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

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Posts

  • KadokenKadoken Giving Ends to my Friends and it Feels Stupendous Registered User regular
    edited September 2018
    yes

    i got to use a matchbook as a clue in an investigation

    Edit: also I forgot the other NPC follower they can take on, a Sacrisian Highlander who was essentially a drop-out of the Storm Warden’s initiate program. Basically he took second place to the guy who did get chosen to become a Storm Warden, but he still survived all the trials. He was also refused the chance to be a chapter serf which (if you don’t die or the chapter’s not wanting for manpower) is usually what happens in space marine trials and is a pretty decent living in 40k.

    Now the reason they did this was the hope he would take his strength and experience and become a warlord that would train new potential recruits. That did not happen. He went home in shame. His family was very understanding and proud he survived the trials (remember, he failed to become essentially a demigod in most Imperial cultures’ eyes). I like to imagine that he was welcomed with a happy feast held by his clan with not an ounce of disappointment but he imagined them being ashamed of him. He basically decided to go the Guts way of taking his grief as an excuse to start killing the biggest beasts and the strongest warriors the planet had to offer to ineffectually work through his issues. Which led to him killing a high-chieftan’s son in a duel which he was imprisoned for and was about to be executed for until the party’s inquisitor came along and saved his life in exchange for a life-oath.

    He’s similar to the Scotsman from Samurai Jack. He’s large, loud, and proud. He’s got a big modified claymore that could get sanctified later to make him even more in-line with his influence. He has a grudge against and a deep jealousy of the guy who won the trials and often goes into battle screaming his name in rage. That guy later got inducted into the Deathwatch and they’ve actually met him and played as him in a mini-session.

    I really need to just make a blog post gathering all the names and synopses of the npcs I made because I am starting to forget some.

    Kadoken on
  • FuselageFuselage Oosik Jumpship LoungeRegistered User regular
    Unpopular opinion(?):

    If you refluffed D&D 4e mechanics as a space combat rpg with each class/role/character as a different type of capital ship and stole some roleplaying mechanics from PbtA/FitD to simulate ship or fleet dynamics, it would probably be successful and heralded as refreshing.

    o4n72w5h9b5y.png
  • ArdentArdent Down UpsideRegistered User regular
    Fuselage wrote: »
    Unpopular opinion(?):

    If you refluffed D&D 4e mechanics as a space combat rpg with each class/role/character as a different type of capital ship and stole some roleplaying mechanics from PbtA/FitD to simulate ship or fleet dynamics, it would probably be successful and heralded as refreshing.
    D&D 4e is an excellent game. That statement needs no caveats.

    But things that are excellent are frequently ignored in favor of things that are deeply flawed but promise more.

    Steam ID | Origin ID: ArdentX | Uplay ID: theardent | Battle.net: Ardent#11476
  • DarkPrimusDarkPrimus Registered User regular
    Fuselage wrote: »
    Unpopular opinion(?):

    If you refluffed D&D 4e mechanics as a space combat rpg with each class/role/character as a different type of capital ship and stole some roleplaying mechanics from PbtA/FitD to simulate ship or fleet dynamics, it would probably be successful and heralded as refreshing.

    PUT THIS IN MY VEINS

  • joshgotrojoshgotro Deviled Egg The Land of REAL CHILIRegistered User regular
    DarkPrimus wrote: »
    Fuselage wrote: »
    Unpopular opinion(?):

    If you refluffed D&D 4e mechanics as a space combat rpg with each class/role/character as a different type of capital ship and stole some roleplaying mechanics from PbtA/FitD to simulate ship or fleet dynamics, it would probably be successful and heralded as refreshing.

    PUT THIS IN MY VEINS

    Sits patiently in line.

  • MsAnthropyMsAnthropy The Lady of Pain Breaks the Rhythm, Breaks the Rhythm, Breaks the Rhythm The City of FlowersRegistered User regular
    Fuselage wrote: »
    Unpopular opinion(?):

    If you refluffed D&D 4e mechanics as a space combat rpg with each class/role/character as a different type of capital ship and stole some roleplaying mechanics from PbtA/FitD to simulate ship or fleet dynamics, it would probably be successful and heralded as refreshing.

