Notable Gaming Experiences: The Gospel According to CobiWann's DM

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Traditional Games > Notable Gaming Experiences: The Gospel According to CobiWann's DM

Error 404: Jul 17, 2009; MAGE CURES PLOT

Benagain posted:

I think you can divide PCs into those who want to end their careers in quiet retirement, those who want to become gods or the nearest possible equivalent, and those who want to stand before the gods (or equivalent) and bellow "NO GODS! NO MASTERS!" before launching The Revolution.

I've noticed that every character I've ever made does this:
-All my fighter/melee/big strong dude characters always seem to be striving for quiet retirement, owning a tavern, opening a school, etc.
-All my greedy/sneaky/thiefy characters end up nursing a huge god complex. They want all the money/power and will stop at nothing to become the gods of money/power.
-And all my Mages/wizards seem to be the NO GODS! power to the people revolutionary types.

Your post just sort of brought all of that into focus for me.

# ¿ Jan 14, 2012 01:35

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# ¿ Apr 28, 2024 22:46

Error 404: Jul 17, 2009; MAGE CURES PLOT

AlphaDog posted:

Best experience just happened. It will pale in comparison to some of the others, I guess, but it's pretty cool.

Y'know, this story may not be a tale of insane stunts, or driving a DM to drink. but I think it's one of the best stories of any of the threads so far. Friends having fun with the hobby, and introducing newbies to it in non-horrifying ways. Kinda the entire point of RPGs in my opinion. :3:

# ¿ Jan 14, 2012 17:44

Error 404: Jul 17, 2009; MAGE CURES PLOT

I love the covert actions thing. But then whenever I run games, I like to have players surprising the other players. I know that we all seperate ingame knowledge from out of game, but for me, there's just something more fun about passing a few notes to the ST or whatever, having the other players doing the same, and then seeing what happens. nothing backstabby or douchy as a rule, but generally I love unexpected plot twists.

# ¿ Jan 30, 2012 04:48

Error 404: Jul 17, 2009; MAGE CURES PLOT

Yawgmoth posted:

Why would you do that when it's so much more effective to crash the ship and then detonate it while it's in the thing what needs to be destroyed?

It would depend on the type of ship and durability of the object being rammed.

if you had a big enough ship and the object was a space station or something, you could imagine the ship would hold together somewhat after collision, like the aft section would be sticking out the side of the station. in those circumstances a Ram > Explode maneuver would work. if the ship is small, relatively fragile, or otherwise prone to vaporizing itself on contact, or the object is really tough, then aiming for a simultaneous Ram/Explosion would prove to be better.

:goonsay:

# ¿ Feb 3, 2012 22:42

Error 404: Jul 17, 2009; MAGE CURES PLOT

I love how the story sets that up too.

Long haired metal dude with beard, very quiet and stoic, never talks unless he absolutely has to. Plays a Centaur.

"no one rides me..." :mad:

*hijinks with babby
and of course all of us who've been reading these stories is immediately expecting the worst, will he kill it, will he eat it? oh god the suspense. :ohdear:

"I craft a baby saddle" baby rides the centaur for a chunk of the campaign. :3:

Sometimes scary metal dudes can have a heart. :unsmith:

# ¿ Feb 17, 2012 21:50

Error 404: Jul 17, 2009; MAGE CURES PLOT

Golden Bee posted:

Can we stop the derail and focus on game stories?

My first ever game of 3E was with a first level bard, a monk, and the GM. It was over AIM.

We fought skeletons.
Then magic skeletons.
Then WOW giant skeletons.
At which point I said gently caress it.

A few years later, someone I don't know invites me to game again.
And they start in with THOSE loving SKELETONS.

Welcome to the elemental plane of skeletons.

Did any of the skeletons have bootstraps?

# ¿ Mar 9, 2012 09:14

Error 404: Jul 17, 2009; MAGE CURES PLOT

Darth Grandpa.

# ¿ Jul 29, 2012 03:15

Error 404: Jul 17, 2009; MAGE CURES PLOT

Quantum Mechanic posted:

So my Mage players have had their first real encounter with the Abyss.

They tracked down a spate of killings to a local mortal cult, and through the Mastigos (Mind Mage) rooting through the minds of some of the cultists, discovered they'd been raising soul-stealing revenants through the use of an Abyssal tome given to them by an actual Mage, a Scelestus (Abyss-serving Mage).

They managed to find the apartment of the cult leader, and the human-skin-bound tome under lock and key in his room. The Mastigos put the cult leader under a domination spell, and not wanting to mess with the book any more than necessary, they decided to douse it with gasoline and set it on fire.

It burned, but as it burned it also screamed. The Obrimos (Forces Mage) PC quickly cast a spell to damp down the sound, but casting it too close to the book allowed its connection with the Abyss to mess with his spell and cause a Paradox.

In the case of this Paradox, instead of damping down the screaming, it caused it to reverberate throughout the whole city block. The screaming snapped the cult leader out of the mind spell, and seeing the book granted to him by his dark master burning, leaped forward and grabbed it.

