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Lightning Lord posted:It's BX with Cannibal Corpse album cover art.rue meat is in the adventures. What's BX in this context?
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Jan 28, 2016 14:49
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paradoxGentleman posted:What's BX in this context? Ye Olde D&D
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Jan 28, 2016 14:50
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paradoxGentleman posted:What's BX in this context? Basic/Expert. It's a "slimming down" of the original BXCMI (Basic/Expert/Companion/Masters/Immortal) series of "Basic" D&D. A lot of people feel that the game's scaling issues start to really manifest around level 15, which is where the Companion box set picks up. So B/X is a sort-of retroclone of Basic that tops out at level 15, which was covered by the Basic set (levels 1-3) and the Expert set (levels 4-14). I don't think there's an "official" B/X download, so I don't know which parts of the later sets (like weapon mastery, domain management, or mass combat) are included.
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Jan 28, 2016 17:29
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Weapon mastery is honestly one of the coolest things that BECMI ever did and really deserved to be incorporated into AD&D 2e.
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Jan 28, 2016 18:14
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I was actually just thinking that if I was to make a B/X retroclone-y thing, I'd bring back weapon mastery, simplify it, and make them and spells work on a 4e-ish grid so you get back all the cool tactical stuff.
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Jan 28, 2016 18:30
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A dice pool system with a moving target number is a terrible idea, right? For context: I'm homebrewing up my own dungeon crawlin' system for fun. I like dice pools, and I also like combining attack and damage rolls into a single roll. So, I was thinking of this: when you attack, you roll a pool of d6s. An attack does X damage per success (X varies based on the attack). The target number for determining a "success" is the target's Dodge rating. If you attack a target with Dodge 3, a 3-6 is a success; attack a target with Dodge 5, and only a 5 or 6 is a success. My other idea would just be to have the Dodge rating be the number of successes needed to hit them, with a success always being a 4-6, and then having flat damage, but I like the idea of variable damage and I'm weirdly married to this "one roll per attack" thing. On the other hand, having a variable number of successes needed (rather than a variable target number for determining a success) would allow this to work for status ailment resistances, too--like, if you have Poison Resist 4, it takes at least 4 successes on a poison attack to inflict poison on you.
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Jan 28, 2016 19:19
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Are you familiar with One Roll Engine?
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Jan 28, 2016 19:27
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Harrow posted:A dice pool system with a moving target number is a terrible idea, right?
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Jan 28, 2016 19:29
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Megaman's Jockstrap posted:Are you familiar with One Roll Engine? Only very vaguely. I'll look into it, though--just the summary on Wikipedia has me really intrigued. dwarf74 posted:Be sure you run the real numbers in anydice or something. Both changing the size and the TN of dice pools can do weird stuff to probability. Yeah, I figured that it would wreak havoc on any understanding I have of dice probability. I'll play around with it in anydice and see what I come up with.
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Jan 28, 2016 19:31
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So long as you're consistent in only using one of those (variable success chance per die vs. variable threshold successes), your math should be relatively clean to work out. White Wolf's math only got weird in oWoD (famously flabbergasting Greg Stolze) because they decided to use both without rhyme or reason as to how to apply each. In any case, let's consider average successes in the context of such dice pool mechanics. In general, those average successes will be A = P * D - T, given that each rolled die is presumably independent of the rest. P is the probability of a success on a given die, D is the number of dice in the pool, and T is the number of threshold successes necessary to "zero out". (Thus in your example of needing at least 4 successes for poison to penetrate resistance, T would be 3.) Thus, the former mechanic ("variable probability of success") is more useful if you want to vary degrees of success by fiddling around with the slope of the resultant line, while the latter mechanic is more useful if you're fine with a consistent slope and instead want to just push the line up and down. One's more consistent at getting results, while the other has (generally) more capacity to get potentially big results. Honestly, it's not too dissimilar to the Mathhammer problem in Rogue Trader, if you've played that.
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Jan 28, 2016 19:36
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NGDBSS posted:So long as you're consistent in only using one of those (variable success chance per die vs. variable threshold successes), your math should be relatively clean to work out. White Wolf's math only got weird in oWoD (famously flabbergasting Greg Stolze) because they decided to use both without rhyme or reason as to how to apply each. The bolded line is basically what I want to do, yes. I like the idea that you're not going to outright whiff all that often, but big successes are less common than smaller ones. (Darkest Dungeon is more than a little bit of an inspiration here. You don't outright miss constantly, but you're also not hitting for full damage that often either.) I had one other idea that struck me as potentially more complicated on the player side of things, but which might still work: the TN is always 4, but every attack has two damage numbers. "Do X damage for every 4 or 5 you roll, and Y damage for every 6." It'd still be possible to vary the number of successes needed to overcome an enemy's resistance/dodge, too, though I think it starts to feel more punitive if that happens: "I rolled a 4 and a 6, but you're telling me it doesn't count because I needed at least three successes to damage him?" That kind of thing doesn't seem like it would be fun from a player side.
