What are y'all up to these days?

[bleys21]

So, on reading through Paranoia, just because, I noticed something interesting. It has a very clear PbtA style rules option for limited success, or success with complications. A game, I suppose, before its time.

It does indeed :-) But when you consider who wrote it, its less surprising (to me, at least)

 

[AsenRG]

I can now put a check next to Blade of the Iron Throne as well. In the "has been used to successfully introduce new players to RPGs" box, the new player wants to play again.
OK, most of the merit is to my sister, who brought a friend to the BotIT session I ran today. I didn't feel very inspired to run*, but everybody present liked it nonetheless, so who am I to argue?
So Anton, Igor and Big Sister Rayna infiltrated the Temple of the Spider, saved some slaves, including Rayna's brother, killed some guys, and ran away on a ship which was, luckily, about to set sail...

I'd have to consider setting up two sessions for next week.

*When drinking tea before a session, make sure it's not still scorching hot.

 

[AsenRG]

I can now put a check next to Blade of the Iron Throne as well. In the "has been used to successfully introduce new players to RPGs" box, the new player wants to play again.

I've been thinking* about this. So, as I suspected, genuinely new* players can like any system, especially any traditional*** one. Because they don't have any expectations, so whatever you show them first is likely to become the baseline for them.
I'm now almost tempted to run a BotIT campaign just to see whether she'd consider other systems too light on the details afterwards...
Probably not. She wasn't interested in the system too much, according to her that's "the GM's job".

Also, that just might have been the first time I'm introducing to RPGs someone who has read almost no fantasy books, and has no interest in martial arts and fighting. Most of my players so far had at least one of those checked...
That I managed to still do it with BotIT is, I believe, a testament to my "Referee takes care of such details, if you wish" approach (which I'd mentioned in the KUP thread as well). Blade of the Iron Throne, and presumably all games from the TROS family, are all stellar at that - as long as the GM can overlay the system's logic over the way he presents the in-game events...
And since the way I present the in-game events is based on the same material that TRoS has been based on, it simply comes naturally. Historical fencing has had a large influence on the way I understand martial arts.

*Always a dangerous endeavor, I know!
**I.e. not those who watched a full season of Critical Role, or similar.
***In the sense that narrative systems would require the person to be interested in creating a story that genuinely fits narrative models.

 

[Tulpa Girl]

Last night's game was a direct continuation of the previous session, as the PCs decided to invade and rob the tower of one of the wizards who died fighting the lich last time. They moved quickly, wanting to act before others had the same idea, but as it turned out they did encounter other thieves along the way, some from the Guild, as well as a couple of independents.

(tweaked an adventure called The Tower of the Mammoth for this, which is of course based on Tower Of The Elephant by REH)

 

[Brock Savage]

(tweaked an adventure called The Tower of the Mammoth for this, which is of course based on Tower Of The Elephant by REH)

I have this adventure on my "to read" pile. You gotta share the details your campaign world with us some day.

 

[Certified]

Supe My Ride 1: The Supercycle
Last time we flew away with the superjet. This week we're riding into the danger zone with the superbike.

Supe My Ride 2: The Supercycle - House Dok Productions

This week we are looking at motorcycles, another staple of superheroes, particularly those without powers. (We’re looking at you Bat-Fam…) Because we are exploring something that is typically meant for one rider, with a potential passenger, let’s do two builds, one sleek and speedy (like you...

housedok.com

 

[Rich H]

Preparing for some more 1-GM-1-Player shenanigans. This time: The One Ring.

So, listening to this for inspiration as I prep...



... Whilst currently working on a character sheet to accomodate my house rules:

 

[AsenRG]

Great interest in Blade of the Iron Throne detected. I posted a recruitment topic on FB today. Literally, early in the morning.
It's not yet late afternoon, I've got 5 players...and I haven't played with any of them before!

I'll need an adventure!

 

[E-Rocker]

HEPCATS Episode 68: Glass the Beach!
In-game date unknown, as the party is still in the Chaos Realm, but it is immediately after Episode 67: Beach Episode!
Real-life date 18th February, 2023.
Present: Ayu, Pierre & Ron, Snaknar, Zera
XP: + 5

Granny Grinny told Ron that she feels he’s beating around the bush, and if what he really wants to know is, “What happened to the duplicate team?” they fucked off to Shard 14 to do some Necessary Evil.

Granny Grinny then took Ayu to task, saying that Ayu’s mother would be very disappointed in her, when, after all her big talk of going back to Speedchrome City to end the system of android oppression, take out Factory Man, and free the rest of the Factory androids, the main thing Ayu accomplished during her time in Speedchrome City was… buying a dildo.

