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Elfgames posted:no you loving didn't you liar. i'm an old man fool_of_sound posted:Ars Magica has super lethal combat like that, where a botch on a defense roll will usually just mean instant death. On the other hand, combat isn't the focus; it's usually something to be avoided. Isn't WHRFP like that too
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Jul 31, 2017 17:34
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gradenko_2000 posted:which RPGs do model melee combat realistically? Tangential to your request because it's a card game, but Audatia is modelled on and intended for use as a teaching aid in medieval longsword fighting.
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Jul 31, 2017 17:36
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Plutonis posted:Isn't WHRFP like that too Not really. It's still pretty lethal, but it's rarely just going to one shot you. Basically, you have a buffer of hp that can soak up like 2-3 hits on average, about 1 extra in light armor, 2-3 extra in medium armor, and 5-6 extra in heavy armor. After you're into maiming/killing territory. Of course, players can also burn their Fate Points to survive lethal hits.
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Jul 31, 2017 18:01
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Kai Tave posted:Yyyyyep, this is exactly me. So much about the adventure is actually not terrible, and the basic premise is a clever one...a town is being wracked by deadly storms as punishment sent by "heaven," the cause of which is a magic altar that enforces a strict set of ethics established by a Made God way back when, and if the PCs can't find the cause of "heaven's displeasure" the storms will continue until the town is destroyed...but then it turns out that yep, the cause is a sorcerer using the cover of a priest of a small temple to rape people as part of his magical rites. Also another dilemma introduced into the adventure is that the victims of this rape are also considered in violation of this lovely and inflexible ethics code governing the altar for "infidelity" and not coming clean to the authorities about what happened and the PCs have to find a way to deal with that and it's just a huge fuckin mess I cannot imagine wanting to bring to the table at all. So in the grand tradition of "how can I fix this" TTRPG windmill tilting, I was thinking about how you could remove the rape element and preserve the "victim silencing" complication. Removing the rape is easy: replace it with literally anything else that could be considered "spiritually impure" for some reason. Slaying of pigs is an easy one, or any other animal--the local priest is using ritually impure animals to power some kind of ritual and the old altar is flipping its poo poo about it. Silencing the victims is slightly harder, since why wouldn't you just tell people the priest made you kill a pig and/or eat pork? If the local populace viewed the activity with equal disdain then you'd get people refusing to speak up for fear of censure or banishment. Maybe only an 'untouchable' class is supposed to handle butchery and the violation of that taboo can cost one their entire social standing. You can also have thugs in the priest's service menacing people, though handling those isn't really a big deal for Godbound. You could go with human sacrifice if you wanted to keep the 'edgy' element but that feels a bit more played out to me, plus finding sacrifices in a relatively small population can be a challenge. Could be a suborned innkeeper 'donating' travelers or something. I'm still not going to buy the module despite liking Godbound and Crawford generally but at least I don't feel like I need to avoid future products on the basis of this one.
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Jul 31, 2017 18:01
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https://twitter.com/dndoggos/status/885873998915088384
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Jul 31, 2017 18:14
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Plutonis posted:Isn't WHRFP like that too The 40k RPGs are more like this, where rocket tag becomes the rule of the day rather than an exception. Case in point: one shot from an Astartes Bolter is going to put your average human either in criticals (which is bad times) or drat close to it. And if they're an NPC, they're dead once they hit criticals anyway. An average human has about 8-9 wounds that they can take before death/criticals. Odds are they're going to have three points of soak from Toughness and 4 points of armor - if we're being generous - from Imperial Guard flak armor. An Astartes Bolter deals 1d10+9 damage, rolling twice and taking the highest. It also has a high enough penetration that the flak armor is useless. Assuming the average roll of 5 on the d10 (which will likely be higher because you roll twice and take the highest), that's 14 damage. The human's Toughness cancels out 3 damage, but 11 still goes through which puts them straight into criticals. If they're a player, they're going to suffer from some kind of debilitating - but not fatal - effect. If they're an NPC, narrate something along the lines of whatever body part you hit exploding. By the way, the Astartes Bolter is standard for Space Marines, which you play as in Deathwatch. If you're playing Dark Heresy, Only War, Rogue Trader, or Black Crusade (only as human renegades), you should probably start making GBS threads yourself once Astartes show up on the scene. In Deathwatch, it gets pretty ridiculous because the enemies you fight start carrying weapons that one-shot Space Marines (I'm looking at any of the Necron melee weapons), let alone average humans.
