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[Roleplaying Games] Thank God I Finally Have A Table For Cannabis Potency.

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Posts

  • ChaosHatChaosHat Hop, hop, hop, HA! Trick of the lightRegistered User regular
    Mahnmut wrote: »
    This might not be helpful, but I was trawling through RPG threads and I think @ChaosHat was working up a PbtA Pokemon RPG

    I was just considering how you could probably adapt something like City of Mist to be Pokemon pretty easily. I think there's no chance of emulating Pokemon if you want to get granular. You gotta go narrative to it, otherwise it's just an endless list of stats.

  • MahnmutMahnmut Registered User regular
    Ah yeah, that makes sense to me.

    Steam/LoL: Jericho89
  • Grunt's GhostsGrunt's Ghosts Registered User regular
    Yeah, Poke Voltage I knew about. Pokerole looked nice but I didn't like the Size=HP thing where Exeggutor has a Base HP of 8 but Alola Exeggutor has a Base HP of 36. The multiple moves in one round thing also feels like it clogs up combat more than helps it but since I haven't played it yet, maybe I'm missing something.

  • KadokenKadoken Giving Ends to my Friends and it Feels Stupendous Registered User regular
    edited November 2018
    The Suede Denim Secret Police return this Saturday. They left in quite a pickle, being flanked by a full squad of dudes with bolters in their until then very defensible position hiding behind a stone porch of a mansion shooting at attacking gangers, cultists, and big tiddy daemons that were approaching and finally broke half of them out of their overwatch. If they can't deal with that quickly, then the rest will have to break to deal with the problem or be broken by having to dodge. This opens their front up to the daemonettes and the herald of slaanesh that are only five meters away having taken cover behind the stone walls of the mansion. In DH2E, the herald has a special ability of having her dominate test be more powerful the more daemonettes are next to a player. One of these players has a storm bolter, that meaning a full auto burst of eight shots with four other characters beside him, and would all players would be point blank to that dominated player. He also brought flame rounds, which means they would be further disadvantaged by being on fire and unable to do anything until they regained their cool.

    If that sounds unfair, the mansion map I found is pretty big and would have allowed them to try out a couple of strategies to split up and divide the enemy forces down decently sizable hallways that would act as killzones since the antagonists have given up their defensive advantage for an all-out attack against the players. Neither they nor the players can run because the stairs they used to get up to the top floor of the high rise that the mansion is built on have been destroyed, and the floor beneath them is patrolled by tough ED-209 type mechanized suit wearing enemies who could probably just take them all out in possibly one hit with their heavy flamers in a confined space. Which they did to one of the players before.

    What is purposefully unfair is the fact that the foundation of the mansion they are around has been implanted with melta bombs as a last resort to kill them if the ambush and attack failed. They will be given warning via beeping timers and allowed to try to run out of the blast range via what movement means they choose, but every degree of failure has them take that damage die of the melta bombs. (which is like 6d10+12 Pen 10 blast (6) or something). They can help themselves by not trying to loot the bodies after the fight, as the further they are from the edges of the mansion, the easier it will be to run out of the blast zone. Also they would probably know something like this would happen as I did something like it before on the stairs mentioned by flattening a stretch of them and receding a landing into the wall so they would either fall to their deaths or fall into a giant furnace (very Bond).

    Also the entire point of this ambush was to kill them specifically along with the local Arbites marshall who lead the overall operation into this place so it makes sense there would be further tricks. Its a headquarters for a gang that has been flipped to the main antagonist group that is being sacrificed because these guys have been causing them so much trouble.

    Kadoken on
  • PMAversPMAvers Registered User regular
    aaaaaaaaa

    Got my copy of SR5 Kill Code today, aka the new Matrix book.

    MAN, there's a ton of cool stuff in here.

    persona4celestia.jpg
    COME FORTH, AMATERASU! - Switch Friend Code SW-5465-2458-5696 - Twitch
  • italianranmaitalianranma Registered User regular
    What publishers do you think have the best layout for their adventures? I typically write mine on a word doc, usually just as a detailed outline, and I'd like to try to learn something to see if I can write with more clarity.

    飛べねぇ豚はただの豚だ。
  • KadokenKadoken Giving Ends to my Friends and it Feels Stupendous Registered User regular
    edited November 2018
    I like FFGs stuff but they did get lazy on the maps in 2E. They're also just kind of paragraphs of stuff. Like there will be a location given and then the stuff in that location detailed but it's not quite good at helping you as the GM direct stuff.

