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Eh, gods being made by science as opposed to...just coming out of the ether or whatever the default assumption is makes as much sense as anything else, I don't see why that'd make a Cleric worship the god any less, it's still a god with godly powers or whatever, does it really matter that it was created with SCIENCE? An adventure in an alien spaceship is pretty much the same as any other adventure in any other dungeon except things are flavored differently, but you could always just have a quick dungeon where you go in, blow up all the aliens /kill their leader/ destroy the core, then go back to the fantasy stuff as usual, then it'd be whatever campaign you wanted to be but there was this sidetrack episode where aliens happened.
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Mar 22, 2014 03:31
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Zereth posted:Pff, go the Might and Magic route. There's magic and poo poo, and ALSO sci-fi and spaceships. It's pretty much the plot of Zelazny's Lord of Light, isn't it? I think it's workable in good hands, like most things.
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Mar 22, 2014 05:18
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sebmojo posted:It's pretty much the plot of Zelazny's Lord of Light, isn't it? I think it's workable in good hands, like most things. Well in that case the gods are the aliens. Mostly, they've had to replace dead guys a bit.
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Mar 22, 2014 05:41
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Thanks to everyone for their warzone advice. I'll probably end up having my group extract a key captive or something along those lines.
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Mar 22, 2014 06:35
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HatfulOfHollow posted:*aliens in DnD* Would it be possible to resolve it in universe by skipping out to 2nd edition fluff and sourcebooks? Say, sure the aliens said all that stuff about being gods, but then it turns out they are just small time spelljammers who spread this bullshit to various spheres of existence fooling silly earthlings with their "science". Anything they've "proven" before was just psionic manipulation. Then a competing guild appears in the form of a Mindflayer or Neogi or Beholder fleet, lands and all the aliens get their brains eaten/murderized by umber hulks or death rays. PCs fight some old and new aliens, escape from the Illithid/Neogi/beholder captivity, return to their world safe and sound and the invaders fly off, perhaps leaving some loot to pick up. Just don't leave a means of spelljamming or psionics use... Boom plotline tied off and it was magic all along, back to swords and sorcery in a slightly expanded universe. thegoatgod_pan fucked around with this message at 21:05 on Mar 23, 2014 |
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Mar 23, 2014 20:57
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thegoatgod_pan posted:Would it be possible to resolve it in universe by skipping out to 2nd edition fluff and sourcebooks? Say, sure the aliens said all that stuff about being gods, but then it turns out they are just small time spelljammers who spread this bullshit to various spheres of existence fooling silly earthlings with their "science". Anything they've "proven" before was just psionic manipulation. This would be bangin', do this. It reminds of a campaign proposal I read somewhere, PCs are young adult barbarians in a jungle somewhere, get sent off to the Temple of Trials and have a standard dungeon crawl or w/e, come back and find their village has been pillaged by mindflayers from space! but one of the ships is still there! the PCs take it and head off on a MEGA TRANS-SOLAR PIRATE ADVENTURE!
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Mar 23, 2014 23:39
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Did you guys know that a paladin can be a Fashion Paladin, swearing allegiance to Ru'Paul, God of Fabulous? Cause I'm allowing it in my 4e game. Her divine challenge is going to be a "Fashion Challenge" instead. Her character is the one I haven't thought of any hooks for her character plot-wise yet, since I haven't gotten any background details yet out of her player aside from this fantastic one today. The setting is homebrew, but I'll allow pretty much anything in from most D&D stuff if it sounds like it could be fun. I'm thinking that fashion based skill challenges are a bit obvious, but should still happen at some point. Paladin's have high Charisma, anyway. Should I just start watching a lot of Drag Race and steal challenges from the God him/herself?
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Mar 24, 2014 05:01
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If you don't utilize this at some point, I don't know how to help you. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8720XS-pquc
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Mar 24, 2014 05:30
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Everything Counts posted:If you don't utilize this at some point, I don't know how to help you. I've only seen bits and pieces of that movie, but that was never one of them. Definitely going to use some of that, possibly a David Bowie stand-in showing up since there's a bard in the party and there is a bard school in the city. I just wish I had some proper monster ideas based around that theme. Maybe I'll find some weird psychic/willpower attacking monster and reflavor it wish fashion stuff.
