What are y'all up to these days?

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Appreciate you taking the time to break it all down. Sounds like it's mostly the fault of the GM, but the players have certain amount of responsibility on this as well. Kinda a no win scenario it feels like.

I did pick up the 2e core book when it came out, but only skimmed through it having too much on my plate at the time. These huge books are a real PITA to deal with in my opinion. I'm really starting to become very stubborn that a core book needs to be less than 200 pages at most though I prefer around 100-120-ish for the main core book.
Talked about it more last night with another player over drinks. I wouldn’t say it’s exactly the GMs fault. We don’t really have anyone driving it. No one who is digging into the rules. No one who is passionate about playing, etc. we also have a game where a tank and a healer feel quite important, and our main healer and our main tank are being played by people regularly absent (it’s fine, it’s known). This leaves us in a bad place.

we are going to try another time or two, but I would be quite surprised if it lasts.

re: length - I don’t mind them a little longer, but I gotta say, 640 or whatever pathfinder is seems a bit much. I really respect a lot of what they did with parsing it all out. It’s super orderly and clear. It really is. It does feel like you have to know a lot of the book though. It doesn’t even include any monster manual in that.

one thing that got brought up is it feels like you are supposed to be fishing for +1s by imposing a lot of conditions. I think there was a point a decade and a half ago that I liked this, but I think that’s changed.
 
I can't imagine myself wanting to dive into a new D&D adjacent game with a rulebook that size. That's not a shot at PF2, I just find that my tolerance for digesting big rules sets is a lot lower than it used to be, at least for rules sets that do the same thing as a bunch of games I already own.
 
I can't imagine myself wanting to dive into a new D&D adjacent game with a rulebook that size. That's not a shot at PF2, I just find that my tolerance for digesting big rules sets is a lot lower than it used to be, at least for rules sets that do the same thing as a bunch of games I already own.
That’s just it too. We have several systems that could do this and ones we like more. There is little impetus to change. It would be less effort to take the adventure path and convert it as we go to 13th age or Mythras
 
HEPCATS Episode 59: Mostly Just Talking

2nd November, Cat Year, 2 AM to 4 AM. RLD 2nd September, 2022
Present: Baron von Braun, N0-5R, Zera

A party broke out in the street in celebration of Zera and MC Hammer winning the Speedchrome City Street Fighting Tag Team Championship.

Charloretta and Bob were there with their business, Charlie and Bob’s Cyberkinetic Dildo Wagon. They had sold out of dragon dildos, since everyone wanted one after Zera used hers to beat the other teams into submission.

Zera asked if they carried any items other than dildos. Charlie said they had tried carrying pocket pussies, but the demand just wasn’t there. Turns out no one really wants a pocket pussy, but nearly everyone, regardless of their own gender and orientation, appreciates a good dildo.

HEPCATS Acting Secretary Agent Z called. The conversation, paraphrased:

Agent Z: “Your team has been off the reservation for a little over six months. Could you maybe possibly do an actual assigned-by-HQ mission?”

Team: “... Nah, we’re good.”

Agent Z: “Then could you at least keep me informed of what you’re doing on your self-assigned missions?”

Team : “...Eh, maybe.”

Agent Z also reminded the team that they have a responsibility to scatter the remaining six crystal-encased pieces of Chad Theungurg across the Shards.

The team encountered an old hobo named Fritz Three Nobunaga who had three pieces of wisdom he felt it was very important to impart, specifically, “Never try to cook two eggs in a one egg pan; with enough motivation any window is a door; never get in a knife fight with your dick out.”

Baron asked Fritz if he knew the hobo king, Thorgood Bumhammer, whom Baron knew from way back. Fritz said he knows a hobo king, but he goes by a different name. But also, the hobo king Fritz knows is a full-conversion cyborg, so maybe he used to go by Thorgood Bumhammer and changed his name when he got cyborg-ized.

On their way to find the hobo king, the team and Fritz encountered a man wearing a robotic rhino mask who said he could use beams from his mask to help them see their past lives. Pierre was skeptical and used his mind-powers to determine whether Rhino-Face was telling the truth, which he was. Zera learned she had no past lives, Fritz Three Nobunaga had a past life as Fritz One Nobunaga, and Pierre had a past life as a French aristocrat.

