# Besides D&D, what are you playing?



## PabloM (Mar 21, 2020)

We all love D&D and in this beautiful time, I think most play some of its variants (including PF and PF2).
But there is a world beyond that, so besides D&D what are you playing? what do you want to play?

I'm personally testing Symbaroum and Ironsworn, two really good games.
Particularly from Ironsworn, I think it's the best game I've played in a long time, and its free!


----------



## aramis erak (Mar 21, 2020)

I'm NOT running D&D. Haven't in a couple years now. 

Current games are Sentinel Comics RPG and ALIEN. SC works so much better FTF than VOIP that I am likely to put it on hiatus during the quarantine. (I've run it VOIP before.)

Alien, we'll see how tonight goes for the local group - 1 player has opted out. (The guy who bought 3 full sets of dice in the KS...).


----------



## dragoner (Mar 21, 2020)

I'm looking to branch out, though at the moment I am doing Traveller (both Classic and Five); also messing about with _Antimatter Catalyzed Fusion_, plus doing a spacecraft deck plans and stats (it's a 5k ton Battle-Mother named the _Wolf Spider_ that carries 5 400 ton combat vessels). So there is a lot of work looking at the possible tech: Orion's Arm page on the subject the spacecraft in my setting are fusion torch-ships, and stack their decks like a skyscraper, unless smaller interface capable.


----------



## John Dallman (Mar 21, 2020)

GURPS 4e. Running an Infinite Worlds/Cabal campaign that's coming to its end after 8 years, playing in an occult WWII campaign, and a Monster Hunters in weird Florida campaign.


----------



## atanakar (Mar 21, 2020)

Other than my current D&D5e campaign I have two on-and-off campaigns going on:

*• Coriolis the Third Horizon* (Free League). The characters are free traders (smugglers) who answered a distress call from a stranded ship. They saved the crew survivors. The engineer character found a large stash of drugs on the ship while repairing the environmental system. The players decided to steal the drugs. It went down hill from there. They did make a profit but now they have many enemies in the underworld and the authorities are looking for them. It's been one long chase scene over 7 sessions. Great fun to GM.

*• Modern AGE* (Green Ronin) *1910 Pulp* alternate history located in Montreal, Canada. Each character has an innate special power. They are part of the Charlemagne Institute who investigate supernatural and weird science events.

I want to do a *Forbidden Lands* one shot in 2020.


----------



## univoxs (Mar 21, 2020)

Travaller!  The GM went mad and bought all the content for Pirates of Drinax. Also, while I am running a 3.5 homebrew hexcrawl on roll20, we will be transitioning to Alien. I am keeping myself from even cracking the Alien book until we are close to done in the hexcrawl. I don't wanna get too excited and end the hexcrawl early.


----------



## Umbran (Mar 21, 2020)

My current campaign, which may be finishing up shortly, is Ashen Stars.


----------



## hawkeyefan (Mar 21, 2020)

Playing in a Blades in the Dark PbP on discord that just got underway. 

Will soon be starting an Alien mini-campaign once I figure the logistics of running it online. 

I also like Ironsworn and would like to try that, but I don’t see that happening anytime soon. Same with Over the Edge....recently grabbed a copy and it seems cool and different, but I don’t know when I’ll have time to play it.


----------



## TwoSix (Mar 21, 2020)

Besides D&D, we have an off-and-on game of Monster of the Week going, and I'm working on a setting up a hack of Beyond the Wall.


----------



## Campbell (Mar 21, 2020)

Right now playing in a Mage The Awakening game. 

I am part of a gaming club that plays various short form Powered By The Apocalypse World games (1-6 sessions). So far we have done Masks, Freebooters, City of Mist, The Sprawl, World Wide Wrestling, and Headspace this year. We'll probably get to Pasión de las Pasiones (telenovela game), Monster of the Week, and hopefully Monsterhearts soon. I'd like more Masks and Blades in the Dark in my life.

When everything levels off I will probably work on getting a Sorcerer game off the ground.


----------



## Aldarc (Mar 21, 2020)

TwoSix said:


> Besides D&D, we have an off-and-on game of Monster of the Week going, and I'm working on a setting up a hack of Beyond the Wall.



I would be interested in your Beyond the Wall hack.


----------



## Morrus (Mar 21, 2020)

Pathfinder 2E. Haven't played D&D in ages!


----------



## DammitVictor (Mar 21, 2020)

I'm not playing or running anything at the moment, but I'm currently arm-wrestling with my friend over running his _Savage Worlds_ game versus my D&D clone-in-progress.


----------



## the Jester (Mar 21, 2020)

Call of Cthulhu, no idea what version. It's one of the percentile system versions, though.


----------



## aramis erak (Mar 21, 2020)

Morrus said:


> Pathfinder 2E. Haven't played D&D in ages!



Many would count PF as D&D... many count a wide range of OSR games as D&D as well.

Not claiming you're wrong, just pointing out that playing a game that shares 99% of the tropes and abut 50% of the mechanical elements as a D&D edition is like saying, "I'm not using an 586 computer" when you're using an AMD k5 cpu.


----------



## Morrus (Mar 21, 2020)

aramis erak said:


> Many would count PF as D&D... many count a wide range of OSR games as D&D as well.
> 
> Not claiming you're wrong, just pointing out that playing a game that shares 99% of the tropes and abut 50% of the mechanical elements as a D&D edition is like saying, "I'm not using an 586 computer" when you're using an AMD k5 cpu.



OK.


----------



## PabloM (Mar 21, 2020)

So, a lot of Sci Fi games going on, right?

I wonder how modern AGE will be for a cyberpunk one-shot .

On the "narrative side", someone is playing Fate? 

@Campbell if you are into PbtA games, I really insist you to take a look of Ironsworn. It was the PbtA game that he finally bought me.


----------



## LordEntrails (Mar 22, 2020)

Star Frontiers


----------



## gepetto (Mar 22, 2020)

aramis erak said:


> I'm NOT running D&D. Haven't in a couple years now.
> 
> Current games are Sentinel Comics RPG and ALIEN. SC works so much better FTF than VOIP that I am likely to put it on hiatus during the quarantine. (I've run it VOIP before.)
> 
> Alien, we'll see how tonight goes for the local group - 1 player has opted out. (The guy who bought 3 full sets of dice in the KS...).




How is alien? 

Theres a guy here in town that just started up a game looking for players and I was thinking of trying it. I love the franchise, havent heard much about the mechanics though. 

Oh  and other then my Hunter game I just bought a strategy game called age of wonder planetfall thats taking up my free time during the corona vacation.


----------



## Morrus (Mar 22, 2020)

gepetto said:


> How is alien?



I've played it, It's superb. The stress mechanic is amazing. It's second only to _Dread_ in building tension.


----------



## gepetto (Mar 22, 2020)

Morrus said:


> I've played it, It's superb. The stress mechanic is amazing. It's second only to _Dread_ in building tension.




Cool, I'll give it a try then. thx


----------



## The Green Hermit (Mar 22, 2020)

We only have time for one RPG, so D&D it is. However, we play just about every board game and card game we can get our hands on, along with video games. We also frequently subscribe to WoW, but are on a hiatus right now while we are in the midst of buying another house/moving/selling our current house. This lockdown, though, is having us question this decision.


----------



## Morrus (Mar 22, 2020)

The Green Hermit said:


> We only have time for one RPG






> However, we play just about every board game and card game we can get our hands on, along with video games.




LOGICAL DISCONNECT!


----------



## The Green Hermit (Mar 22, 2020)

Morrus said:


> LOGICAL DISCONNECT!




Maybe I should have said "mental capacity" instead of time. Lol! Nobody else in the house is willing to DM and I'm not about to start another game while we're still in the midst of this one.


----------



## Greatwyrm (Mar 22, 2020)

We do a kind of rotating GM thing.  We'll be pausing our 5e game soon to go back to WEG Star Wars for a while.


----------



## univoxs (Mar 22, 2020)

Greatwyrm said:


> We do a kind of rotating GM thing.  We'll be pausing our 5e game soon to go back to WEG Star Wars for a while.




I am interested to know if you are using the anniversary edition\1st edition, or the later edition stuff with the expanded rules.


----------



## Greatwyrm (Mar 22, 2020)

univoxs said:


> I am interested to know if you are using the anniversary edition\1st edition, or the later edition stuff with the expanded rules.



Mostly the old 1e stuff, but the GM has some of his own house rules he's adapted over the years.  We basically use the Top Secret S.I. wound system, for example.


----------



## Lord Mhoram (Mar 22, 2020)

HERO and Genesys are my go to games. 
D&D is the only non universal system I play.


----------



## PabloM (Mar 22, 2020)

Lord Mhoram said:


> HERO and Genesys are my go to games.
> D&D is the only non universal system I play.




how is genesis? did you try Fate?


----------



## Lord Mhoram (Mar 22, 2020)

PabloM said:


> how is genesis? did you try Fate?




I did try fate (in the form of the Dresden Files RPG). I just couldn't get into it - just didn't fit what I wanted in an RPG I think. It looks to be a fantastic system... just not for me. I think the Aspects and fate point economy just was too different from traditional approach for me.

Genesys really works for me. Character building is fairly traditional (stats, skills, "feats") but the die rolls give narrative ability when rolled. There are 3 different axis the dice can have results in - Success/Failure, Benefit/Complication and Special benefit or special complication.  So you can succeed, but end up in a worse place, fail but have good things happen - (both success and benefit can be cancelled by their opposites). The Special success or failure cannot be cancelled - so they are an extra level. And if you roll special advantage and special complication you get both - and the player (or players, or both and GM) figure out the narrative effects of what came out.


----------



## uzirath (Mar 22, 2020)

I'm either playing in or running a handful of campaigns using the Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game powered by GURPS. I'm helping a friend playtest some material for 5e. I'm interested in playing ALIEN.


----------



## aramis erak (Mar 22, 2020)

gepetto said:


> How is alien?
> 
> Theres a guy here in town that just started up a game looking for players and I was thinking of trying it. I love the franchise, havent heard much about the mechanics though.
> 
> Oh  and other then my Hunter game I just bought a strategy game called age of wonder planetfall thats taking up my free time during the corona vacation.



Mechanics work REALLY well in theme. Simple to run, plenty of inspirational materials.
Plays well. There's a whole thread on it here at Game Design Masterclass: Alien
You can find my posts on RPGGeek in the "How DId Your Session Go" lists.


----------



## Ulfgeir (Mar 22, 2020)

The one active campaign where we have gotten a few sessions in:

* Vampire: the Masquerade 5e. We tried playing it through Astraltabletop last Friday. That worked surprisingly well, but you need to do a lot of prepping for it to work.

We were just about to start a campiagn in Fate Accelerated (God & Monsters), and we have had one character-generating session. We might be playing that through Astraltabletop today. Not entirely sure.

Normally we gather up all 8 players and play at the home of one of the guys, but now with a certain panedmic, we should do what we can for social distancing.


*Campaigns on hold atm (and that will be played again):*
* Scion 2e. The GM took a break from GM'ing due to burnout, but hav started writing on it again.

* Star Trek Adventures -  Same GM as above, but that was much easier for him with premade adventures. Just had a few sessions, and it works well as a filler-game for when we can't do the scheduled game.

* Mage: The Awakening 2e

*Campaigns on hold, that are way less likely to ever start again, for various reasons.*
* Star Wars - Force & Destiny. We might actually have finished that campaign.

* Legend of the Five rings

* Daring Comics  rpg.  

* Drakar och Demoner Trudvagn (though we used GURPS as a system. That was a mistake)

And probably forgetting other campaigns


----------



## Tallifer (Mar 22, 2020)

Star Wars D6 with expanded options.


----------



## steenan (Mar 22, 2020)

I don't currently play D&D and haven't for quite a long time. The last time I did was during 5e playtest.

Currently I'm running a Nobilis campaign. I have also recently ran two Pathfinder adventures and would have ran an Exalted adventure if not for the lockdown. Last but not least, I have ran two short Maze Rats sessions for my kids (9 and 5).


----------



## generic (Mar 22, 2020)

aramis erak said:


> Many would count PF as D&D... many count a wide range of OSR games as D&D as well.
> 
> Not claiming you're wrong, just pointing out that playing a game that shares 99% of the tropes and abut 50% of the mechanical elements as a D&D edition is like saying, "I'm not using an 586 computer" when you're using an AMD k5 cpu.



I'm running a few systems that function about as well as an Intel x86 processor.


----------



## Zhaleskra (Mar 22, 2020)

aramis erak said:


> Many would count PF as D&D... many count a wide range of OSR games as D&D as well.




And some people go so far as to call every TTRPG "D&D", even when talking about a game that clearly isn't D&D even if it is being used for pseudo-medieval fantasy. I actually got annoyed with the GURPS group I was once part of when the GM called it D&D to explain it to people asking (we were playing in a brewery).

Anywho, onto the question. I'm not playing or running anything right now. Currently working on generators either for games I want to run soon or that I just haven't done work on the generator in a loooooong time.


----------



## Nebulous (Mar 22, 2020)

We have been playing Dungeon World on Roll20.  I really like it, but I need more practice.


----------



## TwoSix (Mar 22, 2020)

Aldarc said:


> I would be interested in your Beyond the Wall hack.



It's still pretty aggressively informal at this point, since I'm not anticipating being able to start until 2021 (and who knows how much more delay there will be due to coronavirus).  But, basically

-Make characters and design the village using the playbooks.  
-Convert characters to broadly use 5e rules.  6 classes (Warrior, Rogue, Mage, W/R, W/M, R/M).  The playbook gained features provide an extended background that guides skill choices and special class features.  I have a bunch of rules modifying the 5e core, probably beyond the scope of this post.


----------



## Reynard (Mar 22, 2020)

I am actually looking for an alternative to 5E for a somewhat gritty fantasy sandbox campaign, so let me know if you have suggestions. It doesn't have to be D&D related but it should be a traditional RPG that's medium crunchy and tracks XP.


----------



## Aldarc (Mar 22, 2020)

TwoSix said:


> It's still pretty aggressively informal at this point, since I'm not anticipating being able to start until 2021 (and who knows how much more delay there will be due to coronavirus).  But, basically
> 
> -Make characters and design the village using the playbooks.
> -Convert characters to broadly use 5e rules.  6 classes (Warrior, Rogue, Mage, W/R, W/M, R/M).  The playbook gained features provide an extended background that guides skill choices and special class features.  I have a bunch of rules modifying the 5e core, probably beyond the scope of this post.



I know you say that you are using 5e rules, but would it still be d20 roll under attribute or d20 roll high against a DC? But whatever the case, color me deeply intrigued by your project.


----------



## hawkeyefan (Mar 22, 2020)

Reynard said:


> I am actually looking for an alternative to 5E for a somewhat gritty fantasy sandbox campaign, so let me know if you have suggestions. It doesn't have to be D&D related but it should be a traditional RPG that's medium crunchy and tracks XP.




You may want to check Five Torches Deep. It’s a simplified version of 5E, designed to be grittier and to place the emphasis on exploration.


----------



## PabloM (Mar 22, 2020)

Reynard said:


> I am actually looking for an alternative to 5E for a somewhat gritty fantasy sandbox campaign, so let me know if you have suggestions. It doesn't have to be D&D related but it should be a traditional RPG that's medium crunchy and tracks XP.




I strongly recommend that you read Forbidden Lands. It is the game you are looking for.


----------



## Nebulous (Mar 22, 2020)

Reynard said:


> I am actually looking for an alternative to 5E for a somewhat gritty fantasy sandbox campaign, so let me know if you have suggestions. It doesn't have to be D&D related but it should be a traditional RPG that's medium crunchy and tracks XP.




Shadow of the Demon Lord looks very, very interesting, grim dark fantasy.


----------



## Mark Sabalauskas (Mar 22, 2020)

I have a Damn the Man Save the Music one shot scheduled for Wednesday, and a Fate game a little bit later.

Both should be light enough to play with voice channel on a Discord, with a Google doc for notes.


----------



## Reynard (Mar 22, 2020)

Nebulous said:


> Shadow of the Demon Lord looks very, very interesting, grim dark fantasy.



Isn't that a Diablo style dungeon crawler on tabletop, including fast leveling and contained environments?


----------



## Nebulous (Mar 22, 2020)

Reynard said:


> Isn't that a Diablo style dungeon crawler on tabletop, including fast leveling and contained environments?



I don't think so.  It caps at level 10, I know that.  It has some similarities to 5e but I haven't actually played it, just read over a few rules.  It's a roleplaying game, not a monster churner.  Combat can be quite deadly actually.


----------



## Nebulous (Mar 22, 2020)

PabloM said:


> I strongly recommend that you read Forbidden Lands. It is the game you are looking for.



I took a look at that, it looks pretty cool too


----------



## PabloM (Mar 22, 2020)

Nebulous said:


> I took a look at that, it looks pretty cool too



It's really amazing. I read Forbidden Lands and Symbaroum at the same time, and finally decided on Symbaroum because it seemed to fit more with what I was looking for, but I will definitely try to run at least a one-shot in Forbidden Lands someday.


----------



## Reynard (Mar 22, 2020)

PabloM said:


> I strongly recommend that you read Forbidden Lands. It is the game you are looking for.



I watched a review of it. It looks similar to the exploration system of Mutant: Year Zero. My only hang up is that it doesn't seem to be easily portable to an original campaign setting.


----------



## Blue (Mar 22, 2020)

I'm playing two D&D campaigns and one FATE campaign at the moment.  The game I'm running is on hold.

One D&D game is set in a fantasy Ancient Greece, using reskinned Ravnica as the basis.  The DM touts it as Game of Thrones political, but so far we've been more A-team - though building up connections and favors with various different factions.

Another D&D game just started last night as an outgrowth of our side game, which was Waterdeep: Dragon Heist game that we recently completed successfully.  The characters from that are now wealthy and powerful patrons, and they are hiring neophyte adventurers to go do missions for them.  It's heading toward Decent into Avernus.

The FATE game is a post-pseudo-singularity, heading towards apocalypse, supers cyberpunk game.  Borrows from all over the place in a very creative tapestry.  And, we just found out last session involves iminent alien invasion of the Earth, which is why the governing AI left with mankind's best and brightest and everything has been slowly breaking down for the past 20 years.


----------



## PabloM (Mar 22, 2020)

Reynard said:


> I watched a review of it. It looks similar to the exploration system of Mutant: Year Zero. My only hang up is that it doesn't seem to be easily portable to an original campaign setting.




I only read the game, I didn't play it, but from what the manual says you only need a map to play in your own setting.


----------



## Eyes of Nine (Mar 23, 2020)

Morrus said:


> Pathfinder 2E. Haven't played D&D in ages!




That's actually really surprising! Although "ages" could mean a year or two; or it could mean a decade or two. I guess I would have expected you to play some bit of 5e, just at least to know about it...

It's like finding out that Walt Disney didn't like to ride on rides...


----------



## Eyes of Nine (Mar 23, 2020)

PabloM said:


> We all love D&D and in this beautiful time, I think most play some of its variants (including PF and PF2).
> But there is a world beyond that, so besides D&D what are you playing? what do you want to play?
> 
> I'm personally testing Symbaroum and Ironsworn, two really good games.
> Particularly from Ironsworn, I think it's the best game I've played in a long time, and its free!




A buddy is thinking of reviving his Tales from the Loop game.

Also playing in a Numenara game.

I'm not running anything else except D&D right now, but Traveller (or maybe a PbtA hack of it like Uncharted Worlds or Offworlders), PrimeTime Adventures, and Freebooters on the Frontier all are calling me...
Just have to find the right group.


----------



## Morrus (Mar 23, 2020)

Eyes of Nine said:


> That's actually really surprising! Although "ages" could mean a year or two; or it could mean a decade or two. I guess I would have expected you to play some bit of 5e, just at least to know about it...
> 
> It's like finding out that Walt Disney didn't like to ride on rides...



Couple of years. I’ve run 5E campaigns. But there are so many games, and we game only once per week. Pathfinder 2E is scratching my fantasy d20 itch right now.


----------



## PabloM (Mar 23, 2020)

Morrus said:


> Couple of years. I’ve run 5E campaigns. But there are so many games, and we game only once per week. Pathfinder 2E is scratching my fantasy d20 itch right now.




Yes, so many games (I honestly thought the only thing you were playing was WOIN)


----------



## Morrus (Mar 23, 2020)

PabloM said:


> Yes, so many games (I honestly thought the only thing you were playing was WOIN)



In the last few months I’ve played Pathfinder 2, Call of Cthulhu, Alien, and the 1980s Ghostbusters RPG (and WOIN too of course). Plus single sessions of Esoteric Enterprises and Swords of the Serpentine. And that’s just since about October!

(Not that that’s a lot - I know people who play a wider range of games than me - but I definuteky like mixing up my gaming experiences these days).


----------



## PabloM (Mar 23, 2020)

Morrus said:


> In the last few months I’ve played Pathfinder 2, Call of Cthulhu, Alien, and the 1980s Ghostbusters RPG (and WOIN too of course). Plus single sessions of Esoteric Enterprises and Swords of the Serpentine. And that’s just since about October!
> 
> (Not that that’s a lot - I know people who play a wider range of games than me - but I definuteky like mixing up my gaming experiences these days).




wow! If I were to change so many games, my group would organize into a strike.


----------



## Morrus (Mar 23, 2020)

PabloM said:


> wow! If I were to change so many games, my group would organize into a strike.



To be fair, not actually all the same group. That would be difficult to fit into one weekly schedule! Our main group meets once a week though and with that one we've played WOIN and PF2 recently.


----------



## Kersus (Mar 25, 2020)

Currently playing Riki-Tiki-Traveller 2e, Strontium Dog and Far Away Land.

I hope to soon play the Inner City RPG and Core Command as well as some more Tails of Equestria.


----------



## Kersus (Mar 25, 2020)

univoxs said:


> Travaller! The GM went mad and bought all the content for Pirates of Drinax. Also, while I am running a 3.5 homebrew hexcrawl on roll20, we will be transitioning to Alien. I am keeping myself from even cracking the Alien book until we are close to done in the hexcrawl. I don't wanna get too excited and end the hexcrawl early.



Drinax is so heavy with material. So much to read before even starting.


----------



## Kersus (Mar 25, 2020)

aramis erak said:


> Many would count PF as D&D... many count a wide range of OSR games as D&D as well.
> 
> Not claiming you're wrong, just pointing out that playing a game that shares 99% of the tropes and abut 50% of the mechanical elements as a D&D edition is like saying, "I'm not using an 586 computer" when you're using an AMD k5 cpu.



Indeed. While there are dramatic 'feels' differences between OD&D->1e and 2e-5e it's all D&D. Anything d20 based would have to be foundationally different. Even then, breaking d20 into 5% chunks for a derivative percentile system could really still be D&D. They're all gateway games to a much bigger world of role-playing! Each fun in their own way.


----------



## univoxs (Mar 25, 2020)

Kersus said:


> Drinax is so heavy with material. So much to read before even starting.




I dont envy him all the prep work for moving to roll20.


----------



## Kersus (Mar 25, 2020)

univoxs said:


> I dont envy him all the prep work for moving to roll20.



Is some of the material available on Roll20 or is he building it up from scratch?


----------



## univoxs (Mar 25, 2020)

Kersus said:


> Is some of the material available on Roll20 or is he building it up from scratch?




Just character sheets, from what I know. We are buying map tiles from drivethrurpg to ease the burden. On the one hand I am surprised there were premade sheets on roll20 but on the other, determined Travaller players are just the type to make a very good sheet.


----------



## Nine Hands (Mar 25, 2020)

I'm running both Deadlands Classic (in the City of Dodge City) and my homebrew mecha game (basically a complete reboot of the Robotech universe).  They are both on Obsidian Portal if anyone is interested in a link.


----------



## Tun Kai Poh (Mar 30, 2020)

I'm running a Blades in the Dark campaign over Discord video chat. It started out pretty well and we just finished our first Downtime session, full of new NPCs, players establishing their leisure activities and their lair (in the catacombs under the red-light district of the city). The spymaster PC even started some rumour campaigns to get heat off their back and onto a different gang.

My players are all involved in other online games. Two have D&D games (still the popular game here in Malaysia). One just ran a Warbirds one-shot for the local monthly gaming event, A Good Day To Dice (now an online meetup of course). And the fourth just played in a playtest of a new teen supers game called Student Protectors of Malaysia.

Good times, all things considered.


----------



## ErisIndomina (Mar 30, 2020)

I'm in a weekly online game of Godbound right now.


----------



## The Green Hermit (Mar 30, 2020)

I've just gotten back into Assassin's Creed. Deciding to skip the 1st game was definitely a wise choice. (I had beaten one of the later games, but wanted to go back to the beginning so I understood more of the story line.) Besides, it is good for the kids to get booted from the Playstation every once in a while.


----------



## manduck (Apr 2, 2020)

My group is trying out Rotted Capes.  We also break out Worlds in Peril fairly often and Gumshoe for Call of Cthulu.  We like to mix things up.  We break the gaming year out into "seasons" so that one person doesn't get stuck running all the time and can play.  Plus it gives people itching to run something time in the big chair.  So every couple of months we switch games.  Then we circle back around and pick up where we left off in a previous game.  We have two main games right now, D&D and Rotted Capes.  Around holiday season we play one shots or shorter games.


----------



## CleverNickName (Apr 2, 2020)

We've been playing some Call of Cthulhu regularly, and an occasional game of Dread.  There is also talk of playing a Mouseguard one-shot.  (Okay, I'm the only one talking about it.  But hopefully everyone else will come around.)


----------



## Kersus (Apr 2, 2020)

Testing the new version of the Inner City RPG on Roll20/Discord. 

It's basically like AD&D1e for modern times if modern times was Starsky & Hutch and you were the bad guys. Set in the early 80s.

Hoping to play some Traveller or Tales of Equestria at home.


----------



## lordabdul (Apr 2, 2020)

I don't play D&D except _very very _occasionally (I ran a few adventures for my kid and his friends before they had one kid step up to DMing, and before that the last time must have been 10 years ago!). These days I play CoC and Delta Green. I'm starting the WFRP 4e Starter Set scenario tomorrow (pretty excited, I have never played Warhammer before!)... I hope figuring out this whole "online gaming" thing won't get in the way (using Roll20 for that). I recently did a RuneQuest one-shot, and will do a HeroQuest one-shot hopefully after WFRP.


----------



## PabloM (Apr 2, 2020)

CleverNickName said:


> (Okay, I'm the only one talking about it.  But hopefully everyone else will come around.)




I know that itch! I'm the one who proposes new games at my table.



lordabdul said:


> I recently did a RuneQuest one-shot, and will do a HeroQuest one-shot hopefully after WFRP.




Which edition of RQ did you run? I played the second edition of Mongoose a long time and it's BEAUTIFUL


----------



## billd91 (Apr 3, 2020)

The weekly Thursday Night group alternates between D&D 5e and Shadowrun 5e. My Sunday group plays Pathfinder 1e.

We've been trying a few different platforms for playing online. Tonight, we try Google Meets.


----------



## lordabdul (Apr 3, 2020)

PabloM said:


> Which edition of RQ did you run? I played the second edition of Mongoose a long time and it's BEAUTIFUL



The new RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha version. I really like a lot of things they tried to do (and the book is quite gorgeous), but it tends to be a bit unfinished when you look at the details. Nothing that can't be fixed with some errata and a couple house rules, though. I have never played any previous edition, so I have only an academic knowledge of how it compares to them.


----------



## PabloM (Apr 3, 2020)

lordabdul said:


> The new RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha version. I really like a lot of things they tried to do (and the book is quite gorgeous), but it tends to be a bit unfinished when you look at the details. Nothing that can't be fixed with some errata and a couple house rules, though. I have never played any previous edition, so I have only an academic knowledge of how it compares to them.




Oh, I read it but I found it a bit overwhelming the number of elements to consider, plus while I'm a fan of RQ, I'm not really attracted to Glorantha.
Anyway, after what you say, I'm going to give it a try.


----------



## lordabdul (Apr 3, 2020)

PabloM said:


> Anyway, after what you say, I'm going to give it a try.



If you're not attracted to Glorantha, you might want to pass... the game is 100% tied to the setting. If you're willing to give it another chance, however, it _may_ pay off because I think they did a good job with the setting introduction, and how the character creation starts with rolling your family history, which means you both learn about the world's recent history (further easing you into it), and it "anchors" your character in that history (like gaining Pendragon-like "Passions" such as "_I hate the Trolls because they killed my grandma during the unrest of 1598_" or whatever).

If you want a generic bronze-age/fantasy game with elaborate magic systems, take a look at Mythras, which is (as far as I can tell) the continuation of the Mongoose RQ rules, but rebranded after they lost the rights to the "RuneQuest" name.


----------



## BrokenTwin (Apr 3, 2020)

Reynard said:


> Isn't that a Diablo style dungeon crawler on tabletop, including fast leveling and contained environments?



It shares thematic elements, but that's about where the similarities end. There's barely any gear treadmill to speak of, and it has less attributes and mechanical crunch than D&D 5E, let alone Diablo.
Though I'm not sure what you mean by "contained environments". It's designed to run shorter self-contained adventures instead of sprawling sandbox epics, if that's what you're referring to.

----------------------------------------------------

To the OP, I'm currently running a game of Ironsworn on Roll20, which is a first both in system and platform. It's going rather well so far, but it's VERY different from what I'm used to running.
Also running a Shadow of the Demon Lord game, although that's likely on hiatus until this pandemic blows over. Fairly sure those players have little interest in playing online. There's also a Genesys and Adventures in Middle Earth games I'm participating in at my FLGS, but that's obvious not active at the moment either.


----------



## Fenris-77 (Apr 4, 2020)

I'm going to use _Scum and Villainy_ to run a Mandalorian-feel Star Wars campaign for my boys. We looked at _Symbaroum_ too, but the Star Wars thing has such a low buy-in reading-wise it seemed like the obvious choice. We have embarked on a SW marathon to help us get ready.


----------



## hawkeyefan (Apr 4, 2020)

I’m prepping a game of the Alien RPG on Discord for my group. Looking forward to it. I’m using the pandemic to do some one shots of games I’d like to try, kind of as a test run to see what the group likes.

After Alien, I’m probably gonna run Band of Blades.


----------



## Fenris-77 (Apr 4, 2020)

I'd love to hear how that goes @hawkeyefan - I really want to run BoB but I don't currently have the right people. Also Alien, I've been binge reading the various Free League games lately and Alien looks particularly good.


----------



## atanakar (Apr 4, 2020)

Fenris-77 said:


> Scum and Villainy



Very interesting. My next buy.


----------



## Fenris-77 (Apr 4, 2020)

atanakar said:


> Very interesting. My next buy.



I'm impressed with it. It comes with its own setting, which is a cool one, but it's also trivially easy to run Star Wars or Firefly without actually changing much of anything other than the fictional elements. Plus it allows me to use all the various SW sourcebooks I have from other game all at once. WEG, FF, WotC, who cares, use 'em all, wheeee!


----------



## hawkeyefan (Apr 4, 2020)

Fenris-77 said:


> I'd love to hear how that goes @hawkeyefan - I really want to run BoB but I don't currently have the right people. Also Alien, I've been binge reading the various Free League games lately and Alien looks particularly good.




My group really liked Blades in the Dark, so I’m hopeful. I’m curious how they’ll take to the legion as opposed to the crew; the crew and downtime game was a big part of the appeal of BitD. We’ll see!


----------



## jasper (Apr 4, 2020)

Weed wack the sidewalk, replant the sidewalk edging, regrout the bathroom, regrout the kitchen. clean the deep fat fryer (See1 below), post daily pics of no D&D, read my d&D books (dry reading). Today it weed wack the garden of sticker bush.
1. Steam cleaning deep fat fryer write up from Friday.
I was this years old when I discovered the deep fat fryer came apart in three main pieces. The nice stainless steel outside part, the black grease bucket, and the burner control unit. We will not mention me steam cleaning for an hour yesterday and an hour today.


----------



## Fenris-77 (Apr 4, 2020)

hawkeyefan said:


> My group really liked Blades in the Dark, so I’m hopeful. I’m curious how they’ll take to the legion as opposed to the crew; the crew and downtime game was a big part of the appeal of BitD. We’ll see!



My first thought when I did my initial read through of BoB was to use it to run a Malazan Book of the Fallen campaign. That's still my plan I think, but I do need a different set of players. Definitely something different anyway. The legion idea seems like a nice RPG palette cleanser - multiple characters, complex story arcs - I think it'll feel fresh and hopefully very cool.


----------



## Tun Kai Poh (Apr 5, 2020)

Fenris-77 said:


> Malazan Book of the Fallen




Another Malazan fan! Cool!


----------



## Aldarc (Apr 5, 2020)

Fenris-77 said:


> My first thought when I did my initial read through of BoB was to use it to run a Malazan Book of the Fallen campaign. That's still my plan I think, but I do need a different set of players. Definitely something different anyway. The legion idea seems like a nice RPG palette cleanser - multiple characters, complex story arcs - I think it'll feel fresh and hopefully very cool.



I believe that I read on Twitter that Steven Lumpkin is also working on West Marches campaign hack using Forged in the Dark.


----------



## Fenris-77 (Apr 5, 2020)

Tun Kai Poh said:


> Another Malazan fan! Cool!



Oh yes. Marvelous, marvelous books. I'm re-reading the whole series as a COVID-19 time passer. I've always had trouble deciding what game might best work for it as an RPG though. The games the books were based on were done using first D&D and then GURPS, but I've fiddled around with that and never been able to get a satisfactory replicant. I think they were hacking the system pretty hard. BoB seems like the right tool for a Bridgeburners game though.


----------



## Hoffmand (Apr 5, 2020)

Mutants and masterminds 3E
Call of Cthulhu 7E


----------



## Nebulous (Apr 5, 2020)

Running Dungeon World tonight actually, Servants of the Cinder Queen.  It's a rare pre-made module that gives the GM some structure about how things should/could progress.  I'm not very experienced running DW and if I'm not careful I will default to running it like Dungeons & Dragons, and I need to avoid that.


----------



## Aldarc (Apr 5, 2020)

Nebulous said:


> Running Dungeon World tonight actually, Servants of the Cinder Queen.  It's a rare pre-made module that gives the GM some structure about how things should/could progress.  I'm not very experienced running DW and if I'm not careful I will default to running it like Dungeons & Dragons, and I need to avoid that.



The scene framing required for DW can be a challenge, because IME it is required for constantly pressuring PC/narrative choices forward. If your scene framing goes nowhere, then PCs sometimes have a more difficult time describing what they are doing in the fiction, which reduces the number of moves generated, which risks grinding the pacing of the fiction to a halt.


----------



## Eyes of Nine (Apr 5, 2020)

Aldarc said:


> The scene framing required for DW can be a challenge, because IME it is required for constantly pressuring PC/narrative choices forward. If your scene framing goes nowhere, then PCs sometimes have a more difficult time describing what they are doing in the fiction, which reduces the number of moves generated, which risks grinding the pacing of the fiction to a halt.




Yes that. Cinder Queen is a good starter adventure. Maybe a good one to try out sometime with my D&D group.


----------



## PabloM (Apr 5, 2020)

Nebulous said:


> Running Dungeon World tonight actually, Servants of the Cinder Queen.  It's a rare pre-made module that gives the GM some structure about how things should/could progress.  I'm not very experienced running DW and if I'm not careful I will default to running it like Dungeons & Dragons, and I need to avoid that.




