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not directly RPG related but something really neat I found that is worth looking into for inspiration; Rust & Humus: 1.)The Green Moon And The Land of Uhia, some of the most haunting yet gorgeous art I've seen in a long time
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May 16, 2022 09:31
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hyphz posted:So, cool, a heist taking place in a circus! Sounds great! Except.. there's no detail on how to do the heist. There's a description of what skill check to do to try and steal one of the artifacts from the owners, and that's it. Everything else is just random scenes that the PCs might encounter while exploring the circus innocently, which is all fine, but almost nothing that would help the GM run the process of stealing the artefact. I mean, yes, the GM has to improvise, sure, but surely improvising the regular run of the circus would be easier than improvising the heist? Or are you wanting them to include an entire heist subsystem mechanic ala BitD?
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May 16, 2022 10:15
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To be fair, there's probably a middle ground between "literally laying out an entire heist" and what hyphz is describing. "If your players try to steal one of the artifacts, it should probably involve a scene or two of set-up and the actual theft, here's a short example so you know roughly how many rolls you should expect/if your party needs more ideas". Is the adventure as bad at it as hyphz is describing? I don't know, I don't pay attention to 5e. But I also don't really trust WotC's adventure design, so I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't super helpful.
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May 16, 2022 14:41
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I also see that Zach Morrison of the Paranatural webcomic has put out a set of illustrated 5e subclasses on itch.io to help meet some financial needs, if that interests anybody.
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May 16, 2022 14:52
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Splicer posted:To answer your last question: what? God no. Or rather, the "random scenes" you described are what you need to run a heist. The best part of a heist is coming up with the heist; having the game include a heist plan only works if the players independently come up with the exact same heist the writers did, or you tell them the "right way" to do it so all they do is roll dice at the right time. And where is the fun in that? None of this requires the players to want bad things to happen to their characters either. John Rogers wrote an entire essay on setting up heists for RPGs in the Crimeworld section of FATE. It really is worth a read.
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May 16, 2022 15:30
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hyphz posted:(and also "Thaco the Clown", a grumpy old man who hangs out complaining about everything and smoking a bubble pipe, which is apparently a reference) THAC0, the old AC system from very early D&D editions. He's a grumpy clown guarding a gate, complaining about everything, and notably hating "kids". It's a "gatekeeping grognards" dig. I'll give credit, I didn't laugh but I did smile.
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May 16, 2022 15:57
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SkyeAuroline posted:THAC0, the old AC system from very early D&D editions. He's a grumpy clown guarding a gate, complaining about everything, and notably hating "kids". It's a "gatekeeping grognards" dig. I'll give credit, I didn't laugh but I did smile. The claim is it's also a direct reference to RPGPundit, who apparently is known for smoking a pipe. Splicer posted:To answer your last question: what? God no. Or rather, the "random scenes" you described are what you need to run a heist. The best part of a heist is coming up with the heist; having the game include a heist plan only works if the players independently come up with the exact same heist the writers did, or you tell them the "right way" to do it so all they do is roll dice at the right time. And where is the fun in that? None of this requires the players to want bad things to happen to their characters either. Hmm. I mean, what I'm talking about is lack of system detail. For example, we only get one piece of information about the movements of the owners. We get a vague description of the carriages where they rest, but nothing that might identify hiding places or escape opportunities. We don't find out how the carriages are secured, and although there are stats for the regular circus hands, we don't know how many are on guard or where. (Technically if the PCs just kill the owners the hands give them the password anyway, which seems a bit awkward, but then again it's level 1 D&D 5e and the owners are level 3, so that's probably not going to go well.) Now, yes, you can do it BitD style with book-level (as apposed to movie-level or tactical-level) description and improvisation, and yes, some D&D 5e players would probably like to play BitD but aren't because everyone has to play D&D 5e. But in general D&D 5e players are not BitD players, and certainly D&D 5e GMs who buy adventure modules are not BitD GMs. So while this might not be "bad" overall, as a 5e module it's going to be disappointing. hyphz fucked around with this message at 17:08 on May 16, 2022 |
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May 16, 2022 16:59
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hyphz posted:Hmm. I mean, what I'm talking about is lack of system detail. Yeah, you don't need to plan the heist for the players, you need to make the thing heistable. A pointcrawl with some kind of enemy roster and guard routine, that kind of stuff.
