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[Roleplaying Games] Play Everything, Only GM the Games You Want To

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Posts

  • TomantaTomanta Registered User regular
    I would not want an inexperienced GM to run IKRPG, and IK really assumes you are using miniatures - and no grid, combat is really close to a direct port from the tabletop game. That said, the short-lived adventure I was in did not use any physical representation of combat at all and it worked out fine.

    I'm not really sure about power creep, either, since everything printed since the core book are magazine and web articles (Urban Adventures is just a collection of magazine articles that didn't actually get printed in No Quarter). And most of it is NPC stuff, unless you really want PCs to be Doom Reavers. That said, Kings, Nations, and Gods is due out soon.

    There is very little in the way of monsters/bad guy stats to draw from and very, very little of that in the core book. No Quarter/Web supplements have added a lot to that and I think the book after K,N,G is a monster book.

    I love the book, though, and recommend it. It has some great ideas and a ton of fluff.

  • VanguardVanguard But now the dream is over. And the insect is awake.Registered User, __BANNED USERS regular
    Vanguard wrote: »
    Rah rah rah

    Yeah I know, I get it fine. I was just explaining how it can come over as a bit complex on the first read.

    I didn't mean to come off as a jerk! I thought those were questions and was trying to be helpful.

  • Jam WarriorJam Warrior Registered User regular
    Me neither!

    They were hypothetical questions from the skim reader.

    Hugs.

    MhCw7nZ.gif
  • Iron WeaselIron Weasel Dillon! You son of a bitch!Registered User regular
    Tomanta wrote: »
    I would not want an inexperienced GM to run IKRPG, and IK really assumes you are using miniatures - and no grid, combat is really close to a direct port from the tabletop game. That said, the short-lived adventure I was in did not use any physical representation of combat at all and it worked out fine.

    I'm not really sure about power creep, either, since everything printed since the core book are magazine and web articles (Urban Adventures is just a collection of magazine articles that didn't actually get printed in No Quarter). And most of it is NPC stuff, unless you really want PCs to be Doom Reavers. That said, Kings, Nations, and Gods is due out soon.

    There is very little in the way of monsters/bad guy stats to draw from and very, very little of that in the core book. No Quarter/Web supplements have added a lot to that and I think the book after K,N,G is a monster book.

    I love the book, though, and recommend it. It has some great ideas and a ton of fluff.
    From my very limited look at it, it seems that if you were determined to use a grid, it wouldn't be that hard. Just assume 1 square = 1" and that people in adjacent squares are engaged/engaging. You could keep the templates and just treat each character’s square as its base for the purpose of determining hits, etc.

    I’m sure it gets more complex than that, but you could probably get around it.

    Currently Playing:
    The Division, Warframe (XB1)
    GT: Tanith 6227
  • LeperLeper Registered User regular
    From my very limited look at it, it seems that if you were determined to use a grid, it wouldn't be that hard. Just assume 1 square = 1" and that people in adjacent squares are engaged/engaging. You could keep the templates and just treat each character’s square as its base for the purpose of determining hits, etc.

    I’m sure it gets more complex than that, but you could probably get around it.
    My players can't function without a grid, (and are the kind of folks that would have seen a tape measure and screamed "WARGAME!!! ONOES WE CANT ARRPEE!!!" ( :oops: ) and we did the above almost word-for-word, with the exception that we assumed engaged characters shared a square or squares. While I'll confess we didn't try it without the grid, it did seem to make things move a lot smoother than busting out the measuring tape every time something changed positions.

    If my role play is hindered by rolling to play, then I'd prefer the rolls play right, instead of steam-rolling play-night.
  • Iron WeaselIron Weasel Dillon! You son of a bitch!Registered User regular
    edited August 2013
    I admit that I have also become accustomed to the comforting confines of The Grid.

    Iron Weasel on
    Currently Playing:
    The Division, Warframe (XB1)
    GT: Tanith 6227
  • OminousLozengeOminousLozenge Registered User regular
    Don't let those lines define you, man! Break free of the prison! That's what those so-called perfect rectangles are, creativity jail! Right angles are the epitome of conformity, man!

