Twilightpeaks.net
TP.net => The Great Beyond (OOC) => : X-Tornilen/SM (Alexander) December 12, 2008, 01:28:02 AM
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In the spirit of the "What are you reading right now?" thread - a thread for us to chat about our (current) games, roleplaying or otherwise.
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A always, the Sword Mage will lead by example (cough...)
Right now I'm playing Burning Wheel, a fantasy roleplaying game. We are wrapping up the last stages of a campaign we have been playing for the last year or so.
The players have gone from returning to their home village from a turbulent civil war, to going after the last remnants of the false king's rebels and squash the rebellion for good. It's been a great run, one of the best campaigns I've ever run. It is set in a slightly Greyhawk inspired setting, in a very Britain-ish setting, with the semi-mythical conflict of Prince John vs. King Lionheart at it's heart.
While we are wrapping that campaing, we are setting up the next.
It's going to be in a post-apocalyptic world, but instead of a technologically advanced society, it was a magically advanced society that fell. The players are going to be the leaders of an expedition, sent out by a surviving enclave to find magical knowledge and artifacts and bring them back. Somewhat fallout inspired, trying to draw on all sorts of post apocalyptic inspirations. So far we have an elven scholar, a disenchanted knight/commander, a formar templar of an evil empire, and a human mage for players. It'll hopefully be a blast - the game will center around their mission, meeting isolated communities, overcoming the hostile environment, and their internat issues as a group.
On the board gaming front, I played Cuba for the second time last monday. Nice game, very much like Puerto Rico and somewhat like Junta. It's a fairly exciting game, centered mostly around resource acquisition, but it lacks a little in the ability to hinder or attack other players - sort of like Puerto Rico :P
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Though I'm a huge fan of the 3.5 rules, my son and I have been trying out D&D 4E. It's been pretty fun, but definitely takes some getting used to with different marks, curses, shifts, pulls & slides. Unlike 3.5 (for better or worse), 4E feels a little bit like some of the card games out there. Still, it's been fun so far, so we will probably continue to play that once in a while. For sure over the upcoming holiday break.
Greg
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DnD v.3.5 - BIRTHRIGHT ;D
Have looked long and hard at 4E, but I haven't played it yet. I probably will at some point, but well, I'm not THAT impressed. When 3E came it was a great boon, with 4E it didn't really awaken any strong emotions. It's a game, and it's probably OK, but it's not brilliant and it ain't DnD...so...
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Let's see....
I run an irregular Ars Magica game fondly nicknamed "Orkney CSI" for what should be obvious reasons.
I am involved in running/staffing a couple of LRP fest systems, namely Maelstrom and Curious Pastimes.
I am writing a freeform campaign based on a mythical period of the crusades (1185 onwards).
I play WOW for silly evening and weekend fun.
And my son is just getting into warhammer (almost 5 years old) so I seem to be going to be teaching him how to play.
Oh, and I recently bought 4th ed D&D. And yes, it seems lacking slightly and more like a TCG than a roleplaying one. reminds me of.... TORG i think it was where you had special moves on cards.
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Alas not much. As far as roleplaying goes, RoE is my last connection to the hobby I once long ago dedicated my life and soul to. :)
I play a variety of board games from time to time, but primarily a table-top wargame called Battleground Fantasy Warfare (which we just obtained a campaign system for :)), like Warhammer but with card instead of lead soldiers.
In the computer department... Fallout 3, first game I've played in months.
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I am playing -- Eternal Poison right now on the PS2. I have a thing for SRPG (ever since the original Ogre Battle on SNES).
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Playing a Mage: The Ascension game over the phone with a gaming group I moved away from recently - a group of inexperienced mages that are having to collectively take over authority over the Chicago area from an archmage who's been struck down and put in a coma. WE've got "allies" who disagreed with him that are trying to take over authority from us, some particularly nasty mages who've moved into the area and are trying to dig out some things he buried a long time ago, and a protective magical shield holding back some nasty spirits that is due to collapse in another 6 months that we have to prepare for. Busy game.
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Mage is actually my favorite of the WW games. Also have some fond memories of Vampire: Dark Ages
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Europa Universalis 3: IN
Warhammer Online (just cancelled)
D&D Classic rules (the one with 36 levels and elf is a class, not a race) campaign
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D&D Classic rules (the one with 36 levels and elf is a class, not a race) campaign
That sooo cool! You have the compendium so that your elf can advance to 36th lvl?
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D&D Classic rules (the one with 36 levels and elf is a class, not a race) campaign
That sooo cool! You have the compendium so that your elf can advance to 36th lvl?
That was the weirdest rule ever... Elves got... What was it? Letters after level 10? Fighting rank? Combat rank?
I have just about everything for Mystara back home (played it before I knew it was called Mystara, dumb name :). Great campaign realm!
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It was just called the Known World when I started playing. I think elves stopped at lvl 10, dwarves at 12 and halflings at 8...sort of sucked when humans could go to lvl 36!!!