It has happened to me, but i think it´s a normal process. It is a matter of changing some things in the way of thinking the narrative.


----------



## Nebulous (Apr 5, 2020)

Eyes of Nine said:


> Yes that. Cinder Queen is a good starter adventure. Maybe a good one to try out sometime with my D&D group.



It does look really good.  I mean, if you converted it over to 5e it would be a solid as hell little romp.  I'm in the process of seeding weird ass magic items through it that you don't normally see in DnD.


----------



## Nebulous (Apr 5, 2020)

PabloM said:


> It has happened to me, but i think it´s a normal process. It is a matter of changing some things in the way of thinking the narrative.



I'm also playing with 5 guys who only know D&D, so God knows what will happen   But that's fine, I just need practice, doesn't matter how I get it


----------



## Eyes of Nine (Apr 6, 2020)

Nebulous said:


> It does look really good.  I mean, if you converted it over to 5e it would be a solid as hell little romp.  I'm in the process of seeding weird ass magic items through it that you don't normally see in DnD.




Please do share the items, if you care to.


----------



## aramis erak (Apr 6, 2020)

Still running Alien, but part time and only 1 group.
Running Dragon Warriors, 1 group.


----------



## Nebulous (Apr 6, 2020)

Eyes of Nine said:


> Please do share the items, if you care to.




Well, I have a third party book I'm using, I actually purchased it, but some of them are like the potion of lingering hatred:


----------



## Nebulous (Apr 6, 2020)

Well the session of Dungeon World went really well.  Four new players, perfect amount, and I had a little familiarity with the rules and combat from prior practice. A lot of the beginning part was setting up character sheets and all that.  I had wanted it done ahead of time, but players have lives and kids and whatnot, so we had to do a lot of that session zero.

They got all the way to the forsaken plateau and ruined monastery and fought flaming skeletons and flying flame skulls.  We just need more practice to get into the ebb and flow of combat (and consequences of failed rolls and I have to introduce a move and grant XP) but all in all we really enjoyed it. 

The only drawback is we can only play once a month due to them being in lots of other games.  But I had a bunch planned so the second session is kinda done, but I have a month to tweak it


----------



## Fenris-77 (Apr 6, 2020)

Dungeon World isn't a ton of work to plan either, especially compared to D&D, so you'll be swell. Good it hear it went well though.


----------



## Nebulous (Apr 6, 2020)

Fenris-77 said:


> Dungeon World isn't a ton of work to plan either, especially compared to D&D, so you'll be swell. Good it hear it went well though.




That's true, but I'm running it in Roll20 with dynamic lighting dungeons, so anything I can't find premade I will have to build myself.


----------



## Nebulous (Apr 6, 2020)

And that's also a knee jerk reaction to DnD, I feel like I SHOULD be planning more, but I don't, I just need vague set pieces.


----------



## Fenris-77 (Apr 6, 2020)

Nebulous said:


> That's true, but I'm running it in Roll20 with dynamic lighting dungeons, so anything I can't find premade I will have to build myself.



Hmm, yeah Roll20 adds some work back in. Never used it myself, I find the prospect of prepping for it a little intimidating. I have trouble finding time to prep for a normal table game most weeks.


----------



## Aldarc (Apr 6, 2020)

Nebulous said:


> Well the session of Dungeon World went really well.  Four new players, perfect amount, and I had a little familiarity with the rules and combat from prior practice. A lot of the beginning part was setting up character sheets and all that.  I had wanted it done ahead of time, but players have lives and kids and whatnot, so we had to do a lot of that session zero.
> 
> They got all the way to the forsaken plateau and ruined monastery and fought flaming skeletons and flying flame skulls.  We just need more practice to get into the ebb and flow of combat (and consequences of failed rolls and I have to introduce a move and grant XP) but all in all we really enjoyed it.
> 
> The only drawback is we can only play once a month due to them being in lots of other games.  But I had a bunch planned so the second session is kinda done, but I have a month to tweak it



I would love to hear your experiences running it or a session recap.


----------



## Nebulous (Apr 6, 2020)

Fenris-77 said:


> Hmm, yeah Roll20 adds some work back in. Never used it myself, I find the prospect of prepping for it a little intimidating. I have trouble finding time to prep for a normal table game most weeks.



I thought so too at first, but it's really quite easy once you understand the layers. It's literally just outlining the walls with the pen tool. Click, click, click, the lines connect and you right click what you drew to set it.


----------



## Fenris-77 (Apr 6, 2020)

Nebulous said:


> I thought so too at first, but it's really quite easy once you understand the layers. It's literally just outlining the walls with the pen tool.



Huh. That sounds doable. Maybe I'll check it out. I'll never have more free time than I do right now....


----------



## Nebulous (Apr 6, 2020)

Fenris-77 said:


> Huh. That sounds doable. Maybe I'll check it out. I'll never have more free time than I do right now....



yes, I'm just messing around with the deep guts of Roll20 and Fantasy Grounds, I have time


----------



## Nebulous (Apr 6, 2020)

Aldarc said:


> I would love to hear your experiences running it or a session recap.



I have one!  I was going to wait to post them because it will be such a long, long, time before the next session.  But here you go:


Cinder Session #1 - Meervold & Hvitr's Horn

Box


----------



## Nebulous (Apr 6, 2020)

And I will tell you one thing I effing love about Dungeon World...no damn darkvision. Torches and lanterns, bitches!


----------



## Nebulous (Apr 6, 2020)

Which is also why i'm doubling down on the Roll20 dynamic lighting. Every corner, every underground hall is swathed in shadows, and they can - and will - literally walk into a waiting vampire spawn with open arms and fangs. All they have to light their way is whatever wobbling source of light in their hand.  And that is a dynamic I cannot replicate with the tabletop game.  I can't hide the map in degrees of shadow until it reaches pitch dark twenty or thirty feet away.


----------



## Fenris-77 (Apr 6, 2020)

_The Story of Darkvision: Or, How I Learned to Love My Demihuman Overlords_ by Ordoaster Sikes, Master Pilferer and Prelate of the Church of Seven Bells. Waterdeep Press: 1326 DR.


----------



## Eyes of Nine (Apr 6, 2020)

Nebulous said:


> I have one!  I was going to wait to post them because it will be such a long, long, time before the next session.  But here you go:
> 
> 
> Cinder Session #1 - Meervold & Hvitr's Horn
> ...




Reading now, if I have feedback will come later. But... you even copied the font of Servants of Cinder Queen. Kudos!


----------



## PabloM (Apr 6, 2020)

Nebulous said:


> Well the session of Dungeon World went really well.  Four new players, perfect amount, and I had a little familiarity with the rules and combat from prior practice. A lot of the beginning part was setting up character sheets and all that.  I had wanted it done ahead of time, but players have lives and kids and whatnot, so we had to do a lot of that session zero.
> 
> They got all the way to the forsaken plateau and ruined monastery and fought flaming skeletons and flying flame skulls.  We just need more practice to get into the ebb and flow of combat (and consequences of failed rolls and I have to introduce a move and grant XP) but all in all we really enjoyed it.
> 
> The only drawback is we can only play once a month due to them being in lots of other games.  But I had a bunch planned so the second session is kinda done, but I have a month to tweak it




Yeah! Congrats! I´ll read your recap!


----------



## Eyes of Nine (Apr 6, 2020)

Nebulous said:


> I have one!  I was going to wait to post them because it will be such a long, long, time before the next session.  But here you go:
> 
> 
> Cinder Session #1 - Meervold & Hvitr's Horn
> ...





Ok, LOVE all the maps. Great stuff.

Don't sweat the Tavern beginning. It's classic, it's tropy, it probably helped your players get comfortable (wait,did you say they were completely new to RPGs? Or just to DW?)

You note in your last paragraph that the impulse is to default to D&Disms - THIS IS TRUE! In particular for me it was "roll Discern Realities" when I would have normally called for a Perception or Investigation check or referred to Passive Perception. Don't do this  Discern Realities is triggered when a PC studies a situation or person very carefully. Wait for them to tell you what they are doing, and if what they are doing is studying a situation or person very carefully, then the DR move triggers. A lot of time, if they would normally find something by studying it carefully, I just tell them that normal thing. But DR gives them that special thing; and it often was the envelope that delivered new awesome into my games.


----------



## Nebulous (Apr 6, 2020)

Eyes of Nine said:


> Ok, LOVE all the maps. Great stuff.



Thank you.



Eyes of Nine said:


> Don't sweat the Tavern beginning. It's classic, it's tropy, it probably helped your players get comfortable (wait,did you say they were completely new to RPGs? Or just to DW?)



No, they're very experienced players and 2 DM regularly.



Eyes of Nine said:


> You note in your last paragraph that the impulse is to default to D&Disms - THIS IS TRUE! In particular for me it was "roll Discern Realities" when I would have normally called for a Perception or Investigation check or referred to Passive Perception. Don't do this  Discern Realities is triggered when a PC studies a situation or person very carefully. Wait for them to tell you what they are doing, and if what they are doing is studying a situation or person very carefully, then the DR move triggers. A lot of time, if they would normally find something by studying it carefully, I just tell them that normal thing. But DR gives them that special thing; and it often was the envelope that delivered new awesome into my games.




Yes, Discern Realities came up once or twice and kinda through me off.  I think it is like in D&D, if there's no penalty for failure just let it succeed. Too often players (and DMs for that matter) ask for unnecessary rolls where success or failure is arbitrary and just wasting time. I think people often feel like they need to roll because it is listed clearly on their sheet and rolling high means succeeding.

Thank you for the advice.

Edit: The thief character wanted to retrieve one of his three throwing daggers after the fight after he had picked "lose one ammunition" as a penalty for a 7-9.  I told him no, it's gone. If you didn't lose ammunition and immediately retrieved it then there is no consequence of your choice.


----------



## Eyes of Nine (Apr 6, 2020)

Nebulous said:


> Thank you.
> 
> 
> No, they're very experienced players and 2 DM regularly.
> ...




You had mentioned wanting to leverage the GM Moves more. Discern Realities often gave me the opportunity to *Show Signs of an Approaching Threat*, especially when they chose the DR option of "What should I be on the lookout for?"

You played the "lose one ammo" 100% correctly imo.


----------



## Nebulous (Apr 6, 2020)

They all really enjoyed the session and the gameplay and look forward to the next game.  I just hate that it is so far off.


----------



## Nytmare (Apr 7, 2020)

I'm attempting to run a Slack based Torchbearer / West Marches style game.  It's been slow to start, but I think it's going to find its feet soon, and I think that it and Slack are a good fit.

[EDIT] I should also note, that we're attempting to do this with absolutely 0 art and player handouts.  Everything is going to be text only, which is way outside my normal comfort zone.


----------



## Tun Kai Poh (Apr 7, 2020)

Our Ghost Echo-delving crew in Blades in the Dark proceeded with a sabotage mission in our online Discord game over the weekend. They were missing their technician, Irfan, but still had their Spider, Whisper and Hound. While the Hound provided sniper overwatch and guarded the escape route. the Spider, Whisper and one of the Whisper's ghost allies infiltrated a warehouse owned by one of Lord Strangford's companies by posing as company inspectors.

The score was successful at wreaking havoc and raising Hell - too successful. The Whisper freed a swarm of angry ghosts from a hidden spirit prison beneath the warehouse, but the subsequent wave of hauntings ravaged the whole neighbourhood, collapsing buildings (including one that the Hound was perched on top of). Our crew managed to escape with some cuts and scrapes, and there was a lot of collateral damage amongst both the warehouse goons and some passing Bluecoats of the City Watch.

Since they ended up accumulating 10 Heat and raising their Wanted level, Lord Strangford's faction, the Leviathan Hunters, put a squeeze on the crew's territory (a Show of Force entanglement), and now our rogues are very much hunted, wounded and stressed.

It's going to be interesting when Irfan rejoins his group and finds out what's happened.


----------



## The Green Hermit (Apr 7, 2020)

We are playing an epic game of Magic. My son has finally figured out a bit of strategy -- even if he had to use a deck somebody else put together instead of his own.


----------



## Hoffmand (Apr 7, 2020)

Royal house of Ur


----------



## Eyes of Nine (Apr 7, 2020)

My son and I broke out the cribbage board the other day. Now we are having daily bouts.


----------



## Fenris-77 (Apr 7, 2020)

I'm having daily bouts of irritation with the soundtrack for Dragonball Xenoverse. It's like a high school band covering Dragonforce.


----------



## Eyes of Nine (Apr 7, 2020)

Fenris-77 said:


> I'm having daily bouts of irritation with the soundtrack for Dragonball Xenoverse. It's like a high school band covering Dragonforce.




At first I thought you wrote "high school bard"; then thought "no wait, it's bands" and THEN thought - "yeah, BARDS, that's about right."


----------



## Fenris-77 (Apr 7, 2020)

Eyes of Nine said:


> At first I thought you wrote "high school bard"; then thought "no wait, it's bands" and THEN thought - "yeah, BARDS, that's about right."



Now I have to live with the thought of Dragonforce covering Toss a Coin to Your Witcher. Thanks for that.


----------



## QuestWise (Apr 7, 2020)

atanakar said:


> Other than my current D&D5e campaign I have two on-and-off campaigns going on:
> 
> *• Coriolis the Third Horizon* (Free League). The characters are free traders (smugglers) who answered a distress call from a stranded ship. They saved the crew survivors. The engineer character found a large stash of drugs on the ship while repairing the environmental system. They players decided to steal the drugs. It went down hill from there. They did make a profit but now they have many enemies in the underworld and the authorities are looking for them. It's been one long chase scene over 7 sessions. Great fun to GM.
> 
> ...



I've been looking to branch out into Coriolis recently and all of the reviews and play reports have me very intrigued. Thanks for sharing your insights. I think I am definitely going to order a copy soon.


----------



## GMMichael (Apr 7, 2020)

PabloM said:


> We all love D&D and in this beautiful time, I think most play some of its variants (including PF and PF2).
> But there is a world beyond that, so besides D&D what are you playing? what do you want to play?



Yech.  We do NOT all love D&D.  I mean, at-will powers?  Healing surges?  Class roles?  I uh... oh.  D&D in general?  Yeah, it's pretty cool.

The game that I _want_ to play is taking shape. I'm adding a rules module and a few lists to Modos RPG to give it a sort of D&D/Fantasy Age/PF2 feel. So, adding character classes, three magic types, spatial movement, a quest generator... Should keep me busy while socially distancing, anyway!


----------



## ccs (Apr 7, 2020)

The normal line-up atm is:
●5e,
●PF2,
●Warhammer (Age of Sigmar) - minis game, not an RPG.
●Flames of War - 15mm minis game.  Has options for WWI, WWII, 'Nam, Arab/Israeli wars, & 1980s WWIII.  Of course I've got stuff for all the eras. 
●Assorted board games - between about 5 of us we've got almost 200 different.  So when it's a BG night everyone brings 2-3 & we decide what to play.
●Misc other RPGS & minis stuff as one offs.

Right now with everything shutdown & all....pretty much nothing.
Alot of minis painting is getting done though.


----------



## PabloM (Apr 8, 2020)

ccs said:


> ●Assorted board games - between about 5 of us we've got almost 200 different.  So when it's a BG night everyone brings 2-3 & we decide what to play.




I read quickly and when I saw "BG night" I thought of Baldur's Gate night.
If we add quarantine to that, now I want to play it and beat it in one night...

Jokes aside, what a good initiative to complement the TTRPG nights with board games


----------



## Kersus (Apr 11, 2020)

Currently running Tunnels & Trolls Japan "The Tomb of Axton" on Roll20/Discord. 

This is a test to see if I can make a fun game in a new medium (newish to me - played but this is my first GMing on R20).


----------



## Kersus (Apr 11, 2020)

Nebulous said:


> That's true, but I'm running it in Roll20 with dynamic lighting dungeons, so anything I can't find premade I will have to build myself.



Is the dynamic lighting worth the price? I'm still on a free account. I haven't tried DW yet.


----------



## Kersus (Apr 11, 2020)

ccs said:


> ●Flames of War - 15mm minis game. Has options for WWI, WWII, 'Nam, Arab/Israeli wars, & 1980s WWIII. Of course I've got stuff for all the eras. .




How is Flames of War? I've hmmmed and hawed about it for years.

Currently we're playing AT-43, Warhammer Kill Team and Strontium Dog while we finish some minis for Mighty Armies.

Looking for some skirmish rules for 15mm similar to kill team.


----------



## aramis erak (Apr 11, 2020)

DMMike said:


> Yech.  We do NOT all love D&D.  I mean, at-will powers?  Healing surges?  Class roles?  I uh... oh.  D&D in general?  Yeah, it's pretty cool.



Some don't even _like _D&D  _in general_...


----------



## robus (Apr 11, 2020)

TwoSix said:


> Besides D&D, we have an off-and-on game of Monster of the Week going, and I'm working on a setting up a hack of Beyond the Wall.



I’m curious about MotW as a back up game to D&D (low prep, super different vibe) - sounds like it been an ongoing success for you?


----------



## ccs (Apr 11, 2020)

Kersus said:


> How is Flames of War? I've hmmmed and hawed about it for years.
> 
> Currently we're playing AT-43, Warhammer Kill Team and Strontium Dog while we finish some minis for Mighty Armies.
> 
> Looking for some skirmish rules for 15mm similar to kill team.




FoW won't do kill team skirmish well at all.

Overall I really like FoW.  Even the current edition.  Easy to learn, plays quick enough, easy to store, & won't break your budget.  There's also plenty of companies making 15mm stuff, not just Battlefront.
The current edition, v4, is easy to play & now all the eras are operating on the same rules chassis.  So if you learn one of them you know how to play all the rest as far as how to move, attack, artillery, etc.

WWI - this is the weakest of the eras.  
We've found two major things that detract from it & one minor.
Major: Due to how basic infantry saves work in the game you'll almost never have the type of mass casualties you envision when you think of WWI.  Not even when a hoard of pistol wielding Stasi charge across 12" of open ground right into the teeth of waiting MGs, cannon, etc. 
Major:  The tanks (including armored cars) are waaay expensive pts wise.  Sure, it's meant to reflect their rarity.  and to some extent their resilience to all but cannon fire.  But come on, who doesn't want to play with some WWI tanks???  But even two will eat up sooo many pts.... 
Minor:  There are no airplane rules.  Granted, ground attacks by planes in WWI aren't really standard at the time, but they did happen.  I could see including a plane at a hefty pts cost.  But no.  Fortunately other gamers took care of that.

WWII  - this is what the games noted for.  It does it pretty well.
This current edition is a bit lighter on the detail, options, & list variety (and rules) than v3 was.  And by RAW you can make some truly non-historically accurate Frankenstein mixes of forces.  But overall it's good.

Fate of a Natio (Arab/Isreli) - doesn't really stand out to me good/bad.  It's a mix of WWII stuff & some more modern 60s/70s era stuff.
Mostly I have a force for this era for those nights when this is what's drawn to be played.

'Nam - Here you've got some unique forces/rules.  In particular you can build a Brown Water Navy & play river boats.

Team Yankee/WWIII - this is the other era Flames does really well.  WWIII in the mid-80s.  Good selection of forces, powerful tanks, planes & helicopters.  And like with WWII, there's plenty of other companies making models of this stuff.  So when you do run across the rediculously pri$ed Soviet scout cars?  You've got options.
This is most often a tank battle game.  And unlike WWI, the tanks are cheap enough that you can put a considerable # of them on the board (even were you to go all Abrams)

Overall I would highly recommend giving it a try with the WWII starter set "Hit the Beach".  It's an excellent value model wise & gives two functioning forces (US & Germany).


----------



## DammitVictor (Apr 11, 2020)

Joining a _Dresden Files_ game. I really want to love urban fantasy, but it's normally a hard sell for me because its intimate association with gothic horror rarely leaves me with many palatable character options.

I'm trying to join the game as the scion of a prehuman cepahlopod deity who created him to be a messiah figure representing her newfound interest in Earth and humanity.


----------



## Tun Kai Poh (Apr 11, 2020)

Going to recruit some roleplayers on one of the local Discord servers for a one-shot of Beyond the Fence, Below the Grave, a superb Old Norse supernatural investigation game. I'll be running a modified version of Fall at Old Uppsala, a doomed double wedding between two warring clans at one of the spiritual centers of old Scandinavia. I had some advice from T AKW, the designer of the game, on how to run this, so I'm really excited to give it a go.









						Beyond the Fence, Below the Grave by T AKW
					

An investigative tabletop roleplaying game about Old Norse Magic




					t-akw.itch.io


----------



## Nebulous (Apr 11, 2020)

Kersus said:


> Is the dynamic lighting worth the price? I'm still on a free account. I haven't tried DW yet.




For me it is, but I also ran a map and minis heavy game, so the visuals and props were also very important to me.  If you prefer ToTM then no, it's not worth it.  I like the dynamic lights also because it is something I cannot recreate at the table, so it adds a new element to the game we never experienced.


----------



## Doc_Klueless (Apr 11, 2020)

Kersus said:


> Is the dynamic lighting worth the price? I'm still on a free account. I haven't tried DW yet.



I really liked it as a player. My players really liked it as players.

I found as a DM, though, that placing all the lines, doors, etc. to be a huge pain in the ass (I always seemed to get lots of "light leaks") and not worth the investment of time that it robbed from other parts of adventure prep or just my free time.

Take that with a grain of salt as I had several people show me just how fast they could do it. I just could not seem to replicate that level of skill.


----------



## TwoSix (Apr 11, 2020)

robus said:


> I’m curious about MotW as a back up game to D&D (low prep, super different vibe) - sounds like it been an ongoing success for you?



Yea, we've only run a few session of it (it's what we play when I need a break from DMing) but it's been pretty successful so far.  We're filming a reality show about haunted places across America, except when we go to film, unexplainable things keep happening.  The characters who are the on-screen talent just think the producers are setting things up, but those of us who are behind the camera are beginning to figure out something really weird is going on.  But we're all being paid way above what we'd normally get so we're keeping our mouths shut for now.


----------



## robus (Apr 11, 2020)

TwoSix said:


> Yea, we've only run a few session of it (it's what we play when I need a break from DMing) but it's been pretty successful so far.  We're filming a reality show about haunted places across America, except when we go to film, unexplainable things keep happening.  The characters who are the on-screen talent just think the producers are setting things up, but those of us who are behind the camera are beginning to figure out something really weird is going on.  But we're all being paid way above what we'd normally get so we're keeping our mouths shut for now.



That sounds like an awesome premise for the game!


----------



## Tun Kai Poh (Apr 12, 2020)

4th Discord session of Blades in the Dark. Downtime, and the start of a new Score in Nightmarket to take down a ghost-summoning cult.

This time Scotch's player was not able to join us. The crew recovered from wounds and stress, trained their skills, and visited contacts. Zhao the Spider met his ninja girlfriend, Rin for drinks and company. Karen the Whisper helped her vice dealer Patricia recover from a drug overdose in an impromptu side-scene. Irfan the Leech got filled in on last session's explosive warehouse haunting by speaking with the group's dangerous ghost ally Annabelle. 

Rather importantly, Zhao reduced some Heat on the crew by visiting a cafe in Silkshore to spread rumours putting the blame of the warehouse incident on the incompetence of the Bluecoats and the Spirit Wardens. His rumour-mongering also earned him a new contact named Kay, who asked for more information about the failures of the Spirit Wardens in the future. Irfan, also, in attendance, turned pale when he recognized Kay as an important Gondolier adept from one of his Ghost Echo visions.

Later, the crew scoped out a new job with the Rail Jacks, who wanted them to deal with an unknown party in Nightmarket that was sending summoned ghosts to harass construction crews at Gaddoc Rail Station. The Rail Jack crew chief told them that they were recommended because of their reputation for the strange and unnatural, which the crew took as a compliment.

After agreeing to do the job, the crew tracked down a witness to the attacks in a Nightmarket drug den, with the aid of their contact Veldren, a psychonaut. Zhao not only learned about a likely source of the summonings, but also learned that the Imperial Military was planning to move a large force of troops into Duskwall, hence the sudden construction of the Gaddoc Rail Station supply depot.

Karen and Irfan attuned to the ghost field in Nightmarket Park, a misty public park filled with petrified trees from the Deathlands, and discovered an ancient altar chamber hidden underneath the boathouse. Karen called up and compelled a local ghost, a mounted Bluecoat officer named Lu. The ghost told them that a local cult of a Forgotten God had recently discovered the altar and was using it to launch the attacks on the rail station. Now, the crew would have to decide whether or not they wanted to eliminate the ritual site, or seize it for their own. And how would they handle the cultists?

Character moments:

Irfan defying doctor's orders to rest, spending his time working on a project to design an automated gambling machine
Karen getting mistaken for a hallucination at the drug den - and being even scarier for being real
Zhao trying to decide how much lying to do when confronted by Kay the Gondolier
Establishments visited today:

Fogcrest Heritage, an inn and cafe in Silkshore's arts/bohemian district, popular with students
Silver Stag Casino, the finest gambling establishment in Silkshore
Railcar Tea Infusions, a tea stall in an abandoned railcar in Coalridge
The Devil's Tooth, a tavern in Nightmarket with special underground drug dens serving the psychonaut crowd
Supporting cast:

Rin, an assassin
Patricia, occult shop proprietor
Isaiah Finley, the crew's doctor on retainer
Kay, a gondolier adept
Twoscore, a sailor and partner in a dockside tavern
Assistant Chief Kibo, a senior Rail Jack
Murgen, a line bull in the Rail Jacks
Amon, a line bull in the Rail Jacks
Veldren, a psychonaut
Mistress Kember, proprietor of The Devil's Tooth
Lieutenant Lu, a ghost Bluecoat in Nightmarket Park


----------



## Argyle King (Apr 14, 2020)

PabloM said:


> We all love D&D and in this beautiful time, I think most play some of its variants (including PF and PF2).
> But there is a world beyond that, so besides D&D what are you playing? what do you want to play?
> 
> I'm personally testing Symbaroum and Ironsworn, two really good games.
> Particularly from Ironsworn, I think it's the best game I've played in a long time, and its free!





I play GURPS 4th Edition a lot. 

More specifically: I have come to really enjoy the _After the End_ series; I have been running a street-level Supers game; I am in the process in writing a sword & sorcery campaign (which is heavily based on D&D tropes, but given a little more of a real-ish* edge). *for a lack of better words

Oddly, I think D&D has become what I play the least. While livin' la vida Corona, I've joined a Roll20 D&D 5E game; it's the first D&D campaign in which I've played in nearly 3 years. I am highly enjoying it. I'm currently a hill dwarf barbarian/paladin. 

I am very interested in trying The Fantasy Trip, but I have not yet played it.


----------



## Tun Kai Poh (Apr 17, 2020)

I started GMing the Old Norse supernatural investigation RPG Beyond the Fence, Below the Grave on Discord. We had two PCs, a Svithur (Wise One) and a Skald (a Norse bard), visiting the spritual center at Uppsala for a double wedding between warring tribes. There were portents of doom, cursed casks of mead and mysterious murders. Our PCs interrogated household guardian spirits and even their own employer, the local jarl. So far they have a suspect, but tracking him down will be tricky.

As far as pre-written mystery scenarios go, this one is quite nice for laying out an interesting cultural activity (arranged weddings to end a war) and a tangled web of mundane and supernatural intrigues behind the scenes, with plenty of human and otherworldly NPCs trying to advance their schemes at the wedding.

Beyond the Fence is going to always be one of my favourite historical fantasy RPGs, I think. I appreciate a Viking game that _doesn't_ have combat rules for a change (but it does have a lot of magic).









						Fall at Old Uppsala by T AKW
					

A scenario for Beyond the Fence, Below the Grave




					t-akw.itch.io


----------



## Fenris-77 (Apr 17, 2020)

I happened across a very cool BitD hack, someone hacked it to play gangs of low-rent Marvel villains in New York. A very four color 80's Marvel take take on things, but I was impressed with the idea. I have a notion to hack a version myself, but to set it in Gotham, which I think is a more interesting crime city anyway. Same basic idea, playing a gang of thugs and criminals, and maybe low level supers, running jobs and trying balance interactions with the many criminal elements while not attracting the attention of Batman or the GCPD. BitD seems like the right tool for that job. I think I'll aim a little darker than the Marvel version that spawned the idea. Something to keep me busy anyway.


----------



## hawkeyefan (Apr 17, 2020)

Fenris-77 said:


> I happened across a very cool BitD hack, someone hacked it to play gangs of low-rent Marvel villains in New York. A very four color 80's Marvel take take on things, but I was impressed with the idea. I have a notion to hack a version myself, but to set it in Gotham, which I think is a more interesting crime city anyway. Same basic idea, playing a gang of thugs and criminals, and maybe low level supers, running jobs and trying balance interactions with the many criminal elements while not attracting the attention of Batman or the GCPD. BitD seems like the right tool for that job. I think I'll aim a little darker than the Marvel version that spawned the idea. Something to keep me busy anyway.




Yeah, the creator of that hack posted it here along with an actual play that was pretty funny. I dug it. 

A slightly darker version in Gotham sounds like a pretty good idea. Leans a little closer to Blades. If you do anything like that, please do share it. I’d be interested.


----------



## Fenris-77 (Apr 17, 2020)

hawkeyefan said:


> Yeah, the creator of that hack posted it here along with an actual play that was pretty funny. I dug it.



I couldn't remember if I found here or on the Blades forums. Anyway, the important thing is that it's a thing.



hawkeyefan said:


> A slightly darker version in Gotham sounds like a pretty good idea. Leans a little closer to Blades. If you do anything like that, please do share it. I’d be interested.



I just started pecking away at it. I think I will stick closer to blades rather than some of the changes that guy made, at least in a couple of instances. I'd rather keep discrete playbooks, and work powers in as playbook options, kind of the way Xenos works in Scum and Villainy.  I may open up a thread and see if I can't crowd source some ideas.


----------



## hawkeyefan (Apr 17, 2020)

Fenris-77 said:


> I couldn't remember if I found here or on the Blades forums. Anyway, the important thing is that it's a thing.
> 
> I just started pecking away at it. I think I will stick closer to blades rather than some of the changes that guy made, at least in a couple of instances. I'd rather keep discrete playbooks, and work powers in as playbook options, kind of the way Xenos works in Scum and Villainy.  I may open up a thread and see if I can't crowd source some ideas.




I was toying with a supers hack of Blades myself for a while. I found it a bit tricky to get it to do what I wanted, butI think there’s potential there, for sure. 

If you start a thread, I’d have some ideas to share.


----------



## Fenris-77 (Apr 17, 2020)

hawkeyefan said:


> I was toying with a supers hack of Blades myself for a while. I found it a bit tricky to get it to do what I wanted, butI think there’s potential there, for sure.
> 
> If you start a thread, I’d have some ideas to share.



I'd want to keep the super-ness down to a dull roar, which is fine because it's easier to accommodate in Blades than shizz like Thor or the Hulk. That's one of the reasons I like Batman more than the Avengers as the high-tier problem. Some combination of the Whispers from Blades, and the Xenos and Way powers from SaV should provide a starting point anyway. Once I have some starting stuff written up I'll drop a thread.


----------



## Tun Kai Poh (Apr 17, 2020)

Fenris-77 said:


> Same basic idea, playing a gang of thugs and criminals, and maybe low level supers, running jobs and trying balance interactions with the many criminal elements while not attracting the attention of Batman or the GCPD. BitD seems like the right tool for that job. I think I'll aim a little darker than the Marvel version that spawned the idea. Something to keep me busy anyway.




Batman: Tier V (strong), I suppose? That's one faction to stay clear of!


----------



## Fenris-77 (Apr 17, 2020)

Tun Kai Poh said:


> Batman: Tier V (strong), I suppose? That's one faction to stay clear of!



Yeah, Batman at Tier V was the plan, he needs to be a serious badass. I think the superhero part should feel pretty light until the gang builds up some serious heat though, with some levels before Batman - probably the usual suspects: Nightwing, Robin, Azreal, Batgirl and Red Hood. More central to gameplay will probably be the GCPD and the various organized crime syndicates, along with the standard villians. I think the feel I'm looking for at least indexes the Gotham show, where the superness, and Batman, are more backdrop than key player. I want to highlight the corruption of Gotham and really lean into it as a setting where everything is for sale and heroes are in short supply.


----------



## Nebulous (Apr 17, 2020)

Well, as I had mentioned earlier in the thread I am dipping my toes in Dungeon World. I really like it so far, but my old group can only play once a month for about 2 hours, which honestly is not enough momentum to keep up a story line. We will continue doing that, but I'm drumming up a new group of online Roll20 players to dive into the same campaign I have prepped for hopefully some weekly play.  I bet I can get 10 or 12 sessions out of the module.


----------



## PabloM (Apr 17, 2020)

Nebulous said:


> Well, as I had mentioned earlier in the thread I am dipping my toes in Dungeon World. I really like it so far, but my old group can only play once a month for about 2 hours, which honestly is not enough momentum to keep up a story line. We will continue doing that, but I'm drumming up a new group of online Roll20 players to dive into the same campaign I have prepped for hopefully some weekly play.  I bet I can get 10 or 12 sessions out of the module.



Yes, playing online requires adapting to different situations than playing at the table.
I can't particularly enjoy it, I don't know why.


----------



## Nebulous (Apr 17, 2020)

PabloM said:


> Yes, playing online requires adapting to different situations than playing at the table.
> I can't particularly enjoy it, I don't know why.




It's not as good as in person, but there's some qualities about it I've come to enjoy.  I do like the dynamic lighting, I cannot do that at the table, so I've been using that to effectively scare players more.


----------



## Eyes of Nine (Apr 17, 2020)

Fenris-77 said:


> I'd want to keep the super-ness down to a dull roar, which is fine because it's easier to accommodate in Blades than shizz like Thor or the Hulk. That's one of the reasons I like Batman more than the Avengers as the high-tier problem. Some combination of the Whispers from Blades, and the Xenos and Way powers from SaV should provide a starting point anyway. Once I have some starting stuff written up I'll drop a thread.



Was it the Vigilante hack? Or something else? Also, there's a more straight supers hack on Kickstarter right now, Galaxies in Peril...








						Galaxies in Peril: Superhero Roleplaying Forged in the Dark
					

Superheroic roleplaying Forged in The Dark; Wrest back control of a galaxy in peril!




					www.kickstarter.com


----------



## Fenris-77 (Apr 17, 2020)

Eyes of Nine said:


> Was it the Vigilante hack? Or something else? Also, there's a more straight supers hack on Kickstarter right now, Galaxies in Peril...
> 
> 
> 
> ...



He posted some of his PDFs in this thread.  

I don't love Blades for a full on supers game. I don't think the mechanics would work for really high powered characters, at least not as the same time as more normal characters. Maybe with some tinkering, or the right levels of abstraction, IDK. I don't want to nay say. I'll give the kickstarter a look for sure.


----------



## hawkeyefan (Apr 17, 2020)

Eyes of Nine said:


> Was it the Vigilante hack? Or something else? Also, there's a more straight supers hack on Kickstarter right now, Galaxies in Peril...
> 
> 
> 
> ...




I backed this KS to see how they handle it. I've been itching for a supers game after not having played a superhero RPG in years. Obviously, that KS is still pretty far off. 

I was thinking of trying the Marvel Villains hack we've been discussing. The only other supers games that I've looked at recently that I would consider are Masks and Godlike. One is focused more on teen heroes and has the coming of age type of vibe that I'm just not that crazy about, and the other is very crunchy and strongly tied to WWII. 