    This is how EN Publishing’s Zeitgeist Adventure Path handles sailing ship combat. On paper it looks like it would work really well.

    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
  • InquisitorInquisitor Registered User regular
    I also shall be running Blades in the Dark soon, just finished reading the rulebook.

    I think I like it a lot.

    Seems like a good mix between the more mechanically crunchy systems that I know and enjoy and the PbtA stuff I've quietly admired from the sidelines but found far too loosey goosey to work for me.

  • admanbadmanb unionize your workplace Seattle, WARegistered User regular
    Inquisitor wrote: »
    I also shall be running Blades in the Dark soon, just finished reading the rulebook.

    I think I like it a lot.

    Seems like a good mix between the more mechanically crunchy systems that I know and enjoy and the PbtA stuff I've quietly admired from the sidelines but found far too loosey goosey to work for me.

    Yes.

  • FuselageFuselage Oosik Jumpship LoungeRegistered User regular
    Ardent wrote: »
    Fuselage wrote: »
    Unpopular opinion(?):

    If you refluffed D&D 4e mechanics as a space combat rpg with each class/role/character as a different type of capital ship and stole some roleplaying mechanics from PbtA/FitD to simulate ship or fleet dynamics, it would probably be successful and heralded as refreshing.
    D&D 4e is an excellent game. That statement needs no caveats.

    But things that are excellent are frequently ignored in favor of things that are deeply flawed but promise more.
    DarkPrimus wrote: »
    Fuselage wrote: »
    Unpopular opinion(?):

    If you refluffed D&D 4e mechanics as a space combat rpg with each class/role/character as a different type of capital ship and stole some roleplaying mechanics from PbtA/FitD to simulate ship or fleet dynamics, it would probably be successful and heralded as refreshing.

    PUT THIS IN MY VEINS
    joshgotro wrote: »
    DarkPrimus wrote: »
    Fuselage wrote: »
    Unpopular opinion(?):

    If you refluffed D&D 4e mechanics as a space combat rpg with each class/role/character as a different type of capital ship and stole some roleplaying mechanics from PbtA/FitD to simulate ship or fleet dynamics, it would probably be successful and heralded as refreshing.

    PUT THIS IN MY VEINS

    Sits patiently in line.

    I think I'd have different types of commanders and different classes of vessels separate - so you could get some interesting combinations, like a disgraced Military Commander that's now in charge of the fleet's Morale, Welfare, and Recreation yacht that heals social/morale damage while the commander runs a tight ship.

    I'm trying to think of which dice resolution to go with, 2d6+Stat or d20. I'd want moves for the commanders and ships, with perhaps some crossover between ship class moves or generic ship moves depending on the commander type.

    Hex Grid-wise, I wonder if it would be worthwhile to take a page out of Into the Breach's book and make damage guaranteed and/or static values, so you know if you do nothing on your turn and you're in range of X ship, it'll do Y damage to your pleasure yacht instead of attacking your battleship. Then you're incentivized to work together for the moves that shift or buff each other? I need to delve deeper into 4e to see what the best candidates are for theft. @Ardent what do you think that 4e does better than anything else?

    (Alternatively, move-wise you could even go with a Spellbound Kingdoms style where the moves are on a combat flowchart and chain together, and you unlock more as you level up)

    o4n72w5h9b5y.png
  • JustTeeJustTee Registered User regular
    If I wanted to try to run a game of this delicious 4E that's been bandied about, what books would I need to grab to learn how to run it from scratch and present a decent amount of player-facing options? Any particular adventures I'd need to get?

    Diagnosed with AML on 6/1/12. Read about it: www.effleukemia.com
  • joshgotrojoshgotro Deviled Egg The Land of REAL CHILIRegistered User regular
    Just straight 4E DND?

  • DevoutlyApatheticDevoutlyApathetic Registered User regular
    JustTee wrote: »
    If I wanted to try to run a game of this delicious 4E that's been bandied about, what books would I need to grab to learn how to run it from scratch and present a decent amount of player-facing options? Any particular adventures I'd need to get?

    Not really joking: Gamma World Boxed Set.