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Mar 24, 2014 05:44
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SeraphSlaughter posted:Did you guys know that a paladin can be a Fashion Paladin, swearing allegiance to Ru'Paul, God of Fabulous? Cause I'm allowing it in my 4e game. Her divine challenge is going to be a "Fashion Challenge" instead. Her character is the one I haven't thought of any hooks for her character plot-wise yet, since I haven't gotten any background details yet out of her player aside from this fantastic one today. The setting is homebrew, but I'll allow pretty much anything in from most D&D stuff if it sounds like it could be fun. I'm thinking that fashion based skill challenges are a bit obvious, but should still happen at some point. Paladin's have high Charisma, anyway. Should I just start watching a lot of Drag Race and steal challenges from the God him/herself? If you're going for any kind of 4E story game antics (which seems likely) I recommend allowing your players to come up with creative Ability/Skill combinations. For example, in a dance competition you might use acrobatics, replacing the DEX component with CHA, or CON if it's a dance marathon.
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Mar 24, 2014 05:45
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P.d0t posted:If you're going for any kind of 4E story game antics (which seems likely) I recommend allowing your players to come up with creative Ability/Skill combinations. For example, in a dance competition you might use acrobatics, replacing the DEX component with CHA, or CON if it's a dance marathon. I always love doing this because it can reflect intelligently playing to one's strengths. A boxing match could be won by STR or CON, depending on strategy. DEX could also be quite persuasive in the right circumstances. Someone climbing a rope might try to straight power up it (STR) or use their agility (DEX.) And once a block & tackle comes into play, INT is as viable as DEX for Rope Use.
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Mar 24, 2014 10:50
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So I've been conned into STing vampire for some friends, and I've decided on a murder mystery on New Orleans. I know a lot about NO and its legends and vampires, so the whole ambience is easy, but.. How do I (easily, if possible) write a murder story that my players can enjoy? I feel like this should be easy, but it won't really come out. Is there anything I should be aware of or do, to make it work? Preferably, it should be a bit more convoluted than arrive - find evidence - find murderer, I should like.
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Mar 24, 2014 15:11
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Have most possible suspects be hiding something from the party, even if they're not guilty. Have someone frame someone else for the murder. Maybe have someone try to frame a party member, so they have to catch the real killer without the vampire cops or whoever arresting or killing them. Kill off a promising suspect in a way that provides new evidence. Take it with a grain of salt - I can't promise any of these are actually good ideas, but they're things I've seen in a lot of crime dramas, so there's that.
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Mar 24, 2014 16:15
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Do your best impression of Tim Curry doing his best impression of a Cajun accent? Does anyone have any advice for designing an Adeptus Evangelion game? Other than "Don't. It's a convoluted setting married to an clunky system."? I missed my shot at joining a few games, and I've always thought the setting made for a pretty decent Viking themed game; you've got the Second Impact and Fimbulwinter, a bunch of kids piloting Einherjar to fight off Jötunar and worse, Berserker is a character class, etc. The problem is, I have trouble thinking of something more esoteric to underlie the straightforward "punch monsters with giant robots.", which I'm worried is missing the point of the game. If you go by the Ragnarok myths (which presumably serve the same function as the Dead Sea Scrolls), you'd basically mutually annihilate each other with a couple human survivors in the devastated Earth. Sure, it's kinda sorta technically a win, but I'm assuming that the players want something better than that. About the only thing I can really think of is to play the monster-punching bit straight, and if the players win, play that mostly straight, with the main schtick being that the secret cabal running things is a mutually hateful pack of paranoid psychotics who only briefly put aside their feuding to deal with the alien menace, and who know that as soon as the aliens are gone, will be back to their own conflicts. To the players, this might make their orders confusing and contradictatory to the point of Insanity and be given a bare minimum of resources because everyone is trying to either coopt your characters for after the aliens are gone, or set them up for liquidation to keep other people from using them. Hell, there might be factions that want the alien menace to go on, because they like the current state of affairs, or they fear what will happen when it ends. There's also the problem that I'm not sure what to do to play up the drama, beyond making shortages of everything a stressor, but at least the players are supposed to provide hosed up characters. Since it's Viking-themed, I suppose a nice problem for the players to deal with would be "Lutefisk Tuesday". Or maybe the LCL solution smells like lutefisk, though that might be too cruel.
