Had the first session of the new D&D campaign last night! We're sailing to a big pair of islands that were only discovered about 9 years ago. Entirely uninhabited... Except there are ruins there from a civilisation that pre-dates any of the known cultures back on the mainland. I'm part of an expedition going there with the Explorer's League, but I have no idea what the purpose of the expedition actually is, and none of the other people do either!
Long story short, our ship gets set upon by three others in a storm, and they sink us with their cannons. The party are mostly able to do something to get themselves into the water and away from the sinking ship, but the storm's full fury rolls in and... we find ourselves washed ashore. We regroup, and I'm able to work out that we've washed up on the south island- ages away from where we were sailing to in the first place. There's a small settlement port on this island... But it's a long trek away.
I'm playing a Kobold Ranger called Clae, with a companion who is a medium-sized dragon-like lizard, and her name is Lorez! I'm also an archaeologist, and I look identical to one of my ancestors who was one of the four kobolds who united the tribes into one clan and helped them join the Dragonborn kingdom... so most kobolds believe I am the reincarnation of them, and I absolutely hate it and want to be left alone so I can just go be Indiana Jones.
This is what my lizard looks like, she's based on a Mexican Alligator Lizard!
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Indie Winterdie KräheRudi Hurzlmeier (German, b. 1952)Registered Userregular
so I did go on ebay
and I did search "mechwarrior lot"
and I did buy some fucking mecha figurines
because if I'm gonna do LANCER, and I will
I'm gonna do it right
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MaddocI'm Bobbin Threadbare, are you my mother?Registered Userregular
Gotta find some suitable D&D stuff or something for Horus mechs
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Indie Winterdie KräheRudi Hurzlmeier (German, b. 1952)Registered Userregular
edited December 2019
Oh we're gonna mech
Indie Winter on
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WearingglassesOf the friendly neighborhood varietyRegistered Userregular
Wasn't there a mech game with the minis constructed from Lego? I can't remember its name.
Battletech itself just had a big kickstarter with a bunch of brand new sculpts of a lot of their classic designs so that's something to maybe look into as well (although the vast majority of the ones they're making are fairly distinctively Battletech designs)
I’m back home for a few days and as my nieces haven’t got their hands on the new pokémon game just yet they want me to run a few sessions of monster catching fun.
Not sure what to run it in yet. Wasn’t there a system used on this very forum once upon a time? Please don’t link me anyone’s d20 system, they melt my mind imagining all the work that goes into them.
I do know the ‘plot’. A mysterious island has risen out of the sea. Professor [tree noun] has contacted trainers from around the world to investigate. The boat carrying the trainers is wrecked accidentally by [water type] as lots of pokémon are rushing to visit the island too. They wash up on the shore.
Unfortunately, [evil team] has also arrived, due to a legend concerning [legendary pokémon], which they intend to make use of for [reasons].
In the end [legendary pokémon] will carry them to the mainland.
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astrobstrdSo full of mercy...Registered Userregular
edited December 2019
Had my 2nd session last night with my friend running for his family. We're learning that we may have to tone down some of the moral grey area stuff that his son has a hard time with, but it led to one of my favorite moments ever playing an rpg last night.
A goblin was trying to surrender and both he and myself were trying to let it go. His cousin (the only neutral party member) killed it because she didn't want it to alert anyone else. The son began to cry and we walked him through it, saying that we appreciated his empathy, but it was going to be ok, etc.
Without missing a beat, with tears still in his eyes, he turned to his dad and asked if he got XP for it.
PbtA is a good basic system to crib for kids. Not too complicated for math, and allows for player participation in the story-telling. 2d6+ability mod, 10-12 is full success, 7-9 is they succeed but you negotiate a drawback with them, 1-6 is they don't succeed and you narrate something else occurring.
(Of course, a pro move when running a PbtA game is to give the players what they wanted when they roll a 1-6, but turn it around so it's actually something they don't want to happen.)
I sure did, yeah. The wiki for it has somehow managed to not get deleted, though its a little disorganized since it's just a personal project kind of thing.
Quick notes: it's a diceless system made for easy play-by-post games (for me, at least) and Pokemon battles that work more or less as they do in the games (as I apprehended it), with stats, types, and moves and all that fun stuff. Last time I ran it was over yonder in Critical Failures, and it was a pretty good time.
