Trad Games Chat: squabbled over drafts, forked, and disbanded

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Traditional Games > Trad Games Chat: squabbled over drafts, forked, and disbanded

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mellonbread: Dec 20, 2017

hyphz posted:

That sounds scarily like a game in which every PC is Homelander.

Marshal Law is basically The Boys if it was good.

# ? Feb 16, 2024 01:00

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# ? May 23, 2024 19:55

Kwyndig: Sep 23, 2006; Heeeeeey

hyphz posted:

That sounds scarily like a game in which every PC is Homelander.

That's one possible outcome. But you can live your real super hero psychotic fantasy.

# ? Feb 16, 2024 01:01

Lemniscate Blue: Apr 21, 2006; Here we go again.

Kwyndig posted:

That's one possible outcome. But you can live your real super hero psychotic fantasy.

Ah, MiracleMan!

# ? Feb 16, 2024 01:05

Bucnasti: Aug 14, 2012; I'll Fetch My Sarcasm Robes

Humbug Scoolbus posted:

The superhero game, Underground, has it as a core mechanic. Due mainly to combat veterans who have been modified with xeno DNA to give them superpowers. The inherently (and no pun intended) alien nature of those powers conflicting with a person's body image as well as the primary management for for the trauma of assimilating those powers is by using a four-color comic-style fantasy world simulation directly beamed into the soldier's brain (called Slumberland) and then using incredibly powerful and dangerous anti-psychotics as the main form of aftercare.

The 'heroes' in that game are (justifiably) ten kinds of mentally unstable.

We called it the Marshal Law RPG after the comic by Pat Mills and Kevin O'Neill.

It's been years but I didn't remember the source of the powers being Alien, I thought they were just generic superscience. Was this one of those metaplots that were popular in the 90s?

# ? Feb 16, 2024 01:10

Plutonis: Mar 25, 2011

hyphz posted:

That sounds scarily like a game in which every PC is Homelander.

Nah, I'd say the simulation stuff makes it more like...

Lemniscate Blue posted:

Ah, MiracleMan!

# ? Feb 16, 2024 01:13

Halloween Jack: Sep 12, 2003; I WILL CUT OFF BOTH OF MY ARMS BEFORE I VOTE FOR ANYONE THAT IS MORE POPULAR THAN BERNIE!!!!!

Bucnasti posted:

It's been years but I didn't remember the source of the powers being Alien, I thought they were just generic superscience. Was this one of those metaplots that were popular in the 90s?

The origin of superpowers is a crashed spaceship and its occupants, which are never mentioned again.

# ? Feb 16, 2024 01:24

Vox Valentine: May 31, 2013; Solving all of life's problems through enhanced casting of Occam's Razor. Reward yourself with an imaginary chalice.

Underground deadass is just a fusion of Marshall Law and Moore's run on Miracleman and they admit as much in the core text.

# ? Feb 16, 2024 01:25

Subjunctive: Sep 12, 2006; ✨sparkle and shine✨

Sionak posted:

I'm thinking of writing an article series on mental health and its depictions in RPGs. I've already hit up the World of Darkness thread and got some good information relating to those games. I know about Call of Cthulhu and Delta Green already. I've heard about the weird disorder table in TMNT and Other Strangeness.

Are there other games that (for good or bad) made mental health a major part of the game?

boy I would love to read this article when you�re done

# ? Feb 16, 2024 02:36

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

hyphz posted:

That sounds scarily like a game in which every PC is Homelander.

Underground is broken vets against uncaring corporations, so yes.

# ? Feb 16, 2024 07:38

Tarnop: Nov 25, 2013; Pull me out

Cessna posted:

Alien has a "stress" mechanic. In VERY tl;dr terms, you have a number for a stat and a number for a skill. That's the number of d6s you roll to see if you can do something. Any "6" means you succeed.

If you fail you can re-roll - you up your "stress level" by one, add a "stress die" (a different colored d6) and roll. This adds a chance to succeed - you're desperate - but any "1" on a Stress die means you panic.

You also accumulate stress dice from, well, stress. Seeing friends panic, terrifying situations, etc. More stress = higher stress level = more stress dice = higher chance of panicking. If - when - you roll that one on a "stress die" you roll on this table and add your stress level:

You can reduce stress, but that takes time and safety.

It's simple and straightforward, and fits the source material; things go well until they really, really don't and everything spirals out of control.

One of my favourite bits of genre emulation in Alien RPG is that colonial marines get this talent

# ? Feb 16, 2024 13:27

Kwyndig: Sep 23, 2006; Heeeeeey

So if a squad of Marines all take the talent they'll break formation and just mindlessly attack everything that comes into range that's vaguely "enemy" shaped.