    It's a streamlined 4e ruleset and very easy to pick up and play. Would definitely give you a feel for the system though in a wacky post apocalyptic setting where you could easily be a teenage mutant ninja turtle.

    This thing:
    https://www.amazon.com/Gamma-World-Roleplaying-Game-Setting/dp/0786955082

    Don't pay that amount money for it though.

    Nod. Get treat. PSN: Quippish
  • italianranmaitalianranma Registered User regular
    joshgotro wrote: »
    Just straight 4E DND?

    6e5j973r11y0.jpg

    The game is pretty playable with just the 3 core books, but it had so many releases over the years that it really evolved. And I wouldn't want to do character gen without the online tool which I don't know where to find anymore.

    飛べねぇ豚はただの豚だ。
  • SleepSleep Registered User regular
    Fuselage wrote: »
    Unpopular opinion(?):

    If you refluffed D&D 4e mechanics as a space combat rpg with each class/role/character as a different type of capital ship and stole some roleplaying mechanics from PbtA/FitD to simulate ship or fleet dynamics, it would probably be successful and heralded as refreshing.

    Holy shit i like viscerally want this.

  • DevoutlyApatheticDevoutlyApathetic Registered User regular
    joshgotro wrote: »
    Just straight 4E DND?

    6e5j973r11y0.jpg

    The game is pretty playable with just the 3 core books, but it had so many releases over the years that it really evolved. And I wouldn't want to do character gen without the online tool which I don't know where to find anymore.

    Last I checked there are still customer service shenanigans that let you buy a D&D Insider account complete with compendium access and shitty web character builder.

    If you limited it to just the Essential core books, Heroes of the Fallen Lands and Heroes of the Forgotten Kindgoms, the character building there would not be too ridiculous to do by hand.

    Nod. Get treat. PSN: Quippish
  • FuselageFuselage Oosik Jumpship LoungeRegistered User regular
    If I make a Discord would anyone ne interested in making it a thing with me? Most of the time I'm the only one that wants any of my random ideas. We could build it, bit by bit.

    o4n72w5h9b5y.png
  • MsAnthropyMsAnthropy The Lady of Pain Breaks the Rhythm, Breaks the Rhythm, Breaks the Rhythm The City of FlowersRegistered User regular
    edited September 2018
    JustTee wrote: »
    If I wanted to try to run a game of this delicious 4E that's been bandied about, what books would I need to grab to learn how to run it from scratch and present a decent amount of player-facing options? Any particular adventures I'd need to get?

    Hmmm. If I were doing this I would honestly probably start with the Essentials line (Heroes of the Fallen Land, Heroes of the Forgotten Kingdom) for players, but add the the Heroes of Shadow\Feywild\Elements if you are running games themed around those, and/or the three PHBs, the various ‘Source’ Power books if people are really clamoring for more complicated characters.

    On the DMs side, the Rules Compendium, DMG2, both Monster Vaults, and MM3 are all very useful. As far as adventures go, the ones I recall doing well at my table were The Slaying Stone and Reavers of Harkenwold. Madness at Gardmore Abbey also looked rad, but I never got to run it. There was also a D&D Insider adventure that was a Heart of Darkness knock-off—I think it was called Heretic—that had a really good reputation.

    Finally I would recommend hunting down a copy of the offline character builder, and the indie-developed DM tool called Masterplan. Those make character and encounter creation/running super-easy. To the point that I could put together level-appropriate challenges pretty much on the fly as needed when running my 4e Planescape game (though I did predesigned most all of my big boss battles, as I liked to create elaborate environments, etc for those).

    MsAnthropy on
    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
  • FuselageFuselage Oosik Jumpship LoungeRegistered User regular
    If you're interested in working on this or just watching the process, here's the Discord link. https://discord.gg/SPqJFft

    o4n72w5h9b5y.png
  • dresdenphiledresdenphile Watch out for snakes!Registered User regular
    MsAnthropy wrote: »
    JustTee wrote: »
    If I wanted to try to run a game of this delicious 4E that's been bandied about, what books would I need to grab to learn how to run it from scratch and present a decent amount of player-facing options? Any particular adventures I'd need to get?

