Lets Talk Pen & Paper RPGs (All systems welcome!)

[Hanasawa]

Advertising for T-Bone that there's an Ironclaw game that he wants to run.

I love pen and paper RPGs.

[Nexus]

glork did your group ever realise your main NPC's name is Lord Douchenozzle? If so, did he turn out evil?

the name was actually decided after we referred to him as "some douchenozzle"

suuuure

[Glork]

glork did your group ever realise your main NPC's name is Lord Douchenozzle? If so, did he turn out evil?

the name was actually decided after we referred to him as "some douchenozzle"

suuuure

I mean, his first name is Wilfred. Of course he's a du Schnozzle.

[Claus]

Quadz, what is your homebrew 5th?

What do you mean by 'what is it'? So far as I know, it's based on standard PHB stuff, with a setting / plot entirely of the DMs devising.

Sorry, I was on the phone, bad wording on my part. I meant to ask you to tell us a bit more about it

Which gurps are we talking about? I had some fun with gurps supers, but if we are talking point buy systems, I prefer Shadowrun. I think there is value in tailoring a system to the scenario you are going to play.

Well you could mix and match all kinds of stuff and make literally anything, the way the sourcebooks are. Gurps Robots plus Gurps Zombies plus Gurps Dinosaurs plus...

And in case you couldn't tell I was talking about my shitposting. I got the feeling you didn't.

Yeah, I know, I just wanted to try and turn the shitposting into some interesting discussion.

Sure, you can mix and match the books (to a degree), but I was asking which ones you particularly liked. For me, I really liked gurps supers, and a bit of gurps fantasy. But gurps sci-fi just stretches itself too thin in my opinion, and at that point you might just be better running a specialized RPG instead.

Or are you trying to say that you never actually played gurps?

[quadz08]

Oh, sure thing. It was intended to be a one-shot but it's stretched into at least a second episode. The plot setting, basically, is that the characters were all passengers on a ship traveling from one continent to another. That's all we were told going in - you're getting on a boat to another continent, make up a backstory that includes why you're getting on this boat. The first session began with the boat going under in a storm, and the PCs washed up on a strange island. There was an impassable wall of coral several feet in from the beach, that appears to stretch along the entire visible coastline.

Thus far, we've walked counter-clockwise around the island, running into a beached shipwreck and a dead body. We did some investigaton - there appeared to be a swarm of electric eels or sea snakes, and we didn't bother with them. Further around, we ran into some skeletons dragging some fresh corpses up the beach. We murderated them, and that's where the session ended.

I am playing a halfling warlock, who has entered into a pact with the Great Old One. I'm playing her as basically crazy person, driven mad from the things she's seen and experienced as a result of the pact. She's running from some event or trauma she caused, or thinks she caused - she doesn't even remember or know what it is, but she knows she needs to get away from it. It's a really fun character to play.

[Oman]

Goddamn quadz that sounds like an amazing character quadz!

[Claus]

Thus far, we've walked counter-clockwise around the island, running into a beached shipwreck and a dead body. We did some investigaton - there appeared to be a swarm of electric eels or sea snakes, and we didn't bother with them. Further around, we ran into some skeletons dragging some fresh corpses up the beach. We murderated them, and that's where the session ended.

Sounds like extremely good times Did any NPCs survive with you in the shipwreck?

I am playing a halfling warlock, who has entered into a pact with the Great Old One. I'm playing her as basically crazy person, driven mad from the things she's seen and experienced as a result of the pact. She's running from some event or trauma she caused, or thinks she caused - she doesn't even remember or know what it is, but she knows she needs to get away from it. It's a really fun character to play.

Ya Ya! Cthulhu Ftang!

I really liked that they added the great old ones as a possible warlock patron. It kinda breaks with what we usually see in D&D worlds, but I love the concept.

[quadz08]

Nope, just the PCs survived. And yeah, it's pretty entertaining. I took the Pact Weapon path, and so I have a dagger as my pact weapon. Flavorwise, I sad that "if you look at it closely, it doesn't appear to be three-dimensional." FUN CTHULU-Y THINGS

[Oman]

Let's talk about "modern day" settings. I've been talking with friends about Sci Fi RPGs, and I've been thinking about interesting Modern Day stuff myself. The interesting question is how would you frame it, how would you structure the mechanics etc?

There are three big questions that came up in our discussion:
1) How do you build a "big threat" that needs to be dealt with, without the answer being "the army takes care of it, or literally any large group of people that isn't four PCs"?
2) Can you include a feasible method of melee combat?
3) How do you add variety? Without magic, without "sci-fi" tech, how do you keep variety when...like guns. Just always guns. Because guns are the most effective way to eliminate an individual threat.

[Oman]

Oh and btw: I've read d20 modern and it makes me laugh more than anything Eh, that's probably a bit harsh. It's just DnD with a new skin, it's not a modern RPG.

[Ythan]

I guess you're talking about "realistic" modern day settings?

[Claus]

I don't really like "modern" settings, but let me give it a try:

1) How do you build a "big threat" that needs to be dealt with, without the answer being "the army takes care of it, or literally any large group of people that isn't four PCs"?