# ? Feb 16, 2024 15:15

gradenko_2000: Oct 5, 2010; HELL SERPENT; Lipstick Apathy

Can I get a recommendation for a web based dice roller, or even a standalone Windows app? The VASSAL dice roller is so barebones, it just throws two d6 faces at you with no ability to specify modifiers or even to total the result.

I found one for the phone that works well enough but I'd like one on the computer too

# ? Feb 16, 2024 15:42

Halloween Jack: Sep 12, 2003; I WILL CUT OFF BOTH OF MY ARMS BEFORE I VOTE FOR ANYONE THAT IS MORE POPULAR THAN BERNIE!!!!!

I really like this one but it's something I like to use when I'm running numbers and playing around with world generation and other random tables, I've only used it for actual play a few times.

# ? Feb 16, 2024 15:51

BlackIronHeart: Aug 2, 2004; PROCEED

gradenko_2000 posted:

Can I get a recommendation for a web based dice roller, or even a standalone Windows app? The VASSAL dice roller is so barebones, it just throws two d6 faces at you with no ability to specify modifiers or even to total the result.

I found one for the phone that works well enough but I'd like one on the computer too

Google. No, really!

# ? Feb 16, 2024 16:09

Tarnop: Nov 25, 2013; Pull me out

Kwyndig posted:

So if a squad of Marines all take the talent they'll break formation and just mindlessly attack everything that comes into range that's vaguely "enemy" shaped.

There isn't really a concept of formation in Alien since it uses zone based combat but the second part is right, yeah. The talent gives you the choice to use what you rolled on the panic table, so this is replacing: scream at the top of your lungs for a round, run away from the enemy as fast as you can, go berserk and attack the nearest thing until it's down, or go catatonic. When Overkill triggers it's usually the best of two bad options

# ? Feb 16, 2024 16:10

hyphz: Aug 5, 2003; Number 1 Nerd Tear Farmer 2022.

Keep it up, champ.

Also you're a skeleton warrior now. Kree.; Unlockable Ben

gradenko_2000 posted:

Can I get a recommendation for a web based dice roller, or even a standalone Windows app?

Google or Sophie�s Dice

# ? Feb 16, 2024 19:31

Kestral: Nov 24, 2000; Forum Veteran

Is there a way to stream music to a group of people that is superior to the Roll20 interface? I'd like to soundtrack my next online game, something I used to do for my in-person games to great effect, but I'm struggling to think of a way to do it online that meets my requirements:

1) Ability to stream music to 5 people.
2) Music comes from files on my hard drive, or that I upload to something, since I customize the files to loop better.
3) Either a folder system or using my actual Windows Explorer interface for track selection.
4) Optional but preferable: volume control on the receivers' end.

Anyone familiar with a setup that might handle this?

# ? Feb 16, 2024 19:44

mllaneza: Apr 28, 2007; Veteran, Bermuda Triangle Expeditionary Force, 1993-1952

Google Meet in Chrome will do this, but the free personal version is limited one-hour meetings. That would be inconvenient I expect.

# ? Feb 16, 2024 19:47

Leperflesh: May 17, 2007

gradenko_2000 posted:

Can I get a recommendation for a web based dice roller, or even a standalone Windows app? The VASSAL dice roller is so barebones, it just throws two d6 faces at you with no ability to specify modifiers or even to total the result.

I found one for the phone that works well enough but I'd like one on the computer too

I've used https://orokos.com/ for years. You create an account, and then when you make a roll, you can optionally enter "character" and "campaign" fields and you put in a description.

Then, it makes a log! And you can view the log by user, character, campaign, etc. Which means the rolls are auditable...
Here's all the rolls for my "mods in hyboria" PbP game I ran a few years ago.

The dice roller itself is very configurable, I've never had a dice roll of any complexity I couldn't do using this tool.

what it does not have is animated dice being rolled, so that's a drawback if you wanted to see that.

# ? Feb 16, 2024 19:50

Leraika: Jun 14, 2015; Luckily, I *did* save your old avatar. Fucked around and found out indeed.

Kestral posted:

Is there a way to stream music to a group of people that is superior to the Roll20 interface? I'd like to soundtrack my next online game, something I used to do for my in-person games to great effect, but I'm struggling to think of a way to do it online that meets my requirements:

1) Ability to stream music to 5 people.
2) Music comes from files on my hard drive, or that I upload to something, since I customize the files to loop better.
3) Either a folder system or using my actual Windows Explorer interface for track selection.
4) Optional but preferable: volume control on the receivers' end.

Anyone familiar with a setup that might handle this?

Discord does fit all those requirements but it's discord

# ? Feb 16, 2024 20:55

Hypnobeard: Sep 15, 2004; Obey the Beard

gradenko_2000 posted:

Can I get a recommendation for a web based dice roller, or even a standalone Windows app? The VASSAL dice roller is so barebones, it just throws two d6 faces at you with no ability to specify modifiers or even to total the result.