    I guess I’m a terrible judge since I make my own stuff and it’s also just a word document.

    My Villains Screed (I guess)
    I want to humanize my quadumvirate of villains and give them at least understandable motivations so they’re not just archetypes. Okay one major guy can stay an archetype but that’s kind of intrinsic to who he is. Like I’ve got the Sonic Sorceror (named Lasicivous), the heavy metal sound marine who’s more on the vain side of Slaanesh rather than the burned out husks you see, and he’s got basically a bunch of partners and children (made from rituals but still). Like his ultimate goal is to destroy the Imperium and allow the galaxy to become a very individualistic collossal Bacchanalia of delights, but he also really loves his partners and kids and doesn’t see them as expendable tools. So when the players kill one of the mirror guard, his sons, he takes it very personally and shifts his attention to whoever hurts his precious boys. He also is psychically connected to his sons since they each carry a piece of his soul within them for the ritual to worl.

    Another villain is another sorcerer (Oniboshi) who was a librarian that became the head of a progressivist group and whose reveal as part of a heretical group caused a cascade of events that led his soul to become shackled to his armour, his homeworld inadvertently destroyed by his hand, and his best friend who was like a brother to him now out to strike him down in bloody vengeance for what he did. His biggest problem with the Imperium is that his homeworld was progressing rather well and independently until the greater imperium came along and stopped them and turned them into a chapter world. Not during his lifetime, but his pursuit of knowledge led to him to resent the Imperium and his outing had him fall to Tzeentch after secretly dabbling in sorcery before. He truly believes the galaxy can be made better without the shackles all the factions place it under in one way or another. He similarly wants a truly individualistic galaxy of freedom that can proceed to change and mold itself by the will of its inhabitants. He thinks he is free even though he has sold his soul and his identity to Tzeentch by him rending the culture that he cherished to nothingness. He has always regretted that. That best friend, Katoichi, of his kind of serves as a philosophical opponent as well as a physical one. That friend understands the messed up things the Imperium does. He has basically gained as much knowledge as his old friend over the years after his (cowardly in his eyes) escape from the destruction of his chapter and world, being seemingly the last ember of that dead place. He’s in favor more of a mix of conservatism and what the Inquisition calls recongregationism. He thinks the Imperium can and should be better than it is, but until people like his friend who betrayed him, his planet, and his chapter that offer a much worse and dire alternative especially with the very real very justified threat of Chaos worshippers, xenos, daemons out there stop existing or at least become manageable, the war machine and construction of the Imperium has to exist to defend humanity’s survival. He doesn’t have to be happy about it and can use his influence as an ally of an inquisitor to possibly make changes without trillions dying to serve a goal he finds dangerous, but he does need to defend it from people like his friend.

    The third guy, who was originally called Rainmaker after the Iron Maiden song and a thing he did but now is Warmonger because that’s a much better name, is kind of just a bloodthirsty bastard. He thinks that the masses of humanity behind the war fronts are coddled and that the only true way for humans to evolve to supremacy in this galaxy is through the diamond-pressurizing flames of war. A total, galactic, saturation of it. Get rid of the sheep, let the wolves eat each other until the strongest survives. So his main deal is to manipulate various powers into conflict to create his ideal universe (very DC Ares). He provides the main muscle of the group with the mercenaries, traitor guards, turned navy and rogue traders, and anyone else he can get. He is technically not a Chaos worshipper but oscillates between Tzeentchian and Khornate methods. He views Chaos as a tool.

    The arch-arch villain is the most dangerous because they brought the others together and his goal is ultimately selfish with the ambition, drive, resources, charisma, strength, and intelligence to achieve it (that I am keeping ambiguous because a player or two knows about the forums and might check every once in a while). Their entire character is defined by a life-and-being shattering event from their past that they refuse to let ever happen again even if that means putting others through it. They are technically equal to the rest but knows how to play them like a fiddle along with all his underlings and enemies. I know it sounds kind of trite and done before but I am being intentionally vague while having most of this person worked out. They are very human, more than human, and a monster of different forces making. A golem shaped by fate that loathes it and wishes to wield fate and bend it to their will. Which is why he chose the name The Tarot for the group.

    Kadoken on
  • GlaziusGlazius Registered User regular
    So the D&D thread was talking about making Dante, of "this party's getting crazy" fame, and I did a thing.

    I did a Dungeon World thing.

    Comments welcome.

