fredrix
Master Douchebag
Posts: 2,142
Preferred Game Systems: Fate, L5R, Pendragon, Gumshoe, Feng Shui
Currently Playing: Pendragon, Song of Ice and Fire, L5R, Feng Shui, Traveller
Currently Running: Fate, Coriolis, Nights Black Agents
Favorite Species of Monkey: 1970's NTV, dubbed by the BBC (though The Water Margin beats it)
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Post by fredrix on Aug 9, 2017 5:50:02 GMT -8
Yeah saw that, looking over it the entire case is laughable and really sounds like the person doesn't have any ground to stand on. It's a joke. Actually no this one isn't but you are right.
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fredrix
Master Douchebag
Posts: 2,142
Preferred Game Systems: Fate, L5R, Pendragon, Gumshoe, Feng Shui
Currently Playing: Pendragon, Song of Ice and Fire, L5R, Feng Shui, Traveller
Currently Running: Fate, Coriolis, Nights Black Agents
Favorite Species of Monkey: 1970's NTV, dubbed by the BBC (though The Water Margin beats it)
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Post by fredrix on Aug 9, 2017 8:53:41 GMT -8
stork Symbaroum: I haven't played yet, but my friend has had us generate characters. I like the elegant simplicity of the character generation system. Our GM plans a low life campaign, based around a brewery. I wasn't!t that inspired as to what I wanted to play. You can be human (barabarisn or more civilised), goblin, troll or changling. I liked the idea of a taciturn Troll called Potboy (apparently Trolls don't have names except what humans call them) who is too big for the spaces but clears tables with surprising delicacy. Very quick char gen (assign stat range -choose between three and five abilities. (5 at novice level or 1 at adept and two more at novice) and so now my gentle giant can use his persuasion to roll his attacks (rather than accuracy) as he stares people down in fights. I like this. Not experienced dice mechanic yet, but is player facing (GM does not roll) d20, roll under (modified) stat.
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Post by OFTHEHILLPEOPLE on Aug 9, 2017 13:15:25 GMT -8
Regarding the "dice fudging" e-mail, when I was running d20 games I picked up an idea from another GM who was having the problem of "Combats too long, players bored" and created something I think could use some refining but is otherwise useful: Static incremental health for groups of monsters.
If the group is going to fight ten Goblins at, say, five hp a piece it gets tedious figuring out which monster has what amount of health without breaking it down to annoying level. In truth that's a goblin shaped blob of fifty hp with ten attacks in a round. So why keep track of individual health? Instead clump it into chunks of five and every time a player deals enough damage to pass the hurdle at five hp then a goblin dies, even if it's not the one that took damage previously.
The only problem is the occasional time where you just barely don't kill a mook monster and because of the other player's attacks on other foes reset the post it makes it appear like one foe is harder to kill or unkillable despite multiple strong hits.
Just remember that these are mooks, henchmen, expendable assets. We shouldn't be spending time whacking and whacking at them when there are much better enemies to be fighting. So as long as the blob of hit points is diminishing and the pieces making it up are removed the fight gets easier and easier to complete.
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Post by uncommonman on Aug 9, 2017 13:26:21 GMT -8
stork Symbaroum: I haven't played yet, but my friend has had us generate characters. I like the elegant simplicity of the character generation system. Our GM plans a low life campaign, based around a brewery. I wasn't!t that inspired as to what I wanted to play. You can be human (barabarisn or more civilised), goblin, troll or changling. I liked the idea of a taciturn Troll called Potboy (apparently Trolls don't have names except what humans call them) who is too big for the spaces but clears tables with surprising delicacy. Very quick char gen (assign stat range -choose between three and five abilities. (5 at novice level or 1 at adept and two more at novice) and so now my gentle giant can use his persuasion to roll his attacks (rather than accuracy) as he stares people down in fights. I like this. Not experienced dice mechanic yet, but is player facing (GM does not roll) d20, roll under (modified) stat. Bull in a china shop:
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Aug 9, 2017 14:00:21 GMT -8
It takes some big balls to complain about the journaling character getting more XP when the grumbler could have done the exact same thing. Nah, all it takes is being an entitled prick. I faced this early on in my career as a gamer. I was in my early 20's and they were all 30's and 40's. I got tarred and feathered for suggesting that we might do such a thing, because all these important people just didn't have time in their busy lives and I wouldn't understand since I must be a young person with nothing better to do with my time. Same people who would piss on unions didn't want me to be able to work harder for a better reward because they were fucking lazy. Also, they were pricks. I didn't see it at the time, but I sure as hell do now.
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Post by joecrak on Aug 9, 2017 16:22:04 GMT -8
We hatch this great plan to seduce and impregnate her what the what? You might want to redefine what 'great plan' means.