    Hmmm. If I were doing this I would honestly probably start with the Essentials line (Heroes of the Fallen Land, Heroes of the Forgotten Kingdom) for players, but add the the Heroes of Shadow\Feywild\Elements if you are running games themed around those, and/or the three PHBs, the various ‘Source’ Power books if people are really clamoring for more complicated characters.

    On the DMs side, the Rules Compendium, DMG2, both Monster Vaults, and MM3 are all very useful. As far as adventures go, the ones I recall doing well at my table were The Slaying Stone and Reavers of Harkenwold. Madness at Gardmore Abbey also looked rad, but I never got to run it. There was also a D&D Insider adventure that was a Heart of Darkness knock-off—I think it was called Heretic—that had a really good reputation.

    Finally I would recommend hunting down a copy of the offline character builder, and the indie-developed DM tool called Masterplan. Those make character and encounter creation/running super-easy. To the point that I could put together level-appropriate challenges pretty much on the fly as needed when running my 4e Planescape game (though I did predesigned most all of my big boss battles, as I liked to create elaborate environments, etc for those).

    The D&D Insider module is Heathen, and I want to say somebody ran a PbP of it on these very forums.

    The offline character builder (which is my favorite character builder, and has to be one of the best RPG character creators ever) community project is called CBLoader, I think.

    steam_sig.png
  • DarkPrimusDarkPrimus Registered User regular
    If anyone knows of a clone for the 4e Monster Manual tool, I'd love to have it because that thing was sick as hell. I could generate encounters for weeks of play in a few hours, even when that involved reskinning monsters or creating them from scratch.

  • MsAnthropyMsAnthropy The Lady of Pain Breaks the Rhythm, Breaks the Rhythm, Breaks the Rhythm The City of FlowersRegistered User regular
    DarkPrimus wrote: »
    If anyone knows of a clone for the 4e Monster Manual tool, I'd love to have it because that thing was sick as hell. I could generate encounters for weeks of play in a few hours, even when that involved reskinning monsters or creating them from scratch.

    If you can find Masterplan with the libraries, it has an Encounter builder, and a custom monster creator (with MM3 math) which can be used to edit creatures or steal existing powers to place on a new one. It is a bit jankier than the official tool, but it can do what you are looking for.

    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
  • DevoutlyApatheticDevoutlyApathetic Registered User regular
    \
    MsAnthropy wrote: »
    DarkPrimus wrote: »
    If anyone knows of a clone for the 4e Monster Manual tool, I'd love to have it because that thing was sick as hell. I could generate encounters for weeks of play in a few hours, even when that involved reskinning monsters or creating them from scratch.

    If you can find Masterplan with the libraries, it has an Encounter builder, and a custom monster creator (with MM3 math) which can be used to edit creatures or steal existing powers to place on a new one. It is a bit jankier than the official tool, but it can do what you are looking for.

    Thank you. I knew I'd found something when I trawled around earlier this year but could not find that name for the life of me.

    It seems a bit more complicated than I'd like but still better than what was left in the really crippled official monster builder.

    Nod. Get treat. PSN: Quippish
  • MsAnthropyMsAnthropy The Lady of Pain Breaks the Rhythm, Breaks the Rhythm, Breaks the Rhythm The City of FlowersRegistered User regular
    \
    MsAnthropy wrote: »
    DarkPrimus wrote: »
    If anyone knows of a clone for the 4e Monster Manual tool, I'd love to have it because that thing was sick as hell. I could generate encounters for weeks of play in a few hours, even when that involved reskinning monsters or creating them from scratch.

    If you can find Masterplan with the libraries, it has an Encounter builder, and a custom monster creator (with MM3 math) which can be used to edit creatures or steal existing powers to place on a new one. It is a bit jankier than the official tool, but it can do what you are looking for.

    Thank you. I knew I'd found something when I trawled around earlier this year but could not find that name for the life of me.

    It seems a bit more complicated than I'd like but still better than what was left in the really crippled official monster builder.

    Yeah, it is a bit clunky, but it’s really good for a free tool built by one dude in his spare time. I used it to manage an 18-24 month Heroic/Half-of-Paragon Tier game, and I am not sure I could have swung that without it.

