What are y'all up to these days?

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I'm in early discussions with running a solo player superhero rpg over discord. More text based than cam/voice due to our schedules. He wants to do something street level, but more supernatural ala Blade. We're supposed to get together next week to discuss it more. I might try and use a different system than my go to of Supers! Revised. Still pondering that one
 
Agemegos said:
I am wrestling with the temptation to pre-order a physical copy of Jon F. Zeigler's new book on star system generation, Architect of Worlds, from Ad Astra Games. I'm going to get a free copy of the e-book because I support Jon on Patreon and helped a bit with the playtesting; I have also been offered a discount on the physical copy. Which is nice. And I'd like to have the souvenir, because I put a bit of work in. But on the other hand shipping to Australia by a parcel forwarding service would cost more than the book and bring the total cost of getting the thing up to US$58.79, which is a bit rich. And both Ad Astra and Shipito want to record my credit card number.
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Shipping from the US is absolutely exorbitant, and it costing more than the list price of even a fairly pricey rpg book seems the norm these days. Nobody seems to offer cheap 'toss it in a container on a ship, and it gets there when it gets there' shipping any more, either.
 
Played Fate of Chthulhu last week. Not sure if I posted about it.
(That was ihinka ihinka 's first session as a GM. Let me put it simply, and in no uncertain terms: she was better than some GMs with 20+ years experience I've seen!
So, I knew I was right to pester her to run a game...now I just have to bribe her to run M-Space some day, after finishing this campaign:gunslinger:!)

Anyway, after the pause for health-and-nerves, we get Pulp CoC Saturday, and FoC Sunday, as per above, so we're picking up steam!
There was no contest this week - the WFRP Ref is still sick - but from next week, I'm in 3 games that happen on week-ends. That might require some choices.

On the bright side, I wouldn't need to run much games, which is exactly how I wanted it:angel:!

Alas, next week the Open RPG Days (local week-end long mini-con in one of our FLGSs, roughly 1/monthly) coincide with my week-end shift. I'm of two minds as to whether I should announce running a session. I doubt FoC is going to happen then, she's more likely to want to play.

Maybe I should run something. My work on Mythras Imperative in Bulgarian is going along nicely*, and I should really give people an opportunity to try it out...:shade:
OTOH, I want to play:gooselove:!

Decisions, decisions!


Note: if I run it, it's either going to be Mythras Imperative, using the adventure me and Moracai Moracai are writing for the Pub zine (yes, we are at a stage when we need only playtesting), or Raiders of R'lyeh, where the hapless PCs find a Gate, are transported into a new world, and have to figure out how it works to get back to Earth:shock:!
The gears in the mind, they're shifting...but the question still stands.

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...and I have to give the squirrel an answer:grin:!


*I'll ask TDM about it after I have the translation done. Of course, I won't publish it if they don't want me to...but I just don't want to jinx it, at this point:thumbsup:!
I'm not thinking about the full book, yet:gooseshades:!
 
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Can't edit any more, but...:shade:

Daughter definitely wants "a game with elves, dwarves, wizards and where you get sent on quests". I guess we have to work on the idea of sandbox...

However, I explained to her what a "class" is (she has only played with me, of course she had never encountered the notion, if it wasn't for the movie, I'd be surprised she knows what D&D was:tongue:) and her reply echoed the comment I made before my first session: "That shit's too restrictive". My words, she was a lot more polite:grin:! But she specified that one should be able to invest time and XP to get better than the class would suggest...
Well, she is my daughter, no surprise there:gooselove:!

So I'm using Mythras Classic Fantasy:angel:! It allows her to get whatever she wants.

OTOH, re-reading MCF now, and for the first time with the idea of running it, I was struck by how much the setting assumptions mirror those of The Way of the Tiger's setting, Orb.
So, while I'm going to use a MCF adventure for a start, I might as well set it on Orb::honkhonk:!


...fast forward to me making a "tall half-elven healer". Because she is also her mother's daughter, and her mother always makes me deal with the mechanics:gunslinger:!
 
I ran the Keep on the Borderlands 5e game last Saturday and yesterday, still a fun game. Even though last Saturday I had no power at home and it came back right when the players were about to leave 'cause my house was darrrrk. Also it was 40º C (104º F, google tells me).

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Playing under the afternoon sunlight.

Got into the expanse, finishing season 1. Thinking of running something like it with... M-Space? Traveller? I just don't care for d6 only systems... oh well, it's gonna be a while anyway.
 
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I have apparently managed to seduce the entire party into becoming unpaid assassin minions for an exiled Athasian sorcerer-king with the promise of learning defiling magic in a Spelljammer+WH40k game.

