed everyone that all six were being mind-controlled.
Right there we fell into the challenge-trap. We were the sort of party that typically Smited/shot/bombed/tentacled anyone who came at us when talk failed. But it was hard to justify killing these guys whose worst crime (that we knew) was working for the wrong guy. Plus, in-character, the Paladin had been getting pretty grumpy over working, helping and protecting vampires that were pretty nasty. It got to the point that while we had our chat with the prime suspect earlier, my Gunslinger had to drag him outside to give him a cooldown talk, reminding him that there'd probably be plenty of vampires later stupid enough to try killing us and that the city could suffer if the truce broke down. So, despite some grumbling, we decided to give subduing the guards non-lethally a go.
Soon enough, we had a major stroke of luck with the Witch using Enthrall to sing four of the six guards into a stupor. The problem though was that her spell would break if the four saw us do anything violent to the remaining two guards who weren't hesitating at all to take swings at us. Eventually I got the idea to lead everyone but the Witch (who was using a flying spell to hover out of reach) and her captive audience up to the shop's second floor, luring the pair into a room under the pretense of trying to break out and then began trying to knock them out. Easier said then done since me and the Alchemist weren't exactly the melee sort and our Blade-expy got sick and tired of taking stabs and returned them twofold on one of the guards, knocking him out by a lack of blood. Fortunately we got the other guy down before the first bled out completely, the Paladin healing him up enough so he wouldn't die.
With that done, we (again, minus the Witch) headed downstairs twice to reach the basement with the knowledge that the only way to stop the mind-control was to take out the one responsible, which happened to be the tailor himself. We had an early advantage with the Alchemist and Blade-expy using invisibility to blindside the guy but he had not only a strong AC but magic scissors with an AoE-swing that could temporarily knock off levels. By the time he called for backup in the form of a trio of vampire goons, I'd lost four levels, the Paladin one and the Alchemist lost at least a couple. We finally misted him thanks to a Deadshot on my part and after briefly running upstairs to grab the Witch's sack of wands for healing, the Blade-expy ran eastward after the tailor to stake him in his coffin which would not permanently kill him but enough so that not only would the mind-control spell finally break but he wouldn't be able to go anywhere until we get whatever information he has out of him. The Witch herself came down just in time to see us take out another trio of vampire goons from a southern room, better armored but still unable to take out the Paladin thanks to his own AC and heals.
All in all, I think it went pretty well besides the cuts and bruises we got. One of the guards came downstairs and thanked the Paladin for being key in his and his group's survival and filled us in on some choice goods upstairs. Of course, before attending to that, we checked out the southern room to stake those vamp-goons too to keep them down, the Paladin checking a coffin which the Alchemist heard movement from.
And the session ended with both that coffin and the one behind the Paladin coming to life and biting him with their huge rows of teeth, bringing him to near-death. Again. Can't wait to see how this turns out. No good deed goes unpunished I suppose.
On the topic of Pathfinder Adventure Paths, the Carrion Crown campaign I'm a part of is nearing the end with the group I'm in having reached the next to last chapter. The last three sessions were pretty interesting too as we got hit with an unexpected challenge. Spoilers in the box for those that haven't played it yet or haven't gotten that far into their own take of the campaign.
The theme for the fifth book is 'vampires', our group having arrived at a city which holds a secret truce between the regular folk and the vampire population that resides there. A truce in danger as someone's killing high-ranking vampires which our group believe to be part of a plan to take out the community's leader who's old enough to been around during the time the Whispering Tyrant got shut into his tower and isn't at all friendly to the idea of letting him out, making him a threat to the Whispering Way. We met the guy with the help of a friendly Blade-expy, agreeing to find out for sure who's been killing the vamps. Our investigation ended up looping back towards a vampire tailor who supplied proof against the currently-incarcerated prime suspect only for us to discover that the weapons used on the victims were made out of furniture he bought. We visited the shop he runs publicly to the regular living populace of the city only for the six human guards there to jump us after the other employees were shooed out. It looked like a standard fight, 4 (5 with Blade-expy) vs 6.