    A grid makes for easier counting if you're using physical aids, but Roll20's ruler feature makes me wonder if it's easier to go gridless if the ruler becomes a simple click-drag execution. The downside is that if you're using a big screen as a digital tabletop, only the active player can measure stuff. With a grid, people who are on the ball can sort out movement, AoE targets, etc. before their next turn.

    Sometimes I have ideas for things.
  • DarkPrimusDarkPrimus Registered User regular
    You're boxing yourself in with all this talk of squares.

    True freedom comes only from the hex.

  • TomantaTomanta Registered User regular
    From my very limited look at it, it seems that if you were determined to use a grid, it wouldn't be that hard. Just assume 1 square = 1" and that people in adjacent squares are engaged/engaging. You could keep the templates and just treat each character’s square as its base for the purpose of determining hits, etc.

    I’m sure it gets more complex than that, but you could probably get around it.

    It would probably work fine that way. Despite loving the wargame, using those rules for RPG is unusual and I'm skeptical about how well it works. As a DM I'd be concerned about finding the space and terrain / maps for multiple combats each week, where with a grid (or no minis at all) that isn't a big problem. The downside to the grid is that it introduces premeasuring, which is not available RAW. In the wargame that's a big deal, but I don't think it is in an RPG. Most of the other things I can think of that a grid would change are edge case scenarios that don't come up often.

    Were I to run it I'd go abstract except for very important (big boss battle) or tricky combats (lots of cover/special terrain/etc where positioning is really important), and do RAW for those.

  • LeperLeper Registered User regular
    DarkPrimus wrote: »
    You're boxing yourself in with all this talk of squares.

    True freedom comes only from the hex.
    The hex allows me to only smash the faces of 6 adjacent foes at once. A grid allows me 8, which barely sates my need for smashin'.

    I need a system that does triangular grids so I can break my foot off in no less than 12 adjacent rear ends.

    If my role play is hindered by rolling to play, then I'd prefer the rolls play right, instead of steam-rolling play-night.
  • Grey PaladinGrey Paladin Registered User regular
    Leper wrote: »
    DarkPrimus wrote: »
    You're boxing yourself in with all this talk of squares.

    True freedom comes only from the hex.
    The hex allows me to only smash the faces of 6 adjacent foes at once. A grid allows me 8, which barely sates my need for smashin'.

    I need a system that does triangular grids so I can break my foot off in no less than 12 adjacent rear ends.
    h7x7x7x7_zpsb0ede549.gif
    Sir what you want - no, need - is the 7x7x7x7 hypercube. With this fine shape serving as your basic measuring unit you can shove your foot up more asses than Red Forman.

    "All men dream, but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity; but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dream with open eyes to make it possible." - T.E. Lawrence
  • Grunt's GhostsGrunt's Ghosts Registered User regular
    SOLD!

    LET'S DO THIS!

    LEEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOYYYYYYYYYYYYY JEEEENNNKKINS!

  • ElldrenElldren Is a woman dammit ceterum censeoRegistered User regular
    not as many as PURELY ABSTRACT POSITIONING

    fuck gendered marketing
  • Iron WeaselIron Weasel Dillon! You son of a bitch!Registered User regular
    I disagree. Even with abstract positioning, you can only logically be kicking one as at a time.

    With the hypercube, you just stick out your foot and kick 9000 asses in 6 different dimensions simultaneously.

    Currently Playing:
    The Division, Warframe (XB1)
    GT: Tanith 6227
  • bssbss Brostoyevsky Madison, WIRegistered User regular
    Someone needs to design a game around this concept.

    3DS: 2466-2307-8384 PSN: bssteph Steam: bsstephan Twitch: bsstephan
    Tabletop:13th Age (mm-mmm), D&D 4e
    Occasional words about games: my site
  • TomantaTomanta Registered User regular
    I'd play it.