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Mar 24, 2014 18:02
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SeraphSlaughter posted:Did you guys know that a paladin can be a Fashion Paladin, swearing allegiance to Ru'Paul, God of Fabulous? Cause I'm allowing it in my 4e game. Her divine challenge is going to be a "Fashion Challenge" instead. Her character is the one I haven't thought of any hooks for her character plot-wise yet, since I haven't gotten any background details yet out of her player aside from this fantastic one today. The setting is homebrew, but I'll allow pretty much anything in from most D&D stuff if it sounds like it could be fun. I'm thinking that fashion based skill challenges are a bit obvious, but should still happen at some point. Paladin's have high Charisma, anyway. Should I just start watching a lot of Drag Race and steal challenges from the God him/herself? Whatever happens, post about it in Good/Bad stories thread, TIA. It sounds like it'll be fantastic.
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Mar 24, 2014 18:54
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As far as divine quests go, I think it should involve making sure it rains men!
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Mar 24, 2014 19:05
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Tias posted:So I've been conned into STing vampire for some friends, and I've decided on a murder mystery on New Orleans. I know a lot about NO and its legends and vampires, so the whole ambience is easy, but.. How do I (easily, if possible) write a murder story that my players can enjoy? Having lots of people who aren't murderers still look suspicious, or still be hiding important secrets, is a staple of the genre. I'd recommend going less CSI and more Film Noire with it. People coming to the PCs with most of the story, but their own agenda. Obvious, memorable evidence. Sudden attacks and chase scenes. Also, whenever I'm doing a mystery I try to leave a lot of blanks. Don't think of a path before the session. Just think of the starting point, and some set piece along the way. No matter what they do in the investigation it should advance the plot, which means even if in your mind the Duchess had nothing to do with it, and you're not sure why the PCs broke into her house, you can still leave a clue or reminder that leads to the real killer. For this kind of thing characters will be important. Just like in Film Noire, the mystery itself can be kind of lackluster, it's just something to drive characters and their interactions. Everyone should have a quirk, a secret, and a motivation. The mystery should be an excuse for the PCs to look deep into these people's lives, find allies, and make enemies. Then when the characters become recurring the PCs will know them intimately.
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Mar 24, 2014 19:11
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Fashion Paladin sounds amazing  Is she the divinely-appointed fashion police? Does she get a "Smite Tacky" power? I can only imagine some terrifying lady in supremely accessorized Plate Armor, stomping up to some schmuck and announcing, "You! You in the clashing colors! You are a pig, unworthy of clothing! Abandon those rags and be naked like the wretched beast you are, or face divine justice!" I really want to hear the stories about what she has to say to assorted Fantasy supervillains about their unfashionable skull paldrons and stuff.
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Mar 24, 2014 19:17
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deadly_pudding posted:Fashion Paladin sounds amazing It seems like that's the idea. She's also a Dragonborn in a world where big-D "Dragons" haven't been seen in forever, they're back to "haha you think those are real??" status. Sure, there's drakes and dragonborns, but those are just lizard people, like kobolds, not DRAGONS. with four legs and wings (and can talk). I was thinking of having a sort of rival/comedy relief character in a very narcissistic and overconfident "Dragonslayer" who claims he found and murdered a dragon. If I came up with some ultra tacky dragon-slaying outfit for him, it would probably hook her character better. This gets her and the sorceror to work together more too, since he's also a dragonborn.