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Jan 28, 2016 19:45
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Evil Mastermind posted:Basic/Expert. It's a "slimming down" of the original BXCMI (Basic/Expert/Companion/Masters/Immortal) series of "Basic" D&D. B/X is the original Basic D&D, the boxed sets by Holmes and later Moldvay. They predate Mentzer BECMI D&D that Allston compiled into Rules Cyclopedia by a couple years. It's also on dndclassics. All ten or eleven (5e is a lie!!!!!!!!) D&D editions are up now I'm pretty sure. http://www.dndclassics.com/product/110274/DD-Basic-Set-Rulebook-B-X-ed-Basic?src=hottest_filtered&filters=0_0_44699 if nothing else, Holmes' and then Moldvay's GM advice is some of the best, and fun reading. Lightning Lord fucked around with this message at 00:23 on Jan 29, 2016 |
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Jan 29, 2016 00:21
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Razzled posted:Anyone familiar with Lamentations of the Flame Princess? we're starting a hybrid campaign in it + some homebrew rules and I was just wondering what the highlights of the system are. Any combat quirks to know about? Can't speak to the system of LotFP but I can speak to the supplements. Both of these are system agnostic. Scenic Dunnsmouth is a brilliant book that procedurally generates a town and Innsmouth-like plot. With this book you can generate a backwater town in minutes or iterate off of it for your own plot purposes. Just fantastic. Highly highly recommend more people buy this. http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/127039/Scenic-Dunnsmouth Qelong by Kenneth Hite describes a terrifying Southeast Asian inspired land that has been devastated by a mystical war. Incidentally shares a plot point with Scenic Dunnsmouth (both feature a discarded artifact of great power somewhere in the zone). I get the feeling some material was cut for the sake of book size, since it seems the Lotus Monks could have used two or more pages of development. Still good. http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/117257/Qelong
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Jan 29, 2016 22:40
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Lightning Lord posted:B/X is the original Basic D&D, the boxed sets by Holmes and later Moldvay. They predate Mentzer BECMI D&D that Allston compiled into Rules Cyclopedia by a couple years. "Slimming down" probably wasn't the best way to put it, but yeah. I actually started with the B/X set way the hell back in the day, but I don't remember ever going into the last three sets.
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Jan 29, 2016 22:59
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Modiphius have a kickstarter for another post apocalyptic expansion to the award winning Mutant: Year Zero. Which they advertise as a "furry and feathered (r)evolution" but I digress....  quote:"In a remote mountain valley, mutant animals dwell under the watchful eyes of the mysterious Watchers. Kept prisoners for generations by electric wire and drones in the sky, never knowing who's next to be dragged off to deadly experiments in dark laboratories, the animal mutants have had enough. The time for resistance is now. The fight for freedom has come..."  quote:Mutant: Genlab Alpha tells the story of the mutant animals, and introduces them into the dawnworld of Mutant: Year Zero. Some of the contents: They smashed through their kickstarter goal in less than one day and the Stretch goals are pretty cool. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1192053011/mutant-genlab-alpha/description      
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Jan 29, 2016 23:19
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Has anyone played M:Y0? It looks kind of interesting.
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Jan 30, 2016 00:17
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The art at least doesn't have the Hic Sunt Dracones problem of being deep in the realms of furry fan-service, if not outright wank material.
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Jan 30, 2016 06:12
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I haven't played the game, only read through the rules a bit, but it's a sandbox post apocalyptic game. In the main game it follows the same narrative structure as this but you're survivors of an apocalypse and have just come out of your Fallout style Vault. You get random mutations and have to provide for your colony, which is always on the verge of collapse. Genlab Alpha just seems to be the After the Bomb style book. There's a robot book too that was on Kickstarter not too long ago but it was in Swedish or some other Nordic language. RocknRollaAyatollah fucked around with this message at 16:36 on Jan 30, 2016 |
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Jan 30, 2016 16:34
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Posting this from the MTG thread because more people need to see this: 
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Jan 30, 2016 23:31
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What it's two dorks playing nerd po..
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Jan 30, 2016 23:49
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So a group of friends who have never played a game of elf before came to me and want to play dnd. But I don't like the 5e mechanics and have never ran it before and I'm looking for something a little friendlier for newer players. I don't wanna overwhelm the dudes, you know? What would you guys recommend for babies first elf game?
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Jan 31, 2016 00:13
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Ominous Jazz posted:So a group of friends who have never played a game of elf before came to me and want to play dnd.
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Jan 31, 2016 00:17
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Yawgmoth posted:Practically anything other than D&D. But if they're dead set on D&D because of brand recognition, 4e is the likely choice for beginners. I hear Strike! and 13th Age are also good but I haven't even read the books for them let alone played so take that with a third-hand grain of salt. I'm running 13th age right now and wanna try something new. I'll give strike! a look.