The team descended the stairs into an abandoned underground shopping mall.

To be continued…

XP: + 4
 
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one thing that got brought up is it feels like you are supposed to be fishing for +1s by imposing a lot of conditions. I think there was a point a decade and a half ago that I liked this, but I think that’s changed.

PF1 started feeling like spreadsheet battles after a while to me, so I wouldn't be surprised if PF2 is similar. You can have many active spells and abilities, each giving a mod, which can really add up if you can keep track of them all.
 
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We wrapped up a playtest of my Warriors of Hyboria rules. d100, roll under, opposed rolls, blackjack, no skills or characteristics, aspects and backgrounds, hit locations, plenty of weapons and armour, fast and very bloody combat, magic only for NPCs, teach and chargen in less than an hour. I was pretty pleased with the results.
 
We wrapped up a playtest of my Warriors of Hyboria rules. d100, roll under, opposed rolls, blackjack, no skills or characteristics, aspects and backgrounds, hit locations, plenty of weapons and armour, fast and very bloody combat, magic only for NPCs, teach and chargen in less than an hour. I was pretty pleased with the results.
...so how does that work?
 
...so how does that work?
“I have been a mercenary, a corsair, a kozak, and a hundred other things”.

Like Conan, characters pick three backgrounds. If a task could conceivably fall within their ken they are highly skilled; if not, not.

Originally each PC and NPC had but one number to indicate their competence, e.g. 75%. I suppose characteristics have returned via the back door inasmuch that PCs now have three numbers; NPCs have but one number still.

Character differentiation is achieved by the backgrounds and aspects. Aspects are preternatural. If a character is strong, they are really strong; quick and they strike like a panther, etc. etc.

“With a single mighty leap Kull hurled himself forward. The enemy spun, but the blinding, tigerish speed of the attack gave him no chance for defence or counter-attack. Sword steel flashed in the dim light and grated on bone as his foe toppled backward, Kull’s sword standing out between his shoulders. He leaned above the slain, teeth bared in the killer’s snarl, heavy brows a-scowl above eyes that were like the ice of the cold sea.”
 
I can't imagine myself wanting to dive into a new D&D adjacent game with a rulebook that size. That's not a shot at PF2, I just find that my tolerance for digesting big rules sets is a lot lower than it used to be, at least for rules sets that do the same thing as a bunch of games I already own.

This sums it up better than I originally posted, in regards to the books size. It's why I mentioned under 200 pages. I keep picking up these huge books and I'm just becoming numb to mastering them anymore.

Even if the book is "complete" if it's at 400 to 600 pages, it just feels too bulky and unusable as a gaming tool. I'd rather have two books where the second one had all the GM related stuff. These huge bulky books are just lousy to pick up and handle and search for things. Also most of the big books tend to need organizational help to make them more usable as well. (a trend i'm starting to note)

Edit: Adding second paragraph
 
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I think the word you're looking for is "helpful".
I certainly would like it to be. It would also be reconstructing the entire adventure, since I don’t think there is anything that involves a circus outside of the initial scene.
 
I decided to start work on writing a version of Smoke Wagon that uses The Resistance Toolbox as the system. I haven't seen anyone use it for a western (then again, it's hard to know how many games use the system currently, since it isn't easy to get a precise list). It's a bit more detailed than Breathless is, but has similarities in success at a cost, etc. I like that it has multiple resistance tracks though, and settled on four. The main part will be coming up with Skills, Domains, knacks, etc. The drawback to the SRD (imho) is that it doesn't really give enough advice on classes, so I'm not sure yet I will include them (or I might go with pick and mix, but provide some sample classes later in the document).

This is going to be a take my time kind of project, since I'm still working on another rpg using Breathless (The Unbelievable Excerpts, which I posted about before), a supplement for both Hunter$ (the one called Shifter$), and probably one for the Breathless version of Smoke Wagon. I also plan on going back to some of my unfinished projects for Supers! RED, and finish at least one by next month. That one will likely be the last Halloween Horrors I was working on, as it looks more complete than the other two I have.

