;)
I started last month, a new 3.5 game every few weeks. It's Forgotten Realms Nimbity Croft, is the initial setting. It's a farm/orphanarium A nice old Halfling lady (also A high level Cleric) runs the place taking in stray small folk. This takes place in a mostltly Dwarf region, with scatterings of gnome, halfling, and such.
My character is Caramippe Tanglefoot a Female Gnome Hexblade who uses a traditional Gnome weapon called The Gnomish Hook Hammer, but also likes to intimidate and bluff and if she has to charm, her way past whoever she faces. She's in the Orphanarium after being found wandering down the road a year ago with said hook hammer covered in blood, as was she. With no idea of how she got wherever she was, and not really where she's from. she could describe it to you, but the names, they keep changing in her mind.
I missed a few games... but what has happened is that the farm is under seige to be bought up by a local Dwarf/Vice Kingpin named Charladon. (Our Den Mother's missing husband owes Charladon money) He has threatened, bullied, tried to murder many of us. So we are trying to infiltrate his Castle/Fortress (carved from the side of a mountain by Dwarves thousands of years ago) Slash Den of Iniquity... gambling prostitution, lots of "organized crime". Anyhoo some of the characters (the ones who showed up) Decided to take things into their own hands.... here is their story in all it's grammatical (my fault) horror.
QuoteTales of Brave Caramippe Tanglefoot Briarpatch AKA Dread-ina Carvingspoon or simply "Mippy" to her friends.
It seemed that we had found our way to the vile Charladon's Casino in the woods. He had converted The den of vice and inequity (neither of which I'm against in theory by the way, but Charladon is a dick of the Dwarven sort. ugggh.) from a once great fortress basically carved on and into the side of a mountain nestled snugly in forest on either side.
The lot of us were camped in said forest, planning on how to get inwhile avoiding detection as much as possible and finding some dirt on Charladon to prove he's the scumbag everyone knows he is, and have the authorities deal with him, rather than trying to be the heroes ourselves, as Charladon is known to have very powerful friends, and is no slouch himself if it comes to it. We are young and unseasoned all, save Nimby, and she won't (rightly) hear of anything frontal assault-ish.
Man, she's gotta be pretty pissed off then considering what we just did, then which was to infiltrate a small band of us, who did just that very thing. So if you recall, Xeronimo, that rogue monk as he describes himself, had pestered the lummoxy Dwarfbots at the door into tossing him into the pool.
Wasn't so hard, I hear. I missed it myself as i saw a bee coming at me and was trying to kill it, I hate bees. Sadly the Bee had the dexterity of a double jointed Eladrin ShaoLin Monk on shrooms at a solstice whoop up, so uhhh Bee 1, Caramippe 0. Next time Bee, next time, yer pollen!
Anyhoo what was I saying? Oh yeah...
This turned out to be a good plan or Xeronimo's death by drowning. We didn't wait around to find out as Badgdar sniffed out a path up the Castle/Mountain wall, and was able to tie a rope and hook on a parapet. We all began ascent as Badgdar, um "craftily" dealt with the dwarf guard at the top of the wall, the next up was Caille, the sorceress Clover, brave Casanuda, and myself. Badgdar & Caille mugged the dwarf as he bent for a coin, and I delivered the fatal glass of beer as it were.
Another guard had entered the mix and thought better after seeing the swift confidence of our dispatch of his fellow guard and was running for an alarm bell down the wall.
Caillie and I concocted a quick plot with Clover: Caillee was fleeter of foot than the stout bearded wide man and reached the end of the wall first, just as Clover "Benignly transposed " (was it?) Caille and myself, ready as I was to deliver a masterful single blow that crushed the dwarf's nose back up into his brain and killing him as if electrically.
We may have even scuttled a stray kobold or two; as well on the parapet... it's all a bit of a blur, really. Next we stealthily made our way inside without having to kill anyone else. Being small has many great advantages. Upstairs in the parapet we hike. nada, brooms closets, etcetera.
So we go downstairs hoping to run into fewer than 7 dwarfs.
No such luck, though at first all still seemed golden. Everyone even the meek ones(they know who they are) had some swagger as we investigated a door at the bottom of the stairs. two voices conversing alternately loudly and softly. We burst in on a kobold and dwarf either coming on, or going off shift. We quickly dispatched them via the slight overkill, of a colorspray spell from Glover. Sooooo. Pretty. as the guards fell we executed. rather cold blooded we are quickly becoming it seems. hmmmm sure.
Anyhoo, at the obligatory next door we heard more voices more boisterous, maybe tipsy? We come in swords and coloursprays drawn. Again, quick. Efficient. Someone may have hit Badgdar once, he's not sure... he tends not to notice small things like that. We raid the gold these 2 Kobolds and 2 Dwarfs were gambling with in what must've been some odd Bridge games. Kobold vs. Dwarf in Bridge? Yikes.
Got a few potions, and possibly some moonshine as well. Sweet. Then we decided rather too quickly, in hindsight, to have Clover magically disguise herself as a Dwarf and we would wear the Guards silly Shark Fin Cowls marching behind her as "new recruits" that needed to see Charladon (of all people) ASAP.... The help sniffed it's snooty mc snoot snoot at us and bade us down this hall and that, and gave us the very fair warning, of "They're your heads, get them chopped off as you like" or something such as.
We did so, barging into a bedroom of the long blue shag carpet variety. Picture it for a second. There ya go.
Whammo there's Charladon getting a magickal tatto drawn onto his face by a RED MFING THAYAN WIZARD. Damn. And a woman in a metal bikini.
Oh yes and there we see behind these three is Xeronimo tied on a cross that's mounted on the wall. That's a vice den's Master bedroom I guess. Comes with a built-in Crucifix of your choice in colour. Maybe it's a Murphy- Crucifix? He's alive though it seemed. We were not welcomed nicely.
as we rushed in and flailed at Charladon and his Giant battleaxe. I don't mean his girlfriend either. She was a different kinda hell. The bright light of this fight was that Xeronimo used his roguery skillz to escape from his cross onto the neck of the Wizard, choking him into unconsciousness, and leaving the rope tightly round his neck and eventually in the flurry of bodies hitting the floor in various states of unconsciousness The Red Thayan Wizard expired, Xeronimo got away (as if we rescued him or something) and we were captured. Unconscious. To be Continued Next week.
I demand you hold bikini chick for questioning.
Quote from: saskganesh on May 26, 2009, 01:33:33 PM
I demand you hold bikini chick for questioning.
As soon as she gets her foot of my throat, I'll do just that. Oh she had some kinda magic snakeheaded flail btw.
Good for you, playing a gnome. They don't get enough love.
Quote from: Neil on May 26, 2009, 09:31:56 PM
Good for you, playing a gnome. They don't get enough love.
Ya I'd always wanted to try a Gnome something or other. Hexblade is interesting, we'll see though how it stacks up as levels stack... It may need to go Prestige instead of straight through, or multi-classing. I'm thinking.
I am playing a gnome in my current game. seems to be part of the zeitgeist, now that they have been exiled from 4.0.
hey buddha, I see this is a 3.5 game, has your group looked at 4.0, or pathfinder (3.75?)?
Quote from: saskganesh on May 27, 2009, 08:30:19 AM
I am playing a gnome in my current game. seems to be part of the zeitgeist, now that they have been exiled from 4.0.
4.0 is evil.
Quote from: Neil on May 27, 2009, 09:09:16 AM
Quote from: saskganesh on May 27, 2009, 08:30:19 AM
I am playing a gnome in my current game. seems to be part of the zeitgeist, now that they have been exiled from 4.0.
4.0 is evil.
evil/bad or chaotic evil/superbad (I understand there's only 5 alignments now) ;)
Quote from: saskganesh on May 27, 2009, 09:33:02 AM
Quote from: Neil on May 27, 2009, 09:09:16 AM
Quote from: saskganesh on May 27, 2009, 08:30:19 AM
I am playing a gnome in my current game. seems to be part of the zeitgeist, now that they have been exiled from 4.0.
4.0 is evil.
evil/bad or chaotic evil/superbad (I understand there's only 5 alignments now) ;)
They've done away with the nine alignments? That just makes them worse.
I'm going to say neutral evil. There's no rhyme or reason to it, but they were still able to organize an evil conspiracy.
I haven't really had much of an opinion on 4E, although the rumours of it's similarity to WoW and their destruction of the Forgotten Realms. However, taking gnomes out of the game? Unforgiveable!
just 5
lawful good
good
unaligned/"neutral"
evil
chaotic evil
they probably should have just gone with three (good/normal/evil). maybe LG has to be there for paladins.
the one good thing about this set up is no more arguing about "what is chaotic neutral anyway?"
Quote from: saskganesh on May 27, 2009, 11:31:36 AM
the one good thing about this set up is no more arguing about "what is chaotic neutral anyway?"
Chaotic neutral is whatever you want it to be.
Quote from: saskganesh on May 27, 2009, 11:31:36 AM
the one good thing about this set up is no more arguing about "what is chaotic neutral anyway?"
Answer: The alignment of every player character except Paladins and Rangers.
Quote from: crazy canuck on May 27, 2009, 11:44:43 AM
Answer: The alignment of every player character except Paladins and Rangers.
Was it really that popular? Chaotic Neutral people were supposed to be mentally unstable or insane.
Quote from: Valmy on May 27, 2009, 11:48:48 AM
Quote from: crazy canuck on May 27, 2009, 11:44:43 AM
Answer: The alignment of every player character except Paladins and Rangers.
Was it really that popular? Chaotic Neutral people were supposed to be mentally unstable or insane.
Yes, chaotic neutral was that popular. The insane were special cases. Check the d20 SRD. http://www.d20srd.org/srd/description.htm#theNineAlignments
Quote from: Neil on May 27, 2009, 11:39:09 AM
Quote from: saskganesh on May 27, 2009, 11:31:36 AM
the one good thing about this set up is no more arguing about "what is chaotic neutral anyway?"
Chaotic neutral is whatever you want it to be.
I always saw it as a way to play chaotic evil without copping to it: "I can do whatever I want, when I want to" ; "whatever I want" usually being stuff like murder, theft, random lethal betrayal of party members while they are asleep... what have you
I'm ok with a CN being the lone gunman/supreme individualist. but he's just as likely to do a good deed (preserve life) than bad (negate it) or just be stoically indifferent . usually it was never played that way.
in gameplay it's difficult to have a CN party (why are all these rugged individualists all constantly working together anyway).
Quote from: crazy canuck on May 27, 2009, 11:44:43 AM
Quote from: saskganesh on May 27, 2009, 11:31:36 AM
the one good thing about this set up is no more arguing about "what is chaotic neutral anyway?"
Answer: The alignment of every player character except Paladins and Rangers.
:LMFAO: you have obviously been a DM. :p
People were predictably chaotic eh?
I always wanted to play an "evil game" of D&D where everyone was some kinda evil. Just to see how silly it gets. Every game I've ever played has a lot of alignment drift to start with.
I don't think 4.0 has to be such a bad thing. It's all about setting and mood for me anyways. Oh and Gnomes are back in 4.0... you just had to wait for the PHB 2.0 which has all the other core races, classes. It's that money grubbing angle I don't like. Can't have traditionally "core" races, classes, unless you buy yet another book. Twas also the curse of 3.x too I guess... a zillion books to buy. But those books are now much cheaper. and 3.5 (or 3.0 and before) is that much more accessible now thanks to many jumping to the new books. Olde ones can be had for reasonable used prices.
Quote from: Valmy on May 27, 2009, 11:48:48 AM
Quote from: crazy canuck on May 27, 2009, 11:44:43 AM
Answer: The alignment of every player character except Paladins and Rangers.
Was it really that popular? Chaotic Neutral people were supposed to be mentally unstable or insane.
Well, it enabled people who wanted to do evil things to have an excuse for them, even if the DM had imposed a ban on evil PCs.
Quote from: BuddhaRhubarb on May 27, 2009, 12:36:42 PM
I always wanted to play an "evil game" of D&D where everyone was some kinda evil. Just to see how silly it gets. Every game I've ever played has a lot of alignment drift to start with.
I don't think 4.0 has to be such a bad thing. It's all about setting and mood for me anyways. Oh and Gnomes are back in 4.0... you just had to wait for the PHB 2.0 which has all the other core races, classes. It's that money grubbing angle I don't like. Can't have traditionally "core" races, classes, unless you buy yet another book. Twas also the curse of 3.x too I guess... a zillion books to buy. But those books are now much cheaper. and 3.5 (or 3.0 and before) is that much more accessible now thanks to many jumping to the new books. Olde ones can be had for reasonable used prices.
I think a LE party, or LE dominated party would work well. respect for order, fear of authority, following orders, no matter how distasteful. for gameplay, the group will stay together (important) in fact, such a LE party could even do "good things", like saving a village from monsters, not because the innocents need to be protected for their own sake, but because the village gives good annual taxes and the very important droit de signeur to the evil LE overlord.
you could even have some "good" people in such a party. like a really stupid paladin or a very naive elf. that would be fun.
Quote from: saskganesh on May 27, 2009, 01:55:00 PM
Quote from: BuddhaRhubarb on May 27, 2009, 12:36:42 PM
I always wanted to play an "evil game" of D&D where everyone was some kinda evil. Just to see how silly it gets. Every game I've ever played has a lot of alignment drift to start with.
I don't think 4.0 has to be such a bad thing. It's all about setting and mood for me anyways. Oh and Gnomes are back in 4.0... you just had to wait for the PHB 2.0 which has all the other core races, classes. It's that money grubbing angle I don't like. Can't have traditionally "core" races, classes, unless you buy yet another book. Twas also the curse of 3.x too I guess... a zillion books to buy. But those books are now much cheaper. and 3.5 (or 3.0 and before) is that much more accessible now thanks to many jumping to the new books. Olde ones can be had for reasonable used prices.
I think a LE party, or LE dominated party would work well. respect for order, fear of authority, following orders, no matter how distasteful. for gameplay, the group will stay together (important) in fact, such a LE party could even do "good things", like saving a village from monsters, not because the innocents need to be protected for their own sake, but because the village gives good annual taxes and the very important droit de signeur to the evil LE overlord.
you could even have some "good" people in such a party. like a really stupid paladin or a very naive elf. that would be fun.
Lawful evil is the prince of alignments.
Quote from: saskganesh on May 27, 2009, 01:55:00 PM
you could even have some "good" people in such a party. like a really stupid paladin or a very naive elf. that would be fun.
Sounds like the Nodwick party. http://nodwick.humor.gamespy.com/gamespyarchive/index.php?date=2001-04-10 and so forth.
LE never really made much sense to me. I had the same problem with Chaotic Good (which seemed to be the second most popular choice of alignment for players behind CN).
Quote from: crazy canuck on May 27, 2009, 02:10:43 PM
LE never really made much sense to me. I had the same problem with Chaotic Good (which seemed to be the second most popular choice of alignment for players behind CN).
It kind of depends. I saw a lot of Neutral Good and Lawful Neutral with Chaotic Good, not as much Chaotic Neutral.
Nobody wanted to play LN in one of my games. It made things awefully boring for them - not wanting to take a position that might upset the balance or that might be contrary to some code of conduct and all.
Quote from: crazy canuck on May 27, 2009, 02:43:13 PM
Nobody wanted to play LN in one of my games. It made things awefully boring for them - not wanting to take a position that might upset the balance or that might be contrary to some code of conduct and all.
It's best not to treat alignment like handcuffs. I've always seen LN as being concerned primarily with order, and less about morality. The average LN character just wants a safe, orderly place to live, and doesn't care if people have to be waterboarded to do it. Compare that to LG, who want that orderly living, but prefer to avoid torture (although LG has no problem resorting to violence when opposed), or LE, where the torture is an integral part of the orderly society.
Quote from: crazy canuck on May 27, 2009, 02:10:43 PM
LE never really made much sense to me. I had the same problem with Chaotic Good (which seemed to be the second most popular choice of alignment for players behind CN).
How can LE not make sense? That is easily the most common sort of evil. It is legalistic evil.
How can that not make sense? We are surrounded by it all the time. Cynical corruption and schemes for power are LE types of behaviors.
CG are freedom fighters and people who strive for individual excellence generally. A group who follow others because of their force of personality and not because of their rank or position would be the way a CG group would organize themselves.
Quote from: crazy canuck on May 27, 2009, 02:10:43 PM
LE never really made much sense to me. I had the same problem with Chaotic Good (which seemed to be the second most popular choice of alignment for players behind CN).
LE: think Nazi's. Himmler. "the truest of the true". think of the Templars in Kingdom of Heaven. "let's kill Saladin's unarmed sister". Sherriff of Nottingham.
CG: Greenpeace. always doing "good", but always getting arrested. however, some of them are more chaotic than anything. Shane the movie cowboy: (saves the village, then moves on with the frontier). Robin Hood.
a very interesting LN character would be an oathkeeper. someone who swears of oaths and follows them to the letter, because breaking an oath would be breaking word with God.
of course what you do then is arrange for oathkeeper to have conflicting oaths. "I have sworn to defend King Alfred but I have also sworn not to take arms against Harold the Boneless. wtf do I do now?" it's RP gold.
my last game we dropped alignments as an overt thing, but kept them as a general guide to behavior.
Quote from: saskganesh on May 27, 2009, 03:44:24 PM
my last game we dropped alignments as an overt thing, but kept them as a general guide to behavior.
I always took alignments to be a descriptor of your character, and not the driving force.
That is to say, you decided on what your character was like, then figured out which alignment he would fall under, rather than nive-versa.
But then again almost all of my D&D playing was under "Basic" D&D, so all we ever worried about was Lawful/Neutral/Chaotic.
sure. usually a player didn't know how we would play a character until he started playing him. then it became important.
but with some thought, the old 9 point (10 if you counted N and TN as separate*) system was a rich motivator for PC/NPCS and scenarios.
* I played Neutral as most of the commoner peeps who were not strongly motivated by anything really and True Neutral for the Druids and Mages who would mutter metathoughts about teh Preserving the Balance and what not. worked well.
Quote from: saskganesh on May 27, 2009, 04:18:13 PM
* I played Neutral as most of the commoner peeps who were not strongly motivated by anything really and True Neutral for the Druids and Mages who would mutter metathoughts about teh Preserving the Balance and what not. worked well.
I never formally split it out like that, but I had the same idea about flavours of Neutral.
Quote from: Neil on May 27, 2009, 03:23:54 PM
Quote from: crazy canuck on May 27, 2009, 02:43:13 PM
Nobody wanted to play LN in one of my games. It made things awefully boring for them - not wanting to take a position that might upset the balance or that might be contrary to some code of conduct and all.
It's best not to treat alignment like handcuffs. I've always seen LN as being concerned primarily with order, and less about morality. The average LN character just wants a safe, orderly place to live, and doesn't care if people have to be waterboarded to do it. Compare that to LG, who want that orderly living, but prefer to avoid torture (although LG has no problem resorting to violence when opposed), or LE, where the torture is an integral part of the orderly society.
Eventually I just dropped the whole notion of alignments and found them all to be silly. On your point, the best description I ever read of LN was someone who wishes to live in a world of grey stillness.
If they didnt care if people had to be waterboarded to do it, they wouldnt be Lawful they would have to be chaotic. I always interpreted Lawful as confining ones self to the rule of law. The law might be terrible but it must be obeyed.
Quote from: crazy canuck on May 27, 2009, 04:56:10 PM
Quote from: Neil on May 27, 2009, 03:23:54 PM
Quote from: crazy canuck on May 27, 2009, 02:43:13 PM
Nobody wanted to play LN in one of my games. It made things awefully boring for them - not wanting to take a position that might upset the balance or that might be contrary to some code of conduct and all.
It's best not to treat alignment like handcuffs. I've always seen LN as being concerned primarily with order, and less about morality. The average LN character just wants a safe, orderly place to live, and doesn't care if people have to be waterboarded to do it. Compare that to LG, who want that orderly living, but prefer to avoid torture (although LG has no problem resorting to violence when opposed), or LE, where the torture is an integral part of the orderly society.
Eventually I just dropped the whole notion of alignments and found them all to be silly. On your point, the best description I ever read of LN was someone who wishes to live in a world of grey stillness.