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Jul 31, 2017 18:30
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What are some good RPG podcasts that are not actual play? System Mastery is the only one I listen to.
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Jul 31, 2017 18:51
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Shut Up and Sit Down regularly talks about indie RPGs on their podcast but their focus is board games so you'd probably have to check the page of each individual 'cast and see what topics they cover.
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Jul 31, 2017 19:05
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Halloween Jack posted:What are some good RPG podcasts that are not actual play? System Mastery is the only one I listen to.
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Jul 31, 2017 19:22
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FMguru posted:Ken And Robin Talk About Stuff isn't wall-to-wall RPG talk, but it is recommended. Seconding this.
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Jul 31, 2017 19:38
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LuiCypher posted:The 40k RPGs are more like this, where rocket tag becomes the rule of the day rather than an exception. A bolter bullet is the size of a human fist so I definitely would believe it would kill a person in one shot if it didn't just grazed
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Jul 31, 2017 20:08
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Bolter rounds are .75 caliber gyrojet shells, so yeah, you're shooting someone with a round which in the real world would be more appropriate to anti-tank and anti-aircraft guns. I downloaded an episode of Ken And Robin Talk About Stuff; I wonder how much their latest episodes will be taken up by the King in Yellow game, and how that will turn out.
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Jul 31, 2017 20:19
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occamsnailfile posted:So in the grand tradition of "how can I fix this" TTRPG windmill tilting, I was thinking about how you could remove the rape element and preserve the "victim silencing" complication. Removing the rape is easy: replace it with literally anything else that could be considered "spiritually impure" for some reason. Slaying of pigs is an easy one, or any other animal--the local priest is using ritually impure animals to power some kind of ritual and the old altar is flipping its poo poo about it. Silencing the victims is slightly harder, since why wouldn't you just tell people the priest made you kill a pig and/or eat pork? If the local populace viewed the activity with equal disdain then you'd get people refusing to speak up for fear of censure or banishment. Maybe only an 'untouchable' class is supposed to handle butchery and the violation of that taboo can cost one their entire social standing. You can also have thugs in the priest's service menacing people, though handling those isn't really a big deal for Godbound. I'm pretty sure that stepping into this minefield is going to be an extremely bad idea, but... I think if you wanted to try and salvage the adventure so it isn't blatantly a non-starter for someone who doesn't want to play a game where the one-two badguy punch is a serial rapist and hosed-up victim shaming the solution would be easier than that, although your idea is also good...it would simply be to cut out the "evil sorcerer who needs to have sex to fuel his power" thing altogether but preserve the rest. Okay, so how do you do that? Well fertility magic is an actual thing in Godbound's setting and the priest in the adventure is ostensibly the priest of a temple where a lot of people go to pray for assistance conceiving a child (which in the original adventure is how he lures his victims in the first place) so why not, instead of some lovely rape deal, just make it so the priest in question finds a book or scroll of fertility magic that he realizes could be used to help with this dilemma but the catch is that the ritual involves him being part of it. Nothing's coerced or involuntary, he explains the situation to everyone he approaches, plenty of them turn him down (they don't tell anybody because they're worried nobody will believe their word against an honored priest) but some of them, feeling pressured by the societal expectation to have children, take him up on it. Of these, some are content to keep the source of their "miracle" a secret while others find themselves having regrets and end up fleeing the town as in the published adventure. None of this even needs to involve any sex whatsoever btw, it could simply be that the altar considers this particular fertility ritual to be "adultery" and is punishing the town accordingly. The priest keeps trying to find a way to make the ritual slide under the altar's radar but he isn't an accomplished enough practitioner to beat a Made God's morality box. At this point the only real knock-on effect this has for the adventure besides excising the least pleasant part of it is that it means there's no climactic battle with a chief badguy for the combat spec'd characters to enjoy, the priest isn't some heinous villain, he's just a dude who tried to help people and got in way over his head. Maybe throw in a Raktian attack against the town or something, say their scouts have noticed the storms happen at regular intervals and they're going to use that as an opportunity to strike.
