The Role-Playing Game Thread!

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Herb Roflcopter
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Re: The Role-Playing Game Thread!

Post by Herb Roflcopter » Tue Nov 13, 2018 12:45 am

Cousi wrote:
Mon Nov 12, 2018 11:20 pm
Sounds like you either found a rule I didn't or just house-ruled your way around it though.
I used Oriental Adventures 1st Edition to bring martial arts to the campaign. One character was a Kensai (if you're not familiar with that, it's essentially a weapons specialist) who chose martial arts as his specialty. He was initially the only PC kicking ass, until another player with a fighter asked if he could learn that cool stuff.

Normally, a PC needed to find a master to train him, but I didn't see any reason why the Kensai couldn't train the fighter if he wanted. The way it works in 1st edition is that all you need is an open weapon proficiency slot- once you fill it with a chosen martial art, you get the armor class and basic damage of the art. (You also get multiple attacks, but I overruled this in favor of characters using their usual table for multiple attacks as they progress in levels. This makes for a better balance, otherwise characters get too powerful at low levels.)

When you get more weapon slots, you can fill them with special maneuvers which cause more damage, or give the PC more defensive capabilities. (ability to dodge arrows, or a flying kick which can cause triple the base damage of the style, for example)

The Kensai character had more abilities than the regular fighter because of the character class, but the regular fighter was still a force to be reckoned with. (I mentioned this character before in the post about the "ones" tables. This was the same guy who lost both swords off the tower by rolling a "1" to hit- he was still dangerous unarmed.)

For me, it just makes for far more interesting combat when fighters are doing more than just swinging swords.

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Cousi
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Re: The Role-Playing Game Thread!

Post by Cousi » Wed Nov 14, 2018 3:34 pm

Herb Roflcopter wrote:
Tue Nov 13, 2018 12:45 am
For me, it just makes for far more interesting combat when fighters are doing more than just swinging swords.
I totally agree. In my campaign setting I have a number of different archetypes, some are parts of organizations the PCs can be/have been a part of, some are tribes, etc and many have their own fighting style. The GURPS ruleset allows for this sort of thing. It also allows for mages to wear full freaking plate armor if they want, so mages are no longer squishies. Overall, it makes for more interesting characters in my opinion. It kind of frees the players up.

I like that you found a way to do that with D&D. That's cool as hell.

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Herb Roflcopter
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Re: The Role-Playing Game Thread!

Post by Herb Roflcopter » Thu Nov 15, 2018 2:24 am

Cousi wrote:
Wed Nov 14, 2018 3:34 pm
I like that you found a way to do that with D&D. That's cool as hell.
Two of my players came up with personal touches; the Kensai had a deadly one-two combination he referred to as "the treatment". One strike was an eagle claw punch, it did 3d10 damage- followed up by a crushing blow that did normal damage but the bonus was one point per level of the character. Any evil character crossing his path would "get the treatment." :)

The regular fighter had one maneuver in the Oriental Adventures called the Incapacitator- basically, a successful strike would do double damage and the unfortunate villain would have his leg twisted and unusable for 24 hours; in essence ending up with a charley horse muscle pull. This was especially hilarious when he would do the same thing to a roomful of guards, resulting in him standing amidst a dozen bad guys, all of them on the floor clutching a leg and yelling "OW!OW!OW!OW!" :lol:

Next time I post, I wanted to talk about my villains; I'm short on time again tonight.

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Herb Roflcopter
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Re: The Role-Playing Game Thread!

Post by Herb Roflcopter » Sat Dec 08, 2018 5:53 pm

I originally wanted to post about villains, but I'm switching gears because I've been busy with work and also a NEW campaign!

Also, before I forget, the website I posted about earlier that has 2D plastic miniatures is having a sale; lots of stuff has reduced prices.
http://arcknight.squarespace.com/shop/

We started a new campaign because we have a few new guys who wanted to play after not having gamed for about 20 years. I didn't want to bring 1st level characters into the current campaign, because the highest level character is 14th already and I just did this already- the guy playing is the only friend still with me after all these years and we wanted to finish that campaign, so we invited new people (and his son) to continue, and now those 1st level PCs are about 6th level- and I'm not bringing in another bunch of new guys- they'll get killed too easily!