If they didnt care if people had to be waterboarded to do it, they wouldnt be Lawful they would have to be chaotic. I always interpreted Lawful as confining ones self to the rule of law. The law might be terrible but it must be obeyed.
See, I think you're making too narrow an interpretation. The lawful alignments have always been constructive and orderly, not hidebound by law. Otherwise, lawful evil characters would be extremely limited as to what they could do.
I always thought Pendragon's opposing traits made much more sense as a guide.
You have the following traits which are opposed: Chaste / Lustful; Energetic / Lazy; Forgiving / Vengeful; Generous / Selfish; Honest / Deceitful ; Just / Arbitrary ; Merciful / Cruel ; Modest / Proud ; Pious / Worldly ; Prudent / Reckless ; Temperate / Indulgent ; Trusting / Suspicious ; Valorous / Cowardly
Each time you behave according to a trait, you receive a check, which can result in a trait going up (and the opposite going down), which means that your character's morality and behaviour evolves as a player plays it.
When situations demand a roll, you roll against both traits. Usually, the higher one wins out and your character has to succumb to his trait (i.e., act selfish or generously, despite the player's preference). If your die roll is higher than both traits, you are free to chose your course of action.
Pendragon makes you roll for all these traits, but I have let my players pick out their traits, because it makes for interesting character creation (the courageous but greedy knight, the deceitful but merciful hero) and interesting progression (as players are often unable to play to the high standards they set for themselves at the start, evolving from a naive young hero full of ideals to a jaded mercenary...).
cool, an alignment discussion. I've always gravitated to NG for my characters, out of laziness mostly. I've never played a game actually where someone really made any alignment slips that big... gradual drifting sure but that's realistic. If we had such things in real life it would change and morph as you aged and experience things. CN as a teen to CE, or LG as you get into old age.
http://www.okcupid.com/tests/the-d-d-alignment-test (http://www.okcupid.com/tests/the-d-d-alignment-test)
I am: Neutral Good
quizzes!
I am : True Neutral
Lawful Good
You scored 82% Law vs Chaos and 72% Good vs Evil!
Lawful Good :goodboy:
Quote from: Oexmelin on May 27, 2009, 06:16:18 PM
I always thought Pendragon's opposing traits made much more sense as a guide.
You have the following traits which are opposed: Chaste / Lustful; Energetic / Lazy; Forgiving / Vengeful; Generous / Selfish; Honest / Deceitful ; Just / Arbitrary ; Merciful / Cruel ; Modest / Proud ; Pious / Worldly ; Prudent / Reckless ; Temperate / Indulgent ; Trusting / Suspicious ; Valorous / Cowardly
hm, fun system.
and I never realised before that CK cribbed this.
Quote from: Valmy on May 28, 2009, 09:07:22 AM
Lawful Good :goodboy:
I did one of those tests. apparently I am Chaotic Neutral because I don't like being overtaxed and I usually don't give money to panhandlers.
I scored Lawful Neutral. No wonder I tend to play LN characters.
QuoteNeutral Evil
You scored 47% Law vs Chaos and 40% Good vs Evil!
Your Alignment:
"The Malefactor"
You are not nice at all. You choose not to do what is right, and you choose to be mean to people. Since you are not Chaotic, it is apparent that this mean streak of yours is not due to a lack of structure or reliability. In other words, your cruelty is a matter of choice.
You are simply mean, selfish, and bitter at heart. Way to go. But I could be wrong. Please don't hunt me down and kill me.
Quote from: Neil on May 27, 2009, 05:18:00 PM
Otherwise, lawful evil characters would be extremely limited as to what they could do.
Which is why it never made any sense to me and probably why it is no longer an alignment.
Quote from: Oexmelin on May 27, 2009, 06:16:18 PM
I always thought Pendragon's opposing traits made much more sense as a guide.
You have the following traits which are opposed: Chaste / Lustful; Energetic / Lazy; Forgiving / Vengeful; Generous / Selfish; Honest / Deceitful ; Just / Arbitrary ; Merciful / Cruel ; Modest / Proud ; Pious / Worldly ; Prudent / Reckless ; Temperate / Indulgent ; Trusting / Suspicious ; Valorous / Cowardly
Each time you behave according to a trait, you receive a check, which can result in a trait going up (and the opposite going down), which means that your character's morality and behaviour evolves as a player plays it.
When situations demand a roll, you roll against both traits. Usually, the higher one wins out and your character has to succumb to his trait (i.e., act selfish or generously, despite the player's preference). If your die roll is higher than both traits, you are free to chose your course of action.
Pendragon makes you roll for all these traits, but I have let my players pick out their traits, because it makes for interesting character creation (the courageous but greedy knight, the deceitful but merciful hero) and interesting progression (as players are often unable to play to the high standards they set for themselves at the start, evolving from a naive young hero full of ideals to a jaded mercenary...).
I wish I had access to that back in the day. Sounds like a great way to deal with RP motivations.
Quote from: crazy canuck on May 28, 2009, 11:45:59 AM
Which is why it never made any sense to me and probably why it is no longer an alignment.
That was why? Because you had a narrow and limited interpretation of Lawful Evil?
I find it a shame the rules of the game were so built around your interpretations.
Quote from: crazy canuck on May 28, 2009, 11:45:59 AM
Quote from: Neil on May 27, 2009, 05:18:00 PM
Otherwise, lawful evil characters would be extremely limited as to what they could do.
Which is why it never made any sense to me and probably why it is no longer an alignment.
Your flawed interpretation is why it's no longer an alignment under the evil that is 4E?
I think you give yourself too much credit.
Neutral Good which is my most common alignment when I play. questions on that quiz are slightly better than yr average okcupid test.
Quote from: BuddhaRhubarb on May 28, 2009, 12:26:16 PM
Neutral Good which is my most common alignment when I play. questions on that quiz are slightly better than yr average okcupid test.
Mine to. I am always heroic, doing good and slaying evil as the game was meant to be played.
Quote from: Valmy on May 28, 2009, 12:18:47 PM
Quote from: crazy canuck on May 28, 2009, 11:45:59 AM
Which is why it never made any sense to me and probably why it is no longer an alignment.
That was why? Because you had a narrow and limited interpretation of Lawful Evil?
I find it a shame the rules of the game were so built around your interpretations.
:P Neil changed the meaning of lawful so that people could meaningfully play a LE character. By definition a LE character would have a very limited ability to do anything unless the structure he was working in was inherently evil. Which is why Asmodeus could be LE. His sphere war run by him under rules that were inherently evil.
In any role playing world LE characters would be essentially be non existant.
Quote from: Neil on May 28, 2009, 12:22:31 PM
Your flawed interpretation is why it's no longer an alignment under the evil that is 4E?
I think you give yourself too much credit.
At the very least the game designers did not go with your interpretation. If they had it would still be in the game. But then again your interpretation of LE is essentiall the same as CN.
Quote from: Valmy on May 28, 2009, 12:31:34 PM
Quote from: BuddhaRhubarb on May 28, 2009, 12:26:16 PM
Neutral Good which is my most common alignment when I play. questions on that quiz are slightly better than yr average okcupid test.
Mine to. I am always heroic, doing good and slaying evil as the game was meant to be played.
There's nothing wrong with fighting to bring order and law to lands and push back barbarity, rather than wasting your efforts in a neverending moral battle.
Quote from: crazy canuck on May 28, 2009, 12:36:56 PM
In any role playing world LE characters would be essentially be non existant.
I thought that lawful evil was supposed to be the most common alignment? Maybe at a low-grade sort of way?
Quote from: ulmont on May 28, 2009, 12:51:03 PM
Quote from: crazy canuck on May 28, 2009, 12:36:56 PM
In any role playing world LE characters would be essentially be non existant.
I thought that lawful evil was supposed to be the most common alignment? Maybe at a low-grade sort of way?
Why do you think that?
Quote from: crazy canuck on May 28, 2009, 12:38:45 PM
Quote from: Neil on May 28, 2009, 12:22:31 PM
Your flawed interpretation is why it's no longer an alignment under the evil that is 4E?
I think you give yourself too much credit.
At the very least the game designers did not go with your interpretation. If they had it would still be in the game. But then again your interpretation of LE is essentiall the same as CN.
It's important to remember that those who designed 4th edition are mental invalids, not the great men who designed AD&D. What they do or think about anything is of little interest to me, and what interest there is is only condemnation.
And no, CN is a very different alignment. A CN individual would never be able to tolerate the brutal order that a LE character craves.
Quote from: crazy canuck on May 28, 2009, 12:52:47 PM
Why do you think that?
You've got a bunch of people going about their day to day lives, obeying the law, but if they find a way to take advantage of others for gain they will, at least up to a point.
Perhaps neutral evil would be more common, to include all those speeders out there.
Quote from: crazy canuck on May 28, 2009, 12:36:56 PM
Quote from: Valmy on May 28, 2009, 12:18:47 PM
Quote from: crazy canuck on May 28, 2009, 11:45:59 AM
Which is why it never made any sense to me and probably why it is no longer an alignment.
That was why? Because you had a narrow and limited interpretation of Lawful Evil?
I find it a shame the rules of the game were so built around your interpretations.
:P Neil changed the meaning of lawful so that people could meaningfully play a LE character. By definition a LE character would have a very limited ability to do anything unless the structure he was working in was inherently evil. Which is why Asmodeus could be LE. His sphere war run by him under rules that were inherently evil.
In any role playing world LE characters would be essentially be non existant.
it's easy to imagine LE social/political structures that would support LE characters.
a slave empire.
an evil wizard oligarchy.
a theocracy of Asmodeus, or some other diredivinedude.
none of these are stretches.
Quote from: crazy canuck on May 28, 2009, 12:36:56 PM
Quote from: Valmy on May 28, 2009, 12:18:47 PM
Quote from: crazy canuck on May 28, 2009, 11:45:59 AM
Which is why it never made any sense to me and probably why it is no longer an alignment.
That was why? Because you had a narrow and limited interpretation of Lawful Evil?
I find it a shame the rules of the game were so built around your interpretations.
:P Neil changed the meaning of lawful so that people could meaningfully play a LE character. By definition a LE character would have a very limited ability to do anything unless the structure he was working in was inherently evil. Which is why Asmodeus could be LE. His sphere war run by him under rules that were inherently evil.
In any role playing world LE characters would be essentially be non existant.
I changed nothing.
Besides, there are vast numbers of LE characters in every D&D gaming world.
Quote from: ulmont on May 28, 2009, 12:55:01 PM
Quote from: crazy canuck on May 28, 2009, 12:52:47 PM
Why do you think that?
You've got a bunch of people going about their day to day lives, obeying the law, but if they find a way to take advantage of others for gain they will, at least up to a point.
Perhaps neutral evil would be more common, to include all those speeders out there.
What you are describing is Chaotic not Lawful. And acting in your own best interests isnt evil.
Quote from: saskganesh on May 28, 2009, 01:01:32 PM
Quote from: crazy canuck on May 28, 2009, 12:36:56 PM
Quote from: Valmy on May 28, 2009, 12:18:47 PM
Quote from: crazy canuck on May 28, 2009, 11:45:59 AM
Which is why it never made any sense to me and probably why it is no longer an alignment.
That was why? Because you had a narrow and limited interpretation of Lawful Evil?
I find it a shame the rules of the game were so built around your interpretations.
:P Neil changed the meaning of lawful so that people could meaningfully play a LE character. By definition a LE character would have a very limited ability to do anything unless the structure he was working in was inherently evil. Which is why Asmodeus could be LE. His sphere war run by him under rules that were inherently evil.
In any role playing world LE characters would be essentially be non existant.
it's easy to imagine LE social/political structures that would support LE characters.
a slave empire.
an evil wizard oligarchy.
a theocracy of Asmodeus, or some other diredivinedude.
none of these are stretches.
True, I should have qualified that by saying in most worlds that are created....
Quote from: Neil on May 28, 2009, 01:01:48 PM
Besides, there are vast numbers of LE characters in every D&D gaming world.
Not anymore. :P
Quote from: crazy canuck on May 28, 2009, 01:11:02 PM
Quote from: Neil on May 28, 2009, 01:01:48 PM
Besides, there are vast numbers of LE characters in every D&D gaming world.
Not anymore. :P
Of course there are. The vast, vast, vast, vast majority of all characters published in Dungeons and Dragons' eleven main campaign settings were published under the 9-alignment system, and even the 3-alignment system has an edge on the current abomination.
Quote from: crazy canuck on May 28, 2009, 01:09:00 PM
Quote from: ulmont on May 28, 2009, 12:55:01 PM
Quote from: crazy canuck on May 28, 2009, 12:52:47 PM
Why do you think that?
You've got a bunch of people going about their day to day lives, obeying the law, but if they find a way to take advantage of others for gain they will, at least up to a point.
Perhaps neutral evil would be more common, to include all those speeders out there.
What you are describing is Chaotic not Lawful. And acting in your own best interests isnt evil.
It can be.
Quote from: crazy canuck on May 28, 2009, 01:09:00 PM
What you are describing is Chaotic not Lawful. And acting in your own best interests isnt evil.
Acting in your best interests while entirely disregarding how it might effect others is almost the very definition of evil.
see: Ayn Rand=teh evil. :bowler:
Quote from: Barrister on May 28, 2009, 01:38:27 PM
Quote from: crazy canuck on May 28, 2009, 01:09:00 PM
What you are describing is Chaotic not Lawful. And acting in your own best interests isnt evil.
Acting in your best interests while entirely disregarding how it might effect others is almost the very definition of evil.
But you have to add in the last part to make it evil. It is possible to act in your own interest while still having a mind for others. that is how most people function isnt it?
Quote from: crazy canuck on May 28, 2009, 01:09:00 PM
What you are describing is Chaotic not Lawful. And acting in your own best interests isnt evil.
Obeying the law while taking advantage of it where possible is lawful.
Quote from: saskganesh on May 28, 2009, 09:21:19 AM
hm, fun system.
and I never realised before that CK cribbed this.
I am curious, as I never played CK: how has it inspired / how have they stolen from it ?
But yeah, Pendragon's system (and game setting) is very interesting. For some reason, I tend to favour very obscure systems / worlds: Pendragon, Tekumel, Dragon Warriors, Dream Ouroboros...
I have never played D&D aside from computer games, as I always disliked how alignment has actual game implications: spells that detect alignment, objects that can be used by some alignment, etc.
Quote from: Oexmelin on May 28, 2009, 02:35:50 PM
I am curious, as I never played CK: how has it inspired / how have they stolen from it ?
They basically just took those and made them opposing attribute pairs. So one character will be valorous and merciful (and whatever other traits they gain) and will be disliked by a cowardly & cruel character. If the first character is a king and the second a vassal, the vassal might have constantly decreasing loyalty towards his liege. From that list, the only one they don't have is pious vs. worldly (closest might be zealous / skeptical).
Quote from: ulmont on May 28, 2009, 02:22:59 PM
Quote from: crazy canuck on May 28, 2009, 01:09:00 PM
What you are describing is Chaotic not Lawful. And acting in your own best interests isnt evil.
Obeying the law while taking advantage of it where possible is lawful.
I agree. but you said, "finding a way to take advantage of others" which includes finding ways of breaking the law without getting caught. With your qualifier I agree it is lawful but also not evil. Such a person could also be LG.
For example everytime BB buys a new pair of pants he looks around for the best possible deal. He doesnt buy from Joe's Slacks Emporium even though good old Joe could really use BB's business because Joe charges way to much (the main reason Joe has no customers). BB also doesnt buy from Susie Sheer's Khaki Kingdom because, while well priced Susie's product quality is terrible. Even though Susie desparately needs the sale to stay in business BB passes her by and goes to the Khaki Barn, well known for its low prices and good quality. Now the Bargain Basement Khaki Barn doesnt need BB business. the owner the the Barn is the most wealthy person in town. Not saying much in that town but still, relatively speaking, he doesnt need the business.
Despite that our valiant paladin BB still buys his slacks and Khaki pants from the Barn because it is in his own self interest to do so. In fact BB even clips out coupons from time to time so that he can get an even better deal. He does this knowing that the coupons are lost leaders for the Barn but BB can't help himself. In his mind he is doing nothing wrong. Objectively speaking we would all condemn him for buying slacks and Khaki pants and none of us would be caught dead walking into the Barn with him - especially when he has coupons in hand but he has found his little legal niche to stick it to the man and he can do so without losing his precious LG alignment which all Crown Counsel must maintain as a term of employment.
But that's because of the example you picked. ;)
Quote from: garbon on May 28, 2009, 02:42:59 PM
But that's because of the example you picked. ;)
I agree. The example I picked demonstrates it can be Lawful Good. Anything else to add.
Quote from: crazy canuck on May 28, 2009, 02:40:56 PM
I agree. but you said, "finding a way to take advantage of others" which includes finding ways of breaking the law without getting caught. With your qualifier I agree it is lawful but also not evil.
No it doesn't. If the law allows one to screw someone else, following the law (lawful) while taking advantage of others (evil) is perfectly doable. See damn near every bureaucrat.
Quote from: ulmont on May 28, 2009, 02:46:43 PM
Quote from: crazy canuck on May 28, 2009, 02:40:56 PM
I agree. but you said, "finding a way to take advantage of others" which includes finding ways of breaking the law without getting caught. With your qualifier I agree it is lawful but also not evil.
No it doesn't. If the law allows one to screw someone else, following the law (lawful) while taking advantage of others (evil) is perfectly doable. See damn near every bureaucrat.
You are not making sense. Just because there are Lawful ways to take advantage of others doesnt preclude that there are also unlawful ways of doing it and taking advantage of others is not necessarily an evil act. I refer you again to our coupon clipping, khaki wearing, lawful good, BB.
That is why your second modifier was necessary to make your argument.
edit: Further your example of bureaucrats is a bad one. At worst they are Nuetral. To be evil they would have to care.
CC weren't you who made the claim that acting in one's own best interest isn't evil? I don't see why that really matters when lawfully acting in one's own best interest can be evil (and thus an example of Lawful Evil).
Quote from: crazy canuck on May 28, 2009, 02:40:56 PM
I agree. but you said, "finding a way to take advantage of others" which includes finding ways of breaking the law without getting caught. With your qualifier I agree it is lawful but also not evil. Such a person could also be LG.
All of this depends on whether you use as a frame of reference a crypto-21st century system of values in a fantasy setting (as D&D basically uses) or a crypto-medieval system of values. We have neatly integrated (now without much of an afterthought, but that wasn't always the case) the idea that selfishness and always calculating your own interest will eventually add up to a greater common good. In an ideal heroic system, you do what's good at the moment, without trying to squeeze in your maximum advantage. And, in truth, as late as the 18th c., nobles *will* buy at inflated prices because that is what they do. And makers - before standardization of production - will create more expensive stuff for these people. There is never any fixed price - and this is another small thing from D&D which tends to annoy me: the shopping spree mentality, the liberal economies in a high-fantasy setting...
In your example, the true hero will buy from the most virtuous seller, even if he is overpricing... Because you are indeed not only buying something but endorsing someone ;)
Quote from: crazy canuck on May 28, 2009, 02:51:13 PM
You are not making sense. Just because there are Lawful ways to take advantage of others doesnt preclude that there are also unlawful ways of doing it and taking advantage of others is not necessarily an evil act. I refer you again to our coupon clipping, khaki wearing, lawful good, BB.
Your coupon clipping, khaki wearing, lawful good, BB isn't taking much advantage at all. Condemning someone's property because you want to buy it cheaply is taking advantage. Denying someone's business application over a typo because you don't like their face is taking advantage. And so on.
Quote from: garbon on May 28, 2009, 03:04:08 PM
CC weren't you who made the claim that acting in one's own best interest isn't evil? I don't see why that really matters when lawfully acting in one's own best interest can be evil (and thus an example of Lawful Evil).
You are losing the thread of the argument Garbo.
Quote from: ulmont on May 28, 2009, 03:14:06 PM
Quote from: crazy canuck on May 28, 2009, 02:51:13 PM
You are not making sense. Just because there are Lawful ways to take advantage of others doesnt preclude that there are also unlawful ways of doing it and taking advantage of others is not necessarily an evil act. I refer you again to our coupon clipping, khaki wearing, lawful good, BB.