  • KadokenKadoken Giving Ends to my Friends and it Feels Stupendous Registered User regular
    Glazius wrote: »
    So the D&D thread was talking about making Dante, of "this party's getting crazy" fame, and I did a thing.

    I did a Dungeon World thing.

    Comments welcome.

    This is rad.

    I don’t know the Dungeon World system enough to comment, but the concept seems solid.

  • XagarXagar Registered User regular
    Glazius wrote: »
    So the D&D thread was talking about making Dante, of "this party's getting crazy" fame, and I did a thing.

    I did a Dungeon World thing.

    Comments welcome.

    I'm going to steal that "/ when you do a type of thing, X when it's already been used, erase when empty," it's quite elegant and is a nice visual representation of the style system's dislike of repeated moves.

  • KadokenKadoken Giving Ends to my Friends and it Feels Stupendous Registered User regular
    edited November 2018
    So this might be a really system specific thing, but I’m thinking of homebrewing overwatch being usable with melee weapons.

    To explain: overwatch is usually a defensive option that takes up an entire action to set up a 30-45 degree kill zone. If an enemy enters your killzone, then the overwatch allows you to use a declared type of attack against that enemy. Repeat for anyone else. That enemy has to take a challenging pinning test as well, where if he fails he is considered pinned and has to fall back into cover or get as far as possible from the pinner. So great for a guy with a heavy stubber or heavy bolter whose one job is to defend a hallway.

    The disadvantages of overwatch are the loss of an aiming bonus, having to stay pointed in that radius, and any actions other than maintaining overwatch (other than free action talking or something) breaking one out of an overwatch. So someone throws a grenade at you? Eat it or lose the overwatch. Someone gets good hits on you? Eat it or lose the overwatch. You want to change position? You have to basically take two turns to move where you want to and use a full action to get back into an overwatch. Flame weapons on you? Good luck.

    For a machine gun pillbox type situation though it’s pretty ideal.

    So, there is no real counter charge situation in DH. The system just doesn’t really allow it. You can still parry and evade a charging enemy and of course there’s the Counter Attack talent. The rules of attacks of opportunity are also more lax than say DnD. There is no combat zone where if you move in then out without specifically disengaging you get an attack of opportunity. You do get attacks of opportunity if that character engaged you (basically any melee attack [which further gives penalties to fire at engaged characters]) and they try to just move away. However, if a guy is standing in a 3 meter wide hallway, technically you could just walk past the person.

    So, a work around to this would be a melee overwatch where you designate a 3 meter wide killzone and if someone walks into it or charges you, you can attack via overwatch rules via melee. Like this

    OOO OOX. OXX
    XCX. OCX. OCX
    XXX. XXX. OXX. And so on

    Where O is overwatch space, X is non-overwatch space, and C is a character

    A larger size character’s Overwatch (say Space Marine) would be like

    OOOO
    XCCX
    XCCX
    XXXX

    Where size increases melee overwatch.

    I feel this would help formation type fighters like those ship boarding ultramarines that use roman style scutum to stay locked while attacking ships. Or even like a squad of Mordians in a line that are awaiting a charge with a bayonet counter. Or a group of feudal world spearmen gathered together as a sort of phalanx. Or an arbites riot shield line.

    Like imagine a group like:

    OOOOOOOO
    OCXCXCXCO
    XXXXXXXXX

    With the characters alternating
    OOX. XOO
    OCX. XCO
    XXX. XXX

    Over a bridge or something.

    It does seem kind of niche but I feel it’s a thing that’s missing. The big difference being that a melee overwatch would place no pinning test. Plus dodging or parrying would cancel it out anyway.

    I know it’s kind of system specific, but does anyone think it would be a good idea? I really like it.

    FE I mean the obvious counter is to Indy it and shoot. Just like a lot of 40k melee stuff, this is a defense against other melee fighters rather than just a cultist with a gat.

    Kadoken on
  • DarkPrimusDarkPrimus Registered User regular
    I haven't played Dark Heresy in forever so I forget, is there a penalty for firing in overwatch as opposed to making an attack on your turn? Maybe I'm just thinking about how XCOM does it.

  • KadokenKadoken Giving Ends to my Friends and it Feels Stupendous Registered User regular
    edited November 2018
    The penalty is the loss of the ability to aim, the restrictive movement, and restrictive cone of fire. You also have to maintain it to continue it and lose a full action each time you want to.

    Single attacks (+10) Semiauto (+0) and Full Auto (-10) retain their base difficulties along with range bonuses (which this is melee so there are none). Also you have to have people stumble into your killzone of 45 degrees. Xcom is a lot more lax with the range of overwatch if I remember.