And they're in the Imperium. And the police know who they are thanks to a failed bounty hunter they left tied naked to a pole in the city bus. And none of them are humans or even citizens. And half the party is unregistered psykers. And most of their social skills are... practically vestegial.

Plus they have started to have a love/hate relationship with the mind flayer space emipre's secret service. Mostly due to the mind flayers playing totally straight, keeping their end of the deal, and pushing them towards legit working for the greater good of all nations.
 
Telok said:
I have apparently managed to seduce the entire party into becoming unpaid assassin minions for an exiled Athasian sorcerer-king with the promise of learning defiling magic in a Spelljammer+WH40k game.

And they're in the Imperium. And the police know who they are thanks to a failed bounty hunter they left tied naked to a pole in the city bus. And none of them are humans or even citizens. And half the party is unregistered psykers. And most of their social skills are... practically vestegial.

Plus they have started to have a love/hate relationship with the mind flayer space emipre's secret service. Mostly due to the mind flayers playing totally straight, keeping their end of the deal, and pushing them towards legit working for the greater good of all nations.
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Please note: the above doesn't say anything about joining:thumbsup:!
 
On the bright note, I am planning to use the Open RPG Day (FLGS-based "mini-con" where we show the systems we're running to new people) to both playtest Mythras Classic Fantasy, and to introduce more people to it, and hopefully get some people interested in my idea of converting Orb's setting to it.
Now I just have to manage preparing Mythras Classic Fantasy characters, but that one should be actually easy. I'm on the 3rd or fourth character, after simplifying the process.
On the not-so-bright note, it won't be possible for this week due to family obligations. Ah well, starting next week, we'll see. The event is monthly, after all...:gooselove:


I'm also sharing my new process for statting up MCF PCs: take a note which skills are class ones, which skills are cultural/racial ones, and which are Pre-Requisite Skills* for the class, with separate checks for all three...then start adding:
-Up to 30 points to skills that have both cultural/racial and class checks.
-Up to 20 points to skills that have only one of cultural/racial and class.
-Up to 10 points to skills that have neither.
...but they must sum up to 300:shade:.

After you do that, check whether all five of the Pre-Requisite skills are 50+. If they're not, raise them to it, taking the minimum necessary from other skills that were improved.
Why is the houserule in effect? Because it sucks to show up for a one-shot and be told "everyone is going to play Rank 1 characters, here's a Rank 0 for you, because the points didn't fit the concept the GM was working from..."

I mean, in a regular campaign, you'd be aiming to raise it to 50+ ASAP, and in most cases, that would be easy (you usually only need 1-2 points anyway, and for those that need 1 point, you get to 50 even on a failed improvement roll:thumbsup:). This might even be a bonus - you get a big power injection after the very first adventure!
But for a one-shot, that outright sucks...::honkhonk:

Thus, houseruling it away, I am:thumbsup:!


...of course, I still need to check whether there shall be a free table:gooseshades:!

Admittedly, I could have just made it easier on both me and the players by giving them the extra 50 points regular Mythras PCs get, and making the additions +35/+25/+15. All pre-requisite skills are always Class skills, and virtually no Mythras PC would need more than +25 to reach 50%.
Maybe I should just do that. It won't get them to 2nd Rank, it's just going to save them from starting off at Rank 0.


*Those skills determine which rank you are, and higher rank gives further bonii.
 
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One of our players is leaving the Pulp CoC game. I strongly suspect this has something to do with the GM's habit of reading aloud text from the adventure...:shade:
Which was alright until we started copying and pasting text (we are playing online due to a flu wave reaching epidemic levels...not that any closures have been mandated, FLGSs still work, but we just didn't want to risk it). Part of the text he pasted includes "if the players ask for X", which we hadn't asked for, yet:grin:!

Only problem is, that might mean him stopping the campaign. That's the same guy who refuses to run if a player is absent, after all.

Well, if that happens, I'd have better odds of playing in the Warhammer game. And I'm unavailable this week, anyway, except for running a game for First Daughter. Week-end shifts and family engagements put a premium on my availability::honkhonk:.
 
3rik said:
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Yes, he ain't good at improvising. I gave up trying to suggest that:grin:!
He also needs to learn not to ask for useless checks. Among the highlights: "roll Photography to make a picture of the dead monster", or last session: "you have the bandit tied up, roll Fighting (Brawl) to knock him out". OK, I can see that as being a way to give us a bonus Development check, but it's still funny.

So no, he's not a perfect GM, but I'm hoping he could improve. I wasn't all that good when starting out, either - though I didn't even have an adventure to read from, so that one is out:thumbsup:.