Not sure I'd recommend it outright, but there might be some stuff there worth stealing I suppose, I was particularly happy with the "Demeanor/Need/Quirk" personality block for Pokemon - it made for some memorable Pokemon with interesting demands and unusual behaviors. Coming up with loads of new styles to build moves with was also fun, as was making blatantly OP abilities for boss pokemon.
Marshmallow on
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Zonugal(He/Him) The Holiday ArmadilloI'm Santa's representative for all the southern states. And Mexico!Registered Userregular
You folks were talking in here about restructuring D&D and I actually recently started that process.
I'm stealing a lot of elements from the Star Wars 5E variant system, like how they use points for spells & some of their class options.
I'm also adopting the maneuver system from 3.5's Tome of Battle for my martial characters and the Incarnum system from 3.5 for my Druid class.
Each class has "basic archetypes" which each class can select at 1st, 3rd, 6th, & 9th level which provide a starting template of abilities for the class (with "advanced archetypes" available at 6th & 9th level for greater abilities).
Seems like a good system is starting with just a few base classes and having folks go through various offshoots and advancement classes. Maybe on top of a D20 system that only checks for surpassing 10 and adding banes and boons to modify difficulty. Gotta think about it in the Shadow of this Demon Lord.
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Zonugal(He/Him) The Holiday ArmadilloI'm Santa's representative for all the southern states. And Mexico!Registered Userregular
The basic archetypes I've been working on for my Warrior class are:
-- Archer
-- Berserker
-- Duelist
-- Knight
-- Pugilist
-- Ranger
-- Tactician
Each of them comes with an fighting school of maneuvers & stances.
The advanced archetypes currently look like:
-- Arcane Archer
-- Battlerager
-- Cavalier
-- Drunken Master
-- Dervish
-- Warlord
Seems like a good system is starting with just a few base classes and having folks go through various offshoots and advancement classes. Maybe on top of a D20 system that only checks for surpassing 10 and adding banes and boons to modify difficulty. Gotta think about it in the Shadow of this Demon Lord.
Shadow of the Demon Lord (and the system that inspired these mechanics for it, Warhammer Fantasy) work out great in this way. That's why I stole it for my game with zero shame. I haven't gotten to play as much SoTDL as I'd like to, but I played enough to know that the class system is both balanced and feels really good.
I think the "10 success on everything" makes some things too easy as you go up in levels, particularly saves; higher level characters/monsters pretty much auto-save and it really reduces the impact spells can have, so that's one thing to watch out for with scaling.
Each class has "basic archetypes" which each class can select at 1st, 3rd, 6th, & 9th level which provide a starting template of abilities for the class (with "advanced archetypes" available at 6th & 9th level for greater abilities).
we should exchange notes! I've been doing this as part of my mega-campaign stuff: a bunch of houserules for changing up the classes and some of the core rules etc
I sure did, yeah. The wiki for it has somehow managed to not get deleted, though its a little disorganized since it's just a personal project kind of thing.
Quick notes: it's a diceless system made for easy play-by-post games (for me, at least) and Pokemon battles that work more or less as they do in the games (as I apprehended it), with stats, types, and moves and all that fun stuff. Last time I ran it was over yonder in Critical Failures, and it was a pretty good time.
Not sure I'd recommend it outright, but there might be some stuff there worth stealing I suppose, I was particularly happy with the "Demeanor/Need/Quirk" personality block for Pokemon - it made for some memorable Pokemon with interesting demands and unusual behaviors. Coming up with loads of new styles to build moves with was also fun, as was making blatantly OP abilities for boss pokemon.
Thank you. This’ll be a great base. I might throw in a bit of dice rolling just because they like more dice, but it looks great! Awesome work!
They’re excited to mess with typing, at present they’re thinking ‘Hasty Fire/Ice Vulpix’ and ‘Brave Fairy/Fighting Ledyba’ as their partners.
like if I were to make a fantasy RPG that had all the classes rendered down to as few as possible I'd have
Warrior, Mage, Rogue, Cleric, Druid
rangers are rogue druids
paladins are warrior clerics
warlocks are mage clerics
barbarians are warrior druids
bards are rogue mages
monks are warrior rogues
sorcerers are warrior mages
I'm reading my Eberron book and I really like it. This setting has so much that the Forgotten Realms doesn't, and makes more sense to boot. I really want to play some games here. I may have to run them myself, though.