Ayu points out that it’s a really excellent dildo with all sorts of amazing features, and is, in fact, a Dildo of Freedom! Granny Grinny said that, well, at least Ayu’s mom could be proud of that. Ayu questioned Granny Grinny, “Wait, do you know my mom?” but Granny Grinny dodged the question. [Note to readers: Ayu is an android, so Ayu having a mom is…. unlikely].

Meanwhile, Pierre continued to learn surfing from Pete, the retired-DEFDOGS-agent-turned-surfing-instructor. Snaknar found a crystal shop run by a woman named Guinevere or Genevieve or some sort of mash-up of those names next to the stand where he bought board shorts. He bought some crystals that “suck out the bad stuff.”

Zera approached the cake merchant, who recommended the triple-layer pineapple cake. Zera asked for three.
Merchant: “Three cakes, or three slices of cake?”
Zera: “Yes.”

The merchant served her three cakes, each with a slice of cake on top, once Ayu showed up to pay since Zera never carries money.

The sun then set very rapidly, and Granny Grinny told the party they probably should have left, because the fish-men are spawning, which makes them very aggressive, and a horde of fish-men emerged from the water onto the beach. Ayu asked Granny Grinny why she wasn’t worried about the fish-men. Granny Grinny said she has a personal force field that protects her. Ayu asked if everyone could get inside the force field, but Granny Grinny explained that it was just like an additional layer of energy immediately outside her own skin, so there really wasn’t room for anyone else inside.

For the record, this is the only question the team posed to Granny Grinny about how or if she could help. They never inquired if she could or would offer any non-force-field-related assistance.

A bunch of innocent beachgoers also failed to vacate the beach prior to the fish-men invasion, for reasons unknown. Maybe they were new here and just didn’t know any better. Maybe they got so caught up in their beach fun they just forgot to go home in a timely fashion. Maybe, with this being the Chaos Realm, the time of sunset is unpredictable. Who knows?

Anyway, the fish-men commenced a wild attack, in which they tore some beachgoers to shreds and attempted to do the same to the team.

Ayu quickly learned their language and suggested to three of the fish-men that, since they were spawning, they should try getting it on with her. She then led them on a wild goose chase wild fish-man chase all over the beach, ultimately ending back at almost the exact same place she had started from, where she hid in a bush so the fish-men couldn’t find her.

Meanwhile, Snaknar hammered pieces out of some of the fish-men, and Zera punched one so hard it exploded and pieces of charred-by-rainbow-energy fish-man rained down upon the beach. Zera caught some in her mouth. Pierre mostly hung out being intangible, and Pete kept surfing. Zera flew up above and hit five fish-men with a burst of rainbow energy so powerful it turned that portion of the beach into glass, and utterly ended those five fish-men. The team’s efforts allowed most of the beachgoers who hadn’t already been ripped to shreds to get away.

A giant monster levitated up from the ocean and hovered over the land. Most of the fish-men bowed to it. It attempted to brain-bolt the entire team, but couldn’t hit Zera, most likely because she’s so dumb that it couldn’t find her brain. It also lashed out with tentacles, but didn’t hit very hard. The team briefly attempted to fight it, but, considering the wounds they had sustained and the power points they’d spent, decided to run away.

As they ran, Ayu heard the three fish-men that had chased her in her brain, saying, “I wonder if she understood that we do it fish-style and there’s no penetration involved? Just shooting our stuff in the water onto the eggs.” Ayu thought back, “I am not a good sexual match for fish-men!” They replied, “Call us!”

The team made it back to the relative safety of the cave, where Ayu was partially successful at healing her comrades. The game show host from their previous trip to the Chaos Realm came by and asked the team if they still had the door.

“What door?” asked Pierre.
“The door that was your prize for winning the game show? The one that will take you to any of the Seven Shards, as long as your whole team can agree on where to go?” replied the game show host.

The team had definitely not remembered that, but Zera did still have the door on her person.

To be continued….

 

[Teyrnon]

This evening and probably tomorrow too I'll be reading over Jinkies! with the intention to run it this weekend. This will be my first time attempting to run any Powered By the Apocalypses game. I've never actually played one either so I have no idea how this is going to go. It should be interesting. Is there anything I should know before going in? I'll be running it for a group of six players two of whom use SGDs.