It's nice to have all this creativity again; the last couple of years was a dry well (partly due to burnout, and partly due to the pandemic keeping me busier than I normally was). This current job is fairly laid back so far (which will change a bit once the two buildings I work at get more tenants and have a lot more going on than they do currently), so having the free time at work to write helps a lot.
 
The Pub board game club played Fortune & Glory a game of globe trotting adventure in search of fortune and glory in the 1920's. The players are racing against Nazis, cultists, and the Mafia to collect treasure and artifacts from flavorful adventure sites. I am disappointed I didn't buy this game when I had the chance as I not only love the genre (it invokes all the tropes!) but I liked how challenges and cliff hangers worked. We lost the game to the Mafia but I feel like this session was just learning the rules and I am eager for a second chance,
 
Charloretta and Bob were there with their business, Charlie and Bob’s Cyberkinetic Dildo Wagon. They had sold out of dragon dildos, since everyone wanted one after Zera used hers to beat the other teams into submission.

Zera asked if they carried any items other than dildos. Charlie said they had tried carrying pocket pussies, but the demand just wasn’t there. Turns out no one really wants a pocket pussy, but nearly everyone, regardless of their own gender and orientation, appreciates a good dildo.
Having a pocket pussy just seems like betting against yourself.
 
I ran my first session of The One Ring 2e today and it went fairly well. We're all learning the system together and one of my players is a fellow GM, so he helps look stuff up whenever necessary.

The title of our campaign is "Three From Bree", and our trio consists of a dwarf (Balak), a young Bree-lass warden (Violet), and a Ranger of the North (Ereborn). Our first adventure found them in the Prancing Pony one summer's night, listening to the latest gossip about the Heatherton clan. Tomas Heatherton, nephew of the late Timeas Heatherton, was nowhere to be found when his uncle was buried. After some time, the trio put together that:
  • Old Timeas wasn't just a traveler in his day, but an adventurer, and he brought back a fair amount of coin.
  • After the funeral, Tomas was found ransacking his uncle's house - looking for buried treasure, the story goes. His father, Nick, threw him out and he hasn't been seen all day.
The group also heard Ernest Mugwort complaining that his hens had stopped laying eggs after being scared by an errant Ranger who stayed the night. The straw smelled horrible for days afterwards, thanks to the Ranger's tromping through the Midgewater Marshes. (Ereborn deduced that this was most likely because of a troll, not one of his fellow Rangers.)

Violet also heard one of her fellow Breelanders complaining that Timeas died owing him six coppers - very inconsiderate, as he knew he was dying. Offended by the gossip, Violet tossed her countryman a copper just so he'd stop talking.

Balak, himself also offended by the gossip, asked Butterbur to silence the crowd. Butterbur obliged him and thumped a metal stein on the bar. Balak then began to lecture the assembled townsfolk about how they should be ashamed of their loose talk when they really should be helping the Heathertons set young Tomas on the right path once again. The Bree-folk merely looked in shock at the dwarf's sermon, a few even muttering invective against him.

As Balak returned to his table, he felt a tug at his cloak and found himself staring into the eyes of a fellow dwarf. "You talk of things you know nothing about, brother. Beware," was all he said before leaving the common room to go upstairs.

It was then that young Tomas himself came running into the inn, white as a ghost, talking of ghosts and monsters in the graveyard. The trio followed as half the patrons in the Pony trudged out to the graveyard witness the next chapter in the saga playing out.

At the graveyard they found a spade, which Tomas sheepishly admitted he was going to use in digging up his uncle's body. The young man, still shaken by his encounter, described the spirit as being nine or ten feet tall despite being hunched over and stinking of rotten meat. (Ereborn deduced correctly that this was indeed a troll.)

Tomas also stated that the treasure map he was seeking ws not in his uncle's house, so he figured Timeas had it buried with him. The young man offered the three heroes half of the treasure if they helped him rid himself of the ghost. Balak figured Tomas was suffering from dragon-sickness because of his greed. Violet reasoned with Tomas that they would need him to return to town in order to put the ghost to rest.