Then the Paladin discovered and informed everyone that all six were being mind-controlled.
Right there we fell into the challenge-trap. We were the sort of party that typically Smited/shot/bombed/tentacled anyone who came at us when talk failed. But it was hard to justify killing these guys whose worst crime (that we knew) was working for the wrong guy. Plus, in-character, the Paladin had been getting pretty grumpy over working, helping and protecting vampires that were pretty nasty. It got to the point that while we had our chat with the prime suspect earlier, my Gunslinger had to drag him outside to give him a cooldown talk, reminding him that there'd probably be plenty of vampires later stupid enough to try killing us and that the city could suffer if the truce broke down. So, despite some grumbling, we decided to give subduing the guards non-lethally a go.
Soon enough, we had a major stroke of luck with the Witch using Enthrall to sing four of the six guards into a stupor. The problem though was that her spell would break if the four saw us do anything violent to the remaining two guards who weren't hesitating at all to take swings at us. Eventually I got the idea to lead everyone but the Witch (who was using a flying spell to hover out of reach) and her captive audience up to the shop's second floor, luring the pair into a room under the pretense of trying to break out and then began trying to knock them out. Easier said then done since me and the Alchemist weren't exactly the melee sort and our Blade-expy got sick and tired of taking stabs and returned them twofold on one of the guards, knocking him out by a lack of blood. Fortunately we got the other guy down before the first bled out completely, the Paladin healing him up enough so he wouldn't die.
With that done, we (again, minus the Witch) headed downstairs twice to reach the basement with the knowledge that the only way to stop the mind-control was to take out the one responsible, which happened to be the tailor himself. We had an early advantage with the Alchemist and Blade-expy using invisibility to blindside the guy but he had not only a strong AC but magic scissors with an AoE-swing that could temporarily knock off levels. By the time he called for backup in the form of a trio of vampire goons, I'd lost four levels, the Paladin one and the Alchemist lost at least a couple. We finally misted him thanks to a Deadshot on my part and after briefly running upstairs to grab the Witch's sack of wands for healing, the Blade-expy ran eastward after the tailor to stake him in his coffin which would not permanently kill him but enough so that not only would the mind-control spell finally break but he wouldn't be able to go anywhere until we get whatever information he has out of him. The Witch herself came down just in time to see us take out another trio of vampire goons from a southern room, better armored but still unable to take out the Paladin thanks to his own AC and heals.
All in all, I think it went pretty well besides the cuts and bruises we got. One of the guards came downstairs and thanked the Paladin for being key in his and his group's survival and filled us in on some choice goods upstairs. Of course, before attending to that, we checked out the southern room to stake those vamp-goons too to keep them down, the Paladin checking a coffin which the Alchemist heard movement from.
And the session ended with both that coffin and the one behind the Paladin coming to life and biting him with their huge rows of teeth, bringing him to near-death. Again. Can't wait to see how this turns out. No good deed goes unpunished I suppose.
coffin mimics in a vampire's lair? that's a great trap
Yesterday I was talking with a guy in my training group about how the talents needed for our customer service job (playing a character, navigating a variety of systems, and basic arithmetic) were essentially things I used in my roleplaying games hobby.
His response: "Oh, like Dungeons and Dragons? That's cool. There's a friend of mine that's starting work here on Monday, and when we were younger we tried to make our own system because we didn't have any books for anything to play, and we had fun, but got caught up in trying to balance everything properly. Being a wizard was great, though."
My brain: Ohmigod ohmigod ohmigod play it cool Rhesus don't scare him away this is what you've been looking for since you moved counties
Me: "Huh, that's interesting. If you and any of your mates would be interested in playing something where you don't have to worry about balancing it yourselves, I have a couple of systems I could run for you. For instance, there's this one called Ars Magica..."