The other one I've seen online and would consider is The Spectaculars, but I can't seem to find out if I can get a copy. The KS has passed.....and its availability seemed uncertain to me last time I looked into it.



Fenris-77 said:


> He posted some of his PDFs in this thread.
> 
> I don't love Blades for a full on supers game. I don't think the mechanics would work for really high powered characters, at least not as the same time as more normal characters. Maybe with some tinkering, or the right levels of abstraction, IDK. I don't want to nay say. I'll give the kickstarter a look for sure.




I think if you tone down the difference between characters like Hawkeye and Thor, the best way to do that is with a more narrative game. I think the potential is there with the FitD system with things like Scale and how that may be tweaked to get the desired effect. I think the crunchier a game is, the harder it is to handle these different power levels. 

But, the comics have had them coexisting for years, so when you think of that, it can obviously be done. Exactly how is the question.


----------



## Fenris-77 (Apr 17, 2020)

hawkeyefan said:


> I think if you tone down the difference between characters like Hawkeye and Thor, the best way to do that is with a more narrative game. I think the potential is there with the FitD system with things like Scale and how that may be tweaked to get the desired effect. I think the crunchier a game is, the harder it is to handle these different power levels.
> 
> But, the comics have had them coexisting for years, so when you think of that, it can obviously be done. Exactly how is the question.



The nice thing about the Batman mythos is that I don't need to worry to much about that balance, at least initially. Batman's foes generally aren't in the Superman/Thor/Captain Marvel tier anyway. Low-super is pretty easy to do with FitD I think, at least at first glance. I'm sure there are ways to scale it up, but to start I won't have to worry about anything more super than Bane or Poison Ivy. I think I'm going to head more in the direction of the show Gotham than the shiny 80's Batman, at least as far as feel goes. Not for the timeline obviously, but for the gritty feel anyway. I want room for non-super and low-super. Something more Suicide Squad than Justice League.


----------



## Fenris-77 (Apr 17, 2020)

There's also Savage Worlds: Super Powers, which I'm reading through right now for inspiration and mechanics. It's got four tiers of play - Pulp, Street, Heavy Hitters, and Cosmic - for different levels of hero. I'm not a massive SW fan, but it looks ok at first glance and could be what you're looking for.


----------



## hawkeyefan (Apr 17, 2020)

Fenris-77 said:


> There's also Savage Worlds: Super Powers, which I'm reading through right now for inspiration and mechanics. It's got four tiers of play - Pulp, Street, Heavy Hitters, and Cosmic - for different levels of hero. I'm not a massive SW fan, but it looks ok at first glance and could be what you're looking for.




Maybe I'll check it out. Like you, I've never really taken to Savage Worlds. Maybe for this kind of genre the rules are a good fit? 

For me, ideally, a game could pull off any power level, even if it's a blend of them all. But if I had to choose one, I'd do what you're saying by going with the lower end. 

Especially using the FitD system as a starting point.


----------



## Hoffmand (Apr 17, 2020)

hawkeyefan said:


> Maybe I'll check it out. Like you, I've never really taken to Savage Worlds. Maybe for this kind of genre the rules are a good fit?
> 
> For me, ideally, a game could pull off any power level, even if it's a blend of them all. But if I had to choose one, I'd do what you're saying by going with the lower end.
> 
> Especially using the FitD system as a starting point.



For me the system was okay. But boy did I like the settings.


----------



## Fenris-77 (Apr 17, 2020)

hawkeyefan said:


> For me, ideally, a game could pull off any power level, even if it's a blend of them all. But if I had to choose one, I'd do what you're saying by going with the lower end.
> 
> Especially using the FitD system as a starting point.



I may do some playtesting to see what happens when you move action ranks above four and/or add talents to move the effective attribute ratings past 4. It may be better to handle some or all of that via talents, IDK. That's a back burner project though. I suspect that the game starts to break down a little at that point, but I don't want to say anything definitive until I've table tested it and run some numbers.


----------



## pemerton (Apr 18, 2020)

hawkeyefan said:


> I've been itching for a supers game after not having played a superhero RPG in years.
> 
> <snip>
> 
> ...



I don't know PbtA/FitD well enough to comment on their capacity for supers RPGing. When I look at AW it doesn't look like a good fit in itself, but I realise this family of games has moved a long way in the past few years.

My recommendation for supers RPGing is Marvel Heroic RP. I don't know how easy or hard it is to find through various channels, but I've had good experiences with it playing Marvel, adapting it to fantasy with some help from the Cortex+ Haciker's Guide, and most recently (and hopefully again tomorrow) using it for MERP/LotR.


----------



## Imaculata (Apr 18, 2020)

A friends of mine is running a homebrew scifi campaign that had D20 Future rules at its core, but with a lot of homebrew rules as well. I helped him out with designing a grand list of scifi weapons with a system for modding each weapon and having different ammo types. So far its working pretty sweet and seems pretty well balanced.
For example: Some of the weapon mods I've come up with, double or triple the effect of point blank shot, but sometimes this benefit comes at a cost (such as the weapon has a very obvious laser targeter, making it easy for enemies to see where the shot came from). I also added restrictions, where some mods can only be added to weapons of certain size.
We also have some crazy ammo types, such as ammo that homes in on a target and can shoot around a corner (striking enemies behind cover). We took inspiration from all kinds of scifi movies.

The campaign retains a mix of fantasy and scifi however. Orcs in spaaaace!


----------



## Tun Kai Poh (Apr 18, 2020)

pemerton said:


> My recommendation for supers RPGing is Marvel Heroic RP. I don't know how easy or hard it is to find through various channels, but I've had good experiences with it playing Marvel, adapting it to fantasy with some help from the Cortex+ Haciker's Guide, and most recently (and hopefully again tomorrow) using it for MERP/LotR.




I had good experiences when a friend hacked this game for Legend of Korra roleplaying. Cortex is a good fit for supers.


----------



## Aldarc (Apr 18, 2020)

hawkeyefan said:


> For me, ideally, a game could pull off any power level, even if it's a blend of them all. But if I had to choose one, I'd do what you're saying by going with the lower end.





pemerton said:


> My recommendation for supers RPGing is Marvel Heroic RP. I don't know how easy or hard it is to find through various channels, but I've had good experiences with it playing Marvel, adapting it to fantasy with some help from the Cortex+ Haciker's Guide, and most recently (and hopefully again tomorrow) using it for MERP/LotR.



I was going to recommend the same or, rather, the Cortex system in general, especially now that the Cortex Prime book has been release to Kickstarter backers a day or so ago. It's good at framing rolls in terms of various aspects: ability to be a team player, core ethical values, Fate-like character aspects, etc. 

There's about one session left of Dungeon World to play, mainly to wrap things up. Afterwards, my partner elected to try Numenera.


----------



## Fenris-77 (Apr 18, 2020)

I'm firm on Forged in the Dark. If I was doing supers generally I wouldn't be reinventing the wheel. For doing a gang of low-super villains though FitD is pretty ideal, and I wanted to explore the mechanics. For a high-super game I'd probably look elsewhere. I'm reading through _Capes, Cowls and Villains Foul_ and so far it looks pretty awesome. The writers _really_ get the genre.


----------



## pemerton (Apr 18, 2020)

Fenris-77 said:


> I'm firm on Forged in the Dark.



I was posting for @hawkeyefan's benefit, rather than in relation to your project. MHRP/Cortex+ Heroic would be good for a classic Supervillain Team-Up, but it's not at all gritty - which seems to be at least part of what you're going for.


----------



## Fenris-77 (Apr 18, 2020)

pemerton said:


> I was posting for @hawkeyefan's benefit, rather than in relation to your project. MHRP/Cortex+ Heroic would be good for a classic Supervillain Team-Up, but it's not at all gritty - which seems to be at least part of what you're going for.



Well, yeah, but I also specifically wanted to play around with the FitD rules and mechanics. I'm going to take a closer look at MHRP/Cortex + Heroic in general though, based mostly on your recommendation.


----------



## hawkeyefan (Apr 18, 2020)

pemerton said:


> I don't know PbtA/FitD well enough to comment on their capacity for supers RPGing. When I look at AW it doesn't look like a good fit in itself, but I realise this family of games has moved a long way in the past few years.
> 
> My recommendation for supers RPGing is Marvel Heroic RP. I don't know how easy or hard it is to find through various channels, but I've had good experiences with it playing Marvel, adapting it to fantasy with some help from the Cortex+ Haciker's Guide, and most recently (and hopefully again tomorrow) using it for MERP/LotR.




I have a copy of that in PDF from when it came out. That was so long ago now I’ll have to search for it, but I’m sure I transferred it whenever I got a new PC over the years. 

It was one of the last supers games I played. I don’t think it went over well with my group...but I think that was mostly because they wanted it to be the ol FASERIP system from TSR’s Marvel game, and it wasn’t that. I remember liking a couple of things about it, but being disappointed that it lacked character creation rules (or that they were pretty minimal). 

I have since read your comments and those of others here in discussion, and I know it’s pretty well regarded, so I think that warrants a second look.


----------



## Robby24 (Apr 18, 2020)

I play constantly Contra: Hard Corps.


----------



## Aldarc (Apr 18, 2020)

@hawkeyefan, the new Cortex Prime has a power list that you can use to customize your game. It would not be of immediate help since it is not yet fully released. You can also look at Smallville, which uses Cortex, but it focuses on super teen melodrama. But I can send you a basic character sheet for a Cortex supers game that a major fan enthusiast of Cortex shared in Discord. 

You can also check out Venture City for Fate Core. The rules are freely available online as part of the Fate SRD. The setting is a Superpunk. Corporate-sponsored superheroes, supers used for corporate espionage, corporations and crime syndicates attempting to develop supers for the black market, warfare, and the like, as well as street level supers that oppose the corrupt powers of society. There's nothing about the rules that means you have to run the game this way. It's only a sample setting.


----------



## Fenris-77 (Apr 18, 2020)

Aldarc said:


> @hawkeyefan
> You can also check out Venture City for Fate Core. The rules are freely available online as part of the Fate SRD. The setting is a Superpunk. Corporate-sponsored superheroes, supers used for corporate espionage, corporations and crime syndicates attempting to develop supers for the black market, warfare, and the like, as well as street level supers that oppose the corrupt powers of society. There's nothing about the rules that means you have to run the game this way. It's only a sample setting.



Who doesn't want to roleplay _The Boys_? Sign me up.


----------



## pemerton (Apr 18, 2020)

hawkeyefan said:


> I remember liking a couple of things about it, but being disappointed that it lacked character creation rules (or that they were pretty minimal).



That issue of character creation is a common criticism. My own view is that it isn't warranted, but it does require a different approach to PC/NPC creation from many RPGs. I've been creating a lot of characters for my Middle Earth.LotR adaptation, and have created characters for my other games too. It needs you to have a good sense of who the character is and what they can do, _and _of how to translate that into the system's mechanical terms. Those mechanics are less elaborate than a system like D&D, but do have an intricacy and subtlety that is greater than (say) Classic Traveller or Prince Valiant or even (I would say) classic RuneQuest. It is helped by having  good range of published "datafiles" to look through and borrow from.

Another challenge with the system results from its presentation: purely for publication/sales reasons MHRP is framed in its presentation around published "events", although in actual play it is well-suited to free-flowing, open-ended though scene-based play. To facilitate this sort of play (and perhaps manifesting some of my own obsessive/completist tendencies) I worked through my books/PDFs and have generated generic charts of Doom Pool costs for introducing new elements into action scenes, and of XP costs for fiction-based "unlockables" (like making friends with a faction leader or having someone gift you an item that enhances your powers).

Like all systems it also benefits from getting a bit of GMing experience under one's belt. Learning how to use the Doom Pool, and learning how to use some of the mechanical aspects of scene-framing in the system to harness the mechanics in order to drive the fiction benefits from practice (and, again, also from familiarity with some of the published examples.).


----------



## pogre (Apr 18, 2020)

atanakar said:


> *• Coriolis the Third Horizon* (Free League). The characters are free traders (smugglers) who answered a distress call from a stranded ship. They saved the crew survivors. The engineer character found a large stash of drugs on the ship while repairing the environmental system. The players decided to steal the drugs. It went down hill from there. They did make a profit but now they have many enemies in the underworld and the authorities are looking for them. It's been one long chase scene over 7 sessions. Great fun to GM.




You have me intrigued. Is the quickstart a good intro to the game?

I have two D&D campaigns going, but my next campaign is going to be:
1. Shorter - Under 100 hours of playtime; and
2. Not D&D - may be several adventures in different systems to see what is fun for us.


----------



## atanakar (Apr 18, 2020)

pogre said:


> You have me intrigued. Is the quickstart a good intro to the game?
> 
> I have two D&D campaigns going, but my next campaign is going to be:
> 1. Shorter - Under 100 hours of playtime; and
> 2. Not D&D - may be several adventures in different systems to see what is fun for us.




Yes it is:

*The free quickstart rules contains all you need to get started playing Coriolis - The Third Horizon!*

Full character creation rules
Full rules for skills and combat
"Dark Flowers" - a high-paced introductory scenario
Ready to play Player Characters









						Coriolis The Third Horizon - Quickstart - Free League Publishing | Coriolis | DriveThruRPG.com
					

Coriolis The Third Horizon - Quickstart - “I’m getting a signal.” Dalil’s voice crackled over the com. “We’re close.” The navigator gazed into the d




					www.drivethrurpg.com


----------



## Fenris-77 (Apr 18, 2020)

Coriolis is awesome. Free League makes great games generally, and Coriolis is a particularly good example. It uses mostly the same mechanics as their other games, including the new Alien game. I like the mechanics a lot. I also really like the setting. Anyway, it gets my two thumbs up.


----------



## hawkeyefan (Apr 18, 2020)

pemerton said:


> That issue of character creation is a common criticism. My own view is that it isn't warranted, but it does require a different approach to PC/NPC creation from many RPGs. I've been creating a lot of characters for my Middle Earth.LotR adaptation, and have created characters for my other games too. It needs you to have a good sense of who the character is and what they can do, _and _of how to translate that into the system's mechanical terms. Those mechanics are less elaborate than a system like D&D, but do have an intricacy and subtlety that is greater than (say) Classic Traveller or Prince Valiant or even (I would say) classic RuneQuest. It is helped by having  good range of published "datafiles" to look through and borrow from.
> 
> Another challenge with the system results from its presentation: purely for publication/sales reasons MHRP is framed in its presentation around published "events", although in actual play it is well-suited to free-flowing, open-ended though scene-based play. To facilitate this sort of play (and perhaps manifesting some of my own obsessive/completist tendencies) I worked through my books/PDFs and have generated generic charts of Doom Pool costs for introducing new elements into action scenes, and of XP costs for fiction-based "unlockables" (like making friends with a faction leader or having someone gift you an item that enhances your powers).
> 
> Like all systems it also benefits from getting a bit of GMing experience under one's belt. Learning how to use the Doom Pool, and learning how to use some of the mechanical aspects of scene-framing in the system to harness the mechanics in order to drive the fiction benefits from practice (and, again, also from familiarity with some of the published examples.).




I’ve found my copy and I’ll be checking it out.

I think that when it comes to character creation, I kind of like to have a system in place for how to do so because it would actually be several players making characters rather than just me. Having a set process helps when you have multiple people following the process. 

We’ll see...maybe when I read through it again it’ll seem more manageable. Thanks for the recommendation and suggestions.


----------



## atanakar (Apr 19, 2020)

pogre said:


> You have me intrigued. Is the quickstart a good intro to the game?
> 
> I have two D&D campaigns going, but my next campaign is going to be:
> 1. Shorter - Under 100 hours of playtime; and
> 2. Not D&D - may be several adventures in different systems to see what is fun for us.




You can read my humble Coriolis campaign journal here:








						[Free League] Coriolis : Smugglers of the Horizon Campaign
					

-------- April 15, 2018-------- Session #1 / 4 hours Our test game was a success. The players understood the system very quickly. I found a one page cheat sheet online which helped a lot during play. The Dark Flower mission was perfect for a trial run of the system. (we didn't use models or...




					www.enworld.org


----------



## pemerton (Apr 19, 2020)

hawkeyefan said:


> I’ve found my copy and I’ll be checking it out.
> 
> I think that when it comes to character creation, I kind of like to have a system in place for how to do so because it would actually be several players making characters rather than just me. Having a set process helps when you have multiple people following the process.



It definitely lends itself to pre-gens! 

If you do get to the stage you've set out in your post, I'd say pay particular attention to Milestones. (The systems version of Bonds/Ideals/Flaws.) Those are where there is significant scope for a player to express a vision for a character.


----------



## pemerton (Apr 19, 2020)

To answer the question in the OP and thread title, we did get in a session of Cortex+ LotR today. I've posted a write-up in the thread I linked to earlier.


----------



## PabloM (Apr 19, 2020)

pemerton said:


> To answer the question in the OP and thread title, we did get in a session of Cortex+ LotR today. I've posted a write-up in the thread I linked to earlier.




Wow! I remeber finishing a high fantasy campaign using MHR. A very solid and versatile game. Love it.


----------



## Tun Kai Poh (Apr 20, 2020)

In our fifth session of Blades in the Dark, Scotch visited her lover and got into a random brawl, then spent part of her ill-gotten gains to make diplomatic overtures to Captain Ankhayat, one of the Leviathan Hunters.

Later, she rejoined the group to help them track down a member of the ghost-summoning cult. Together, the crew questioned the cultist Rabby at a student lodging-house in Nightmarket, learning that they served a being known as The Whispering Tree. The arrival of a pair of Sparkwrights ended the interrogation, and the crew had to make a getaway, scrambling over balconies and tossing debris and dog snacks behind them as the Bluecoats pursued. Only the appearance of the ghost Lieutenant Lu (summoned by Karen) saved them.

Now the crew must regroup and figure out the next stage of their Nightmarket mission. But a new entanglement with the unquiet dead looms...

In terms of game mechanics, the crew had to bail out on their score partway, so I decided to give them a downtime and some rep for at least solving part of the mystery (who is summoning ghosts to attack the rail station?) - but if they want payment from the Rail Jacks for stopping the attacks, they need to find a way to deal with the cult without angering the cult's Sparkwright allies (as the Sparkwrights already hate the crew and are on the brink of war with them).


----------



## Nebulous (Apr 20, 2020)

Had another Dungeon World session today with a new group. Was really fun, same Servants of the Cinder Queen scenario, but I switched some things up.


----------



## Bluenose (Apr 20, 2020)

I've nearly finished my Pirates of Drinax campaign, though the lockdown has stopped it completing satisfactorily. It won't take more than a session or two to finish things off though. The other campaign we were playing of The One Ring is also likely to finish soon. I imagine we'll switch to two other campaigns. Personally I'm hoping to run Paladin, the Pendragon spin-off; and the other campaign that seems to have traction is a fantasy sailors game in an archipelago with pirates and natives - a bit Pillars of Eternity II - probably with Mythras.


----------



## Nebulous (Apr 20, 2020)

So, I have two different groups going through Cinder Queen.  The Group A can only get together once a month. Group B, however, looks like it might be weekly until the conclusion, so it will quickly outstrip Group A plotwise.  That's fine actually, because it is taking a helluva lot of work in Roll20 to build maps for this adventure, so I might as well get double duty out of them. And change things around for the fun of it.


----------



## Eyes of Nine (Apr 20, 2020)

Bluenose said:


> I've nearly finished my Pirates of Drinax campaign, though the lockdown has stopped it completing satisfactorily.




I'm looking forward to running Deepnight Revelation once I get that in my hands. Will be dusting off my LBBs to run.


----------



## Zhaleskra (Apr 20, 2020)

I'm at the point where I've decided D&D and by extension Pathfinder are their own genre and not really "generic fantasy RPG". Not saying I think that's good or bad, just saying I expect people to have certain expectations when it's one of those two.


----------



## John Dallman (Apr 20, 2020)

John Dallman said:


> GURPS 4e. Running an Infinite Worlds/Cabal campaign that's coming to its end after 8 years, playing in an occult WWII campaign, and a Monster Hunters in weird Florida campaign.



The Infinite Worlds/Cabal campaign has finished. I'm now setting up a Transhuman Space campaign. The other two GURPS campaigns are still going, and I've joined a 1st level AD&D 1e campaign.


----------



## Randomthoughts (Apr 21, 2020)

PabloM said:


> We all love D&D and in this beautiful time, I think most play some of its variants (including PF and PF2).
> But there is a world beyond that, so besides D&D what are you playing? what do you want to play?
> 
> I'm personally testing Symbaroum and Ironsworn, two really good games.
> Particularly from Ironsworn, I think it's the best game I've played in a long time, and its free!



Numerous recommendations drove me to check out Ironsworn. I was looking for something fairly simple that could be run over Zoom for 2 players and this fit the bill perfectly. Went so far and got Delve on drivethrurpg. I created the World, made the two characters with the players and am now waiting for our first session. Almost there...


----------



## Tun Kai Poh (Apr 24, 2020)

This week we had our second and final Beyond the Fence, Beneath the Grave session for the Fall at Old Uppsala scenario. The old Scandinavian wedding was full of divination, chats with dead men, feasting and drinking, curses and natural disaster!

My players managed a shocking last-minute coup against the Jarl that succeeded almost by accident. One of them, the Skald, wielded a magic banner that promised victory - at the cost of his own death. A lightning strike during the climactic fight (outdoors in a rainstorm) turned the Skald into a blazing pillar of fire and stunned the enemy combatants, so the Jarl was toppled and his teenaged heir took over Old Uppsala.

The funny thing was, the Skald was planning to just bluff with the banner, but then the Jarl's son pulled out a knife and charged, and combat broke out...so the blessed banner was activated!


----------



## Fenris-77 (Apr 24, 2020)

Sounds very cool.  Lots of high drama, I like it.


----------



## manduck (Apr 24, 2020)

I recently ran Offworlders for my group as a pick-up game.  It's an Apocalypse World System game that's a space western.  Kind of like Firefly or Cowboy Bebop in feel.  My group had a blast with it.  I just ran the intro scenario from the book and my players ran with it.  They had so much fun they couldn't wait to play it again.  My second adventure is coming up and it should be fun.  

I also picked up pdf copies of The Void and Mothership but haven't had a chance to try them.  Has anyone played these?  I'm curious about people's experiences with them.  

If you're looking for a good superhero game, I highly recommend Worlds in Peril.  The same people who have the current kickstarter for Galaxies in Peril made this one.  Superheroes in an Apocalypse World System.  My group has played this several times.  I ran a Necessary Evil campaign (using the fiction of Necessary Evil but WiP rules).  Someone else in my group also ran a really great adventure where Superman became a dictator and conquered Earth.  The Batman of that world found a way to reach into the Multiverse and recruit the only help he could trust, other versions of himself.  So we all played a different version of Batman taking on an evil Superman.  Similar to Injustice but with his own twists.  My Batman was inspired by Gotham by Gaslight.  Instead of technology, he used sorcery and came from the same time period Gaslight was set in.  We still talk about that game.  Plus if you back a certain level of Galaxies in Peril, you get Worlds too.  

If your group likes a little more mechanics in their games, Mutants and Masterminds is still out there too. Character creation can take a while but it plays fairly smoothly.  My group always had a lot of fun with that one.


----------



## Eyes of Nine (Apr 24, 2020)

manduck said:


> I recently ran Offworlders for my group as a pick-up game.  It's an Apocalypse World System game that's a space western.  Kind of like Firefly or Cowboy Bebop in feel.  My group had a blast with it.  I just ran the intro scenario from the book and my players ran with it.  They had so much fun they couldn't wait to play it again.  My second adventure is coming up and it should be fun.




I read Offworlders last month, but haven't yet run it.
Having a bit of analysis paralysis between Offworlders, Uncharted Worlds, and Impulse Drive for space opera. Also the age old GM quandrary - need to find some players...


----------



## Tun Kai Poh (Apr 25, 2020)

Well. While the rains at Old Uppsala wash away the ashes of the Skald character, I am planning for a new weeknight minicampaign to replace it: Cthulhu Deep Green, which is basically Cthulhu Dark hacked to run Delta Green adventures in the modern era.

My recruitment post on the Malaysian Discord server I'm on:



> Recruiting for: CDG SOUTHERN GOTHIC (Modern Conspiracy Horror)
> System: Cthulhu Deep Green (with setting from Delta Green) CTHULHU DEEP GREEN by Dissonance
> When: 8pm-11pm, Tuesday 28 April, 2020
> Medium: Discord voice chat (webcam optional) on KakiTabletop
> ...


----------



## pemerton (Apr 26, 2020)

Tun Kai Poh said:


> I am planning for a new weeknight minicampaign to replace it: Cthulhu Deep Green, which is basically Cthulhu Dark hacked to run Delta Green adventures in the modern era.



I like Cthulhu Dark. I've used it for 30s-era Boston and late 19th century London. I've heard of Delta Green but don't know it at all well. I've followed your link to CDG.

EDIT: Unfortunately CDG lost me at *52 pages*. One of my favourite things about Cthulhu Dark, as a 4-page PDF, is that I was able to read the players the rules while one of them made us coffee!


----------



## Tun Kai Poh (Apr 26, 2020)

pemerton said:


> I like Cthulhu Dark. I've used it for 30s-era Boston and late 19th century London. I've heard of Delta Green but don't know it at all well. I've followed your link to CDG.
> 
> EDIT: Unfortunately CDG lost me at *52 pages*. One of my favourite things about Cthulhu Dark, as a 4-page PDF, is that I was able to read the players the rules while one of them made us coffee!




These are A5 pages, though, quickly readable. It basically expands on Cthulhu Dark to cover:

Splitting Sanity into Stress (at 6, get a Disorder and reset to 0) and Insight into the Mythos (at 6, embrace the horror and retire). 3rd Disorder causes Burnout and you retire as well.
Disorders are treated as responses to traumatic experiences, not conflated with real mental illness.
You can survive and triumph in deadly combat, but when you attempt something truly unsurvivable, the Handler gives you a horrific vision of how you would perish, then Rewinds if you want to try another approach.
Physical damage comes in three levels of Harm. Harm 3 is death, so there isn't much margin for error.
Introduces At Home Scenes and Anchors (similar to the Delta Green RPG) to help you reduce Stress and Harm between missions. Anchors can be Marked during a mission to get a flashback with an At Home Scene benefit, but you will need to work to restore the Anchor later on.
Character creation and additional character options (up to 1 Specialty Skill outside your Occupation)
Handler guidance for running the game, campaign design tips, safety tools.
8 pages of randomly generated Safe Box contents (emergency supply cache).
5 pieces of full-page art
A few pages of credits and a "coming soon" of adventure modules.


----------



## Tun Kai Poh (Apr 26, 2020)

Today's downtime scenes in Blades in the Dark: Our creepy Whisper went to the cafe to get practice pretending to be human, then later aced her community outreach roll in Nightmarket, turning the locals against a local cult and making some new friends in the process!

We had a lot of fun with the Hound's project to build ties with Lady Ankhayat at her gamehawking party in the park. It turned into a full blown social score which our crew aced!

Downtime roleplay in Blades is the best.

Of course, next session is going to be a bit trickier since they have to help an undead smuggler find a ship that's been missing for decades...and may be in the hands of the Imperial Navy.


----------



## 5atbu (Apr 26, 2020)

Qin
Symbaroum
Coriolis
Mutant Crawl Classic
Pathfinder 2e
Fate Accelerated


----------



## Reynard (Apr 26, 2020)

I have owned both Mutant Year Zero and Genlab Alpha for a while now but I am finally going to run a one shot of MYZ next weekend to see if I want to try a longer form game with it.


----------



## uzirath (Apr 27, 2020)

I'm continuing to run a weekly game using the Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game (powered by GURPS). I set the campaign in the faux Viking setting ("Norðlond") created by Douglas Cole in the _Citadel at Nordvorn_ and a set of adventures. The _Citadel at Nordvorn_ is a setting book rather than an adventure, but it's packed with the seeds of numerous conflicts. I've been supporting Doug's kickstarters for the past couple of years but hadn't run more than a one-shot in any of the books. I decided to start this campaign with _Nordvorn _because I wasn't sure what the players would be most interested in; this allowed us to launch the campaign in a sandbox where they could pick up whatever threads struck their fancy.

Wow, was their fancy struck. We launched with a madcap quest to find out what had happened to a failed frontier settlement. The party returned as heroes, which antagonized a number of political factions. We then ran a series of sessions with lots of roleplaying and almost no combat. These featured the best sort of roleplaying, brimming with tension and innuendo. Finally, they decided to head off into the wilderness for some more traditional adventure. This was partly to avoid getting sucked even more deeply into the web of inter-jarl politicking. As they were about to depart down the river, however, the daughter of a particularly wealthy jarl asked if she could accompany them. (They had had many run-ins with the father, Orm, who seemed bizarrely overprotective of his 17-year-old daughter.) The players unanimously agreed that this would be a terrible idea, but then decided that their characters would probably say yes. So, to my surprise, they welcomed her aboard and hightailed it out of town.

Little did they know that the jarl in question was so overprotective because he had made a pact with a fae prince in his youth and that his daughter, Ylsa, was the collateral (that's the gist of it anyway). It's brilliantly fun because Orm's goons are pursuing the party on the water, but angry fae attack the party whenever they set foot on shore after dark. (The fae abhor running water and sunlight.) So they're safer from Orm on land and from the fae on the water. At last week's game, the full measure of the heat became clear as they barely escaped from a party of Orm's sworn thegns only to be ambushed by shadowy fae goblins. They had another opportunity to part ways with Ylsa, but doubled down instead, swearing to her that they would protect her with their very lives. We ended the session with the party locked in a debate over the relative merits of attempting to make it down the river or trying to reach their destination on foot (requiring them to cross Audreyn's Wall into the Dragongrounds, a dangerous wilderness, with unknown numbers of tricky fae hunting them). Tomorrow night, whatever they choose, is likely to be a nailbiter.

The fun of all of this is that none of this was preordained (or even considered, really). I simply read through the backstory in the book, seasoned it to taste (and mangled some of it accidentally, which I'm pretending was intentional), brought the NPCs to life at the table, and let the players have free rein.


----------



## Tun Kai Poh (Apr 27, 2020)

uzirath said:


> The fun of all of this is that none of this was preordained (or even considered, really). I simply read through the backstory in the book, seasoned it to taste (and mangled some of it accidentally, which I'm pretending was intentional), brought the NPCs to life at the table, and let the players have free rein.




Nice to see they've managed to get into a nail-biter. Once the players have enough pressure on them, it will be interesting if one of the NPCs tells them about the arrangement with the fae prince - see what they do then!


----------



## uzirath (Apr 28, 2020)

Tun Kai Poh said:


> Nice to see they've managed to get into a nail-biter. Once the players have enough pressure on them, it will be interesting if one of the NPCs tells them about the arrangement with the fae prince - see what they do then!




Indeed, it will help their survival chances if they catch on to the fae connection sooner rather than later, although they are moving in the right direction (away from the region that the prince has direct control over). I have to do some hard thinking about the nature of the pact between Orm (the dad) and the prince to consider if there is any reasonable way to get out of it. The prince has had a couple thousand years to weave his webs, so it will need to be fairly epic.


----------



## Tun Kai Poh (Apr 28, 2020)

uzirath said:


> Indeed, it will help their survival chances if they catch on to the fae connection sooner rather than later, although they are moving in the right direction (away from the region that the prince has direct control over). I have to do some hard thinking about the nature of the pact between Orm (the dad) and the prince to consider if there is any reasonable way to get out of it. The prince has had a couple thousand years to weave his webs, so it will need to be fairly epic.



There's always the enemy-of-my-enemy approach, where another fae noble with a grudge against the prince offers a way to get the daughter free...which leaves the party owing a big favour


----------



## megamania (Apr 28, 2020)

Hoping to do some TORG: ETERNITY this summer.

I completely enjoyed the original from the 1990's.


----------



## Tun Kai Poh (Apr 29, 2020)

Last night in CTHULHU DEEP GREEN, my four agents investigated the invisible horrors preying on a veteran's support group on the edge of the Florida Everglades.

I started them off with the ground rules of the Conspiracy from CDG.






The players found Alvin's Alligator Park, site of the first supernatural killing, quite charming.





They were new to the Delta Green setting, and were unfamiliar with the euphemism of "retired" agents...

Oh, my sweet summer children.





Eventually the case led them to a trailer park where a hippie chemist who had brought some very dangerous frozen remains with him from his cultist days. And the generator for his freezer was failing...





Things escalated.





They escalated some more.





OPERATION THORNY PATH ended in a spectacular explosion as a cluster of a dozen propane tanks detonated, sending the creaky old RV rocketing into the air, debris flying everywhere, drug canisters spewing smoke, flaming porn mags fluttering down...

Just another day on the job for DELTA GREEN


----------



## Reynard (May 3, 2020)

First playtest session of Mutant Year Zero went really great. We focused mostly on normal adventure type activity just to get a feel for the system. Everyone enjoyed it enough to agree to a 2and session to try out the Ark stuff and zone exploration.


----------



## the Jester (May 3, 2020)

Other than all the 5e I run, I'm playing a Dungeon Crawl Classics game right now. I'm in a Call of Cthulhu game too, but it has been on quarantine hiatus so far. The GM is probably going to start running it online before too long, though.


----------



## Fenris-77 (May 3, 2020)

I'm having a serious hankering for a little _Five Torches Deep_. Imma see if I can convince someone else to run it though. I DM_ soooo_ much it's nice to have the occasional break and just play. Any suggestions for a good compatible old school dungeon? I need one I haven't read just in case I get to play.


----------



## Inanity (May 3, 2020)

I love to play Amber (diceless system)... its a fresh change at times and my favorite time as a player have been when the dm was running an Amber campaign (maybe due to the Dm himself but).


----------



## Tun Kai Poh (May 3, 2020)

Fenris-77 said:


> I'm having a serious hankering for a little _Five Torches Deep_. Imma see if I can convince someone else to run it though. I DM_ soooo_ much it's nice to have the occasional break and just play. Any suggestions for a good compatible old school dungeon? I need one I haven't read just in case I get to play.




Tomb of the Serpent Kings?


----------



## Fenris-77 (May 3, 2020)

Tun Kai Poh said:


> Tomb of the Serpent Kings?



I'll check that out, thanks (but not in too much detail). I thought I might start a little smaller than Rappan Athuk anyway.


----------



## Eyes of Nine (May 4, 2020)

Fenris-77 said:


> I'll check that out, thanks (but not in too much detail). I thought I might start a little smaller than Rappan Athuk anyway.




5 torches deep in Rappan Athuk is only like... 2 rooms?


----------



## Fenris-77 (May 4, 2020)

Eyes of Nine said:


> 5 torches deep in Rappan Athuk is only like... 2 rooms?



Har har.   Oh ye of little faith, it's at least three, perhaps even four.


----------



## S'mon (May 4, 2020)

PabloM said:


> We all love D&D and in this beautiful time, I think most play some of its variants (including PF and PF2).
> But there is a world beyond that, so besides D&D what are you playing?




Mini Six RPG (Open d6) in the Primeval Thule setting - 2215 AR Primeval Thule with Mini Six RPG


----------



## Nebulous (May 5, 2020)

Dungeon World, Servants of the Cinder Queen, is requiring a ton of work from me on the Roll20 map level.  Which is fine, I enjoy it, but I'm looking at probably 12 maps for the whole thing, from a simple village, to a tomb, to a library, to the elemental plane of fire for the final confrontation.