Tomas objected, claiming he was as brave as the trio. Nick, his father, intervened, offering the heroes a few coins for their trouble before taking Tomas home. The trio then decided to lie in wait for the troll, each one standing a watch through the night. They didn't have to wait long. Balak stood first watch as the troll tried to sneak up on him. The snap of a twig and the troll's hot, foul breath betrayed his presence.

The dwarf drew the first blood, kneecapping the troll with his first blow. Violet and Ereborn awoke to the sound of the troll howling in pain as his kneecap snapped like a thundercrack. The fight that ensued was brutal; neither dwarf nor troll held back in their hatred of the other. Ereborn managed to stick a couple of arrows in the troll's flabby flesh. Violet's first fight was a clumsy one as she tripped over her own feet.

Having failed to make an impression upon the troll with her axe, Violet nocked an arrow and loosed it, letting it fly between Balak and the troll. The troll, reacting in pain to Erebor's arrow, spun around, catching the Ranger off guard with his club. The troll's club continued its arc, catching Violet equally unaware and sending her sprawling.

In the end, it was Balak and Erebor who ended the troll's depredations. They found the troll's bag contained the rotting remains of another Bree-lander whose grave the troll had dug up. Additionally, they found the troll was old, bearing armor and knife made in the forges of Angmar for its war against Arnor.

The remainder of the night, the three spent taking their watches in turn and tending their injuries. The next day, the heroes examined Timeas' grave closer and Balak decided to do the closest inspection by opening the grave. In doing so, he received a Shadow point and found the grave empty. He then filled it in again and they searched for the other grave. Balak found it, and in reburying the corpse, I ruled the Shadow point was removed. In searching the area, Ereborn judged the troll had traveled through the night nearly 50 miles from the south.

We ended the session at that point as I needed to get a copy of the travel log made and read up on the relevant rules. All in all, not a bad first run.
 
I ran my first session of The One Ring 2e today and it went fairly well. We're all learning the system together and one of my players is a fellow GM, so he helps look stuff up whenever necessary.

The title of our campaign is "Three From Bree", and our trio consists of a dwarf (Balak), a young Bree-lass warden (Violet), and a Ranger of the North (Ereborn). Our first adventure found them in the Prancing Pony one summer's night, listening to the latest gossip about the Heatherton clan. Tomas Heatherton, nephew of the late Timeas Heatherton, was nowhere to be found when his uncle was buried. After some time, the trio put together that:
  • Old Timeas wasn't just a traveler in his day, but an adventurer, and he brought back a fair amount of coin.
  • After the funeral, Tomas was found ransacking his uncle's house - looking for buried treasure, the story goes. His father, Nick, threw him out and he hasn't been seen all day.
The group also heard Ernest Mugwort complaining that his hens had stopped laying eggs after being scared by an errant Ranger who stayed the night. The straw smelled horrible for days afterwards, thanks to the Ranger's tromping through the Midgewater Marshes. (Ereborn deduced that this was most likely because of a troll, not one of his fellow Rangers.)

Violet also heard one of her fellow Breelanders complaining that Timeas died owing him six coppers - very inconsiderate, as he knew he was dying. Offended by the gossip, Violet tossed her countryman a copper just so he'd stop talking.

Balak, himself also offended by the gossip, asked Butterbur to silence the crowd. Butterbur obliged him and thumped a metal stein on the bar. Balak then began to lecture the assembled townsfolk about how they should be ashamed of their loose talk when they really should be helping the Heathertons set young Tomas on the right path once again. The Bree-folk merely looked in shock at the dwarf's sermon, a few even muttering invective against him.

As Balak returned to his table, he felt a tug at his cloak and found himself staring into the eyes of a fellow dwarf. "You talk of things you know nothing about, brother. Beware," was all he said before leaving the common room to go upstairs.

It was then that young Tomas himself came running into the inn, white as a ghost, talking of ghosts and monsters in the graveyard. The trio followed as half the patrons in the Pony trudged out to the graveyard witness the next chapter in the saga playing out.