Your coupon clipping, khaki wearing, lawful good, BB isn't taking much advantage at all. Condemning someone's property because you want to buy it cheaply is taking advantage. Denying someone's business application over a typo because you don't like their face is taking advantage. And so on.
The two examples you cite are not lawful. Both are examples of abuse of office which are in fact unlawful...
Quote from: Oexmelin on May 28, 2009, 03:04:42 PM
Quote from: crazy canuck on May 28, 2009, 02:40:56 PM
I agree. but you said, "finding a way to take advantage of others" which includes finding ways of breaking the law without getting caught. With your qualifier I agree it is lawful but also not evil. Such a person could also be LG.
All of this depends on whether you use as a frame of reference a crypto-21st century system of values in a fantasy setting (as D&D basically uses) or a crypto-medieval system of values. We have neatly integrated (now without much of an afterthought, but that wasn't always the case) the idea that selfishness and always calculating your own interest will eventually add up to a greater common good. In an ideal heroic system, you do what's good at the moment, without trying to squeeze in your maximum advantage. And, in truth, as late as the 18th c., nobles *will* buy at inflated prices because that is what they do. And makers - before standardization of production - will create more expensive stuff for these people. There is never any fixed price - and this is another small thing from D&D which tends to annoy me: the shopping spree mentality, the liberal economies in a high-fantasy setting...
In your example, the true hero will buy from the most virtuous seller, even if he is overpricing... Because you are indeed not only buying something but endorsing someone ;)
Thats a good point Oex. Curse you.
Quote from: crazy canuck on May 28, 2009, 05:22:06 PM
Quote from: ulmont on May 28, 2009, 03:14:06 PM
Quote from: crazy canuck on May 28, 2009, 02:51:13 PM
You are not making sense. Just because there are Lawful ways to take advantage of others doesnt preclude that there are also unlawful ways of doing it and taking advantage of others is not necessarily an evil act. I refer you again to our coupon clipping, khaki wearing, lawful good, BB.
Your coupon clipping, khaki wearing, lawful good, BB isn't taking much advantage at all. Condemning someone's property because you want to buy it cheaply is taking advantage. Denying someone's business application over a typo because you don't like their face is taking advantage. And so on.
The two examples you cite are not lawful. Both are examples of abuse of office which are in fact unlawful...
That's exactly the kind of behaviour that I do think of as lawful evil. Actions that are within the technical rules, but motived by greed/malice.
Quote from: Barrister on May 28, 2009, 05:24:31 PM
Quote from: crazy canuck on May 28, 2009, 05:22:06 PM
Quote from: ulmont on May 28, 2009, 03:14:06 PM
Quote from: crazy canuck on May 28, 2009, 02:51:13 PM
You are not making sense. Just because there are Lawful ways to take advantage of others doesnt preclude that there are also unlawful ways of doing it and taking advantage of others is not necessarily an evil act. I refer you again to our coupon clipping, khaki wearing, lawful good, BB.
Your coupon clipping, khaki wearing, lawful good, BB isn't taking much advantage at all. Condemning someone's property because you want to buy it cheaply is taking advantage. Denying someone's business application over a typo because you don't like their face is taking advantage. And so on.
The two examples you cite are not lawful. Both are examples of abuse of office which are in fact unlawful...
That's exactly the kind of behaviour that I do think of as lawful evil. Actions that are within the technical rules, but motived by greed/malice.
You of all people should know they are not within the realm of the technical rules. His first example would be serious enough for criminal charges to be laid.
Quote from: crazy canuck on May 28, 2009, 05:22:06 PM
Quote from: ulmont on May 28, 2009, 03:14:06 PM
Quote from: crazy canuck on May 28, 2009, 02:51:13 PM
You are not making sense. Just because there are Lawful ways to take advantage of others doesnt preclude that there are also unlawful ways of doing it and taking advantage of others is not necessarily an evil act. I refer you again to our coupon clipping, khaki wearing, lawful good, BB.
Your coupon clipping, khaki wearing, lawful good, BB isn't taking much advantage at all. Condemning someone's property because you want to buy it cheaply is taking advantage. Denying someone's business application over a typo because you don't like their face is taking advantage. And so on.
The two examples you cite are not lawful. Both are examples of abuse of office which are in fact unlawful...
Irrelevant. 'Lawful' the alignment and 'lawful' the legal term are not the same. This is a case where you being a lawyer has hindered you.
Quote from: crazy canuck on May 28, 2009, 05:30:31 PM
You of all people should know they are not within the realm of the technical rules. His first example would be serious enough for criminal charges to be laid.
They are only "not within the rules" because we have general rules against conflicts of interest.
Quote from: crazy canuck on May 28, 2009, 05:30:31 PM
Quote from: Barrister on May 28, 2009, 05:24:31 PM
Quote from: crazy canuck on May 28, 2009, 05:22:06 PM
Quote from: ulmont on May 28, 2009, 03:14:06 PM
Quote from: crazy canuck on May 28, 2009, 02:51:13 PM
You are not making sense. Just because there are Lawful ways to take advantage of others doesnt preclude that there are also unlawful ways of doing it and taking advantage of others is not necessarily an evil act. I refer you again to our coupon clipping, khaki wearing, lawful good, BB.
Your coupon clipping, khaki wearing, lawful good, BB isn't taking much advantage at all. Condemning someone's property because you want to buy it cheaply is taking advantage. Denying someone's business application over a typo because you don't like their face is taking advantage. And so on.
The two examples you cite are not lawful. Both are examples of abuse of office which are in fact unlawful...
That's exactly the kind of behaviour that I do think of as lawful evil. Actions that are within the technical rules, but motived by greed/malice.
You of all people should know they are not within the realm of the technical rules. His first example would be serious enough for criminal charges to be laid.
Have you read the Kelo case? And generally, I endorse Barrister's definition of lawful evil.
CC, I think if you pictured Nazi Germany instead of modern Canada, lawful good would be just as hard to reconcile as lawful evil is for you now.
Having just got my halfing fighter to sixth level I've realized that the 4th ed has really crushed customization and improvisation. As a "defender" my main role is to soak up damage while the controllers and strikers dole out 2x as much hurt as I can with their powers. Fighters seem to be a form of living shield, and kind of limited by that.
Quote from: Darth Wagtaros on May 28, 2009, 08:30:31 PM
Having just got my halfing fighter to sixth level I've realized that the 4th ed has really crushed customization and improvisation. As a "defender" my main role is to soak up damage while the controllers and strikers dole out 2x as much hurt as I can with their powers. Fighters seem to be a form of living shield, and kind of limited by that.
The meatshield concept has come to D&D. Thanks a lot, WoW.
All i have to add is I can now overlook Oex's cheese snobbery as he is a fellow Pendragon fan.
Bah you guys take the whole alignment thing waaaaayyy too seriously. I've never ever paid any attention to it as a player or a DM unless the "drift" is flagrant... ie: Paladin does something obviously "evil" like killing an innocent.
... an innocent baby Orc?
Quote from: BuddhaRhubarb on May 28, 2009, 11:53:41 PM
Bah you guys take the whole alignment thing waaaaayyy too seriously. I've never ever paid any attention to it as a player or a DM unless the "drift" is flagrant... ie: Paladin does something obviously "evil" like killing an innocent.
Alignment is a descriptor, and thus used best when not taken too seriously. The only time it should really be used like a club is in the rare case of a Helm of Opposite Alignment.
You know, I always wondered how some of the outer planes kept themselves populated. I mean, places like Arcadia, Acheron, Gehenna, Tartarus, Pandemonium, Ysgard, the Twin Paradises and the Happy Hunting Grounds must have been lightly populated, due to their freakish alignments. I mean, how many Lawful Netural (Evil) characters did you ever meet?
Quote from: Barrister on May 28, 2009, 05:53:33 PM
Quote from: crazy canuck on May 28, 2009, 05:30:31 PM
You of all people should know they are not within the realm of the technical rules. His first example would be serious enough for criminal charges to be laid.
They are only "not within the rules" because we have general rules against conflicts of interest.
:rolleyes:
Conflict of interest is a much less serious charge then abuse of office which is what the examples cited are.
Quote from: crazy canuck on May 29, 2009, 09:46:27 AM
Quote from: Barrister on May 28, 2009, 05:53:33 PM
Quote from: crazy canuck on May 28, 2009, 05:30:31 PM
You of all people should know they are not within the realm of the technical rules. His first example would be serious enough for criminal charges to be laid.
They are only "not within the rules" because we have general rules against conflicts of interest.
:rolleyes:
Conflict of interest is a much less serious charge then abuse of office which is what the examples cited are.
Maybe, but abuse of office isn't inherently non-lawful.
Quote from: Neil on May 28, 2009, 08:38:15 PM
Quote from: Darth Wagtaros on May 28, 2009, 08:30:31 PM
Having just got my halfing fighter to sixth level I've realized that the 4th ed has really crushed customization and improvisation. As a "defender" my main role is to soak up damage while the controllers and strikers dole out 2x as much hurt as I can with their powers. Fighters seem to be a form of living shield, and kind of limited by that.
The meatshield concept has come to D&D. Thanks a lot, WoW.
Never played WoW, but that is an apt descriptor. If the Defender goes down the rest of the party gets slaughtered, even with Second Wind and all that, they'll have no staying power. On the other hand, playing the Defender is kind of a thenkless task, as you'll be watching other people kicking ass.
Quote from: Neil on May 29, 2009, 09:35:28 AM
Quote from: BuddhaRhubarb on May 28, 2009, 11:53:41 PM
Bah you guys take the whole alignment thing waaaaayyy too seriously. I've never ever paid any attention to it as a player or a DM unless the "drift" is flagrant... ie: Paladin does something obviously "evil" like killing an innocent.
Alignment is a descriptor, and thus used best when not taken too seriously. The only time it should really be used like a club is in the rare case of a Helm of Opposite Alignment.
You know, I always wondered how some of the outer planes kept themselves populated. I mean, places like Arcadia, Acheron, Gehenna, Tartarus, Pandemonium, Ysgard, the Twin Paradises and the Happy Hunting Grounds must have been lightly populated, due to their freakish alignments. I mean, how many Lawful Netural (Evil) characters did you ever meet?
well, the denizens are immortal and planes are as big as they "need" to be, so pretty much any desired density can be arrived at.
if the powers are lonely, they can always create plane specific creatures... schtuff like modrons ...
Quote from: Neil on May 29, 2009, 09:50:08 AM
Maybe, but abuse of office isn't inherently non-lawful.
I really have no idea what you mean by that. Read the SCC decision in Roncarelli (sp?).
Quote from: Darth Wagtaros on May 28, 2009, 08:30:31 PM
Having just got my halfing fighter to sixth level I've realized that the 4th ed has really crushed customization and improvisation. As a "defender" my main role is to soak up damage while the controllers and strikers dole out 2x as much hurt as I can with their powers. Fighters seem to be a form of living shield, and kind of limited by that.
That sucks. I guess if you want to customize in 4.0 you have to Multi-class.
In my current 3.5 game I'm both a Defender, and a Striker. I absorb damage (having a d10) and I deliver the 2nd best damage (behind the fighter) but we are at low levels.
Multiclassing isn't especially great, I've found. You have to burn the equivalent of two feats in order to get the limited benefits. I liked the 2nd ed rules on multiclassing and dual classing. They made mroe sense than 3rd, and a heck of a lot more than 4th.
Quote from: crazy canuck on May 28, 2009, 12:36:56 PM
:P Neil changed the meaning of lawful so that people could meaningfully play a LE character. By definition a LE character would have a very limited ability to do anything unless the structure he was working in was inherently evil. Which is why Asmodeus could be LE. His sphere war run by him under rules that were inherently evil.
In any role playing world LE characters would be essentially be non existant.
Huh? There are all sorts of ways to be evil while staying within the letter of a law.
You are a lawyer for godsake, you should know this professionally.
In short I have no idea what you are babbling about. Lawful Evil is by far the smartest sort of evil with the most real world examples. I roleplayed with Lawful Evil characters for over a decade so I call bullshit on your assertion.
Actually an organized criminal organization with a strict code of conduct and sense of honor could even be Lawful Evil.
Quote from: Barrister on May 28, 2009, 01:38:27 PM
Acting in your best interests while entirely disregarding how it might effect others is almost the very definition of evil.
At least in the D&D world this is absolutely true.
Quote from: Valmy on May 29, 2009, 02:44:57 PM
Quote from: Barrister on May 28, 2009, 01:38:27 PM
Acting in your best interests while entirely disregarding how it might effect others is almost the very definition of evil.
At least in the D&D world this is absolutely true.
Welcome to the thread Valmy you might try reading a bit of it before barging in....
Summary for you, Valmy : CC has taken an untenable position. :(
D & D is teh lame. Play BESM. :contract:
Rather than being limited to certain races you can play any wacked out combination of scifi/fantasy genres that you can possibly imagine.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Eyes_Small_Mouth
(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.rpgnow.com%2Fimages%2F1%2F24482.jpg&hash=27bf3d4ac59a677dfe723bbffdf90a7aa099200f)
Quote from: saskganesh on May 29, 2009, 07:33:44 AM
... an innocent baby Orc?
<_< I got a big XP hit for not slaughtering a group of Orcish women and children as an Elvish Paladin whose patron God was the mortal enemy of the God who represented slaughter. Damned GM's. :mad:
I had my first session of Warhammer FRP with a group of my friends who've been playing for a while. Went with a female Halfling Campfollower turned vagabond. It's... interesting so far. Not a fan of the GM, despite being told he was running an acceptable campaign. It's better than how he handles a PC, but it isn't good by any stretch of the imagination so far. We'll see.
Also, we're alternating that and a new campaign of Star Wars Saga Edition which we'll be starting soon. The campaign is set during the Clone Wars right after Geonosis, and I'm definately looking forward to that. A much better GM who thinks and runs a campaign more in line with what I look for. I'll be a human scout with the fringer path in that one. I decided to be the anti-min/max-er after seeing how every other member of the group went and picked their race solely to pump their stats. Fuck that. I live for the actual ROLEplaying, not the combat and ROLLplaying a lot of people go for. If I wanted to do that, I'll play a FPS or WoW or something.
Quote from: jimmy olsen on May 29, 2009, 09:49:19 PM
D & D is teh lame. Play BESM. :contract:
Rather than being limited to certain races you can play any wacked out combination of scifi/fantasy genres that you can possibly imagine.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Eyes_Small_Mouth
(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.rpgnow.com%2Fimages%2F1%2F24482.jpg&hash=27bf3d4ac59a677dfe723bbffdf90a7aa099200f)
:bleeding: Please try not to De-groovy my thread. thx
Quote from: crazy canuck on May 29, 2009, 10:48:37 AM
Quote from: Neil on May 29, 2009, 09:50:08 AM
Maybe, but abuse of office isn't inherently non-lawful.
I really have no idea what you mean by that. Read the SCC decision in Roncarelli (sp?).
Why are you trying to quote a Supreme Court of Canada decision in a D&D thread? Have you gone crazy?
Quote from: jimmy olsen on May 29, 2009, 09:49:19 PM
D & D is teh lame. Play BESM. :contract:
Fuck off and die. I ought to murder your family, you young punk with your kid games.
Quote from: Neil on May 30, 2009, 10:52:37 PM
Quote from: crazy canuck on May 29, 2009, 10:48:37 AM
Quote from: Neil on May 29, 2009, 09:50:08 AM
Maybe, but abuse of office isn't inherently non-lawful.
I really have no idea what you mean by that. Read the SCC decision in Roncarelli (sp?).
Why are you trying to quote a Supreme Court of Canada decision in a D&D thread? Have you gone crazy?
I think it's kinda appropriate. as a GM, I would give him bonus XP for that.
Quote from: jimmy olsen on May 29, 2009, 09:49:19 PM
D & D is teh lame. Play BESM. :contract:
Rather than being limited to certain races you can play any wacked out combination of scifi/fantasy genres that you can possibly imagine.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Eyes_Small_Mouth
(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.rpgnow.com%2Fimages%2F1%2F24482.jpg&hash=27bf3d4ac59a677dfe723bbffdf90a7aa099200f)
and as a GM, you lose a level. and go blind.
Quote from: Judas Iscariot on May 30, 2009, 03:16:19 AM
Quote from: saskganesh on May 29, 2009, 07:33:44 AM
... an innocent baby Orc?
<_< I got a big XP hit for not slaughtering a group of Orcish women and children as an Elvish Paladin whose patron God was the mortal enemy of the God who represented slaughter. Damned GM's. :mad:
heh. I think it depends on how your game views Orcs. Are orcs, always, unthinkingly, evil with a capital E? Or are they just misunderstood ugly humanoids with a taste for human and elf flesh who just may walk a different path if they are shown mercy once in their lives and given dwarf burgers instead?
mmmm Dwarf Burgers.
Non-AAR AAR for yesterday's debacle.
We sort of played again yesterday. (it seems no one but me & the DM (fuck this GM nonsense) understand the idea of being on time) It has thus far with this game usually taken on average 1.5 hours before we even do anything in this game, after the supposed starting time of 3pm... then we end up playing 2.5 hrs. later than planned... any numerous number of interruptions while gaming occurred including ordering food that no one in the group needs. (4 of the 8 or 9 players being well over 300lbs)
Basically all that happened was that we ended up fighting the resurrected Thayan Wizard and some transmogrified house pets (puppy/kitten become batwinged Cat/Dog creatures with more Hit Dice than any of us in the party.) in an arena battle for our freedom (and 1500gp as a side bet)
We hit the wizard with a couple of summoned Hippogriffs and Me and a few of the others made short work of kitty & puppy, and a few kobold guards for extra measure. We gained our freedom, and went home. end of game.
most underwhelming overlong session of gaming ever. Too many people showing up makes for a very unwieldy game. too many diversions, children milling about. :(
6 hrs of supposed gaming & 1 pretty good battle? lame.
Hopefully my Mutants and Masterminds game today will be more eventful.
Quote from: Neil on May 30, 2009, 10:52:37 PM
Quote from: crazy canuck on May 29, 2009, 10:48:37 AM
Quote from: Neil on May 29, 2009, 09:50:08 AM
Maybe, but abuse of office isn't inherently non-lawful.
I really have no idea what you mean by that. Read the SCC decision in Roncarelli (sp?).
Why are you trying to quote a Supreme Court of Canada decision in a D&D thread? Have you gone crazy?
Well he was in part discussing the matter with me, and I know the case he's talking about. Roncarelli v Duplessis is an extremely famous case.
Quote from: Neil on May 30, 2009, 10:52:37 PM
Quote from: crazy canuck on May 29, 2009, 10:48:37 AM
Quote from: Neil on May 29, 2009, 09:50:08 AM
Maybe, but abuse of office isn't inherently non-lawful.
I really have no idea what you mean by that. Read the SCC decision in Roncarelli (sp?).
Why are you trying to quote a Supreme Court of Canada decision in a D&D thread? Have you gone crazy?
D&D is serious stuff!
Quote from: crazy canuck on June 02, 2009, 02:10:01 PM
Quote from: Neil on May 30, 2009, 10:52:37 PM
Quote from: crazy canuck on May 29, 2009, 10:48:37 AM
Quote from: Neil on May 29, 2009, 09:50:08 AM
Maybe, but abuse of office isn't inherently non-lawful.
I really have no idea what you mean by that. Read the SCC decision in Roncarelli (sp?).
Why are you trying to quote a Supreme Court of Canada decision in a D&D thread? Have you gone crazy?
D&D is serious stuff!
He's got ya there.
My friend subscribes to Wizard's online service that includes a character builder (among other things) that includes all their books and Dragon issues, that does the math and prints out this comprehensive character sheet. So I have an Eladrin wizard that fire multiple magic missiles per round - each missile does a push+1 - and the damage is 12-18. I almost don't need anything else.
When printed the character takes up 8 or 9 sheets.
Quote from: Darth Wagtaros on June 02, 2009, 09:07:47 PM
My friend subscribes to Wizard's online service that includes a character builder (among other things) that includes all their books and Dragon issues, that does the math and prints out this comprehensive character sheet. So I have an Eladrin wizard that fire multiple magic missiles per round - each missile does a push+1 - and the damage is 12-18. I almost don't need anything else.