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May 16, 2022 17:15
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Uh, I actually just read through that section of the adventure and the module actually goes pretty far out of its way to give the players/DM an easy set up to steal the necessary item. So for those who haven't read the module: The item the party is supposed to steal is one of two magical items that are always kept on the person of one of the two owners of the carnival at all times: A magic pocketwatch and a magic clown stick. The NPC who's asking you to do this specifically recommends you try for the watch since it's easier to swipe and its theft likely won't be noticed as quickly as the stick. The paragraph for "The Heist" gives a specific DC for a Sleight of Hand check to pickpocket the watch and notes the character doing the swipe will need something like Thieves' Tools, a Dagger or other such implement to cut the watch's chain to perform the check with the check being made with advantage if the target is distracted. The NPC asking you to do this is also adamant that you don't harm the two guys you're stealing from. Basically the only major hitch presented is that the PCs need to find an opportunity to get close to the guy with the pocket watch, and the heist section specifically references the "Crowning of the Witchlight Monarch" listing under the timed events section as the most opportune time to perform the heist since its one of the few times the two carnival owners will be separated. The owners also specifically show up in several of the other timed events that occur throughout the course of the carnival. All in all it seems like a pretty straightforward case of "Party needs to find an opportune moment and pickpocket this one guy successfully" so I don't really know what additional information you're looking for?
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May 16, 2022 17:43
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Absurd Alhazred posted:Yeah, you don't need to plan the heist for the players, you need to make the thing heistable. A pointcrawl with some kind of enemy roster and guard routine, that kind of stuff. Here's the FATE SRD take on it... https://fate-srd.com/fate-codex/infiltration-cracking-house
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May 16, 2022 18:00
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I couldn't find the "recommend me a system" thread anymore, so I'm going to ask here instead. I'm looking for: - something in the OSR or OSR-adjacent space - something that was released in the two years - something that you think would look nice as a printed book background: I ordered the Apollo 47 Technical Manual the other day, and I figure since I only get things shipped from the US once in a blue moon I might as well go all out, but I've been rather out-of-touch with the hobby for a while (for personal reasons) so I'm looking for something nice and recent
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May 17, 2022 11:01
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gradenko_2000 posted:I couldn't find the "recommend me a system" thread anymore, so I'm going to ask here instead. I'm looking for: not sure what kind of printed book you mean so: revised stygian library, worlds without number, into the odd/electric bastionland, cairn
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May 17, 2022 12:28
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Worlds Without Number is pretty new, is a versatile book (even if you don’t use the base mechanics, you might like the world generators and faction mechanics), and is kind of expensive to ship by itself. That could work?
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May 17, 2022 12:36
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Electric Bastionland is an absolutely beautiful book.
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May 17, 2022 13:18
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Hey all, does anyone else recall the Firaxis dev team saying they workshopped their original XCOM as a.board game and made sure that was good before they started building the actual PC game? I swear that was a talking point back when the game was new. Anyway, has anything ever come out about the specifics of it's rules? AFAIK the actual XCOM board game is an abstraction of the strategic layer?
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May 17, 2022 13:22
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Here is the recommend me a system thread for anyone who wants to bookmark it
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May 17, 2022 13:22
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Jack B Nimble posted:Hey all, does anyone else recall the Firaxis dev team saying they workshopped their original XCOM as a.board game and made sure that was good before they started building the actual PC game? I swear that was a talking point back when the game was new. Anyway, has anything ever come out about the specifics of it's rules? AFAIK the actual XCOM board game is an abstraction of the strategic layer? They do workshop a lot of things as board games but the x-com board game is absolutely nothing like it. I doubt you'll find the rules to what they did any time soon. The XCOM board game is a somewhat re-themed space alert type deal. Firaxis has hired a LOT of board game designers. They had the person who designed Twilight Struggle do a lot of work on both XCOMs, and the person who designed Here I Stand do some work on Civ. Panzeh fucked around with this message at 13:53 on May 17, 2022 |
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May 17, 2022 13:50
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Panzeh posted:They do workshop a lot of things as board games but the x-com board game is absolutely nothing like it. I doubt you'll find the rules to what they did any time soon. The XCOM board game is a somewhat re-themed space alert type deal. I'd like to make a 40k custom ruleset for my local group that's similar to XCOM, and I was hoping to shamelessly steal their actual rules instead of reverse engineering it from the PC Game, but I guess it's never surfaced.