    In a defensive position, it’s really good. If the enemy can’t flank, has low WP for the pinning test, or doesn’t have something like a grenade where you can possibly throw it without exposing oneself. Frenzied characters can’t be pinned either.

    For like a space marine or a daemon, not as big of a deal (Space Marine WP and the talent adamantium faith give them like a 73% chance to pass and daemons can’t be pinned or fall to fear tests)

    I also generally rule it that characters popping out of cover (or just standing still) to shoot in the killzone do not count as entering the kill zone. You need movement within. Suppressing those people is the job of the suppression action (which affects multiple characters rather than one at a time).

    Kadoken on
  • Rhesus PositiveRhesus Positive GNU Terry Pratchett Registered User regular
    Doesn’t DH have readied actions?

    That’s basically Overwatch for melee, right? Just saying “I ready an action to hit the first enemy that moves in range”?

    [Muffled sounds of gorilla violence]
  • KadokenKadoken Giving Ends to my Friends and it Feels Stupendous Registered User regular
    edited December 2018
    Huh. I know you can delay but that’s for half actions.

    Let me check.

    Yes, delay (unlike DnD where it moves you down in turn order vs readied action) allows you to take a half action later than your turn. Edit: kind of no that it’s the same thing, though. A delayed action in DH is basically you taking a half action turn later. That means no interruption. So it’s not really a readied action.

    However, you cannot interrupt another character’s turn in progress, so the concept of it being a counter charge or defensive line type thing doesn’t quite work. Overwatch essentially does interrupt another person’s turn in progress (which is why you can’t evade if someone overwatches you, reactions can’t be taken on your turn).

    I could see that being similar though.

    It doesn’t solve the walk-by situation, though.

    An addendum to the melee overwatch rules:
    like ranged overwatch, melee overwatch is activated when someone moves into the declared zone. If one is already inside the zone (which means that overwatch going off means you are both engaged) then there is no further overwatch activation. (That sort of counter-attack is the purview of a talent literally called counter-attack where a succesful parry allows an immediate attack at a -20 cost) (Plus leaving an engagement without using the disengage action prompts an attack of opportunity already [the issue being and why I feel MOW is necessary is that engagement relies on someone declaring engagement after a specific half move or full move action or being attacked in melee stationary or charge so run actions won’t prompt an AOO]) (I also believe moving inside an engagement, similar to DnD’s zones, is also fine and won’t cause an AOO). Melee overwatch is not cancelled by being attacked unless the character performs another action (which includes reactions). So if you want to tank a hit from an engaged npc but be ready for their charging friend that can happen (although the ganging-up bonuses might make that a bad idea). I’m going to attempt to blog post this and some rules for a homebrew Felinid homeworld/background that one of my players was interested in (apparently that was great-great-great-great-grandpappy’s thing.)

    Speaking of that last part, here’s a nice piece of art of what that looks like (it’s pretty conservative)
    u63wr7lakptu.jpeg fuck wrong one
    s9mxa7rqsykb.jpeg

    Spears
    Edit: spears have a two meter range as a melee weapon now in my game. Before they were useless, but now you could have one guy tank while his buddies poke you without you being able to swift or lightning attack them all at once, whirlwind of death them all at once, or parry to counter attack them. They would still get ganging up bonuses. Edit 2: Okay that doesn't work for bayonetted weapons (which is what I assume is what that spear profile is used for) because they probably aren't 6 feet long so maybe split that shit into short spears for guns with melee attachment and long spears for spear, spear, spearspearspearspear, spears.
    FE3: I finally cleaned up and fancified one of my player's reports he wrote over his first campaign.
    https://darkheresychainsofmalice.blogspot.com/2018/09/agent-noxs-report-of-kotrohman-incident.html
    FE4: Homebrew Melee Overwatch option
    https://darkheresychainsofmalice.blogspot.com/2018/11/homebrew-action-melee-overwatch.html
    (note this is not a perfect counter hit as it still follows Overwatch rules of the character having the higher agility's action being performed first. What that essentially means is that yeah, you could technically get a similar effect with a delayed attack. However, if you have higher agility you will hit first, and you can hit up to a max of three characters that enter your three meters of kill zone. Also potentially with a delayed attack, you would get one lightning attack. With MO, you could get three)
    FE: Homebrew Felinid Home World OR Background
    https://darkheresychainsofmalice.blogspot.com/2018/11/homebrew-home-world-or-background.html

    nuFE: My sister can never find time with her friends to get an RPG game together, and it makes me sad. She really likes Critical Role, and did try 5E once with a friend of hers who apparently had never DM'd before. I really want to GM DH for her so she could get a good experience.