When printed the character takes up 8 or 9 sheets.
I'm a Paladin with 18 charisma and 97 hit points. I can use my helm of disintegration and do one D4 damage as my half-elf mage wields his plus-five holy avenger.
Quote from: Ed Anger on June 03, 2009, 09:59:36 AM
Quote from: Darth Wagtaros on June 02, 2009, 09:07:47 PM
My friend subscribes to Wizard's online service that includes a character builder (among other things) that includes all their books and Dragon issues, that does the math and prints out this comprehensive character sheet. So I have an Eladrin wizard that fire multiple magic missiles per round - each missile does a push+1 - and the damage is 12-18. I almost don't need anything else.
When printed the character takes up 8 or 9 sheets.
I'm a Paladin with 18 charisma and 97 hit points. I can use my helm of disintegration and do one D4 damage as my half-elf mage wields his plus-five holy avenger.
Mb! Paladins can't use the Helm of Disintegration!
Quote from: Darth Wagtaros on June 03, 2009, 10:14:45 AM
Quote from: Ed Anger on June 03, 2009, 09:59:36 AM
Quote from: Darth Wagtaros on June 02, 2009, 09:07:47 PM
My friend subscribes to Wizard's online service that includes a character builder (among other things) that includes all their books and Dragon issues, that does the math and prints out this comprehensive character sheet. So I have an Eladrin wizard that fire multiple magic missiles per round - each missile does a push+1 - and the damage is 12-18. I almost don't need anything else.
When printed the character takes up 8 or 9 sheets.
I'm a Paladin with 18 charisma and 97 hit points. I can use my helm of disintegration and do one D4 damage as my half-elf mage wields his plus-five holy avenger.
Mb! Paladins can't use the Helm of Disintegration!
I'm a black guy then.
Quote from: Neil on May 30, 2009, 10:52:37 PM
Quote from: crazy canuck on May 29, 2009, 10:48:37 AM
Quote from: Neil on May 29, 2009, 09:50:08 AM
Maybe, but abuse of office isn't inherently non-lawful.
I really have no idea what you mean by that. Read the SCC decision in Roncarelli (sp?).
Why are you trying to quote a Supreme Court of Canada decision in a D&D thread? Have you gone crazy?
That's Lawful Evil, right there. :lol:
[And yes, I know Roncarelli ... famous pre-Charter case]
toying with resurrecting my 4.0 game ideas. I doubt I'll get those friends who wanted to play last winter, to play over the summer, but maybe... or I might just work on my campaign ideas over the summer. OR I may just sell my 4.0 books, and turn it into a 3.5 campaign... as after 2 + years of playing, I'm starting to get more of a handle on the 3.5 system. And I'm digging it.
Meanwhile over in my Mutants & Masterminds campaign... I'm loving the narrative (Lemurians, Super Nazis, Super Texans, Dreamland encounters and lotsa weirdness.) but disliking the combat system which seems arbitrary and with some powers, counter intuitive. ie: our "Captain Mar-Vell analogue character, Promethean, can't seem to control how much damage he does... He's a high enough ranked character to be a veteran who understands his powers. And he's an experienced player. understands the nuances of strategy.
also the apartment we play in has some sort of anti-20 rolls ward in place. :p
Would like to try Champions or some other superhero RPG to see how the systems compare.
I liked Champions. But its been about 12 or 13 years since I've played.
I always found superhero RPGs to be sort of unsatisfying somehow. I played some Heroes Unlimited back during my teenage years during a brief Palladium kick (the less that's talked about, the better), and I have played the old Marvel Universe RPG from time to time (that was fun). Champions always turned me off because while it was versatile, character creation was agonizing. Also, you had to know what you wanted to to with a character in advance. Me, I've always enjoyed rolling random powers, and then making a character and a background based on that.
Of the systems I played I think Marvel had about the best system for super heroes; it was quick paced and light hearted - though the Karma system they used was awful and advancement was next to impossible.
DC was nice too, a little more detailed than Marvel and character creation was more balanced; but you started off as punk.
The worst was GURPS Supers; it had the GURPS overly complicated rules systems and your amazing super hero could end up very dead very quickly.
The best system I ever played was Rolemaster - mainly because I wasnt a slave to all their charts. It had the best Roleplay combat system. As a DM I loved describing what occurred when a player roled a 00 E crit...
we still play Role..er..Chartmaster.
good fights, but the fights can take a long time if they are big. however, we would tend to have less fights as one or two melees a session was very satiating for everyone concerned.
Quote from: saskganesh on June 03, 2009, 03:22:23 PM
we still play Role..er..Chartmaster.
good fights, but the fights can take a long time if they are big. however, we would tend to have less fights as one or two melees a session was very satiating for everyone concerned.
My perception was that D&D fights look longer in terms of actual time (as people continually chipped away at hps of whatever monster(s) they were fighting) but those battles are essentially repetative actions. Fights using RM seemed shorter (particularly if critical hits are being made) but there is a lot more going on so they are a lot more engaging.
Quote from: Malicious Intent on June 03, 2009, 03:45:28 PM
Quote from: ulmont on June 03, 2009, 03:39:31 PM
Quote from: saskganesh on June 03, 2009, 03:22:23 PM
we still play Role..er..Chartmaster.
Rollmaster.
Rulemaster.
Try to be at least a bit original. You might have noticed that the reason I enjoyed it so much is that I didnt slavishly follow all the Charts. Anybody that does that only has themselves to blame. :P
Quote from: crazy canuck on June 03, 2009, 03:48:56 PM
Quote from: Malicious Intent on June 03, 2009, 03:45:28 PM
Quote from: ulmont on June 03, 2009, 03:39:31 PM
Quote from: saskganesh on June 03, 2009, 03:22:23 PM
we still play Role..er..Chartmaster.
Rollmaster.
Rulemaster.
Try to be at least a bit original. You might have noticed that the reason I enjoyed it so much is that I didnt slavishly follow all the Charts. Anybody that does that only has themselves to blame. :P
That's true of every RPG, of course. You just need a good grasp of the rules really, and some imagination. :thumbsup:
This is my favourite thread these days.
What other RPGs are popular with the :nerd: kind these days? Anything glaringly cool ?
Shadowrun is glaringly cool. Although it's wacky since they went wireless.
@ Neil :cool: .
thx. got the quickstart pdf from their site, to check it out!
That Vampire crap is popular on campus from what I've gleaned.
Quote from: BuddhaRhubarb on June 03, 2009, 08:43:10 PM
That's true of every RPG, of course. You just need a good grasp of the rules really, and some imagination. :thumbsup:
Yes, but if you saw all the rules and charts that have been published for Rolemaster you would probably run away screaming. It started out as a fairly basic game but book after book was published with not only new classes but also large numbers of additional rules, skills and charts. It got so detailed that you could actually make rolls to see whether somebody successfully walked from point A to B and determine with some accuracy how well they did it. I always tried to run the game true to its roots and only added in new stuff if the players really wanted it.
That sounds like RIFTS. I didn't play much of it but I went over to the DM's house once and was told to create a character, he then pointed to BINS of books to choose from. Shit.
Quote from: Neil on June 03, 2009, 08:50:55 PM
Shadowrun is glaringly cool. Although it's wacky since they went wireless.
I never cared for the setting in Shadowrun. My firends play roughly weekly, and I've attempted to get a character and some interest at their suggestion, but I can't do it. Something about it just does not appeal to me at all.
Quote from: crazy canuck on June 04, 2009, 10:50:34 AM
Quote from: BuddhaRhubarb on June 03, 2009, 08:43:10 PM
That's true of every RPG, of course. You just need a good grasp of the rules really, and some imagination. :thumbsup:
Yes, but if you saw all the rules and charts that have been published for Rolemaster you would probably run away screaming. It started out as a fairly basic game but book after book was published with not only new classes but also large numbers of additional rules, skills and charts. It got so detailed that you could actually make rolls to see whether somebody successfully walked from point A to B and determine with some accuracy how well they did it. I always tried to run the game true to its roots and only added in new stuff if the players really wanted it.
well yeah, see it may be all charts and rolls (no experience myself, but have heard a lot about it from Sask, actually. I think he and I rolled up a character and did a bit of a test run once iirc.) I like easy to understand charts and hit/damage etc.... shouldn't take longer to look up a roll result than it does to describe a chest full of gold.
Quote from: Judas Iscariot on June 04, 2009, 11:53:12 AM
Quote from: Neil on June 03, 2009, 08:50:55 PM
Shadowrun is glaringly cool. Although it's wacky since they went wireless.
I never cared for the setting in Shadowrun. My firends play roughly weekly, and I've attempted to get a character and some interest at their suggestion, but I can't do it. Something about it just does not appeal to me at all.
I like the cyberpunk angle... but I dunno... have to read up a bit more on it myself.
Quote from: Judas Iscariot on June 04, 2009, 11:53:12 AM
Quote from: Neil on June 03, 2009, 08:50:55 PM
Shadowrun is glaringly cool. Although it's wacky since they went wireless.
I never cared for the setting in Shadowrun.
You disgust me.
It's been years since I've played any ... but when I did, I preferred a minimum of rules & charts & that sort of thing, and a maximum of set & setting. Dice rolls kept to a minimum.
Quote from: Darth Wagtaros on June 04, 2009, 11:43:36 AM
That sounds like RIFTS. I didn't play much of it but I went over to the DM's house once and was told to create a character, he then pointed to BINS of books to choose from. Shit.
Actually, character creation in Rifts isn't that bad, and I don't even mind the setting. It's more the system that makes my brain melt.
Quote from: Judas Iscariot on June 04, 2009, 11:53:12 AM
Quote from: Neil on June 03, 2009, 08:50:55 PM
Shadowrun is glaringly cool. Although it's wacky since they went wireless.
I never cared for the setting in Shadowrun. My firends play roughly weekly, and I've attempted to get a character and some interest at their suggestion, but I can't do it. Something about it just does not appeal to me at all.
To each his own. I've always enjoyed both the setting and mechanics.
I liked the setting for RIFTS, but I found that some of the templates (or whatever they called "Classes") were incredibly overpowered.
I disliked Shadowrun; the few times that I played there were long periods of time when one character would deck into cyberspace and the rest of the characters would sit around and watch him.
Quote from: BuddhaRhubarb on June 04, 2009, 12:09:49 PM
Quote from: crazy canuck on June 04, 2009, 10:50:34 AM
Quote from: BuddhaRhubarb on June 03, 2009, 08:43:10 PM
That's true of every RPG, of course. You just need a good grasp of the rules really, and some imagination. :thumbsup:
Yes, but if you saw all the rules and charts that have been published for Rolemaster you would probably run away screaming. It started out as a fairly basic game but book after book was published with not only new classes but also large numbers of additional rules, skills and charts. It got so detailed that you could actually make rolls to see whether somebody successfully walked from point A to B and determine with some accuracy how well they did it. I always tried to run the game true to its roots and only added in new stuff if the players really wanted it.
well yeah, see it may be all charts and rolls (no experience myself, but have heard a lot about it from Sask, actually. I think he and I rolled up a character and did a bit of a test run once iirc.) I like easy to understand charts and hit/damage etc.... shouldn't take longer to look up a roll result than it does to describe a chest full of gold.
it only gets tough when you have a situation like 14 characters/NPCs fighting twice as many monsters, each with their own unique weapons/armors and associated charts. gak.
hence "you are attacked by 6 orcs in chainmail. they all, without exception, have shortbows and broadswords. OBs are all 40, base DB 5, AT is 15. HTK 40"
the core rules are really fairly streamlined, the character customisation is great, spell system is point based and scaleable by level. most of the dozen supplements are very optional. and you only need d100s.
Quote from: Savonarola on June 05, 2009, 10:30:01 AM
I liked the setting for RIFTS, but I found that some of the templates (or whatever they called "Classes") were incredibly overpowered.
Yeah, that was the whole thing with Rifts. Why play a wilderness scout when a dragon or a power armour jockey or a Juicer are about a million times more effective.
QuoteI disliked Shadowrun; the few times that I played there were long periods of time when one character would deck into cyberspace and the rest of the characters would sit around and watch him.
Yeah, that was a weakness of the game. They've pretty much eliminated decking in the 4th edition, and although I mourn its passing, it makes for a better game.
RIFTS' settings were pretty cool. But ya, some of those classes were ridiculous. I never DM'd for a game, but it probably made coming up with decent encounters kind of difficult if you had a mix of classes running the gammit from simple soldier to war mage.
Quote from: Darth Wagtaros on June 05, 2009, 01:09:46 PM
RIFTS' settings were pretty cool. But ya, some of those classes were ridiculous. I never DM'd for a game, but it probably made coming up with decent encounters kind of difficult if you had a mix of classes running the gammit from simple soldier to war mage.
It wasn't that bad. The key was to have all PCs on the same side of the MDC/SDC divide (and from supplements written within a couple of years of each other).
I'm really broke. Thinking of selling my 4.0 books. They are Mint, hardly used. Rolled a few characters, looked up a few things in the DM.
Quote from: BuddhaRhubarb on June 05, 2009, 07:54:56 PM
I'm really broke. Thinking of selling my 4.0 books. They are Mint, hardly used. Rolled a few characters, looked up a few things in the DM.
What books do you have?
DM guide, Player's, Monster Manual, and a DM screen I bought separately.
I think when my current D&D character gets to fifth, I'm going to start adding odd levels of Sorcerer. to help buff up the incidental damage and debuffing she does of the bad guys.
Dual classing seems kind of a waste doesn't it? You have to burn a a few feats to really get anything out of it.
Depends, really. It rarely hurts to add a level of fighter to a character.
Quote from: Darth Wagtaros on June 18, 2009, 12:52:17 PM
Dual classing seems kind of a waste doesn't it? You have to burn a a few feats to really get anything out of it.
It's difficult to do well. But I play with a lot of players who excel at multiclass... I'm picking things up, watching them.
It definitely never hurts to have fighter as one of the classes, extra feats? Sign me up. I have a few extra feats (and a D10) as a Hexblade though, I'm going for the Magickal Tank build.
In a couple of weeks I'm going to be playing a one off (one night game) of an Epic level D&D game (3.5) with the guys my longtime game that ended last year played. Some kinda home brew "Elder Evil" campaign is all I know. We will have a choice of DM pre-generated Epic characters. I'll likely end up the immortal tank. :p
I've never played an Epic scenario (as a player, and not as a DM since 2nd ed ca: 1984) Anyone have any tips on Epic gameplay?
I've just had a look at a 4th edition book and its rather 'WTF', a lot of stuff not making sense there- I totally missed 3rd edition of course.
It seems everyone is just using 3.5 still though?
Quote from: Tyr on August 28, 2009, 07:26:21 AM
I've just had a look at a 4th edition book and its rather 'WTF', a lot of stuff not making sense there- I totally missed 3rd edition of course.
It seems everyone is just using 3.5 still though?
all the hardcore gamers I know are sticking with 3.0 or 3.5... They spent a ton of money on the books, which are cheaper in used stores now too. and a ;oath to give up playing a system they enjoy to play one that is so much different in 4.0 ... Waste of money getting the 4.0 books for me. it seems. oh well.
I enjoy 3.5 quite a bit and like that there is so much material to draw on.
Ok not really an AAR... but we played the Epic game last night... the setting was that old Ptolus that we are familiar with, but after the "Night Of Dissolution" happens and Chaos rules the land (so to speak, as it wouldn't be very chaotic to actually "rule" would it)
This was the thing My old group had just stopped when we stopped that campaign. Interestingly of the 4 players last night two were from that game, Me "Reg" and "Breklore" (the wizard) & two guys from the new game that DM is running - the same campaign but after our test run, a smoother ride? We basically were tossed in as some Epic Levl warriors who have been caught up and banded together by all the chaos.
I played Themis - a Titan (Storm Giantess) 20th level caster of spell like abililties to do with Lightning & the weather, some healing, which I did not do. We had an Angel for that. Armless many times martyred, Angel who did all our ggod works, untill ummm well I'll get to that.
There was also a human female Rogue in a very Catwoman inspired catsuit, an armored Mage (THE Iron Mage, in fact), and a large Copper Dragon, who never really lived up to his potential.
So yeah I chose the tank. I need to get less predictable. Our first task was one of the riddle things, as we were each separately halfway transported to the Necropolis where Catgirl was infiltrating some Nuns who'd been sent out to be sacrificed by Helmut Itzelstein, the fiery Cleric who'd been corrupted by a relic and done a Saruman on the city, as he sat upon his new Red Dragon Mount commanding his 7 or so Paladins.
None of us were very good with the riddles (mine turned out to be one of my "Holy Word" spells.) and by the time we'd gotten into the fray most of the Nuns were already cut open.
It was a long night.
Eventually we were all there but the angel, who it turned out hadn't even tried to continue the "transport" due to a mix-up between the DM and the player. :d'oh: anyhoo we took out Itzelstein (well I did ,with some chain lightning) & co, but not before we could see three large creatures materializing slowly like we had into the Necroplis, a Taurean type (but bigger - great!) a Beholder/Lich (yeah that's right We peed a little too) and third but not last a "Fiendish" Tyrannosaurus Rex. Yipes... can you say bag of hitpoints?
Well as it turns out my 3 attacks with my +5 Holy Broadsword can do quite a bit of damage. To say the least. The Beholder gave us the most trouble, but some clever use of a "slow" breath weapon (weirdest breath weapon ever?) We dubbed it Copper Dragon Garlic Breath of Doom) we got it also, just as we started facing wave after wave of increasingly annoying undead crawling from graves and warrens... DM speak for move along, follow the clues already.
The wizard used his Improved (I think it was, whatever the best one is) Arcane Sight to find the teleportal we needed (one way of course) to get to the Spire above the city where whatever strings left to be pulled in Ptolus were being yanked from.
We found ourselves however high up that spire was (miles?) on an ebon adamantine (is it just me or has wolverine seeped into D&D too) catwalk between two of the Towers in the pire. A door on the tower to our left seemed to be guarded by a sleeping (or likely in "stasis" said the Mage) by a Balrog. We tip toed to the other unguarded door (gary Gygax would be proud) and open the gargoyle handed doorknobbed door (1 human sized person type door) it seems like more ebon metal...
but the Mage using True Sight sees that it is an illusion, we have to save, several times as the door opens and spells and weapons waft over us.... We had been saved apparently without our knowing by the Angel and his aura of whatever that made us immune to compulsion.... we would have been driven mad, and slipped alignment down to eveil, if we hadn't noticed something weird.
anyway turned out the was a giant sandwormy nightmarey- gargantuan worm of whayever kind casting curse and other evils at us, it summoned two Wights who tried but failed to get out the door to drain our levels. The Angel Then took a gambit on using his Dispel Evil touch attack on the worm, if it worked all bad guys gone for the minute. (some other attacks did go back and forth here and great amounts of HP were lost on both sides) However If it failed he could get chomped swallowed, dead by Worm.
And.....
That's what happened, and Despite actually outgunning the worm and the wights, we were hoeped in this totally evil place without the Angel, who it had been hinted in the back story as having to be crucial to winning the game. We stopped playing because it was way late.
We already are planning to try again... but we the players want to do our own 20th level characters to the table and see what happens. The DM has improved his DM-ing quite a bit in the year since we played that game, I think. It all went smoothly, and the battles were huge and interesting.
I'm thinking a 20th Level Warlock, with a real "Debuff" angle to the feat tree. Someone who kicks ass just being in the room.
Fighters really have no teeth. I tire of being there to soak up damage. But if I switched there would be no one to be a human shield. The angst of a D&D player knows no bounds.
I've got my Warlock done except equip. I'll post the stats once I get the equip done. I'm thinking of making a 20th level Hexblade or Beguiler (Defeats SR every time at 20th) as a wife and partner for my Warlock. I enjoy playing 2 characters, or one and a cohort.
Garbon has reached 7th level and continues in the service of Bane.
A friend in my M&M game is starting a Traveller campaign. You can buy new retro old editions of the little books, now apparently from the guy who created it.
Oooh, Traveller..
Making a character, and seeing him die right before mustering out...