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Post by Stu Venable on Aug 9, 2017 17:52:24 GMT -8
Regarding the "dice fudging" e-mail, when I was running d20 games I picked up an idea from another GM who was having the problem of "Combats too long, players bored" and created something I think could use some refining but is otherwise useful: Static incremental health for groups of monsters. If the group is going to fight ten Goblins at, say, five hp a piece it gets tedious figuring out which monster has what amount of health without breaking it down to annoying level. In truth that's a goblin shaped blob of fifty hp with ten attacks in a round. So why keep track of individual health? Instead clump it into chunks of five and every time a player deals enough damage to pass the hurdle at five hp then a goblin dies, even if it's not the one that took damage previously. The only problem is the occasional time where you just barely don't kill a mook monster and because of the other player's attacks on other foes reset the post it makes it appear like one foe is harder to kill or unkillable despite multiple strong hits. Just remember that these are mooks, henchmen, expendable assets. We shouldn't be spending time whacking and whacking at them when there are much better enemies to be fighting. So as long as the blob of hit points is diminishing and the pieces making it up are removed the fight gets easier and easier to complete. I like this. Sort of like morale rules for groups of mooks.
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Post by Stu Venable on Aug 9, 2017 17:58:41 GMT -8
To clarify. I've started getting in to W40K, the mini game. I purchased Dark Imperium (and before that a smaller starter set). My paint job has not been spectacular, but the Ultramarines are done and I've just got to do a little details on the Chaos dudes. (my son does the wash to bring out the contours).
Reading the big core book it came with, I found the setting to be of a massively inhuman scale (I don't know how else to describe it). Great for a war game (where there is "only war"), but for an RPG, I don't find it that interesting. If you played a game where there are just people trying to get by, that might be interesting, dodging the Imperials with their creepy undead 10,000 year old emperor, that could be fun, but rather bleak and hopeless.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Aug 10, 2017 0:37:47 GMT -8
There is a lot more depth to the setting than the wargames likely detail though personally I've found that the further I dig into it the less interesting it becomes (I've read the first few Horus Heresy books and they were disappointing). I think it works best when it's just fragments of details and histories that contradict one another a little.
I think Dark Heresy is the most interesting of the RPG settings, being low level inquisitorial agents lets you explore a lot of aspects of the setting. You're right though that it is a rather bleak and hopeless universe but that's fairly deliberate. You're either one of the elite few or the downtrodden masses huddling behind technology they don't understand.
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fredrix
Master Douchebag
Posts: 2,142
Preferred Game Systems: Fate, L5R, Pendragon, Gumshoe, Feng Shui
Currently Playing: Pendragon, Song of Ice and Fire, L5R, Feng Shui, Traveller
Currently Running: Fate, Coriolis, Nights Black Agents
Favorite Species of Monkey: 1970's NTV, dubbed by the BBC (though The Water Margin beats it)
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Post by fredrix on Aug 10, 2017 0:52:24 GMT -8
My local gaming store still has corebooks of Dark Heresy and Roague Trader on stock plus a number of splats. So people charging premium prices on eBay may be more hopeful than successful.
Personally, I though the 40k universe was fun in the early years, but around the time they got rid of squats I lost interest. The grim-dark became too one-note.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Aug 10, 2017 1:40:44 GMT -8
Sandy Mitchell's Ciaphas Cain novels are a great entrypoint to 40k for people who want it a little less grimdark.
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Post by Kainguru on Aug 10, 2017 5:04:38 GMT -8
The 7th Edition WH40K rules books were a set of 3 big tomes: 1 for rules, 1 for setting and history of the universe and 1 detailing how to detail different units. So loads of setting fluff in the mini War Game. Like Stu Venable I recently got into the WH40K mini's game - though I've gone with the Talons of the Emporer and Grey Knights. Painting is a bitch, but worth it when (eventually) you get it right Aaron
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Post by weaselcreature on Aug 10, 2017 6:52:23 GMT -8
As far as long, drawn-out, slugfest battles go: remember, would you rather fight to the death, or surrender when bested, hoping you could carry on your work later? Same with the bad guys.
Bad guys can give up. If the battle is going against them, the BBG can surrender, hoping he can later escape imprisonment and carry on his dastardly deeds later.
If you have a player or 2 who are going to execute him anyway, the GM can bring up "hey...he's surrendered to you, are you sure you want to do that?" If the execution happens, well, it's the same result as the long fight, but faster, plus you now have potential inter-party conflict between the lawful or good type PCs and the chaotic or evil leaning ones who were OK with the execution.
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Post by Kainguru on Aug 10, 2017 7:20:29 GMT -8
Hey, I've had a Lawful Good Paladin conduct an execution. The BBG had a public trial and as the town Justicar he carried out the sentence - House Stark style. Aaron
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Post by RudeAlert on Aug 10, 2017 11:15:03 GMT -8
As far as long, drawn-out, slugfest battles go: remember, would you rather fight to the death, or surrender when bested, hoping you could carry on your work later? Same with the bad guys. Bad guys can give up. If the battle is going against them, the BBG can surrender, hoping he can later escape imprisonment and carry on his dastardly deeds later. If you have a player or 2 who are going to execute him anyway, the GM can bring up "hey...he's surrendered to you, are you sure you want to do that?" If the execution happens, well, it's the same result as the long fight, but faster, plus you now have potential inter-party conflict between the lawful or good type PCs and the chaotic or evil leaning ones who were OK with the execution. Also, if word gets out that the PCs are into killing opponents who surrender that may have consequences in the future. For one, those who've heard of the PCs' reputation are far less likely to surrender. If the PCs themselves ever surrender, perhaps their captors won't be so kind to them. And of course, people in general might not like having a bunch of murderous bastards going around killing people in cold blood.
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