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Warthur posted:One of the things I've noticed about 2E is that if you switch all the optional rules to "off", what you have left is an awful lot like "B/X only with race and class separated out". The extensive optional rules put a figleaf on this (or rather, disorganisedly dump a bag full of fig leaves over it - Jef's points about 2E's organisation remain true), but it's still evident. This was totally a thing. My very, very first AD&D game decades ago (in Dragonlance of all settings) we lifted the weaponmastery system and initiative out of the Rules Cyclopedia because it made better sense.
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Dec 28, 2019 09:37
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Liquid Communism posted:This was totally a thing. Tell me more... 
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Dec 28, 2019 10:11
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Libertad! posted:Tell me more... Initiative wise, it's simple. Party and monsters each roll 1d6, higher of the two goes first. Everyone on one side moves, then resolves attacks in order: 1. Missiles 2. Spells 3. Hand to hand combat. Then the other side goes. Very wargame-y, but it let the players coordinate their turn and made mass combat a hell of a lot faster. Weapon mastery is still the best feeling version of that system ever published for D&D to me. It worked a lot like weapon proficiencies in AD&D, but had cooler options. Characters got weapon choices based on 2+1 per 3 levels for non fighters or 4+1 per 3 for fighters, and could spend them to go between basic, Skilled, Expert, Master, and Grand Master with a weapon. I've also used these in later campaigns just straight replacing weapon profs 1:1. Using a weapon you don't have Basic skill with means flat half damage. Each level above basic gives +2 to hit across the board, larger damage dice. and various other bonuses such as extended range on missile and throwing weapons, or an AC bonus against the first x attacks per round. Weapons also have special abilities based on their use, such as free second attacks with no offhand penalty if dual-wielding, knockout (for 1d100 rounds, on blackjacks), delay (which makes the opponent save vs. PPDM or lose initiative next round) or my very favorite Deflect. quote:Deflect: In addition to any attacks, the wielder of this weapon may attempt to deflect the A grandmaster with quarterstaff gets 4 deflects a round. This did a ton to make squishy casters more survivable, so the GM pulled zero punches on trying to kill them dead. From a player perspective it feels better too, as it makes melee more interactive than 'he hits my AC, I take x damage, next round'. Liquid Communism fucked around with this message at 14:32 on Dec 28, 2019 |
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Dec 28, 2019 14:29
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I wrote a school for Unknown Armies where you paint graffiti to steal semiotic power away from the businesses and governments that plaster our public spaces, and now it's plastered on the internet: Logomancy! Wasn't sure where else to put the shameless plug these days, but there you have it.
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Dec 29, 2019 00:04
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I wasn't sure where to put this but this came up in a discussion after a game and I just want to say I love the Stars Without Number "One Roll NPC" idea: (It's not actually one roll but being able to grab an array of dice and get the wireframe of a new NPC that fast is awesome.)
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Dec 30, 2019 04:43
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Nuns with Guns posted:I wasn't sure where to put this but this came up in a discussion after a game and I just want to say I love the Stars Without Number "One Roll NPC" idea: Yeah it's pretty cool you could chuck a handful of dice and then have an answer
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Dec 30, 2019 04:50
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Coolness Averted posted:Yeah it's pretty cool you could chuck a handful of dice and then have an answer SWN has additional ones for random patron generation, plus urban and wilderness encounters, but I really dig that the NPC tables are generic enough that you could repurpose them for pretty much any game you want
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Dec 30, 2019 05:01
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  Just 32 hours or so left to buy my bundle of Supernatural Strangeness that contains my found-footage weird horror game The Cromlech Archives and my supernatural submarine tragedy map-game SONAR GHOSTS! Both are due to be updated early next year and both will come with a significant price bump, but if you buy in the next 32 hours you'll get both and any updates for as little as $4/20% off ($2.25/10% off individually). If you buy after the sale but before the updates then you'll still get all that, but at a slightly higher price ($2.50 each, no bundle price). Very close to hitting my target for this sale; any help would be much appreciated  -  As well as the closing hours of my sale/bundle, I've just published From Sea to Shining Sea, my sci-fi Fear and Loathing-inspired game of gonzo journalism among the decadent and corrupt colonies of the near-ish future lunar landscape! It's my attempt to get across some of both the style and the substance of Hunter S. Thompson's works, though with probably a lot less depictions of vicious bigotry and genuinely terrible deeds (unless all players are on board). It's also minorly inspired by Diaries of a Spaceport Janitor, and mechanically it's a bit Powered by the Apocalypse/Belonging Outside Belonging-ish. It's my final submission to Ad Astra Jam on itch.io (games about feelings in space - in this case hope and fear, disappointment and yearning, nostalgia and anger, and more). Here's the itch blurb: quote:From Sea to Shining Sea is a GMless tabletop role-playing game for 2-4 players who're ready to open the dark heart of the future. You all play as freelance journalists (when you're not out doing gig and part-time jobs to pay rent) hired to cover a sporting event in the future, on the moon. It's bland mouthpiece reporting out here. https://twitter.com/SpeaktheSky/status/1211646575967117312
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Dec 30, 2019 17:19
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Well, 2019 was weird as poo poo, huh?