Having to make the payments on that used scout ship...
Wondering why firearms were no better than the 1960s technology in the far future...
Wondering more about why that space marine has a Cutlass...
Loved playing it...still have most of the lil books in the original...
Traveller had a great feel.
Quote from: BuddhaRhubarb on September 23, 2009, 09:12:28 PM
A friend in my M&M game is starting a Traveller campaign. You can buy new retro old editions of the little books, now apparently from the guy who created it.
Traveller :wub:
Traveller is the only RPG I've kept. I have a big box of Traveller RPG books down in the basement...
I loved the character creation in Traveller
I roll my character... I died.
I roll another character.. dead again.
My character, 7th level Eladrin Wizard Maestaelis, Magic Missileer Most Magnificient, has just started hitting his stride. With a +12 to hit with Magic Missile and 2d4+11 damage, combined with my daily that lets me cast Magic Missile as a minor action I can put out a lot of damage consistently. And with my AC of 22, as well as Shield and Staff Defense encounter powers and defensive mobility I'm also hard to hit. And when I go to lvl 8 my AC will jump to 25, making me even more difficulty to hit.
Quote from: Hansmeister on September 28, 2009, 11:15:23 PM
My character, 7th level Eladrin Wizard Maestaelis, Magic Missileer Most Magnificient, has just started hitting his stride. With a +12 to hit with Magic Missile and 2d4+11 damage, combined with my daily that lets me cast Magic Missile as a minor action I can put out a lot of damage consistently. And with my AC of 22, as well as Shield and Staff Defense encounter powers and defensive mobility I'm also hard to hit. And when I go to lvl 8 my AC will jump to 25, making me even more difficulty to hit.
I don't know WTF you said but my response is definitely :nerd: :nerd: :nerd:
There is another item that makes the magic missile force push 1 hex. You can knock enemies off of cliffs. I have an Eladrin magic missileer too.
Anyone see/hear anything about The Black Company rpg? My buddy got access to it and I told him to send it my way, as I'm onto the third book and want to see what they do with the setting and style as a rpg.
I'd like to be a supervillain in the Black Company. Nothing keeps them down for long.
Quote from: Darth Wagtaros on September 29, 2009, 02:44:32 PM
I'd like to be a supervillain in the Black Company. Nothing keeps them down for long.
Oh shit, Stormbringer is here again. :P
Our group is trying another 20th level brawl in Ptolus. Using either a Warlock or a Favoured Soul.
Never play D&D with law students.
They come upon a succubus who's been imprisoned by sorcery, and she makes them a serises of promises if they release her. They draw up a contract there, with a series of clauses indicating this is the whole and complete agreement, that the items are to be nonrevocable, that she promises not only to not attack the players, but to oppose actions by her allies to attack them, etc. etc. Ultimately, one character says, "I hate to metagame, but Scott's (me) the DM, and I feel this is still going to dick us over somehow."
So they let her rot, and a goblin releases her at one point, before they kill it. She lets them go, but they are forced to sign a contract in blood that they owe her one favor.
Naturally, when she comes to collect a session later, the players proceed to argue that a promise to fulfill a promise is so vague as to be illusory, and therefore it's unenforceable.
I'd kill them. Not in the game iether.
Quote from: Faeelin on October 19, 2009, 10:38:39 AM
Never play D&D with law students.
They come upon a succubus who's been imprisoned by sorcery, and she makes them a serises of promises if they release her. They draw up a contract there, with a series of clauses indicating this is the whole and complete agreement, that the items are to be nonrevocable, that she promises not only to not attack the players, but to oppose actions by her allies to attack them, etc. etc. Ultimately, one character says, "I hate to metagame, but Scott's (me) the DM, and I feel this is still going to dick us over somehow."
So they let her rot, and a goblin releases her at one point, before they kill it. She lets them go, but they are forced to sign a contract in blood that they owe her one favor.
Naturally, when she comes to collect a session later, the players proceed to argue that a promise to fulfill a promise is so vague as to be illusory, and therefore it's unenforceable.
:bleeding:
Changed my Favored Soul to Human Male after realizing that playing a character with a Monstrous level meant she wouldn't have been a true 20th level FS and not have the DR 10/cold Iron. Also been playing too many Hot Chick character recently. Don't wanna be pegged as "that guy who only plays hot chicks" . Not who I am as a player.
I dislike that kind of player who either only ever plays a variation of the same character, often with the same name, every time. I try to go totally different a often as possible. There are so an great ways to go.
My character is going to be a good healer, blaster and a scrappy melee artist using cat claws for rending purposes (also carries a +5 "blessed" heavy mace, and a "banishing" (any extra planar creature it hits of less than 25 HD!) Light crossbow. He's a worshiper of Bast named "Socrates Cairo" ,,,, Looks kind of like Bronze Tiger from DC comics.
Quote from: Darth Wagtaros on October 19, 2009, 11:35:30 AM
I'd kill them. Not in the game iether.
Frankly, all ten of the Taken from the Black Company need to show up in that game. And Soulcatcher is
pissed off.And if that doesn't do it, the Dominator.
Man writing up a 20th level character seems harder than it used to. I guess I really have used up a lot of brain cells. It's tken me way longer to create this character than it will likely be used... It'd be cool though if we could have this game not be a one off... and I could grow an Epic Character.
Quote from: Faeelin on October 19, 2009, 10:38:39 AM
Never play D&D with law students.
They come upon a succubus who's been imprisoned by sorcery, and she makes them a serises of promises if they release her. They draw up a contract there, with a series of clauses indicating this is the whole and complete agreement, that the items are to be nonrevocable, that she promises not only to not attack the players, but to oppose actions by her allies to attack them, etc. etc. Ultimately, one character says, "I hate to metagame, but Scott's (me) the DM, and I feel this is still going to dick us over somehow."
So they let her rot, and a goblin releases her at one point, before they kill it. She lets them go, but they are forced to sign a contract in blood that they owe her one favor.
Naturally, when she comes to collect a session later, the players proceed to argue that a promise to fulfill a promise is so vague as to be illusory, and therefore it's unenforceable.
Who were they arguing to? The judge on the Blood Pacts circuit?
Quote from: Neil on October 21, 2009, 05:04:01 PM
Quote from: Faeelin on October 19, 2009, 10:38:39 AM
Never play D&D with law students.
They come upon a succubus who's been imprisoned by sorcery, and she makes them a serises of promises if they release her. They draw up a contract there, with a series of clauses indicating this is the whole and complete agreement, that the items are to be nonrevocable, that she promises not only to not attack the players, but to oppose actions by her allies to attack them, etc. etc. Ultimately, one character says, "I hate to metagame, but Scott's (me) the DM, and I feel this is still going to dick us over somehow."
So they let her rot, and a goblin releases her at one point, before they kill it. She lets them go, but they are forced to sign a contract in blood that they owe her one favor.
Naturally, when she comes to collect a session later, the players proceed to argue that a promise to fulfill a promise is so vague as to be illusory, and therefore it's unenforceable.
Who were they arguing to? The judge on the Blood Pacts circuit?
yeah, seriously. I hope the DM went hardass on them.
Or really make a point by simply saying, "Rocks fall. Everyone dies."
well my game tonight may end up depleted of numbers (3 players not 5) due to swine flu. 2 guys are getting checked out today. DM has some NPCs we can run if we need numbers. but the two guys who may be out are great players, really creative.
I may or may not do an full AAR. I will definitely mention how it went.
So whats the concensus on 4E?
Quote from: Galrion on October 23, 2009, 09:38:11 PM
So whats the concensus on 4E?
Worst thing ever to have happened.
Quote from: Neil on October 23, 2009, 10:15:17 PM
Quote from: Galrion on October 23, 2009, 09:38:11 PM
So whats the concensus on 4E?
Worst thing ever to have happened.
Any one thing stand out? Aside from the whole alignment thing that consumed most of the thread.
Brief AAR: Game went okay except for an odd lack of junk food. :blink: I should have brought some hot snacks, ate before I went. some popcorn and chips (and girl coke) had me woozy after 10pm.
We got tricked into fighting a bunch of demons, which I wiped mostly out with one Lion's Roar. awesome frickin spell that. The Boss was much harder however as he/it was a vestige of an elder God ( as cthulu-ish as you can get in D&D) "Serterus" (sp?) a giant snakey bag o hit points and disease. Two of the five characters were Divine casters, my favored Soul, and a Cleric with a fe levels of some obscure class, i forget. Our spells didn't work on it at all as it exists outside divinity or some nonsense. :bleeding:
So we healed. and waited. I managed to wake everyone after a paralyze/stun happened. and get the tank in there. The wizard summoned some big ass elementals and we eventually beat it, only to realize we had been tricked, an were meant to go to another encounter in a spire high above Ptolus.
My spell list (below is an updated spell list based on advice from more experienced players after the game) kinda sucked, as did my equip... but it was enjoyable, and The DM is letting us re-tool a bit before continuing. (this was kind of a tester game) I've retooled my spell list.
Here's my current known spells: (spontaneous caster, no need for prep)
SOCRATES CAIRO'S (Known) SPELLS
0-LEVEL CLERIC SPELLS (ORISONS) (9)
Detect Magic: Detects spells and magic items within 60 ft.
Detect Poison: Detects poison in one creature or object.
Guidance: +1 on one attack roll, saving throw, or skill check.
Light: Object shines like a torch.
Mending: Makes minor repairs on an object.
Purify Food and Drink: Purifies 1 cu. ft./level of food or water.
Read Magic: Read scrolls and spellbooks.
Resistance: Subject gains +1 on saving throws.
1ST-LEVEL CLERIC SPELLS (6)
Inhibit: Subject delays until next round.
Cure Light Wounds: Cures 1d8 damage +1/level (max +5).
Resurgence: You grant subject a second chance at a saving throw.
Divine Favor: You gain +1 per three levels on attack and damage rolls.
Hide from Undead: Undead can't perceive one subject/level.
Ironguts: Subject gains +5 bonus on saving throws against poison.
2ND-LEVEL CLERIC SPELLS (6)
Cure Moderate Wounds: Cures 2d8 damage +1/level (max +10).
Enthrall: Captivates all within 100 ft. + 10 ft./level.
Remove Paralysis: Frees one or more creatures from paralysis or slow effect.
Restoration, Lesser: Dispels magical ability penalty or repairs 1d4 ability damage.
Sound Burst: Deals 1d8 sonic damage to subjects; may stun them.
Spiritual Weapon: Magic weapon attacks on its own.
3RD-LEVEL CLERIC SPELLS (6)
Ghost Touch Weapon: Weapon works normally against incorporeal creatures.
Cure Serious Wounds: Cures 3d8 damage +1/level (max +15).
Dispel Magic: Cancels spells and magical effects.
Searing Light: Ray deals 1d8/two levels damage, more against undead.
Awaken Sin: Subject faces its sins, takes 1d6 nonlethal damage/level (10d6 max)
Resurgence, Mass: As resurgence, but multiple subjects.
4TH-LEVEL CLERIC SPELLS (6)
Cure Critical Wounds: Cures 4d8 damage +1/level (max +20).
Death Ward: Grants immunity to death spells and negative energy effects.
Freedom of Movement: Subject moves normally despite impediments.
Restoration: Restores level and ability score drains.
Moon Bolt: 1d4 Strength damage/3 levels; undead made helpless.
Sound Lance: Sonic energy deals 1d8/level damage.
5TH-LEVEL CLERIC SPELLS (6)
Break Enchantment: Frees subjects from enchantments, alterations, curses, and petrification.
Command, Greater: As command, but affects one subject/level.
Cure Light Wounds, Mass: Cures 1d8 damage +1/level for many creatures.
Disrupting Weapon: Melee weapon destroys undead.
Flame Strike: Smite foes with divine fire (1d6/level damage).
Righteous Might: Your size increases, and you gain combat bonuses.
6TH-LEVEL CLERIC SPELLS (6)
Lucent Lance: Ambient light forms lance, deals various damage.
Bull's Strength, Mass: As bull's strength, affects one subject/level.
Cure Moderate Wounds, Mass: Cures 2d8 damage +1/level for many creatures.
Dispel Magic, Greater: As dispel magic, but up to +20 on check.
Heal: Cures 10 points/level of damage, all diseases and mental conditions.
Bolt of Glory: Positive energy ray deals extra damage to evil outsiders and undead. (p37 spell compendium.)
7TH-LEVEL CLERIC SPELLS (6)
Cure Serious Wounds, Mass: Cures 3d8 damage +1/level for many creatures.
Holy Word: Kills, paralyzes, blinds, or deafens nongood subjects.
Restoration, Greater : As restoration, plus restores all levels and ability scores.
Radiant Assault: 1d6 damage/level, victims dazed or dazzled.
Brilliant Blade: Weapon or projectiles shed light, ignore armor.
Slime Wave: Creates a 15-ft. spread of green slime.
8TH-LEVEL CLERIC SPELLS (5)
Antimagic Field: Negates magic within 10 ft.
Cure Critical Wounds, Mass: Cures 4d8 damage +1/level for many creatures.
Lion's Roar: Deals 1d8 points of damage/2 levels to enemies; allies get +1 on attacks and saves against fear, plus temporary hp.
Fire Storm: Deals 1d6/level fire damage.
Brilliant Aura: Allies' weapons become brilliant energy, ignoring armor.attacking foes.
9TH-LEVEL CLERIC SPELLS (4)
Heal, Mass: As heal, but with several subjects.
Implosion: Kills one creature/round.
Undeath's Eternal Foe: Subjects receive negative energy protection and immunity to most undead special attacks.
True Resurrection: As resurrection, plus remains aren't needed.
I have some decent mithral armor. weird melee for a divine caster... (Cat's Claws/Heavy Mace) went with a Cat theme... Magic Set "Garb Of The Hunting Cat"
I'm unsure not having played such a high level character, as to magic items, like wands, scrolls etc. any advice?
Quote from: Neil on October 21, 2009, 05:04:01 PM
Quote from: Faeelin on October 19, 2009, 10:38:39 AM
Never play D&D with law students.
They come upon a succubus who's been imprisoned by sorcery, and she makes them a serises of promises if they release her. They draw up a contract there, with a series of clauses indicating this is the whole and complete agreement, that the items are to be nonrevocable, that she promises not only to not attack the players, but to oppose actions by her allies to attack them, etc. etc. Ultimately, one character says, "I hate to metagame, but Scott's (me) the DM, and I feel this is still going to dick us over somehow."
So they let her rot, and a goblin releases her at one point, before they kill it. She lets them go, but they are forced to sign a contract in blood that they owe her one favor.
Naturally, when she comes to collect a session later, the players proceed to argue that a promise to fulfill a promise is so vague as to be illusory, and therefore it's unenforceable.
Who were they arguing to? The judge on the Blood Pacts circuit?
I didn't think Succubus were bound by Laws.
Quote from: Judas Iscariot on September 29, 2009, 02:40:36 PM
Anyone see/hear anything about The Black Company rpg? My buddy got access to it and I told him to send it my way, as I'm onto the third book and want to see what they do with the setting and style as a rpg.
Green Ronin published one a few years back. It's for D20 I think. It was part of their mystic vistas line which was excellent. They had one that took place in the middle ages that actually captured the feel of the time period not the modern cynical viewpoint that so often seen in stuff like this. They also did ones on the Old Testament, Rome, Trojan war and Egypt. I've heard they were all pretty good.
Quote from: Razgovory on October 25, 2009, 08:17:20 AM
I didn't think Succubus were bound by Laws.
You thought wrong.
Bumped so I can find it sooner after I play tomorrow (Red Hand Of Doom post war Dragon Hunting/looting.) where I will likely level up to 12th level. new feat (improved favored Enemy: Dragon : gives me a stackanle +3 on my dragon hitting. All my arrows will be doing 1d8 +11 (+1d6 fire damage if not immune) each. My Animal Companion gets meaner and bigger, learns new tricks, and I've figured how to buff him properly to get into more melee/needed flanks against minions etc.
I like this character as much as my fighter that I got up to like 15th or something a couple years ago. The Ranger is obviously not the tank, but he is hella useful in many situations. My first real bowman experience, playing D&D. I think I might try some kind of Spellcaster the next big campaign I'm in, as I've yet to really take that out for a spin except in my own game where I've been enjoying the NPC Wizard Ramon The Evoker. who's now a werewolf. That game has got to happen again soon, but these kids and there schedules. sheesh.
I also have been writing out my ideas for a Mutants & Masterminds (or maybe some other superhero system) Campaign I'd like to run. I've got a big crossover Event kind of idea using riffs on both Marvel & Dc characters. Maybe it's just an excuse to buy heroclix. :p Some guys buy Ferraris in their 40's, get divorced. Me, I get deep into pen & Paper RPGs. :nerd:
My beloved seal companion Crotch Ripper died in my defense last night. :cry:
Quote from: jimmy olsen on March 09, 2011, 02:26:45 AM
My beloved seal companion Crotch Ripper died in my defense last night. :cry:
It's amazing how often that phrase is heard in Asia. :p
Bah. My game tonight will have to wait as the other player who makes it every time is sidelined by a sister's surprise (to him) birthday party. bitch. :p
Quote from: BuddhaRhubarb on March 09, 2011, 02:27:34 AM
Quote from: jimmy olsen on March 09, 2011, 02:26:45 AM
My beloved seal companion Crotch Ripper died in my defense last night. :cry:
It's amazing how often that phrase is heard in Asia. :p
Japan must be much different than Korea! :o
found a thrift store copy of 2nd ed ad&d PHB for 2.99. picked it up so as to better understand the 2.0 game I'm playing as irregularly as all my other games. I played that game on Thursday evening until we heard about the Tsunami, then we watched the news. Fun if a bit on the low powered side (I'm playing a 4th level Dwarf Fighter named Hogun Axebeard he's got really decent full plate 3/2 proficency with his +1 Bronze Dwarven WarAxe.) though I always love playing the tank. The DM always lays on good food also... we had Bison Pie. :mmm:
We have been trudging through this Dwarven Kingdom inside a mountain, ostensibly to see if we can quell the crazed Goblins who have been using it as a base since the magic crown of the King had driven him and all who tried to wear it after- MAD!!! ... We've sprung lots of traps, fought Drow, undead, goblins, orcs, etc. Gotten some swag. Fun game.
On Thursday we started after having rested in this library we had stumbled upon (found some manuals that once we exit the dungeon we can use to buff up our ability scores - manual of gainful exerxise etc... before the next adventure) we trudged onwards down a wide staircase that was damaged by earthquakes... we met some Grimlocks who gave us a decent fight except that the fighter/MU elf (Thaddeus) and his mithril bow tore them to shreds from a distance. He sank every arrow for heavy damage as we my dwarf and the other PC the ex-pirate "Billy The Black" sucked up damage. Our friar Tuck like healer(the DM's NPC) healed us up, using all his heals for the day.
Then we delved on, avoiding some traps for a change.... eventually ran across more goblins, easily dispatched by my waraxe most of them. The tougher challenge came when we ran across a human Necromancer and his zombie slaves, rogue/assassin thug hirelings. It was a fun, kind of epic fight with the zombies turned, we managed to kill or scare off everyone, including one PC Billy The Black, but the DM gave him a tough odds saving throw after the cleric applied some 0 level heal to his wounds, and he made it.
Really fun evening of old school delving :thumbsup:
Today I'm going to play my M&M game, where my character is a demon from Hell trying to live fulltime in a human form that pleases him. The world of the game is akin to your Buffy-verse, or Supernatural, or any of those Fantasy TV shows (Though the DM has a loftier vision, thats how it's been seeming to me. I don't mind, actually, it makes it easier to relate for me to think of it that way, as I'm used to a more straight up Super hero kind of game with all these same people... we're trying to shake it up as we've done a lot of the real straight up superhero schtick for a few years... getting old.
A mithril bow already at the 4th level? What kind of gear are you guys gonna be packing when you hit tenth!
Quote from: jimmy olsen on March 18, 2011, 12:52:18 AM
A mithril bow already at the 4th level? What kind of gear are you guys gonna be packing when you hit tenth!