I could come up with some stuff, but I do see a set of 3.5 adventures and some Adventurer's League 5e ones from last year. Anyone have any experience with either?
I'm also looking at DND Beyond (they have a sale today, $20 for any sourcebook, including the new Eberron one). It doesn't seem to have great DM tools. I can create homebrew content (I won't do that much). I can create a campaign, but that's super barebones. It has 3 text fields: description, DM notes, player notes. And you can save encounters to it, but the encounter builder is just that, it doesn't have hit point or initiative tracking that would actually help you run a combat. I'm sure there's better 3rd party stuff. I'd use OneNote for campaign notes, for sure.
Eh even merely conceptually they are priests. They worship an external concept they consider divine.
I definitely do not think this is true of all druids at all
They are connected to a divine force though
How else do you define them.
not all druids worship something?
not all druids have to be getting their power from a directly divine force?
the exact nature of where druids get their power from is something I've always felt is very nebulous in D&D and frankly I prefer it that way
I think calling them priests puts them in a pigeonhole that doesn't feel indicative of the breadth of ways I've seen people roleplay druids before, and it feels extremely dull to me
Posts
Long story short, our ship gets set upon by three others in a storm, and they sink us with their cannons. The party are mostly able to do something to get themselves into the water and away from the sinking ship, but the storm's full fury rolls in and... we find ourselves washed ashore. We regroup, and I'm able to work out that we've washed up on the south island- ages away from where we were sailing to in the first place. There's a small settlement port on this island... But it's a long trek away.
I'm playing a Kobold Ranger called Clae, with a companion who is a medium-sized dragon-like lizard, and her name is Lorez! I'm also an archaeologist, and I look identical to one of my ancestors who was one of the four kobolds who united the tribes into one clan and helped them join the Dragonborn kingdom... so most kobolds believe I am the reincarnation of them, and I absolutely hate it and want to be left alone so I can just go be Indiana Jones.
This is what my lizard looks like, she's based on a Mexican Alligator Lizard!
and I did search "mechwarrior lot"
and I did buy some fucking mecha figurines
because if I'm gonna do LANCER, and I will
I'm gonna do it right
Oh we're gonna mech
BrikWars!
I’m back home for a few days and as my nieces haven’t got their hands on the new pokémon game just yet they want me to run a few sessions of monster catching fun.
Not sure what to run it in yet. Wasn’t there a system used on this very forum once upon a time? Please don’t link me anyone’s d20 system, they melt my mind imagining all the work that goes into them.
I do know the ‘plot’. A mysterious island has risen out of the sea. Professor [tree noun] has contacted trainers from around the world to investigate. The boat carrying the trainers is wrecked accidentally by [water type] as lots of pokémon are rushing to visit the island too. They wash up on the shore.
Unfortunately, [evil team] has also arrived, due to a legend concerning [legendary pokémon], which they intend to make use of for [reasons].
In the end [legendary pokémon] will carry them to the mainland.
A goblin was trying to surrender and both he and myself were trying to let it go. His cousin (the only neutral party member) killed it because she didn't want it to alert anyone else. The son began to cry and we walked him through it, saying that we appreciated his empathy, but it was going to be ok, etc.
Without missing a beat, with tears still in his eyes, he turned to his dad and asked if he got XP for it.
@Marshmallow hello! You still here?
Steam - Talon Valdez :Blizz - Talonious#1860 : Xbox Live & LoL - Talonious Monk @TaloniousMonk Hail Satan
(Of course, a pro move when running a PbtA game is to give the players what they wanted when they roll a 1-6, but turn it around so it's actually something they don't want to happen.)
Rock Band DLC | GW:OttW - arrcd | WLD - Thortar
Quick notes: it's a diceless system made for easy play-by-post games (for me, at least) and Pokemon battles that work more or less as they do in the games (as I apprehended it), with stats, types, and moves and all that fun stuff. Last time I ran it was over yonder in Critical Failures, and it was a pretty good time.