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ODD&D and Mystara were so nice...
I had also developed some rules to play BR in mystara but I actually didn't play them
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D&D Classic rules (the one with 36 levels and elf is a class, not a race) campaign
That sooo cool! You have the compendium so that your elf can advance to 36th lvl?
That was the weirdest rule ever... Elves got... What was it? Letters after level 10? Fighting rank? Combat rank?
letters...combat ranks were called....they ranged from A worst to K (IIRC) best...
combat ranks improved thac0
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It was just called the Known World when I started playing. I think elves stopped at lvl 10, dwarves at 12 and halflings at 8...sort of sucked when humans could go to lvl 36!!!
Long live the mage king of Glantri!!! Ah, the fond memories of good old DnD. I still have very vivid memories of creating my first character in Bjørn's room.
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It was just called the Known World when I started playing. I think elves stopped at lvl 10, dwarves at 12 and halflings at 8...sort of sucked when humans could go to lvl 36!!!
Long live the mage king of Glantri!!! Ah, the fond memories of good old DnD. I still have very vivid memories of creating my first character in Bjørn's room.
I DM'ed a short adventure in Glantri once... Back then (late 80's, early 90's, early teens no less, in a rpging club called "Dreamlands") it was considered quite a change from your regular hack n' slashing. A magocracy! The word itself is fabulous.
The group consisted of: One leprechaun, a pegataur (a cross between a pegasus and a centaur), a pooka and some guy who played a fighter. They were to break in and steal a mage's secret stash during a party with his mage friends. The butler was a werewolf... Ah, good times!
The guy who played a fighter got himself killed (he never really got the non-hack n' slash situation they were in :)), the others blamed the butler who got fried by a joint partay fireball (30+ mages all going nuts on him at the same time). And the group got away scot free ;D
I'd always had a dream of playing Known World as a BR game, but never got around to it. So let me know if you do get around to it Marco! 8)
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Hmm, currently aside from work's busy season I'm trying to file family tax returns and be depressed over xmas so gaming is currently somewhat further down the list than I'd like.
Computer wise Master of Orion II has made a welcome re-appearance to displace Alpha Centauri, but BR.net still devours the time even if I never seem to get around to putting more of Dhoesone on the wiki...
In Spring I'll be helping a friend I met during the late lamented Rjurik Winds with the computer game he's building called Acadamagica - I had the pleasure of writing a few skills and so on for it and hope I don't drag the standards down too far, he was at least kind enough not to complain about me re-writing Tennyson's Charge of the Light Brigade as a peon to the prowess of ants or including Jan Jansen's special turnip recipe in the agriculture skill descriptions...
So, good things ahead!
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Man, master of orion 2 is a great game... I just wish they had made the multiplayer part of it work. As it is, we can't get it to run stable in multiplayer. Have you had any luck with that?
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sadly I've had the opposite problem - no one to play it with.
My brother and I got it to work in linked PC's once or twice, that's about it.
Oh but the disappointment of MOO III :(
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I'm currently DMing a 4th ed Birthright game taking place in the Giantdowns, converting it more or less on the fly. Haelyn's Aegis will be glad to know: I expect the players to begin suspecting they'll be threatened by Dhoesone/Tuarhievel power struggles shortly. They'll get hints next session, but I don't know when they'll get around to exploring that issue fully, or if they'll bother at all before it boils over - poor things are busy with more pressing details. ;D
I also just started playing in another brand new 4th ed game.
And I just finished marathon playing Fallout 3, and am still gauging my options for next video game obsession.
And please don't suggest MOO:2. I nearly failed out of college to that thing 12 years ago. New obsessions please!! :D :D
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How easy a time are you having with fitting the mood of birthright (pretty close to medieval europe) together with D&D 4th? Looking at it, I thought the differences were too big to reconcile.
The style of combat (slightly manga/anime inspired), the ease of recovery, the broad access to powerful magic (rituals), etc., seems to mesh poorly with Birthright.
That being said, I think D&D 4th edition is great fun. Excellent combat system and skill challenges were a pleasant surprise - very good system support for a lot of different roleplaying situations, from enviromental to social challenges.
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And I just finished marathon playing Fallout 3, and am still gauging my options for next video game obsession.
And please don't suggest MOO:2. I nearly failed out of college to that thing 12 years ago. New obsessions please!! :D :D
Anyone tried Dead Space who can give a review?
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And I just finished marathon playing Fallout 3, and am still gauging my options for next video game obsession.
And please don't suggest MOO:2. I nearly failed out of college to that thing 12 years ago. New obsessions please!! :D :D
Anyone tried Dead Space who can give a review?
I tried an hour or two worth of gameplay. It's got a feel that reminds of System Shock 2, but somehow didn't manage to quite reach the same level of crap your pants scared feel that SS2 had.