The DM kind of buffed us up a bit with magic weapons, as we've somehow missed all the gold so far and we all rolled horribly rolling up our characters (no array old school dm) and playing 2.0 you don't get any hit/damage bonuses unless you have 16+ on the appropriate ability. Of the three PCs only one has a 16 (the elf on dex)
last night we delved further in on this adventure that is a bit of a riff on White Plume Mountain. killed hella lot of Goblins, and got closer to "the gold"
Quote from: BuddhaRhubarb on March 18, 2011, 12:12:30 PM
Quote from: jimmy olsen on March 18, 2011, 12:52:18 AM
A mithril bow already at the 4th level? What kind of gear are you guys gonna be packing when you hit tenth!
The DM kind of buffed us up a bit with magic weapons, as we've somehow missed all the gold so far and we all rolled horribly rolling up our characters (no array old school dm) and playing 2.0 you don't get any hit/damage bonuses unless you have 16+ on the appropriate ability. Of the three PCs only one has a 16 (the elf on dex)
last night we delved further in on this adventure that is a bit of a riff on White Plume Mountain. killed hella lot of Goblins, and got closer to "the gold"
Aside from the comedy gold that can result from the roll on comeliness, what's the benifit of playing 2.0 over 3.5?
Quote from: jimmy olsen on March 20, 2011, 12:51:51 AM
Quote from: BuddhaRhubarb on March 18, 2011, 12:12:30 PM
Quote from: jimmy olsen on March 18, 2011, 12:52:18 AM
A mithril bow already at the 4th level? What kind of gear are you guys gonna be packing when you hit tenth!
The DM kind of buffed us up a bit with magic weapons, as we've somehow missed all the gold so far and we all rolled horribly rolling up our characters (no array old school dm) and playing 2.0 you don't get any hit/damage bonuses unless you have 16+ on the appropriate ability. Of the three PCs only one has a 16 (the elf on dex)
last night we delved further in on this adventure that is a bit of a riff on White Plume Mountain. killed hella lot of Goblins, and got closer to "the gold"
Aside from the comedy gold that can result from the roll on comeliness, what's the benifit of playing 2.0 over 3.5?
other than the fact that I have more experience (and the core rulebooks) with 3.5...
2.0 is (to my mind) is even clunkier than 3.0/.5 as far as game mechanics , leveling up etc goes. I don't like the over 16 to get any bonuses thing, is an easy example, nor do I like the "THAC0" to hit system.... But gameplay all depends on the DM. no matter the system, thus my 2.0 game is quite satisfying to play. But I'd never run a 2.0 game.
In other news, We're finally going to play the big endgame of my scenario's first story arc... the search for their monk buddy "T'wong Fu". There is a big double wedding for T'wong and his Fiancee, Leila, (both of whom are "Drunken Master" candidates.) and The NPC Favored Soul BellaDawna & an Efreeti swashbuckler named Creel Vroot (wedding forced through deck of many things) The wedding will be akin to a superhero wedding in the comics, if you are looking for a template.
The aftermath will basically give the players some choices for further adventuring: Quests, Oaths Made, etc.
* There are a few backstory threads like The Gnome Warlock's service to a Black Dragon (owed favours for powers granted/taught), or various revenge on the killers/kidnappers of parents etc from every character's backstory.
* The Ogre Mage who has helped them is going with A Lady Pirate, The Efreeti, up the coast to search for some mythical treasure.
* There's the over-arching conspiracy of the game - Evil Doppelgangers are systemically making the core races extinct, they've almost finished off the humans, working on Dwarfs, and planning the rest. There are a few threads to follow there... At the wedding they find that the Mayor of the town a human Paladin they've met is actually in the doppelganger Illuminati, but has had a change of heart and is now going to help the Band unravel the conspiracy, if he can) - it's another effect from the deck of many things - an enemy becomes an ally - was the card drawn.
* There is an actual human in the Illuminati, a Druid/Scout/Ranger who (Clovis the Last Human I'm calling him) is head of a gigantic cult dedicated to half-variations of various races. It's adherents are all mixed race/species types. They don't realize that they are part of the conspiracy, it's just really a front, and a druggy recruitment/money/magic laundering operation.
* (The Other Cult) Reverend Jericho seems to run an almost liberal kind of church, accepting people of any or no faith in his "sanctuary"... He's also a fake human. He has recently though wnated to step up the Dwarf cleansing, and is doing a lot of Dwarf-hate pamphleteering etc.
* The Dragon Princess Bodeena is at the wedding with the ulterior motive f finding a bold group of adventurers to scale Mount Xanthax and slay the evil frost giants who have been raiding her stronghold in Skytown (floating city nearby, she arrived via a magical autogyro)
* reaching back to their first adventure I have a "PCs as Butch & Sundance on the run from The Pinkertons" kind of story arc, though these Pinkertons are working for the Hag Covey that the Sea Hag they killed in the first game belonged to, and these Hags are pissed, paying various hired guns to take out the group (lots of Red Herring" reasons for their "wantedness" though.) eventually they discover who's really after them, and can decide if they want to tackle the Covey, itself. this thread can be dangled during any of the other quests, as a side quest/excuse for random monsters.
Quote from: BuddhaRhubarb on March 20, 2011, 02:59:11 PM
* There's the over-arching conspiracy of the game - Evil Doppelgangers are systemically making the core races extinct, they've almost finished off the humans, working on Dwarfs, and planning the rest.
How does that even work?
Quote from: jimmy olsen on March 20, 2011, 12:51:51 AM
Quote from: BuddhaRhubarb on March 18, 2011, 12:12:30 PM
Quote from: jimmy olsen on March 18, 2011, 12:52:18 AM
A mithril bow already at the 4th level? What kind of gear are you guys gonna be packing when you hit tenth!
The DM kind of buffed us up a bit with magic weapons, as we've somehow missed all the gold so far and we all rolled horribly rolling up our characters (no array old school dm) and playing 2.0 you don't get any hit/damage bonuses unless you have 16+ on the appropriate ability. Of the three PCs only one has a 16 (the elf on dex)
last night we delved further in on this adventure that is a bit of a riff on White Plume Mountain. killed hella lot of Goblins, and got closer to "the gold"
Aside from the comedy gold that can result from the roll on comeliness, what's the benifit of playing 2.0 over 3.5?
Pretty sure Comeliness was from 1.0 - from the source of all cheese Unearthed Arcana if I'm not mistaken. :nerd:
Quote from: jimmy olsen on March 20, 2011, 11:09:16 PM
Quote from: BuddhaRhubarb on March 20, 2011, 02:59:11 PM
* There's the over-arching conspiracy of the game - Evil Doppelgangers are systemically making the core races extinct, they've almost finished off the humans, working on Dwarfs, and planning the rest.
How does that even work?
It's complicated. I'm likely never going to explain the total "how To" suffice to say that Humans were on the wane anyway in my world, they are the oldest race, but one of the shortest lived individually. They used to breed like rabbits, but rates have fallen drastically due to plagues etc, and the race iself reaching an evolutionary crossroads. The doppelgangers are systematically replace all the important humans they can. Most actual humans left are poors.
Dwarfs are the next oldest race in Buddhaverse and the next to fall if the doppels have their way.
what makes this interesting is that all my PCs in their backstory have issues with humans and dwarfs (from wiping out their families mostly, or general intolerance towards half-whatevers that make up most of my PCs). It's fortuitous as they will likely end up trying to save species they claim enmity to, or participate in the genocide.
The game went well mostly, though one of the gals playing who's usually a lot of fun was kinda grumpy, and ocd about a d6 she thought she lost (one of the other players was pranking her really obviously, and she wasn't getting it, it got kinda weird.) But the rest of the evening was fun. They fought some githyanki, some buffed up dire gnolls, and a couple of hired killers. They got a bit of intel on the Human conspiracy, but ignored it. They are carrying their collective anti-humanism pretty far it seems. I may have to step up the genocide to include races they care about.
they got some tidbits though about some of the poss quests that I mentioned above... I think they are going to follow the Pirate one.... as a sister Hag was behind the buffed up Gnolls... and they will be getting more attacks from her minions in retribution for their slaying of a sea hag way back at the beginning of the game.
I'm starting to figure out how and what I need to do to be properly organized, for each game. I enjoy the prep time as much as I do playing.
I also played ny Red Hand Of Doom scenario game with my (now 12th level) Ranger. We got some buffs from the Prince and headed off into a trap of Dragonic proportions as we were teleported by a Wizard to the side of this very Mt Doom-y Mountainside that is like The Rushmore of Tiamat sculptures. It turns out that The horde we beat back in the city was actually a sacrifice from the evil bosses to help their trying to bring Tiamat to the Material Plane... not just an aspect, either, but actual Tiamat. :yikes:
So we appear across a big natural bridge from said Tiamatmore mountain, we see a doorway that looks obviously trapped with big five dragon heads also adorning the door frame. For some reason the Fighter (not the mostly Invisible Rogue, or the Stealthy Ranger who has Evasion also) went up to the door to check it out, and before you can say electrical breath weapon he gets smoked by a huge pretty annoyed Blue Dragon ( a wicked awesome fig that one) The rest of us moved in, and We started hitting it as it made us all quake in our boots (most of us failed the Huge scary monster will save, but just at a minus 2 on everything level) ... It focused on me as my fame as an enemy of Dragons has spread during this campaign. My arrows are often the last thing seen by any dragon we fight. he didn't scare me other than that trickle of pee going down my leg at the beginning!
We got our Cleric and orc lover Cradle to cast a dispel magic on as much of his buffs as possible. She worked her mojo well, and he got easier to hit. I pumped arrows into his hide, as our Evoker Marcus dazzled the beast with cacophonous magic blasts, and some Cold blasts. Quinn the Fighter stepped up as did our Drow buddy, Xendrick and everyone contributed pretty well to one of our more efficient Dragon Slays. As we were surveying our prize (taking some claw, teeth, horn trophies.) I noticed a shadow that turned out to be Death itself (and not the Norm MacDonald version) as it challenged me (I am The Eternal Champion) to a staring match. I beat it's staring match role and got a new destiny power - +5 vs. Necromancy, which if this first encounter is any clue of what's ahead, should be useful as heck. I also leveled up to 12th after the kill. A new feat - Improved Favoured enemy gives me another +3 on damage against dragons... all my bow attacks on dragons do d(8)+11 + 1d6 fire damage (if applicable)
The Drow climbed up to where the Dragon had come from a few stories up the mountain. he reconned the Lair and found some hoard from ol Blue. We got a +3 Greatsword, a Staff Of Fire, a bunch of Ioun Stones, and weapon, armor crystals, some bracers, belt of Giant strength etc.,,, also gp we haven't counted yet, as we decided to at least try to open the door. We first though spent a few hours doing identify, etc on the magic loot.
Then we let the Drow go try his luck at untrapping, unlocking the obviously somehow trapped door. He didn't have much luck as he got hit by two of what he later called "Pain Showers" five breath weapon blasts every time he set off the traps. Then once he got the doors open he faced two undead dragons... a Black Dragon Skeleton, and a Zombie White Dragon, he almost bit the cookie, but managed to get back to some healing, as the Dragons squeezed out of the doorway and set on us. Despite not having much undead fighting history, nor a cleric who can turn (Cradle is a Combat medic)we managed to take them out as well as their Hobgoblin WarSoul keepers who came at us with Cones Of Cold and other Dragon inspired spells. We definitely were in a fight as everyone took some damage, but we still won the day fairly easily.
Now we get to actually enter the Dungeon.... next game.
Delayed :frusty: :(
ah well, playing my M&M Modern Fantasy game tomorrow. I play a demon who lives in the Village and runs a cafe frequented by queer lycanthropes, alt universe Merlins, plant elemental, bike couriers, etc, and so on.
It was pretty fun last time. Have to start working on my 3.5 game ... I think the group is most interested in the "Pirate adventure" scenario I tossed out as bait (big bads at the end of it will be the Covey of Sea hags.)... I've got a couple of cool swashbuckling type NPCs done up already including a Djinn Swahbuckler, and a wise crackin' Lady Pirate named Bess..
any piarte movie aficionados out there? I'm going to go back and watch Scaramouche, Captain Blood, etc... get the tropes down a bit better. What's an inspiring Pirate movie??? wrong thread? it's for my game.
I I'm also looking at taking them to some oddball adventures, like some sky city where they have dirigibles, gliders, lots of Aerial combat. I'm planning to use the Stormwrack "Narrative combat" option... modified to suit my weirdo players. I'll do something similar with that.
Well it turns out that we can play My Game tonight. Got some wicked smelling chili in the slow cooker since last night for the kids... and a plan to get them headed off in search of legendary Pirate gold. (it will turn out eventually to be a Dragon's Hoard of Gold.) ... One of the gals has dropped out at least temporarily as she wants to concentrate on upcoming exams etc which is pretty reasonable, school over D&D.... we'll be down to three plus NPCs so it's still a good group, and they are all pretty enthusiastic.
:rolleyes: young people. couldn't be on time if their lives depended on it. sheesh. I hate it when everyone is late there's no one to bitch with.
Well They showed, only half an hour late or more (one guy was 45 minutes late. ) but anyway the game turned out fun and we ate my vaguely middle eastern chili, and some weird but tasty veggie lasagna, and salad.
I finished up my "find the missing "Drunken Master" arc and finally got them to listen in regards to my overarching conspiracy of killing and replacing the Humans with doppelgangers. (almost typed doppelgamers, there's something to that :p) The Monk (T'wong Fu) went off with his new bride to the monastery for Drunken master training, while the rest of the gang signed up with Bess the Pirate and her crew of Genies, Satyrs, Elves and whatnot in order to help her locate the Legendary Cortez' Island, which was supposedly raised from the bottom of the ocean by this Cortez, a legendary Blackbeard type possibly mythical Pirate, centuries in the past. No one has found it, but Bess has a clue.
Also the Pirates may help out the Dragon Princess Bodeena rescue her brother Deenbo from the Bronze Dragon Clan that lives in the Sky city not so nearby (it's a political hostage taking, not a prisoner kind of thing really, he's been there for 3 years, but rumor has it there's a sharp to the right regime change coming in Sky City...)
Currently they are in the Capital City (Dragonport) where they will have a few days of city roleplay to do before they can begin their seafaring adventures.
Roll a D6 :cool:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54VJWHL2K3I
Not much gaming going on in Buddhaworld these days, as people seem to have real life crap going on. A couple in my game broke up, she left the game earlier, I'm not sure if he's still into playing. I haven't put much effort into continuing the game though, as there always seems to be stuff coming up that I need to do first (Playoff rollercoaster, other social commitments etc.)
My two Mutants & Masterminds campaigns are going, though the "modern fantasy" one is not working for the GM (I think it's fine except for the lack of any sort of combat) so we will be shifting that game to the Cthulu ish setting we are using in the other game, which is way more fun(but that's because of who's playing it imo) but shifted to Nawlins instead of NYC.
I'm struggling to come up with a new character though. I do have a Knife Thrower as a backup for my other Golem character, but I want to do something different, more New Orleans like. Maybe a Voodoo type? need to mull.
The "Red Hand Of Doom" Scenario is languishing as the DM is actually working a lot this spring (Bartender at convention hall, busy season kicking in) I really want to kick some Dragon ass with my increasingly specialized Dragon killing Bowman.
Thinking of doing a real swashbuckler game in my game, finally getting to do my Pirates Vs. Ninjas thing I've been wanting to do (though originally I wanted the players to be the ninjas, it's turned out the other way.)
ah gaming, I spend so much time thinking of what i want to do in my game, and so little time gaming (lately anyway)
well still not much going on gaming wise for me. Though one of my M&M games is happening without me on Sunday, I'd already promised other friends I'd get together for the hockey game. I think the M&M nerds are a bit put out, but these things are of about equal time wasting value to me, and I said yes to hockey earlier. That said I have a new character for that game, a martial artist/dance instructor type in 1920's New Orleans... he uses the Haitian martial art known as calinda, which is a "Fighting Stick" style that has masqueraded as a folk dance for ages, much like Capoeira. Next month, likely.
I have come up with the next part of my D&D campaign, before we get into the Pirate ship stuff, I want to do an urban adventure in the City of Dragonport (my Dragonport is a bit bigger and scarier than the Cityscape version.) where they get a side quest from "The Knight Of The Green Dream"... who enlists them, somewhat accidentally to aid in his quest to find out what's going on with all the missing humans. And why are the druids they come across sacrificing Dwarfs at their Rave? I'll also be introducing some City watch characters, Hippies, Assassins, and red herrings galore. I did a bunch f work on it last night. Felt good to get somewhere with it... I had been a bit stymied... Now if I can just get the gang together to play. Might ask another friend or two to join as we've lost two now from the original group.
bah, it looks like my game I'm Dming may be done, as the couple who were playing have split and neither seems interested in continuing now. May have to find a whole new group. :(
might play that "Red Hand Of Doom" module over the long weekend though... some dragon slaying would be very cathartic for me. Will get to play my M&M game this weekend after all as Canucks game is at the ungodly time of noon.
That's just not right. what is this Peewee? but it does clear me to play my new fighting stick wielding Creole character.... so good news with the bad.
no M&M... sick gamers. Red Hand Of Doom tomorrow night is still a go though. At least There be Dragons.
had the "red Hand Of Doom" game last night, we inched forward... That game has become all about the fights for me, as a lot of the role paying gets washed out by the rules lawyering by the other guy who shows up every time. We did have a 3rd PC (The 4th to play our rogue drow Xendrick) last night though, so at least there was one more slow brain. We wended our way through a few rooms, killing off some bearded devils and a night hag who had dressed themselves up like Snow White and two of her dwarves.
We then found a torture chamber where we very slowly dispatched some sort of Fiend who had been torturing various humanoids. At the end there was one half orc ( a "road Agent" who had been playing both sides a bit too much and got caught... ) so we have another NPC (who gave us the mole in our own court if he's to be believed, and we think he is as that npc was flirty with my pc and pcs never get laid, so...) to use as a meat shield, I mean maybe help us out as we delve deeper and hopefully fight more Dragons, less devils.
Played the old Cthuhlu esque M&M game this aft.
Quote
From the Journals of Johnny Vertigo Jr.
We awoke from apparently being clubbed like baby seals by mutant Fishmen Cultists, with Dagon striding towards us licking his chops. we're bound on the cleverly named Devil's Reef near Innsmouth. We hate Innsmouth. Also there's a sailboat coming at us as someone tosses dynamite at some of the cultists. Oh and Curran, the rich Kid who transform into :an Old One" when he gets stressed? He's being man raped by a Fish-Princess while the cultists chant, and warble their odes to Dagon... but yeah there's shit blowing up, Dagon's coming, a lot to do.... so I bust out of my ropes with a simple shrug of relief at at least being awake to see all this fucked up craziness.
The dude from the boat appears to be armed to the teeth, as he screams Enoch ! Enoch! (subtle code no doubt that he too is hear at the behest of Miz Medina Masters, of the Hermetic Order of Enoch) Apparently he's not just some crazy villager with a hate on for cultists... also he was being chased by a shoggoth. well actually likely the same Shoggoth that we electrocuted and set loose earlier that afternoon and it seemed a bit vexed so we got Curran, dispatched a few beasties and made our way to some caves above the beach that we'd spied from the reef. What could go wrong in a cave.
We just barely managed to get into the cave and down some stairs before the battling Shoggoth and Dagon came crashing ashore. We decided to keep heading into the underground rather than wait out whatever the hell it is that Shoggoths and Dagons do when they meet up. Don't wanna know really.
so we got into a more dungeony feeling network of caves and doors with many windows that looked out and over above the "Old Ones" undersea city, beautiful it's it's chaos, and dangerous as all get out. We spelunked I was almost an all day sucker for some kind of Stalactite (or is it "mite") creature that tried to eat me. Luckily Golems don't taste so good, and I was able to free myself. freaky though. You can't forget shit like that.
Eventually we came to a room with a weird mirror, that Giovanni, our "Priest" made quickly as a portal to somewhere, but where we didn't know. We held hands and went in... We went through a starnge undulating frothy dimension that seemed familiar, but something happened and Curran (in Monster form from all the little battles we'd had along the way) we came out the other side without him. Did something get him, did he let go? we didn't have time to really stop and figure it out, He'll come back if he can and wants to. Down one monster.