Long story short, I'm emailing him the details this weekend, and I might have a local gaming group again, on top of my Skype Shadowrun crew
On the topic of Pathfinder Adventure Paths, the Carrion Crown campaign I'm a part of is nearing the end with the group I'm in having reached the next to last chapter. The last three sessions were pretty interesting too as we got hit with an unexpected challenge. Spoilers in the box for those that haven't played it yet or haven't gotten that far into their own take of the campaign.
The theme for the fifth book is 'vampires', our group having arrived at a city which holds a secret truce between the regular folk and the vampire population that resides there. A truce in danger as someone's killing high-ranking vampires which our group believe to be part of a plan to take out the community's leader who's old enough to been around during the time the Whispering Tyrant got shut into his tower and isn't at all friendly to the idea of letting him out, making him a threat to the Whispering Way. We met the guy with the help of a friendly Blade-expy, agreeing to find out for sure who's been killing the vamps. Our investigation ended up looping back towards a vampire tailor who supplied proof against the currently-incarcerated prime suspect only for us to discover that the weapons used on the victims were made out of furniture he bought. We visited the shop he runs publicly to the regular living populace of the city only for the six human guards there to jump us after the other employees were shooed out. It looked like a standard fight, 4 (5 with Blade-expy) vs 6.
Then the Paladin discovered and informed everyone that all six were being mind-controlled.
Right there we fell into the challenge-trap. We were the sort of party that typically Smited/shot/bombed/tentacled anyone who came at us when talk failed. But it was hard to justify killing these guys whose worst crime (that we knew) was working for the wrong guy. Plus, in-character, the Paladin had been getting pretty grumpy over working, helping and protecting vampires that were pretty nasty. It got to the point that while we had our chat with the prime suspect earlier, my Gunslinger had to drag him outside to give him a cooldown talk, reminding him that there'd probably be plenty of vampires later stupid enough to try killing us and that the city could suffer if the truce broke down. So, despite some grumbling, we decided to give subduing the guards non-lethally a go.
Soon enough, we had a major stroke of luck with the Witch using Enthrall to sing four of the six guards into a stupor. The problem though was that her spell would break if the four saw us do anything violent to the remaining two guards who weren't hesitating at all to take swings at us. Eventually I got the idea to lead everyone but the Witch (who was using a flying spell to hover out of reach) and her captive audience up to the shop's second floor, luring the pair into a room under the pretense of trying to break out and then began trying to knock them out. Easier said then done since me and the Alchemist weren't exactly the melee sort and our Blade-expy got sick and tired of taking stabs and returned them twofold on one of the guards, knocking him out by a lack of blood. Fortunately we got the other guy down before the first bled out completely, the Paladin healing him up enough so he wouldn't die.
With that done, we (again, minus the Witch) headed downstairs twice to reach the basement with the knowledge that the only way to stop the mind-control was to take out the one responsible, which happened to be the tailor himself. We had an early advantage with the Alchemist and Blade-expy using invisibility to blindside the guy but he had not only a strong AC but magic scissors with an AoE-swing that could temporarily knock off levels. By the time he called for backup in the form of a trio of vampire goons, I'd lost four levels, the Paladin one and the Alchemist lost at least a couple. We finally misted him thanks to a Deadshot on my part and after briefly running upstairs to grab the Witch's sack of wands for healing, the Blade-expy ran eastward after the tailor to stake him in his coffin which would not permanently kill him but enough so that not only would the mind-control spell finally break but he wouldn't be able to go anywhere until we get whatever information he has out of him. The Witch herself came down just in time to see us take out another trio of vampire goons from a southern room, better armored but still unable to take out the Paladin thanks to his own AC and heals.
All in all, I think it went pretty well besides the cuts and bruises we got. One of the guards came downstairs and thanked the Paladin for being key in his and his group's survival and filled us in on some choice goods upstairs. Of course, before attending to that, we checked out the southern room to stake those vamp-goons too to keep them down, the Paladin checking a coffin which the Alchemist heard movement from.