1- Conspiracies: No one believes this is actually happening. PCs are considered to be loonies. Having the police/army/etc take the issue seriously might actually be the win condition.
2- Personal stories: The world is not at stake, you guys are a gang in a slum trying to get rid of another gang - you DONT want the police involved because you are also outlaws.
3- Fuck the Police!: Governmental institutions are actually the bad guys. You and your group are some sort of Snowden-like figure.

2) Can you include a feasible method of melee combat?

If you are playing "modern", you need to play with modern values: which means you don't go killing people left and right just because they have different goals than yours. In this case, melee combat becomes much more important (you always risk killing somebody by shooting them).

3) How do you add variety? Without magic, without "sci-fi" tech, how do you keep variety when...like guns. Just always guns. Because guns are the most effective way to eliminate an individual threat.

If the world is semi-realistic, shooting people randomly will land you in jail. Make it a stealth or political game instead.

[Ythan]

Also stop worrying about things that don't matter, unless you get off on working out reams of detail nobody will ever seen.

[animorpherv1]

So, I've been playing some pathfinder with a group of friends and I'm having the time of my life with this character I've been running - a Strix Magus.

The whole plot so far (we've gone from lvl 3 -> lvl 8 with a slightly revolving cast of characters because lots of deaths) is that a bunch of people were trapped in an alternate plane (which was shorthanded as "The Box") and shit was going crazy. Eventually we escaped The Box (as did everyone else on the plane) and my character ended up very close to the Tundra area, in a Forest with no one around for miles. So in order to survive, he made a deal with what would later become the baddies of the campaign and has essentially started a massive war.

Now he wants to do everything in his power to stop it.

[Oman]

I guess you're talking about "realistic" modern day settings?

Yes, sorry.

And thanks Claus, that's some solid thinking there.

[Claus]

So in order to survive, he made a deal with what would later become the baddies of the campaign and has essentially started a massive war.

Sowing the seeds of your own destruction is always fun



Today was game night. My group finally started assaulting Skyreach Castle, the final dungeon of the Hoard of the Dragon Queen campaign.

So the short version of the story so far is that the Cult of the Dragon has been raiding the countryside, and taking the spoils to this flying castle in order to be used as an offering for the summoning of Tiamat. The group tracked down one of the raiding parties and finally reached the castle. They managed to reach the village without raising much of an alarm, but a tavern keeper recognize them as outsiders, and slips away to warn the guards.

The party decides to ignore the shifty tavernkeeper, and an hour later they are greeted by the sound of the castle taking flight, and guards blocking their way. The party tries to bypass the guards and head straight to the castle, but the druid fails to jump into the lifting castle, or grab the rope that the characters throw down.

That's when the players decided to split the party.

The paladin decides to jump back down to save the druid, who is being hunted by the guard captain and his pet wyvern. The rogue and the barbarian charge into the castle, but end up activating a guardian golem (nicknamed "murder statue" by the party), and the charge becomes a benny hill chase. The session ended with the rogue and the barbarian running through the roofs of a castle floating hundreds of feet above the ground, while the paladin and the druid are hiding in a stone house from a raging wyvern.

Never split the party.

[hasdgfas]

Oh hey, how'd I miss this thread before? I may read through this one.

I'm currently in a couple games. I'm in a Dresden Files-themed FATE game in actual pen&paper, which is great. I play a freelancing sorceress and am basically a major antagonist to the rest of the PCs now.

I'm also in a Pathfinder game on Roll20, where I play a Barbarian half-orc who hates Magic, and his character arc is currently "getting increasingly obviously magical items", and he's on the path to becoming a Bard-barian shortly.

[T-Bone]

So wait, the Barbarian hates magic and is collecting magic items....or is he just getting magic items and not realizing they are magic?

[Ythan]

I wonder if anyone plays, or ever played, F.A.T.A.L.

[hasdgfas]

So wait, the Barbarian hates magic and is collecting magic items....or is he just getting magic items and not realizing they are magic?

He's getting them and being given increasingly ridiculous reasons why they're not magic by the rest of the party

[Claus]

So wait, the Barbarian hates magic and is collecting magic items....or is he just getting magic items and not realizing they are magic?

He's getting them and being given increasingly ridiculous reasons why they're not magic by the rest of the party

That sounds really awesome

[T-Bone]

Advertising for T-Bone that there's an Ironclaw game that he wants to run.

I love pen and paper RPGs.

also this is actually happening. Hana, Quadz, and Ether have been tapped to play so far (and one more player who I forget sorry!)

[quadz08]

I am a maybe on Ironclaw still - got busy playing a few other RPGs and so I probably won't do Ironclaw.

In other news, does anyone here watch Critical Role? If you don't, I recommend you start.

[Claus]

Yeah, I saw some people recommending it. The thing is that the videos are so damn long - I can't download a 3h youtube videos to listen in the train, do they have a podcast version?

[Nexus]

I'm still really sad that I can't find a group to play anything with - either online or irl. Trying to find people to play Star War: Edge of the Empire with, or D&D 5e, or Pathfinder!

I started running a Star Wars campaign with Primate, Prozac and CDB but that only managed one session because of ~lives~ and we haven't been able to sort anything else out