    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
  • MatevMatev Cero Miedo Registered User regular
    edited September 2018
    Crap, I was so distracted with making ridiculous supervillains and running my dungeon world death dungeon that I missed 4e talk. Hit me with a new discord link (The previous one's no good), I'm an old 4e hand (Running 3 different campaigns in the system still) who can lend resources to make your transition less clunky.

    Matev on
    "Go down, kick ass, and set yourselves up as gods, that's our Prime Directive!"
    Hail Hydra
  • ElvenshaeElvenshae Registered User regular
    Fuselage wrote: »
    If you're interested in working on this or just watching the process, here's the Discord link. https://discord.gg/SPqJFft

    Aww, man! Invalid Disco invite link!

  • FuselageFuselage Oosik Jumpship LoungeRegistered User regular
  • DracomicronDracomicron Registered User regular
    Fuselage wrote: »
    Unpopular opinion(?):

    If you refluffed D&D 4e mechanics as a space combat rpg with each class/role/character as a different type of capital ship and stole some roleplaying mechanics from PbtA/FitD to simulate ship or fleet dynamics, it would probably be successful and heralded as refreshing.

    I was very much planning to give my Gamma World PCs space-capable mechs that basically used the normal random character creation rules and just say that those were their capabilities on a mech scale, which was a power of 10 greater than a PC's strength. They would use them to fight spaceships and kaiju.

    The campaign veered off into time travel and geopolitics before I could work the mechs in, but I think it would have worked quite well.

  • ArdentArdent Down UpsideRegistered User regular
    Fuselage wrote: »
    Ardent what do you think that 4e does better than anything else?
    To actually answer this question: it doesn't excel at any one aspect of the things that make a fantasy tabletop role-playing game. It does all of the things very well, though, which is not something you typically see in games. If you had to pick what it's "the best" at relative to other games on the market, I'd say it's the best at keeping all character concepts viable. You might have to stretch a bit here or there, but everything's there after a while and everything will play well and be capable of contributing.

    Steam ID | Origin ID: ArdentX | Uplay ID: theardent | Battle.net: Ardent#11476
  • Mongrel IdiotMongrel Idiot Registered User regular
    Had a second session of Star Trek Adventures on Saturday. I tracked down some player aids, which made things go a lot more smoothly, and caught a few things about combat that I'd missed before that made fighting go significantly faster. The editing on the books continues to frustrate; I'd missed that you get bonus damage dice equal to your Security because it's only briefly mentioned in character creation, not anywhere in the combat chapter that I could find. Bad on me for not reading more carefully, but also the edition of the book I have is pretty typo-heavy.

    But the game was awesome. One player couldn't make it, but by applying the Supporting Character rules we were able to easily keep his character in the game without taking the spotlight off people in the room. Momentum and Threat both moved a lot more freely around the table, though they're still gunshy about giving me Threat. There was one great moment where the science officer elected to take extra time studying the symptoms of a disease in order to reduce the difficulty of curing it later. He succeeded, but rolled a Complication, and after a bit of thought I just went "ok, cool, you've got it." The player, realizing he can cancel a Complication with Momentum, tossed me a couple chips, and I narrated how he and the doctor narrowly avoided going misreading the data, which I was planning to model by having the difficulty of developing the cure be one higher than I actually told them. I love how smoothly that emerged from the mechanics, and how Star Trek it felt.

    They ended up finishing the intro mission from the core rulebook, completing all of the objectives, and not really getting themselves in trouble. That was in part because I was enjoying their interactions and planning too much to really press them with Threat; maybe next mission. Last thing we did was roll for Reputation. All of the lower-ranking officers ended up gaining a lot of Reputation, especially the one who worked on developing the cure, but the one Lieutenant Commander on the crew didn't gain as much, which I narrated as a slap on the wrist because she decided to take the time to gather research specimens before they were destroyed, which risked some of her crew. It paid off, but it's the kind of thing a superior might chastise a leader for, while praising officers subordinate to that leader for success under difficult circumstances. Again, a few quick dice rolls generated a really thematic moment. And now I have a scientist and a doctor who are famous in Starfleet for improvising a cure for a new syndrome, under time pressure, in a wrecked science facility. Great plot hook.