AsenRG said:
I'm also sharing my new process for statting up MCF PCs: take a note which skills are class ones, which skills are cultural/racial ones, and which are Pre-Requisite Skills* for the class, with separate checks for all three...then start adding:
-Up to 30 points to skills that have both cultural/racial and class checks.
-Up to 20 points to skills that have only one of cultural/racial and class.
-Up to 10 points to skills that have neither.
...but they must sum up to 300:shade:.

After you do that, check whether all five of the Pre-Requisite skills are 50+. If they're not, raise them to it, taking the minimum necessary from other skills that were improved.
Why is the houserule in effect? Because it sucks to show up for a one-shot and be told "everyone is going to play Rank 1 characters, here's a Rank 0 for you, because the points didn't fit the concept the GM was working from..."
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I'm now wondering, how hard would it be to automate this for an HTML page, guys:gooselove:? I'm sure some of you would know the answer.
 
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While I am waiting to decide what happens next in the novel I am writing, I have churned out several minor gaming projects. The latest is
a collection of twenty non-human characters for Glory Road Roleplay.

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I've written here before to get a visiting GM to do a one shot for my regular group, that has couple of more 'gamist' members to whom I haven't been entirely successful in conveying what this roleplaying thingamabob really consists of. Finally yesterday it happened! It went really well, except that one of the players who was supposed to show up was sick. I would have really wanted him there, because he too could've benefited from the experience, even though he is the most seasoned roleplayer in the bunch (excluding yours truly, of course :wink:). We were treated to a game of In Media Res (which I had played once before under this same GM), from Resurrected 3: Out of the Vault*. and one of the players was especially impressed by the fact that it could've ended in so many possible ways. I think that it opened up his eyes to see that not all games are heavily scripted into a predetermined outcome.

*The rewiever here doesn't have kind words for the adventure, but I think that it is because he didn't grok it properly. I certainly did as I was introduced to this as a player under a GM who has excellent chops.
 
Moracai said:
I've written here before to get a visiting GM to do a one shot for my regular group, that has couple of more 'gamist' members to whom I haven't been entirely successful in conveying what this roleplaying thingamabob really consists of. Finallly yesterday it happened! It went really well, except that one of the players who was supposed to show up was sick. I would have really wanted him there, because he too could've benefited from the experience, even though he is the most seasoned roleplayer in the bunch (excluding yours truly, of course :wink:). We were treated to a game of In Media Res, from Resurrected 3: Out of the Vault*. and one of the players was especially impressed by the fact that it could've ended in so many possible ways. I think that it opened up his eyes to see that not all games are heavily scripted into a predetermined outcome.

*The rewiever here doesn't have kind words for the adventure, but I think that it is because he didn't grok it properly. I certainly did as I was introduced to this as a player under a GM who has excellent chops.
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That's cool, and glad it finally worked out. I had a similar experience when, after years of standard *D&D playing, I was visited by Erick Wujcik (of Amber Diceless Roleplaying fame, or infamy, depending on how you see it.) I had been corresponding with him via letters and occasional phone calls about his new game (Amber), and he decided to drive all over the country, visiting people, conventions, etc, and playing games along the way. He ran a game he was working on, right from memory... I can't remember what he was calling it at the time, as he never got it published before he passed away. I think it was something like Layer 42? Anyway, long story short(er), his style of gaming blew...our...minds. He was at the forefront of the "storytelling" style, and it forever changed how I run and play games.

Anywho, always a good thing to get someone really different to run a game for you!
 
Pampero said:
I ran the Keep on the Borderlands 5e game last Saturday and yesterday, still a fun game. Even though last Saturday I had no power at home and it came back right when the players were about to leave 'cause my house was darrrrk. Also it was 40º C (104º F, google tells me).

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Playing under the afternoon sunlight.

Got into the expanse, finishing season 1. Thinking of running something like it with... M-Space? Traveller? I just don't care for d6 only systems... oh well, it's gonna be a while anyway.
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You could use a heavily modified version of D20 Modern to run an Expanse like game. That's where the Authors came up with the game.
I believe they ran D20 Future.
 
Bunch said:
You could use a heavily modified version of D20 Modern to run an Expanse like game. That's where the Authors came up with the game.
I believe they ran D20 Future.
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Oh, I didn't know that. I will look into it. For the time being I have the Keep on the Borderlands 5e and I'm supposed to continue running the Rise of the Runelords pathfinder 2e at some point in the not too distant future. Wrapped the first chapter last year (burnt offerings) so I should pick up from there.

Then I want to run something supers related, either DC comics based or freedom city based (DC heroes 3e is the strongest contender).

And then the sci-fi. Possibly at some moment in 2025 2024. Heh.