And the session ended with both that coffin and the one behind the Paladin coming to life and biting him with their huge rows of teeth, bringing him to near-death. Again. Can't wait to see how this turns out. No good deed goes unpunished I suppose.
coffin mimics in a vampire's lair? that's a great trap
Yep.
Of course, since the Paladin decided at the beginning of the campaign that his backstory with the NPC that brought us together was that he saved him from an evil tree, I had to toss out the line OOCly that it's Smited-up pieces have come back for revenge. And yeah, its a wonderful setup by the DM if it wasn't originally part of the scripted fights in the first place.
Anyways, @Straightzi , I've got a couple of answers for you:
What system are you using? If you aren't tied to system, what systems are you comfortable using? Setting is often dictated, at least in part, by system.
Any D&D up to 5th edition, Pathfinder, D20 Modern, D20 Star Wars, 13th Age, Mutants and Mastermind, Dungeon World, Savage Worlds and maybe Vampire
How many players do you have? How do they tend to play? Are they investigators, bruisers, talkers, et cetera?
I have 4 players, 2 are murder hobos, one is a talker and one spend the game investigating everything
What is the tone of your games? A lot of deep, in-character conversations about the true victims of war? An endless cavalcade of Monty Python quotes? Somewhere in-between?
I would say in between, though my players get really invested in their characters
What kind of setting do you want? You say that you're sick of FR - this is fair, FR blows - but why are you sick of it? If you were looking at doing an Urban Arcana game, was there a specific appeal that Urban Arcana had for you?
Well for me Urban Arcana was a cool idea because I could set it in Chicago (we live about 30 minutes away) and I like the idea of a more actiony setting thats not just Swords and Magic. I like the idea of magic and tech or magitech or steampunk or whatever. Have they made a 5th edition Ebberon yet?
there was a number of online releases related to eberron, the stetting books are still all canon, and a monster manual does have some eberron related things.
Shadowrun might be a decent compromise. Or even just crib the Shadowrun setting and do it in a system you are comfortable with (Shadowrun is crunchy, I hope you like rolling d6's and as a GM remembering modifiers and 4 pretty different game systems (hacking, robot/vehicle rules, combat and magery))
Shadowrun material is 65 years into the future, elfs, trolls, orc and dwarfs are real as genetic mutations of humans (metahumans), ghouls and vampires are blood diseases, Dragons have come back, magic is real, and our Dystopian Corperate Overlords are very real. A Dragon runs arguably the biggest Megacorp.
Star Wars (I haven't played much, but the Edge of the Empire system appeals to me with it's dual roll system, where you roll success/failure and advantage/threat into each action, so it's never I hit the Gungan, but every roll has to have a little creativity about the consequences) would be way more escapist.
The latest setting book for Star Wars (Nexus of Power) has a new world called Weik which is a fantasy setting. As soon as I read that section in detail I knew I wanted to run a campaign there someday.
A colony ship crashed there thousands of years ago after going off course. Over the years the ship was dismantled, the population spread out and tech mostly dissappeared as it broke down. Things like lightsabers and blisters still exist but are really rare and thought of like magic, and Force users are wizards.
It seriously is a complete fantasy-style world, complete with dungeon ideas, multiple races, fantastic locations, mystical orders, knightly warriors, and evil cults in about 6-8 pages. It's amazing and my vote for best thing ever - for this week, at least.
+7
StraightziHere we may reign secure, and in my choice,To reign is worth ambition though in HellRegistered Userregular
Alright, let's start you off with a couple of easy ones
The 606
300 years ago, as the bloom of nuclear warheads lit up the sky, humanity died. The survivors, small in number, only survived as we were in space at the time. Despite a few smaller scale battles, the hostilities could not survive without atmosphere, and our people banded together to form a new community, surviving on what resources our space stations could provide. It was not a very impressive existence, the definition of a society in decline, and now those resources have run out, and we must plummet back to the ground to see if we can once again live on Earth.