  • Grunt's GhostsGrunt's Ghosts Registered User regular
    You make one action in our world, change history in another.

    Coming Spring of 2014:

    Dimensions: The Matrix of Time and Space RPG.

    check your local FLGS for your pre-pre-alpha version today!

  • VanguardVanguard But now the dream is over. And the insect is awake.Registered User, __BANNED USERS regular
    You make one action in our world, change history in another.

    Microscope bills itself as a fractal roleplaying game with a similar tagline.

  • Grunt's GhostsGrunt's Ghosts Registered User regular
    Don't you control armies in that game?

  • VanguardVanguard But now the dream is over. And the insect is awake.Registered User, __BANNED USERS regular
    Don't you control armies in that game?

    You pretty much do whatever you want. I've only played it once, but we created a medieval world that was slowly becoming polluted through the use of magic. By the end of the game, after a Mage-King took over a country and slaughtered all of the non-gifted, the entire world was torn asunder by demons and deities.

  • wildwoodwildwood Registered User regular
    Don't you control armies in that game?

    In Microscope, you build a world/universe, determine its overall arc through time, and drill down and spell out particular points in the timeline, as they interest the players.

    So yeah, sure, armies are a subset of that.

  • Grunt's GhostsGrunt's Ghosts Registered User regular
    That's too much set up time for me as a GM. Player, meh.

  • TomantaTomanta Registered User regular
    edited August 2013
    That's what random tables and d1000s are for!

    (My Rifts DM has a d1000 in the form of percentile dice. He gets to use it sometimes.)

    Tomanta on
  • ElldrenElldren Is a woman dammit ceterum censeoRegistered User regular
    That's too much set up time for me as a GM. Player, meh.

    It really isn't

    It's v difficult to do online (spatial arrangements of notes is hard), but in person there is pretty much 0 set up

    The one time I played Microscope we created a gothic dubstep space empire controlled by intergalactic wubs

    fuck gendered marketing
  • Grunt's GhostsGrunt's Ghosts Registered User regular
    edited August 2013
    If you need a d1000, you are doing something wrong, imo.

    Grunt's Ghosts on
  • Captain CarrotCaptain Carrot Alexandria, VARegistered User regular
    One of these days I'd like to play a Dresden Files game in Baltimore, just to skip the months of building a city that you get otherwise.

  • VanguardVanguard But now the dream is over. And the insect is awake.Registered User, __BANNED USERS regular
    That's too much set up time for me as a GM. Player, meh.

    Not really, since there is no GM and the game doesn't use any dice. You basically collaboratively build a world/universe/whatever and take turns describing time period, new events, and occasionally homing in and acting out a scene. It took us two hours to do the above.

    The full rulebook is 80 digest-sized pages.

  • Grunt's GhostsGrunt's Ghosts Registered User regular
    I've wanted to play Dresden Files since I'm a fan of the book series. I've just never gotten around to buying the handbooks.

  • OminousLozengeOminousLozenge Registered User regular
    That's an awfully self-limiting rule. Everything has a time and a place, and in Microscope it sounds like everything has a place in time. If d1000 is a legitimate conceit of the game and things are designed with it in mind, who knows? Maybe it's positively sublime in its execution. I'd need to know more before judging.

    Sometimes I have ideas for things.
  • ElldrenElldren Is a woman dammit ceterum censeoRegistered User regular
    That's an awfully self-limiting rule. Everything has a time and a place, and in Microscope it sounds like everything has a place in time. If d1000 is a legitimate conceit of the game and things are designed with it in mind, who knows? Maybe it's positively sublime in its execution. I'd need to know more before judging.

    d1000 is Rifts

    Microscope is diceless

    fuck gendered marketing
  • VanguardVanguard But now the dream is over. And the insect is awake.Registered User, __BANNED USERS regular
    That one session of Microscope is among my favorite gaming experiences ever. It definitely feels much more like a free form board game.