The party were now faced with a burning man holding a screaming book, his eyes bubbling pitch down his face, shambling towards them with inky black nothingness rolling from his body. The other PC, another Mastigos but with powers more based around spirits, tried to awaken the spirit in her pistol and start firing.

Another Paradox.

This one sent the spell wheeling into the man, who stopped, shuddering and jerking, then howled and burst apart like an overripe fruit into a mass of oily tentacles and alien suckerfish mouths - an Abyssal manifestation.

The PCs did the right thing when faced with an Abyssal spirit - booked it. The Obrimos ran into the corridor outside the apartment, and asked if there was a firehose handy. As the creature tried to gain its bearing in reality, he unwheeled the firehose, turned it on, and combined his Forces and Matter magic to transmute the stream of water into liquid nitrogen.

He started blasting frozen chunks off this Lovecraftian entity with the firehose until it collapsed into a bubbling, oily pile and disapparated, then did the same with the book.

Obrimos as gently caress. :black101:

They may be a bit churchy, but goddamn, do I love playing Obrimos mages.

# ¿ Aug 14, 2012 12:21

Error 404: Jul 17, 2009; MAGE CURES PLOT

DivineCoffeeBinge posted:

Star Wars game

The

in me wants to move to your town specifically so I can join this game. GOD drat. I'll bring the beer!

# ¿ Sep 30, 2012 18:33

Error 404: Jul 17, 2009; MAGE CURES PLOT

DivineCoffeeBinge posted:

What I'm getting at here is this: the PCs are doing awesome things and you should let them be awesome. But always keep in mind that every new wrinkle the PCs come up with is another wrinkle you can use to challenge them - another thing they have to watch. Let them be awesome... but be on the lookout for the new opportunities their awesomeness gives you.

This is "how to think like a GM" 101 right here. Excellent advice.

# ¿ Oct 22, 2012 04:48

Error 404: Jul 17, 2009; MAGE CURES PLOT

Eat lead space wizard!

# ¿ Oct 27, 2012 18:37

Error 404: Jul 17, 2009; MAGE CURES PLOT

Ratpick posted:

That sounds like a hell of a lot of fun. I need to do something like that at some point.

Yeah, that right there is 'adversarial' GMing done right.

# ¿ Nov 12, 2012 00:09

Error 404: Jul 17, 2009; MAGE CURES PLOT

Wahad posted:

Does that make Halflings Irish?

Y'know, if you avoided toorah loorah loldrunk irish crap, I could see that being pretty cool. charismatic warriors with a tendency to go berzerk, witty silvertongued rogues who (literally) charm your pants off. and they just happen to be 3ft tall. interesting ie-ins to fair folk (who may or may not be elves)

# ¿ Dec 6, 2012 15:56

Error 404: Jul 17, 2009; MAGE CURES PLOT

"My name is Mr. Concern, and you are none of mine."
-stakes enemy vamp to leave out for the sun, walks away in slow motion, puts on sunglasses-

# ¿ Feb 27, 2013 11:58

Error 404: Jul 17, 2009; MAGE CURES PLOT

DivineCoffeeBinge posted:

Called shot stuff

Semi-unrelated, but has your group done any more of that star wars campaign. I love those stories!

# ¿ Mar 12, 2013 09:40

Error 404: Jul 17, 2009; MAGE CURES PLOT

Echophonic posted:

The only thing I don't like about them is the complete horrorshow that is the cost. It costs 125gp worth of reagents to call a thunderstorm. It costs 135 to teleport across an entire plane.

I always felt the crazy price of reagents is a holdover from older editions, and instead I just used those prices as a one-time thing.

# ¿ Aug 24, 2013 04:06

Error 404: Jul 17, 2009; MAGE CURES PLOT

Telemicus posted:

My terrible DM took a level in Wizard. Too bad he has a 9 INT.

motherfucker can't even cantrip right.

Oh god this reminds me almost exactly of a dude I met several years ago.

Ian moved here from Wisconsin, was waaaaay into the occult, was a terrible player and gm, and pretty much never shut up about who he was boinking/cheating with. Dude was 30 loving years old when I met him.

Dude was a trainwreck.

# ¿ Sep 28, 2013 01:16

Error 404: Jul 17, 2009; MAGE CURES PLOT

Preechr posted:

... Did you just run a session of The Shield: 40k? Because that's awesome.

The Strike Team would be an amazing inquisitor's band.

# ¿ Oct 7, 2013 11:39

Error 404: Jul 17, 2009; MAGE CURES PLOT

Snapes. Call a wizard a Snape.
Or Worm, because bookworms and also "low as a worm"
Remedial Conjurer
Buttromancer
Vancian Douchebag
Limp Wand
A simpering berobed muppet.

# ¿ Oct 28, 2013 14:28

Error 404: Jul 17, 2009; MAGE CURES PLOT

goatface posted:

Or he might be planning on solving the problem via Deus ex NPC, but needs you to be fighting and losing before they can make their dramatic entrance.

And then he unveils the twist for the campaign: you're all supporting cast in his Drizzt fanfic.

