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Author Topic: Current state of your table  (Read 6746 times)

Slipshot762

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Current state of your table
« on: November 21, 2020, 10:09:32 PM »
Just what it says on the tin; whatcha doin' for your current or next campaign? For my part I've found in the process of rebuilding lost notes a desire to do the next game in more of a gonzo'ish sword n' sorcery feel as opposed to leaning toward historica authentica per usual. I'm thinking conan but ratchet up the magic/fantasy aspects a little, but not as far as, say, he-man. Toward that end I've re-made a slightly different version of the character sheet I had made earlier and lost (will try to attach pic) and also began formulating a setting idea to include an early base map that i'm still trying to decide which way to go with.

Drawing upon the book of Enoch, I think a setting shortly after "the watchers" (presumed to be fallen angels that lay with human women to spawn the nephilim) are imprisoned, and yet long before the flood or even rise of Atlantis, captures my imagination enough to ask and answer questions about such, which is for me how creation occurs anyway.

There is great room for embellishment here; let us say these watchers lived as gods among men, taking man from cave dwelling animals to roman tier civilization by any and all means to include slavery. Virtual god-kings who create new races and animals as they see fit, invading other worlds with magic gates and slave armies for amusement...until the archangels strike them down and imprison them. Which leaves civilization without its creators; no one to guide many magic-dependent processes that may now run amok, constant power struggles between former slaves and vassals...and the nephilim that see themselves as rightful heirs to a divine right to rule mankind. This certainly sounds to me like a backdrop where one can readily envision a conan type character  re-living what sort of looks like the sarlacc pitt scene from return of the jedi but against demons and the barge needs a mage to drive it.

Anyhow, thats where i'm presently at game wise...hope you're getting your satisfaction out of the hobby too. I'd be glad to hear what you've got going on and just as happy to draw any inspiration from it. I'll try to attach the CS i customized and the present state of a map that might become the red sea in 30k years or so, who knows. Still undecided on whether to try the modern looking satellite view type terrain or the old school hand drawn kind, and whether or not to even use color instead of going for a parchment-prop look.

https://ibb.co/SxTrKQQ

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« Last Edit: November 21, 2020, 10:11:27 PM by Slipshot762 »

Spinachcat

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Re: Current state of your table
« Reply #1 on: November 21, 2020, 10:32:14 PM »
1) Book of Enoch is interesting for inspiration. I'm sure there's even more to draw out there. Worth the research because its a different take on "biblical fables" and instantly fits into a bronze age setting.

2) Player maps should be sparse and general and only good locally. Sages would have better maps, and maps should be a commodity of value. The only person who has a satellite image map is the GM.

3) Are you using D6 Fantasy? Very interested how well that works for sword & sorcery RPGing, both from the player end and the paperwork side for the GM.

Slipshot762

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Re: Current state of your table
« Reply #2 on: November 21, 2020, 10:51:36 PM »
Oh yes, D6 Fantasy with a few custom mods. I agree players should eat the map so to speak. Having color in the map rather than the tolkien hand drawn style is actually giving me pause because it's a lot more work in gimp, so that might get kicked back to the drawing board.

As to how D6 will do in sword & sorcery, I can tell you that making custom advantages/disadvantages that all together effectively mimic the restrictions and abilities of classic D&D classes can go a long way; for example, a disadvantage that limits worn armor by causing attack & defense rolls to default to attribute rather than using full skill dice if armor above the given weight class (light medium heavy) is worn...or an advantage that allows you to spend a fate point to have your single melee attack applied to all foes within reach.

I always use a variation of the dueling blades chart that was published in D6 magazine at one time, and nerf fate to render max roll rather than double die codes. Several little tweaks like that to suit my tastes. Allowing creatures to have a base of 1 fate per healthy (uncursed) mind body or soul if they have such qualities, which regenerates with a full rest (only up to 3 and only if below 3) and then attaching a fate cost to things in a sort of action economy for example.

The magic rules is where the most love is needed; there i make the default magic skills be specializations of a new skill, spellcraft, and add binding-channeling-alchemy as extranormal skills. I allow multiple spellcasting rolls across actions or rounds to build to the needed spell total and attach a fate point cost. I allow the use of channeling (drawing on stored magic, roughly equivalent to sense from d6 star wars) or binding (projecting magic, roughly equivalent to alter in d6 star wars) for minor free-form magic again with a fate cost.