I found one for the phone that works well enough but I'd like one on the computer too

You could just add a dicebot to a Discord server.

# ? Feb 16, 2024 21:04

Kestral: Nov 24, 2000; Forum Veteran

Leraika posted:

Discord does fit all those requirements but it's discord

We use discord for our voice comms already, but I�m not sure how you�d do the music streaming part. What�s the technique there?

# ? Feb 16, 2024 21:04

Leraika: Jun 14, 2015; Luckily, I *did* save your old avatar. Fucked around and found out indeed.

Kestral posted:

We use discord for our voice comms already, but I�m not sure how you�d do the music streaming part. What�s the technique there?

use the share screen feature to share your music player of choice

# ? Feb 16, 2024 21:14

mellonbread: Dec 20, 2017

Kestral posted:

Is there a way to stream music to a group of people that is superior to the Roll20 interface? I'd like to soundtrack my next online game, something I used to do for my in-person games to great effect, but I'm struggling to think of a way to do it online that meets my requirements:

1) Ability to stream music to 5 people.
2) Music comes from files on my hard drive, or that I upload to something, since I customize the files to loop better.
3) Either a folder system or using my actual Windows Explorer interface for track selection.
4) Optional but preferable: volume control on the receivers' end.

Anyone familiar with a setup that might handle this?

Foundry does all these things. I personally don't think the interface is any better than roll20, but I know people who swear by it.

# ? Feb 16, 2024 21:23

sebmojo: Oct 23, 2010; Legit Cyberpunk

gradenko_2000 posted:

Can I get a recommendation for a web based dice roller, or even a standalone Windows app? The VASSAL dice roller is so barebones, it just throws two d6 faces at you with no ability to specify modifiers or even to total the result.

I found one for the phone that works well enough but I'd like one on the computer too

We use orokos for the traveller game I'm doing, it tracks rolls so you can't cheat if that's a consideration lol

# ? Feb 16, 2024 21:29

Helical Nightmares: Apr 30, 2009

Kestral posted:

Is there a way to stream music to a group of people that is superior to the Roll20 interface? I'd like to soundtrack my next online game, something I used to do for my in-person games to great effect, but I'm struggling to think of a way to do it online that meets my requirements:

1) Ability to stream music to 5 people.
2) Music comes from files on my hard drive, or that I upload to something, since I customize the files to loop better.
3) Either a folder system or using my actual Windows Explorer interface for track selection.
4) Optional but preferable: volume control on the receivers' end.

Anyone familiar with a setup that might handle this?

I've heard of https://www.kenku.fm/ being used but I haven't done any research on it to determine if it fits your criteria. Might be worth looking into.

# ? Feb 16, 2024 23:52

King of Solomon: Oct 23, 2008; S S

Kestral posted:

We use discord for our voice comms already, but I’m not sure how you’d do the music streaming part. What’s the technique there?

My buddy uses a music streaming bot.

# ? Feb 17, 2024 01:00

gradenko_2000: Oct 5, 2010; HELL SERPENT; Lipstick Apathy

hyphz posted:

Sophie�s Dice

this is perfect. thanks hyphz

thyphz

# ? Feb 17, 2024 02:22

Subjunctive: Sep 12, 2006; ✨sparkle and shine✨

That is an incredible name for that application.

# ? Feb 17, 2024 02:24

Ghost Leviathan: Mar 2, 2017; Exploration is ill-advised.

Tarnop posted:

One of my favourite bits of genre emulation in Alien RPG is that colonial marines get this talent

Heh, basically that one bit from Predator as a gameplay mechanic.

# ? Feb 17, 2024 02:55

Tarnop: Nov 25, 2013; Pull me out

Ghost Leviathan posted:

Heh, basically that one bit from Predator as a gameplay mechanic.

Pretty much, or this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJQ_7jKIm24

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVmu6uHEDHI

# ? Feb 17, 2024 03:30

drrockso20: May 6, 2013; Has Not Actually Done Cocaine

mellonbread posted:

Marshal Law is basically The Boys if it was good.

Eh the very first set of comics for Marshal Law was okay(and like the bare minimum amount of okay at that) but the later ones very quickly devolved into just being a soapbox for the Pat Mill's petty hatred of the superhero genre rather than anything actually worth reading(not helped by the fact that the titular character is an unlikable boring rear end in a top hat), honestly the only reason that series has any merit to it is Kevin O'Neill's fantastic art but he's supplied art to much better comics one should read instead(and similarly Pat Mills has written much better comics elsewhere*)

*like Pat Mills is actually a fantastic comic writer in pretty much everything else of his I've read(Requiem Vampire Knight in particular is a personal favorite) it just doesn't work in Marshal Law because he's trying to do something in a genre he clearly despises

# ? Feb 17, 2024 04:32

Gatto Grigio: Feb 9, 2020

hyphz posted:

UA 3e goes further and requires you to be mentally afflicted in order to be good at fighting (which kind of comes up in 2e as well, but less directly)

That�s not quite true. Yes, Struggle (the fighting skill) is linked to the Violence Stress gauge and increases as you gain Hardened Violence Notches, reflecting desensitization from trauma. But that�s actually �the hard way� to gain a high Struggle score.