----------



## Stormonu (May 5, 2020)

Off the beaten path, my home group finished a My Little Pony campaign at the start of the year (much fun and zaniness was had)

More recently, I did a one-shot ALIEN game with my alternate group and it looks like we will be revisiting it - not sure if it will be more one shots or a more dedicated game.

And I'm always looking for reasons to fire up a Savage Worlds game (our last was a Walmart Apocalypse) or get in WEG Star Wars game.


----------



## Tun Kai Poh (May 5, 2020)

S'mon said:


> Mini Six RPG (Open d6) in the Primeval Thule setting - 2215 AR Primeval Thule with Mini Six RPG



Oh, Thule is a fun place. I once ran 13th Age in it. The party was part of an expedition to raid a nasty iceberg that had calved off Kang, the Pale Death, and was going around the inland sea blasting communities with cold rays. An assault on the Child of Kang!


----------



## Tun Kai Poh (May 5, 2020)

A couple of reports on recent games:

In Blades in the Dark, our crew had to track down a Skovland smuggling ship that had been captured by the Imperium during the Unity War. Their investigation led them to Lady Sternwall's talk on naval battles of the war in Charterhall University, which was rudely interrupted by a Skovland extremist's assassination attempt on the historian. The crew blew out the lights, summoned a ghost to deal with the attacker, and sent Scotch swinging heroically down from a balcony to rescue Lady Sternwall, ripping the historian's bodice in the process. Now, Scotch is a reluctant heroine of the hour, invited to tea by the smitten Lady Sternwall, and the crew plans to use the distraction to burgle the lady's manor...

Also, last night in the CDG SOUTHERN GOTHIC session, our DELTA GREEN agents brought on a new team member, cleaned up a dead agent's unfinished business, and learned that a "resurrection" spell is never a good thing in this genre!

And half the team caught fire. Play with gas, get burned. Especially if you decide to unscrew the caps of 20 gasoline cannisters ahead of time in preparation for arson, then get jumped by a resurrected horror.


----------



## Nebulous (May 5, 2020)

For Dungeon World, I took a screenshot from the module, the caldera from Hvitr's Horn, and photoshopped it into a climatic battlemap.  Ideally, the mystic seal will crack and open and drop the PCs into Ellorash, the elemental fire realm, where they will have to somehow continue the quest.  By then they should have an artifact to keep them alive in the inferno.


----------



## Tun Kai Poh (May 12, 2020)

In Session 8 of our Blades in the Dark campaign, Scotch and Zhao enjoyed liqueurs and a magic lantern show at Lady Sternwall's mansion as they tried to find out the fate of the Skovlan blockade runner Spiny Turtle during the war. Then an unexpected guest came up the street to call on Sternwall Mansion - Zhao's archenemy Edward, the Imperial Military Intelligence agent! It fell to the junior members of the crew, Sacred Karen and Irfan, to distract, bamboozle, and brutally mug the arrogant spy. Meanwhile, Zhao panicked and made a terrifying desperate escape through the backyard of Sternwall Mansion, where he barely escaped a ghost attack!


----------



## atanakar (May 12, 2020)

*Romance of the Perilous Land* by Osprey Games. Streamlined, elegant and simple design for adventures in a mythic England that never was. d20 roll equal or under your Attribute. Characters take 10 minutes to create. I've been looking for a non-OSR and non-LOTR inspired fantasy game with a vibrant setting for a year. This is it.









						Romance of the Perilous Land
					

<i>Romance of the Perilous Land </i>is a roleplaying game of magic and adventure set in the world of British folklore, from the stories of King Arthur to the wonderful regional tales told throughout this green and pleasant land. It is a world of romantic chivalry, but also of great danger, with...




					ospreypublishing.com


----------



## PabloM (May 12, 2020)

atanakar said:


> *Romance of the Perilous Land* by Osprey Games. Streamlined, elegant and simple design for adventures in a mythic England that never was. d20 roll equal or under your Attribute. Characters take 10 minutes to create. I've been looking for a non-OSR and non-LOTR inspired fantasy game with a vibrant setting for a year. This is it.
> 
> 
> 
> ...




Have you played it yet?


----------



## Retreater (May 12, 2020)

Currently, I'm running two weekly D&D5e games and one biweekly PF2 game on Roll20. Before the pandemic hit, I was running WHFRPG, Savage Rifts, and Dungeon World. I hope to get back to playing/running more diverse games in the future.


----------



## atanakar (May 12, 2020)

PabloM said:


> Have you played it yet?




No. But I'm running a solitaire game with four characters soon, to test the system before I show it to the group.









						[ Romance of the Perilous Land - Campaign ] The Quest for the Lance of Archangel Michael
					

Article #1 : The initial set up  https://marccsolottrp.blogspot.com/2020/05/solo-hex-crawl-quest-perilous-lands.html




					www.enworld.org


----------



## Fenris-77 (May 12, 2020)

atanakar said:


> No. But I'm running a solitaire game with four characters soon, to test the system before I show it to the group.



That's some commitment right there. Have a cookie. 

I do love messing about with rules sets and the like though. Running a bunch of characters through some encounters just to see how it goes is very much my speed. I'm interested to here how your group takes to the rules.


----------



## PabloM (May 12, 2020)

Yes please, tell us how it develops.

For my part, after several failed attempts, I will try to run a game online. Surely Dungeon World or Cthulhu Dark. It depends on what the players want.


----------



## Umbran (May 12, 2020)

So, up thread I mentioned an Ashen Stars game I was running might wrap up.  Well, it did.  Honestly, we lost so much momentum due to social distancing and other issues that the final session never happened.  The group did agree, however, that they wanted to move on to something else.

First, one of the players is running a bit of _Don't Rest Your Head_ - in which you play characters so fatigued by insomnia that they break through into the land of dreams and nightmares.  This game usually doesn't run for too long - characters either resolve the issues that caused their insomnia and return to normal life, crash fast asleep so that the nightmares catch them, or go mad and become a nightmare themselves...

That's intended to give me some time to build out a new game.  Of what?  I dunno yet.  I don't expect it to be D&D, though, as most of the players get that in other places.  I'll probably do a little ranked choice voting of options for them.


----------



## Fenris-77 (May 12, 2020)

Umbran said:


> First, one of the players is running a bit of _Don't Rest Your Head_ - in which you play characters so fatigued by insomnia that they break through into the land of dreams and nightmares.  This game usually doesn't run for too long - characters either resolve the issues that caused their insomnia and return to normal life, crash fast asleep so that the nightmares catch them, or go mad and become a nightmare themselves...



That game sounds _awesome_! I love the whole concept. I can see why it might not lend itself to long term play though. On a related note, have you seen a show called _Undone_? It had some very similar themes and was quite excellent. I think I need a copy of this game though...


----------



## Nebulous (May 12, 2020)

We are still enjoying Dungeon World.  I'm not quite sure how the cleric's divine guidance and petitions of their god work though.


----------



## Umbran (May 12, 2020)

Fenris-77 said:


> That game sounds _awesome_! I love the whole concept. I can see why it might not lend itself to long term play though.




The idea is to give me a bit of a break, let me play something, and have time to do development for the next long-term campaign, so if it only lasts through one story arc for the characters that's fine.  If it lasts longer, I have a longer break.



> On a related note, have you seen a show called _Undone_? It had some very similar themes and was quite excellent.




I have not, but I have Prime, so I can go check it out!



> I think I need a copy of this game though...




It is from Evil Hat Games, and is available on DriveThruRPG for a whopping $5.  Not a whole lot of risk to picking it up to look it over.


----------



## Fenris-77 (May 12, 2020)

Yeah, I feel you on needing the occasional break from GMing. Have a blast with that game. I'm going to get myself a copy since the price point is so reasonable. Now I know what I'm reading tonight.


----------



## Nebulous (May 12, 2020)

Fenris-77 said:


> Yeah, I feel you on needing the occasional break from GMing. Have a blast with that game. I'm going to get myself a copy since the price point is so reasonable. Now I know what I'm reading tonight.




Maybe every few years I like to have a break from GMing, but really 99% of the time that's where I get my satisfaction, from telling the stories and trying to scare the players


----------



## PabloM (May 13, 2020)

Umbran said:


> So, up thread I mentioned an Ashen Stars game I was running might wrap up.  Well, it did.  Honestly, we lost so much momentum due to social distancing and other issues that the final session never happened.  The group did agree, however, that they wanted to move on to something else.




I understand what you're going through. 
We were about to reach the final leg of a two and a half year campaign when quarantine was imposed. We try to play online but it is very difficult for me to run a game like this.
I am taking advantage to play for the first time in a long time and recharge energies.


----------



## Tun Kai Poh (May 13, 2020)

Losing momentum is completely excusable, whether lockdown-related or not!

Here's hoping Don't Rest Your Head goes well!


----------



## John Desmarais (May 14, 2020)

No D&D here.  Champions, Justice Inc (6th ed Hero System), and Savage Worlds.  Thinking about starting up another game, and a D&D retro-clone is under consideration, or maybe Fate - depends on which the group chooses.


----------



## Tun Kai Poh (May 14, 2020)

John Desmarais said:


> No D&D here.  Champions, Justice Inc (6th ed Hero System), and Savage Worlds.  Thinking about starting up another game, and a D&D retro-clone is under consideration, or maybe Fate - depends on which the group chooses.




Well if you're up for suggestions, Romance of the Perilous Land is a pretty interesting D&D-alike with a few twists...








						RPG Review : Romance of the Perilous Land (2019) | Role Over Play Dead
					

Romance of the Perilous Land is a lavishly-illustrated fantasy roleplaying game written by Scott Malthouse, set in a fantasy world inspired by the legend of King Arthur and a wide range of British folk tales.




					roleoverplaydead.com


----------



## PabloM (May 14, 2020)

Oooookay... 
I sense a disturbance in the force.


----------



## pemerton (May 15, 2020)

PabloM said:


> Surely Dungeon World or Cthulhu Dark.



I've run two sessions of Cthulhu Dark, both spontaneous one-shots. To be honest, having used this system I couldn't imagine using a different one for CoC RPGing.

I've played a bit of DW online; I'm hoping to run Apocalypse World some time in the next 6-12 months.


----------



## pemerton (May 15, 2020)

Nebulous said:


> We are still enjoying Dungeon World.  I'm not quite sure how the cleric's divine guidance and petitions of their god work though.



From pp 92-93:

Choose one precept of your religion:​​• Your religion preaches the sanctity of suffering, add Petition: Suffering​• Your religion is cultish and insular, add Petition: Gaining Secrets​• Your religion has important sacrificial rites, add Petition: Offering​• Your religion believes in trial by combat, add Petition: Personal Victory​​_Divine Guidance_​When you *petition your deity according to the precept of your religion*, you are granted some useful knowledge or boon related to your deity’s domain. The GM will tell you what.​
I think that this move can put distinctive demands on the GM - especially deciding whether to go with a boon or a soft GM move. But I think it's reasonably clear how it works:  _When a player describes their character doing something that triggers a move, that move happens and its rules apply_ (p 18). So if the cleric does something that falls under the petition that pertains to their precept (ie _suffers_, _gains a secret_, _makes an offering_ or _achieves a personal victory_) then the move has been made and the GM has to do his/her bit..

For instance, if the cleric whose religion believes in trial by combat achieves a _personal victory_, then s/he has made the Divine Guidance move and hence the GM tells her what boon or knowledge s/he receives. Suppose her deity's domain is Civilisation, then maybe the cleric gains insight into the customs of the defeated enemy (say +1 forward to next Parley attempt against a similar sort of being). Or maybe the PC gains a vision of the larger threat of which the defeated foe is a harbinger (Reveal an Unwelcome Truth).


----------



## Tun Kai Poh (May 15, 2020)

pemerton said:


> I've run two sessions of Cthulhu Dark, both spontaneous one-shots. To be honest, having used this system I couldn't imagine using a different one for CoC RPGing.




It's really simple and good! I also like a couple of its descendants:

Trophy Dark, designed for one-shots about doomed adventurers, with a cunning 5-part adventure format. I've had good fun with this. It's available in this Codex anthology.
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/268198
And Cthulhu Deep Green, a tribute to Delta Green using Cthulhu Dark mechanics. It explores the twin horrors of modern Mythos conspiracies and work-life balance.








						CTHULHU DEEP GREEN by Dissonance
					

Conspiracy Horror inspired by the Cthulhu Mythos. 3-6 players.




					moth-lands.itch.io


----------



## Diehl (May 17, 2020)

Vampire the Masquerade 5th. 
I give up on D&D when 3.5 was announced.


----------



## pemerton (May 17, 2020)

Played some Wuthering Heights today


----------



## Campbell (May 17, 2020)

Just played the first season of a 2 part funnel game using the play test rules for Freebooters on the Frontier 2nd Edition. Playing in a biweekly Monster of the Week game where we flirt with the dark side while occasionally stopping monsters. Going to be playing in a game of A Town Called Malice (Nordic Noir) soon.


----------



## Nebulous (May 17, 2020)

pemerton said:


> From pp 92-93:
> 
> Choose one precept of your religion:​​• Your religion preaches the sanctity of suffering, add Petition: Suffering​• Your religion is cultish and insular, add Petition: Gaining Secrets​• Your religion has important sacrificial rites, add Petition: Offering​• Your religion believes in trial by combat, add Petition: Personal Victory​​_Divine Guidance_​When you *petition your deity according to the precept of your religion*, you are granted some useful knowledge or boon related to your deity’s domain. The GM will tell you what.​
> I think that this move can put distinctive demands on the GM - especially deciding whether to go with a boon or a soft GM move. But I think it's reasonably clear how it works:  _When a player describes their character doing something that triggers a move, that move happens and its rules apply_ (p 18). So if the cleric does something that falls under the petition that pertains to their precept (ie _suffers_, _gains a secret_, _makes an offering_ or _achieves a personal victory_) then the move has been made and the GM has to do his/her bit..
> ...



I posted that in discord for the cleric player to read.  We play this evening.


----------



## pemerton (May 18, 2020)

Nebulous said:


> I posted that in discord for the cleric player to read.  We play this evening.



You need to post here about how it goes! I'm planning/hoping to run AW sometime in the next N (= 6-ish?) months, and am always interested to hear how people have handled these sorts of things in that and similar systems.


----------



## Fenris-77 (May 18, 2020)

Umbran said:


> First, one of the players is running a bit of _Don't Rest Your Head_ - in which you play characters so fatigued by insomnia that they break through into the land of dreams and nightmares.  This game usually doesn't run for too long - characters either resolve the issues that caused their insomnia and return to normal life, crash fast asleep so that the nightmares catch them, or go mad and become a nightmare themselves...



Holy Svirfneblin Batman, this game is _awesome_. I'm giving it a close read and I'm maybe half way through and I have already fallen deeply and madly in love with the dice mechanics. Thanks for the recommendation.


----------



## Umbran (May 18, 2020)

Fenris-77 said:


> Holy Svirfneblin Batman, this game is _awesome_. I'm giving it a close read and I'm maybe half way through and I have already fallen deeply and madly in love with the dice mechanics. Thanks for the recommendation.




Glad you like it.  I think our first session of play is apt to be this coming Tuesday.  I'll let you know how it goes.


----------



## Fenris-77 (May 18, 2020)

Umbran said:


> Glad you like it.  I think our first session of play is apt to be this coming Tuesday.  I'll let you know how it goes.



I'd love to hear how it goes. Have you had a chance to read the second book, _Don't Lose Your Mind_? I saw it sitting there staring at me when I was on Drive Thru, but wasn't going to grab it until I was finished with the core book and maybe more sure I wanted another helping of insomnia.


----------



## Monayuris (May 18, 2020)

Ran two sessions of Stars Without Number. 

Very fun system. Really scratching my Firefly / The Expanse itch. I actually started the game by converting a Traveller adventure, but once that starting adventure is finished, I'm going to unleash the full power of the Stars Without Number sandbox style game play.

The concept for the campaign is that the players are independent privateers, loosely supported by an Isaac Asimov Foundation-like organization.


----------



## Umbran (May 18, 2020)

Fenris-77 said:


> I'd love to hear how it goes. Have you had a chance to read the second book, _Don't Lose Your Mind_?




No, I haven't.  Only two people in the group have played the game, so we are keeping it to the core rules for the moment.


----------



## Eyes of Nine (May 18, 2020)

Campbell said:


> Just played the first season of a 2 part funnel game using the play test rules for Freebooters on the Frontier 2nd Edition. Playing in a biweekly Monster of the Week game where we flirt with the dark side while occasionally stopping monsters. Going to be playing in a game of A Town Called Malice (Nordic Noir) soon.



My sons have agreed to play Freebooters. Just have to find time, as one works And the other’s in classes for another couple weeks.


----------



## pemerton (May 18, 2020)

Monayuris said:


> Ran two sessions of Stars Without Number.
> 
> Very fun system. Really scratching my Firefly / The Expanse itch. I actually started the game by converting a Traveller adventure, but once that starting adventure is finished, I'm going to unleash the full power of the Stars Without Number sandbox style game play.
> 
> The concept for the campaign is that the players are independent privateers, loosely supported by an Isaac Asimov Foundation-like organization.



I have some versions of Stars Without Number - free downloads, so I'm not sure where they're at relative to the state of the art of that system.

I currenlty have an active Classic Traveller game, so I was curious (i) which adventure have you converted, and (ii) what SwN offers that's different from Traveller?


----------



## Tun Kai Poh (May 18, 2020)

Our 9th session of Blades in the Dark: Nameless Vagabonds!

Our crew hired the Fog Hounds, a smuggling gang with a steam ship, for a risky trip out to an old Navy gunnery range in the Void Sea. Their destination: the wreck of an old Skovland blockade runner. The cargo: six ghosts who wanted to return to their beloved ship.

During a storm, the ship was boarded by a sea demon, Setarra, who claimed they owed a toll for passing through her waters. Fortunately, Karen the Whisper was an acquaintance of the demon, and convinced her to accept 1/3 of the treasure on the wreck they were going to find, instead of 1/3 of the ghosts they had as cargo.

The uneasy standoff resolved, the crew made it to Glass Reef, the site where the old smuggler ship had been sunken as a naval gunnery target. Scotch the Hound suited up for a dive while the others kept an eye out for naval patrols.

Once Scotch had located the wreck, the ghosts dashed down to find their final resting place. As payment, they revealed a secret compartment that the Navy had never found. This contained some ingots of spirit-enchanted silver, which could be used to make demon-slaying munitions.

That was when Scotch felt a tap on her shoulder, and slammed her diving knife into the figure who had appeared behind her. Setarra merely smiled and returned the knife, then took a third of the silver ingots as her toll. And told Scotch to hurry before the _other_ ship arrived...

On the surface, another ship appeared from around the reef, with searchlights pointing at the Fog Hounds' ship. "This is the Imperial Navy Ship _Cataclysm_! Prepare to be boarded!"

The Fog Hound captain enacted a plan to shine searchlights back, bluffing that they too were a Navy patrol ship. Scotch came back up in time to help with a Navy code book which she had acquired in a flashback.

"We'll flash them a message indicating we're on a secret mission...ending with the phrase 'Donkey Balls.'"

But the other ship didn't seem to recognise the code. Through a series of hails and counter-hails, both our crew and the opposing ship tried to claim that they were legitimate Navy patrol ships.

Eventually the enemy ship broke cover and accused our crew of "ALSO pretending to be a Navy ship," and suddenly a stern chase was on! Zhao the Spider acquired Navy signal flares through a flashback and fired them as a bluff to buy time, Irfan the Leech upgraded the boiler with Fire Oil, and Scotch took some sniper shots at the pursuing ship's search lights. As the Fog Hounds retreated the way they came, Karen called upon Setarra to check if they would incur a second toll by passing through her turf, but fortunately, Setarra was happy to let them through.

Shortly, the crew watched as their pursuer lost power and chaos ensued aboard it. Now another ship had to pay Setarra's toll. And so the Vagabonds and the Fog Hounds returned to Doskvol with a rich treasure (10 Coin) and all their souls still intact!


----------



## Ulfgeir (May 18, 2020)

I GM'd my quickstart-scenario of The Troubleshooters last Friday for my gaming group. They didn't finish the adventure, but they had fun. We were supposed to have played Vampire the Masquerade 5e, but the GM cancelled on the morning as he was sick. So I was asked if I could jump in. And now that the kickstarter is up and running, I really need to step up my adventure-writing...  

And yesterday played Fate Accelerated: Gods & Monsters. One of the characters did something that will have some rather serious consequences for the game-world. Sure we might normally only have continued 1-2 hours more anyways, but the GM said he would have to take a break and think on just how bad the consequences were due to that action. Given that we play minor gods that actually create/change things in the world, and that character was the one that had created the flow of time, and was responsible for magic, and he might have just killed of parts of himself here)...

Edit: Just to give you an idea of just HOW badly he screwed up, I need to say something about the setting. It is an early world with nomadic people, a great plain, The Rugged peaks and The First City (basically the only city). We found out that there were ruins of another city in the wast desert. That was the  Ruins of Those that came Before. And those ruins should NOT exist.

The character had together with his twin sister split themselves into halves, and then combined themselves into one being. The other halves were sacrificed to power the magic needed when he/she created time. So during the day, the character is a woman dressed in white, and during the night a man dressed in black. The character somehow had an encounter with something extremely dangerous and powerful, and that infected him/her. So to save himself, he locked the infected half together with this other spirit-being into a magical crystal, and left to the ruins of those that came before, where we had previously encountered another version of the Time rune, and his other self. The other self had chasticed him for being there. It was extremely dangerous. He if anyone should know.  When he got there  (just before sunset) his other self was already in the male from. They joined together, and then the character went and destroyed the magical crystal. It was at this point the GM said he needed to think of exactly how bad the consequences were of that.

My character had encountered that dangeous otherwordly being before, and it had affected me to some extent. It had also corrupted most of the druids that belonged to one of the other characters. My character is The Maiden of Dreams. She is a fragment of Chaos, that had taken the humans side against her siblings (if the rest of Chaos came into the world, the world would cease to be). Her purpose is literally to make sure that mankind remembers the evil nasty stuff out there.. and she is frightened enough of that being that she doesn't want anything at all to do with it.


----------



## uzirath (May 18, 2020)

I ran a GURPS Dungeon Fantasy game this weekend for a neighborhood family that wanted to learn how to play. My eight- and ten-year-old sat with me on the front porch while the other family (two adults and two kids) sat in their living room. We spoke through the screen windows; I had a big whiteboard so that I could sketch maps and whatnot that everyone could see. The group was eclectic, in the fine tradition of fantasy games, including a gnome bard, elf druid, human scout, cat-folk martial artist, human knight, and faerie dragon wizard. Once I saw that they had a druid, scout, and faerie dragon, I thought a wilderness adventure would be more appropriate than a dungeon. I loosely used the 4e Chaos Scar adventures, “Elves of the Valley," from Dungeon 178 (May 2010). I had to adjust the adventure on the fly to make it fit within our allotted time, but every character had a few moments to shine and the players were eager for another session. 

A highlight was when the druid attempted to summon a bear ally but critically failed her casting, causing the spirit of the bear to inhabit the petite faerie dragon, who promptly let out a roar and charged into melee combat. This was one of those failed rolls that dovetailed perfectly with the themes of the adventure since the demonic "Voice in the Darkness" at the heart of the wood was causing all sorts of bizarre magical anomalies. 

Running a game from the front porch was better than VTT, especially with new players, but not nearly as good as being together around a table. (And the lawnmower across the street was maddening!)


----------



## Monayuris (May 18, 2020)

pemerton said:


> I have some versions of Stars Without Number - free downloads, so I'm not sure where they're at relative to the state of the art of that system.
> 
> I currently have an active Classic Traveler game, so I was curious (i) which adventure have you converted, and (ii) what SWN offers that's different from Traveler?



I converted Pirates of Drinax Module 1 - Honor Among Thieves.

I may or may not use the rest of the series, it was mainly something to jump start the game. My idea is to set the campaign in motion, open the game up to a sandbox style, but sprinkle in other modules from the series here and there.

I've played a bit of Classic Traveler back in the day (but I haven't touched it in quite a while, so my rules knowledge is hazy). 

From my point of view, it provides a similar game experience. It sits in that more hard-scifi than Star Wars/Star Trek style game and supports a sandbox approach. SWN does this by providing a 'tag' system to planets and systems. Tags are pre-packaged environments/situations that can be applied to a planet and provide a baseline 'what's going on with this place' that can be expanded upon when needed. They're kind of a short hand for noting what kind of adventures can be had on a given planet.

You can create a couple systems with planets and give them a couple tags each and have enough to tell players what each system is like. Then if they decide to go to one, the tag gives you enough prompts to build out an adventure or even improvise if needed.

I'm using SWN because it uses classic D&D rules as its back-bone, so it is immediately familiar to anyone who plays 5E or B/X or any other D&D (which is the case for my group). I think SWN is, in general, less detailed than Traveler, but I can see importing some Traveler subsystems into SWN without much issue.

It is both a complete game and a toolkit. It provides a very loosely defined base setting but leaves a lot to be developed. It does not include any default alien races (or even require such to exist). The existence and nature of Alien cultures, A.I. robots droids, transhumanism, etc... are all up to the GM/players to determine  It does provide very complete and detailed rules for each of these concepts, but the game leaves it to you to include or exclude them.

The game uses character classes instead of life paths. There are 4 classes... Warrior, Expert, Psychic, Adventurer. Warriors are your soldier types they have the best hit points and are good with weapons (they have a special ability to turn a missed attack into a hit or negate a hit against them once per combat). Experts are skilled characters (they have a special ability to re-roll a failed skill check once per scene). Psychics possess psychic powers. Adventurers represent a cross-class or multi-class character. My game was 1 Warrior, 1 Adventurer (Warrior/Expert), and 4 Experts. The 4 Experts felt unique and each contributed to the game (there was a little overlap in skills, but they weren't carbon copies). To me, even though it is a class system, it maintains a lot of differentiation and supports unique character concepts.

The system is pretty straightforward. Skills work like Traveler skills - you can have a skill at 0 to 4 or 5 I think. 2d6 + skill + ability mod vs a target number. I'm not 100% sure how this compares to Traveler, but it assumes an 8 is a challenge for a professional, 10 is world class challenge, 12 represents something extremely difficult to someone who is top in the field. There are  elements called Foci that work like feats - they grant special knacks and tricks that specialize your character. You can have two characters with Program-1 but the one with the Hacker Focus will be more specialized.

Attacks are d20 + skill + ability mod vs AC. We only had one combat so still learning the game, but for the most part it plays like old school D&D. At low levels combat can be very deadly. You do get additional hit points as you level. Psionics exist, but none of my players rolled up a psychic so I haven't seen those rules in action, yet. 

We didn't get into starship combat, it does seem like the ship combat subsystem may provide opportunities for characters not built for space combat to contribute. There are rules for time it takes to travel intra-system and time it takes to jump to other systems. This is important because there is a cost per crew per day in operating that needs to be accounted for. The scale of the game is interesting for someone who usually runs fantasy. It can take a couple days to get from the edge of a system (where you arrive after a jump)  to a planet... I'm used to players hiking a few hours to the dungeon.


----------



## Eyes of Nine (May 18, 2020)

Ulfgeir said:


> I GM'd my quickstart-scenario of The Troubleshooters last Friday for my gaming group. They didn't finish the adventure, but they had fun. We were supposed to have played Vampire the Masquerade 5e, but the GM cancelled on the morning as he was sick. So I was asked if I could jump in. And now that the kickstarter is up and running, I really need to step up my adventure-writing...




Interested to hear a sentence or two about how you felt Troubleshooters went? Or maybe over on the Troubleshooters thread, which I am watching also...


----------



## hawkeyefan (May 19, 2020)

So some of my players have agreed to do a play by post game of Blades in the Dark through Discord. I’ve played a bit in PBP games and i think Blades is a good match for that format.

We decided to try out the playtest material to play Bluecoats. So instead of playing a crew of scoundrels, they’re playing a unit of cops.

So of course they’ve been assembled to take down a gang that’s recently risen to power in Nightmarket....the crew of PC scoundrels from our first Blades campaign.

I thought that might be a fun idea and the players were all into it. So we’ve made characters and set things up, and we’ll be starting soon.


----------



## Fenris-77 (May 19, 2020)

@hawkeyefan - Let me know how that goes, I may steal it for, you know, that other project. _Muhuhahah..._


----------



## Tun Kai Poh (May 25, 2020)

hawkeyefan said:


> So some of my players have agreed to do a play by post game of Blades in the Dark through Discord. I’ve played a bit in PBP games and i think Blades is a good match for that format.
> 
> We decided to try out the playtest material to play Bluecoats. So instead of playing a crew of scoundrels, they’re playing a unit of cops.
> 
> ...




Oh, is this the Flame Without Shadow setting, with new technologies and all that?

Colour me interested in your exploits, especially since my Blades group is skipping this week due to the Eid holiday in Malaysia...


----------



## hawkeyefan (May 25, 2020)

Tun Kai Poh said:


> Oh, is this the Flame Without Shadow setting, with new technologies and all that?
> 
> Colour me interested in your exploits, especially since my Blades group is skipping this week due to the Eid holiday in Malaysia...




Yes, it’s the Flame Without Shadow playset that was recently released on the Blades in the Dark website. I think it may have already been available to the original Kickstarter backers in some format, but I could be wrong.

The playset does mention a few new technologies, and that when the actual book is released, they’ll likely advance the timeline a few years, and adjust Factions accordingly. 

The playset isn’t entirely complete...there are a couple or items that aren’t described and a handful of Unit (crew) upgrades that aren’t described....but it’s manageable. 

So far I’ve found the challenging element to be how to adapt the idea of the Score to an Operation. They’re similar, but there are also some meaningful differences. My players spent some time gathering info, for example, and they did so by monitoring a specific location and noting who comes and goes. But the game has “Stakeout” for an operation type. So one of the players asked “should we just expand on this a bit and turn it into an operation?” 

We decided to leave it as gather info and then proceeded with an Arrest operation. 

So there’s some adjustment from standard Blades. The PCs Actions are different as well, so that takes some getting used to. But I’m pretty comfortable with Blades, and so is my group, so when we run into an issue, we work it out.

All in all, it’s going pretty well so far. The Unit is investigating the murder of a low level street dealer in the hopes to move up the ladder for bigger targets. I think remembering that this is not about mystery, but more about how do you do this job in this city os important. 

Blades is about a crew trying to fight the system. Flame Without Shadow is about a unit within that system trying to function.


----------



## Blackrat (May 25, 2020)

At the moment, D&D is pretty much it. But I have long history with VtM as well as the FFG’s 40k rpgs. I’ve dabbled in a lot of different games, and then there is an ongoing MERP campaign that is on a hiatus at the moment.


----------



## PabloM (May 25, 2020)

Blackrat said:


> At the moment, D&D is pretty much it. But I have long history with VtM as well as the FFG’s 40k rpgs. I’ve dabbled in a lot of different games, and then there is an ongoing MERP campaign that is on a hiatus at the moment.



wow! MERP! it's been a long time since I look to that weapon tables...


----------



## Blackrat (May 25, 2020)

PabloM said:


> wow! MERP! it's been a long time since I look to that weapon tables...



To be honest, I never got the hang of all those tables. I just relied on the GM telling me when to roll and he consulted the tables and narrated the results


----------



## Umbran (May 26, 2020)

Fenris-77 said:


> Yeah, I feel you on needing the occasional break from GMing. Have a blast with that game. I'm going to get myself a copy since the price point is so reasonable. Now I know what I'm reading tonight.




We have since played one session - just introduction of characters, a series of scenes establishing how each get into The City, and letting them try to formulate... a plan, if you wanna call it that.  

Tomorrow my wife and I are jumping in on a game of _Ghost Planets_, a Fate-based game in which you play a team of people desperately trying to discover what has been destroying sentient cultures in the galaxy... before it comes for the humans.


----------



## Fenris-77 (May 26, 2020)

Umbran said:


> We have since played one session - just introduction of characters, a series of scenes establishing how each get into The City, and letting them try to formulate... a plan, if you wanna call it that.
> 
> Tomorrow my wife and I are jumping in on a game of _Ghost Planets_, a Fate-based game in which you play a team of people desperately trying to discover what has been destroying sentient cultures in the galaxy... before it comes for the humans.



Cool. I've read through the whole rules set and I still think it's fantastic. Now I just need the right group to play it with. That FATE game sounds like fun too. Sadly I don't get to play a lot of FATE. I have really limited access to players currently (location, not COVID) and they just aren't a FATE crowd. I really need to start playing online.


----------



## Umbran (May 26, 2020)

Fenris-77 said:


> I really need to start playing online.




It isn't quite as good at playing in person, but it is better than not playing.


----------



## Fenris-77 (May 26, 2020)

Umbran said:


> It isn't quite as good at playing in person, but it is better than not playing.



Yeah, at this point I'd take _not quite as good _and run with it. _I got the jones man, I just need a hit. Just one hit man, just one, I swear I'll bring the cash tomorrow...._


----------



## Jer (May 26, 2020)

My 13th Age group wrapped up a long-running campaign the other week (which likely would have taken us another year if COVID stay-at-home hadn't caused us all to have free time open up for weekly online instead of monthly in-person gaming), so we started an ICONS game this week.  First session was random character creation and a short scene with some combat to introduce the rules and see how folks enjoy it.  Plan is to play a few sessions of different game to see what we want to do next - either dive into another long-running campaign of some kind, or maybe just play a series of one-shots for a while.


----------



## Reynard (May 26, 2020)

I finally get to try Dungeon World this weekend with someone very familiar with PbtA games. I have been loathe to try and run a PbtA game myself without having played one before because the concept of GM moves is a little weird to me. It will be interesting to experience.


----------



## Fenris-77 (May 26, 2020)

Reynard said:


> I finally get to try Dungeon World this weekend with someone very familiar with PbtA games. I have been loathe to try and run a PbtA game myself without having played one before because the concept of GM moves is a little weird to me. It will be interesting to experience.



It's not as complicated as it seems. If you've DM'd D&D you already use GM moves in a lot of ways, you just don't realize that they're the same thing as the DW rules yet. PbtA is just more up front and codified about their use and provides specific examples and mechanics for the decision making. The equivalent in D&D is stuff DMs just kinda do sometimes, without the system support.


----------



## pemerton (May 27, 2020)

Reynard said:


> I have been loathe to try and run a PbtA game myself without having played one before because the concept of GM moves is a little weird to me.



GM moves are all about establishing elements of the fiction that will place some sort of pressure on the players by virtue of the (fictional) circumstances in which their PCs find themselves.

The most obvious analogues in D&D refereeing are (i) telling the players about damage that their PCs suffer and (ii) telling the players about the consequences/effects of traps, spells etc that they fail saves against.

The difference in PbtA compared to D&D is that, as GM, you're not rolling to hit but rather making moves in response to player action declarations and resolution - often actions that have failed.

A less obvious but I think important analogue in D&D refereeing is (iii) telling the players what their PCs see behind a dungeon door they've just opened. In D&D this is the central example of _announcing badness_ (AW) or _revealing an unwelcome truth_ (DW).

I would say that the two most important differences between D&D and PbtA relate to (a) how, and (b) when.