We came out in what turned out to be a room in a building in Innsmouth. We hate Innsmouth. We decided that we needed to wipe this town from the earth, basically. We conceived (our new compatriot was very helpful in this regard with his car stealing and blowing things up skills that the rest of us lack, he was also very handy with the Shotties. And he's a terrible terrible poet. ) a plan to blow up the gas station and cause a big fire that would consume the town.
with a few bumps we were able to do just that, and we sped out of town as fast as we could, some hillbilly fishmen piled in a convertible and gave us a good chase but that's to the new guy's driving skills and my new double barreled Shotgun we got past them. We made it To Arkham and despite a sense of forboding, got a room at the hotel, where from one of those damned "corners" a Hound of Helmuth or whatever they are found Giovanni and snatched him back to Dire Wolf land or wherever it is those beasties reside.
So it was just me and the new guy. The debriefing from Miz Masters is going to be awesome. oy.
Reviving my Game, perhaps with all different players. Got some pals who've been wanting to play with some time on Tuesdays... starting next game... been working on some cool ideas of what to do before I send them out on a Pirate ship in a few games. excited!
got it happening on Tuesday evening, 3 new players, hopefully two from the ongoing game. It's nice to get people involved who haven't played in a while. I've been gearing up my NPCs and coming up with convoluted twisted red herrings that will eventually set the group out on a pirate mission to skull island.
plot twists involve rooms that crush you, minotaurs, labyrinths and hot chicks having faux lesbian sex atop a pile of treasure. will log it up post game.
DMs should follow the rule that if characters are to lez it up so too must their players.
Quote from: BuddhaRhubarb on June 05, 2011, 07:58:52 PM
plot twists involve rooms that crush you, minotaurs, labyrinths and hot chicks having faux lesbian sex atop a pile of treasure. will log it up post game.
Reminds me of our Gamma World adventures in junior high.
"...and as the rover ascends the ridge, you see before you...the shining city of...Lesbianistan!"
Played tonight, my campaign but with new players. I had stuff ready. It's like a total recast in season 2 from my perspective. I had them do a mission in order to earn a spot on a pirate ship, piloted by Captain Bess! Pirate Lady!
but first, since all three had only played 2.0 back in tha day sort of thing, I went over feats, AC etc... then we did a combat round using some figs on the grid. basically they fought mirror images of themselves... just to get the hang of a round. The hilarious part was as we started I had my best string of nat 20's ever. like 6 in a row, all wasted on the demo encounter. :P I switched dice twice to make it more fair. At least they got to see early how you can almost die pretty quickly if you aren't careful.
edit, the mission was to retrieve "the emerald Skull" from wherever it was hidden at the end of a twisting labyrinthine riverbed/river underground a few hours outside the city, in the hills. Their trail was easy, but they fought some tough skirmishes, were tracked and hunted by a Legendary Minotaur (Breath weapon Minotaur!) who they narrowly defeated, the cleric npcs blowing all her high level heals at the end, and during. The got caught in a shrinking room trap (I forgot to queue up the Admiral Ackbar) and escaped through brute strength more than finesse, only to go over a waterfall and behind where they encountered lesbian elf ladies singing them pretty songs, beckoning them to their bed of treasure and sex.
It turned out to be a green hag, and her two seawolves in a few feet of water, actually rather than treasure, they fought the heroes valiantly, but in the end were smited.
They got some magic items and whatnot, a little gold, a lot of XP and as they were leaving were offered a ride in a carriage from an effeminate aristocrat and his dazed looking driver. The driver almost charmed the halfling, but (and here the dice karma wheel balances out) but he was apparently the lamest vamp ever according to his dice rolls, he couldn't even scratch the halfling, and the others had at him til they figured out how to kill him and did so. They burned him, pierced his heart with silver, decapitated him and buried the head on consecrated ground, and took his carriage into town.
It was a good time, everyone was really into it, and we'll play again before I go to OT at the end of the month. Good times.
Playing my game again this Tues. This time around the Pirating missions begin!
Bess gives her new "B" Crew (as she calls the 3 PCs (and 2 npcs) who have been thrown together as shipmates.) a choice of three "take a small boat and do some dirty work I need done before we set sail tomorrow" kind of missions
I will leave you the "title" of each mission.
1. Welcome To Crabtown!
2. In Search Of The Knight Of The Green Dream
3. The Wake Of the Leviathan
Hey here's an idea... If any of you nerds who read this thread, but can't be arsed to post, Why not write an AAR based of one of my campaign mission "Titles" and post it here... It'll be fun, and you don't have to do all the work of rolling up the characters, just the AAR. C'Mon give it a go!.
Either way, I'll post one of how my group handles the perils I throw their way, on Tuesday. Plus I'm making chili. Bachelor chili.
Fairly good time last night playing my campaign. We had a new player (a gal who I met at one of the player's house warming a few weeks ago, and was totally crushing on at the party, she of the very "Martha Plimpton" :wub: looks and a dry wit, at that. lovely gal, who I think was pretty bored by most of it, but gave it the college try, and almost had fun) last night who ran one of the NPCs I had been running, The Sorceress.
The Crew was given a 40 ft boat and a choice of the 3 missions I gave the titles of. The 1st mission being the search for the former ship's Mage "Sneaky Pete" who has in his possession some artifacts belonging to the Pirate Captain, Bess. T
he crew is told if they choose this mission, she cares not if they kill Pete or not, she just needs her artifacts back. If they undertake that mission, they do so under command of the Ship's "Scarlet Corsair": M'Lady (only name anyone knows for this Centaur swashbucker who is well known as the most cutthroat cutthroat on the ship.
2nd option is to search for "The Knight Of The Green Dream" up the coast near a man made Skull carving on the mountainside. Th Knight is from another dimension (actually from a Chaos realm where all Knights are Chaotic rather than lawful (thus he's a Knight/Beguiler.) The Knight is a trickster figure who mostly speaks in what seems to be gibberish (his home dimensional language) but makes himself heard when need be. The group only knows his name and not what he's like beforehand.
The 3rd choice is to follow the ship's "Leviathan hunters" to almost the unknown coast near some uninhabited islands where some merchant vessels (under Bess' "protection") have been lost with nary a survivor to tell how. Still there are wild rumors of a "Jeweled Kraken", being responsible, likely controlled by an outside agent.
They picked the Search for The Knight Of the Green Dream. They sailed upstream, only encountering a similar boat to their own, crewed by Localth sailors who gave them the fisheye, (obviously) but said little as the boats passed each other closely.
When they got to the landing with the giant skull face on the side of the rocks, they docked, came ashore where the ranger heard a strange babbling voice no one else could until he quieted them down and everyone listened. It seemed to be coming from the Skull face. They found, the mouth which was almost ground level (the jaw being on the ground. The Rogue climbed up and in the mouth and found that it was a shallow empty cave. He could hear the voice more clearly coming from above him. The Barbarian climbed up, and the Rogue joined him in the Skull's nasal cavity, where they heard more noise, this time freaky joker like laughter, usually after they said something. They carefully went forward in the room, which was about 30 ft deep but narrow to a point at the end. Just as they got there. the Knight appeared (Invisible/teleporting trickery) and disappeared again.
Now while the party was nicely separated, a very young brown dragon ascends above those left outside. The Ranger quickly starts shooting arrows at it. So it breath weapons them. and almost none of them made the 15 reflex save so, the Sorceress almost died, but they managed to do enough damage that eventually (as the others heard the ruckus and loosed some heavy crossbow action etc from the skull nose.) The Knight appeared in the sky next to the dragon, who appeared to be going to crash to the ground, and vanished it somehow. (more bamfing)
Then he landed upon the ground and kept spouting Gibbersih at everyone until someone clearly stated that Bess wanted him to follow them to her in Dragonport. He continued with the gibberish, as he walked over and seated himself on their boat, somehow locating their booze stash onboard he took possession and proceeded to drink and sing (still gibberish) as they sailed homeward.
The longer they sailed the louder the song got, and some of the crew (all but the Sorceress (now healed) and the Barabrian) became hypnotized by the song, as well as that boat of Localth who happened to be swinging back the other direction.... they tried to under the Knight's sway come on to the heroes' boat but were "shoved" off by the barbarian. after he blew his "Horn Of Fog" he got in the last adventure, as the sorceress figured out that it was eye contact and the song that combined for the hypnosis. Everyone came to and they quickly left the dazed Localth behind.
The Knight for his part stopped singing, and caused no more mischief. They got him back to Bess in less than a day. So she sent them on another mission... which I will detail after work tonight, as I'm running late right now.
continued... After getting the Knight back so quickly, Bess sent them off in search of The leviathan. Which as it turned out was a Coral Golem actually. They did a decent job of smashy smash and destroyed the Golem, pissing off it's owner creator Gary the (evil) Unicorn. Gary talks in an on again off again Cockney accent (best I can do accent wise :p) Gary and the group come to an understanding re: shipping routes, and he gets on the boat with them to report back to Bess/make a deal.
I guess I could have written that out better, but my brain has lost the details of the Coral Golem fight. It was mostly bludgeoning from the Barbarian that did it in. he got a couple of very decent crits in.
We won't be playing again until I'm back from Toronto next month, but I've got some ideas as to their next Pirate missions, which entail them being away from port for the foreseeable future of the game.
When we get around to finishing the Red Hand Of Doom module in a few sessions (summer skeds mean this may be a month or two. ) The DM wants to switch it up and do a straight up Pathfinder game from the beginning( 1st level!) .... we did a conversion half way through the Red Hand... I'm going to try my hand at a half elf sorcerer with a smart mouth. (all my characters are smartasses, as I can only role play so deeply before the real me emerges.)
Rolled up a 1st level Elf Sorcerer, and a backup Human Rogue 1 for the upcoming Pathfinder game. I like trying new systems.
Played my M&M/Cthulhu game the other day. we keep killing off important NPCs, sometimes on purpose like in this last game where we just barely escape this dreamland realm with our sanities barely intact when the "Mercenary" of the group decides to murder our patron (and holder of my real body as hostage for my service as a golem -become- hot flapper chick Sorceress and wanna be cult leader.) with a hand granade, and as usual when doing something completely ridiculous in this game, buddy rolls awesome, and the npc rolls a deuce or something and kablooey, there goes our "Control". Mercenary then takes the head (unbeknowst to the rest of us) to her rival, a fatcat named Silas, who promptly absorbed him into himself, and ending that character's short murderous life in outr game. Out of the original 5 characters, only mine is left and he's had a gender switch. Most of the others have died. less than 8 months in. It's a fun campaign actually.
A really good group makes all the difference.
Playing The Red Hand Of Doom Mod. tonight. only a few more sessions I think and we finish it off and start afresh with Pathfinder 1st level characters running amok in Monte Cook's Ptolus... but until them I'm looking forward to killing more dragons with my ranger Bow specialist.
I've been reading a lot of the Core Pathfinder stuff. there's a lot to like if you are a D&D fan. Sorcerers and Rangers they finally got right. simplified, yet still D&D enough for me. way better grapple/combat maneuver rules is a biggie for me, also.
Quote from: BuddhaRhubarb on July 23, 2011, 07:01:49 PM
Rolled up a 1st level Elf Sorcerer, and a backup Human Rogue 1 for the upcoming Pathfinder game. I like trying new systems.
Is Pathfinder really new though? I was under the impression that it was pretty much D&D3.5?
Quote from: Neil on August 05, 2011, 06:48:50 AM
Quote from: BuddhaRhubarb on July 23, 2011, 07:01:49 PM
Rolled up a 1st level Elf Sorcerer, and a backup Human Rogue 1 for the upcoming Pathfinder game. I like trying new systems.
Is Pathfinder really new though? I was under the impression that it was pretty much D&D3.5?
nope it's more what they call D&D 3.75. Streamlined rules done using D20 but totally 3rd party stuff. The races/classes are much better thought out. It's a much better balanced version of 3.5 imo, only having played it a bit so far. I am finding it a refreshing version of D&D that better matches my expectations as a player.
Played the Red Hand Of Doom thingy last night. we continued on from the barracks we had been in (months ago real time, a few seconds ago game time) where we'd cut down a silver dragon who had been used for some kind of weird ritual, and killed a horde of hobgoblins and other beasties in a torture chamber...
where we camped out for the night, finally getting to replenish spells etc.... we found our way to a big cavernous room where we saw our OG nemesis from the beginning of the campaign, the Orc general known as Zargath Human-Bane. and that annoying little gnome arms trader Girn who'd also stabbed us in the back a few times, they were addressing a council of chromatic Dragons. (Red, Blue, White, Black, Green, all Large some older than the others) as we blundered into the room behind our invisible Drow rogue Xendrick. some sort of anti invisibility spell (Purge Invisibility we later discovered) was at work, so we were quickly spotted though not before Xendrick could tumble past Zargath and give him the olde backstab special.
Zargath pleaded that he was "on our side" but Smokey (my char) didn't buy it (Zargath beat me in a fistfight way back at 6th level) and filled him with three flaming arrows, one of which hit some organs or something doing triple damage. and Zargath crumpled into a pile of burning orc flesh and his little buddy Girn dimension doored outta dodge soon after.
No parlay with the dragons either as they started breathing crap on us, and spells, oh the spells. magic missiles from the Green one actually caused me to lose a few hp. untenable! I don't like taking damage, so I used up most of my arrows, and we struggled through each of the dragons, mostly taking them down one at a time... two of our party including the healer (and a half orc barbarian we saved from the torture chamber, and healed up.. Cradle the healer even "restored" his Johnson) went very close to "dead". not just unconscious but dead.
eventually through a lot of luck, and cacophonic blasts we made it through all the dragons. the blue was the oldest and thus toughest, and hardest to take down. (all those evasion class feats in the party came in handy I tellyawhat)... we then searched the obviously well used sacrificial altar to Tiamat, and the room, we found two secret doors, one going back the way we came, and another behind the altar. we aim to cause as much trouble as possible, so went deeper in behind the altar, where we found a huge Cavern with a pit that flames were seen licking up from as we entered. Smokey used his weak tracking skills to find the footprints of some really big creature and a bunch of Hobgoblin feet prints as well. The Big thing wouldn't fit through any of the doors, so this is it's home... where we broke and will continue hopefully next week.
Definitely going to play the Pathfinder game next for my regular D&D game, I've been playing for a few years with three of four different characters, most recently Smokey (and his animal "companion the wolf - Bandit) who I topped out at nearly 13th level Ranger - archer track - Dragon slayer many times over. Orcbane, Giant killer. It was a very fun character.
This next game .. since there's only ever two of us who show up every time, we convinced the DM that we should each (as experienced gamer) run two pcs, so that there's not more NPCs than PCs. I don't like running npcs for the DM when I'm playing.... but I don't mind farming them out to willing players as a DM. hmmm.
I made up 3 1st level pairings of Pathfinder PC classes. (depending on what the other player (or god forbid player"s") rolls up.
I have an Elf Sorcerer (which are finally done right in Pathfinder imo) and a Rogue (elf)
A half elf Magus & a Half Orc Monk
A Dwarf Fighter & Human Alchemist ( a class I think might be fun.)
My 1st pick is the sorcerer & Rogue combo as I've been itching to play either lately.
2nd would be the Monk/Magus as I already have their tragi-comic graphic novel already written in head. lots of backstory ideas.
3rd would be the fighter/alchemist... one's easy, one's hard to play, both seem like fun though.
So we played the first bit of our new Pathfinder game. The DM is trying to play a bit more within the rules i think this time. wouldn't let us loot the bodies of thugs we killed/captured... as some are of "good" alignment. I don't care, but for the other guy playing, a huge part of the game is the body looting. I don't think he's going to be happy with this more city based campaign... (a pathfinder game set in Monte's Ptolus.) at least we are on the fast advancement track.
We are using the "traits" from the adv. PH for Pathfinder. I like it... adds a bit to the backstory ideas. It's weird playing 1st level chars though. I got hit? oops I'm unconscious. But overall it was fun.
I'm playing a Female elf sorcerer, and a half elf Rogue, while the other guy is playing a human Barbarian (who's going fighter at 2nd level) and a dwarf cleric.
I really like the guys I play with, but afaic they both are too caught up in the rules lawyering. It takes away from the sense of swashbuckling, or adventure if instead of being able to describe your cool maneuver you have to consult 3 or 4 charts. I'm being as nice about it all as possible, and just rolling as it were with the punches though, if I leave, that game is over. But It's sticks in my craw a bit that these guys don't have the same free form attitude to gaming I do.
I really do enjoy DMing my own game much more. I've been thinking of GMing a Mutants and Masterminds game, actually. I have a whole universe sort of ready to go. I'd start off with a WW2 campaign, Nazis, occult, sidekicks, the whole 9 yards.
Nazis are always fun.
Starting a new Serenity/Firefly adventure with friends today. They recently messed up a bounty on a war criminal - they took out the target, but then managed to get caught and spent a few months digging in the mines before they could escape. In the meantime, their ship was impounded and sold, including most of their equipment.
Theyre now sent to a small border moon, to the town of Sweetlake. Two factions vie for control of the town: farmers and ranchers - both groups are killing each other, and each group is led by a friend of someone in the party, so they'll have to choose sides. Mercenaries and bandits add a bit of spice.
What they don't know until the next "episode", though, is that the fight between the two factions is just a front - the two leaders want control of the town, because there's rumors of a treasure from the Unification War hidden there; and they want to get rid of the competition before searching in earnest.
They will eventually get to the treasure (a freighter sunk in the town's eponymous lake), but it'll turn out to either be a bunch of hostile combat robots or a biological agent - not sure which to pick yet.
Quote from: Syt on August 27, 2011, 02:33:47 AM
Starting a new Serenity/Firefly adventure with friends today. They recently messed up a bounty on a war criminal - they took out the target, but then managed to get caught and spent a few months digging in the mines before they could escape. In the meantime, their ship was impounded and sold, including most of their equipment.
Theyre now sent to a small border moon, to the town of Sweetlake. Two factions vie for control of the town: farmers and ranchers - both groups are killing each other, and each group is led by a friend of someone in the party, so they'll have to choose sides. Mercenaries and bandits add a bit of spice.
What they don't know until the next "episode", though, is that the fight between the two factions is just a front - the two leaders want control of the town, because there's rumors of a treasure from the Unification War hidden there; and they want to get rid of the competition before searching in earnest.
They will eventually get to the treasure (a freighter sunk in the town's eponymous lake), but it'll turn out to either be a bunch of hostile combat robots or a biological agent - not sure which to pick yet.
very nice.
sent out an email to the group I DM'd briefly in the late spring, early summer. Hoping to get that one up and running in a week or two. I think I'm going to send them on a daring Pirate mission in the middle of a Dragon War. Just coz' . :p
Playing Pathfinder game Thursday, and my Cthulhu-esque M&M game on Sunday. gonna be a dicey weekend.
My M&M current game will end it's current arc in a few sessions (couple of months) and we are doing a version of the same setting but in the present day instead of the 20's.
I came up with a new character already... this is my first draft of Buzz Bronx.
QuoteCharacter for the next M&M game.
A (superpower-less) vigilante named Buzz Bronx wakes up one morning. the last thing he recalls is seeing a strange tire fire in the middle of the street while on patrol.
He wakes in a motel bathroom in a tub of ice. There is a metal disk screwed onto his chest, he notices as he checks for scars near organs. Just this coaster sized dull grey metal plate (that reflects no light) attached (apparently with bolts.) dead centre in the middle of his chest. It somehow looks natural, like it had always been there, grew that way; bolts and all. but He's pretty sure he would have noticed that before now. :p
Buzz has been patrolling the streets of Arkham for just over 5 years. He has stopped a lot of muggers, rapists, and the occasional drunk driver, and even one high tech bank robbery that got him some small amount of "quirky news item" fame. He started getting dudes challenging him to fight all the time after being outed as a vigilante. So he taught himself how to be a bit more discreet and stealthy with his crime stopping. Even so he still mostly stumbles onto most of his "busts", while on "Patrol".
Buzz was trained by his father who was a Kung fu student of Bruce Lee's and had invented his own fighting style that meshed Jeet Kune Do and Capoeira, the Brazilian/African Martial art masquerading as a dance. To the untrained eye his movements are unstable and he almost flutters as he moves, he got the nickname "Buzz" (because he buzzed like a bee and stung like Ali) from his dad, and never goes by his own real name, often failing to hear it, if it's called.