 

[Fenris-77]

This evening and probably tomorrow too I'll be reading over Jinkies! with the intention to run it this weekend. This will be my first time attempting to run any Powered By the Apocalypses game. I've never actually played one either so I have no idea how this is going to go. It should be interesting. Is there anything I should know before going in? I'll be running it for a group of six players two of whom use SGDs.

There's probably a section in the rules about player and GM principles - lean into those hard, even if it feel odd. PbtA, like any new rules set, can take some getting used it, but it goes way better if you aren't trying to make it fit assumptions brought in from other systems.

 

[Rich H]

Whilst currently working on a character sheet to accomodate my house rules...

... Phew, done!




Really please with the results. Been working on a new Stance Mat too:



I want to incorporate the pics on the right but think its best not to as it obfuscates the information.

 

[Rich H]

And this is the PC for the game, Ohtar the Dunadan:





The player, Phil, hasn't played an RPG set in Middle-earth since we used to play MERP around 35 years ago!!!

He's really looking forward to it. So am I!

 

[Acmegamer]

And this is the PC for the game, Ohtar the Dunadan:

View attachment 56867

View attachment 56868

The player, Phil, hasn't played an RPG set in Middle-earth since we used to play MERP around 35 years ago!!!

He's really looking forward to it. So am I!

How are you enjoying this edition of TOR so far? Quibbles? Loves? Hates?

 

[Rich H]

How are you enjoying this edition of TOR so far? Quibbles? Loves? Hates?

Heavily house-ruled mate. TOR 2e RAW is better than 1e RAW but I don't like it as much as my house-ruled 1e (I'd greatly improved Combat, Journeys and Encounters for instance). I'm therefore tweaking it here and there to be more in line with where I had things. The big deal-breaker for me was with Hope in 2e and it being waaaay too dynamic and can so easily be refreshed to maximum. Plus I don't like how its spent before rolling; I loved 1e and how Hope was used in that space and how it was a dwindling pool. It really fitted the feel and themes of Middle-earth in the late Third Age. However, I've renamed it Resolve and that fits more with the usage etc of it in 2e, at least in my opinion. Will still make it slightly harder to recover but not the same as Hope in 1e. Funny how a simple name change has helped in that respect.

 

[Acmegamer]

Heavily house-ruled mate. TOR 2e RAW is better than 1e RAW but I don't like it as much as my house-ruled 1e (I'd greatly improved Combat, Journeys and Encounters for instance). I'm therefore tweaking it here and there to be more in line with where I had things. The big deal-breaker for me was with Hope in 2e and it being waaaay too dynamic and can so easily be refreshed to maximum. Plus I don't like how its spent before rolling; I loved 1e and how Hope was used in that space and how it was a dwindling pool. It really fitted the feel and themes of Middle-earth in the late Third Age. However, I've renamed it Resolve and that fits more with the usage etc of it in 2e, at least in my opinion. Will still make it slightly harder to recover but not the same as Hope in 1e. Funny how a simple name change has helped in that respect.

I like your changes and agree. Some day if you feel the urge and or wanting to, you should organize the changes upload to to the download area along with your tweaked character sheet.

 

[Rich H]

I like your changes and agree. Some day if you feel the urge and or wanting to, you should organize the changes upload to to the download area along with your tweaked character sheet.

I'd genuinely be happy to do that but I've basically embedded them in with published materials to create my own pdfs that I print out. I therefore wouldn't be able to share those. I could get around to writing up summaries of the changes and additions but those would be difficult for someone to follow, I think - for instance, my Journey rules take some content from AiMe some from 2e TOR and then my own stuff all mixed together. Very tricky to pick apart and even trickier to follow!

EDIT: Here's the pdf contents of my Journey rules...



And Battles...

 

[Acmegamer]

Rich H Gotcha, I just really liked what you were talking about in regards to changes to combats and resolve.

 

[Rich H]

Rich H Gotcha, I just really liked what you were talking about in regards to changes to combats and resolve.

Thanks, I appreciate that! Would happily share but it would be a no-no in its current state. Once I've finished I may look at cutting away the TOR2e content and put notes in it along the lines of - insert those TOR2e Combat Tasks here!

Hope was always a bit of a 'brain itch' for me, even in 1st edition - you spend and therefore lose Hope to succeed at a task. That just felt weird and it's ultimately why I've changed it to Resolve. Which also feels a better fit for its more dynamic nature in 2e.

Done a Scratch Sheet too to keep those Character Sheets clean!

 

[Rated Aargh]

This hasn’t been a great month. My nascent in-person group, playing Dune: A Dream of Rain, lost a player until late April. Having only two players, this killed that campaign on the spot. I have no idea if we’ll ever reconvene. Multiplayer options going forward are few.