(a) PbtA favours a very flexible and responsive approach to _how_. This is one manifestation of the idea of "following the fiction" and "playing to find out". So notes, dungeon keys etc - while not utterly absent (because they are there in a certain form in fronts) - don't play the same role as they do in fairly traditional D&D. Related to this: in D&D it's often the case that memoring a Find Traps spell, or playing a thief, is a way of getting around the traps you know the GM will haver put there; whereas in DW, playing a thief is a reason for the GM to _give an opportunity that fits a class’ abilities_ by narrating the presence, the threat, etc of traps either as framing or as consequence.

And also related: there's less codification of permissible responses and consequences in PbtA. If the situation requires you (as GM) to narrate the consequences of a blow from a troll, that could be harm/damage; or it could be knocking the character clear across the room (_separate them_); or it could be breaking the character's shield (_take away their stuff _/_ use up their resources_); or, etc, etc.

(b) PbtA favours a very proactive answer to _when_. There shouldn't normally be a lot of time spent at the table "looking for the adventure" or wondering where the action might be. It's the GM's job to poke and provoke the PCs and thereby their players. It doesn't have to be all bad - AW includes the principle _respond with . . . intermittent rewards_ - but if it's really got to the point where the GM has no moves to make then the story of the PCs is done. For them, the excitement is over.

For some GMs - especially those whose main experience is fairly traditional D&D - building up this feel for pacing, and modulating between softer and harder moves, may take a while. I'd say the main thing is to follow the fiction, using the list of moves as a reminder for the sorts of things you can do with fiction in an adventure-oriented RPG. Don't fetishise the moves in themselves.

EDIT: If you _play _AW or DW, you will be able to work out the GM moves only by inference. Because a central principle for the GM is _never speak the name of your move_. I think AW (pp 110-11) is especially good on this:

Of course the real reason why you choose a move exists in the real world. Somebody has her character go someplace new, somebody misses a roll, somebody hits a roll that calls for you to answer, everybody’s looking to you to say something, so you choose a move to make. Real-world reasons. However, misdirect: pretend that you’re making your move for reasons entirely within the game’s fiction instead. Maybe your move is to *separate them*, for instance; never say “you missed your roll, so you two get separated.” Instead, maybe say “you try to grab his gun” — this was the PC’s move — “but he kicks you down. While they’re stomping on you, they drag Damson away.” The effect’s the same, they’re separated, but you’ve cannily misrepresented the cause. Make like it’s the game’s fiction that chooses your move for you, and so correspondingly always choose a move that the game’s fiction makes possible.​
DW (p 163) is briefer: 'You know the reason the slavers dragged off Omar was because you made the “put someone in a spot” move, but you show it to the players as a straightforward outcome of their actions, since it is.'


----------



## Reynard (May 27, 2020)

pemerton said:


> GM moves are all about establishing elements of the fiction that will place some sort of pressure on the players by virtue of the (fictional) circumstances in which their PCs find themselves.
> 
> The most obvious analogues in D&D refereeing are (i) telling the players about damage that their PCs suffer and (ii) telling the players about the consequences/effects of traps, spells etc that they fail saves against.
> 
> ...



Thank you for that explanation.


----------



## Eyes of Nine (May 27, 2020)

pemerton said:


> GM moves are all about establishing elements of the fiction that will place some sort of pressure on the players by virtue of the (fictional) circumstances in which their PCs find themselves.
> 
> The most obvious analogues in D&D refereeing are (i) telling the players about damage that their PCs suffer and (ii) telling the players about the consequences/effects of traps, spells etc that they fail saves against.
> 
> ...



So good.


----------



## Nebulous (May 27, 2020)

Umbran said:


> It isn't quite as good at playing in person, but it is better than not playing.



I like using dynamic lighting because that is something I can't replicate in person, so its another little perk.  But yeah in person is still better.


----------



## Nebulous (May 27, 2020)

Fenris-77 said:


> It's not as complicated as it seems. If you've DM'd D&D you already use GM moves in a lot of ways, you just don't realize that they're the same thing as the DW rules yet. PbtA is just more up front and codified about their use and provides specific examples and mechanics for the decision making. The equivalent in D&D is stuff DMs just kinda do sometimes, without the system support.




I've noticed that when running DW it is still too easy to get into the D&D mindset of static fights.  You know how in DnD PCs and NPCs just stand there and bash and don't move because it's the best tactical option?  Well, in DW, there's no reason for that to exist, and you can have combats flopping all over the place, and without any constraints of rounds or initiative.  BUT, I still find fights being static because that's what I'm used to doing.


----------



## Nebulous (May 27, 2020)

For people interested, I found this video of Matt Mercer and Adam Koebel (creator of DW) as players in a Roll20 session with a new GM.


----------



## Snarf Zagyg (May 27, 2020)

I just dug out a copy of _Star Frontiers; _I am (of course) using it with _Knight Hawks _(pew pew pew space battles) and _Zeb's Guide to Zeb's Dead, Baby _(Zebulon's Guide to Frontier Space).

It's a lot of fun, but it does remind me that sometimes you go back and the mechanics are a lot more smooth than you might think (Marvel) and other time, the mechanics are, well, 80s clunky.


----------



## Umbran (May 27, 2020)

Nebulous said:


> I like using dynamic lighting because that is something I can't replicate in person, so its another little perk.




If you can do it at home for video, why can't you do it at home in person?


----------



## Nebulous (May 27, 2020)

Umbran said:


> If you can do it at home for video, why can't you do it at home in person?



Sorry, what do you mean?  I can't have people come to my home anymore, I live with two immune compromised family members.


----------



## Nebulous (May 27, 2020)

Snarf Zagyg said:


> I just dug out a copy of _Star Frontiers; _I am (of course) using it with _Knight Hawks _(pew pew pew space battles) and _Zeb's Guide to Zeb's Dead, Baby _(Zebulon's Guide to Frontier Space).
> 
> It's a lot of fun, but it does remind me that sometimes you go back and the mechanics are a lot more smooth than you might think (Marvel) and other time, the mechanics are, well, 80s clunky.



aww, i loved Star Frontiers!!!  If WotC brought that back, damn....


----------



## Umbran (May 27, 2020)

Nebulous said:


> Sorry, what do you mean?




Dynamic lighting.  You say you can't replicate it in person.  Why not?


----------



## Nebulous (May 27, 2020)

Umbran said:


> Dynamic lighting.  You say you can't replicate it in person.  Why not?



I don't know how to do shadows and line of sight accurately with miniatures.  See how the shadows fade and fade right up the edge of 60 foot darkvision and then all darkness?  I cant do that in person.


----------



## Nebulous (May 27, 2020)

Furthermore, darkvision actually looks like this, shades of gray, no color, but at the table, all player see is bright light in all directions in full color at all times.  I don't think PCs would WANT to be in full dark as much as they are, it's very disorienting and frightening.


----------



## Umbran (May 27, 2020)

Nebulous said:


> I don't know how to do shadows and line of sight accurately with miniatures.




Oh, on _maps_.  Got it.


----------



## Fenris-77 (May 27, 2020)

Umbran said:


> Oh, on _maps_.  Got it.



I'l admit, my first thought there was playing with a flashlight under your chin. Very atmospheric!


----------



## Nebulous (May 27, 2020)

Fenris-77 said:


> I'l admit, my first thought there was playing with a flashlight under your chin. Very atmospheric!



hahaha.


----------



## aramis erak (May 28, 2020)

Nebulous said:


> Furthermore, darkvision actually looks like this, shades of gray, no color, but at the table, all player see is bright light in all directions in full color at all times.  I don't think PCs would WANT to be in full dark as much as they are, it's very disorienting and frightening.



When you again do FTF, you might consider an inexpensive projector or a TV. You can then use your VTT's mapping and lighting tools.

Edit to add: my sunday group decided they want me to run Sentinel Comics again... and self-organized!


----------



## aramis erak (May 28, 2020)

Fenris-77 said:


> I'l admit, my first thought there was playing with a flashlight under your chin. Very atmospheric!



I've achieved much the same effect by chopping the map into separate rooms, which get laid out when perceivable, and removed when not. Lot of prep, tho'.


----------



## Fenris-77 (May 28, 2020)

aramis erak said:


> I've achieved much the same effect by chopping the map into separate rooms, which get laid out when perceivable, and removed when not. Lot of prep, tho'.



Oh yeah. I've dabbled with stuff like that. It always seems like too much work for not enough reward. I don't really like using fully to-scale maps and figs anyway. I'm more of a sketch and tokens guy.


----------



## aramis erak (May 28, 2020)

Fenris-77 said:


> Oh yeah. I've dabbled with stuff like that. It always seems like too much work for not enough reward. I don't really like using fully to-scale maps and figs anyway. I'm more of a sketch and tokens guy.



I was getting paid, so I didn't mind the extra work.
ALso, I use 8mm cubes on 1cm grids. Makes the maps much more workable... but also more subject to sneezures...


----------



## Umbran (May 28, 2020)

Fenris-77 said:


> I'l admit, my first thought there was playing with a flashlight under your chin. Very atmospheric!




I have played and run tabletop games where lighting effects were used in the room for atmosphere, so my mind when there as well.


----------



## Campbell (May 28, 2020)

Nebulous said:


> I've noticed that when running DW it is still too easy to get into the D&D mindset of static fights.  You know how in DnD PCs and NPCs just stand there and bash and don't move because it's the best tactical option?  Well, in DW, there's no reason for that to exist, and you can have combats flopping all over the place, and without any constraints of rounds or initiative.  BUT, I still find fights being static because that's what I'm used to doing.




One of the things that is hardest to remember is that resolving player moves is not your GM move. Even on a success you still need to make your move. It should generally be something that sets up future moves and gives a sense of urgency to the proceedings. If the Fighter is engaging with the Orc Chieftain maybe a few orcs are sneaking up on the wizard. Alternatively, sometimes give them an opportunity. Maybe the Fighter hit the dragon so hard it backs up exposing its belly.

Make your moves. 



			
				Apocalypse World said:
			
		

> Whenever there’s a pause in the conversation and everyone looks to you to say something, choose one of these things and say it.


----------



## Fenris-77 (May 28, 2020)

Umbran said:


> I have played and run tabletop games where lighting effects were used in the room for atmosphere, so my mind when there as well.



Funny you should mention that, I was thinking just today about how to use game room lighting to amplify horror-adjacent stuff like _Veins of the Earth. _I don't think I've done anything like that since I was 12 and had the bright idea to run some sessions in my attic with my friends. We did use flashlights, and I'm pretty sure they ended up under our chins at some point.


----------



## Tun Kai Poh (Jun 8, 2020)

Our crew didn't play Blades due to our Spider being burned out from work, so the rest of us played a game of *For The Honor* by Mx_quinn, the She-Ra inspired Firebrands hack.

For those unfamiliar with the Firebrands system, it's a GM-less game by Vincent and Meguey Baker (*Dogs in the Vineyard, Apocalypse World*) and players often control characters from rival factions working against each other. Instead of rules mechanics, there are a dozen minigames that handle social confrontations, journeys, duels, chases, battles and so forth, each with a range of questions and prompts for players to ask one another (dividing narrative control between each other).

Interestingly, since I was the only one playing a Legion (villain) character, there were times when the division of play felt a little like a regular GMed game. The other 3 players (who usually play in my Blades game) were sided with the Rebellion so they were effectively one side and I was the other. In that sense I guess we fell into more familiar patterns of play, since we were pretty new to the game. There were basically 4 minigames worth of play, including the introductory montage, and I was really actively engaged in the very beginning and again in the last 2 minigames, almost like the GMed adversary side. 

During the 2nd minigame when the game really came alive, they were interacting on a journey (a quest to reach a Legion stronghold ahead of Legion reinforcements) and I was mostly offstage entirely (except to answer one prompt that threw a villainous spanner into the works). So for the 3rd and 4th parts of the session (a flashback argument and a climactic battle) I was involved just like a GM playing the adversary, even though players had a lot more creative control. Anyway we finished the session with my villain defeated in battle (falling from a cliff into darkness like a Disney villain) and our heroes having saved the day. With the option to continue another time. 

I'm hoping we'll get back to Blades next week since the last thing we did was roll for Entanglements following the seagoing adventure, and we got a demonic offer!


----------



## Tun Kai Poh (Jun 28, 2020)

Nobody updating here anymore?

Yesterday I ran a good session of Blackout at A Good Day To Dice, our local monthly virtual con. 2 inexperienced players (played a bit of D&D and/or CoC) and 2 friends I know from the Malaysian LARP community. We managed a pretty satisfying session in 3.5 hours of play (players had discussed chargen picks on a chat group the day before).

Blackout is the PbtA game of women serving in Civil Defence during the London Blitz.








						BLACKOUT - A Game of Civil Defence - Newstand Press | Recruited - Military Games | DriveThruRPG.com
					

BLACKOUT - A Game of Civil Defence -   It’s 1940! The Continent has fallen, Hitler’s army seems unstoppable, and London has fallen into the crosshairs of




					www.drivethrurpg.com
				








We created a Civil Defence section based in the fictitious neighbourhood of Bloomingdale College, in the east side of London, which had been unscathed during the first month of the Blitz. The player characters were Rita Lane (Young Housewife, First Aid), Lisa Hamilton (Educated Woman, Rescue Services) with search dog Mikey, Agnes Benson (Old Bird, Air Warden) and Audrey Edwards (Working Lass, Fire Guard).

After nightfall and the initial raid sirens, the women began their night patrol, going through the middle of the Bloomingdale neighbourhood. They helped a local pastor confront a young thief, then comforted the owners and staff of a bookstore that was on the brink of going bankrupt. All this happened before the first bombs landed in the next street.

(these were meant to be easy scenes with low-stakes rolls, the "tutorial level" to get the players used to the system)

As they ran around the corner to Mason Street, Audrey saw with a shock that bombs had exploded right in front of the tenement where she rented a small room, shattering glass and setting the front on fire. She got to work with her little stirrup pump to extinguish the flames while Lisa and Rita climbed through broken windows to pull the injured out.

The old-timer Agnes, who had lived through bombings in WWI, took charge of the evacuees of the tenement, leading them down the street to the nearest Anderson Shelters. But she was unable to convince two stragglers to come along - they stayed around on the street in front of the building to gawk. Audrey dodged a gas explosion. Rita failed to stabilise Audrey's neighbour Julian the lawyer, who had sustained a head injury and lost consciousness, never to awaken.

(this would be an unfortunate pattern for Rita's player during this session)

One corner of the building fell, and Audrey watched as her room, with her only belongings in the world, smashed into the street. A wooden box that held precious memories and illicit narcotics was dashed to pieces. Audrey shook off her grief and rushed into the building once more to find more survivors, followed by Lisa and Mikey. The fire guard exerted all of her strength to hold up an unstable beam so that Lisa and the dog could pass through to search the basement.

(Audrey repeatedly used her It's a Living move to give +1 to Lisa for following in her footsteps, which also gave the women Bonds with each other. They made a good team that night!)

Lisa swept her torch and listened for voices, quickly locating a wounded woman, her little son, and a scrawny pet cat. And also an undetonated 500lb bomb that had punched into the basement.

As Lisa pulled the survivors out, the boy pointed deeper in the basement to where another neighbour was trapped. She pressed on and went back in. Meanwhile, drama was developing on the street. Before Agnes could persuade the gawkers to retreat to the shelters, another Section of Civil Defence women arrived, led by Agnes' rival from the Bingo hall, Lois. The hated Lois bullied her way into taking charge and clustered her group dangerously close to an unstable building façade. Seeing the threat, Agnes blew her whistle and warned them all away just in time before the debris rained down.

The Section gathered the people they'd saved at a safe distance from the tenement. Lisa showed up with one more old man. Rita did her best to help the woman from the basement, but her injuries proved fatal and she died. As the little son wailed over the body, Lisa and her search dog did their best to comfort him, so that they could lead him away to a shelter.

(when Moving On from a Site, the group as a whole rolls to see how stable it is and how much they have saved, based on the Site State at end of the scene. The group rolled well, gaining 2 Victories each. They also rested to reduce Exhaustion from their efforts, and each gained a new Role Move on their playbooks)

Another bomb had gone down near the Bingo hall, where Agnes and her husband lived in a row of houses. After a short rest to catch their breath, Agnes led them through a short cut to come upon a scene of terror and fire. Incendiary bombs had set fires throughout her street. Score of neighbours had pulled the wounded out into the street, but the fires were spreading and there were still cries from some houses.

(Agnes' move The Old Path saved a lot of time and grief in getting the Section to the next site quickly. In fact, the Old Bird's abilities were the most powerful in our game!)

Agnes drew upon her Air Warden training. She set out a plan. She would organise survivors to move the less wounded into the still-intact Bingo hall, which had escaped damage and was a street away from the flames. Rita would treat the worst wounded where they lay on the street (despite her appalling failure rate to date). Audrey and Lisa would fight the fires and get them under control, so that Lisa could safely access places where survivors might be.

(Air Warden Shotcaller move: When you lay out a multi-step plan, everyone involved gets +1 as long as they follow the plan)

Audrey and Lisa organised a few survivors for a bucket brigade based around a decorative garden pond, but found the blaze growing too fast. Meanwhile, Rita managed to successfully treat an injured person for the first time that night - it was her children's teacher Miss Jones. Rita made sure to demand better grades for her kids.

Old Agnes then noticed a parked motorcycle she recognised. It belonged to her nephew Theodore, who must have come to visit that evening while she was out on patrol! She wondered if Theodore and her husband Benjamin were all right. Mounting the bike, she rode all along the street to size up the situation. She could see Audrey and Lisa's effors were doomed, and pointed them towards a two-storey home that appeared to have survivors upstairs. And she also noticed the wreck of a staff car at the far end of the road - their local commander and his aides were dead, and nobody else was going to come take charge. Finally she managed to locate her husband Benjamin, who was helping to tend to the wounded. With tears in his eyes, he told her to keep going, he'd be fine, just take care of the people in worse danger...

Audrey and Lisa tackled the next house, with the firefighter in front, smashing through stuck doors, stepping over the dead on the ground floor, and clearing the way. They made it through the smoky stairwell and up into a bedroom where they found two kids, one too panicky to move. Audrey decided there was no time to try to talk, so each woman picked up a child and went out through the balcony, leaping to the roof of a shed. As they exited, they saw what Agnes' reconnaissance had missed: the smashed fuselage of a He-111 bomber just behind the back fence, sections burning and unexploded bombs in its belly.

Audrey's warning was almost too late: the fire set off machine-gun ammunition from the bomber which sprayed across the street, wounding several people including Agnes. While Rita did her best to treat the injured (failing and losing another patient), Agnes summoned up all her strength and ordered the other Civil Defence Section on the scene, led by Lois, to deal with the spreading fire.

Somewhere in the distance, a Hurricane tumbled out of the sky, smashing into Bloomingdale College. The Section looked at each other. They were all exhausted but the night wasn't over yet. Together, they moved on from the street, hoping that Lois' group would be able to keep things under control. They ran ahead into the burning night...

(after this scene we rolled for Victories for this second site and called time for the game. We counted Breaks - Agnes had one breakdown from exhaustion - which cancelled Victories and went to the epilogue, the march of years after the war. The character sheets include Victory questions to ask at the end based on how much you score. So the players each narrated their lives based on their scores)

Rita: Her children were evacuated to the countryside to her parent's home to wait out the rest of the war. When they came back, they had grown distant to their mother. Henry Jr went into politics, while Rita Jr became a doctor to save many lives (unlike Rita). Rita's husband Henry returned from the war with many medals - and alcoholism. After the war, she kept busy in a failed acting career.

Audrey: There was nothing left for her in England after the war, so she emigrated to the United States, starting a new life in a small town as a writer. She never married, but raised cats. Lots of cats.

Agnes: Theodore survived the war and made his aunt very proud, eventually becoming an aircraft engineer. Agnes offered advice to the women of her section: "In life, you have to push forward," and so they did.

(Agnes' player, being the Old Bird, took the option to give 1 Victory away to Rita, so her advice helped her recover from her failures as an actress, and she went into government service creating propaganda. In exchange, Rita was there for Agnes at the end, and her daughter the doctor helped ease Agnes' pain on her deathbed)

Lisa: Mikey the labrador did not survive the war. After the war Lisa became a journalist with a passion for art. While covering a painter's work, she fell in love with him and they were married. She inspired him to create a painting of the four women of her Bloomingdale College Civil Defence Section, immortalising their efforts in the war. Lastly, she wrote a memoir of her time in the ARP, and the crucial focus of the book was that one brutal night of the Blitz when the bombs hit her neighbourhood...


----------



## Tun Kai Poh (Jun 29, 2020)

In case anyone wondered what else gets played over here, A Good Day To Dice had 5 online sessions on Saturday including my session, with a total of 20 players signed up. Besides my Blackout game, the other one-shots were:

Follow, a fantasy scenario titled Dragon Must Die
Dungeon Crawl Classics, a funnel scenario using the Stonehell dungeon
Doctor Who: Adventures in Time and Space, a scenario featuring the Cybermen in modern London
Dialect, a scenario called Outpost about a Mars colony.

And I've been posting links to my Malaysian interview series, which includes key figures from our Adventurers League and Pathfinder Society.








						Roleplaying Online Under Lockdown: Interview Series
					

I've started an interview series on my blog covering local gamers who've adapted to roleplaying online during lockdown.  This week, I spoke with professional GM and D&D Adventurers League organizer Ian Adly, who talked about the tools and platforms he uses, and the technical issues he...




					www.enworld.org


----------



## Dr Magister (Jun 29, 2020)

We played a WHFRP 4e one shot yesterday, and this week I'll be running a Wild West game, using the Barbarians of Lemuria (and Barbarians of the Aftermath) rules.


----------



## Esau Cairn (Jun 30, 2020)

PabloM said:


> We all love D&D




Statements like this crack me—so consistently—up. I do not and have never loved D&D, and although I have never gone a calendar year since then without playing one or several rpgs, I haven't played D&D in 40 years.

I am currently involved with my first foray into 2d20 with Conan and quite enjoying it as a complete change of pace from our years-long-running Twilight: 2000 game; Coriolis; Delta Green; and a Proto-Traveller/Alien/Mothership off-again/on-again campaign.

I'm looking forward to Dune (provided Modiphius doesn't support Adam "laughing rapist" Koebel as their author for the GM section of the book; which they seem to be doing).


----------



## Tun Kai Poh (Jun 30, 2020)

Esau Cairn said:


> Statements like this crack me—so consistently—up. I do not and have never loved D&D, and although I have never gone a calendar year since then without playing one or several rpgs, I haven't played D&D in 40 years.
> 
> I am currently involved with my first foray into 2d20 with Conan and quite enjoying it as a complete change of pace from our years-long-running Twilight: 2000 game; Coriolis; Delta Green; and a Proto-Traveller/Alien/Mothership off-again/on-again campaign.
> 
> I'm looking forward to Dune (provided Modiphius doesn't support Adam "laughing rapist" Koebel as their author for the GM section of the book; which they seem to be doing).




Koebel on Dune? Damnit.


----------



## Campbell (Jun 30, 2020)

Right now I am playing Freebooters on the Frontier 2e, Mork Borg, and Power Beyond Doubt. I will be running Lancer and a short of Blades in the Dark this month. I will also be playing in a short run of Don't Rest Your Head.


----------



## uzirath (Jul 1, 2020)

I’m still running multiple Dungeon Fantasy RPG (GURPS) games for different friends and age groups. Recently ran two different groups through portions of the ENSider adventure “Into the Feywild.” It was a great fit because it has so many non-combat challenges that map easily to a skill-based system. It’s especially fun as far as published adventures go because it will never play the same way twice. I’m definitely keeping it in my back pocket for future pickup games and one-shots.


----------



## Fenris-77 (Jul 1, 2020)

Campbell said:


> I will also be playing in a short run of Don't Rest Your Head.



So jealous. I bought it, but haven't had a chance to play yet.


----------



## Tun Kai Poh (Jul 1, 2020)

uzirath said:


> I’m still running multiple Dungeon Fantasy RPG (GURPS) games for different friends and age groups. Recently ran two different groups through portions of the ENSider adventure “Into the Feywild.” It was a great fit because it has so many non-combat challenges that map easily to a skill-based system. It’s especially fun as far as published adventures go because it will never play the same way twice. I’m definitely keeping it in my back pocket for future pickup games and one-shots.




Into the Feywild is great, I remember that one!


----------



## PabloM (Jul 1, 2020)

Esau Cairn said:


> Statements like this crack me—so consistently—up. I do not and have never loved D&D, and although I have never gone a calendar year since then without playing one or several rpgs, I haven't played D&D in 40 years.




Take it easy! it was just an introduction to the topic in a web that is supported by a massive D&D fan base. 

Maybe it will be beneficial for us nerds if we stop looking for antagonisms all the time.


----------



## PabloM (Jul 1, 2020)

So, I´ve been busy. Finally I managed to play online, and I followed your advice: I played Cthulhu Dark and it was amazing, fantastic, elegant system.


----------



## Esau Cairn (Jul 2, 2020)

PabloM said:


> Take it easy! it was just an introduction to the topic in a web that is supported by a massive D&D fan base.




Take a joke. If someone says, "Everybody loves ___" and another responds, "I don't", you see that as antagonistic?

Did I insult the person behind the statement or the game? Don't believe so. I stated I have never loved D&D while slipping in a quote from a formerly hilarious cartoon show (comedic, not antagonistic), then went on to discuss the topic of the post—what else I'm playing or would like to.



> Maybe it will be beneficial for us nerds if we stop looking for antagonisms all the time.




Ironical.


----------



## innerdude (Jul 2, 2020)

It's okay, @Esau Cairn, I am also no longer a "lover" of D&D.

There was a point in time somewhere between 2004 and 2006 where I would have laughed in your face if you'd asked if I wanted to play anything other than D&D 3.5, because why would I want to play anything besides the "perfect embodiment of RPG play"?

Now? I haven't touched a d20 system in nearly a decade, for the simple fact that there's flat-out better game systems out there than D&D. For me to have anything to do with 5e (or a d20 system of any sort), it would have to be as a player, and I'd have to be darn sure that the GM was capable of running an exceptional campaign. Otherwise, why would I waste my time with what is, IMHO, an inferior product in its own market?

That said, I'm significantly grateful for the long-term impact 5e has had on the hobby. It's amazing how far we've come in the last 6 years in terms of exposure to the hobby in general. My hope is for a long, glorious, successful age of D&D 5e bringing people into the hobby . . . who I can later convert to a different system along the way.


----------



## Bluenose (Jul 2, 2020)

Ran a short adventure last night over Zoom with my players. We used Barbarians of Lemuria, playing a modified version of the old WFRP scenario Shadows over Bogenhafen. We'll probably try and finish it either Friday or Monday. There's a chance that I'll run some more after that, although we're still waiting to finish the F2F games that we were running and no-one wants to put those online - too much work for a couple of sessions at most, I'm sorry to say, especially since we're not familiar with the tools.


----------



## PabloM (Jul 2, 2020)

Bluenose said:


> Ran a short adventure last night over Zoom with my players. We used Barbarians of Lemuria, playing a modified version of the old WFRP scenario Shadows over Bogenhafen. We'll probably try and finish it either Friday or Monday. There's a chance that I'll run some more after that, although we're still waiting to finish the F2F games that we were running and no-one wants to put those online - too much work for a couple of sessions at most, I'm sorry to say, especially since we're not familiar with the tools.




We end playing in zoom too, after trying roll20 and Discord.


----------



## uzirath (Jul 2, 2020)

PabloM said:


> We end playing in zoom too, after trying roll20 and Discord.




I’ve been running with Roll20 and Zoom, but for the last two sessions we didn’t use Roll20 at all. I like being able to see everyone’s face.


----------



## PabloM (Jul 2, 2020)

uzirath said:


> I’ve been running with Roll20 and Zoom, but for the last two sessions we didn’t use Roll20 at all. I like being able to see everyone’s face.



Same here. I don´t usually play with a grid in our tabletop sessions either, so I don´t need that kind of software.


----------



## TheCultMachine (Jul 3, 2020)

I got to run Savage Worlds a couple times. Wish my group liked it as much as I did. I would happy convert from 5e to Savage Worlds.


----------



## pemerton (Jul 3, 2020)

We've played three (? I think  - maybe four) online sessions - using Skype or Zoom, and an online dice roller for the dice pools in the Cortex+ session.


----------



## aramis erak (Jul 4, 2020)

My Sentinels Game hits ep VI on sunday... ending their first collection.
I'm still running Dragon Warriors... 
I'm playing in my 20YO daughter's L5R game.

Looking forward to Dune, even tho' I'm not a fan of 2d20. Most of my issues can be solved by not allowing momentum for extra d20's and limiting the reroll spends on effect dice (d6's).


----------



## Fenris-77 (Jul 5, 2020)

Would anyone care to give me a rundown on the similarities and differences between Pendragon and Prince Valiant? I own the former, but not the latter. Both are by Greg Stafford and @pemerton has been pretty effusive in his praise of PV, so I want to see if it was worth trying to source a copy when I already have Pendragon.


----------



## pemerton (Jul 5, 2020)

Fenris-77 said:


> Would anyone care to give me a rundown on the similarities and differences between Pendragon and Prince Valiant? I own the former, but not the latter. Both are by Greg Stafford and @pemerton has been pretty effusive in his praise of PV, so I want to see if it was worth trying to source a copy when I already have Pendragon.



You'll probably get a fuller picture by reading some of my actual play posts.

But the short version: Pendragon is ultra-sim and defaults to the players playing through a pre-figured story.

Prince Valiant uses very simple PC build: allocate 7 dice across Brawn and Presence; then allocate 9 dice across 6 skills with choice of occupation establishing some required skills (eg all knights and squires need Arms and Riding). The skill list has 14 skills in the Basic game and 29 in the Advanced game (the Advanced game allows playing PCs other than knights).

Resolution is dice pools (or coin toss, but we use dice) - 50% win/lose for each die, and counting successes. It's either opposed or vs a target number if there's no active opposition; and can be simple or extended (in the latter case margin of failure reduces the loser's pool; keep going until someone gets to zero).

Pools are typically stat + skill, but some are stat only and some skill only.

Fictional positioning - which includes emotions and morale on both PCs and NPCs - is handled as adjustments to the size of the pool.

Consequences can either be reductions to Brawn and/or Presence, or purely changes within the fiction. The GM has full authority over adverse consequences (including, if a PC loses a combat, how bad the injuries are, how long they take to heal, whether or not they require a Brawn check to avoid dying, etc).

The default way to play is for the GM to frame the PCs into a situation that would prompt knights-errant into action, and then find out what happens. In our game the PCs have fought jousts, married (in one case because bullied into it by his wife and her father; in one case out of love, in one case to cement a political alliance); founded a holy military order (the Knight of St Sigobert) and have travelled from Britain to Anatolia where they are hoping to do some crusading.

I know that Greg Stafford thought Pendragon was his masterpiece, but I think that Prince Valiant is the better system. I'm very surprised it doesn't seem to get more play.


----------



## Fenris-77 (Jul 5, 2020)

Thanks! I haven't read Pendragon in an age, but when I browsed through it today it didn't seem much like your descriptions of PV play, which sounded excellent. I think I'd prefer PV at this point, although I do appreciate a good medieval sim, at least in theory.


----------



## pemerton (Jul 5, 2020)

Fenris-77 said:


> Thanks! I haven't read Pendragon in an age, but when I browsed through it today it didn't seem much like your descriptions of PV play, which sounded excellent. I think I'd prefer PV at this point, although I do appreciate a good medieval sim, at least in theory.



I've never played Pendragon in a serious way - only the odd one-off - so I may not be a fair judge of it. But when I read it I want to like it, because the tropes and ideas are excellent, but when I try to actually imagine it in play I sense a lot of accounting and not a lot of spontaneity.

Whereas PV is accounting-light and spontaneity-heavy!


----------



## Cadence (Jul 5, 2020)

No RPGs beyond D&D right now - MtG (EDH), Ascension, and Bridge mostly.

Have the urge for some old school Gamma World for no reason in particular.


----------



## pemerton (Jul 5, 2020)

@Fenris-77  Also, and given that we're concurrent participants in the OA thread:

The Prince Valiant material in the core book emulates the pulp-y tropes of the comic. So women tend to be beautiful with high Glamourie skill (all the better to manipulate their men-folk) and the most generic opposition is Huns.

We work around this as best we can - using material from the Episodes book that shipped with the Kickstarter a few years ago we have had women warriors as well as ingenues and manipulators; and since I started using Huns as opponents (with the PCs in the Balkans an Anatolia) they have converted some and had them join their order while beating up on others.

Nevertheless I think it's worth pointing these things out.


----------



## Fenris-77 (Jul 5, 2020)

pemerton said:


> @Fenris-77  Also, and given that we're concurrent participants in the OA thread:
> 
> The Prince Valiant material in the core book emulates the pulp-y tropes of the comic. So women tend to be beautiful with high Glamourie skill (all the better to manipulate their men-folk) and the most generic opposition is Huns.
> 
> ...



It's being true to the source material (pulp medieval). That can be done even when the source material is problematic. So long as you know what you're getting into, and the game itself is upfront about things, it doesn't have to be terrible and options are always good. Pulp games of various stripes have done a fine job stepping past some of the misogyny and racism inherent in some of the original source material, so it makes sense that PV could do the same.


----------



## PabloM (Jul 6, 2020)

So, I made a top-five list of rpg I love (besides D&D): 

#1 Fate
#2 Ironsworn
#3 Blades in the Dark
#4 Marvel Heroic Roleplaying 
#5 Symbaroum

What do you think? What´s your list?


----------



## Fenris-77 (Jul 6, 2020)

1. Swords of the Serpentine
2. Blades in the Dark
3. The Sword, the Crown and the Unspeakable Power
4. Houses of the Blooded
5. Symbaroum


----------



## Campbell (Jul 6, 2020)

1. Sorcerer
2. Monsterhearts
3. Dogs in the Vineyard
4. Exalted Third Edition 
5. The Nightmares Underneath

Honorable Mentions include Blades in the Dark, Apocalypse World, Masks, Vampire 5th Edition, Wolves of God, Godbound, and Stars Without Number.


----------



## Fenris-77 (Jul 6, 2020)

Dogs in the Vineyard almost made my list too. I've been using it a lot to inform the D&D campaign I'm currently setting up for my boys. I've also been looking at REIGN, Corporation, and The Veil quite a bit to help me flesh out some system agnostic faction rules.


----------



## PabloM (Jul 6, 2020)

Sorcerer and Dogs in the Vineyard... two games which gives me the feeling of having been late for the party


----------



## hawkeyefan (Jul 6, 2020)

I agree on Dogs in the Vineyard. By the time it came to my attention, it was way past its initial release, and now it's tough to come by.

1. Blades in the Dark
2. Alien RPG
3. Mothership
4. City of Mists
5. Spire

That's my list currently. I'll admit that I cheated by including Spire.....haven't yet played it, but I am hoping to soon, To be honest, my one complaint about my gaming group is that getting them to try games other than D&D can be a chore in and of itself.


----------



## Fenris-77 (Jul 6, 2020)

You aren't cheating, I included stuff on my list I'm not actually playing, but maybe reading, or prepping to run, or using to hack another game, or whatever. 'Playing' covers a lot of ground when you're a GM. I use a lot of books for a lot of things. Here's a list of stuff I've at least cracked in the past week in the course of doing something RPG related:

Swords of the Serpentine, DitV. Dungeon World, Corporation, Invisible Sun, The Veil, Into the Wyrd and Wild, Skeleton World, City of Mist, Blades in the Dark, ACE, Savage Worlds, The Esoterrorists, Symbaroum, and SIGMATA. Plus a bunch of 5E stuff.