    If my players can grok Torchbearer, I plan on using Microscope to create the world we play in for a Burning Wheel campaign.

    I also think it would be a great way to create a world that multiple DMs design. It puts some simple restrictions in place and gives everyone a common history to work from.

  • Grey PaladinGrey Paladin Registered User regular
    That sounds really neat. I can't believe I haven't heard of it before. I'll suggest it to the group.

    "All men dream, but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity; but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dream with open eyes to make it possible." - T.E. Lawrence
  • Mikey CTSMikey CTS Registered User regular
    That sounds pretty awesome.

    // PSN: wyrd_warrior // MHW Name: Josei //
  • ElldrenElldren Is a woman dammit ceterum censeoRegistered User regular
    Vanguard wrote: »
    That one session of Microscope is among my favorite gaming experiences ever. It definitely feels much more like a free form board game.

    If my players can grok Torchbearer, I plan on using Microscope to create the world we play in for a Burning Wheel campaign.

    I also think it would be a great way to create a world that multiple DMs design. It puts some simple restrictions in place and gives everyone a common history to work from.

    Yeah, we used Microscope to develop a Traveller setting

    the Traveller game never materialized but the Microscope session was still brilliant, if really really hard to do

    fuck gendered marketing
  • VanguardVanguard But now the dream is over. And the insect is awake.Registered User, __BANNED USERS regular
    edited August 2013
    That sounds really neat. I can't believe I haven't heard of it before. I'll suggest it to the group.

    They're working on a follow up game called Kingdom (successful Kickstarter in the last month of so) where you focus in on one of the Kingdoms made from the Microscope game (or just starting anew).

    I highly recommend you check out both.

    Vanguard on
  • VanguardVanguard But now the dream is over. And the insect is awake.Registered User, __BANNED USERS regular
    Elldren wrote: »
    Vanguard wrote: »
    That one session of Microscope is among my favorite gaming experiences ever. It definitely feels much more like a free form board game.

    If my players can grok Torchbearer, I plan on using Microscope to create the world we play in for a Burning Wheel campaign.

    I also think it would be a great way to create a world that multiple DMs design. It puts some simple restrictions in place and gives everyone a common history to work from.

    Yeah, we used Microscope to develop a Traveller setting

    the Traveller game never materialized but the Microscope session was still brilliant, if really really hard to do

    It took us about 45 minutes to really feel like we were playing a game.

    Once we got the rhythm down though, it just opened up. I felt that the quality of the roleplaying was significantly better than normal for our group.

  • ElldrenElldren Is a woman dammit ceterum censeoRegistered User regular
    I wonder if theres some like business software that lets you rearrange notes spatially in a shared environment

    fuck gendered marketing
  • VanguardVanguard But now the dream is over. And the insect is awake.Registered User, __BANNED USERS regular
    Elldren wrote: »
    I wonder if theres some like business software that lets you rearrange notes spatially in a shared environment

    There has to be.

    tumblr_mlatc5ofAA1rm7iyxo1_1280.jpg

    This is what our finished game looked like.

    The rulebook doesn't suggest this, but at the end I narrated the whole of our game from start to finish.

  • OminousLozengeOminousLozenge Registered User regular
    Elldren wrote: »
    I wonder if theres some like business software that lets you rearrange notes spatially in a shared environment

    Google Draw, share with the other players, give them modify permission, use text boxes in place of note cards. As long as everyone manages not to alter the text, it'll work. You can even color code the boxes if that's a thing in the game.

    Sometimes I have ideas for things.
  • VanguardVanguard But now the dream is over. And the insect is awake.Registered User, __BANNED USERS regular
    Elldren wrote: »
    I wonder if theres some like business software that lets you rearrange notes spatially in a shared environment

    Google Draw, share with the other players, give them modify permission, use text boxes in place of note cards. As long as everyone manages not to alter the text, it'll work. You can even color code the boxes if that's a thing in the game.

    Holy fuck this is an amazing idea. You are the best.

This discussion has been closed.