 

[AsenRG]

This hasn’t been a great month. My nascent in-person group, playing Dune: A Dream of Rain, lost a player until late April. Having only two players, this killed that campaign on the spot. I have no idea if we’ll ever reconvene. Multiplayer options going forward are few.

That sucks...


Me, I'm looking at an opportunity to maybe monetize GMing non-D&D systems. Seems like paying the GM has managed to become normal in the local scene, or at least something many people don't object to...

OK, why not, I guess?

 

[MoonHunter]

1) You can tell I am dedicated to the character creation process. I used my precious power in my laptop and phone to get the character out this morning.

2) Why is power precious? The power has been out for the last 10ish hours (4 hours dark). And it is fairly cold in our house. So everyone is bundled like an arctic exploration mission.

3) Again, why you ask.. I mean more than "winter". It is colder than it has been in 50 years. It has not been wetter and colder at this altitude for more than 80 years. It has not only snowed since forever (okay I was a child), we have gotten several inches (which may be a record for recorded history) at 1000 feet (more at higher and some as low as 500 feet). The last (recent) snow on these mountains was .5 inches (1cm approx). (You can google Snow Santa Cruz Mountains).

So I have power, something resembling the internet, and I wanted to share.

And my photos are too big... sigh...

and while I was messing with it... the power has gone out.

Which means internet will die soon.

Sigh

 

[AsenRG]

1) You can tell I am dedicated to the character creation process. I used my precious power in my laptop and phone to get the character out this morning.

2) Why is power precious? The power has been out for the last 10ish hours (4 hours dark). And it is fairly cold in our house. So everyone is bundled like an arctic exploration mission.

3) Again, why you ask.. I mean more than "winter". It is colder than it has been in 50 years. It has not been wetter and colder at this altitude for more than 80 years. It has not only snowed since forever (okay I was a child), we have gotten several inches (which may be a record for recorded history) at 1000 feet (more at higher and some as low as 500 feet). The last (recent) snow on these mountains was .5 inches (1cm approx). (You can google Snow Santa Cruz Mountains).

So I have power, something resembling the internet, and I wanted to share.

And my photos are too big... sigh...

and while I was messing with it... the power has gone out.

Which means internet will die soon.

Sigh

That's some dedication! I believe I speak for everybody when I say that we hope to hear from you again, soon-ish!

 

[bleys21]

1) You can tell I am dedicated to the character creation process. I used my precious power in my laptop and phone to get the character out this morning.

2) Why is power precious? The power has been out for the last 10ish hours (4 hours dark). And it is fairly cold in our house. So everyone is bundled like an arctic exploration mission.

3) Again, why you ask.. I mean more than "winter". It is colder than it has been in 50 years. It has not been wetter and colder at this altitude for more than 80 years. It has not only snowed since forever (okay I was a child), we have gotten several inches (which may be a record for recorded history) at 1000 feet (more at higher and some as low as 500 feet). The last (recent) snow on these mountains was .5 inches (1cm approx). (You can google Snow Santa Cruz Mountains).

So I have power, something resembling the internet, and I wanted to share.

And my photos are too big... sigh...

and while I was messing with it... the power has gone out.

Which means internet will die soon.

Sigh

Dude! Stop making characters and concentrate on generating HEAT!

 

[AsenRG]

Dude! Stop making characters and concentrate on generating HEAT!

"The process of new characters-making has been known to raise body temperature in humans".

 

[MoonHunter]

Three hours later and PGE managed to fix it (for this region at least). We have a gas stove, so food was fixed during daylight and warm. (The heater is gas, but with electric controls.) Now, the heater is running, and extra bottles of hot water are being prepped for coffee and warm water tomorrow just in case.

 

[Certified]

Metahuman Dispatches From DunDraCon 46
Recently had the opportunity to visit our first convention since 2019. Wore masks, ran games, played games, and had a blast. Here's our breakdown of the action!

Metahuman Dispatches From DunDraCon 46 - House Dok Productions

House Dok Productions goes to con, check what we did at DunDraCon 46.

housedok.com

 

[Teyrnon]

This evening and probably tomorrow too I'll be reading over Jinkies! with the intention to run it this weekend. This will be my first time attempting to run any Powered By the Apocalypses game. I've never actually played one either so I have no idea how this is going to go. It should be interesting. Is there anything I should know before going in? I'll be running it for a group of six players two of whom use SGDs.