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Dec 31, 2019 12:39
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Green Stuff World isn't doing great - first there was the issue of Nazi imagery as part of one of their rollers (the SS black sun image) which they took ages to sort out, then they started refusing to sell to people with Chinese/Asian names, and now they've used YouTube's DMCA to take down a video review of a rival company's colour shifting paints, as both GSW and Vallejo have a set of paints called Colorshift - Vallejo are now in the process of renaming their range to Shifters - but as far as I know, the vlogger involved doesn't have any more connection to either GSW or Vallejo than any other customer/consumer. I could see action being taken between GSW and Vallejo, but attacking customers of Vallejo products - or trying to scrub the internet clean of any evidence that Vallejo's range was called the same as GSW's - is quite an over reaction!
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Dec 31, 2019 17:23
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LashLightning posted:Green Stuff World isn't doing great - first there was the issue of Nazi imagery as part of one of their rollers (the SS black sun image) which they took ages to sort out, then they started refusing to sell to people with Chinese/Asian names, and now they've used YouTube's DMCA to take down a video review of a rival company's colour shifting paints, as both GSW and Vallejo have a set of paints called Colorshift - Vallejo are now in the process of renaming their range to Shifters - but as far as I know, the vlogger involved doesn't have any more connection to either GSW or Vallejo than any other customer/consumer. I love when companies try to protect generic words as their ip
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Dec 31, 2019 17:35
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Coolness Averted posted:I love when companies try to protect generic words as their ip
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Dec 31, 2019 18:09
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Splicer posted:It's so generic that despite the very clear phrasing "both GSW and Vallejo have a set of paints called Colorshift" I still parsed the sentence as "both GSW and Vallejo have a set of paints that shift colours" Yeah that's how I keep parsing it too. Reminds me of a company I worked for that actually tried to trademark 'breathe'
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Dec 31, 2019 18:39
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Someone in my gaming group took to reddit asking about the record for the largest single D&D game (single meaning adjucated by a single head GM, wherein the actions of any one party can influence other parties and the overall game itself) was set at a comic convention in Brazil, 2019. It had 750 concurrent players. It's my understanding that both Paizo and WotC release suppliments intended to be played by many smaller parties simultaneously, in the same instance.
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Dec 31, 2019 19:39
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So I got the Lancer core book as a Kickstarter backer, and am I missing something, or does the book not actually give you a character sheet?
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Dec 31, 2019 21:15
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PHIZ KALIFA posted:Someone in my gaming group took to reddit asking about the record for the largest single D&D game (single meaning adjucated by a single head GM, wherein the actions of any one party can influence other parties and the overall game itself) was set at a comic convention in Brazil, 2019. It had 750 concurrent players. I’ve done one of the Paizo modules that had around ~200 people playing. It was a lot of fun!
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Dec 31, 2019 22:37
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Zeerust posted:So I got the Lancer core book as a Kickstarter backer, and am I missing something, or does the book not actually give you a character sheet? Character sheet's not done yet, but Comp/Con can make you characters and mechs and export them in a printable format.
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Dec 31, 2019 22:55
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Gonna try to get a game group starting this year to play dungeon world. My wife wants to host but isn't into the regular fantasy milieu, so she's not excited about playing. A couple of her and my friends have expressed interest, mostly around D&D, but I want to try and break out of that mold. Anyway, i chatted about it with her, and she mentioned that a murder mystery teen drama game like Pretty Little Liars would be her jam. Now I can't get the idea out of my head of getting the group together and then introducing them to Monster Hearts. Edit: after they're well and comfortable with DW of course Tibalt fucked around with this message at 05:39 on Jan 1, 2020 |
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Jan 1, 2020 05:36
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That sounds more like Bubblegumshoe.
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Jan 1, 2020 05:39
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hyphz posted:That sounds more like Bubblegumshoe.
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Jan 1, 2020 05:43
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Tibalt posted:Now I can't get the idea out of my head of getting the group together and then introducing them to Monster Hearts.
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Jan 1, 2020 07:44
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Ilor posted:Honestly? Skip straight to Monsterhearts. It's a really good AW hack. Dungeon World...not so much. This, do this.
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Jan 1, 2020 10:29
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Monsterhearts is a great game, but it's definitely one to have a long conversation about with your group before playing, given the degree that sex, violence, and various forms of abuse can end up playing into the narrative. Make sure there's a high level of trust at the table and that everyone is comfortable setting and asserting their boundaries, as well as respecting other people's.
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Jan 1, 2020 11:27
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Ilor posted:Honestly? Skip straight to Monsterhearts. It's a really good AW hack. Dungeon World...not so much. Do this Antivehicular posted:Monsterhearts is a great game, but it's definitely one to have a long conversation about with your group before playing, given the degree that sex, violence, and various forms of abuse can end up playing into the narrative. Make sure there's a high level of trust at the table and that everyone is comfortable setting and asserting their boundaries, as well as respecting other people's. But definitely definitely do this first, Monsterhearts is an amazing game but if you just assume everyone's on the same page without hashing it out first then it starts off with everyone having a good time and it's a bit like Buffy and then suddenly the whole group except for one person is going  shutupshutupshutup and it's a bit like Buffy.