----------



## 5atbu (Jul 6, 2020)

Symbaroum
Fate Accelerated James Bond
Fate Accelerated Ghost in the Shell (GM)
Qin (GM)
Curse of Strahd
Coriolis
Béthorm (Tékumel)

Upcoming
Blue Rose (GM)
Artesia


----------



## SavageCole (Jul 6, 2020)

*Top Five (non-D&D)*
1. Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay (4th)
2. Call of Cthulhu (7th)
3. Legend of the Rings (L5R)
4. Mythras
5. Alien RPG


----------



## hawkeyefan (Jul 6, 2020)

Fenris-77 said:


> Swords of the Serpentine




How is that, by the way? Obviously you dig it....but do you mind elaborating?


----------



## Fenris-77 (Jul 6, 2020)

hawkeyefan said:


> How is that, by the way? Obviously you dig it....but do you mind elaborating?



It's bloody brilliant. They've taken GUMSHOE and done something really interesting with it. The Investigative pools, rather than just finding clues, are treated more like little nuggets of narrative control and apply to, well, everything. Rather than an exhaustive preview, I'll just highlight some of my favorite things about the game. 

Character generation is a hoot - there's a lot of narrative involved, not that it takes very long, but the design is that you should be able to read the character sheet and have a really good idea who that character is without additional backstory. And it works. It's also a free form system, and while there are classes, they are more like templates rather than silos and you have access to the full range of character mechanics with every character. There's also a really nice tension between specialization and breadth of skill for char gen that manages to do both well without really favoring one over the other.

In combat, attacks versus morale (talking) are treated equally to melee combat, and they use the same rules, and sorcery does one or the other depending on the type. It's a_ great _system. The game generally runs on an economy of Investigative pool spends that are occasionally partially refreshed during play (via roleplaying) and refresh completely between adventures (not necessarily between sessions). It's a neat way to handle resource management.

There is both a flashback mechanic and an "of course I have that, it's right here in my pack..." mechanic, so it's a very smooth system for running intrigue and heist type stuff.

The rules for allies and factions are really good and they're treated as a stat with a full range of associated mechanics. They have useful specific in-game uses and still provide solid adventure hooks. The game generally does a really good job with social stuff. It's possible, for example, to make a character who's primary skill is high ranks in various allies, which would make them 'important people' and as such they can use their ally pools to actually do stuff during a session.

Anyway, that's not by a long shot all the stuff I like about it. I haven't even started talking about the fantastic setting. I know it sounds like there are a lot of mechanics, but it's really not that crunchy and I find the whole thing very intuitive. If you want more granularity there's a great thread about the game over on RPG.net that gets daily attention from one of the two designers, Kevin Kulp, and he'll answer questions and spitball about hacks and whatever with whomever stops by.


----------



## Bedrockgames (Jul 7, 2020)

I haven't really played much D&D at all lately. Mostly I have been playing my own games. At the moment I am a player in a Wandering Heroes of Ogre Gate campaign that is a blend of gangster-crime genre/wuxia. Hoping to play some more Savage Worlds this summer if I get a chance as well.


----------



## Cadence (Jul 7, 2020)

PabloM said:


> So, I made a top-five list of rpg I love (besides D&D):
> What do you think? What´s your list?




I haven't played any of your five  But I am usually up for trying new ones:

The two I very fondly remember long running campaigns of were:
1) Vampire 2E
2) Gamma World 1E

One that was fun that we didn't play very long was:
3) Shadowrun

Done some one shots that were fun of:
4) Call of Cthulhu

And then there were a bunch I didn't play very long (Traveler, Brave New World, V&V) or didn't particularly like (13th Age, Fate). So I think I'll stop at 4.


----------



## pemerton (Jul 7, 2020)

PabloM said:


> So, I made a top-five list of rpg I love (besides D&D):
> 
> #1 Fate
> #2 Ironsworn
> ...



I don't get to play as much as I would like, especially during lockdown, so I'll list systems I've played and enjoyed in thie past little while, or that I currently have active campaigns for. I'm not absolutely committed to my ranking:

1. Prince Valiant
2. Classic Traveller (1977 version with a bit of hacking)
3. MHRP/Cortex+ Heroic (currently running my LotR version)
4. Burning Wheel
5. Cthulhu Dark (original 4-page version)

Systems I'd be curious to play more of, but that I probably won't get much of a chance to: Wuthering Heights, In a Wicked Age, also I guess The Dying Earth.

Systems I'd like to try but can't see how I will fit in in the next year or two: Dogs in the Vineyard, Dungeon World.

System I don't own, probably won't buy due to little chance of playing it, but am curious about: Alien.

Next system I hope to run for my group, maybe (?) within the next 6 months depending how things keep going with lockdown: Apocalypse World.


----------



## PabloM (Jul 7, 2020)

pemerton said:


> I don't get to play as much as I would like, especially during lockdown, so I'll list systems I've played and enjoyed in thie past little while, or that I currently have active campaigns for. I'm not absolutely committed to my ranking:
> 
> 1. Prince Valiant
> 2. Classic Traveller (1977 version with a bit of hacking)
> ...



That open a whole new world of games!

System I'd be curious to play more of, but that I probably won't get much of a chance to: Polaris, Apocalypse World

System I don't own, probably won't buy due to little chance of playing it, but am curious about: Alien (too!)

Systems I like (played or not) wich didn´t make it to the top-five: Cthulhu Dark, Dungeon World (mix feelings, actually), Savage Worlds, Scum and Villainy, Black Star Rise, Mothership


----------



## pemerton (Jul 7, 2020)

PabloM said:


> Dungeon World (mix feelings, actually)



Tell us more?


----------



## TreChriron (Jul 7, 2020)

HERO 6e post-apocalypse (Torg, Rifts, and Cthulhu write a screenplay with Christopher Nolan directing...). The setting is a home-brew creation of a brilliant mind and GM. Having a blast playing in it.

I'm running a Stars Without Number sandbox where a lost colony, facing the destruction of their solar system, take the only recently built FTL capable ship of the world and seek out a new home for the colony. There are three modes of play; command mode where everyone meta-discusses the goals and missions, away mission mode where the players take on roles as technical or scientific specialists, and military mode, where the players take on the roles of marines tasked with a military mission. I'm enjoying the game overall but I kind of miss my crunch...   (likely porting it to HERO 6e at some point...)


----------



## PabloM (Jul 7, 2020)

pemerton said:


> Tell us more?



I like DW (and I weekly run it for a group of new players), but fundamentally I have three things on my mind with it:

1) I love the idea of a d&desque pbta , but I think it tries too hard to simulate a game that actually works well, instead of offering a new approach (anyway for players who haven´t played or play regularly d&d is a very good game)
2) There is a tendency for fans of pbta games (and dungeon world in particular) to demean and antagonize more traditional games. It seems to me that this is not productive for the hobby, neither for the mainstream games nor for the indie games.
3) I admired Adam Koebel until what happened recently. I understand that the game is not its creator, but I find it difficult to separate them. Fortunately Sage LaTorra seems to be a much better guy.


----------



## Fenris-77 (Jul 7, 2020)

If you're looking for D&D adjacent PbtA that's a shade more different that DW, give _The Sword, the Crown, and the Unspeakable Power_ a look. It's more politics and location-based. I think it would do a great Game of Thrones style game for example, far better than DW could hope to.


----------



## PabloM (Jul 7, 2020)

Fenris-77 said:


> If you're looking for D&D adjacent PbtA that's a shade more different that DW, give _The Sword, the Crown, and the Unspeakable Power_ a look. It's more politics and location-based. I think it would do a great Game of Thrones style game for example, far better than DW could hope to.




Thanks, I'm definitely going to read it, but Ironsworn fills the fantastic medieval niche in pbta for me. At least for now.


----------



## aramis erak (Jul 8, 2020)

pemerton said:


> I've never played Pendragon in a serious way - only the odd one-off - so I may not be a fair judge of it. But when I read it I want to like it, because the tropes and ideas are excellent, but when I try to actually imagine it in play I sense a lot of accounting and not a lot of spontaneity.



In play, its not terribly big on accounting during the stories... but between, yes, some. Until you're a landholder, all of 5-10 minutes for the group. Once you're a landholder, it can turn on the bookkeeping.


----------



## aramis erak (Jul 8, 2020)

PabloM said:


> So, I made a top-five list of rpg I love (besides D&D):
> […]
> What do you think? What´s your list?



Currently? 


Sentinel Comics
L5R5e
Firefly
Blood and Honor
Marvel Heroic Roleplay
FFG Star Wars (Odds are I'll like genesys if I ever get it to table, as it's 99% FFGSW)
Alien (even if I find it depressing- I suspect I'll enjoy the other YZE games)
note: MHR and B&H are essentially tied. FFGSW and Alien likewise.


----------



## pemerton (Jul 8, 2020)

aramis erak said:


> Alien (even if I find it depressing



Please elaborate.


----------



## pogre (Jul 8, 2020)

Fenris-77 said:


> If you want more granularity there's a great thread about the game over on RPG.net that gets daily attention from one of the two designers, Kevin Kulp, and he'll answer questions and spitball about hacks and whatever with whomever stops by.




Kevin has also done a number of podcasts about the game, including with Morrus:

Most ENWorlders know him as PirateCat and he was a long time moderator here and is a decent human being and a great GM.


----------



## pogre (Jul 8, 2020)

I'm starting a WFRP campaign this weekend. A hybrid of 2e and 4e. WFRP is probably my favorite game.

Ars Magica keeps calling my name, but I know my players probably would not like it. Still, I'll put it at #2.

Tried to get a Call of Cthulhu game going a couple of winters ago. I tried having the game combined with dinner parties. I thought it was brilliant and a lot of fun. My wife did not appreciate the amount of work for the pay-off in fun. SO that died.

#4 is Dread. Never done more than a one-off scenario with it, but it is always a blast.

#5 Traveller and that is purely for nostalgia. I don't think it is a brilliant system, but in the old days we had access to so many great campaigns with the developers at GDW right down the road. Probably will never run it again, but a lot of good memories from my younger days.


----------



## Cadence (Jul 8, 2020)

pogre said:


> #5 Traveller and that is purely for nostalgia. I don't think it is a brilliant system, but in the old days we had access to so many great campaigns with the developers at GDW right down the road. Probably will never run it again, but a lot of good memories from my younger days.




There's something special about system where characters can die during character creation


----------



## Tun Kai Poh (Jul 8, 2020)

Top 5 games (whether D&D or not):

Blades in the Dark - brilliant mechanics, love downtime, evocative setting...it's been an amazing experience for me and my players. I want to try more Forged in the Dark designs soon.
Beyond the Fence, Below the Grave - OSR-esque noncombat investigations in the Old Norse world, and every adventure I've run has been a banger.
Night Witches - an exemplar of PbtA design that has led to engrossing campaign play every time. And it's inspired a whole wave of good military fiction RPGs: The Watch, MASHED, Blackout, Flying Circus...
Cthulhu Dark (4 pager) - tight horror game design that creates focused play, and also has springboarded some terrific games from its systems: Cthulhu Dark (KS edition), Cthulhu Deep Green, Trophy, Chalice...and a game I designed myself (Pipedream).
13th Age - when you want to roll into the best kind of d20 combat with a bunch of fun classes and smash some wild monster stat blocks. This is still a classic.
Honourable mentions to GUMSHOE RPGs, Warbirds, and the Call of Cthulhu line (as well as Delta Green).


----------



## Campbell (Jul 8, 2020)

Freebooters on the Frontier is everything I personally wanted out of Dungeon World. It captures the feel of early D&D while being more about the story  of the characters. Even in a funnel you still care about who these characters are. The moves do a much better job of capturing the spirit of that B/X era.

It's also much more compatible with exploration and module play.


----------



## Cadence (Jul 8, 2020)

Tun Kai Poh said:


> 13th Age - when you want to roll into the best kind of d20 combat with a bunch of fun classes and smash some wild monster stat blocks. This is still a classic.




I'm not sure our GM will do that one for us again given the amount of joking we did about the length of days (for getting abilities back).   I think I'm a bit too crunchy and some of the modern games push my buttons.


----------



## pemerton (Jul 9, 2020)

pogre said:


> Tried to get a Call of Cthulhu game going a couple of winters ago. I tried having the game combined with dinner parties. I thought it was brilliant and a lot of fun. My wife did not appreciate the amount of work for the pay-off in fun. SO that died.



For Cthulhu play I would strongly recommend Cthulhu Dark. Though some like the GUMSHOE version (Trail of Cthulhu).



pogre said:


> #5 Traveller and that is purely for nostalgia. I don't think it is a brilliant system



Now those are fighting words! The only bit of Classic Traveller that I've found not to work is on-world exploration - this is lacking a tight system.


----------



## Campbell (Jul 9, 2020)

@pemeton

My favorite take on mythos investigation is Sine Nomine's Silent Legions. I feel the classes capture the relevant tropes better than other takes.

I also really appreciate that it does a good job of separating madness from contact with the mythos from mental illness. 

Finally it has excellent tools for creating custom mythos elements and its adventure templates are excellent guide rails for preparing mythos situations.

I would reccomend it even for people running other CoC type games.


----------



## pemerton (Jul 9, 2020)

Campbell said:


> My favorite take on mythos investigation is Sine Nomine's Silent Legions. I feel the classes capture the relevant tropes better than other takes.



Is the system for Silent Legions able to be pigeon-holed within any well-known framework? (Eg D&D-ish, PbtA, etc?)



Campbell said:


> I also really appreciate that it does a good job of separating madness from contact with the mythos from mental illness.



This is a tricky area.

Clearly HPL (like  many of his contemporaries) saw mental illness through a very different conceptual lens from the one that we tend to use now. But he also had multiple competing conceptions within his own literary works: eg madness as a result of a "tainted bloodline", vs madness as a result of trying to comprehend "things man was not meant to know". The first comes from the same general intellectual context as 19th century "scientific racism" and 20th century eugenics. The second seems at least in part to be HPL's version of the wider response to relativity combined with a reaction against modernist culture (see eg his strange (=atonal?) pipings, non-Euclidean geometries that also seem to correlate in some fashion to developments in the visual arts, etc).

I don't think he fully grapples with post-WWI "shell-shock"/PTSD, though this could also be fitted into the second category.

When we've played Cthulhu Dark recently we haven't tried to be very scientific or contemporary in our treatment of "insanity", nor overly lurid. But I do feel it's important to keep mythos-induced madness in the general category of _human response to unexpected/intolerable experiences and ideas_. Otherwise I think it becomes a bit arbitrary, or just another version of magic-induced debuff.

I hope that makes some sense.


----------



## Esau Cairn (Jul 9, 2020)

_I play this game naming the first that spring to mind instead of ruminating & calculating _

Top Five—played since 2014
• Twilight: 2000 (w/mostly Delta Green rule set)
• Delta Green
• Conan 2d20
• Coriolis
• GenLab Alpha
•• (recent play test)

Top Five—1977-present
• Twilight: 2000
• Traveller (Classic/Proto)
• Nephilim
• Stormbringer
• Call of Cthulhu/Delta Green


----------



## Jd Smith1 (Jul 9, 2020)

Degenesis setting using a 5e conversion by Spilled Ale Studios, with a few tweaks. Face-to-face every week, but we've just started (only 9 sessions in).

We've been playing weekly since 2002, changing campaigns every 50-70 sessions. This is our first go at the Degenesis setting, and everyone loves it.









						Dark Lands | Obsidian Portal
					

Dark Lands is the story of mankind’s struggle in the wake of Earth’s greatest catastrophe: a rain of massive asteroids in 2073 known as the Hammerfall. History v




					darklands-5.obsidianportal.com


----------



## aramis erak (Jul 9, 2020)

pemerton said:


> Please elaborate.



Running a game about a macroscopic vector pandemic during a real world microscopic vector pandemic was just a little too close to home.

System's excellent. PC's acquire PTSD, too. (mechanically, at least.)
Vaessen is less "doomed to die horribly" and more "Unlikely saviors." I may run that soon.


----------



## Bluenose (Jul 9, 2020)

I completed the Barbarians of Lemuria scenario we were playing over Zoom a couple of days ago. We'll be playing some more this weekend.


----------



## mordenkainendogpissbeer (Jul 9, 2020)

LotFP
Chronicles of the Outlands by Better Games
Barony by Better Games
Crimson Cutlass
Skyscrapers & Sorcery
Ruins & Ronin
White Lies
White Star
Era Ten by Better Games
Demon Hunter by Better Games
I run Acirema Dungeons for some kids
Shadowrun 5th Ed
Ruins of Arduin


----------



## Campbell (Jul 10, 2020)

@pemerton

Silent Legions uses the same base system as Stars Without Number, Godbound, and Wolves of God. It's a more modern stream lined variant of B/X with a skill system that was originally designed to be compatible with Classic Traveller.



Spoiler:  Detailed Information



The B/X stuff is fairly obvious.

Heavy emphasis on sandbox GM techniques.
1-18 attributes rolled 3d6 in order. Bonuses range from -2 to +2.
Character classes and levels (up to 10th level).
Descending AC
Morale and reaction rolls are important.
Attack rolls are 1d20 + Stat + Skill + Class Based Attack Bonus + Target's Armor Class. Beat 20 to hit.
Pretty low hit point totals.
Traditional category based saving throw tables (roll over the listed number). This game uses Physical Effect, Mental Effect, Evasion, Magic, and Luck.
The skill system is where these games really shines

The core mechanic is 2d6+Stat+Skill versus a TN set by GM. This dovetails to match up pretty well with Classic Traveller TNs, but also fits pretty well in the Apocalypse World scheme at low levels making it fairly easy to build in success with consequences.
You get starting skills from background (chosen or randomly rolled) and class.
Every level you get skill points to invest in skills, but progression is gated.
Level / 3 + 1 rounded down. A 6th level character could reach a skill level of 3.

Experience is gained for survival (if there was a risk of death) and accomplishing goals you set for your character.

On a systems level the main wrinkles that Silent Legion brings to the table are Expertise and Madness.

Expertise represents the special insight and talents your character has that makes them a capable investigator of the occult.

You start with a pool of 2 Expertise. This increases by 1 every level. A 3rd level character has a pool of 4 Expertise.
You recover 1 point of spent Expertise for a full night's rest.
May be spent to :
Reroll a class skill. Toughs may reroll attack rolls.
Activate a class ability. These are generally investigation focused and represent special insight for the Investigators, Socialites, and Scholars. For Toughs this is often combat related.
Ex. *The Blood-Read Book: *At 3rd level, the socialite may intuitively sense the current emotional state and perceive the general train of thought of another person. Specific thoughts are not revealed, but an intent of violence, treachery, fear of a topic, or other generalities can be observed. Humans tainted by the supernatural may make a Mental Effect saving throw to resist this ability for an hour.
Ex. *Know the Line and Form:* At 7th level, the scholar may gain a sense of the purpose of an occult object or perceptible enchantment. A scholar may not be able to discern the exact rituals or operating methods of an occult object, but can distinguish true artifacts from fakes and identify the general purpose of an object or spell.

Use a spell or discipline without gaining Madness.


Madness in Silent Legion skews much more towards things man was not meant to know, but also does a fairly good job of representing the sometimes tenuous relationship mythos protagonists might have towards their own humanity. Here's how the game describes it :



			
				Silent Legion said:
			
		

> Madness in Silent Legions bears only a notional resemblance to conventional mental illness. Such afflictions in the real world are the product of biochemical imbalances, traumatic experiences, or damage to the brain itself. The madness of the outer darkness is something incomparably worse. It is the intrusion of a fundamentally incomprehensible reality into human awareness.
> 
> This is not to say that the two kinds of affliction can’t exist in the same person. A hero who wades hip-deep through the blood of slaughtered children and is forced to murder a half-dozen cultists with his teeth is going to be scarred by that experience in ways that any human can understand. Yet it can be harder to understand why the simple sight of an eldritch abomination could be as traumatic to a hero as the butchery of half their dearest friends.
> 
> The truth is that exposure to the occult leaves a human vulnerable to stimuli, sense perceptions, and revelations that human minds were never meant to perceive. The knowledge is like an infection. It burrows, it burns, and it consumes. Recognizing the strange angles of a damnable creature’s wings reveals to the hero a whole new panorama of inhuman shapes and horrific vistas, such that she might suffer uncontrollable fits of panic when confronted with some mundane object that just happens to echo those hideous arcs. A human mind is forced open and compelled to receive impressions that more blessedly ignorant souls need never confront.




Mechanically it is represented something like a countdown clock for your humanity.  Witnessing or performing acts of bloodshed (murder, torture, seeing allies die), exposure to mythos and sorcery (learning spells, having them cast on you, casting without Expertise) have specific madness impacts.


You recover 10 madness every time you gain a level. You can also take on strictures called _deliria_ that represent defense mechanisms you develop to deal with your slipping humanity. These _deliria_ often make your life harder, but feel like genuine defense mechanisms rather than anything like real world mental illness.

Examples :


*Treacherous Artifact:* The PC is convinced that a particular class of things– guns, cars, computers or other implement widely important to heroes– is tainted by the outer powers and will not use them under any circumstances. They will allow other teammates to use them on them or drive for them if they must.
*Protective Lies:* The character is utterly unable to tell the truth to anyone but a close ally. She cannot bear to reveal any truths about herself or her knowledge for fear of the consequences.


----------



## megamania (Jul 10, 2020)

Dungeon Mayhem card game and we are about to start Torg: Eternity RPG


----------



## mordenkainendogpissbeer (Jul 10, 2020)

Last night I became enslaved to a Cat Lord in Ultraviolet Grasslands.


----------



## megamania (Jul 10, 2020)

Cats rule everyone in any cosm


----------



## erc1971 (Jul 11, 2020)

Savage Worlds - using custom Savaged settings for Cyberpunk and OT Star Wars.


----------



## willrali (Jul 14, 2020)

Since we can’t say Pathfinder 2...

Exalted 3! The learning curve is ridonculous, north-face levels of absurd, but it’s worth it in the end.


----------



## KlausMikalson (Jul 14, 2020)

I have owned both Mutant Year Zero and Genlab Alpha for a while now but I am finally going to run a one shot of MYZ next weekend to see if I want to try a longer form game with it mobdro bluehost kodi.


----------



## Lord Mhoram (Jul 15, 2020)

Mostly Numenera  - I only first got into the system a few weeks ago, and have the "newly converted" love for it.


----------



## uzirath (Jul 15, 2020)

willrali said:


> Exalted 3! The learning curve is ridonculous, north-face levels of absurd, but it’s worth it in the end.




I don't know anything about Exalted 3. Why such a curve? And what's the payoff? I'm curious.


----------



## Dr Magister (Jul 15, 2020)

Bluenose said:


> We used Barbarians of Lemuria, playing a modified version of the old WFRP scenario Shadows over Bogenhafen. We'll probably try and finish it either Friday or Monday.




How did it work out? I've been thinking I'd like to try running WFRP using BoL.


----------



## Tun Kai Poh (Jul 15, 2020)

We spent 2 hours on an Entanglements session in Blades in the Dark over the weekend. Our Tycherosi Whisper was approached by a fellow Tycherosi expatriate who claimed to be a distant blood relative. Not something that would endear them to Karen as she was abused and betrayed by her family. 

But this relative is a metal demon who claims to be the source of the demon blood in Karen's family. And he wants her to help be his guide in getting acquainted with the underworld of Doskvol, so that he can "do business" with the mortals here.

The crew, after making many knife puns (the demon takes the form of knives), has decided it is better to keep the demon close and under watch for now. Although that may change. They also reached out to contacts to inquire if any specific demons have had to flee the Tycherosi homelands recently, and if so, why?

So that's another plot thread dangling for the future.


----------



## Kersus (Jul 15, 2020)

Current non-D&D campaign is:

Call of Cthulhu 7e (Sunday Nights)

Recent One-Shots:

Empire of the Petal Throne (which beyond the historical significance I don't really get the appeal)
Inner City (basically D&D in the early 80s about being a thug in the world of tv shows like Starsky & Hutch)

D&D Campaigns:

OD&D Palace of the Vampire Queen (Thursday nights)
Whitebox: FMAG Beneath the Ruins (couple times a week)


----------



## Fenris-77 (Jul 15, 2020)

I manged to grab a spot in a Cyberpunk-y Scum and Villainy campaign that's starting this week. I'm excited both the be playing not DMing and also that it's SaV. 

Sadly my Savage Eberron campaign has fallen through. My internet just won't do Discord and Fantasy Grounds at the same time. I know, cue the mid-90's dial up jokes.


----------



## uzirath (Jul 16, 2020)

I just finished a fun Roll20 session of the Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game with a subset of my usual group. We started an adventure called _*Forest's End*_ (by Merlin Avery and published under Douglas Cole's Gaming Ballistic imprint) and started getting to know the main town and key NPCs. Lots of roleplaying fun with a surprising battle thrown in at the end. The RP scenes included a lot of freeform conversations where the players needed to decide how much information to divulge to various NPCs. Mechanics were brought into play with a singing contest between the PCs and a local musician (with a bard and a musically inclined druid, hardly a session goes by without a singing contest). It was a simple contest of skills that the PCs won, leading to new connections and a possible enemy.

The game is quite old-school in its sensibilities, but includes some interesting opportunities for player authorship. One of the PCs looked for a jeweler in town (to commission a bracelet for a romantic interest). It is a relatively young frontier town so I was going to roll the dice with poor odds. The player decided to use his Serendipity advantage (usable once per session) to decide that there was, in fact, a jeweler. While this was a perfectly good use of Serendipity, we felt that it was a bit underwhelming so we collaborated to make the jeweler the former apprentice of a jeweler from the PC's home city; he had struck out for the frontier to attempt to start his own business. It added a lot of flavor to the episode as they reminisced about life in a more cosmopolitan city.

The battle was from a list of optional introductory challenges sketched out in the adventure. It involved a demon of flame who was accidentally created at an alchemist's shop. The demon could spawn fire elementals from regular flames. Once the PCs figured this out, they had to race to stop him from spawning new offspring and then help the townsfolk put out the fires. (The druid used his geyser spell to great effect.) Although I have been running things mostly with theater of the mind, I had enough time to setup the fire elemental battle in Roll20. I'm glad I did because it allowed for some fun battlefield tactics.

A very satisfying game indeed!


----------



## Campbell (Jul 16, 2020)

Just played a game of This Discord Has Ghosts In It. 3 of us played ghosts and four of us played investigators.  The Investigators are supposed to find out  who the ghosts are and how they died. The ghosts are supposed to find out what frightens the investigators while providing clues for the investigators to go off of. You share a voice channel (walkie talkies). Ghosts listen, but cannot talk.

There are text rooms setup for the different parts of the haunted area. As investigators traverse through the rooms ghosts post pictures/memes/messages to represent the haunting.

Our game was a lot of fun. We (the ghosts) were haunting an abandoned ski resort. The investigators were a colab of social media stars. The three of us all died in grisly ways. It was great hearing the wild theories the investigators would come up with. It was also really nice to have to tie the rooms the investigators were exploring back to our (the ghosts) deaths.If we do it  again we will probably build connections between the ghosts. I would gladly play it again.


----------



## Blue (Jul 16, 2020)

To add to what I've posted before, on a family vacation I've been running one-shots and short runs in FAE (Fate Accelerated Edition) for my kids, nieces and nephews.  Had 5 minutes of prep to put together a "Steampunk Urban Fantasy Floating Island Heist" game and it worked well.  Had a bit more to do a "Rural Superhero Academy Slice-of-Life".  (Think Anime slice-of-life.)  

I've never run an explicitly slice-of-life improv game before - hanging improv on a plot structure gives me what I need to keep movement and pace. My normal campaigns have some of it, but I couldn't just improv it all, I needed some fodder (basically, other students and some cliques & clubs - think Fronts from PbtA). But FAE handled it all really well.

"Donut Donut Donut - We have Donut."
--One characters working their part time job when the others come in to the deep fried donut wrapped around a donut cooked around a donut shoppe.


----------



## willrali (Jul 17, 2020)

uzirath said:


> I don't know anything about Exalted 3. Why such a curve? And what's the payoff? I'm curious.




The combat system, especially, is extraordinarily intricate. It’s not just about damage (though those rules are themselves complex), but initiative. Like, attacks will reduce your initiative, and initiative stands in for ‘how in control you are.’

And there are hundreds of feat-like charms that can be used to modify and affect these things. There’s a heck of a lot of system to master.

But once you’ve learnt it, it’s very fun indeed. Highly tactical and interesting, with plenty of dramatic tension. And your character, a god-like badass, truly gets to _feel_ every bit as powerful and badass as they are, without simply feeling like scaled-up versions of their low-level selves.

Finally, the setting is very vibrant and immersive. It’s a fun place to stomp around in and fix injustice.


----------



## Bluenose (Jul 18, 2020)

Dr Magister said:


> How did it work out? I've been thinking I'd like to try running WFRP using BoL.




Pretty well, I thought (my players enjoyed it). I let the players make normal BoL characters with modifications for different homelands than in the BoL rules. Non-humans - I had one dwarf - got an extra boon and flaw. The NPCs I adapted based on whatever career they had and how far they'd advanced in it, so a WFRP character who'd gone Tunter-Scout was a level 2 Hunter in BoL terms, and their weapon skills were 1 + 1 for every ten points over 40. I thought that was the simplest way to do it, and it generally worked with enemies who were supposed to be tough actually being hard to beat. If I was doing it again I'd give major enemies an extra point in Defence, just to make them last a little longer - fights in WFRP (in 2e, at least, which I'm most familiar with) often have several rounds where no-one gets a significant hit, BoL is usually faster and deadlier.


----------



## Ancalagon (Jul 19, 2020)

I'm running a Troika! game in the UVG setting.

I'm playing in a Pathfinder 1e game in the Zeitgest setting.  I love the story and the GM, but I really, really wished we were playing in 5e.


----------



## pemerton (Jul 19, 2020)

Still playing Prince Valiant - we got in another session yesterday.


----------



## Ulfgeir (Jul 20, 2020)

*Current games are (played bi-weekly): *
Fate Accelerated: Gods & Monsters.
Vampire: the Masquerade 5e. Set in Paris 1987

*On hold:*
Mage: the Awakening 2e
Scion 2e
Star Trek: Force & Destiny

*Intermittent things:*
Star Trek Adventures

*Planned:*
I will run The Troubleshooters. Will just have to make more adventures. I have ideas, but they are not finished yet.

*Unknown status (technically on hold, but will probably never start again):*
D&D 5e (we started the Storm Kings Thunder-campaign. Got like 1 or 2 sessions in, so just making characters)
Daring Comics rpg (I was the GM. did some choices in the campaign that made it difficult to do anything good with it)
Exalted 2 (we were going to do th return of the Emereld Empress)
Legend of the 5 Rings 5e
Starfinder
Trudvagn (with the ruleset of GURPS 4e. Not a good match)

Probably missing some campaigns that are in the latter stage.


----------



## Dr Magister (Jul 22, 2020)

My Wild West Everywhen game is now three sessions in and going really well. Plenty of trope boxes ticked. So far they've got into a brawl over a poker game, held up a stage coach and burnt down the corrupt mayor's ranch while rescuing a kidnapped girl. Next game will start with them trying to bust a friend out of the town jail while most of the mayor's men are away trying to put the ranch fire out.


----------



## Retreater (Jul 22, 2020)

Currently 2 games of 5e D&D and 1 game of PF2. Since we're all on VTT these days, sticking with the familiar is the way to go.


----------



## Ruin Explorer (Jul 22, 2020)

Ulfgeir said:


> Vampire: the Masquerade 5e. Set in Paris 1987




Can I just say, that sounds totally amazing.

I suspect if I ran V:tM these days I'd set it in the 1990s or something myself.

I'm in too many D&D campaigns at the moment to play/run much else, but we did play a one-shot of the *Sepulchre* one-page RPG, which was actually incredible. I've never felt so guilty for murdering so many innocent people before, it was kind of fantastic the way the system made it so that acting the way my character really probably would have worked out very well, indeed, was the only way he could survive.


----------



## Ulfgeir (Jul 22, 2020)

Ruin Explorer said:


> Can I just say, that sounds totally amazing.
> 
> I suspect if I ran V:tM these days I'd set it in the 1990s or something myself.




The reason we choose that year was to get away from the ubiquotness of mobile phones.    They do create problems in modern settings.
But we have then moved all the metaplot of 5e so the current state there took place 30+ years earlier..


----------



## PabloM (Jul 22, 2020)

Retreater said:


> Currently 2 games of 5e D&D and 1 game of PF2. Since we're all on VTT these days, sticking with the familiar is the way to go.




On the contrary, we (once we started playing because at first we didn't like to do it online) took advantage of the situation to try new systems, with lighter rules.


----------



## Agamon (Jul 22, 2020)

Only currently running a 5e game in the Midgard setting on FG. But, I _reeeally _want to run a Spectaculars! game. The problem is it really feels like something is lost not running it face-to-face. I hear there's a Tabletop Simulator module for the game. I might have to look into that...


----------



## Blue (Jul 22, 2020)

Oh, I'm not sure if this qualifies as "not D&D" enough.  We're starting up a Star Wars 5e (SW5e) game.  It's a free fan-made Star Wars port based off the D&D 5e rules but with their own classes, races, force effects, equipment, etc.

We'll be playing in the Old Republic time, which as far as I can tell is "I want a time that's just like the movies except there are plenty of Jedi and Sith around to play and the movie plots/characters don't get it our way".  (If anyone has more suggestions about how thematically it differs, please let me know.  I'm not too familiar with it.)

One of the players is playing an Ewok, and I'm playing 0-BBZ, a kitbashed "protocol" droid that translates for her.  We've already talked player-to-player and she's excited with my droid ... embroidering ... what the Ewok says.  Mind you, the Ewok can understand Standard Basic, so I need to keep near enough to the truth in game.  Original concept she was going Wookie, and I was going to play up the "let the Wookie win" and add intimidation to everything, but I'm not sure what spin I will do to grant the Ewok "authority" in her words.

At start I was going to do a definite C-3PO voice as we've seen several similar droids in the films, but for some reasons during session zero I started spewing out words like I was cab driver from Brooklyn and it's stuck.

Anyway, besides our hidey-scouty Ewok and bounty hunter droid with blasters, we have a young Jedi, a Twi'lek engineer, and a member of a force sensitive race who can use the force but is not associated with Jedi or Sith.


----------



## Campbell (Jul 23, 2020)

Third session of our micro Blades in the Dark game. Due to a confluence of fallout from a previous score and the way fortune rolls turned out the crew was approached by Roric, the now very dead leader of the Crows. He wanted Silence, the players' crew of arcane thieves, to kidnap Lyssa, the current leader of the Crows (who I decided was actually his daughter). Some elements from The Hive who had dealings with in the past were about to make a move on Lyssa and he wanted to make sure she was safe despite the whole her having killed him thing.

This was a significant distraction from the crew's current priority - tracking down a set of Iruvian daggers said to be linked to the demon lords that are supposed to be U'duasha. The whisper decided they could use the help of a powerful ghost down the road plus the money Roric offered seemed nice. I thought the players were going to let her die and was totally prepared for that situation.