The thing is, Earth has changed. Landing in the outskirts of Chicago, that's clear enough to tell. Humanity has survived, unlike in the stories you heard, but humanity has changed. They've grown strange and monstrous, and infest the city like so many rats. The EMP blasts have rendered much of the world's technology useless, and any firearms are a prized possession, more akin to a magical item than anything else. Fighting with swords and clubs is the new normal.
And fighting is what you will have to do, if you want to keep your community alive. Carve out a position for them within the ruins of the dead city, or build a new civilization. Retain the world as your records remembered it, or join the thriving chaos of this new dark age of history.
This is, of course, a D20 Modern/D20 Apocalypse setting. If you want to pump it up a bit weirder, build everything in Mutants and Masterminds instead, and have background radiation begin to take its toll on characters before long. You could also use a reskinned D&D or Pathfinder, for sure (Pathfinder's gunslinger seems like it might be a weird sort of fun here), and while I wouldn't encourage people to play spellcasters at the start, there's no saying that magic doesn't show up at the end of the world.
The Thinning Veil
Welcome to the kingdom of Meadvst, and its capital, the jewel city Cagoua! While Meadvst is a human kingdom, its capital is a true metropolis, and home to people of all races. The Elves of the Eastern Waters have a sizable population here, as do the Dwarves of the Frozen North. You may even meet one of the Halfling nomads of the Southwesterly Deserts, or a Rock Mountain Goblin!
Anyways, you get the picture. I could flesh it out further, but I gotta go look at some apartments. This is a pretty traditional fantasy setting, suitable for D&D or Dungeon World. I'd probably push for Dungeon World, partially because I like it, but also because I feel that when doing things like this, it's best to play into a lot of fantasy stereotypes, which Dungeon World does very well.
Anyways, I'll let some things percolate while I'm out and probably have a totally bonkers setting for you by the time I get home.
I rolled a character for our new Pathfinders campaign. I'm going to be a kitsune bard. I was going to be a detective but I didn't want to lose inspire courage so I'm a regular bard with detective aspirations. I need to choose a feat and buy more gear and I'll be ready to go. No idea what my teammates will be doing.
This will be my second campaign. The first disolved when I was only lvl 3 so I'm still a newbie.
+5
Zonugal(He/Him) The Holiday ArmadilloI'm Santa's representative for all the southern states. And Mexico!Registered Userregular
@Tara, if you aren't set on any particular feat maybe take a look at Lingering Song?
Has Wizards given any reason why 5th edition isn't available to buy as a PDF yet? The fact that its not is really dumb
it is more paranoid than most about pdf piracy. it's not a good reason, but to be fair their channels for 4e lead to the printer versions getting out there so i could see why they'd be worried.
I won't lie, I really don't want to buy anymore books. We are running out of book space and dropping $80 on books when the PDFs ususally wind up costing much less makes book buying very impractical
If I had the room/money I would be too. Hell I might even squeeze the trigger on the DMG and Players guide for 5th soon, but the monster manual will have to wait awhile.
I know they are awful to a ton of their employees, but thank god for Amazon sometimes.
I rolled a character for our new Pathfinders campaign. I'm going to be a kitsune bard. I was going to be a detective but I didn't want to lose inspire courage so I'm a regular bard with detective aspirations. I need to choose a feat and buy more gear and I'll be ready to go. No idea what my teammates will be doing.
This will be my second campaign. The first disolved when I was only lvl 3 so I'm still a newbie.
Take every chance to turn into a cute fox and eat garbage even when it doesn't help anything. Especially when it doesn't help anythibg
+5
Mojo_JojoWe are only now beginning to understand the full power and ramifications of sexual intercourseRegistered Userregular
Is Pathfinder still supported with new material? Has there been a second edition?
