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Post by clockworkmonk on Mar 28, 2012 6:23:58 GMT -8
Topic is as the subject line reads. I'm currently prepping for a new campaign set in the Forgotten Realms setting of D&D, though D&D will likely not be the system of choice. In order to prep for it, I'm presently considering reading through the entirety of Ed Greenwood's and R.A. Salvatore's books based in the setting (I'm a little late for Drizztmas, I suppose) as well as re-playing through the entirety of Bioware's D&D games, especially the Baldur's Gate stuff, to completely capture the feeling of the setting. It's a huge time investment yes, and I will probably die sad, alone, and in a drunken haze.
But I'm also pretty sure that this is child's play compared to what you guys have done in the name of gaming.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 28, 2012 7:58:40 GMT -8
Well this qualifies as insane I'm sure...
I re-wrote Palladium. Sometimes I can't answer why, but in the 80s it was a logical switch from D&D. Everything needed to play was in one $20 book, compared to AD&D's five $12 books (seems like nothing compared to now). Plus the game had a cool flavor to it. When I returned to gaming about ten years ago I saw what they had done to my favored game (raped the flavor and cool out of it) and I saw what else was out there as far as clever game mechanics, so I changed the game.
The first campaign was played with a 112-page house rule book. The campaign was fun, but switching between books wasn't. So then I just re-wrote the rule book into a 350-page hardbound edition. We played another campaign, which was fun, but I found flaws to fix. Next step was a 3-core book set, the 200-page Players Handbook, 300-page DMG, and 400-page Encyclopedia of Gods, Monsters, and Animals. We ran two campaigns with the set only half complete and saw further changes to make each time.
We are about to run another campaign in what would be my 4th(?) edition version. The Encyclopedia is still not finished, but I just made 2 copies of the Players Handbook and I've a sweet new copy of the DMG, all hardbound.
But, these books are awesome, and I enjoy the tinkering and the writing, gathering great interior art, and doing layout that makes finding rules and inspiration a breeze. Our group plays a lot of different games, and its ironic that they get most excited about Palladium, a game that has a reputation for being horrible. As you could guess, this endeavor has taken hundreds of hours over the years, but from my perspective it's part of the joy of gaming.
Hows that for insanity? T
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Post by hoseirrob on Mar 28, 2012 9:56:24 GMT -8
As a player, i left work after a night shift, played all night. Did a sink shower, went back to work for a morning shift. Got back to my job before it opened so i went across the street for a nap. A man licking my leg woke me up from that nap.
I will sacrifice any shred of dignity for a game!
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clanhanna
Journeyman Douchebag
The Muffin
Posts: 221
Preferred Game Systems: Storyteller, O.R.E, Mongoose Traveller
Currently Playing: Vampire: The Masquerade, Vampire: The Dark Ages, D&D 5e
Currently Running: Vampire: The Dark Ages
Favorite Species of Monkey: Peanut-buttery Rhesus
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Post by clanhanna on Mar 28, 2012 10:08:46 GMT -8
Not all that insane, especially as compared to rewriting Palladium, but...
For my D&D4e campaign, neither I nor any of my players were willing to pay for DDI accounts. So, I went through several books (PHB, PHB2, Martial Power, Arcane Power, Divine Power — the ones we were considering "canon" for this game) and compiled one complete set of Feats. And when I say "compiled," I mean I typed them up into a Word doc and formatted them all pretty and such, not copy-paste. Actually, the act of typing them all up meant I was able to fully read them all and understand them for when people picked them, and I was able to recommend ones for those players who didn't have a clue.
For my current Vampire campaign, I did a similar thing. I went through even more books this time (13, in all) and compiled a 25-page document of all Discipline powers at 6- or 7-dots that are available to my players to choose from, as well as Discipline techniques that combine two or more Disciplines. Rather than lending out the books, I was able to publish this as a Google Doc, and I was able to edit and customize the powers as I saw necessary to fit into the version of the World of Darkness my players inhabit.
And then there was the Con game for which I created nine 21st-level characters in D&D4e, knowing full well that only 5 or 6 of them would wind up getting played. But that was actually pretty fun, if very time consuming.
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Post by clockworkmonk on Mar 28, 2012 14:55:52 GMT -8
Well this qualifies as insane I'm sure... I re-wrote Palladium. Sometimes I can't answer why, but in the 80s it was a logical switch from D&D. Everything needed to play was in one $20 book, compared to AD&D's five $12 books (seems like nothing compared to now). Plus the game had a cool flavor to it. When I returned to gaming about ten years ago I saw what they had done to my favored game (raped the flavor and cool out of it) and I saw what else was out there as far as clever game mechanics, so I changed the game. The first campaign was played with a 112-page house rule book. The campaign was fun, but switching between books wasn't. So then I just re-wrote the rule book into a 350-page hardbound edition. We played another campaign, which was fun, but I found flaws to fix. Next step was a 3-core book set, the 200-page Players Handbook, 300-page DMG, and 400-page Encyclopedia of Gods, Monsters, and Animals. We ran two campaigns with the set only half complete and saw further changes to make each time. We are about to run another campaign in what would be my 4th(?) edition version. The Encyclopedia is still not finished, but I just made 2 copies of the Players Handbook and I've a sweet new copy of the DMG, all hardbound. But, these books are awesome, and I enjoy the tinkering and the writing, gathering great interior art, and doing layout that makes finding rules and inspiration a breeze. Our group plays a lot of different games, and its ironic that they get most excited about Palladium, a game that has a reputation for being horrible. As you could guess, this endeavor has taken hundreds of hours over the years, but from my perspective it's part of the joy of gaming. Hows that for insanity? T ... have you ever considered just homebrewing your own system? I mean, given all the work that you've already put into the Palladium thing, is it even recognizable as Palladium anymore?