So, we're starting somewhat fresh- I say "somewhat" because I've talked about this new idea for a while now, and finally get to bring it to life: It's what I call the "reboot" campaign- the characters involved are the same ones some of us played 20-30 years ago, but now we're starting again at 1st level! Anyone who wants can now use their favorite old character and start over with fresh adventures. I've even planned to have some of the PCs eventually acquire some of their same magic items they had earlier.

In another mind-bending twist, this is in the same game world, but set another generation later. What makes this especially interesting for me is that I had several adventures planned for the earlier campaign, but have to put these aside for now- but already I've been referencing some people and events that happened... and will happen once we go back to that campaign. (The PCs had to meet a sage named Peric in this reboot, and he claimed to have met a character from the earlier time and gave the new PCs some important items for success that he received from an earlier party. The next time we adventure with the old group, they'll meet Peric for the first time!)

I love doing this sort of stuff- it really makes the whole world gel together when it's all connected, even by little things.

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Cousi
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Re: The Role-Playing Game Thread!

Post by Cousi » Sun Dec 09, 2018 2:57 am

I love that. One of the joys of GMing for me is the development of the world and watching the players react as their character explore it. We play different groups in different eras, so sometimes they get to see the long-term results of an earlier adventure. It's rewarding for them and me.

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Herb Roflcopter
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Re: The Role-Playing Game Thread!

Post by Herb Roflcopter » Mon Dec 31, 2018 11:25 pm

Wanted to post this quick documentary about a REAL Dungeon Master!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdAwX8JB66E

Damn, I envy this guy. My only quibble would be setting up all that material probably takes more time than I would like. Still, I'd love to see how a typical game goes.

I have one campaign that's been going for roughly 16-17 years, but it's been on and off. Occasionally we just get too busy and take several months off. (I think we even took a year off once due to being so busy; I hated it.)

Even though I ended a campaign once, (the main villain was dealt with and everybody was going off to college) I'm always open to reunions; I've done it twice and it was awesome to see friends playing their favorite characters after something like 15 years of inactivity.

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Cousi
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Re: The Role-Playing Game Thread!

Post by Cousi » Mon Jan 07, 2019 8:56 pm

Man, I enjoyed the 2nd Ed rules too.

20,000 miniatures not including terrain!? DAAAAM!

I would love to have something like that but 4 kids kinda killed the funding. Now that the divorce is pretty much done, the new girlfriend is interested in trying it (she's never played before but has been interested in doing so) so we'll see how that goes. Might just be that I can build up a collection like that. :ugeek:

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Herb Roflcopter
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Re: The Role-Playing Game Thread!

Post by Herb Roflcopter » Wed Jan 09, 2019 11:45 pm

Cousi wrote:
Mon Jan 07, 2019 8:56 pm
Man, I enjoyed the 2nd Ed rules too.

20,000 miniatures not including terrain!? DAAAAM!

I would love to have something like that but 4 kids kinda killed the funding. Now that the divorce is pretty much done, the new girlfriend is interested in trying it (she's never played before but has been interested in doing so) so we'll see how that goes. Might just be that I can build up a collection like that. :ugeek:
If you're looking for cool terrain features to add to the campaign, I strongly recommend Etsy; I've bought a few really nice elements that will see lots of use.

Also, where the hell were these women interested in role-playing when I was gaming 30+ years ago? Oh, that's right-most of them weren't born yet. :roll:

Oh, and my discussion of my villains- this pretty much caps it off perfectly:
Image

I never develop tragic backstories for my villains; they exist to be mocked and destroyed. Generally, I throw hints of their existence early on to build them up, and once the PCs invade their hideout I slowly reveal what's behind the curtain... and it's always amusing. I had one war lord who had conquered most of the campaign land be in the middle of a mid-life crisis, and the party shook their heads in disbelief at how pathetic this guy was.

Sometimes the party wonders, how the hell did this guy ever rise to power? :lol:

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Cousi
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Re: The Role-Playing Game Thread!

Post by Cousi » Sun Jan 13, 2019 8:59 pm

Not all my villains have back stories but I like them to have believable motivations. I typically make them rather selfish in nature (i.e. immortality, take over the kindom/gather power, that sort of thing). I think no real villains think of themselves as 'evil'; even Hitler thought he was doing the right thing for his country. Therefore the motivations were more interesting to me. This bleeds over into my written stories as well.

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