    So anyway. Star Trek Adventures is good, and I'm super looking forward to playing more. Next session they'll rendezvous with their ship, so we get to try out the starship creation rules, and we'll need to make our first real supporting character because nobody wanted to be the captain.

  • KadokenKadoken Giving Ends to my Friends and it Feels Stupendous Registered User regular
    edited September 2018
    My second party are cowards who wouldn’t go into the ship with the torture aliens. My first party would have crashed their car inside, overpowered the pilots, forced them to fly to their secret base, and possibly killed everyone inside.

    Which is why they weren't given the mission and the second party was.

    (they were probably right to not go inside).

    Kadoken on
  • RiemannLivesRiemannLives Registered User regular
    Ardent wrote: »
    Fuselage wrote: »
    Ardent what do you think that 4e does better than anything else?
    To actually answer this question: it doesn't excel at any one aspect of the things that make a fantasy tabletop role-playing game. It does all of the things very well, though, which is not something you typically see in games. If you had to pick what it's "the best" at relative to other games on the market, I'd say it's the best at keeping all character concepts viable. You might have to stretch a bit here or there, but everything's there after a while and everything will play well and be capable of contributing.

    Of the editions of D&D, it is by far the best at:
    1) making combat interesting
    2) making the DM's life easier when planning adventures. In so many ways. Easier to make monsters with interesting abilities, plan combats with various kinds of monsters, make variants of monsters etc... The best example of this was the comment the other day in the D&D thread (and this was even more true in 3rd and 2nd ed) to the effect that they never bothered trying to use enemies that can cast spells because it was such a headache. That is both very true and very sad.

    Attacked by tweeeeeeees!
  • ArdentArdent Down UpsideRegistered User regular
    Yeah, 4e's ease of use for DMs is worth noting, although I've been building set pieces rather than trying to construct encounters that fit a story for a long time now...

    But yes, it's definitely the easiest version of D&D to build good challenges for, although it's not the best fantasy RPG. Which I think was a substantial part of its problem: doing everything very well isn't going to strike a lot of people as exceptional. But it really, really is.

    Steam ID | Origin ID: ArdentX | Uplay ID: theardent | Battle.net: Ardent#11476
  • InquisitorInquisitor Registered User regular
    I think the combat in 4e was solid but the rest of the system felt very threadbare to me, especially skills. And combat is the least interesting aspect of pnp rpgs for me so the system was kinda flat for me.

    Though to be fair I stopped playing 4E when there was no PHB 2, DMG 2 etc. and I understand the edition saw substantial overhauls.

  • DelduwathDelduwath Registered User regular
    Ardent wrote: »
    it's definitely the easiest version of D&D to build good challenges for, although it's not the best fantasy RPG
    OK, well, obviously I have to ask: What's the best fantasy RPG?

  • webguy20webguy20 I spend too much time on the Internet Registered User regular
    Based on market share and cultural impact i'd say 5th ed. The age of streaming has really brought D&D to the forefront.

    Steam ID: Webguy20
    Origin ID: Discgolfer27
    Untappd ID: Discgolfer1981
  • FuselageFuselage Oosik Jumpship LoungeRegistered User regular
    webguy20 wrote: »
    Based on market share and cultural impact i'd say 5th ed. The age of streaming has really brought D&D to the forefront.

    And the rising tide floats all boats!

    o4n72w5h9b5y.png
  • ArdentArdent Down UpsideRegistered User regular
    Delduwath wrote: »
    OK, well, obviously I have to ask: What's the best fantasy RPG?
    Well, specifically for building challenges?

    Probably The One Ring. It's very hard to set up a bad encounter. You have to purposefully do it, in my experience. (It is, on the other hand, very easy to make tactical errors that can make the combat seem very swingy.)

    Depending on how broad you want to get with "fantasy tabletop RPG," of course, the answers can get pretty weird. The Polish-language only Witcher RPG has excellent combat rules where the average encounter is likely to be somewhat deadly to the average character.

    The worst fantasy RPG systems are probably GURPS and Pathfinder, as far as building challenges.