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May 17, 2022 13:58
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I found Level 7: Omega Protocol to be sufficiently X-Com-like if you enjoy 1 vs many games. Not sure if it's still in print though.
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May 17, 2022 14:05
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gradenko_2000 posted:I couldn't find the "recommend me a system" thread anymore, so I'm going to ask here instead. I'm looking for: Mork borg?
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May 17, 2022 17:42
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Oh yeah that's fun
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May 17, 2022 21:13
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Tarnop posted:I found Level 7: Omega Protocol to be sufficiently X-Com-like if you enjoy 1 vs many games. Not sure if it's still in print though. This game is real fuckin good imo
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May 17, 2022 22:58
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Everyone, please welcome new Trad Games moderator Antivehicular! She has kindly agreed to become a mod. Antivehicular's name should be familiar to many of you, she's been a TG regular for as long as I can remember. I'm rather sorry to also announce that potatocubed has decided to step down as mod. I think potato has been a great moderator and I am sad to see him go; he's been a helpful and thoughtful partner, especially when it came to advising me when I was contemplating doing something stupid, and it's been a joy working with him.
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May 17, 2022 23:27
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Welcome and thank you for your service, respectively!
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May 17, 2022 23:29
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Now I can go back to posting without responsibility.
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May 17, 2022 23:52
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I've got my eye on you. That pristine rap sheet is an abomination. I'm just itching for an excuse.
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May 17, 2022 23:53
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Congratulations, Antivehicular! Congratulations, potatocubed!
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May 18, 2022 02:17
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Hello! I've got a lot of bad opinions, and now I have some buttons! Safe travels, potatocubed. Looking forward to your flagrantly irresponsible freestyle posting.
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May 18, 2022 04:25
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I'd been on-and-off looking for this the past couple of days, so naturally I only find it after my buttons are removed:
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May 18, 2022 07:37
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potatocubed posted:Now I can go back to posting without responsibility. It's the best, congrats on the mod retirement.
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May 18, 2022 13:44
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potatocubed posted:Now I can go back to posting without responsibility. Finally, you can bring back grognards.txt.
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May 18, 2022 15:14
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Ettin posted:Finally, you can bring back grognards.txt. Love to fill the forum with second-hand posts of swastikas and QAnon conspiracies about insidious TTRPG books that have the word "lesbian" in them.
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May 18, 2022 15:41
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Congratulations/commiserations to Antivehicular and potatocubed. I'll leave it up to you to pick the sentiment that best fits
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May 18, 2022 15:55
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Ettin posted:Finally, you can bring back grognards.txt. I thought we already had that? 
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May 18, 2022 16:18
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You got the wrong thread
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May 18, 2022 16:24
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Well, actually... 
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May 18, 2022 16:25
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Thank you Nickoten and Arivia for recommendations to my question earlierEttin posted:Finally, you can bring back grognards.txt. Ah yes the "bring back LF" of Trad Games
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May 18, 2022 16:39
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gradenko_2000 posted:Thank you Nickoten and Arivia for recommendations to my question earlier
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May 18, 2022 17:04
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Guys you're never going to believe this, James Desborough or RPGPundit or Venger or one of those NuTSR guys sad a predictable lovely rambly stupid thing! Let's all post everything they ever said and pick it apart again!
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May 18, 2022 17:29
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The Industry thread performs the same function as grognards.txt used to, just with twitter arguments instead of forum posts.
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May 18, 2022 17:31
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