If it's still in the original form then that is some impressive staying power
Homogeneous distribution of your varieties of amuse-gueule
0
Zonugal(He/Him) The Holiday ArmadilloI'm Santa's representative for all the southern states. And Mexico!Registered Userregular
Is Pathfinder still supported with new material? Has there been a second edition?
If it's still in the original form then that is some impressive staying power
Given their origin and brand image they are going to face serious opposition to any kind of edition change. They seem to be doing well on what they are publishing but that has to be a long term concern for them.
Though most of the "advances" in games have been the adoption of different styles of rules. While I prefer narrative mechanics I don't think I'd call them straight out better, they just have different objectives for the games in mind.
Posts
I feel like it is less player blocking, and more realizing what others are going for, and if you need to be getting the first player marker to accelerate your plans, or be concentrating on the other bonus you get. Sort of a little meta game.
Mandatory quests are devastating in low player count games, but are more like net negative play with any more. You are really sacrificing a lot to play them. I think really building a strategy involves knowing the plot quest cards that might come up, and judging if you can make the quests you have or not. It is also important to know the value of different buildings, some are definitely a head above.
And a quick note about the card wording. Some plot quests say that you get certain cubes or gold when you take an action that provides cubes or gold. Taking an action is strictly placing one of your mans on a spot. It does not include scoring a quest. So if you place on a spot that provides black, and you have the plot quest where you get gold after getting a black, you would get the gold. However, if you score a quest that provides black you would not get the gold. Also, "provides" includes producing it to someone else. If you play on someones building, and playing there gives them a black, and you have the plot quest that gives you gold when you provide a black, you would get the gold, despite not receiving the cube yourself.
The last thing that comes to mind that people tend to forget is one quest may be scored per placement.
But it loses its thread
It's so thick.
And heavy.
This is something I always try to do but that my players are always extremely timid about.
Just how I like it. heh heh.... heh....... heh..
....
That FF on the box probably means it comes with cards and tokens and sliders. Little clicky things. 6 or 7 different boards. some little models. cubes, coins, a 100 page rule book, smaller cards. Meeples.
But it loses its thread
Yeah, it can be tough to get your players to go big enough with it.
I'm going to continue to shill out for the micro-system that DE?AD made, because I am very fond of it, but one of the things it does is provide a series of prompts that are kind of reminiscent of, say, the Dungeon World character bonds. Each player has to fill in one, with some DM veto power.
The whole system stuff is here, by the by.
But it loses its thread
Let's Play Final Fantasy 'II' (Ch10 - 5/17/10)
Can we do this again?
I'll take a look at its content once it's up on pfsrd.com
I certainly wouldn't try and stop anybody, but I'm too lazy to run it. I'd play or wiki it again though.
OOC Thread for the original.
Here's the IC thread for the original.
There were also couple short-lived 4e campaigns in the setting a few years, and I ran a similarly short-lived 3.5 campaign with a few IRL friends that contributed a few articles.
I'm a terrible DM.
I run a custom scifi game that has 130 worlds with almost-human races on it (ancient genetic modification tinkering), and I actually have a point bounty bonus for players who fill in races with their own ideas, as long as they make some sort of sense. One of the players made up the race that they play as.
I love running a custom setting for that kind of reason, being able to make things up as you go, even years on into the game.
Last we left off the party had fought a Vargouille which resulted in a battle looking a lot like this:
* Will the party succeed in their adventure? (Maybe?)
* Will Kaitlin's Dwarven fighter become the raw embodiment of the sin wrath? (You better believe it)
* Will the party's Druid had leveled up his character even though HE HAD A FULL MONTH TO DO IT (Probably not FUCK HIM!)
We shall see in... THE RISE OF THE RUNELORDS!!!!
Then the Paladin discovered and informed everyone that all six were being mind-controlled.