    More broadly? It's always going to come down to taste, but I like 13th Age for off-the-shelf playability. The more common answer is "whatever I've house ruled to my satisfaction." The absolute answer is, of course, "I've written my own ruleset for fantasy role-playing and find it to be completely superior to the alternatives."

    Steam ID | Origin ID: ArdentX | Uplay ID: theardent | Battle.net: Ardent#11476
  • JustTeeJustTee Registered User regular
    MsAnthropy wrote: »
    JustTee wrote: »
    If I wanted to try to run a game of this delicious 4E that's been bandied about, what books would I need to grab to learn how to run it from scratch and present a decent amount of player-facing options? Any particular adventures I'd need to get?

    Hmmm. If I were doing this I would honestly probably start with the Essentials line (Heroes of the Fallen Land, Heroes of the Forgotten Kingdom) for players, but add the the Heroes of Shadow\Feywild\Elements if you are running games themed around those, and/or the three PHBs, the various ‘Source’ Power books if people are really clamoring for more complicated characters.

    On the DMs side, the Rules Compendium, DMG2, both Monster Vaults, and MM3 are all very useful. As far as adventures go, the ones I recall doing well at my table were The Slaying Stone and Reavers of Harkenwold. Madness at Gardmore Abbey also looked rad, but I never got to run it. There was also a D&D Insider adventure that was a Heart of Darkness knock-off—I think it was called Heretic—that had a really good reputation.

    Finally I would recommend hunting down a copy of the offline character builder, and the indie-developed DM tool called Masterplan. Those make character and encounter creation/running super-easy. To the point that I could put together level-appropriate challenges pretty much on the fly as needed when running my 4e Planescape game (though I did predesigned most all of my big boss battles, as I liked to create elaborate environments, etc for those).

    So, I just want to see if I have this right, as there are millions of links and products and things.
    Player facing: Now, are these mostly for character options? Settings options? Of the three PHBs, should I get all? One? Which one is the most balanced? If I'm going to get a group together to play 4E that's mostly played 5E, Blades in the Dark, Lady Blackbird, Dungeon World - what would be the books with the least overwhelming series of options?

    DM facing:
    Rules Compendium:
    https://www.amazon.com/Rules-Compendium-Essential-Dungeons-Dragons/dp/0786956216
    DMG2:
    https://www.amazon.com/Dungeon-Masters-Guide-Mike-Mearls/dp/078695244X
    Both Monster Vaults:
    https://www.amazon.com/Monster-Vault-Essential-Dungeons-Dragons/dp/0786956313
    &
    https://www.amazon.com/Monster-Vault-Threats-Dungeons-Supplement/dp/0786958383 (this one in particular I'm not sure about, also lol@$200 price
    Monster Manual 3:
    https://www.amazon.com/Monster-Manual-Rulebook-Dungeons-Dragons/dp/0786954906
    The Slaying Stone:
    I can't actually find any legitimate sources to buy this....I found a PDF I think is right?
    Reavers of Harkenwold:
    Same as above.
    Now, which of these would be a good start to learning how to run a game of 4E? Rules compendium? Or is the DMG actually useful here?


    Thanks all! Starting to get a pretty good idea of what I'd need to grab to start deciding if running a game of 4E is in the cards for me or not.

    Diagnosed with AML on 6/1/12. Read about it: www.effleukemia.com
  • DevoutlyApatheticDevoutlyApathetic Registered User regular
    For PHB -a-likes I'd go for the Heroes of the Fallen/Forgotten Land/Kingdom for a new group. Technically either since there is a bunch of duplicate information between the two. That, the Rules Compendium for the DM and the first Monster Vault is a really solid foundation to build up from. If folks like what they see there then it'd be fine to go and toss in more books later on. Those two heroes books can fill in for the PHB1. The other PHBs do not contain the basic player rule stuff like Heroes/PHB1 do.

    If you need a DMG I'd stick to the first one but I'd do yourself a favor and print out the errata, especially for skill challenges. I think the Rules Compendium covers most of the things that'd do for you though.

    Nod. Get treat. PSN: Quippish
  • SleepSleep Registered User regular
    DMG 2 is also very good if I remember correctly.

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