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Mar 24, 2014 19:26
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If that Fashion Paladin's mortal enemy isn't a guy in a fedora and jorts then you're doing it wrong
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Mar 24, 2014 19:57
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Tias posted:So I've been conned into STing vampire for some friends, and I've decided on a murder mystery on New Orleans. I know a lot about NO and its legends and vampires, so the whole ambience is easy, but.. How do I (easily, if possible) write a murder story that my players can enjoy? How old are the party members? Are they tied to any factions or groups? Is it Masquerade or Requiem? Either way, the murder itself could be pretty simple - just have someone important enough to antagonize a major person but not important enough to warrant sending someone like a sheriff (unless your party includes the sheriff). The murder could also be straightforward and the culprit potentially easy to identify but difficult to find. Maybe someone else is hiding them, maybe they know enough about whats going on behind the scenes to hide themselves well. In a game like Vampire, though, getting to the killer could just be the beginning. Make sure the investigation rattles out motive, or the complete lack of motive (if dominate is involved). Have them uncover clues about odd behavior leading up to the murder from both parties involved, eventually coming to the conclusion that the killer is just a set up dupe. Once they figure that out, decide who is actually responsible. If you pay attention to your players in the parts leading up to this, they've probably given you several good possibilities as to the ultimate perpetrator and their reason why. Once they've got the killer, and worked out who was behind it all, have THAT person show up and ask them to keep it quiet. Have that person explain he set it up for yet another third party, one that leads back to the person who hired them in the first place. Have the players track down that persons reasons and justifications, ultimately leading them the truth of the whole complicated thing. Make sure the final justifications and reasons are things that would either give them ethical/moral qualms about just handing what they've discovered over (if you're playing up the humanity angle) or give them multiple tempting offers from several sides (it is Vampire, and there are probably people who'd pay well to know exactly what went on, especially if that information isn't going directly to the person who originally sent them out) so that the have to decide WHO to tell the truth to at the end of night, or if they just keep it for themselves. Finally, the original terms of being sent out should be vague enough that the players feel just killing the killer isn't good enough, but not so iron tight that they can't try to letter of the law their way out at the end.
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Mar 24, 2014 19:58
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AceClown posted:If that Fashion Paladin's mortal enemy isn't a guy in a fedora and jorts then you're doing it wrong Dragon Slayer nemesis wears like a conquistador helmet, but it's Fedora-shaped. Clad in a "dragon"skin trenchcoat, his Mythril Jorts of +4 Dexterity grant him all the moves necessary to woo mi'lady.
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Mar 24, 2014 19:59
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Just make sure to cram the wolf shirts in somehow.
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Mar 24, 2014 20:00
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SeraphSlaughter posted:Fashion Paladin Alignment: Lawful Gucci only.
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Mar 24, 2014 20:14
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Tias posted:So I've been conned into STing vampire for some friends, and I've decided on a murder mystery on New Orleans. I know a lot about NO and its legends and vampires, so the whole ambience is easy, but.. How do I (easily, if possible) write a murder story that my players can enjoy? In addition to what has been suggested about leaving it ambiguous whodunnit, also make some/all of the suspects sympathetic and/or make the victim somebody that maybe, in a different game, they might have offed themselves, but have to pursue the killer this time because of reasons.
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Mar 24, 2014 20:21
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deadly_pudding posted:Dragon Slayer nemesis wears like a conquistador helmet, but it's Fedora-shaped. Clad in a "dragon"skin trenchcoat, his Mythril Jorts of +4 Dexterity grant him all the moves necessary to woo mi'lady. Too good. I think a "dragonskin" trench + gaudy breastplate and boots/gauntlets should do the trick. He definitely won't be a total mess; in fact, probably somewhat competent + a pretty boy with an entourage to boot, but that doesn't mean he has his fashion game on lock. Plenty of opportunity to throw shade in service to Ru'Paul.
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Mar 24, 2014 22:17
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SeraphSlaughter posted:"dragonskin" trench Needs to be some fantasy medieval equivalent of pleather. 
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Mar 24, 2014 23:23
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deadly_pudding posted:Dragon Slayer nemesis wears like a conquistador helmet, but it's Fedora-shaped. Clad in a "dragon"skin trenchcoat, his Mythril Jorts of +4 Dexterity grant him all the moves necessary to woo mi'lady. Riding an overweight pony?
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Mar 24, 2014 23:48
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deadly_pudding posted:Fashion Paladin sounds amazing Last campaign, one of my players was playing a Rebel Without A Cause type. Turned out, the one thing the revolution needed was a figurehead. He starts twitching if I play this at him. The best punishment is giving them everything they (say they) want. Fashiondin's New Clothes, etc. e: On murder mysteries, one thing I read (though I've not tested, ymmv, etc) is to throw the players a load of clues, let them be wrong a couple of times, and when they eventually come up with some ridiculously-convoluted explanation, run with it - they feel clever as hell for solving it, without any of the 'you must solve this to proceed' drag on the game. If they think the king's third mistress did it, it's easier to come up with an explanation on the fly rather than sitting there while they repeatedly fail to spot the Totally Obvious Clue that points at the butler's sister. petrol blue fucked around with this message at 02:06 on Mar 25, 2014 |
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Mar 25, 2014 01:53
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How do I trick my group into creating themselves as characters using Unisystem? I want them to play themselves in AFMBE located in our own city, but I don't want to give it away, nor do I want arguments over pre-genned characters not accurately depicting them.