Right there we fell into the challenge-trap. We were the sort of party that typically Smited/shot/bombed/tentacled anyone who came at us when talk failed. But it was hard to justify killing these guys whose worst crime (that we knew) was working for the wrong guy. Plus, in-character, the Paladin had been getting pretty grumpy over working, helping and protecting vampires that were pretty nasty. It got to the point that while we had our chat with the prime suspect earlier, my Gunslinger had to drag him outside to give him a cooldown talk, reminding him that there'd probably be plenty of vampires later stupid enough to try killing us and that the city could suffer if the truce broke down. So, despite some grumbling, we decided to give subduing the guards non-lethally a go.
Soon enough, we had a major stroke of luck with the Witch using Enthrall to sing four of the six guards into a stupor. The problem though was that her spell would break if the four saw us do anything violent to the remaining two guards who weren't hesitating at all to take swings at us. Eventually I got the idea to lead everyone but the Witch (who was using a flying spell to hover out of reach) and her captive audience up to the shop's second floor, luring the pair into a room under the pretense of trying to break out and then began trying to knock them out. Easier said then done since me and the Alchemist weren't exactly the melee sort and our Blade-expy got sick and tired of taking stabs and returned them twofold on one of the guards, knocking him out by a lack of blood. Fortunately we got the other guy down before the first bled out completely, the Paladin healing him up enough so he wouldn't die.
With that done, we (again, minus the Witch) headed downstairs twice to reach the basement with the knowledge that the only way to stop the mind-control was to take out the one responsible, which happened to be the tailor himself. We had an early advantage with the Alchemist and Blade-expy using invisibility to blindside the guy but he had not only a strong AC but magic scissors with an AoE-swing that could temporarily knock off levels. By the time he called for backup in the form of a trio of vampire goons, I'd lost four levels, the Paladin one and the Alchemist lost at least a couple. We finally misted him thanks to a Deadshot on my part and after briefly running upstairs to grab the Witch's sack of wands for healing, the Blade-expy ran eastward after the tailor to stake him in his coffin which would not permanently kill him but enough so that not only would the mind-control spell finally break but he wouldn't be able to go anywhere until we get whatever information he has out of him. The Witch herself came down just in time to see us take out another trio of vampire goons from a southern room, better armored but still unable to take out the Paladin thanks to his own AC and heals.
All in all, I think it went pretty well besides the cuts and bruises we got. One of the guards came downstairs and thanked the Paladin for being key in his and his group's survival and filled us in on some choice goods upstairs. Of course, before attending to that, we checked out the southern room to stake those vamp-goons too to keep them down, the Paladin checking a coffin which the Alchemist heard movement from.
And the session ended with both that coffin and the one behind the Paladin coming to life and biting him with their huge rows of teeth, bringing him to near-death. Again. Can't wait to see how this turns out. No good deed goes unpunished I suppose.
Let's Play Final Fantasy 'II' (Ch10 - 5/17/10)
His response: "Oh, like Dungeons and Dragons? That's cool. There's a friend of mine that's starting work here on Monday, and when we were younger we tried to make our own system because we didn't have any books for anything to play, and we had fun, but got caught up in trying to balance everything properly. Being a wizard was great, though."
My brain: Ohmigod ohmigod ohmigod play it cool Rhesus don't scare him away this is what you've been looking for since you moved counties
Me: "Huh, that's interesting. If you and any of your mates would be interested in playing something where you don't have to worry about balancing it yourselves, I have a couple of systems I could run for you. For instance, there's this one called Ars Magica..."
Long story short, I'm emailing him the details this weekend, and I might have a local gaming group again, on top of my Skype Shadowrun crew
Yep.
Let's Play Final Fantasy 'II' (Ch10 - 5/17/10)
Shadowrun material is 65 years into the future, elfs, trolls, orc and dwarfs are real as genetic mutations of humans (metahumans), ghouls and vampires are blood diseases, Dragons have come back, magic is real, and our Dystopian Corperate Overlords are very real. A Dragon runs arguably the biggest Megacorp.