I'd also like to PLAY sometime. :thumbsup:
 
Pampero said:
Oh, I didn't know that. I will look into it. For the time being I have the Keep on the Borderlands 5e and I'm supposed to continue running the Rise of the Runelords pathfinder 2e at some point in the not too distant future. Wrapped the first chapter last year (burnt offerings) so I should pick up from there.

Then I want to run something supers related, either DC comics based or freedom city based (DC heroes 3e is the strongest contender).

And then the sci-fi. Possibly at some moment in 2025 2024. Heh.

I'd also like to PLAY sometime. :thumbsup:
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We'll forgive them for not using Traveller or GURPS... this time.
 
Here's how close the Secret Caste is to NInjas

"The farther you go from the Imperial heartland, the less effort they are prepared to make. I kept begging Urm, the asshole in mail, for more force to deal with the trouble you caused. He always said that he had no one to send, never much money either. I was trying to run a supernaturally efficient covert operation with a few river sailors, a pretty good second in command, and that pretty boy Deputy Commander, on a budget that wouldn't feed a pigeon."
AsenRG said:
...the brother of the ninja from back then looking for revenge, or alternatively, revenge on those that lured his brother on the wro
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I love the Expanse. I love it even more that it's a series of books that were inspired by RPG sessions. That the books were so successful they inspired a TV show. That the TV show was so successful it inspired a RPG game. Ah full circle.


I also probably should have suggested The Expanse RPG as an RPG you could use to run and Expanse like game.
 
Planning on seeing how far down the rabbit hole of assassination and terrorist activity my players will go for a minor boost in combat spell casting (with the risk of screwing themselves over in new and exciting ways from illusionary safety).
 
Bunch said:
I love the Expanse. I love it even more that it's a series of books that were inspired by RPG sessions. That the books were so successful they inspired a TV show. That the TV show was so successful it inspired a RPG game. Ah full circle.


I also probably should have suggested The Expanse RPG as an RPG you could use to run and Expanse like game.
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I backed the Kickstarter for The Expanse Rpg. I really like Chris Pramas but I felt the Kickstarter ended up kinda lackluster and took much longer than it should have. Plus the lack of much in the way of ships for a long time I felt killed any chance of the RPG seriously taking off. :sad:
 
Acmegamer said:
I backed the Kickstarter for The Expanse Rpg. I really like Chris Pramas but I felt the Kickstarter ended up kinda lackluster and took much longer than it should have. Plus the lack of much in the way of ships for a long time I felt killed any chance of the RPG seriously taking off. :sad:
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And that's the story of Green Ronin.
 
I just playtested the adventure we're writing, with a group of playtesters including my daughter, the wife and a friend, who is running Fate of Chtulhu for us.
No FoC this week, she stated she can play, but isn't in shape to run...and since my session the previous evening had failed, she suggested I could run the playtest instead. Of course, I said, why not?

So I ran it. I changed the location a bit, and situated it in the area around Mortavallon, in the world of Orb. Made total sense.
The system was, of course, Mythras Classic Fantasy (we're writing it systemless, but it wasn't hard to fit).

I would need to find the demo of the Way of the Tiger roleplaying game that Megara Entertainment were preparing, but which never got published (if anyone has a copy, please let me know):thumbsup:!
 
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I'm currently seething a bit as I've just found out - thanks to Urdlen's best boy - that some of my pig-faced orc artwork has been used in a YT video without my permission by a channel called Dungeon Craft. I'm not going to post a link as I don't want to drive traffic at it. I still don't understand why people think this is an ok thing to do, especially as reverse image searching has been a thing for a while now. This isn't the first time a commercial site has 'borrowed' my stuff, so I'm going to wait and see if they do anything about a comment I left at YT and at FB. Somehow I doubt much will come of it.
 
Jerry_B said:
I'm currently seething a bit as I've just found out - thanks to Urdlen's best boy - that some of my pig-faced orc artwork has been used in a YT video without my permission by a channel called Dungeon Craft. I'm not going to post a link as I don't want to drive traffic at it. I still don't understand why people think this is an ok thing to do, especially as reverse image searching has been a thing for a while now. This isn't the first time a commercial site has 'borrowed' my stuff, so I'm going to wait and see if they do anything about a comment I left at YT and at FB. Somehow I doubt much will come of it.
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I'm subscribed to Dungeon Craft. That vid showed up on You Tube last week, and I've only watched it this afternoon. The last comment before mine was five days ago, so unless you've commented since then it seems your comment may have been deleted
 
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It's a shame really as I would've been more than happy to let him have some hi-res versions of the pics if he had asked. There aren't too many of us drawing orcs like that any more and it's always nice to see people appreciating them in that form (which is what that video's all about). Anyway, I'll see if I actually hear anything back about this.
 
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