At the graveyard they found a spade, which Tomas sheepishly admitted he was going to use in digging up his uncle's body. The young man, still shaken by his encounter, described the spirit as being nine or ten feet tall despite being hunched over and stinking of rotten meat. (Ereborn deduced correctly that this was indeed a troll.)

Tomas also stated that the treasure map he was seeking ws not in his uncle's house, so he figured Timeas had it buried with him. The young man offered the three heroes half of the treasure if they helped him rid himself of the ghost. Balak figured Tomas was suffering from dragon-sickness because of his greed. Violet reasoned with Tomas that they would need him to return to town in order to put the ghost to rest.

Tomas objected, claiming he was as brave as the trio. Nick, his father, intervened, offering the heroes a few coins for their trouble before taking Tomas home. The trio then decided to lie in wait for the troll, each one standing a watch through the night. They didn't have to wait long. Balak stood first watch as the troll tried to sneak up on him. The snap of a twig and the troll's hot, foul breath betrayed his presence.

The dwarf drew the first blood, kneecapping the troll with his first blow. Violet and Ereborn awoke to the sound of the troll howling in pain as his kneecap snapped like a thundercrack. The fight that ensued was brutal; neither dwarf nor troll held back in their hatred of the other. Ereborn managed to stick a couple of arrows in the troll's flabby flesh. Violet's first fight was a clumsy one as she tripped over her own feet.

Having failed to make an impression upon the troll with her axe, Violet nocked an arrow and loosed it, letting it fly between Balak and the troll. The troll, reacting in pain to Erebor's arrow, spun around, catching the Ranger off guard with his club. The troll's club continued its arc, catching Violet equally unaware and sending her sprawling.

In the end, it was Balak and Erebor who ended the troll's depredations. They found the troll's bag contained the rotting remains of another Bree-lander whose grave the troll had dug up. Additionally, they found the troll was old, bearing armor and knife made in the forges of Angmar for its war against Arnor.

The remainder of the night, the three spent taking their watches in turn and tending their injuries. The next day, the heroes examined Timeas' grave closer and Balak decided to do the closest inspection by opening the grave. In doing so, he received a Shadow point and found the grave empty. He then filled it in again and they searched for the other grave. Balak found it, and in reburying the corpse, I ruled the Shadow point was removed. In searching the area, Ereborn judged the troll had traveled through the night nearly 50 miles from the south.

We ended the session at that point as I needed to get a copy of the travel log made and read up on the relevant rules. All in all, not a bad first run.
How does kneecapping work in the TOR2 system:grin:?


Also, that sounds like a great first adventure, quite fitting Tolkien's world, with the desecration of graves and all!
 
As of this past July, I've been publishing some adventures. Started with the summer camp adventures on DrivethruRPG and now have two adventures out for Supers! Revised. Urbwar really pushed to get me to do it and it's been good as we bounce ideas around and provide feedback to each other.

It's also cool to see your stuff on the front page of DrivethruRPG.

Hq7CG3k.jpg
 
I've been reading through the Echoes From Fomalhaut zines and related works by Gabor Lux, aka Melan. I've read all 10 issues of Echoes to date and the Noctunal Table. I'm currently almost finished with Baklin: Jewel of the Seas. There are 2 settings from Melan's games presented in the zines: Isle of Erillion and Thasan/City of Vultures. I enjoy Erillion more, as it's more classic fantasy, whereas Thasan has several sci-fi elements to it that I don't enjoy as much. I'm planning on running a game set on the Isle of Erillion from the zines, most likely using either OSE or Basic Fantasy. Additionally, I'm going to try to do a Let's Read type thread for the entire run to date here on the Pub, even though it'll actually be more of a Let's Re-read.
 