    “Chase the Devil” is a Malleus Anthem

    NunuFE: my dang ol plan to mind control the techpriest won’t work. He got the machine trait from an Only War talent. Oh well. The arbitrator has a powerfist and is standing next to two people.

    Kadoken on
  • GlaziusGlazius Registered User regular
    So one of the things I think about occasionally is the ability of Dungeon World to run themed games. You know the ones - where everybody's a knight of a sworn order or a department chair at Imperial Wizard Academy or a merchant prince. Playbooks seem like they'd prevent that - copies are discouraged for a reason, after all.

    One option is that, say, if you're all supposed to be knights, everybody starts at level 2, nobody picks Fighter, and everybody's first advance is Signature Weapon. Then you've got an order of dudes with cool weapons but very different histories.

    Another option is that at level 2, everybody opens a compendium class to become a department chair or a merchant prince.

  • KadokenKadoken Giving Ends to my Friends and it Feels Stupendous Registered User regular
    Doesn’t DH have readied actions?

    That’s basically Overwatch for melee, right? Just saying “I ready an action to hit the first enemy that moves in range”?

    It doesn’t.

  • ToxTox I kill threads he/himRegistered User regular
    Has anybody done anything with the Pathfinder 2.0 materials? I'm just messing around with the playtest stuff, and wondering if anybody else hates the spell list as much as I do

    Twitter! | Dilige, et quod vis fac
  • KadokenKadoken Giving Ends to my Friends and it Feels Stupendous Registered User regular
    I’m not a fan of a lot of spell lists. They’re not usually organized well and at a point the spells become so much and so many many you might as well just make your own.

    Sir Chaucer finally returns to his Escape from New York situation this Friday. Everyones toting rifles and not-uzis and I got a shield.

  • ArcSynArcSyn Registered User regular
    Thinking of starting a game with my kids, 8, 10, 11.

    I was thinking of simplifying FFG Star Wars, but just heard about Amazing Tales and wasn't sure if that would be a better system?

    On the one hand, I hate FFG's dice system. On the other, Star Wars. So I guess how simple is Amazing Tales? Too young/wide open for my older kids?

    4dm3dwuxq302.png
  • DarkPrimusDarkPrimus Registered User regular
    edited December 2018
    While the math for players in the Genesys system is pretty friendly, I think Star Wars still has a fair amount of crunch for kids that age who are likely not that familiar with TTRPGs, what with all the skills and the talent trees going on.

    If you go for an even more narrative-focused game, like running a kid-friendly PbtA game of Dungeon World or somesuch, it would allow the kids to do more with their freeform imagination without having to worry about the statblocks of a dozen different stats. They just describe what they want to do and then you tell them what stat they're adding to their 2d6.

    I haven't looked at it myself, but my understanding is that Bubblegumshoe is a pared-down version of the detective RPG Gumshoe, explicitly designed to be more accessible for young teens.

    DarkPrimus on
  • Mostlyjoe13Mostlyjoe13 Evil, Evil, Jump for joy! Registered User regular
    So the new Starfinder classes are 'fun'. I do like how they are thematic and fit the setting well. The Vanguard looks to hilarious crazy running down attacks because they power them up.

    PSN ID - Mostlyjoe Steam ID -TheNotoriusRNG
  • KadokenKadoken Giving Ends to my Friends and it Feels Stupendous Registered User regular
    I’m so excited to get back to regularly playing and DMing. Mind brimming with ideas. Commissioned portraits for NPCs. I’m the most excited I’ve been in a while.

  • SteelhawkSteelhawk Registered User regular
    Are there any official FFG Star Wars resources out there for the Force Awakens/Last Jedi era?

  • DarkPrimusDarkPrimus Registered User regular
    Steelhawk wrote: »
    Are there any official FFG Star Wars resources out there for the Force Awakens/Last Jedi era?

    They did a The Force Awakens Beginner Game that's a starter set but with an adventure set on Jakku and some other information about the setting. It's far from a full book, however.

    I would wager that they would like to do a period sourcebook for it like they've done with Dawn of Rebellion and the upcoming Rise of the Separatists books, but they probably won't even start on it until after Episode IX is out.