Star Wars (I haven't played much, but the Edge of the Empire system appeals to me with it's dual roll system, where you roll success/failure and advantage/threat into each action, so it's never I hit the Gungan, but every roll has to have a little creativity about the consequences) would be way more escapist.
It seriously is a complete fantasy-style world, complete with dungeon ideas, multiple races, fantastic locations, mystical orders, knightly warriors, and evil cults in about 6-8 pages. It's amazing and my vote for best thing ever - for this week, at least.
The 606
300 years ago, as the bloom of nuclear warheads lit up the sky, humanity died. The survivors, small in number, only survived as we were in space at the time. Despite a few smaller scale battles, the hostilities could not survive without atmosphere, and our people banded together to form a new community, surviving on what resources our space stations could provide. It was not a very impressive existence, the definition of a society in decline, and now those resources have run out, and we must plummet back to the ground to see if we can once again live on Earth.
The thing is, Earth has changed. Landing in the outskirts of Chicago, that's clear enough to tell. Humanity has survived, unlike in the stories you heard, but humanity has changed. They've grown strange and monstrous, and infest the city like so many rats. The EMP blasts have rendered much of the world's technology useless, and any firearms are a prized possession, more akin to a magical item than anything else. Fighting with swords and clubs is the new normal.
And fighting is what you will have to do, if you want to keep your community alive. Carve out a position for them within the ruins of the dead city, or build a new civilization. Retain the world as your records remembered it, or join the thriving chaos of this new dark age of history.
This is, of course, a D20 Modern/D20 Apocalypse setting. If you want to pump it up a bit weirder, build everything in Mutants and Masterminds instead, and have background radiation begin to take its toll on characters before long. You could also use a reskinned D&D or Pathfinder, for sure (Pathfinder's gunslinger seems like it might be a weird sort of fun here), and while I wouldn't encourage people to play spellcasters at the start, there's no saying that magic doesn't show up at the end of the world.
The Thinning Veil
Welcome to the kingdom of Meadvst, and its capital, the jewel city Cagoua! While Meadvst is a human kingdom, its capital is a true metropolis, and home to people of all races. The Elves of the Eastern Waters have a sizable population here, as do the Dwarves of the Frozen North. You may even meet one of the Halfling nomads of the Southwesterly Deserts, or a Rock Mountain Goblin!
Anyways, you get the picture. I could flesh it out further, but I gotta go look at some apartments. This is a pretty traditional fantasy setting, suitable for D&D or Dungeon World. I'd probably push for Dungeon World, partially because I like it, but also because I feel that when doing things like this, it's best to play into a lot of fantasy stereotypes, which Dungeon World does very well.
Anyways, I'll let some things percolate while I'm out and probably have a totally bonkers setting for you by the time I get home.
This will be my second campaign. The first disolved when I was only lvl 3 so I'm still a newbie.
it is more paranoid than most about pdf piracy. it's not a good reason, but to be fair their channels for 4e lead to the printer versions getting out there so i could see why they'd be worried.
I know they are awful to a ton of their employees, but thank god for Amazon sometimes.
Take every chance to turn into a cute fox and eat garbage even when it doesn't help anything. Especially when it doesn't help anythibg
If it's still in the original form then that is some impressive staying power
Yep! New material and no new edition.
Piazo is going strong.
Given their origin and brand image they are going to face serious opposition to any kind of edition change. They seem to be doing well on what they are publishing but that has to be a long term concern for them.
Though most of the "advances" in games have been the adoption of different styles of rules. While I prefer narrative mechanics I don't think I'd call them straight out better, they just have different objectives for the games in mind.
IT's pretty dang fun.
First match we just played ended with both of us almost dying to card draw damage (okay well, I died my brother had 1 HP left)
PEOPLE NEED TO STOP HAVING SHIT COME UP IN THEIR LIVES.
Gamertag: PrimusD | Rock Band DLC | GW:OttW - arrcd | WLD - Thortar