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Jan 1, 2020 12:03
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There's a part of me that wants to try Monsterhearts because I read the praise on the forums, but a bigger part of me doesn't want to be a sexy Frankenstein in a Monster High RPG
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Jan 1, 2020 14:23
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If you're not at least a little bit interested in playing through what is essentially a soap opera/The CW drama RPG (that happens to use monsters as metaphors for teenager feelings), then you shouldn't play Monsterhearts. It's a good game specifically because its mechanics really drive its theme, and if you don't care for the theme you just won't have a very good time.
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Jan 1, 2020 15:56
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Yeah, let me be clear here: I wholeheartedly recommend Monsterhearts for people who want to play that kind of game because the rules are tight, the playbooks are exceedingly well constructed and the game hews to its chosen theme extremely well. But I personally have zero interest in it. It is definitely a niche genre.
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Jan 1, 2020 16:41
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ooohhhh i'm stupid sexy archie, i never wear shirts, i have feeeeeeeeeeeeeelings and sing muuuuuuuuuusic. i started a riot at a juvenile detention facility i went to willingly because i'm stuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuupid. oh noooo im getting my guts ate by a gargolye, oh no jughead, run and tell veronica that im getting my insides turned into outsides by the evil D&D metaphor gargoyle gang, oh nooooooooo, my aaaaaabssss. That's Monsterhearts. It's got a good Riverdale S3/Chilling Adventures of Sabrina vibe.
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Jan 1, 2020 17:09
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PHIZ KALIFA posted:ooohhhh i'm stupid sexy archie, i never wear shirts, i have feeeeeeeeeeeeeelings and sing muuuuuuuuuusic. i started a riot at a juvenile detention facility i went to willingly because i'm stuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuupid. oh noooo im getting my guts ate by a gargolye, oh no jughead, run and tell veronica that im getting my insides turned into outsides by the evil D&D metaphor gargoyle gang, oh nooooooooo, my aaaaaabssss. well that sold me
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Jan 1, 2020 20:54
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I learned the hard way that you can't argue with grogs about AD&D because hardly anyone actually plays AD&D by the book. There's a reason weapon speed and weapon vs. armor were explicitly marked out as optional rules in 2e. (And AD&D was already Basic plus a compendium of mishmashed house rules--it was designed to have large parts of the rules ignored, probably not on purpose.)
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Jan 1, 2020 21:34
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I figure this has been asked before but: is there a good system for modelling Redwall-style adventures?
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Jan 1, 2020 21:35
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Zurui posted:I figure this has been asked before but: is there a good system for modelling Redwall-style adventures? Mouse Guard seems like the obvious answer, but there are probably others I can't think of right now.
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Jan 1, 2020 21:43
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Also Root (PBTA), Woodland Warriors (OSR), Wild Lands, and The One Ring if you're willing to homebrew new Cultures and Backgrounds. Also someone is doing Actual Plays
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Jan 1, 2020 21:48
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It's definitely Mouse Guard.
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Jan 1, 2020 21:55
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redwall RPG should have PBTA-style resolution for most things including combat, but an enormously elaborate high-crunch system for cooking
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Jan 1, 2020 22:09
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What's the cosmology like for Redwall, where Satan exists and is referenced during battles, but never any mention of a savior?
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Jan 1, 2020 22:11
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grassy gnoll posted:It's definitely Mouse Guard. Mouse Guard is great but takes some hacking to make work with a mixed-species party and a more cosmopolitan world. I was hoping to get something that works more out of the box.
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Jan 1, 2020 22:12
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PHIZ KALIFA posted:What's the cosmology like for Redwall, where Satan exists and is referenced during battles, but never any mention of a savior? I always assumed, since human towns, dogs, and horses appear in the first book (albeit at a remove) the mice are mimicking human society but have their own mouse traditions which are vaguer. That or Satan is just their term for snakes, since the snake in the quarry is named Asmodeus.
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Jan 1, 2020 22:17
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PHIZ KALIFA posted:What's the cosmology like for Redwall, where Satan exists and is referenced during battles, but never any mention of a savior? The original Redwall book has a few oblique references that point to the animals practicing literal Christianity (or having done so at some point, at least), and subsequent retcons have them practicing no religion at all. There's an afterlife of some sort but it appears to both literally exist (for the dead to send back visions from, among other things) and the conception of it, when it's addressed at all, gets closer to the idea of the Greek underworld than anything else; the first book's references to Hell or "Hellgates" are gradually downgraded to the idea of the "Dark Forest" where the souls of the dead go in general.
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Jan 1, 2020 22:22
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Zurui posted:Mouse Guard is great but takes some hacking to make work with a mixed-species party and a more cosmopolitan world. I was hoping to get something that works more out of the box. Ironclaw functions pretty well as a system, but you're looking at more high-fantasy adventure at that point. It's a bit of a pain to pick up until you figure out what it's trying to do, though.
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Jan 1, 2020 22:24
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