  • SteelhawkSteelhawk Registered User regular
    That's too bad, The adventure I don't need so much as I was looking for stats on ships and enemies and other era specific differences in the material they gave us in the core books.

  • MsAnthropyMsAnthropy The Lady of Pain Breaks the Rhythm, Breaks the Rhythm, Breaks the Rhythm The City of FlowersRegistered User regular
    Steelhawk wrote: »
    That's too bad, The adventure I don't need so much as I was looking for stats on ships and enemies and other era specific differences in the material they gave us in the core books.

    Honestly, I think you could run it with the rules and stats with just re-skinning. Old X-Wing stats will work fine for new X-Wing stats and old TIE Fighter stats will work for new TIE Fighter stats. Plenty of people have done the same in reverse to run KotOR era games with no problems.

    Luscious Sounds Spotify Playlist

    "The only real politics I knew was that if a guy liked Hitler, I’d beat the stuffing out of him and that would be it." -- Jack Kirby
  • SteelhawkSteelhawk Registered User regular
    Oh yes, I'm sure I can. I was just wondering from the experts here if there had been any newer releases since I don't follow FFG's releases or play their games all that much.

  • KadokenKadoken Giving Ends to my Friends and it Feels Stupendous Registered User regular
    you guys

    it is so much fun to shop as a player

    as a gm, i always have to see if it’s properly balanced or makes lore sense or if i’m okay with letting them pick up something when that npc dies

    but i am only limited by money and availabity as a player

    Also, people are being kidnapped in the middle of the night by pale people with red eyes so me as a feudal world knight immediately went “VAMPIRES!” (there are no vampires in 40k)

    We had two options: hope for the trains to come back and wait for gangsters and bionized ghouls to murder us in the night

    Or go shine some light in the darkness and charge everyone head on.

    So we loaded up.

  • DelduwathDelduwath Registered User regular
    Kadoken wrote: »
    Also, people are being kidnapped in the middle of the night by pale people with red eyes so me as a feudal world knight immediately went “BLOOD ANGELS!”

  • KadokenKadoken Giving Ends to my Friends and it Feels Stupendous Registered User regular
    edited December 2018
    Yeah I completely messed up the numbers and power levels GMing on this mission which has literally lasted us months (we had a four month break and it’s taken three sessions for proper context).

    One of my players didn’t quite snap but did go off a bit. I totally agreed with what he said, and just decided to delete like half of the remaining people because what they had was enough and that other half weren’t able to do much anyway.

    I do have one issue with him specifically, and it’s that he tends to only really get this way when he’s losing. He’s gotten much better with this, like othewise he was being very patient. Four months and still in a slog, I understand.

    I overreacted numbers-wise and power-wise due to a fight against a Chaos Space Marine where they didn’t get hurt, although they would have been fucked if the guy landed a hit once or had his bolter not blasted away due to a lucky crit (which didn’t even bloody him). I apparently didn’t remember that.

    One of them “died” (burned a fate point) already on a much better designed, more tense, and more fun map of this adventure so my murder-jollies are taken care of.

    We as a group will all be happier with the make up and numbers I have outlined in the next adventures. Cause gorram I’m going between 8 roll 20 character sheets on this fight not helping pacing either. They all had to be wildly different too.

    Getting excited to just put in Super Oni Sentai, literally a group of four Chaos Space Marines with power rangers poses and matching names and the random explosions.

    “Khorne Red!” “Tzeentch Blue!” “Slaanesh Pink!” “Nurgle Green!”
    *slash**slash**slash**explosions*
    Sudden fifth power
    “Malal Black!” the rest murder him and never speak of him again.

    Kadoken on
  • LindLind Registered User regular
    edited December 2018
    Very exited about this weekend. We are starting a new campaign in a modern world rpg that a friend of mine created over 30 years ago. This time the campaign will be set in 1980's Florida with us players as police officers (who most likely will turn criminal at some point) and its basicly going to be a giant sand box for us. My character is pretty much Egon from Ghost Busters :biggrin:

    Lind on
  • KadokenKadoken Giving Ends to my Friends and it Feels Stupendous Registered User regular
    edited December 2018
    Lind wrote: »
    Very exited about this weekend. We are starting a new campaign in a modern world rpg that a friend of mine created over 30 years ago. This time the campaign will be set in 1980's Florida with us players as police officers (who most likely will turn criminal at some point) and its basicly going to be a giant sand box for us. My character is pretty much Egon from Ghost Busters :biggrin:

    Raddd.