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Mar 25, 2014 06:02
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I don't think you can. And if you stat two people with different intelligence scores...hoo boy.
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Mar 25, 2014 06:13
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Why do you have to trick them into it? Even if you manage it, if you're at all accurate they're going to notice it pretty quick I would think.
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Mar 25, 2014 07:24
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I would advise strongly against the whole idea. It sounds neat and clever on paper, but having characters roleplay themselves in an RPG can get really weird and uncomfortable really quick. It can touch a huge nerve in some people, and a lot of stuff can come out that really should be dealt with in therapy, not play.
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Mar 25, 2014 07:34
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Mr. Prokosch posted:I would advise strongly against the whole idea. It sounds neat and clever on paper, but having characters roleplay themselves in an RPG can get really weird and uncomfortable really quick. It can touch a huge nerve in some people, and a lot of stuff can come out that really should be dealt with in therapy, not play. Definitely this. "Let's play ourselves in a zombie apocalypse!" always sounds like a fun idea, and it NEVER WORKS. It NEVER EVER WORKS.
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Mar 25, 2014 07:40
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It's revised masquerade (we all hate Requiem, but that's neither here nor there), and it's a special concept for our summer break: We take turns ST'ing, and the characters are "vamps on a train" - ie. they meet at some pre-determined time on a train, and then ask each other to solve crimes in places the asking character for some reason or other, cannot enter (because the player of said character is the ST at this point). I play a mild-mannered nosferatu jazz professor, who has been sired by the king of New Orleans, and who was exiled from NO for killing his own childe, his lover Irene. I was planning a sort of twist ending in which the king was framed by some sort of twisted mage, but it's hitting me that I know very little about writing mystery and investigation, and first session could already be this weekend  Anyway, the characters are camerilla, but the game itself is not that camerilla-centric, if I know the other people right (our regular GM hates the sects and has made up her own odd one, and the other players aside from me are V:tm newbies) Tias fucked around with this message at 16:52 on Mar 25, 2014 |
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Mar 25, 2014 10:07
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A question for y'all about GMPC's. I get the general impression from forums reading that GMPC's in a party usually don't work out and I've read plenty of horror stories in different bad gaming experiences thread about really terrible ones. Have you ever seen it work out okay? We're playing Dungeon World (or rather Inverse World) and this is the first campaign our DM has ever run because most of us are pretty new to roleplaying games in general. At the end of the last session he sort of put forward the idea of introducing a GMPC he'd control as part of the crew on the ship we're on. I'm not sure if this is something we should just roll with and see how it plays out or if it'd be better to talk to him now and let him know I think it has a chance for failure. Everyone else at the table seemed fine with it at the time so I'm a little nervous about being the lone voice of dissent and I also don't want to rattle his confidence or make him feel like he hasn't been doing a good job with the game so far. So, I dunno, I guess I'm just curious what people's general experiences have been with GM controlled PC's at the table?
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Mar 27, 2014 20:47
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I'd take a look at the Hireling rules. A GM doesn't play PCs in Dungeon World. It's not done. The whole system breaks down almost immediately because the system relies on the interplay of ideas between GM and players. If you need a character that fills in the gaps, the GM can play one, or many, substantially weaker red shirts.
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Mar 27, 2014 21:01
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I think he just wants to play as a player for a bit. Do you think you could go on some kind of self-contained sidequest so that another one of you can be GM for a session or two?
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Mar 27, 2014 22:05
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Every experience I've had with a GM run NPC that sticks around for any length of time has been horrible. They become a sort of favored son of the GM and end up carrying the PCs through adventures. I think it's really weak and I'd rather not see them as part of the party. You can have them show up for short periods of time but the party should be the focus.
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Mar 27, 2014 23:35
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The best way to handle it is have someone else be GM for one game and have your actual GM play a one-off character that will never return again. Just a oneshot random session where one of the usual PC's is feeling sick and stays at home or something.
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Mar 27, 2014 23:38
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