His father was shot down (in a coma now still) by some muggers when Buzz was in school winning martial Arts tournaments and studying to be a criminal lawyer. Wanted to be a DA... now works day job as a paralegal... paying medical bills is expensive. At night he avenges.
So waking up like this was weird... He went to the hospital, after going to his drop and changing into his day clothes as he like to call his not costume wear. The hospital kept him overnight, but couldn't find anything wrong with him, he was if anything healthier than ever, which in fact he was. They sent him home and told him that they had notified the police. and that the cops would be coming by later to see him about it.
He instead went to the police station where he knew a cop who was an ally in his war on crime, mostly by looking the other way a lot, and not arresting someone he knew to be engaging in criminal behaviour, obviously) and gave his report there to that cop, who called the cop assigned and did some cop wheeling/dealing. He left hoping that it didn't happen again tonight. he really was jonesing by this time to get back out, but he wanted to check his house to make sure things were safe there too...
As he came up the back alley to the fire escape he used most of the time to enter hi apartment, he saw two uniform cops nosing around in his kitchen window. Buzz climbed the fire escape as quietly as possible and they somehow never heard him. He waited under his window till he heard his door close. Buzz clambered in and saw that they did only a very cursory lazy search. He found his weapons/body armour stash was untouched since he was there last. He had it booby trapped.
He was putting on his mask when the two "cops" burst back in the door. The were wearing cop uniforms he saw, but they appeared to be some kind of fish men, or were wearing very elaborate and realistic fish men costumes? They rushed him and the next thing he knew a beam of what could only be called "Ruby" energy burst through his kevlar and burnt the fishes quite badly. There was a drone and a definite buzz as the beam dissipated. The fish men were standing, but horribly burned. It smelled horrible. He took out his machete and lopped off both their heads, in what seemed like one stroke. he was healthier than before. and ummm he had laser beams coming out of his chest.
he disposed of the bodies and what he now saw were cheap store-bought "Cop" costumes in a barrel nearby that was always on fire. 24/7 there was always a fire there to warm your hands or dispose of things that needed disposing of. The whole area stank of tuna from HELL gone off .
Over the next few weeks Buzz learned to control when he used the Ruby Beam. which was only sparingly when he came across something big. (two times he's run into fish/lizard type men who were dressed otherwise normal. while trying to kill or harm at least some locals) Fighting them was hard they shrugged off a lot of his moves, but the Ruby fried them good. The victims as usual when he showed up never stuck around to say thanks, or even acknowledge his help. They mostly ran away as scared of him as they were the people(creatures?) attacking them.
he's also discovered a second beam from his chest, a psychedelic rainbow beam that can at times "dazzle" those who see it. there seems to be a bubbly synthy sound to this one, less of a buzz.
The last few weeks also Buzz has been trying to gain some contacts who have knowledge about things like Fish men and chest lasers.
level 8
Buzz Bronx
abilities (18)
str 14 (4) +3
dex 18 (8) +4
con 14 (4) +2
int 10 +0
wis 12 (2) +1
cha 10 +0
saves 12
toughness 4 (2 flat footed) (+2 from feat, +2 con)
fort 4 (+2 con = +6)
Reflex 4 (+4 dex = +8)
will 4 (+1 wis = +5)
Combat 24
attack +6/+8 melee (12)
grapple
damage +3 unarmed
Defense +6 (+2 dodge = +8) (12)
initiative +8
Skills 12 (x4 = 48)
acrobatics 8 (+12)
concentration 6 (+7)
notice 6 (+7)
sense motive 6 (+7)
stealth 8 (+12)
gather info 6 (+6)
Knowledge: streetwise 8 (+8)
Feats (16)
attack focus: melee
Defensive roll 2
dodge focus 2
Elusive target (1)
evasion 2 (2)
grappling finesse (1)
improved critical (1)
improved grapple (1)
Improved initiative (1)
Instant up (1)
interpose (1)
Luck 2 (2)
power Attack (1)
Powers 38
Strike 5 (Razor kick) (5)
Thrown Strike 5 (5) (Razor Blades)
Device 7 (28)
(Ruby Buzz Blast) Blast 6 (12)
(The Freaky Rainbow) Dazzle 4 (16) 4/rank - all senses.
my 3.5 D&D campaign is going to be back up and running next monday evening. I've got a few options for where they are going. We've done the "training missions" time to get into the story, which is all about sky cites, sea hag coveys and dragon wars.
Played my Pirate-ish 3.5 game the other night (made a really good chili for it that was a big hit) ... Haven't quite got to the Pirating yet as i wanted to re-introduce my inept vampire character again "Erbain" ... I had the group do one last mission in the city, or rather at the outskirts of the city in the Necropolis...to fetch a vampire who resides there and of course it is old Erbain( who the gang thought they killed.) ... On the way I had them roll for a random encounte in my head a "1" was a fight... a "20" some sort of non combat encounter to advance the plot.... They rolled a 1. :)
So I had them fight some mysterious thugs (actually halfling rogues in disguise)... I think I may have overarmed my group. going to have to up my CRs for all the fights. They're 6th level as they seem to be having their way with most things I throw at them. I need the fights to be a but closer. (and as the evening went on I got better at this)
They killed off all but one who dim. door'd his way out... leaving behind some clues about why they were rousted that the team completely ignored despite all my over-acting re: said clues. :sigh:
They get to the crypt to find that Erbain is who he is and that he will only peaceably (he has a host of undead and living servants at the ready) accompany them (as small revenge for temporarily "killing" him) only if they will play enough "Harrow" (pathfinder deck of many things minus a few of the more retarded/complicated cards)) with him so as to relieve him of the deck. (How I make the deck work is that once you've drawn a certain number of cards... (more than 3 is greedy) you have to carry it until you can con someone else into it. The deck itself brings misfortune to the holder pretty constantly in a "trouble magnet" sort of way, as it needs to be passed on or used a lot or it gets bored (yes it's intelligent, but I doubt any of the players will guess that, unless I tell them, but in case, i'm leaving that option)
The Rogue/Swashbuckler did lots of choosing and kept getting suckass cards (including losing a level, which turned the player into a real whiner) except for "get to pick one of two initiatives from now on" card. I think he picked 6 in all.
The Barbarian picked a couple (from one of the rogue's cards that forced him to give cards to an ally) and gained the enmity of a Demon (one I've used before conveniently, with a different party) as well as a sweet "horn of Fog".
The Ranger got an ability score bump out of it and quit while he was ahead. But now the deck belongs to the rogue who got into a fistfight before leaving with a Dwarf servant of the Vamp. The dwarf cleaned his clock. Halfling vs. Dwarf? Dwarf wins every time.
They got back to the Ship (it's as big a Pirate ship as there ever was, fast and black as the night, btw) it's called "The Scary Mary". It's got 12 cannons aside, and one weird mystical steampunkish cannon that shoots up to six balls at once in the actual crow's nest.
For some reason the gang decides to always have someone guarding their loot, gear and whatnot while everyone else goes up for dinner, and a bit of relax time on their first night out, despite The Pirate Captain "Bess The Blood Red's" assurance that no one on this ship would dare steal anyone else's stuff, as she'd make them walk the plank, as penalty.
So I had to come up with stuff to happen to that guy while the others went in search of plot threads in the galley (which looked like a pub more than a galley) The ranger took the first watch and I had him have a run in with the purser, a half orc who has the room directly below the Ranger's. Apparently there was a leak of some weird oily substance leaking from the ceiling. the Ranger would only talk to the npc through the door! He looked and saw that leaking from one of their footlockers seemed to be some oily substance it was a big stain under the box... The NPC said that below the stuff is taking the form of a man or creature of some sort. They decide that the Pursrer will find the Captain or someone in authority to check it out.
Meanwhile upstairs the gang meets some of the NPCs - The dwarf from earlier, The Cleric tells of how she had an inadvertent sex change through a similar Harrow deck, and had to marry her husband the Djinni first mate of the ship Creel O'Riordan. They find out that Skull island is where they are going, and whatnot, until the ship starts rocking as if there was a sudden winter storm, or that they are under attack. sure enough the alarm goes out and they are under attack... it seems a dragon or multiple dragons... big ones. Here I got to use a bit of the Stormwrack narrative combat. (they were fighting a three headed dragon (Blue/Red/white) that was hitting with breath weapons from pretty far off. ) I let the players rolls affect most of the damage, rolling once for the "ship"... It was a fun combat.
Bess had to almost sign an oath to get the ranger away from the room, after they found out they had what Bess called "an oilmen" infestation. (the trouble magnetism I mentioned earlier, at work) just as she felt the attack, and tried to get them all upstairs into the battle.
The opposite number to the Ranger in terms of caution it seems is the halfling Rogue who scampered up the mast to help the Gunner load the weird mystical cannon. He kept rolling really well while trying to use it, so I let him. Everyone got to have a few hits in at the Dragon as in came in closer. the Rogue eventually jumping on the dragon successfully, but on the middle head as he forgot that it had three, I think. :p he got chomped a bit, but in the end was okay. the Ranger realized that he had it pretty sweet fighting dragons as they are his main favored enemy. a really fun melee. the Barbarian got to use his horn of fog to some effectiveness, and managed to deal the death blow in close.
We ended there. all in all, a fun game. And, next game I'm getting one of the gals who was playing in the spring (half orc Druid) back in the game I think/hope. She came into my work and asked if we were playing again. She's the same level as the current gang, and a fun player.
I'm excited for the future of this campaign that I'm mostly making up as i go along. :)
Just read the corebook for Fvlminata, pretty awesome. It's set in a powerful 3rd century Roman Empire with muskets and magic.
:bleeding:
Quote from: sbr ink=topic=999.msg348116#msg348116 date=1323394428
:bleeding:
What's your problem?
It has one of the most detailed and well thought backgrounds for an rpg I've ever seen.
The only thing that might be iffy (I haven't played it, so I can't judge) is the mechanics. You use 8 sided dice to simulate Roman knucklebone dice. Two 1s, 3s, 4s and 6s.
Also, initiative goes by social status.
The magic systems are really detailed and go by how Romans and other ancient peoples thought magic worked, really interesting.
As for the gunpowder, a friend of Pliny the Younger survives the Vesuvian eruption here (he died in our timeline) and becomes obsessed with vulcanism. He becomes an alchemist and tries to recreate what he saw and eventually comes up with gunpowder. Since gunpowder was actually invented by Chinese alchemists searching for an elixir of immortality, I think this is pretty realistic.
Quote from: jimmy olsen on March 20, 2011, 12:51:51 AM
Quote from: BuddhaRhubarb on March 18, 2011, 12:12:30 PM
Quote from: jimmy olsen on March 18, 2011, 12:52:18 AM
A mithril bow already at the 4th level? What kind of gear are you guys gonna be packing when you hit tenth!
The DM kind of buffed us up a bit with magic weapons, as we've somehow missed all the gold so far and we all rolled horribly rolling up our characters (no array old school dm) and playing 2.0 you don't get any hit/damage bonuses unless you have 16+ on the appropriate ability. Of the three PCs only one has a 16 (the elf on dex)
last night we delved further in on this adventure that is a bit of a riff on White Plume Mountain. killed hella lot of Goblins, and got closer to "the gold"
Aside from the comedy gold that can result from the roll on comeliness, what's the benifit of playing 2.0 over 3.5?
It is a better game for one.
Pink warning box can piss off. so I haven't updated my thread in awhile. big whoop.
I'm updating now, because I have my new game logs on a blog here:
http://josierpg.blogspot.ca/ (http://josierpg.blogspot.ca/)
Are you playing an adventure path in Pathfinder? And if so, which one?
Quote from: Jacob on August 23, 2012, 12:57:10 PM
Are you playing an adventure path in Pathfinder? And if so, which one?
Kingmaker, we're on the second module.
Quote from: BuddhaRhubarb on August 23, 2012, 10:41:03 PM
Quote from: Jacob on August 23, 2012, 12:57:10 PM
Are you playing an adventure path in Pathfinder? And if so, which one?
Kingmaker, we're on the second module.
FUUUUUUCK!
I want to play that!!!!!!!
Dude, we'd love another player. we just levelled to 7th. we have a bit of an erratic play schedule, usually one weeknight a week, or every two weeks.
Quote from: BuddhaRhubarb on August 30, 2012, 10:39:40 AM
Dude, we'd love another player. we just levelled to 7th. we have a bit of an erratic play schedule, usually one weeknight a week, or every two weeks.
I'm so in.
What characters do you have? What char gen rules do you use?
Quote from: Jacob on August 30, 2012, 03:54:28 PM
Quote from: BuddhaRhubarb on August 30, 2012, 10:39:40 AM
Dude, we'd love another player. we just levelled to 7th. we have a bit of an erratic play schedule, usually one weeknight a week, or every two weeks.
I'm so in.
What characters do you have? What char gen rules do you use?
We're using the kingmaker setting (there's a free pdf character handbook, with maps and campaign specific traits). I think we are doing the standard point buy/roll .. I refuse to do point buy. I always roll
we could really use a Rogue, but all the character classes are open for this game. we have a Cleric, Ranger, Inquisitor, and a Summoner.
I'll send an email to the DM and get any info that's needed. we are playing on Wednesday, which is likely too soon. We aim for weekly, but sometimes schedules conflict, so 2 or 3 times a month.
hey Jacob, we've moved this week's game to Thursday. let me know (maybe on facebook, I'm on there several times a day) if you could do it. If not I'll keep you in the loop as to the next game next week.
still DMing with Pathfinder, will be finishing up current campaign, which is maybe the most non violent campaign i have ever ran, and not on purpose, just the two folks who show up the most are really good at roleplaying parlay, and solving clues, riddles i have set up. fights are usually forced upon them by creatures who won't or can't parlay. though the big finale wll have them all transformed in kaiju and they won't have a choice but to duke it out while so embiggened. seriously it's a social justice warrior game, where the serpentfolk are trying to take over the world, or maybe they already did? not sure what game i will run when i nove next moth, may take the summer off from dm-ing as i also am playing again after a two year break in my old group that used to be mutants and masterminds, so superheroes, which is now doing a call of cthulhu game (7th ed,) i really dig this ed of C of C... fun game so far, using the pulp expansion, my character is a pilot/explorer/looter type, kind of Indiana Jones meets Doctor Aphra but with elder gods looming instead of the force or the grail.
Quote from: BuddhaRhubarb on March 13, 2018, 12:25:13 PM
still DMing with Pathfinder, will be finishing up current campaign, which is maybe the most non violent campaign i have ever ran, and not on purpose, just the two folks who show up the most are really good at roleplaying parlay, and solving clues, riddles i have set up. fights are usually forced upon them by creatures who won't or can't parlay. though the big finale wll have them all transformed in kaiju and they won't have a choice but to duke it out while so embiggened. seriously it's a social justice warrior game, where the serpentfolk are trying to take over the world, or maybe they already did? not sure what game i will run when i nove next moth, may take the summer off from dm-ing as i also am playing again after a two year break in my old group that used to be mutants and masterminds, so superheroes, which is now doing a call of cthulhu game (7th ed,) i really dig this ed of C of C... fun game so far, using the pulp expansion, my character is a pilot/explorer/looter type, kind of Indiana Jones meets Doctor Aphra but with elder gods looming instead of the force or the grail.
:cool:
Nice work Buddha, good to see you around. :cheers:
finished up the current pathfinder campaign. percolating ideas to do a superhero campaign, as my most reliable D&Ders were really into the idea when i broached it after we ended the last campaign a couple weeks ago. also i have an pretty solid superhero verse of my own created in one of my many unfinished novels. I have a bunch of mutants and masterminds packages for hero lab, and haven't used that stuff in a while. it's a good system for my mostly house rule style of campaign managing. probably an 'exiles' style arc with lots of parody/homage type supers.
So decided on my new campaign, superheroes (using mutants and masterminds 3rd edition) set in USA 1947 to start with, early Red Scare days. (that's actually one of the 'villains' names. The Red Scare. ) my two reliable players have actually come up with their own characters, one a mercenary type called The Black Flag, an avowed anarchist, fought fascism in Spain in costume in the late 30's, and as yet un named nurse with some sort of 'radium' powers a socialist hero, who is much older than most, having got her Radium powers during the Great War, as opposed to ww2. So obviously this game will have a heavy anti fascist bent, all the big bads will be fascist super villain archetypes. (wxcept the ultimate big bad who is actually a sentient galaxy sized corporation. :p ) will start playing in June i think. any Vancouver languishers up fo a politically chraged superhero game? lemme know. probably play tuesday evenings.
Does this galaxy-sized corporation provide good share-holder value? :hmm:
(https://img.washingtonpost.com/rf/image_480w/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2015/11/26/Editorial-Opinion/Images/Merlin_158198.jpg?uuid=D1tRAJRuEeW15CebRQHopg)
I have a list of a hundred Communist superheroes.
Quote from: BuddhaRhubarb on May 23, 2018, 11:29:53 AM
So decided on my new campaign, superheroes (using mutants and masterminds 3rd edition) set in USA 1947 to start with, early Red Scare days. (that's actually one of the 'villains' names. The Red Scare. ) my two reliable players have actually come up with their own characters, one a mercenary type called The Black Flag, an avowed anarchist, fought fascism in Spain in costume in the late 30's, and as yet un named nurse with some sort of 'radium' powers a socialist hero, who is much older than most, having got her Radium powers during the Great War, as opposed to ww2. So obviously this game will have a heavy anti fascist bent, all the big bads will be fascist super villain archetypes. (wxcept the ultimate big bad who is actually a sentient galaxy sized corporation. :p ) will start playing in June i think. any Vancouver languishers up fo a politically chraged superhero game? lemme know. probably play tuesday evenings.
Sounds pretty awesome. I've always been a big Justice Society of America fan, so that era has been interesting with how they've explained it in DC Comics. I wonder if the heroes of your campaign will stay "heroes" or become outlaws themselves. With their backgrounds I can't imagine the authorities taking a shine to their activities and attitudes.
Quote from: Benedict Arnold on May 25, 2018, 11:21:34 AM
Quote from: BuddhaRhubarb on May 23, 2018, 11:29:53 AM
So decided on my new campaign, superheroes (using mutants and masterminds 3rd edition) set in USA 1947 to start with, early Red Scare days. (that's actually one of the 'villains' names. The Red Scare. ) my two reliable players have actually come up with their own characters, one a mercenary type called The Black Flag, an avowed anarchist, fought fascism in Spain in costume in the late 30's, and as yet un named nurse with some sort of 'radium' powers a socialist hero, who is much older than most, having got her Radium powers during the Great War, as opposed to ww2. So obviously this game will have a heavy anti fascist bent, all the big bads will be fascist super villain archetypes. (wxcept the ultimate big bad who is actually a sentient galaxy sized corporation. :p ) will start playing in June i think. any Vancouver languishers up fo a politically chraged superhero game? lemme know. probably play tuesday evenings.
Sounds pretty awesome. I've always been a big Justice Society of America fan, so that era has been interesting with how they've explained it in DC Comics. I wonder if the heroes of your campaign will stay "heroes" or become outlaws themselves. With their backgrounds I can't imagine the authorities taking a shine to their activities and attitudes.
there will definitely be some 'outlawing' i imagine as i'm starting starting with them being on trial for being 'reds' and having to leave mid trial to save the world in ways no one will believe until they do it.
That superhero campaign petered out quickly sadly, but i replaced it with a new 5e campaign set in the same place as my last one, but with a weirder story. all the pcs are non standard races like Ursine, tortle, grung etc....really fun so far, because/despite most of the players being total newbies. we are playing regularly, and being good about keeping the flow going. favourite npc Harvey the revenant gnome inquisitor/leather daddy. also playing in an expansive call of Cthulhu/basic role playing mashup game, set both between the WWs and during WW 2, so i get to play two versions of my character, one fresh, young, new to the horrors of yer cthulhu-verse, and the older wizened and pretty broken yet dangerous older version. also sometime role play the various pcs' kitty cats using an expansion called call of Cathulhu.