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Jan 31, 2016 00:21
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Ominous Jazz posted:So a group of friends who have never played a game of elf before came to me and want to play dnd. Dungeon World.
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Jan 31, 2016 00:28
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Ominous Jazz posted:So a group of friends who have never played a game of elf before came to me and want to play dnd. D&D BX(Basic/Expert), BECMI(Basic, Expert, Companion, Master, Immortal), and Rules Cyclopedia editions are often recommended among the older editions, and BX & RC are both available cheap on Drivethrustuff Might want to go look up the OSR thread for more info
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Jan 31, 2016 00:46
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drrockso20 posted:D&D BX(Basic/Expert), BECMI(Basic, Expert, Companion, Master, Immortal), and Rules Cyclopedia editions are often recommended among the older editions, and BX & RC are both available cheap on Drivethrustuff Basic is an excellent suggestion. The game assumes you've never played/ran a D&D game before and walks you through it step by step, and is incredibly simple to run. Well, for D&D anyway.
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Jan 31, 2016 00:54
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I'm gonna third the suggestion for Basic, with the caveat that you don't start with any official modules and just make your own adventure/dungeon beforehand.
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Jan 31, 2016 01:38
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Yawgmoth posted:Posting this from the MTG thread because more people need to see this: The greatest generation spins in it's collective grave.
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Jan 31, 2016 05:01
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Yawgmoth posted:Posting this from the MTG thread because more people need to see this: Cos-playing one of the colors your running, an amateur mistake.
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Jan 31, 2016 08:36
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Ominous Jazz posted:So a group of friends who have never played a game of elf before came to me and want to play dnd. 7e Gamma World. It's basically a slimmed down 4e and it takes a lot of the early choice paralysis out of playing elfgames. Also it takes elfs out and replaces them with robots and yetis. It's the best.
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Jan 31, 2016 08:46
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theironjef posted:7e Gamma World. It's basically a slimmed down 4e and it takes a lot of the early choice paralysis out of playing elfgames. Also it takes elfs out and replaces them with robots and yetis. It's the best. Bonus points if you can get the expansions to further expand your options, also in a game I was going to run that never got off the ground, one of my friends was going to play as a living Christmas Tree, using one of those tree stands as a melee weapon and Christmas ornaments as a ranged weapon
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Jan 31, 2016 08:54
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drrockso20 posted:Bonus points if you can get the expansions to further expand your options, also in a game I was going to run that never got off the ground, one of my friends was going to play as a living Christmas Tree, using one of those tree stands as a melee weapon and Christmas ornaments as a ranged weapon We made some characters for a podcast a while back and they came out as a brain in a hoverjar wearing a trucker hat that said "No fat brains" and a hole in reality from which rats eternally poured. When it had an alpha mutation it just changed the type of rats. So like the rubbery one turned the stream into toy rats for the encounter.
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Jan 31, 2016 08:58
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theironjef posted:We made some characters for a podcast a while back and they came out as a brain in a hoverjar wearing a trucker hat that said "No fat brains" and a hole in reality from which rats eternally poured. When it had an alpha mutation it just changed the type of rats. So like the rubbery one turned the stream into toy rats for the encounter. I want to hear this podcast. What was Trucker Brain's name?
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Jan 31, 2016 09:01
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Helical Nightmares posted:I want to hear this podcast. Saggitarion the Overmind
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Jan 31, 2016 09:08
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I think my favorite random result with that version of Gamma World was a Simian/Ratswarm that was just the actual proverbial barrel of monkeys and used the barrel as a weapon.
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Jan 31, 2016 09:12
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unseenlibrarian posted:I think my favorite random result with that version of Gamma World was a Simian/Ratswarm that was just the actual proverbial barrel of monkeys and used the barrel as a weapon. I've also rolled the Reanimated Reanimator, which while it's just a zombie that can raise other zombies, basically comes complete with a free rolled superhero name.
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Jan 31, 2016 09:16
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Gamma World 7e really was too good for this cruel world.
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Jan 31, 2016 09:43
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My fav GW creation was a Swarm/Feline character rolled by my girlfriend that was a horde of adorable kittens. Mittens McKittens carried a slingshot that it used to launch kittens at foes. :3
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Jan 31, 2016 10:11
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Kai Tave posted:Gamma World 7e really was too good for this cruel world. To be fair Gamma World 7e was intended to be a limited line from the beginning, although it could have used more support in Dragon Magazine
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Jan 31, 2016 10:43
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Ominous Jazz posted:So a group of friends who have never played a game of elf before came to me and want to play dnd. Don't run 4e unless you're willing to coach your players through advancement, don't run Dungeon World unless you're familiar with actually making its combat exciting, which is more difficult that it should be. Strike is a very solid hybrid of good 4e combat and good PbtA non-combat. 13th Age is more traditionally DnD, which may be what your players are looking for, and basically plays like a better, more well thought out 5e in my experience.
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Jan 31, 2016 16:18
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