I don't think the system itself actually needs much of this beyond a fate nerf, per say, but these are my little tweaks i insist on in making the system my own.
« Last Edit: November 21, 2020, 10:53:30 PM by Slipshot762 »

HappyDaze

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Re: Current state of your table
« Reply #3 on: November 21, 2020, 11:32:31 PM »
I'm testing out some new players (and confirming whether I want one returning player) and a new game (Torg Eternity--I'll be running a few of the "Day One" one-shot scenarios). I have minimal commitment to it right now; if the players don't make it enjoyable for me to run it, it can die.

Ratman_tf

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Re: Current state of your table
« Reply #4 on: November 22, 2020, 01:11:54 AM »
Hate to be the debbie downer. I tried playing online, and didn't much like it. so my gaming is on pause, and has been all summer. WA just initiated another round of stay-at-home, and my gaming was limited to a few guys showing up for X-Wing Miniatures.

We do plan to play some 80's Basic D&D with my nephew during Thanksgiving. That's about it.
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Jason Coplen

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Re: Current state of your table
« Reply #5 on: November 22, 2020, 02:00:25 AM »
My players (all two of them - hard to find players with this lock down shit) are space marines assaulting my fantasy world. It should be great fun!

I'm using the new High Colonies by Colombia Games as the system, but as of right now I don't have a magic system for it. I might need one eventually if the campaign lasts long enough.
Running: HarnMaster, Barbaric 2E!, and EABA.

Darrin Kelley

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Re: Current state of your table
« Reply #6 on: November 22, 2020, 02:24:34 AM »
I'm playing in a friend's Fate Accelerated powered anime fantasy game through Second Life.

It started out with her wanting to run D&D 5th Edition. But she owned none of the books. And after we talked, it became apparent that she wanted a game system she could rip apart and make her own. So I showed her Fate Accelerated. And she really took to it like a duck to water.

I'm both a player and an observer for the game. Acting as a coach to help her overcome the beginner GM issues. It's been working well. And she hasn't really needed much guidance at all. So I mostly get to kick back and enjoy the game.

She has really made the game her own. Redesigning core elements to match her storytelling style. She's also had some truly wicked puzzles to solve along the way. Some people are just naturals. And I'm glad I was able to help her out.
 

S'mon

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Re: Current state of your table
« Reply #7 on: November 22, 2020, 06:01:13 AM »
All games online, England is in lockdown again.

My 5e D&D Princes of the Apocalypse game is about to end, last session tomorrow; the 14th level PCs defeated Prince Yan C Bin last session and the surviving PCs are fighting Air Prophetess Aerisi Kalinoth.

My D6 Mini Six Primeval Thule game is running fortnightly, PCs are in The Lichway & just met Dark Odo.

My 5e D&D Faerun Adventures sandboxy game set in Damara 1359 DR (1e era) is running weekly, PCs are attacking a Temple of Chaos dedicated to Tsathoggua.

Will likely take a GMing break in December until the New Year.

jeff37923

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Re: Current state of your table
« Reply #8 on: November 22, 2020, 07:42:05 AM »
I ended my d6 Star Wars game due to Player breakdown. They couldn't choose a direction for themselves and stay with it long enough to get anywhere, group goals would change every game. This coupled with in game actions for te lulz, like buying a "pet" Kowakian Monkey-Lizard and letting it escape into their ship to wreck havoc, started a contest to see whose character could do the stupidest shit in order to derail the game. I stopped having fun, spent a month trying to get the group to work, then just gave up and ended it.

I'm doing a lot of writing and prep work for the time being while also getting ready to get married and move.
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Vidgrip

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Re: Current state of your table
« Reply #9 on: November 22, 2020, 08:01:51 AM »
I'm finishing prep for a new campaign that I'll launch next week.  We are online and will play Esoteric Enterprises, set in the Baltimore undercity.  This is a new gaming genre for everyone involved.  At seven players, it's also the largest group I've ever tried to run online.  Well, I do like a challenge and I'm looking forward to it.
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Spike

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Re: Current state of your table
« Reply #10 on: November 22, 2020, 01:35:39 PM »
Lemmee see... I got a group that will meet every too weeks, but the half the table that insists on that attenuated schedule also don't show up for... reasons. This week its a corona-virus lockdown for one player and the other won't show up without her (they are both girls, for whatever that's worth).  I do have a new player that insisted he was familiar with RPGs when I invited him, but when he made a character he admitted he'd only seen people playing it at the game store, but he didn't show because he had car troubles and my phone held his text asking for a ride for about 16 hours before delivering it.