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Jul 31, 2017 20:34
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Just have the Morality Box turn into Moralitron and have your combat boys beat up a robot would be my first thought.
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Jul 31, 2017 20:38
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Yeah what Maltose said, if you want a climactic battle--give the altar a guardian. But that is another good way to salvage the hook and even use sexuality in a more positive way.
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Jul 31, 2017 20:48
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Kai Tave posted:I'm pretty sure that stepping into this minefield is going to be an extremely bad idea, but... "Godbound: Dogs in the Vineyard Edition" has a lot of promise.
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Jul 31, 2017 21:24
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Plutonis posted:i'm an old man Unless the GM has them murder you while you're incapacitated of course.
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Jul 31, 2017 21:24
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Kai Tave posted:None of this even needs to involve any sex whatsoever btw, it could simply be that the altar considers this particular fertility ritual to be "adultery" and is punishing the town accordingly.
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Jul 31, 2017 21:34
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Kestral posted:"Godbound: Dogs in the Vineyard Edition" has a lot of promise. That's the real shame about the adventure as published, the rest of it is pretty good with the various power players all angling to use the PCs to advance their different and contradictory agendas all the while a Made God's inflexible code of morality sends storms to "punish" everyone for violating its manufactured strictures, the quick and easy solutions all have potentially disastrous long-term consequences and the ideal solutions require a lot more work and creativity and you're probably still going to wind up pissing someone off. It's just, y'know, the whole serial rape thing kind of drags it down.
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Jul 31, 2017 21:39
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https://twitter.com/dndoggos/status/884491343199952898
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Jul 31, 2017 21:40
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Splicer posted:The officiant has to anoint the couple's genitals with sacred oils prior to the conception attempt. From Moralitron's perspective the local priest's been giving slippery pre-game teasers to half the town. Hell, give Moralitron one of those psycho-fundamentalist perspectives and it could easily flip out over dancing or bare ankles or whatever. Helps sell the "unrealistically harsh enforcement of rules" bit to boot if it's that crazy about what constitutes a violation to begin with.
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Jul 31, 2017 21:51
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Kwyndig posted:I don't think it's possible to model hand to hand combat in a way that's both realistic and fun. Mostly because real serious trying to murder each other combat is typically over as soon as one side makes an exploitable mistake, and that happens fast. Then it's all over except for the choking or the screaming or the deathly quiet of a gushing throat wound. I think the nature of injury has something to do with it too - in a RPG generally 'getting hit' is something you can deal with and keep playing, whether it's losing HP or taking penalties or whatever. A small wound doesn't suddenly get worse when you keep fighting, etc - you know what state you're in and whether you can keep fighting. Pretty much any injury in a real life battle is life-threatening, uncertain, and scary - you get stabbed or shot, you don't know whether you're about to die. And historically infection was going to wreck you. So you really want to avoid any injury. The only RPG I've seen that did this quite well was The Babylon Project - IIRC during a gunfight you pretty much either fell down or not, but after the fight you had a separate resolution process for determining how serious your injuries are. So when you see your buddy fall down mid-fight you have no idea if they're stunned, dead, or going to need immediate surgery. Ars Magica was mentioned but one cool thing about it was that injuries could get worse over time - healing involved a dice roll, so botching your Recovery roll could mean a minor injury could fester and maybe kill you as you linger for months. You also had to make Recovery rolls if you did any strenuous activity with any injury, which could make your wounds worse but not better.
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Jul 31, 2017 23:06
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best roleplaying comic I've ever seen
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Jul 31, 2017 23:45
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Hey so I just got Gamma World 7e and it rules. I'm definitely getting the expansions at some point too, but in the meantime I'm thinking of scouring the 4e section of my FLGS for more monsters. Which of the 4e MMs are the best?
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Aug 1, 2017 06:18
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Monster Vault from memory, otherwise you can probably use the monster math on a business card and then whatever critter books you already have.gradenko_2000 posted:The MilHist thread veered off into how lindybeige is Not Good (TM), so that got me thinking: in recognizance of his numerous rants about D&D being "wrong", and aside from the obvious answer of Phoenix Command's Hand-to-Hand Module, which RPGs do model melee combat realistically? Which milhist thread?