# ¿ Oct 28, 2013 16:36

Error 404: Jul 17, 2009; MAGE CURES PLOT

the_steve posted:

Wand Jockeys

Although yeah, I like Casthole better.

Castholes is definitely the winner here, but I think Thaumaturd is a close contender.

# ¿ Oct 28, 2013 20:57

Error 404: Jul 17, 2009; MAGE CURES PLOT

Welp, pack it in folks, the best Dungeon World group has been found.

# ¿ Jan 23, 2014 16:38

Error 404: Jul 17, 2009; MAGE CURES PLOT

Stallion Cabana posted:

what about 'Aroused but scared'

# ¿ Jan 30, 2014 23:30

Error 404: Jul 17, 2009; MAGE CURES PLOT

Dick Fever. I'm dying.

# ¿ Apr 8, 2014 01:42

Error 404: Jul 17, 2009; MAGE CURES PLOT

Volmarias posted:

Of dick fever?

Of laughter, about Dick Fever.

# ¿ Apr 8, 2014 02:38

Error 404: Jul 17, 2009; MAGE CURES PLOT

Saomebody ashould tell that guy that anuses don't ripple.

At least not healthy, normal, ones.

# ¿ Apr 12, 2014 16:11

Error 404: Jul 17, 2009; MAGE CURES PLOT

Winson_Paine posted:

See I would have imagined PF erotic players to be more into feat fetishes

Ooh baby, I'm almost there show me your CharOp.

# ¿ Apr 12, 2014 18:37

Error 404: Jul 17, 2009; MAGE CURES PLOT

Ghost ride the blade.

# ¿ Apr 16, 2014 18:18

Error 404: Jul 17, 2009; MAGE CURES PLOT

My Size Queen has perma-hastened 'Summon Greater Dong' as a class feature.

# ¿ May 13, 2014 19:13

Error 404: Jul 17, 2009; MAGE CURES PLOT

Doodmons posted:

In the Vampire game I'm in at the moment, we all OOC know that the "specialists" being sent to the local hospital by a pharmaceutical conglomerate can only be a Cheiron Group kill team of biologically modified walking weapons. In character, we're like "pfff, pharmaceutical execs? What are they gonna do talk us to death ahahahaha"

This will end in sweet IC tears, definitely post about your next session.

# ¿ May 14, 2014 15:57

Error 404: Jul 17, 2009; MAGE CURES PLOT

Mehuyael posted:

I'll take a look at'em, thanks for the suggestions.

Yeah, if you're not familiar with FATE or Dungeon World (Or Apocalypse World) and other 'Powered by the Apocalypse' engine games, you should definitely do that. They are good systems which are more concerned with story than modelling anything realistic.

# ¿ May 15, 2014 21:18

Error 404: Jul 17, 2009; MAGE CURES PLOT

That reminds me of an exchange I saw in a comic once.

A magical cop is fighting some tentacled horror and calls for backup, the backup being a big dude in swat armor.

The backup hands the cop a gun and charges at the monster saying to be careful because good parts are hard to find.

The cops asks him "Zombie?" And he replies "I prefer the term Undead American."

# ¿ May 16, 2014 23:13

Error 404: Jul 17, 2009; MAGE CURES PLOT

I GMed a new World of Darkness game where I did something like that.
The player offered to sacrifice her character to power a spell, I gave her all the available dice (~50 d10s) on the table.
The spell's effects were felt through several planes of reality and unreality which, for the rest of the campaign, was referred to by the surviving PCs as the "Celestial Toothpick".

# ¿ Aug 26, 2014 03:05

Error 404: Jul 17, 2009; MAGE CURES PLOT

Cardiovorax posted:

What did it do?

Basically, she created a time and dimensional portal that lead straight 'out' of reality and into the abyss of nothingness between worlds, the player then tackled the big bad into it and they were both completely unmade. Like nobody but the PCs ever knew they existed at all, the only evidence left behind was a magical 'Tunguska event' in the real world, the spirit world, the shadow world, other parallel worlds, etc. that all happened at roughly the same moment.

One player described it "like jabbing a toothpick through a sandwich, if the sandwich was made of multiple realities." Hence, Celestial Toothpick.

This was a severely homebrewed Mage:the Awakening game with elements of Owod Mage: the Ascension fluff added in. To the folks familiar with the old world of darkness, this was our game's version of the Week of Nightmares, to give a sense of scale.

# ¿ Aug 26, 2014 06:58

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# ¿ Apr 28, 2024 22:46

Error 404: Jul 17, 2009; MAGE CURES PLOT

Babe Magnet posted:

I'm assuming that I am talking to a regular Goon in that they will be far too chickenshit to actually ever say anything and then just passive-aggressively deal with it until the group melts from being suddenly being busy out of nowhere.

But kicking him out of he refuses to stop being a turdlord is probably the best idea, but not the most fruitful for this thread.

Speaking of, how's your special snowflake-anime-shadow-ninja-rules-lawyer who can't stand the thought of anything bad happening to his precious character? :v:

# ¿ Oct 2, 2014 05:47

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