Lyssa is in paranoid meltdown at this point because there is a 3 way gang war going on and she is losing badly to the Red Sashes. The hound sniffs around Crow's Foot and learns Belle, the Crow's second in command is about to go shake down some Lamp Blacks. 

A plan is hatched. Our thieves sneak into a union hall where The Crows shakedown of the Lampblacks  is going badly. There is an all out brawl. The whisper lays in wait preparing Roric's spirit jar and the hound shoots the gentleman Belle was trying to shakedown with a crossbow, running back towards the whisper. Belle catches up and clocks the Hound with a shovel fist to the chest, but he had Armor on. The whisper unleashes Roric who possesses Belle.

This was a really tense score. It was pretty much nonstop desperate actions. The crew had a real good streak of rolls. This could have gone very badly for them. Still there is a death so the bells will toll.

Next time they go to the Crow's Roost to convince Lyssa to extricate herself before The Hive show up.


----------



## Retreater (Jul 23, 2020)

PabloM said:


> On the contrary, we (once we started playing because at first we didn't like to do it online) took advantage of the situation to try new systems, with lighter rules.



Yeah, we couldn't decide on a lighter system with adequate VTT support. Plus those with familiar D&D tropes tend towards high lethality, low power OSR variants that don't appeal to my players.


----------



## Campbell (Jul 23, 2020)

Retreater said:


> Yeah, we couldn't decide on a lighter system with adequate VTT support. Plus those with familiar D&D tropes tend towards high lethality, low power OSR variants that don't appeal to my players.




Blades in the Dark and Ironsworn both have excellent support on Roll 20 if either is up your alley.

During the pandemic the groups I am part of have mostly stuck with simpler games - Tremulus, Freebooters on the Frontier, Mork Borg, Blades in the Dark, Quietus, etc. We mostly just use paper character sheets and Discord. The exception has been Lancer which one my friends requested me to run, but that has such a great web app that we only use Roll 20 for battle maps.

I am really looking forward to getting a more crunchy game going once we are all in person again. I like to draw out maps as we get to stuff and Roll 20 makes that a little difficult so games like 5e and PF2 that function much better with battle maps tend to be put on the back burner.


----------



## hawkeyefan (Jul 23, 2020)

Campbell said:


> Blades in the Dark and Ironsworn both have excellent support on Roll 20 if either is up your alley.




We’ve found D&D to be challenging as well. I put my 5e campaign on pause after running two sessions remotely. As cool as Roll20 is, I felt as if I had to take a much stronger hand than I like as DM in determining where things were headed. 

Another member of our group agreed to take over, and purchased a WitC book to run. Even that seemed off to us. It just feels like the prep determines the session, and any deviation from that on the part of the players causes issues. Even with an AP style book purchased with all the Roll20 resources ready to go, it still seemed true.

So what we’ve done is taken my Bluecoats play by post on Discord and we’ve decided to play that as our primary game for the time being. Blades just seems more suited to online play. There’s less to track on the player side, it’s intended to be theater of the mind, little to no prep on the GM’s part, and no additional resources are required. 

Blades is simply much smoother for online play for my group.


----------



## Nebulous (Jul 27, 2020)

We are nearing the end of our Dungeon World campaign, at least the written part.  I might homebrew it above and beyond, not sure yet.


----------



## Nebulous (Jul 27, 2020)

I will probably dump all of the story recaps into a single thread, it will be 8 or 10 I think, if people want to read them. Where should I put that for 5e readers to see, they might like it


----------



## hawkeyefan (Jul 27, 2020)

Nebulous said:


> I will probably dump all of the story recaps into a single thread, it will be 8 or 10 I think, if people want to read them. Where should I put that for 5e readers to see, they might like it




Post it here, too, if you don’t mind. I’ve only played a little DW and I like to see how folks handle it.  

But if you want 5e players to see it post it over in the D&D forum.


----------



## PabloM (Jul 27, 2020)

hawkeyefan said:


> Post it here, too, if you don’t mind. I’ve only played a little DW and I like to see how folks handle it.




Yes, please. This thread led to a great space to share this type of things.


----------



## pemerton (Jul 27, 2020)

Nebulous said:


> I will probably dump all of the story recaps into a single thread



If you could say a bit about how the system worked, so we can see how - at the "table" - the ficiton was created, that would be great. For me at least, that's what like hearing about in actual play reports.


----------



## Tun Kai Poh (Jul 27, 2020)

hawkeyefan said:


> So what we’ve done is taken my Bluecoats play by post on Discord and we’ve decided to play that as our primary game for the time being. Blades just seems more suited to online play. There’s less to track on the player side, it’s intended to be theater of the mind, little to no prep on the GM’s part, and no additional resources are required.
> 
> Blades is simply much smoother for online play for my group.




It really is an ideal online ruleset! Most days my group doesn't even have webcams on, it's just audio chat with Discord text chat being sufficient for uploading the occasional bit of visual aid. Or telling the Whisper how high the "Demon in Nightmarket Park takes an interest in you" clock has gotten up to...


----------



## Tun Kai Poh (Jul 27, 2020)

Campbell said:


> Third session of our micro Blades in the Dark game. Due to a confluence of fallout from a previous score and the way fortune rolls turned out the crew was approached by Roric, the now very dead leader of the Crows.




Bringing Roric back is a nice twist; I should have thought of that! Dead isn't always dead in Blades, but unlike in the Forgotten Realms, there's no way to come back that isn't weird and dramatic. That's what I like about Blades.


----------



## Ulfgeir (Jul 27, 2020)

In the Tianxia game we played the GM did a bit of a weird thing, that hopefully will pay off. We are for various reasons only 4 players  in this campaign + the gm (our normal group is 8 players including the GM). The goal of the campaign is to have lots of intrigue and wuxia-style kung fu fighting.

What he did was that each of us created a character, and some are quite far away distance-wise. For example my character is on the other side of the continent compared to two of the others (not sure where the fourth character is). So the GM made other characters that will be the entourage of each of "our characters", and we got to play those.  So for example when we played yesterday, my character was the fiance of the "main" character for that session, another was a revered servant, and another a newcomer in town (who I understood is actually a criminal in hiding).

The "main" character yesterday, she had earlier found an old mythical temple that was in disuse, and are now starting to have it rebuilt. There had been some sabotages and attacks against her house, and the work being done in regards to the temple. We decided to investigate, and stoppen an attack by bandaits on a shipment of some vital components for the rebuilding of the temple. W captured 2, 1 got away, and one dies. We managed to question the bandits, and were told they had been hired by one of the sons of a rival house.

Next session, the character I made (a respected scholar and doctor, who knows everything in theory about chi, but doesn't have the skill to use it herself) will be the "main" character, and I know that will center a bit about her having to prepare all the things for her older sister's wedding, and making sure that it goes well. What could possibly go wrong? And one of the the other characters will be my character's servan;, a daughter of a former (disgraced) general.


----------



## TheIdeaOfGood (Jul 27, 2020)

Besides D&D, I run a Savage Worlds campaign, Shadow of the Demon Lord from time to time, occasionally Delta Green and play in a regular Warhammer Fantasy 4th Edition game.


----------



## aramis erak (Jul 30, 2020)

Alternating between two games at present.
A playtest, and Vaesen. 
Vaesen is an excellent investigative horror adaptation of the Year Zero Engine. Think BTVS, Supernatural, Scooby Doo, or X-files: There's a thing, it's up to the players to figure it out. And, in Vaesen, do what it takes to make it go away, and that usually isn't "Hit it until it goes away."

The playtest is actually pretty good, too.


----------



## hawkeyefan (Jul 30, 2020)

aramis erak said:


> Alternating between two games at present.
> A playtest, and Vaesen.
> Vaesen is an excellent investigative horror adaptation of the Year Zero Engine. Think BTVS, Supernatural, Scooby Doo, or X-files: There's a thing, it's up to the players to figure it out. And, in Vaesen, do what it takes to make it go away, and that usually isn't "Hit it until it goes away."
> 
> The playtest is actually pretty good, too.




What’s the playtest?


----------



## aramis erak (Jul 30, 2020)

hawkeyefan said:


> What’s the playtest?



2d20 Dune


----------



## Tun Kai Poh (Jul 31, 2020)

aramis erak said:


> 2d20 Dune



Fascinating.


----------



## hawkeyefan (Jul 31, 2020)

aramis erak said:


> 2d20 Dune




How is it? Are you allowed to share? 

I’ve only played Star Trek Adventures with the 2d20 system. I kind of liked the mechanics, but I’m not much of a Star Trek fan at all, so I’m sure that didn’t help. But I like Dune a lot.

I always thought Dune would be a tough property to translate to a game.


----------



## aramis erak (Aug 1, 2020)

hawkeyefan said:


> How is it? Are you allowed to share?
> 
> I’ve only played Star Trek Adventures with the 2d20 system. I kind of liked the mechanics, but I’m not much of a Star Trek fan at all, so I’m sure that didn’t help. But I like Dune a lot.
> 
> I always thought Dune would be a tough property to translate to a game.



I'm pushing the edges of the NDA limit just mentioning that It's Dune and 2d20 system, and I'm thinking it a better adaptation than STA is.


----------



## Tun Kai Poh (Aug 2, 2020)

In our 13th Blades in the Dark session, our Nameless Vagabonds crew did recon on the Lampblacks in Crow's Foot, caroused with sailors to learn about the upcoming North Void Sea Expedition, and tangled with treachery while hosting a dinner to introduce Captain Margette Vale of the Fog Hounds to Lady Ankhayat of the Leviathan Hunters. Shots were fired and blood spilled!

Previously, Lady Ankhayat had helped take heat off the Vagabonds in exchange for their service; she wanted to acquire maps of the North Void Sea in the hands of the Lampblacks, the Fog Hounds, and Doskvol's favourite Akorosian nationalist military historian, Lady Olyus Sternwall. Presently, Zhao split the crew into two teams. Scotch and Irfan went down to the Lampblacks' warehouse in Crow's Foot to see how secure it was, while Zhao, Sacred Karen and Karen's demon uncle Ashitaka would visit Twoscore's Tavern in the Docks to learn more about the exploration of the North Void Sea.

The Lampblacks' warehouse was a veritable fortress. While Scotch exchanged insults with a 12-year-old Lampblacks lookout girl, Irfan peered into the Ghost Echo of the building, comparing it with the architectural plans he had studied, to determine which entrances and underground routes might be exploited. His conclusion: it was going to be pretty tough.

Meanwhile, Zhao and Sacred Karen chatted up the sailors at the tavern and learned that the North Hook Company - and various private parties assumed to be aligned with various Leviathan Hunters - were hiring ships en masse to delve into the North Void Sea to seek out new hunting grounds for Leviathans. Karen's uncle, Ashitaka the demon knife, tagged along to observe the local humans, and found himself put to work cutting cake and sausages to serve the guests. In addition, Zhao learned that the veteran navigator Puzzle Shen was one of the Lampblacks' officers here in the Docks, in charge of liasing with smugglers. Shen was on Lady Ankhayat's list as he was believed to have in his possession some detailed Void Sea maps.

After regrouping, the crew determined that the Lampblacks were going to be a tough nut to crack, given their security. Worried about the present rush to acquire ships to explore the North Void Sea, Zhao put top priority on recruiting the Fog Hounds for Lady Ankhayat. Since they had recently done business together, communication channels were easily opened, and Captain Vale of the Fog Hounds eventually settled on a dinner rendezvous with the crew and Lady Ankhayat at the Swordfish, a relatively upscale seafood restaurant near the North Hook Company.

The day of the dinner came and Zhao was nervous, waiting within the Swordfish with his crew, Irfan and Karen. Lady Ankhayat had not yet arrived, but her usual representative, Linus Tavison, was present with a guard to ensure things were in order. Outside, Scotch and her dog Bandit spotted a suspicious quartet of docker goons wearing red sashes, hanging out in a tobacco shop across the street. Scotch attempted to approach them, only to almost get trapped in the shop when the goons tried to corner her. As she made a quick withdrawal through a side exit, the goons regrouped in front of the Swordfish, as if to guard the entrance.

Zhao sent Karen and Irfan out through the kitchen entrance of the restaurant to check the back alley, where they ran into Captain Vale, arriving with two Lampblacks she had enlisted as escorts - it turned out that Vale was a friend of Bazso Baz, leader of the Lampblacks. She was a bit taken aback by having to enter through the back door, but remained game for making a deal with Ankhayat, brokered by Zhao.

Not all was as it seemed, though. Linus, Lady Ankhayat's secretary, was in fact in league with Lord Strangford, and had hired the docker goons for his own nefarious purposes. As Linus exited the front of the restaurant, Scotch spotted him surreptitiously passing some coin to the goons at the entrance. Thinking quickly, she drew a pistol and put a bullet into the secretary's belly. Bystanders scattered and the goons turned towards Scotch, but the military veteran had already unslung her rifle and kept them covered. Just then, Lady Ankhayat arrived on the scene with her bodyguards, with Bluecoats not far behind, attracted by the sound of the gunshot. A brief scuffle ensued. The goons tried to make a break for it. One was gunned down and taken prisoner. Everyone gathered at the front door of the restaurant, where Scotch brutally questioned Linus, kicking him and threatening to use Karen to interrogate him if he died. The stricken secretary confessed his part in Lord Strangford's scheme to get to the Void Sea maps before Ankhayat did, and was then taken away by Ankhayat's men.

The very public bloodshed meant more bribes to the Bluecoats. Lady Ankhayat wasn't happy, and Captain Vale was on the brink of leaving. Zhao did everything he could to sweet-talk the two parties back to the table to make the deal, although it cost him dearly in Stress. At last, Vale signed on with Ankhayat, and Zhao sighed with relief. Through all this, the demon blade in Karen's possession watched and learned of the ways of human business in this city. Very different from how things were done in the old country. Karen sensed her uncle's satisfaction.

To be continued.


----------



## ccs (Aug 4, 2020)

At the moment;
*RPGs*
Running: 5e
Playing: PF1
Likely coming soon: Playing Fantasy Flights 40k Rogue Trader RPG - it'll alternate with the PF1 game.

*Minis*
Age of Sigmar
Bolt Action
Flames of War (WWII, Team Yankee, WWI, 'Nam/Arab-Isreali - wich one depends upon week/players)
Likely coming soon: some 40k 9th edition.

*_Board Games*
Assorted - depends upon who brings what.


----------



## vendolis (Aug 6, 2020)

My main game is The Dark Eye (TDE). It is pretty unknown here, but the largest fantasy RPG in the German-speaking world. It has been around for over 35 years and a rich setting history. Its 5th edition (which is available in English) has been streamlined from previous editions, and though it is still a pretty crunchy system, it plays very well at the table. Characters in this system are far less powerful than in D&D or PF, and Magic is not the solution to everything. The game is less focused on combat than on solving situations in different ways. I really like the dice systems since their randomness is more evenly distributed. 
Its weakness is the character generation, whereas a beginner you are overwhelmed with the options (it is a point-buy system with templates for species, cultures, and professions). There are some character generators that make the process more comfortable, and the Archetypes they have are very playable for beginners. The other weakness is large scale combats with a lot of actors. It can become a drag and take a long time. Though you will try to avoid those, since battle is more deadly and the effects are longer-lasting (and there are no resurrections), e.g., it takes you over a day to heal up from one average sword hit.

The key for me, though, is the world, the lore is very dense and evolves over time. Within the last 10 years, there have been significant changes to the world and events that people can play along in campaigns they release. A lot of changes are starting to happen in the current times, and it is foreseeable, that in some years from now, the world has changed dramatically.


----------



## Ibrandul (Aug 6, 2020)

vendolis said:


> My main game is The Dark Eye (TDE)



TDE’s appeal (for me) also rests on:

—its a crunchier system than D&D but mechanically more interesting than Pathfinder

—fighting monsters isn’t 2/3 of the game like it is (at least mechanically, and usually in practice in my experience) in D&D. It’s just as well supported to run a combat-light (or even combat-free) mystery story, and actually some of the published modules are like this. And overall the game is more human(oid)-centered than monster-centered.

—low magic, or at least rare magic, so magic feels, well, magical. The setting is also, as you mentioned, really robust and appealing, with a palpable “Old World” European feel. (The main setting guide really deserves the silver Ennie award it won a few years back.)

—still heroic fantasy (which I like a lot), but much less superheroic. D&D and Pathfinder never feel remotely real to me; TDE does. You can play “ordinary” characters like an artist or a shepherd or a pastry chef (yes, that’s a real character type in the core books, and not just for laughs)!


----------



## PabloM (Aug 6, 2020)

vendolis said:


> The key for me, though, is the world, the lore is very dense and evolves over time. Within the last 10 years, there have been significant changes to the world and events that people can play along in campaigns they release. A lot of changes are starting to happen in the current times, and it is foreseeable, that in some years from now, the world has changed dramatically.




And how this metaplot affect your own games? 

I ask because I generally tend to escape games with a plot that progresses over the years to have more freedom in my own games.


----------



## Ibrandul (Aug 6, 2020)

PabloM said:


> And how this metaplot affect your own games?
> 
> I ask because I generally tend to escape games with a plot that progresses over the years to have more freedom in my own games.



I can’t speak for vendolis, but for me the metaplot doesn’t affect the games that much. But it’s still a plus for me, because I like following that as a separate thing from play sessions. I guess it’s a little like Dragonlance—a setting I can tell you have fondness for—in that there are big canonical metaplot stories but those can be integrated into a group’s games or not. Also, TDE’s metaplot is both much more coherent than (say) the metaplot of the Forgotten Realms has been for most of the past 35 years, and it’s also much slower-moving (even “major” events aren’t as frequent or as cataclysmic).


----------



## Jeff Albertson (Aug 6, 2020)

It started in December, for some reason I became disillusioned with 5th Ed/D&D (for reasons not appropriate to this thread) after decades of D&D love:

I am now totally back into and more into the BG action (the BG explosion I was unaware of for the last 20-years is mind-blowing), wow, so many delicious games.

The only problem is, aside form co-op, I am soloing (multihand, etc) as much as I can, but I need some more humans to make these games come alive...


----------



## PabloM (Aug 6, 2020)

jeremypowell said:


> I guess it’s a little like Dragonlance—a setting I can tell you have fondness for—in that there are big canonical metaplot stories but those can be integrated into a group’s games or not.




Hehehe, you're right. It has been so long since my campaign broke with the official Dragonance story that I find it hard to remember that there is a canon.



jeremypowell said:


> (...) and it’s also much slower-moving (even “major” events aren’t as frequent or as cataclysmic).




oh! with this you bought me. It is definitely an interesting approach: the plot progresses but in small things.


----------



## PabloM (Aug 6, 2020)

Jeff Albertson said:


> The only problem is, aside form co-op, I am soloing (multihand, etc) as much as I can, but I need some more humans to make these games come alive...




Please (please!) try Ironsworn. It´s amazing for solo games (or group ones, by the way).


----------



## Ibrandul (Aug 6, 2020)

PabloM said:


> oh! with this you bought me. It is definitely an interesting approach: the plot progresses but in small things.



To be fair, they aren't all small things. But the big things are infrequent, and often they're slowly built up over the course of many years. There's a current metaplot thing affecting the deific pantheon, called the Starfall (which I think is what vendolis meant by "a lot of changes are starting to happen"). That metaplot event has been "going on" for five or so years now, and shows no sign of concluding soon. But it's not pervasive in the setting—for the most part you could easily play a campaign where that's not even mentioned, without having to veer away from the canon. However, if you were playing a campaign based in one of the few places that was majorly affected (one city was destroyed at the start of the storyline) then you'd have an immediate choice to make.

Reading the tea leaves, though, one can guess that this metaplot event will lead to a big shake-up in the pantheon. So at some point every GM might have to make a firm choice whether to go with it or not. Still, it's hard to imagine the TDE creative team handling something like that hamfistedly, like (sticking with the Forgotten Realms example, probably the worst offender you could imagine in this regard, and the #1 reason many players today loathe metaplots) TSR/WotC handled the Time of Troubles (when DMs were instructed to respond to the death of the god of murder by abruptly killing off all assassin PC's!!!!) or the Spellplague (when they totally transformed about half the world and the setting timeline was suddenly advanced by 115 years!!!) or the Sundering (where the timeline was advanced another 10 years and many regions of the world that had changed in the previous time jump were suddenly "reset" by literally just popping back into existence from another dimension!!!). The TDE team is much better than that.


----------



## wilcoxon (Aug 6, 2020)

Currently, I'm involved in games for Symbaroum and Pathfinder 2.

I've been trying to find a Dark Eye game to play in (I played a couple of sessions at Ulisses Con online) but so far haven't found one with room and that fits my schedule.

Other games I have relatively recently played or ran include Savage Worlds, Quantum Black (Ubiquity), Arcanis RPG (not the 5e setting), Shadowrun, and Metal, Magic, & Lore.  In the more distant past, there was Rolemaster, Crimson Empire (renamed Cursed Empire due to legal issues), Twilight: 2000, Millennium's End, and Traveller.


----------



## PabloM (Aug 6, 2020)

wilcoxon said:


> In the more distant past, there was Rolemaster, Crimson Empire (renamed Cursed Empire due to legal issues), Twilight: 2000, Millennium's End, and Traveller.




Rolemaster... I honestly don't miss it a bit


----------



## Nebulous (Aug 6, 2020)

I'm prepping a Roll20 game for ALIEN by Free League.  I am extremely excited. The only goddamn good thing to come out of quarantine is more game time.


----------



## vendolis (Aug 7, 2020)

PabloM said:


> oh! with this you bought me. It is definitely an interesting approach: the plot progresses but in small things.



The world changes in samll pieces and the core will stay the same and over long times (5-10 years). And anyone can ignore change and or dive into this "Living History". Each of the official modules has a rating on the back cover that gives the information how deep the adventure is integrated. Things that happen might be that a city is destroyed, that different groups take on power, or that some gods that were not that active before, become more active. In Aventuria there were always 12 Gods and the 13th God that is the enemy of the rest. Now some of the "demi-gods" or "old-gods" become more active and become able to give Karmal power to their followers. 
For a group that starts today the lore has little impact.. but if you keep playing in some years things that you might take part today will end up in the books. And esp. for players that play it for a long time (I play it for about 35 years) there are a lot of things in the history that I played as a module. (yes our outcome might have been different than the official history, but its still a great feeling)

With the Theater Knights campaign that is finished with the current crowdfunding a very interesting history and involved secrets are revealed and things change for a small region. But again... its up for everyone if they want to play with it.


----------



## Bluenose (Aug 7, 2020)

We're now on a regular schedule of playing online twice a week with alternating games. 

The game I'm running is Barbarians of Lemuria in the Warhammer world, running a trading ship (very honest, pay no attention to those goods in the hold) between Esatalia, Tilea, Lustria and Araby. They've made some friends in Lustria, and even managed to persuade a group of Amazons to trade with them. The PCs have also just encountered their future nemesis for the first time, Sven 'Bloody Back' Ivarsson, who made a cheeky attempt to grab their ship while in port in Sartosa and has been chased out of the city as a result. He's blaming the PCs, not that I've told them that yet.

The other game, and I wish I'd thought of the concept, is Heroquest Glorantha. We're playing members of a Pentan clan, and the game started the day after the Battle of the Nights of Horror and subsequent peace. Which means the clan has been reduced to young women, widows, female elders and a couple of crippled men. After an argument between the clan elders over what we should do, we (playing young women) managed to persuade enough people that we should return to our traditional clan lands. While the rest of the clan does that, we're questing to learn secrets of the Star Huntress so that female Riders can defend the clan more effectively. The mad shaman we encountered eventually yielded to the persuasion of our apprentice shaman and told us where to go to start the Quest for the Meteor Bow, which will allow us to add powerful magic to our arrows. We also met a Wind Shaman, who we now owe a favour to but who has promised to teach our clan of the wind spirits.


----------



## Ulisses_Tajo (Aug 7, 2020)

jeremypowell said:


> —still heroic fantasy (which I like a lot), but much less superheroic. D&D and Pathfinder never feel remotely real to me; TDE does. You can play “ordinary” characters like an artist or a shepherd or a pastry chef (yes, that’s a real character type in the core books, and not just for laughs)!




I really love this about TDE. Playing low power characters feels very rewarding esp. in the right group combination. The play more goes around the wits you bring to the table than only the fighting ability.
Also, high experience characters still need to be warry since a group of normal farmers with pitch forks can still kill a knight in armor.


----------



## PabloM (Aug 7, 2020)

Bluenose said:


> The other game, and I wish I'd thought of the concept, is Heroquest Glorantha.




I only heard good things about Heroquest but I never read it, could you comment on what the game's approach is and how it does it?



Bluenose said:


> We're playing members of a Pentan clan, and the game started the day after the Battle of the Nights of Horror and subsequent peace. Which means the clan has been reduced to young women, widows, female elders and a couple of crippled men. After an argument between the clan elders over what we should do, we (playing young women) managed to persuade enough people that we should return to our traditional clan lands. While the rest of the clan does that, we're questing to learn secrets of the Star Huntress so that female Riders can defend the clan more effectively. The mad shaman we encountered eventually yielded to the persuasion of our apprentice shaman and told us where to go to start the Quest for the Meteor Bow, which will allow us to add powerful magic to our arrows. We also met a Wind Shaman, who we now owe a favour to but who has promised to teach our clan of the wind spirits.




This seems amazing! I want to play it!
if only Glorantha didn't have ducks ...


----------



## Jeff Albertson (Aug 8, 2020)

PabloM said:


> Please (please!) try Ironsworn. It´s amazing for solo games (or group ones, by the way).




Right on, but do you mean Oathsworn?


----------



## Bluenose (Aug 8, 2020)

PabloM said:


> I only heard good things about Heroquest but I never read it, could you comment on what the game's approach is and how it does it?




So, at it's most basic Heroquest is an opposed roll system using 1d20 where you try to roll less than your ability but more than your opponent's roll. If you roll your ability exactly that's a critical success; if you roll more than ability that's a failure; if you roll a natural 20 that's a fumble unless your ability is 20.  If your ability advances past 20 then it goes back to 1 but you get a level of mastery (W after the number) which shifts your level of success by one or if you have a critical shifts your opponents level of success down by one. An ability of 25 is written 5W, and if you rolled 15 then that's a failure, moved up to a success because of your mastery, and beats someone with ability 17 who rolled a 13 (you both had a success, but your roll was higher).

Characters are very freeform. The main way of creating them is by writing down the three basic keywords that say where your character is from, what their previous occupation was, and what sort of magic they have. Then write a 100 word description of your character, pick out the important bits, and add those to your character sheet as Abilities which start at 13 (you can write more but the rest is backstory and won't be on your character sheet unless your GM is generous). Keywords in most respects are just another Ability and can be used for tests, but they're fixed at 17 in HQG and are quite broad - Homeland: Sartar 17 means that you'd be able to use it to do a check about geography, language, customs, which clans are rivals with others, history and other things that relate to Sartar. You can also use the Keyword to start a specialised Ability, so if your previous career was Craftsman you could have Potter as an ability and write it in under the Keyword, where it would have a starting value of 17 instead of the normal 13 for Abilities. An ability can be anything, so you might have Strong, Hate Greydog Clan, Fear Dark Trolls, or many other things. Abilities can sometimes be used to augment other abilities, adding a fraction of the score where it's appropriate; if your character is Strong 17, they would be able to add 2 (1/10, rounded up) to a fighting Ability if they're in melee combat; or if they're fighting against Dark Trolls, Fear Dark Trolls 17 gives a -2 penalty. You can also get an Ability as a consequence of a challenge even if you win the challenge, and impose something on the loser too. Normally abilities are raised a point at a time by spending Hero Points earned through adventuring and completing objectives (personal ones, group ones, or clan ones). You also define groups in a similar way, so a group would be defined by where it's from, what it does, and what magic it uses, along with extra abilities that make it different from other groups.

Heroquesting is handled by using Abilities as stakes in a contest, and every part of a Heroquest ends with a contest. On the Quest for the Meteor Bow we're doing, the various parts include Finding a Steed; and in that, we're probably going to have to wager our horse Ability against the resistance of a spirit animal that doesn't want to be ridden, and if we win our horse is temporarily augmented by the spirit while if we lose it probably runs off and can't be used for the rest of the quest which could be a real problem if there's a race involved and you have to oturun something on foot instead of mounted. Any Abilities gained (even flaws) are lost at the end of the Heroquest, except for the one that's your final objective. Whatever ability you use there is gone if you lose and would have to be started again. If you succeed, then you can decide what to do with the Ability, so we might pass it on to the clan where it becomes part of the clan magic and anyone can learn it as a magical Ability, or if more than one person takes the challenge and succeeds then some might decide to keep it themselves. One of our players had Eldest Child of the Clan Chief as an Ability and intends wagering that as her stake since she intends giving the magic to the clan; if she loses, people won't remember her status and she will have a flaw related to it but if she wins it will increase permanently by the Augment value of the Bow; my character, if the challenge has already succeeded, will challenge to learn that magic personally, and if I succeed then I'll immediately have access to Meteor Bow magic under my magic keyword at whatever value the ability I'm opposing have. Heroquesting is high-risk but also high-reward

That's the basics, at any rate. There's more to the rules, and different versions of Heroquest take a slightly different approach (Robin Laws' Heroquest allows raising keywords for 2HP, for instance), but it's honestly a pretty simple game at its core. Most of the book is examples of homelands, careers and types of magic, as well as GM advice and examples of enemies, challenges and adventure possibilities.



> This seems amazing! I want to play it!
> if only Glorantha didn't have ducks ...




Ducks? Mount up, sisters, and ready your bows. An enemy is upon us!


----------



## Nebulous (Aug 8, 2020)

We had a great Session #0 for Alien.  Everyone has a character (from the pre-made module) and I'm still putting together ship maps for roll20.  The adventure itself only has macro-view of the vessels, so I have to add interior decks.  I'm also scouring the net for appropriate beasties to populate the scenario.  How'd you like to meet this sonofabitch in a dark tunnel?







Done!  I photoshopped the bridge of the USC Montero


----------



## PabloM (Aug 8, 2020)

Jeff Albertson said:


> Right on, but do you mean Oathsworn?




oh, no. I mean Ironsworn: Ironsworn - Tabletop RPG
Try it, you will not regret it (and its free!)


----------



## PabloM (Aug 8, 2020)

Bluenose said:


> So, at it's most basic Heroquest is an opposed roll system using 1d20 where you try to roll less than your ability but more than your opponent's roll. If you roll your ability exactly that's a critical success; if you roll more than ability that's a failure; if you roll a natural 20 that's a fumble unless your ability is 20.  If your ability advances past 20 then it goes back to 1 but you get a level of mastery (W after the number) which shifts your level of success by one or if you have a critical shifts your opponents level of success down by one. An ability of 25 is written 5W, and if you rolled 15 then that's a failure, moved up to a success because of your mastery, and beats someone with ability 17 who rolled a 13 (you both had a success, but your roll was higher).
> 
> Characters are very freeform. The main way of creating them is by writing down the three basic keywords that say where your character is from, what their previous occupation was, and what sort of magic they have. Then write a 100 word description of your character, pick out the important bits, and add those to your character sheet as Abilities which start at 13 (you can write more but the rest is backstory and won't be on your character sheet unless your GM is generous). Keywords in most respects are just another Ability and can be used for tests, but they're fixed at 17 in HQG and are quite broad - Homeland: Sartar 17 means that you'd be able to use it to do a check about geography, language, customs, which clans are rivals with others, history and other things that relate to Sartar. You can also use the Keyword to start a specialised Ability, so if your previous career was Craftsman you could have Potter as an ability and write it in under the Keyword, where it would have a starting value of 17 instead of the normal 13 for Abilities. An ability can be anything, so you might have Strong, Hate Greydog Clan, Fear Dark Trolls, or many other things. Abilities can sometimes be used to augment other abilities, adding a fraction of the score where it's appropriate; if your character is Strong 17, they would be able to add 2 (1/10, rounded up) to a fighting Ability if they're in melee combat; or if they're fighting against Dark Trolls, Fear Dark Trolls 17 gives a -2 penalty. You can also get an Ability as a consequence of a challenge even if you win the challenge, and impose something on the loser too. Normally abilities are raised a point at a time by spending Hero Points earned through adventuring and completing objectives (personal ones, group ones, or clan ones). You also define groups in a similar way, so a group would be defined by where it's from, what it does, and what magic it uses, along with extra abilities that make it different from other groups.
> 
> ...




And how much Glorantha lore do you need to have to run the game relatively well?



Bluenose said:


> Ducks? Mount up, sisters, and ready your bows. An enemy is upon us!




I like this approach!


----------



## Bluenose (Aug 9, 2020)

PabloM said:


> And how much Glorantha lore do you need to have to run the game relatively well?




Honestly, I don't think I'm the person to ask. I've been playing Runequest and using Glorantha since the 1970s so I really can't judge properly how good it would be as a place to start with Glorantha. Probably not the best, thinking about it. The Glorantha Sourcebook that came out for 13th Age Glorantha would be my recommendation as the best starting point. Or if you want to play Heroquest as a system, pick up the Robin Laws version and use it with a setting you know well. If your players are willing to accept a fairly abstract system (it's the one I thought of in the "Combat as a Single Die Roll" thread, though it's technically two dice) then it's pretty adaptable and the more 'Narrative" elements aren't obtrusive.


----------



## Jeff Albertson (Aug 9, 2020)

PabloM said:


> oh, no. I mean Ironsworn: Ironsworn - Tabletop RPG
> Try it, you will not regret it (and its free!)




Ah, right on, will check it out.


----------



## Tun Kai Poh (Aug 9, 2020)

Blades in the Dark Session 14: MY DEMON UNCLE CAN'T BE THIS CUTE!

I ran Blades in the Dark for three players today: Frei as Scotch the two-fisted Hound, Darren as Zhao the foxy Spider and Zahidi as Irfan the university drop-out Leech.

Today, our crew sat down with Rail Jacks and cultists, made messes of brothels and warehouses, and recruited a surprising number of potential gang members as they meddled deeper into the Crow's Foot war on behalf of their patron, Lady Ankhayat.

First, Amon the Rail Jack reported that the ghost attacks on Gaddoc Rail Station were intensifying, and the crew's previous contact, Chief Kibo was out of action after breaking his legs. It was clear to Zhao that they would soon have to deal with the Forgotten God known as the Whispering Tree, as it was once again ordering cultists to summon ghosts to interfere with the construction at the rail station. Amon revealed that the new barracks at Gaddoc would house a battalion of Imperial marines. In addition, the Spirit Wardens had been asking around about the crew, and now they were hunting for both the Tycherosi members of the gang, Zhao and Karen.

Scotch went to visit her lover in the Red Lamp brothel in Silkshore, but ended up overindulging and causing trouble (and raising Heat), forcing her to spend even more time hushing up the mess she had created. But at least her Stress was gone.

Zhao took some downtime to relax with his lover Rin. The Tycherosi spy was still waiting for information from the Old Country about any renegade demons that might have headed abroad (specifically Ashitaka). Zhao also distributed bribes to local Bluecoats to keep the authorities off the gang's backs. Finally, he hired a couple of young dish pit witches from his old haunt, Fogcrest Heritage Inn, to serve as lookouts for the next few days, as they would be visiting the Lampblacks on Lady Ankhayat's business.