Not sure I'd recommend it outright, but there might be some stuff there worth stealing I suppose, I was particularly happy with the "Demeanor/Need/Quirk" personality block for Pokemon - it made for some memorable Pokemon with interesting demands and unusual behaviors. Coming up with loads of new styles to build moves with was also fun, as was making blatantly OP abilities for boss pokemon.
I'm stealing a lot of elements from the Star Wars 5E variant system, like how they use points for spells & some of their class options.
I'm also adopting the maneuver system from 3.5's Tome of Battle for my martial characters and the Incarnum system from 3.5 for my Druid class.
My class offerings will end up looking like:
-- Warrior
-- Scoundrel
-- Primalist
-- Artificer
-- Mage
-- Psychic
Each class has "basic archetypes" which each class can select at 1st, 3rd, 6th, & 9th level which provide a starting template of abilities for the class (with "advanced archetypes" available at 6th & 9th level for greater abilities).
-- Archer
-- Berserker
-- Duelist
-- Knight
-- Pugilist
-- Ranger
-- Tactician
Each of them comes with an fighting school of maneuvers & stances.
The advanced archetypes currently look like:
-- Arcane Archer
-- Battlerager
-- Cavalier
-- Drunken Master
-- Dervish
-- Warlord
Shadow of the Demon Lord (and the system that inspired these mechanics for it, Warhammer Fantasy) work out great in this way. That's why I stole it for my game with zero shame. I haven't gotten to play as much SoTDL as I'd like to, but I played enough to know that the class system is both balanced and feels really good.
I think the "10 success on everything" makes some things too easy as you go up in levels, particularly saves; higher level characters/monsters pretty much auto-save and it really reduces the impact spells can have, so that's one thing to watch out for with scaling.
DIESEL
Against the Fall of Night Playtest
Nasty, Brutish, and Short
we should exchange notes! I've been doing this as part of my mega-campaign stuff: a bunch of houserules for changing up the classes and some of the core rules etc
Thank you. This’ll be a great base. I might throw in a bit of dice rolling just because they like more dice, but it looks great! Awesome work!
They’re excited to mess with typing, at present they’re thinking ‘Hasty Fire/Ice Vulpix’ and ‘Brave Fairy/Fighting Ledyba’ as their partners.
Everything else is either a sub class of those or a blend of those.
Stab Bloke
Smash Bloke
Zap Bloke
And/or lady
hmmm I think Druids deserve their own category, personally, but otherwise I largely agree
Yeah but they shouldn't be.
Warrior, Mage, Rogue, Cleric, Druid
rangers are rogue druids
paladins are warrior clerics
warlocks are mage clerics
barbarians are warrior druids
bards are rogue mages
monks are warrior rogues
sorcerers are warrior mages
Eh even merely conceptually they are priests. They worship an external concept they consider divine.
I could come up with some stuff, but I do see a set of 3.5 adventures and some Adventurer's League 5e ones from last year. Anyone have any experience with either?
I'm also looking at DND Beyond (they have a sale today, $20 for any sourcebook, including the new Eberron one). It doesn't seem to have great DM tools. I can create homebrew content (I won't do that much). I can create a campaign, but that's super barebones. It has 3 text fields: description, DM notes, player notes. And you can save encounters to it, but the encounter builder is just that, it doesn't have hit point or initiative tracking that would actually help you run a combat. I'm sure there's better 3rd party stuff. I'd use OneNote for campaign notes, for sure.
Yeah, they can talk to the trees and turn into a bear, there's no question that they have some level of supernatural ability
But their magic is not rote magic, it's something else
I definitely do not think this is true of all druids at all
yeah this is why I said how D&D defines them
druids that are more like some of the wizards in A Wizard of Earthsea would be rad
and then mages are like the rest of the wizards from that
Brains, Face, Muscle, Crazy.
They are connected to a divine force though
How else do you define them.
not all druids worship something?
not all druids have to be getting their power from a directly divine force?
the exact nature of where druids get their power from is something I've always felt is very nebulous in D&D and frankly I prefer it that way
I think calling them priests puts them in a pigeonhole that doesn't feel indicative of the breadth of ways I've seen people roleplay druids before, and it feels extremely dull to me