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My second weekly D&D game started out with everyone agreeing to a long rest before traveling to the nearest town.
Less than 5 minutes later 3 of the party are shrinking themselves down to pull an Incredible Voyage into the body of another party member in order to perform brain surgery and extract a Slaad tadpole that he contracted.
No one in the party has proficiency in medicine.
The 3 end up in the blood stream, and quickly learn how fast blood flows through the body. One PC, a Water Genasi, breathes the blood like water (Said to be akin to breathing campfire smoke) the other 2 just hold their breath.
My character (the only party member with healing capabilities) stays outside and plays cards with the patient.
Eventually the 3 inside realize they can't really do anything while pulsing through the entire bloodstream in around 35 seconds and eventually exited through the wound they entered. Drenched in blood, they cleaned themselves up before returning to normal size.
The Water Genasi now has PTSD and her gills still have bits of blood in them.
After that we went and did normal adventuring party stuff.
No one, not even the DM, planned, or expected this.
 
We introduced a new player to our Traveller game yesterday. She has been playing with two of the other players for a while, so she already knew half of us, but except creating a test character with one of them, and using an online character creator, she's new to Traveller.

She had asked if she could just sit in and watch a session first, but when offered the option to run an NPC she jumped on that. The NPC is a Corporate bureaucrat that has been assigned to keep an eye on them while they are examining the contamination of some bio-weapons. While they do have a good laboratory on the ship, and the doctor do have some relevant skills for it, it's just an excuse to be able to search for the site where an archaeological artifact might be located.

Next step will be to create her actual character. As the NPC was created to not want to baby-sit this weird group, it also shouldn't be too hard to have her exit as the new PC enters.
 
As of this past July, I've been publishing some adventures. Started with the summer camp adventures on DrivethruRPG and now have two adventures out for Supers! Revised. Urbwar really pushed to get me to do it and it's been good as we bounce ideas around and provide feedback to each other.

It's also cool to see your stuff on the front page of DrivethruRPG.

Hq7CG3k.jpg

The title & cover art make me want to play this.
 
It's also cool to see your stuff on the front page of DrivethruRPG.

Congrats! Still need to figure out how uploading there works myself. I will need to send KS backers links to "at cost" copies of my first module (where they simply pay DTRPG for printing and shipping) but I'm not sure how the site allows you to do that.
 
HEPCATS Episode 60: Kangaroo Punch-Out!

2nd November, Cat Year, 4 AM to 6 AM. RLD 9th September, 2022
Present: Ayu, Baron von Braun, N0-5R, Zera

Ayu caught up with the team. Since her original intent in going to The Lab was to locate The Factory and free the androids there, she was frustrated that the team accomplished approximately none of that in her absence.

Ayu was also happy that Baron had stopped Factory Man Jr. from doing whatever The Council of Stephens had planned for her, but was frustrated, or at least disappointed, that Baron didn’t find out what those plans actually were.

The team descended into an abandoned underground shopping mall in search of the hobo king, who may or may not be the same hobo king whom Baron knew from way back.

They were set upon by violent robot kangaroos, whom the team defeated with relative ease.

In the process of the fight, N0-5R discovered that one of the robot kangaroos had a robot joey. N0-5R was very intrigued by the notion that artificial lifeforms can have progeny.

Once the kangaroos were defeated, Zera discharged her rainbow energy into the ceiling, thankfully only causing one percent of the ceiling to collapse.

MELVIN called N0-5R and said, “I guess those kangaroos weren’t my best design,” and requested that N0-5R bring him some of the scraps, which N0-5R agreed to do. N0-5R enquired for more details about how robots/androids can have progeny, and seemed quite excited at the prospect.

Speaking of progeny, Ayu sees Factory Man as her father, or at least a father-figure, which caused the GM to realize that means Factory Man Jr. is effectively Ayu’s brother, or at least half-brother…

The team descended to the next level of the underground shopping mall.

To be continued…

XP: +3 for those who attended the session, with an additional +10 for EVERYONE as a thank you/congratulations present for sticking with this campaign for three years (and counting) of real-life time!
 
Congrats! Still need to figure out how uploading there works myself. I will need to send KS backers links to "at cost" copies of my first module (where they simply pay DTRPG for printing and shipping) but I'm not sure how the site allows you to do that.
You might want to try asking on their Discord. They seem pretty helpful over there
 
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