    Is it going to be themed like for a Burn Notice, Miami Vice, Magnum PI, or other atmosphere like that?

    I'm a big period piece-man. It's one of the big reasons I love all the Mafia games.

    edit: combat finally done, big revelations given.

    The techpriest, who has been marked to be messed with by a daemon, when given the opportunity to face certain death or be possessed said "possess me". Luckily another NPC was able to help him out (it was planned and they saved this guy from the underhive) before he gave the "I Sacrifice", but it's lucky no one was around to hear that. Except for the NPC in his immaterial form.

    spoilered if my players come around
    Arch Villain has made contact. He is a nervous man who's just looking for a friend, really.

    Kadoken on
  • LindLind Registered User regular
    Kadoken wrote: »
    Lind wrote: »
    Very exited about this weekend. We are starting a new campaign in a modern world rpg that a friend of mine created over 30 years ago. This time the campaign will be set in 1980's Florida with us players as police officers (who most likely will turn criminal at some point) and its basicly going to be a giant sand box for us. My character is pretty much Egon from Ghost Busters :biggrin:

    Raddd.

    Is it going to be themed like for a Burn Notice, Miami Vice, Magnum PI, or other atmosphere like that?

    I'm a big period piece-man. It's one of the big reasons I love all the Mafia games.
    ...

    Its going to be a sort of realistic 80's but if we dont end up in speedboats smuggling drugs while quoting movies and teve series well than something is just plain wrong.

  • KadokenKadoken Giving Ends to my Friends and it Feels Stupendous Registered User regular
    edited December 2018
    Finished up a minisode introducing a samurai space marine reinforcement character.

    It oddly got pretty power rangersy? The critical effect caused by the power katana kept making orks explode after walking away because they had ammo and grenades on them.

    The player using him immediately invalidated the freeboota warboss captain by throwing a krak grenade and causing two separate criticals that fatigued them to halving all stats.

    Better introduction than the psyker bard who exploded in his first introduction.
    (He’s fine, he destroyed his clothes and guitar and passed out) I hope I redeemed him by saving the techpriest.

    My favorite moment from that whole deathwatch minisode: that freeboota captain limped at the samurai marine, and just recently that critical effect occured again where the ork had four grenades on it. He was so mad at that marine he was lured into the blast radius. He yells out, “You’re gonna die here, beaky!” and the marine sheathes back his sword and returns “omae wa mou shindeiru”.
    He explodes from his dead nob’s 4 grenades.

    This is of course undercut by him only mostly nearly dying, so another player had to shoot him one more time.

    Kadoken on
  • italianranmaitalianranma Registered User regular
    edited December 2018
    I picked up the Esper Genesis Core Rulebook at PAX Unplugged and read a little bit of it today. While I was initially excited about the prospect of 5E D&D... in Spaaaaaace the more I read into this book the more disappointed I get. The setting is alright I think: In a futuristic galaxy mysterious microplanets known as Crucibles house a miracle material known as Sorium. Used primarily as an energy source and powering nearly all technology, Sorium has the added ability of allowing certain beings known as Espers the ability to warp reality... That's it. That's the setting. Sure the book mirrors D&D's player's handbook which is similarly sparse on setting details, I think with a new IP like this you should really devote your first chapter to establishing the world considering most people aren't going to throw down $150 to get the trifecta of PHB, DMG, & MM. Additionally the races so far are just so boring. There's definitely potential there, but the tiny entries give too little detail and none of it is interesting. Oh, you're a blue skinned alien with soft skin that comes from a world that survived an apocalypse? That's great. Tell me why I'd want to play one of you instead of a human? How does being an Eldori fundamentally change the play experience for me? In contrast the Starfinder game is inherently rich and I love everything about its setting. The book tells me I may want to play a weird ratperson (Ysoki) if I want to be a manic, tech-savvy, small mother fucker out to prove himself amongst bigger companions. Or maybe I fancy the Shirrens, a race of bug people recently emancipated from the enveloping Hive Mind just learning to love the simple joys of independence. Even the 'humans but wearing a rubber mask' aliens, the Lashuntas, have this whole psychic perfectionist thing going on. Esper Genesis offers the Kesh, grey-skinned short aliens with minor telepathy and a yearning for adventure... But why? What's it like to be a Kesh? What do I do differently from humans aside from occasional telepathic friendship meetings? These two concepts are extremely similar, but the Starfinder one gives me a definite arc to play with along with, you know, actual roleplaying notes on how they interact with each other and outsiders.