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 28, 2012 18:40:09 GMT -8
Nope, it's not recognizable. Though, the setting is the same (but, modified) and the name is the same. I guess its sentimental. I wanted to play Palladium, but I wanted to play a good game that made sense, so to have my cake and eat it too, took an insane task.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 29, 2012 4:22:22 GMT -8
Wow. I had a crazy story to tell, but I now feel woefully inadequate with my crazy, compared to y'all.
--Pukka Tukka
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Post by clockworkmonk on Mar 29, 2012 6:46:28 GMT -8
Let's hear it anyway!
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tyler
Journeyman Douchebag
Posts: 226
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Post by tyler on Mar 29, 2012 19:41:18 GMT -8
I borrowed a friend's Cabbage Patch Doll, bought a loaf of french bread, sliced in half lengthwise and made a baby sandwich.
I then proceeded to completely halt a LARP of 45 people by singing "B is for Baby" (to the tune of 'C is for Cookie') at the top of my lungs, while dancing, in a parking garage in downtown Santa Cruz.
My favorite part was the look from the people at the bakery when I held the doll up to the loaf of bread to make sure it was the right size.
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Post by uselesstriviaman on Mar 29, 2012 21:21:06 GMT -8
Probably either this or this. They pale in comparison to the rest of y'all though... I've never had a baby sammich, dammit.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 30, 2012 4:15:23 GMT -8
Let's hear it anyway! Okay, but it's tame, compared to a lot of those. So, for about... I'm going to say, a year, I was stuck in a tiny town, by myself, at a job I didn't like. I eventually moved to where I am now, but it took some time, finding a new job, finding a place to stay, etc. During this time, though, what kept me going was the most intense game I've ever played. It was a Cyberpunk campaign, that had been going off and on for years with different players, and I was brought into it. During most of that time, the game was just me, the GM, and the GMs wife. So, for that year, this was my week, *every* week: 1) Go to work Monday morning. 2) Work Monday through Friday, with no life, hiding in my apartment in the evenings, not really doing anything. 3) Work Saturday until noon. 4) Pack up my gaming stuff, and drive an hour to the GM's city. Buy snacks and supplies at the store, and go to the GM's house, usually arriving about 2pm or so. 5) Game from that point, until about 7am Sunday. Sometimes, if we were really exhausted, we'd sleep for a couple hours in the middle, but this was rare. During this period of gaming, I would drink 24 cans of Coke, and smoke about 40 cigarettes (NOTE: I did not smoke or drink sugared soda at all during the rest of the week). 6) Drive home another hour, on no sleep (in retrospect, I now realize how insanely dangerous this was... going 75 on the interstate, and practically hallucinating from sleep dep). 7) Get home, shower off what was a practically visible layer of funk, sweat, and cigarette smoke. 8) Fall into bed about 9am. 9) Wake up that evening, have a little dinner, go back to bed. 10) Start back at step 1. And that was my life, for a year. See... not that insane. But kinda insane. --Pukka Tukka
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Post by clockworkmonk on Mar 30, 2012 5:34:19 GMT -8
Hah! Definitely still insane on a Kafka-esque level rather than a zany comedy level as several other stories here tend to be. Honestly, I'd actually still believe you if you said that you all metamorphosed into giant cockroaches while playing and then returned to human form after the game was over.
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Post by jazzisblues on Mar 30, 2012 7:00:57 GMT -8
I moved 2000 miles so I could be with an awesome community of gamers and all around amaaaaaaayyyyyzing people.
Does that count?
JiB
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 30, 2012 7:05:10 GMT -8
Probably either this or this. They pale in comparison to the rest of y'all though... Ditto.....considering i was the other guy dancing in a wig or the same game just a previous session, i ended up giving the GM a full on lap dance with extra grinding action......did i mention the gm was another guy, waaaaaay older, not all that attractive, and was the founder of the NASCRAG role playing tournament at GenCon?
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tyler
Journeyman Douchebag
Posts: 226
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Post by tyler on Mar 30, 2012 8:47:35 GMT -8
I moved 2000 miles so I could be with an awesome community of gamers and all around amaaaaaaayyyyyzing people. Does that count? JiB While I think it's completely awesome, and I admire you greatly for your ability to make such a huge life change, I don't think it counts. Mostly because you had other, larger reasons for doing it. You didn't make the move JUST for gaming. But still, totally awesome.
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