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Aug 1, 2017 06:30
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Late to the party (I guess?), but I got around to reading 7th Sea 2E, and now I'm ordering a physical copy it's so good. I had such low hopes, even with some of the names that have been attached to the game, the only reason I have a PDF of it is because my friend wanted the book for his birthday. But, goddamn, this is like anti-Wickian in every way, and directly answers every criticism my shallow remembrance of first edition can recall. I feel like there would've been more conversation about this, but the whole thing seems to just be quietly and competently grinding away at its massive million-dollar stretch goal list. What gives? EDIT: The video game stretch goal is still probably going to suck. 
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Aug 1, 2017 06:35
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Ratpick posted:Hey so I just got Gamma World 7e and it rules. I'm definitely getting the expansions at some point too, but in the meantime I'm thinking of scouring the 4e section of my FLGS for more monsters. Which of the 4e MMs are the best? Monster Manual 3 and the two Monster Vault sets, at least if you don't want to muck around with converting
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Aug 1, 2017 06:40
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drrockso20 posted:Monster Manual 3 and the two Monster Vault sets, at least if you don't want to muck around with converting Yeah this was exactly what I was looking for, I seem to recall that Gamma World 7e uses the improved monster math from MM3 and the Monster Vaults, so those would definitely be what I'm looking for. Also does anyone have a good idea for an intro level adventure to the game? The one in the rulebook is kinda meh even though it does have some neat setpieces.
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Aug 1, 2017 06:44
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Ratpick posted:Also does anyone have a good idea for an intro level adventure to the game? The one in the rulebook is kinda meh even though it does have some neat setpieces. Here you go!
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Aug 1, 2017 06:47
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Ratpick posted:Yeah this was exactly what I was looking for, I seem to recall that Gamma World 7e uses the improved monster math from MM3 and the Monster Vaults, so those would definitely be what I'm looking for. Monster Manuals 1 & 2 are still good mind you, just have to tinker with them a little
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Aug 1, 2017 06:55
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Okay this rules, now I just need to find 4e stats for frogmen Edit: drrockso20 posted:Monster Manuals 1 & 2 are still good mind you, just have to tinker with them a little This is good to know. Apparently Bullywugs are in MM2 and I already have MM1, so I'll probably be getting MM2 and just adjusting the stats as per the advice on the MM3 on a business card. Ratpick fucked around with this message at 07:08 on Aug 1, 2017 |
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Aug 1, 2017 06:58
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Just got a mail from Mophidius, as I was a playtester in the beta for Star Trek Adventures. They're launching a Living Campaign for the game:quote:Over the coming months we're unfolding the incredible plot which we've been developing with New York Times Best Selling Star Trek novelist Dayton Ward and Star Trek novelist & editor Scott Pearson. Each month we'll be adding two new missions - one set in the Original Series era and one in the Next Generation era. You can run your campaign in either era - the Original Series is a prequel to the main plot but is equally challenging whilst the Next Generation era leads you to an epic finale. I haven't had a chance to play the game yet, but I'm interested that they're involving one of the more well-known Trek authors in Dayton Ward. I've read some of his stuff in the past and have enjoyed it. The mission packets for July have already been distributed, and if anyone wants them to run a game, you can apparently sign up for them here. I'll browse through one of the missions later today, might tinker with the idea of running one as a PbP to see if the system works for that type of game, if there's any interest. The July mission packet came with some pre-generated characters and four pre-generated starships to make convention play/one-shots easier, but they also encourage people to roll up their own characters.
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Aug 1, 2017 08:51
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I wish I knew what was triggering my emails from Modiphius to go straight to my ISP's spam trap. Just checked and there it is. Missed most of the playtest too because I didn't realize I'd actually made it in. On the upside, when the actual PDF came out, I did a jokey writeup of a certain species from the original series as a playable next gen option, and someone over at RPG.net slotted it into the book format, complete with illo. http://enklave-23.de/STA_Sheets/Species/STA_Species_Iotians.pdf
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Aug 1, 2017 10:55
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unseenlibrarian posted:I wish I knew what was triggering my emails from Modiphius to go straight to my ISP's spam trap. Just checked and there it is. Missed most of the playtest too because I didn't realize I'd actually made it in. Now to play a security officer who looks like Ray Liotta in Goodfellas and carries on about heaters. Apparently there were plans to return to that planet in DS9 and have them become Trekkies in the time between the series but they scraped that for Trials and Tribble-ations.