In the meantime, Irfan was walking into a veritable shark tank of investors from the Docks, seeking a "sailor's loan" to help defray the costs of crafting his automated gambling machine for Twoscore's Tavern. Compared to some of the academic reviews he'd faced in the past, this was nothing, and he walked out with a hefty loan to fund his invention. Later, he spent a few comforting hours repairing damaged electroplasmic equipment for the crew's Rail Jack allies at his Silkshore repair stall. A shadow loomed over him, and he looked up to see fellow university student-turned outlaw, Rabby, offering him some peace biscuits (shaped as white flags in memory of the end of the Unity War) and tea. "You were my third choice after Lord Scurlock and the Dimmer Sisters, but they didn't respond to me and I couldn't get into their lairs," she explained.

At the Fogcrest Heritage Inn, guarded by their young lookouts, the Vagabonds sat down to hear what Rabby had to say. With them was a red-headed teenaged boy, actually Karen's demon uncle Ashitaka in one of his shapeshifted guises. The crew had decided it was better to keep him in sight rather than have him wandering the city on his own.

Rabby had been jilted by her Forgotten God, the Whispering Tree, and seeing that new recruits had taken her place in the cult, she sought revenge against her former master. She wanted to join a winning team that knew what it was doing. She assumed (from historical research) that since the crew used chickens to herald their arrival at her hostel in Nightmarket, they must be the new Cockbringers, a famed cult known for using the chicken as their symbol. "I want to join the Cockbringers," she said. Ashitaka had been advising Zhao to increase the crew's manpower, and now he seemed quite taken with the idea of recruiting Rabby to join them. Perhaps too taken.

"Go bring us some salted chicken from Charterhall, from the stall that has the good brown sauce," said Irfan. Zhao sent one of the lookouts to tail Rabby to make sure she did as she was told. Meanwhile, the rest of the crew (including Ashitaka) would visit the Lampblacks in an attempt to secure Puzzle Shen's map for Lady Ankhayat.

While one of the lookouts remained out on the street, Zhao, Scotch, Bandit, Irfan and Ashitaka ventured into the Lampblacks' heavily guarded warehouse. The guards escorted them past a well-lit killbox inside the warehouse entrance, past row after row of shelving and racking, and alongside a wall where Irfan could hear the buzzing of electroplasmic power. The former Lamplighters had taken to the electroplasmic age with a vengeance.

At a supervisor's office near the rear of the warehouse, the crew watched as Bazso Baz emerged from a basement stairway, and caught a glimpse of lightning fields down below, before the basement door closed. The gang leader offered them fine 50-year whiskey looted from Lockport during the Unity War, a rare vintage now that the Lockport refinery had been razed and the family who made the whiskey were all dead.

To their surprise, Bazso was quite willing to do business. He offered to hand over Shen's map in exchange for a stealth job - the crew would have to plant an incriminating artifact inside the Red Sashes' mansion, something that Bazso hinted would ruin the enemy gang's reputation.

Ashitaka alerted Zhao, Irfan and Scotch that their lookout had spotted Shen arriving at the warehouse entrance. The guards informed Bazso moments later, and he shooed the crew out to the hallway to wait while he dealt with Shen elsewhere in the warehouse.

Presently, the sound of shouting and scuffling could be heard from somewhere on the warehouse floor. As Zhao, Irfan and Scotch debated what to do, Ashitaka vanished from plain sight. One of the Lampblack guards ran off to find the missing boy, while Zhao tried to fast-talk another one in order to give Scotch and Bandit a chance to break off as well. Bandit's keen canine senses helped lead the way through the darkened warehouse, but just before reaching Shen, Scotch and her dog ran into Ashitaka, who warned them that Bazso's men were everywhere searching for Shen. "I'll go back to cover for you," he said, and instantly vanished from the warehouse aisle.

Just then, the supervisor's office door opened, and Ashitaka, Scotch and Bandit walked out, looking all friendly and cheerful. The guard looked cross, but suspected nothing. "Don't run off again!" Irfan took a close look at Scotch, suspecting something was wrong, and saw Ashitaka's metal eyes flash from under Scotch's brows. And Bandit's brows. The terror was almost enough to freeze him in his tracks, but he forced himself, under great stress, to act as if everything was normal.

Shen was hidden in an alcove at the far corner of the warehouse, battered and panting, crouching like a hunted animal. Scotch dropped silently down behind him, grabbing him and covering his mouth to keep him from crying out. But Shen was more than willing to betray his leader. "Help me get out and I'll do anything!" he told her. As guards approached, Scotch focused on the ghostly doorway at the end of the hall, which she could sense through the Ghost Echo. As gunfire roared around them, the Hound, her dog and her captive plunged through the wall and emerged in an alley outside the warehouse. Scotch's heavy body armour soaked up the worst of the shots, and she was able to spirit Shen away to the Vagabonds' lair.

Bazso seemed slightly suspicious of the Vagabonds, but the crew was able to put on their innocent faces, and so Bazso sent them on their way for the time being. Once they were far enough away from Lampblack territory and out of the open, Ashitaka absorbed the "Scotch" and "Bandit" bodies that he had formed as part of the deception - to the horror of Zhao.

Back in their hideout, the crew members regrouped and Puzzle Shen told them the truth: his Void Sea map was drawn on a piece of Leviathan hide, cursed to re-form into a full-blown Leviathan if it ever touched the sea. The map was indestructible and Shen had sworn never to let it fall into the wrong hands - especially demons!

Everyone gave Ashitaka a _look._

To be continued.


----------



## pemerton (Aug 9, 2020)

Today I played (as in _really played_, with someone else GMing) a short session of Burning Wheel. A full write-up is here. The short version: the religious knight Thurgon and his sorcerer companion Aramina ruined the abandoned tower of Evard in their largely failed attempt to explore it; but following a clue led them east back to Thurgon's ancestral estate of Auxol, where he learned that his brother is now a broken man in service to "the master", but where he was able to call on the Lord of Battle to restore heart and hope to his mother. And in the process also to turn Aramina from cynical and somewhat embittered to hopeful herself.


----------



## Fenris-77 (Aug 9, 2020)

I'm running out of patience with not having played Mork Borg yet. I think I'm going to have to play by post it, but I have some interesting ideas about how to use some multi-media to make that cool.  That game is way to cool for me to have just read it.


----------



## PabloM (Aug 9, 2020)

Bluenose said:


> Honestly, I don't think I'm the person to ask. I've been playing Runequest and using Glorantha since the 1970s so I really can't judge properly how good it would be as a place to start with Glorantha. Probably not the best, thinking about it. The Glorantha Sourcebook that came out for 13th Age Glorantha would be my recommendation as the best starting point.




I played a lot of RuneQuest. Never in Glorantha, but I always wanted to give it a try. There are things that I like a lot (the main conflict in Dragon Pass between the Lunar Empire and Sartar, the cosmology, the deities) but some other things not so much (ducks, the amount of lore that exists, not knowing where to start reading).

Maybe I'll buy the Glorantha Sourcebook to get started there ...


----------



## PabloM (Aug 10, 2020)

Bluenose said:


> Honestly, I don't think I'm the person to ask. I've been playing Runequest and using Glorantha since the 1970s so I really can't judge properly how good it would be as a place to start with Glorantha. Probably not the best, thinking about it. The Glorantha Sourcebook that came out for 13th Age Glorantha would be my recommendation as the best starting point. Or if you want to play Heroquest as a system, pick up the Robin Laws version and use it with a setting you know well. If your players are willing to accept a fairly abstract system (it's the one I thought of in the "Combat as a Single Die Roll" thread, though it's technically two dice) then it's pretty adaptable and the more 'Narrative" elements aren't obtrusive.




Hey, I´ve  been reading a lot of Glorantha in this two days.

Anyway, I ask you this for being a fan of both Glorantha and its RPGs (RuneQuest and HeroQuest): do you recommend any published scenario or adventure to start playing in the setting? Any setting or adventure that captures the spirit and / or aesthetics of the world?

I am beginning to think that I can simply eliminate the elements that I do not like, because there are more that attract and challenge me as a player.


----------



## Bluenose (Aug 11, 2020)

YGWV - Your Glorantha Will Vary. Whatever you do with Glorantha. it's your setting once you start playing with it. There have been several parts of canon that I've disregarded, modified or used for a different purpose in my time.

For a starting adventure, I'd say Apple Lane if your campaign is going to focus on Dragon Pass. It's a nice little village which a group of young Sartarits with a few outsiders could plausibly start in, there's several plot hooks in place which aren't too complex but give a fair impression of the area and some aspects of life in Sartar, it works in pretty much any time period you want to play in (the new RQ: Glorantha has made some big changes to the current status of the setting locally), and there's potential for a long term relationship with the person who employs you and could send reliable people all across Dragon Pass in search of items he could trade.

Alternatively, Pavis/Prax has a lot of detail in older editions. Pavis is much more cosmopolitan than Apple Lane so characters from all sorts of places could be there, it's a chance to introduce various strange and unusual cultures and non-humans, and the area is full of adventure hooks from years of development. There's a nice introductory adventure in the Pavis boxed set, then there's potential for running a variety of adventures before moving into the excellent Borderlands campaign After that there's still plenty of adventure to be had as well. It does mostly depend on the particular time period, which is around 1615 (RQ:G is 1625).

The other thing is there's a lot of Community Content adventures on DriveThru now, for more than I could keep up with, but one I have got is Valley of Plenty and that has two introductory scenarios for newly initiated female and male characters respectively. I think it's a very good book, and it's supposed to be the first of a series. Though as is often the case, it's set in Sartar and nowhere near as varied in the characters likely to appear as a Pavis campaign.


----------



## pemerton (Aug 11, 2020)

PabloM said:


> do you recommend any published scenario or adventure to start playing in the setting?



My contribution to this is on a much narrower info base than @Bluenose.

I have very little Glorantha play experience. But I do have a copy of the original Narrator's Book for HeroWars (Robni Laws). It has some scenarios that seem interesting to me, and one of them - Demon of the Red Grove - I've adapted successfully to D&D 4e. I'm sure it would be a fun scenario in some version of RQ/Glorantha also.


----------



## PabloM (Aug 11, 2020)

Bluenose said:


> YGWV - Your Glorantha Will Vary. Whatever you do with Glorantha. it's your setting once you start playing with it. There have been several parts of canon that I've disregarded, modified or used for a different purpose in my time.




Yes, this is an amazing move. All published campaign settings advise the same, but being an explicit rule is great.



Bluenose said:


> (the new RQ: Glorantha has made some big changes to the current status of the setting locally)




Could you, if you don't mind, tell me what those big changes were? because I'm reading from different sources and some contradictions make me a bit dizzy.

Anyway, thanks a lot for the advice! Apple Lane it is, and I will check the Pavis Boxed Set and Valley of Plenty, even if it's as inspiration to set the right tone and theme.


----------



## PabloM (Aug 11, 2020)

Is too soon to start ending my posts with #weareallus ?


----------



## Nebulous (Aug 11, 2020)

Finished our mini Dungeon World campaign last night!  It was fun.


----------



## Bluenose (Aug 11, 2020)

PabloM said:


> Could you, if you don't mind, tell me what those big changes were? because I'm reading from different sources and some contradictions make me a bit dizzy.




Most of the earlier material was set in 1615-1620. So the Lunar Empire controlled Sartar, Prax and Pavis and was trying to advance couthwards into the Holy Country. Since then we've had the death of the Holy Country's leader and a civil war in that land; Pavis has been captured by an alliance of animal nomads and local Orlanthi rebels; most of the Lunar army and leadership in Dragon Pass has been destroyed and Sartarite rebels have driven the rest out; and there's also strife in Lunar Tarsh. That's all happened in Dragon Pass and Prax in ten years of the setting. Most older scenarios need modification to work in the new era, particularly the ones around Pavis and Prax where the Lunar presence was very obvious.


----------



## Slit518 (Aug 11, 2020)

Conan Adventures in an Age Undreamed Of by Modiphius Entertainment, a 2d20 system.


----------



## Psion (Aug 13, 2020)

*Running:*
Masks: a New Generation
Mutants & Masterminds
Scum & Villainy (2 different campaigns, though one will wrap up soon)


----------



## Tun Kai Poh (Aug 17, 2020)

Blades in the Dark, session 15!

Karen returned from a leisurely date with Patricia in Six Towers (taunting a spirit trafficker, having tea, and visiting a yard sale), only to find that the crew had doubled in size and was now planning to escort Puzzle Shen on a mission to recover his demon-hide sea map from the Crow and Kipper Arms Inn in the Docks.

There was some disorientation as Karen was introduced to Rabby, the ex-cultist who had somehow renamed the gang "The Cockbringers" and was joining Karen as a new apprentice, as well as the two temp dishwashers and Ashitaka's new teenage human form. Karen remembered all to well that her ghost friend Annabelle had refused to return to assist the crew until they got rid of her demon "uncle" Ashitaka...

For this new transport score, Zhao and Irfan intended to infiltrate the inn to recover Shen's valuable map from his room before his former Lampblack comrades could find it. Meanwhile, Karen and Scotch, with the newly-expanded team of lookouts, occultist and demon would guard Shen down on the streets, providing distractions and keeping enemy gang members off their backs.

As the crew entered the Docks, death bells could be heard ringing continuously, and one of the lookouts reported smoke rising above Crow's Foot, while Deathseeker Crows circled overhead. Clearly the war between the Lampblacks and the Red Sashes was escalating.

Some curious dockworkers approached the street team, only to be scared away by Scotch's glowering presence. The heavily-equipped Hound already had a dangerous reputation in the docks after shooting a man in cold blood right in the street.

The lookouts reported a Red Sash guarding the street in front of the inn. The street team hung back to wait and see what was happening.

At the same time, Irfan and Zhao had just reached the 3rd floor of the inn when they heard the voices of Lampblack thugs harassing a housecleaner, The Lampblacks were already here, looking for Shen's rented room. Zhao pulled out one of his false identities and went to distract the thugs with his blather, while Irfan went up to the 4th floor to recover the map from Shen's room.

The Spider's ruse, invoking the name of Lord Strangford, was successful and the Lampblacks backed off. Meanwhile, Irfan used Shen's keys to get into the room and open his seaman's chest - but the metal box that held the scroll had a faulty lock. He applied some chemical lubricant to the hinges and picked the lock as best as he could, but broke the box in the process. No matter - he took out the scroll case, broke the wax seal, snatched the map and re-sealed the case with some wax he had thoughtfully brought along. And like that, he was back out.

Back on the street, the crew spotted a half dozen Red Sashes preparing to rush the front entrance of the Inn. Karen decided to cast about in search of some of the ghosts that haunted the Docks. She was in luck, detecting a trio of recently-deceased drunken sailors. Using her Compel power, she sent the hungry spirits into the bodies of three Red Sashes. The others - especially Rabby - were in awe of the Whisper's display of power.

The possessed gang members charged into the inn ahead of the others, creating a noisy distraction. Gunshots rang out, and soon death bells were ringing. Zhao and Irfan made their way to the back windows of the inn where they had planned to drop down to the stables for their getaway.

Scotch arrived outside the stables first, and saw the windows had recently gotten new wooden shutters installed, blocking the escape route. She climbed a ladder she had procured and smashed the shutters open just as Zhao appeared. One by one, they slid down the ladder and boarded the escape carriage that Zhao had thoughtfully acquired ahead of time. As the fight between Red Sashes and Lampblacks continued to rage in the inn, our crew was on the way back to their lair...


----------



## TheAlkaizer (Aug 17, 2020)

At the moment I am DMing two different campaigns of _D&D 5th_, and one campaign of _Starfinder_.

I'm also slowly chugging through the rules of _Lancer_, _Zweihander_ and _Tales from the Loop_ to explore next. But that won't be for a while.


----------



## JohnSnow (Aug 17, 2020)

Before we went on hiatus, our group was all 5e.

Part of our group got back together when one of our members took a swing at running "Honey Heist" a few weeks back over Zoom, which was silly, but very fun. And got all of us jonesing to get our game going again.

My fiancee's intro to roleplaying was playing in a bunch of old Deadlands-based games: "Rippers," "Hell on Earth," and another where the GM used the same rules, but adapted the "Firefly" setting. Lately, she's been itching to try something like that system again, and while I like 5e, I've been feeling more and more frustrated with "D&D-isms," so I'm working on getting a game going for our group with "Savage Worlds Adventure Edition."

I'll let you all know how it goes.


----------



## PabloM (Aug 17, 2020)

JohnSnow said:


> My fiancee's intro to roleplaying was playing in a bunch of old Deadlands-based games: "Rippers," "Hell on Earth," and another where the GM used the same rules, but adapted the "Firefly" setting. Lately, she's been itching to try something like that system again, and while I like 5e, I've been feeling more and more frustrated with "D&D-isms," so I'm working on getting a game going for our group with "Savage Worlds Adventure Edition."
> 
> I'll let you all know how it goes.




What kind of game do you have in mind? is it Medieval Fantasy?


----------



## JohnSnow (Aug 17, 2020)

PabloM said:


> What kind of game do you have in mind? is it Medieval Fantasy?



I'll probably throw a medieval fantasy game together eventually, but the fact that me (and several of my players!) study European Martial Arts as a hobby means that I always have to house rule weapons and armor a bit.

I think I might start with either a pulp adventure or some kind of sci-fi setting. Savage Worlds supports a lot of very weird concepts.


----------



## Bravesteel25 (Aug 17, 2020)

Star Wars: Edge of the Empire. Star Wars forever!


----------



## ccs (Aug 18, 2020)

Looks like we'll definitely be playing some Warhammer 40k: Rogue Trader RPG.  Probably starting in about a month.
It's going to alternate with our Sunday PF game.  
No idea how the PF & RT DMs intend to determine the split - every other week?  Every other month?    A chapter/Lv of the PF AP, then an equal bit of RT?  Phases of the moon?  Flip of a coin each week?

Given who's going to be the RT game-master though I also predict this won't be much of a concern for long.....  
I give the RT experiment under 7 sessions before it fizzles out.


----------



## aramis erak (Aug 18, 2020)

Prepping for wed game to move to Pugmire or Monarchies of Mau; not-quite TPK in Dragon Warriors.
Still doing Dune.


----------



## PabloM (Aug 18, 2020)

aramis erak said:


> Prepping for wed game to move to Pugmire or Monarchies of Mau; not-quite TPK in Dragon Warriors.
> Still doing Dune.



Man, I'm close to asking you about Dune, but I know you can't tell anything ...


----------



## hawkeyefan (Aug 19, 2020)

So my current slate of GMing has shifted a bit. We were playing a Blades in the Dark game by post through Discord, using the Bluecoats playset. That has since become the main game we play in our weekly Discord session. So no more play by post for that.

However, one player can’t make it for the time being, and so he and I are playing a soli game by post. It’s a bit odd because the PCs in the Bluecoat game are investigating the gang of PCs from an earlier game, and now the solo game is one PC acting on the gang’s orders to tie up loose ends. 

This was all at the request of the players. They wanted their earlier PCs to be the antagonists and the solo player wanted his story to be connected to the others. I think the result is a game that’s a little more predetermined in some areas compared to how I’d expect Blades to go most of the time, but not as drastically so as I had worried.


----------



## Campbell (Aug 19, 2020)

Current slate of games is shifting. 

Next Monday will be the last Freebooters on the Frontier game for as the GM prepares to combine the two Freebooters games he is running into a West Marches style game. This might take about a month. The GM is a high school teacher and now is a really busy time for him.

Mork Borg is still going strong, but we are at 5/7 signs of the Apocalypse. We will be doing something else once the world ends. My hope is The Nightmares Underneath.

The Lancer game I run biweekly is starting to reach a crescendo. We are 5 sessions in. I think we might have another 5 sessions in this season. Once it runs its course I will probably try to run something else for this group. Right now I think Legend of the Five Rings might be on the table.

We started a biweekly Vampire game using a friend's custom hack that combines elements from Classic World of Darkness, New World of Darkness, Blades in the Dark, and Classic Deadlands. It's been a lot of fun so far.


----------



## coolAlias (Aug 19, 2020)

JohnSnow said:


> I'll probably throw a medieval fantasy game together eventually, but the fact that me (and several of my players!) study European Martial Arts as a hobby means that I always have to house rule weapons and armor a bit.



I'd be interested in hearing some of your house rules (in another thread, perhaps) if you wouldn't mind sharing.

For myself, I've been running and playing D&D 5e exclusively the last few years, but recently stumbled on HackMaster and find the combat/initiative system intriguing enough that I kind of want to give it a try.


----------



## Bravesteel25 (Aug 19, 2020)

coolAlias said:


> I'd be interested in hearing some of your house rules (in another thread, perhaps) if you wouldn't mind sharing.
> 
> For myself, I've been running and playing D&D 5e exclusively the last few years, but recently stumbled on HackMaster and find the combat/initiative system intriguing enough that I kind of want to give it a try.




Hackmaster 5E is probably my favorite fantasy RPG, but I will say that there is a lot more pressure on the GM to both keep the system running in terms of round calculations, and keeping up the tempo of combat. It is also hard to find in stores which might turn a lot of people off.


----------



## coolAlias (Aug 19, 2020)

Malkinban said:


> Hackmaster 5E is probably my favorite fantasy RPG, but I will say that there is a lot more pressure on the GM to both keep the system running in terms of round calculations, and keeping up the tempo of combat. It is also hard to find in stores which might turn a lot of people off.



I'm glad to hear that - I downloaded the free basic rules last week and am way too excited about it... it really seems to capture that gritty/low-magic version of D&D that I've always wanted but could never find.

Speaking of which, there was a Kickstarter a while back called Iskloft that I backed and is supposedly going to finally be shipped in the next few months, which is a gritty / low-magic viking setting with D&D 5e rules as the base but all new classes and a different magic system. I'm also super pumped about that.


----------



## JohnSnow (Aug 19, 2020)

coolAlias said:


> I'd be interested in hearing some of your house rules (in another thread, perhaps) if you wouldn't mind sharing.




I'll happy to cover the details in another thread, but pretty much it involves rewriting the armor list to better reflect the effectiveness (and reality) of real-world armors. As well as some slight tweaks to the weapons list. I always have to do this to D&D too, so it's nothing new. But when your gaming group is comprised largely of HEMA nerds, the inaccuracies in the system hurt suspension of disbelief.

Yeah, I know. It's a world with dragons and beholders. But longswords actually make great weapons for weaker characters, gambesons were awesome, and studded leather doesn't exist. 

It's mostly stuff like that.


----------



## coolAlias (Aug 19, 2020)

@JohnSnow That's exactly the kind of stuff I'm super interested to hear about! Looking forward to your thread.


----------



## Tun Kai Poh (Aug 20, 2020)

hawkeyefan said:


> So my current slate of GMing has shifted a bit. We were playing a Blades in the Dark game by post through Discord, using the Bluecoats playset. That has since become the main game we play in our weekly Discord session. So no more play by post for that.
> 
> However, one player can’t make it for the time being, and so he and I are playing a soli game by post. It’s a bit odd because the PCs in the Bluecoat game are investigating the gang of PCs from an earlier game, and now the solo game is one PC acting on the gang’s orders to tie up loose ends.
> 
> This was all at the request of the players. They wanted their earlier PCs to be the antagonists and the solo player wanted his story to be connected to the others. I think the result is a game that’s a little more predetermined in some areas compared to how I’d expect Blades to go most of the time, but not as drastically so as I had worried.



It's not predetermined, it's still player-driven! It's just that it's driven by players in a _different_ group, like the recent Friends at the Table Beam Saber double campaign.


----------



## aramis erak (Aug 20, 2020)

PabloM said:


> Man, I'm close to asking you about Dune, but I know you can't tell anything ...



I can say that my players are enjoying it, and the closed beta for the rules is closing... 
I can say that I am liking it.


----------



## Fenris-77 (Aug 21, 2020)

My copy of Mork Borg came in the mail today. I dont know when I'll be able to play it, but I'm going to make it happen. The book needs to seen and handled to to be fully appreciated.


----------



## Fenris-77 (Aug 24, 2020)

I also finally managed to get into a _Monster of the Week_ game. X-Files, Supernatural, the Dresden Files - that's all very much my jam, and I finally get to play (which for me is more exciting than running it, as I almost always GM these days).


----------



## Bluenose (Aug 25, 2020)

We're still playing the BoL and HQ:G games I've mentioned earlier in the thread, but last night we rolled up characters for a Mongoose Traveller 2nd edition campaign that one of the regular players (and only occasional GMs) wants to run. My Professor of Engineering (455DF6! with 3 skill ranks in Engineering, Gravitics, Electronics and Computer and 4 in Robotics) is hoping for something that involves little combat and plenty of things needing fixing.


----------



## Umbran (Aug 26, 2020)

The Ghost Planets game I was playing in folded over scheduling issues.  The GM was trying to schedule ad hoc a day or two before the session, and that didn't work out.  

He's trying more long-range planning now, and picking up with a Space: 1889 game using Fate Accelerated.  He's also mentioned Star Trek Adventures as a possibility - it is a game I picked up in a recent Humble Bundle sale, and haven't gone over yet myself, though I've heard it is decent.


----------



## ccs (Aug 26, 2020)

ccs said:


> Looks like we'll definitely be playing some Warhammer 40k: Rogue Trader RPG.  Probably starting in about a month.
> It's going to alternate with our Sunday PF game.
> No idea how the PF & RT DMs intend to determine the split - every other week?  Every other month?    A chapter/Lv of the PF AP, then an equal bit of RT?  Phases of the moon?  Flip of a coin each week?
> 
> ...




Well.  
My prediction of 7 sessions or less was horribly accurate.  We didn't even make it to session 0/character generation! 

We intentionally wrapped up the PF session 45 minutes early in order to discuss the RT details.  And the guy set to run it announces that he's not feeling he can commit to running it afterall....  And throws the ball into my court.

So, NEW PLAN:  
It'll be 5e, 1st lv, & the action will pick up based on something the players in my Thur 5e game set in motion but walked away from.  
Why 5e & why that?  Because I all ready have it prepped and won't need it for Thursdays.
Still fuzzy on what the exact rotation schedule will be though....


----------



## Bravesteel25 (Aug 26, 2020)

My Star Wars game dissolved. One player got busy in his personal life and needed to bow out. Another two players are a little jaded when it comes to Star Wars right now and they asked to stop the campaign where we were at.

Now I'm plotting Traveller shenanigans. It is my favorite SF RPG, and probably my favorite RPG (even over D&D) so there is good with the bad.


----------



## Phion (Aug 26, 2020)

Nothing. Including d&d. Too busy key working and doing over-time


----------



## Dr Magister (Aug 26, 2020)

My Everywhen wild west game wrapped up last Sunday. I was trying to set up a classic high noon showdown with the bad guys, but instead the PCs snuck round to the bad guys' saloon the night before and threw a stick of dynamite through their back door...


----------



## Tun Kai Poh (Aug 26, 2020)

Had to cancel last weekend's Blades in the Dark session due to a family emergency. Am running Pipedream, a Cthulhu Dark hack of my own design at this weekend's A Good Day To Dice online mini-convention. It's a comedy-horror game about halfling investigators tackling problems too big to fight, with nothing but wits, guile and lots of magic pipe-weed.


----------



## PabloM (Aug 26, 2020)

Tun Kai Poh said:


> Had to cancel last weekend's Blades in the Dark session due to a family emergency.




I hope it's all okay now


----------



## Tun Kai Poh (Aug 28, 2020)

PabloM said:


> I hope it's all okay now



No, it's still pretty bad. Have to cancel this weekend's online game too.


----------



## Campbell (Aug 28, 2020)

Having our bimonthly gathering of GMs tonight.

Trying to figure out gaming during the week with new lifting program.

Vampire (set in modern Amsterdam) tomorrow afternoon. We are starting play as mortals. I am playing an Israeli venture capitalist with ties to the intelligence world. The other player is playing a refugee from Mali who is haunted by her past.

We might add another player soon.

Lancer has been a whirlwind so far. I honestly have no idea when it will end. One of the player's just found out they are the clone of a significant historical figure and their mentor might be family. There will probably be sparks, but first they will probably attempt to recover 12 ancient techno-organic life forms from a terrorist group with that player's mech being out of commission (both weapons arrays are destroyed).


----------



## pemerton (Aug 30, 2020)

We played a session of Cortex+ Heroic LotR/MERP yesterday. I wrote it up here.


----------



## Imaculata (Aug 30, 2020)

I'm running a small campaign on and off again, for those cases when we have an incomplete group to run our scifi or pirate campaign. This extra campaign is a horror campaign using D20 Cthulhu rules, called *HORROR AT THE HUXLEY HOUSE*. We run this campaign via Roll20, and its all in black and white. I've commented on this campaign before, but this time around I'll share more of the actual plot.







*Plot:*

The players are investigators hired by the *Heritage foundation*, a secret organization based in London, that investigates the paranormal during the 1930's. Heritage is custodian to various possibly dangerous paranormal objects in the UK, among which the *Huxley House* is their most dangerous object. The Huxley House is not a normal house. It is a convergence point of so called Schisms in our reality. A briljant and crazy scientist called Benjamin Huxley came up with a theory that history actually repeats itself, because our timeline is being altered by some unknown force. And these alterations create warps or stitches in our space time continuum called Schisms. He came up with a series of mathematical equations that could to some degree predict when and where these Schisms would occur, and these formulas lead him to a strange house that seems to be at the center of it all.

After Huxley was committed to a mental asylum, his research became scattered among private collectors. The Veridical Gentleman's Club (later renamed to the *Veridical Society*) dedicated themselves to continuing Huxley's research, and protecting the common people from the dangers of these paranormal events. But eventually in-fighting caused the organization to separate into two new organizations: *Heritage* and *NEST*. During the adventure, the players will have to deal with two members of NEST, who may not have the same goal as them.

Flash forward to the year 1936; It is the great depression, right after the first world war. Earlier that year, the Huxley House burns down, and reappears unscathed a month later. About a month before the investigation begins, a member of Heritage is lost in the house. And lastly, just 2 days before the investigation a loud and terrifying sound is heard all over London, that prompts Heritage to start their investigation.

The players are tasked with investigating what is going on with the house, and how to put an end to its strange behavior. The head of Heritage, Ernest Hall, believes the house to be like a pressure cooker. Safeties that were installed by Heritage in the past, may now be causing the house to become unstable. The players must reach a part of the house called The Inner House and open the Vault, to release the pressure. But during this investigation they may learn the true purpose and nature of the house. The house is also full of dangers. Horrifying creatures from outside our reality fester inside the house, eager to stop the players from reaching their goal. The closer they get to their goal, the more peril they will find themselves in.


----------



## aramis erak (Aug 31, 2020)

Due to running out of playtest material... switched back to Vaesen for friday (but no game this week), and for sunday (last week and this week), and Pugmire for Wednesday. 
Probably going to be the two key ones for the next month or two.
We all want to go back to Dune when the corebook drops.


----------



## PabloM (Aug 31, 2020)

aramis erak said:


> We all want to go back to Dune when the corebook drops.




Is there a date?


----------



## aramis erak (Sep 1, 2020)

PabloM said:


> Is there a date?



"around the time the movie releases" is the last I heard. (That was in a public forum.)

Last I heard for the movie was 18 Dec 2020.


----------



## Bravesteel25 (Sep 1, 2020)

My P2 group is starting up again next week. We are really face-to-face people, so we didn't move things over to the digital space.


----------



## Jeff Albertson (Sep 1, 2020)

Boardgames.

I picked up the _Dune_ boardgame (marvellous) on a whim last December (rare for me), and was like, where have you been all my life.

As I have been disillusioned with the direction of 5th Ed since release (love the debut), I find my interest wandering, so am totally back into BGs (so much goodness in the last 20 years I have missed out on, and am now catching up).


----------



## aramis erak (Sep 2, 2020)

Jeff Albertson said:


> Boardgames.
> 
> I picked up the _Dune_ boardgame (marvellous) on a whim last December (rare for me), and was like, where have you been all my life.
> 
> As I have been disillusioned with the direction of 5th Ed since release (love the debut), I find my interest wandering, so am totally back into BGs (so much goodness in the last 20 years I have missed out on, and am now catching up).



The Dune  boardgame is almost identical to the 1970's AH version, but tightened up and with nicer components. I'm hoping the Spice Harvest supplement is rereleased. The 10 turn limit is nice.


----------



## Jeff Albertson (Sep 3, 2020)

aramis erak said:


> The Dune  boardgame is almost identical to the 1970's AH version, but tightened up and with nicer components. I'm hoping the Spice Harvest supplement is rereleased. The 10 turn limit is nice.




Total, I know, I instantly got the original 1979 edition (worm cover) and The Duel and Spice Harvest expansions; I also got some custom made   Minis/Tokens (forces, including the new Ixian & Tleilaxu expansion) and an enlarged neoprene mat (the board) from Etsy.


----------



## LightStriker (Sep 3, 2020)

I'm a bit bias here, but I'm playing my new franchise. And it's taken over my gaming group with my married friends, and also my elementary and middle school nephews who started with D&D.

I've created a whole new IP filled with all kinds of characters, a brand new world, stories, and game rules.
If you like comics, anime, and retro 80's & 90's cartoons, you might want to check it out.
There's free stories available, and game modules you can read & play now.









						Light Strikers
					

A multi-platform, scifi & high fantasy TRPG campaign setting & system inspired by comics, anime, and retro cartoons.




					www.kickstarter.com
				




lightstrikersrpg.com

Love & respect,
D


----------



## Doc_Klueless (Sep 4, 2020)

So, the Mandalorian Season 2 premier on on October 30th. That got me to break out my 1e and 2e R&E WEG Star Wars books. I'd forgotten just how brilliant 1e was (especially if you go from the view point that it came out in 1987! It's over 30 year old!!). Oh, sure. It had some quirks and a few spotty rules. But, man, does it capture the films for me. 

As such, when my best bud moves back home in October, we're gonna do a few one shots and possibly a small campaign.


----------



## pemerton (Sep 20, 2020)

We played a session of Classic Traveller today, over Zoom. It's the first Traveller session since lockdown began.

I've linked above to the full write-up: the summary version is that the PCs fled from the Imperial Navy in a "salvaged" alien vessel (kidnapping a naval oficer in the process) and travelled to an ice world, on the very frontier of the Imperium, where they are hoping to find remnants or ruins of a 2 billion year old, psionically-gifted, alien civilisation.


----------



## Ulfgeir (Sep 20, 2020)

We started playing GURPS Dungeon Fantasy  last Friday. Will see if that is just a one-shot or if it will be a campaign. Norse-inspired...


----------



## aramis erak (Sep 20, 2020)

Running 3 different systems weekly...
Vaesen (Fria Ligan, year zero engine)
a 2d20 system playtest item. (Modiphius, 2d20)
Monarchies of Mau (Onyx Path, canis minor system.)

After two sessions, my reaction to Canis Minor is that it solves some of my issues with D&D 5e... but has its own.
Solve 1: "can suffer 3 failures before dying" and "one success stabilizes", as well as death saves being DC15 Con
Solve 2: no fixed progression path in classes
Solve 3: spell point system
new problem 1: I'm not fond of "advance when GM says to".
new problem 2: some spells actually less clear than their 5E
Difference: 10 levels instead of 20
Difference: Fortune points and piles.
Difference: initiative handoff rather than rotation by roll.

The fortune points are nice, and replace inspiration; Dogs always pool, cats may pool or keep separate.
A point can...
Reroll any 1 die
cast 1 spell known by the character
seize the initiative as an interrupt

It's a nice 5E variation.


----------