It demands quite the graphic card and is extremely well made, but seemed prone to error (could be because my brother had dl'ed a cracked copy). There are interesting puzzles and real scary monsters. So yeah, give it a spin!
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My fiance recently tricked me into buying the latest world of warcraft-expansion. Enjoying it so far but luckily I feel that I'm not in any danger of returning to full-blown raiding mania so I'll probably just keep on playing every once in a while to keep her happy. She needs someone to tank every time she wants to go to an instance ::)
I also purchased Fallout3 when it came out, but haven't finished it yet. Got nearly to the end and then restarted the game, wanted to try a different approach and didn't want to know the ending yet. Really like the atmosphere - if you look aside from all the monsters/mutants/raiders wanting to kill you, it's really quite peaceful and soothing. Sometimes when the weather here in Trondheim is reaching new heights of suckiness, I just start the game and go for a short walk there instead :D
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How easy a time are you having with fitting the mood of birthright (pretty close to medieval europe) together with D&D 4th? Looking at it, I thought the differences were too big to reconcile.
The style of combat (slightly manga/anime inspired), the ease of recovery, the broad access to powerful magic (rituals), etc., seems to mesh poorly with Birthright.
I really don't see it as much of a problem. It's still just D&D, the game flavor is provided by me, not the rules structure.
Anime/Manga is just a text fluff thing in the book really. It can be played down fairly easily while still keeping the mechanics of the system, which are quite good imo. Rituals I mistakenly didn't look too heavily into before we started, but am now working to reduce their effects. A lot of that can be restricted just by limiting access. And really, there's not much in rituals wizards couldn't do before anyway -- and there's always one player playing one, even if he's only one of a dozen on the continent. ;)
And ease of recovery, well, that is a bit different. But the world (from a human perspective at least) has always been so heavily weighted towards the clergy that having adequate healing around was never much of an issue. I like that 4th ed makes explicit that Hit Points are conceptual and abstract representations - and not your character truly getting hit by dozens of sword blows and dozens of arrows before worrying. This to me seems more BR than your average 2 or 3.x ed representation would.
I dunno. Other than keeping the races true to BR and banning warlocks, there's nothing in 4th ed I find truly anti-birthright about the rules themselves. Mechanically it's fine, and it's a nice change. I love how truly dominate the martial classes can be, and that's very BR.
It's still the GM's responsibility to provide the setting... so, yeah: it's a low,low magic world... 4th works *vastly* better for playing in a low magic environment than 3.5 which desperately needed magic equipment for non-casters to even remotely compete with their supposedly rarer caster friends. It's a world without a lot of typical D&D monster manual madness, but there's still plenty of foes in the world. It's a world heavily influenced by a distinct mix of mundane and divine, and highly political... it's a world of Men. All just raw flavor, doesn't even need to be adapted, just spun right.
We're enjoying it. And I picked the Giantdowns for the 4th ed setting because in a lot of ways that place is natural for raw adventuring, which lets us really try out 4th ed in a way that sitting in the courts of Anuire all day never would let us.
On the other hand, the new 4th Ed game I started playing in just the other week looks to be a more normal approach to 4th. I suspect we'll soon be weighed down in thousands of pieces of uber kit and calling out our attach powers in game with graphical tracers dancing from our blades. And hell, that's fun too. ;D
It's all about how you pitch the game really. What I really like about 4th is so much of the mechanics is so simple and streamlined your players just don't fret that much about the rules once they learn them. Really frees the DM up to concentrate on story and setting - and frees the players up to concentrate on their characters and roleplaying, not the math. Pretty sure it's one of my favorite RP systems yet from my DM's throne perspective - and since BR is the best RP setting of all time, I can absolutely make those two things come together somehow. It hasn't been hard, just a bit of common sense here and there.
You just have to be stern and put the foot down about Dragonborne. :D
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I also purchased Fallout3 when it came out, but haven't finished it yet. Got nearly to the end and then restarted the game, wanted to try a different approach and didn't want to know the ending yet. Really like the atmosphere - if you look aside from all the monsters/mutants/raiders wanting to kill you, it's really quite peaceful and soothing. Sometimes when the weather here in Trondheim is reaching new heights of suckiness, I just start the game and go for a short walk there instead :D
It's an amazingly beautiful environment, it's true. If you start it back up, just hit the main quest point in Megaton and ignore the quest til you've explored all the world you can find. It's a bit of a tragedy they made the main quest so short and so final, but the joy of the game is in the exploration and atmosphere. I accidently just wandered through it to almost to the end the first time through and was a bit pissy, but that's easily fixed through player intervention. Just ignore dad, head up north and see what all there is to see.
-- And Dead Space just made #5 of Wired's "10 Most Disappointing Games of 2008" http://blog.wired.com/games/2008/12/disappointing-g.html?bigdumbbarbarian (http://blog.wired.com/games/2008/12/disappointing-g.html?bigdumbbarbarian)
Haven't played it, so couldn't comment, but I'd agree with the half of the games on that list I did try out.