    At least the classes look good. And they should: they're largely reskinned 5E character classes. Down to options for the Warrior (fighter) to be a Paragon (champion), Commando (battlemaster), or Stormguard (mage knight). I haven't delved too far into the magic system. Instead of Divine and Arcane the game makes a distinction between Tech and Psionic powers, which features one small difference from 5E: psionic powers use PSI points (MP) with higher level spells costing more points per cast and allowing one essentially sub lower level spell slots for higher ones (like a Sorcerer). The magic list could really make or break this game for me, because right now I'm not seeing a lot of reason to play the setting as it's written. And some things I've read, like the Zero-G rules, fill me with doubt. I mean, I know 5E isn't a strict simulation kind of game, but maybe look up the difference between Zero-G (a.k.a microgravity) and a Vacuum:
    Situations arise when the characters are on on a derelict stations with no artificial gravity or they must deal with a dangerous entity that has latched itself onto the ship's hull. Lack of sound, dulled perceptions, and limited freedom of movement can create complications... Any attack or Esper power that produces fire or deals fire damage automatically fails.

    splash2.jpg

    italianranma on
    飛べねぇ豚はただの豚だ。
  • Endless_SerpentsEndless_Serpents Registered User regular
    edited December 2018
    That’s a shame, because I think space dungeon crawling has the greatest potential for races and classes. Monsters too, really.

    If I was making a 5e hack in space I think go for broke and make the races whatever aliens have been in movies for the past 10+ years.

    Certainly a Rocket Raccoon race and those squid-crabs from Arrival spring to mind as starting points.

    I don’t know who has the rights but I’ve always thought it’d be neat to keep the Gith around into a sci-fi D&D.

    You’d think motivation would be on the check-off list of things to put in a race.

    Endless_Serpents on
  • italianranmaitalianranma Registered User regular
    My 3 AM mind may have been a little harsh on Esper Genesis. The Kesh specifically are a bad example as there is a point to their wandering: to find the location of their lost home world from which they fled so long ago that there are no records of the reason for this. But generally my criticism still stands. I think part of it is that the races are described as if in an Encyclopedia entry written by someone who's relying on secondary sources. Like a poor Wikipedia article on a foreign city. I meant to write this initially, but there are some interesting concepts in the races such as the Belare who are beings of pure energy encapsulated in a robot suit so that they can interact with the world. Or the Ashenforged who are a kind of revenant race made from the brains of the deceased and a sort of living ballistic gel. But in both cases I'd like a bit more as to how I'm meant to play them or what kind of struggles they face. The Warforged entry in the original Eberron book, for example, has a similar concept as the Ashenforged but also is super informative as to what it's like to be a warforged as well as giving them an overall narrative that draws inspiration from the 1960's Civil Rights Movement. I haven't learned exactly how to be objectively critical of writing, and I hope I'm conveying my complaints in a good way, but to add some subjective criticism I just don't feel inspired to make a character in any of these races. Compare that to Star Finder where I had four really exciting concepts before I made it to the class entries.

    Gith are a very reasonable addition to EG as it's meant to be fully 5E compatible. Just like Starfinder, there are some conversion rules in the book somewhere... or maybe that's in the yet unreleased DMG. I dunno yet. But just looking at the entries I think you could very easily port them over directly just changing something like Longsword proficiency to Space-Longsword proficiency.

    飛べねぇ豚はただの豚だ。
  • ToxTox I kill threads he/himRegistered User regular
    Theory question.

    How might one make the case for either Strength or Dex as a spellcasting stat? I'm thinking along the lines of some sort of shaman/druid/etc primal spellcaster, specifically.

    Twitter! | Dilige, et quod vis fac
  • italianranmaitalianranma Registered User regular
    Strength is the caster as a focus or nexus for mystic power: the act of casting is thus physically demanding. Alternatively the magic flows from the caster as part of their actions: a fireball is them throwing mana at an enemy or the fly spell works because of their jumping prowess. Dexterity is simply the fine manipulation of magical implements in order to satisfy some mystic grammar. Aligning such tools precisely with the surrounding ley-lines produces the necessary effect. Subtle alterations in geometry can have incredible effects, hence the need for precision.

    Or in mechanical terms, fuck it. Not like D&D stats are that balanced anyway. Dexterity is a bit OP, so your Dex Wizard is going to have his high AC, Initiative, and a very favorable save in addition to phenomenal cosmic power...

    飛べねぇ豚はただの豚だ。
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