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Aug 1, 2017 12:21
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RocknRollaAyatollah posted:Apparently there were plans to return to that planet in DS9 and have them become Trekkies in the time between the series but they scraped that for Trials and Tribble-ations. There was a really lovely comic book about this. I can't for the life of me find it on the two Trek wikis, but from what I remember of it, it was set just after Star Trek: First Contact. The 1701-E visited Sigma Iotia and found that they had progressed to a mid-23rd century level of technology based around the communicator that McCoy left behind. They had built up a huge starbase, everyone was wearing TOS uniforms, etc. One thing led to another and woops, apparently they didn't abandon their aggressive mobster ways after all, and they stole (or created a copy? memory is hazy) the 1701-E so that they could conquer the Federation or something. It was bad. Edit: boom, found it: http://memory-beta.wikia.com/wiki/A_Piece_of_Reaction
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Aug 1, 2017 12:34
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Cassa posted:Which milhist thread?
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Aug 1, 2017 12:58
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Drone posted:There was a really lovely comic book about this. I can't for the life of me find it on the two Trek wikis, but from what I remember of it, it was set just after Star Trek: First Contact. The 1701-E visited Sigma Iotia and found that they had progressed to a mid-23rd century level of technology based around the communicator that McCoy left behind. They had built up a huge starbase, everyone was wearing TOS uniforms, etc. One thing led to another and woops, apparently they didn't abandon their aggressive mobster ways after all, and they stole (or created a copy? memory is hazy) the 1701-E so that they could conquer the Federation or something. Some fiction anthology had a Iotian engineer who kept calling his boss "Dollface" or something and that was basically all I needed to do the entire writeup.
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Aug 1, 2017 13:20
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Re: Realistic violence in games: D&D's approach is obviously ludicrous, but people advocating for realism usually overcorrect into Quake-style rocket tag and vastly overstate infection. Sure, a few centuries back people died of wounds that modern medical science laughs at, but people also got shot and stabbed and lost limbs to cannon fire and turned out fine. Or just staggered on long enough to do unto the other guy, that wasn't too uncommon either. (There's that old joke about who wins in a knife fight.) Heck, back in 17th century London people would fence with sharp swords for show and prizes, and as far as I can tell, usually nobody died even though it was a very literal blood sport. If you wanted to base the game on actual realism, you'd have to dig through police records on knife and gun violence, and I can't imagine anyone would actually want to wade through all that for the sake of an elfgame. I'd be content if a game used some actually evocative language ("hits" and "damage" make me think of warships, not people locked in mortal combat) and maybe implemented some kind of fatigue mechanic to show that trying to kill a person is a real loving workout. xiw posted:The only RPG I've seen that did this quite well was The Babylon Project - IIRC during a gunfight you pretty much either fell down or not, but after the fight you had a separate resolution process for determining how serious your injuries are. So when you see your buddy fall down mid-fight you have no idea if they're stunned, dead, or going to need immediate surgery.
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Aug 1, 2017 14:14
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Burning Wheel also has some elements of realism in it's combat, from the different maneuvers to the way it handles injury and recovery.
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Aug 1, 2017 14:25
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Siivola posted:Re: Realistic violence in games: D&D's approach is obviously ludicrous, but people advocating for realism usually overcorrect into Quake-style rocket tag and vastly overstate infection. Sure, a few centuries back people died of wounds that modern medical science laughs at, but people also got shot and stabbed and lost limbs to cannon fire and turned out fine. Or just staggered on long enough to do unto the other guy, that wasn't too uncommon either. (There's that old joke about who wins in a knife fight.) Heck, back in 17th century London people would fence with sharp swords for show and prizes, and as far as I can tell, usually nobody died even though it was a very literal blood sport.
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Aug 1, 2017 14:35
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