Instead of relying on the Skills that fluctuate with the Shock Gauges, most combat-spec�ed UA3 characters will rely on an Identity that substitutes for Struggle (ex. �Judo Black-Belt�, �Chess-Boxer�, �Antifa Super-Soldier�, etc.)

This lets you acquire a high Struggle skill w/o having to build up Violence trauma that reduces your Connect (skill used for persuasive social interactions), reflecting that your combat ability derives from some level of professional training rather than a trauma response.

# ? Feb 17, 2024 05:29

Kestral: Nov 24, 2000; Forum Veteran

Gave Kenku.fm a try tonight, the interface is pretty good and the players who were testing it with me said the audio quality was great, so that's a strong start. We're going to try it at more length during our next session, fingers crossed!

I've seen concerns elsewhere that streaming music over the Discord voice channel will result in the sound cutting out when people are talking, which would be, uh, problematic. If folks have more suggestions I'd love to try them out in case Kenku just doesn't stand up to the rigors of actual play.

# ? Feb 17, 2024 07:48

Tekopo: Oct 24, 2008; When you see it, you'll shit yourself.

Managed to finally play Alice is Missing, the silent RPG played through chat group messages, and it was a pretty cool experience, although I think it would shine even more with more than the 3 players we played with. We had a number of coincidences that really tied the narrative but yeah, was still impressed.

# ? Feb 17, 2024 09:03

Plutonis: Mar 25, 2011

drrockso20 posted:

*like Pat Mills is actually a fantastic comic writer in pretty much everything else of his I've read(Requiem Vampire Knight in particular is a personal favorite) it just doesn't work in Marshal Law because he's trying to do something in a genre he clearly despises

I mean so is Ennis on the Boys.

# ? Feb 17, 2024 12:36

Leraika: Jun 14, 2015; Luckily, I *did* save your old avatar. Fucked around and found out indeed.

Kestral posted:

Gave Kenku.fm a try tonight, the interface is pretty good and the players who were testing it with me said the audio quality was great, so that's a strong start. We're going to try it at more length during our next session, fingers crossed!

I've seen concerns elsewhere that streaming music over the Discord voice channel will result in the sound cutting out when people are talking, which would be, uh, problematic. If folks have more suggestions I'd love to try them out in case Kenku just doesn't stand up to the rigors of actual play.

if you're streaming via screen share, that shouldn't be an issue. :shrug:

At least it's never been in my experience (mostly watch parties)

# ? Feb 17, 2024 14:02

mellonbread: Dec 20, 2017

drrockso20 posted:

Eh the very first set of comics for Marshal Law was okay(and like the bare minimum amount of okay at that) but the later ones very quickly devolved into just being a soapbox for the Pat Mill's petty hatred of the superhero genre rather than anything actually worth reading(not helped by the fact that the titular character is an unlikable boring rear end in a top hat), honestly the only reason that series has any merit to it is Kevin O'Neill's fantastic art but he's supplied art to much better comics one should read instead(and similarly Pat Mills has written much better comics elsewhere*)

*like Pat Mills is actually a fantastic comic writer in pretty much everything else of his I've read(Requiem Vampire Knight in particular is a personal favorite) it just doesn't work in Marshal Law because he's trying to do something in a genre he clearly despises

I didn't know there was more than one book of Marshal Law, I only read the first volume.

Having said that, I stand by what I said.

# ? Feb 17, 2024 18:06

Sionak: Dec 20, 2005; Mind flay the gap.

Subjunctive posted:

boy I would love to read this article when you�re done

Thanks. It's going to be a while - I think it will have to be a series to come close to doing justice to the topic. But I'll share it once I've got some of them done.

# ? Feb 17, 2024 23:02

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# ? May 23, 2024 19:55

SimonChris: Apr 24, 2008; The Baron's daughter is missing, and you are the man to find her. No problem. With your inexhaustible arsenal of hard-boiled similes, there is nothing you can't handle.; Grimey Drawer

Lemon-Lime posted:

I've been reading Wildsea and the following image sums up my feelings about the game:

Wild Sea ... bum bum bum bum .... you make my heart free ... bum bum bum bum ... you make everything groovy...

SimonChris fucked around with this message at 10:53 on Feb 18, 2024

# ? Feb 18, 2024 10:49

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Traditional Games > Trad Games Chat: squabbled over drafts, forked, and disbanded

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