Jinkies! was interesting but I'm afraid I lost most of the group this time. Only two of the players really got into things and I think the whole "this is a cartoon!" conceit was the biggest issue. Another issue is that I tried to run a game I'd never run or played before with only four days to read and digest the material beforehand. If they still want to do something Scooby-Dooesque I'll have to find a different game.

 

[Fenris-77]

I find the way people introduce themselves on actual play really annoying. Anyway, moving on...

 

[bleys21]

I find the way people introduce themselves on actual play really annoying. Anyway, moving on...

Is it weird that I've never watched any actual play video? My son did for a while, then I had to explain the whole Critical Role/Porn comparison. He doesn't watch those anymore, but he does still watch people play video games...which I also find very odd

 

[Fenris-77]

Is it weird that I've never watched any actual play video? My son did for a while, then I had to explain the whole Critical Role/Porn comparison. He doesn't watch those anymore, but he does still watch people play video games...which I also find very odd

No, I mostly don't either. I'm watching some BBay mostly to see Jason Cordova GM.

 

[Brock Savage]

he does still watch people play video games...which I also find very odd

It's a generational thing and not any more odd than watching people play sports. My wife is in her 20's and watches YouTubers play video games that she is unlikely to play herself. Normally it's horror games she is too scared to play alone or games that need a big crew of people to be fun.

 

[bleys21]

It's a generational thing and not any more odd than watching people play sports. My wife is in her 20's and watches YouTubers play video games that she is unlikely to play herself. Normally it's horror games she is too scared to play alone or games that need a big crew of people to be fun.

I kinda figured. But it still invokes a "Get off my lawn!" moment from me

 

[dragoner]

Published a revamped version of my original and made the original pwyw: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/422968/Solis-People-of-the-Sun plus now there is a SPOTS hard copy.

 

[E-Rocker]

Running Savage Worlds tonight for my usual group! Excited!

One of my players has been gently encouraging me to have a little bit more of a coherent narrative and a tad less totally random stuff, so I'm going to make an effort to do that. For the rest of the players, it's no skin off their nose either way.

And the one with the request is the only player who has never missed a session, which makes me more inclined to accommodate her request than if it were from Johnny/Janie-Comes-Once-in-a-While.

 

[AsenRG]

My group for Sunday is totally full, 6/6, Art of Wuxia. (I was going to run it with Mythras, but got lazy. Again. I should really order a hardcopy of Destined and crack them up to make my own adaptation for the genre, after which I might never look at another wuxia game again...oh, who am I kidding?)

Even better: I have only played with one of those guys before, and that was last week, when I ran Blade of the Iron Throne for him and two others.
I really want to know what I did right this time to get that kind of successful recruitment...

I guess I should also make characters and write an adventure. Well, I'm not in a hurry, Sunday is a long way off...




In other news, I also unfriended an anti-vaxxer on FB, while I was doing the recruitment. Some Jason Bradley guy who couldn't obviously keep his "views" away from my wall...
Seriously, people, I don't go around checking profiles of FB friends. But posting anti-vax shit on my wall? After my mom died because an anti-vaxxer persuaded her to not get vaccinated? OK, admittedly, actual friends would know that, FB friends...not so much.
But yeah, "fuck that noise" doesn't even start to describe it!

 

[Imaginos]

Gotten into a Cypher System kick recently. I think it will work very well for some other folks that are still relatively new to RPGs without all of the hangups of long time gamers.

 

[Acmegamer]

Gotten into a Cypher System kick recently. I think it will work very well for some other folks that are still relatively new to RPGs without all of the hangups of long time gamers.

Yep, I'm gonna have to agree with you on the hangups of long time gamers when it comes to the Cypher System. It bites me in the ass repeatedly and I like the system and own quite a bit of it. I'm just not afraid to admit my own shortcomings. heh. There are aspects of that system that I really love though, so I hope you persevere and grow a cypher system based campaign.

 

[Mankcam]

Ran my second session of Cypher System (Numenera) a week or so ago, and have the third session in two weeks time.
Feels almost too light for me as a GM at times, but I'm quite liking it. A no-brainer as one of my preferred low-crunch systems, and Numenera is such a great setting

 

[Imaginos]

The Numenera slipcase is supposed to deliver tomorrow. I kept avoiding it because one of the guys I know complains about the "sameness" of the characters, largely due to the limited number of "types" and abilities per tier. That's not really where the variety is designed to come through. Plus I realized he tends to be one of the most difficult ones to schedule around, so I'm ok if he doesn't play in the game.