So my Unisystem Armaggeddon campaign, which I am surprisingly unethusiastic about despite setting it up, is in week three of character design and pre-planning, which is way too long.


Meanwhile, I'm juggling an issue. I've discovered Hero-Forge (I even ordered a full color model at absurd cost from them, its gorgeous by the way), as a means of getting players (and myself!) to visualize characters (I don't require they buy a model, just design one and send me the link). How hard do I push this passionate idea I have for expanding the imagination... particularly with players who 'play against type'?

So far I've got one character model that was exactly perfect in telling me what my player wanted to play, along with a line of character biography that allowed me to spin his role in teh setting to our mutual satisfaction.  I've got my new player who made a... unique... model after makign his character that is bare bones but functional, and a generic D&D thief in greyscale that not only tells me nothing about the character but is also wildly inappropriate for the game in question, and my two unreliables, both of whom love to make (useless to me) cartoon art of their characters who have given me nothing at all.

Great tool, in my opinion, but I get the strong impression that I had hit that too hard, like I used to hit Q&A sessions with players too hard years ago, and it will just irritate the players who just don't care.

So... yeah... the state of my table is, at the moment, wrack and ruin, just waiting for the red dawn.
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Steven Mitchell

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Re: Current state of your table
« Reply #11 on: November 22, 2020, 02:01:43 PM »
Finished a playtest session of my current system effort.  That went mostly well.  However, this time of the year is always a difficult schedule for our group, and various work concerns are making it even tougher than normal.  So probably won't get another game in until early next year. 

As I mentioned in an earlier topic, the system is a hybrid mix of BEMCI/RC, 5E, and a few other quirks.  It's closer to BEMCI/RC than 5E, but not entirely old school.  Using an adapted Barrowmaze as a test bed.  I'm a bit ambivalent about that--it's a good adventure for the style of game I'm wanting to test, but not so good for quick playtest sessions during a time of difficult game scheduling.  It might work better if I try an online version, but I'm stilll completely underwhelmed with the online options.

Shasarak

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Re: Current state of your table
« Reply #12 on: November 22, 2020, 03:12:13 PM »
My game is up to Book 4 of 6 of the Age of Ashes adventure path.  We are currently playing irl with one or two players dialing in via discord.
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Heavy Josh

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Re: Current state of your table
« Reply #13 on: November 22, 2020, 03:37:14 PM »
My alternating weekly Stars Without Number games went online back in March. Then I joined a D&D5e game and Savage Worlds (Slipstream) game. Online gaming has been pretty fun, all things considered. I was playing or running in 3 games a week, which I hadn't done since the mid-90s!

Then I got my teaching load, and now I'm teaching Mon-Thurs evenings until the end of term. My wife, bless her soul, has encouraged me to run a game every other week on Fridays. One of my SWN games is on hiatus until January, the other meets online once a month because every other Friday was seen as too onerous a burden by a couple of players. I'm not bitter. :P

Anyways, when not running SWN, I run one-offs of games I've either never played before, or haven't played in eons.

Last Friday was Twilight:2000 using the game mechanics from Modern Warfare (Cepheus Engine). Pretty fun.  I've also run Heavy Gear 2nd edition, which was a blast from the past.  I'm thinking of running Honor + Intrigue for the next one-off. But Stars Without Number is next up.  That'll be fun.

I'm hoping to go back to teaching during the day in January, that should restore my weekly gaming. I'm jonesing.
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Ghostmaker

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Re: Current state of your table
« Reply #14 on: November 22, 2020, 03:46:57 PM »
We're alternating (weekly) a Savage Worlds Rifts game, and a D&D 5E game. I'm running the 5E game from the GMG revision of 'In Search of Adventure' (Aka 'The Caverns of Quasqueton'). It started out as a one-shot for shits and giggles, and suddenly we all decided 'Eh, this is fun, let's run with it.'

Covid, holidays, visitors, and our host's two young lads have inconvenienced us but not stopped us (the boys are now playing in the 5E game).

I suspect the Rifts game might sputter out though, we spent last session doing more relaxed chatting than dice rolling. Not a HUGE thing, as we all get along, but it doesn't bode well if we can't keep focus :)