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Post by Oneiros on Sept 30, 2015 9:53:31 GMT
I have a set of the Story Cubes - bought it in NYC but haven't actually gotten round to playing them
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Post by Oneiros on Sept 30, 2015 9:48:48 GMT
I *could* probably come up with a recipe for eel keesh and it's a common ingredient in Japanese cuisine... *ponders* How 'in-world' it would be is another matter, though.
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Post by Oneiros on Sept 30, 2015 9:44:21 GMT
In response to the OP: Good luck for your adventures! I hope they turn out well and look forward to hearing about them. I got into RP with AD&D (D&D 2nd Ed) when some new kids joined our school (age 16, about 19 years ago) and hooked a couple of my other friends. I'd been a long-time fantasy fan and when I lost my friends to RP, I wanted in too So I joined their current campaign to save the world as the archetypal fire-throwing wizard, providing artillery support and battlefield control and not a lot of nuance at the beginning. Eventually I discovered I preferred playing clerics and support characters, so I retired Cail (after having kinda disagreed with some of the other PCs on party decisions and marrying one of our previous antagonists). As far as original character creation goes, I kinda let the setting and character class descriptions guide me. I often have vague ideas of what I want to play but they're usual driven by specific class abilities or a hook from the campaign setting. So, yeah, background reading helps and I try to play something different each time but mine are all, broadly, support characters. I can't really advise on pre-written campaigns as I'm not familiar enough with the 5E stuff but I've adapted lots of 3E ones to fit my campaign needs. They're very useful if you need a stock encounter or adventure if you're otherwise at a loss. As for new campaigns, find out what your players want from a game. If you have an idea, pitch it to them but don't be too upset if they don't go for it. Often ideas can be modified to create something that everyone wants to play. Also, you can use your players' backstories and abilities to craft new ideas. If you are using an existing world or setting, read it. A lot. There are always plot hooks buried in the setting info that you can use, something that will grab your creative attention. For a first time GM I would also offer the following 'pieces of advice': - Make sure you get some experience as a player too. Look to rotate the GM's position regularly at the start. I am a firm believer that the best GMs have also good experience as a PC (and it also doesn't hurt for a PC to know what the GM's position looks like). - You will probably get things wrong. It might end up being a complete mess - my first time as GM was an unmitigated disaster - but there are always learning points and, hopefully, as a group, you'll understand where things went wrong and how to correct for them. - Don't be afraid to get feedback from your players during the campaign (e.g. post-session) so that you can adjust things between sessions if needed. - If you have an involved or complicated plot, make notes. Also make notes if something happened in-session that could be used to craft another adventure or a callback later. All the best to you and your group. If you want to discuss things further, do feel free to drop me a line.
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Post by Oneiros on Sept 30, 2015 9:10:30 GMT
To be honest, the whole fighter/wizard/cleric/thief four player party necessity has always been one of the things that puts me off D&D and its variants. I wouldn't say it's a "necessity" but it is a useful guideline, particularly when you're starting out. Most of that advice is aimed at folks new to roleplaying and not seasoned veterans bearing the scars of various systems. It's also good for novice DMs to know they can pick up most modules and not have their party stymied by 'simple' encounters or obstacles since they've been designed with the 4-party-trope in mind. In essence, most RP systems (D&D or not) suggest diversity of skills in the party when starting out. Yeah, doubling up on classes or non-traditional party composition can lead to very interesting gameplay and some great rp moments, but I wouldn't necessarily advise it for new folk. One of the best parties I ever played in was an odd group, comprising a necromancer, a ranger and my enchantment/divination-based cleric, which definitely required some lateral thinking round obstacles (particularly when we were all captured and forced to become gladiators). I also wholeheartedly agree with Brave Sir Robin's suggestion to use the tank/face/damage/research/support model
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Post by Oneiros on Sept 30, 2015 8:53:56 GMT
You mean other than the ones you knew beforehand? Or does that just mean we're the tame ones? *cue obligatory Pokemon reference*
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Post by Oneiros on Sept 25, 2015 6:15:27 GMT
I do have some ideas for card games that I could work up. I'm actually working sporadically on a Buffy one for my own amusement (since I doubt I could ever afford the rights to it ). However, something for next year, methinks.
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Post by Oneiros on Sept 25, 2015 6:08:18 GMT
To quote a certain stegosaurus: "Curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal!"
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Post by Oneiros on Sept 24, 2015 7:03:49 GMT
I think there's a difference between 'secrets that will create a good roleplay moment' and 'secrets that will wreck the party'. The former can work well, the latter are awful. The rogue-as-paladin falls into the latter. Admittedly it comes down to a group's play style, but having been in campaigns where one character's backstory secrets ends up taking much of the focus and effectively splitting the party, I don't find it a fun way to play. Definitely agree with Brave Sir Robin on the potentially selfish aspect. This is where group communication plays a big part - I'm a big advocate now of shared character creation so players can avoid big points of character friction. If you want secrets, fine, but talk to the GM and - hopefully - they're good enough to recognise when something isn't going to be fun for everyone (alas, this isn't always the case). That's not to say you should avoid all in-party disagreements, a certain level of lowish-level differences of opinion can make for great roleplaying (see Zolf and Hamid over Poseidon's tenets, for example), but generally the party should be focussed on fighting the game's antagonists and not worrying about whether they can trust each other. If you ever do a metacast on GMing and/or player dynamics, I think I've got several stories I can share
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Post by Oneiros on Sept 23, 2015 14:34:39 GMT
I thought Alex said this was the end of the Prologue? And I'd say we're far from having "all" the secrets be out... But definitely giving you all a round of applause for that - I may have woken my partner up by laughing during the interrogation scene this morning (no, *you* were listening to the podcast at 7am...) So, is her 'real name' Augusta, then? I'm guessing not but nicely done on the reveal and the beautiful Guy Fawkes reference, in particular. I'm also rooting for her to be a recurring character.
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Post by Oneiros on Sept 22, 2015 7:14:02 GMT
Maybe once the new version is released (and I'm back in the UK), I can try running a Paranoia game for folks. I'm kinda itching to get back to writing/running games and, as much as I love my fantasy settings, I'd think I'd prefer a more modern setting for my next game.
Likewise was much more sold on Warhammer FRPG than 40K, I really enjoyed the one game I have played under the system.
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Post by Oneiros on Sept 22, 2015 7:05:22 GMT
I did once know of a rogue who spent an entire campaign telling the party he was a paladin, wearing all the armour etc. and then ended up getting them all killed when they needed him to heal them. The only person who knew what he was, was the GM. Wow. Whilst I can appreciate the concept, that sounds like someone who didn't want to play well with others. Also, unless there was another, actual, rogue, it seems a little strange that you'd hamstring yourself in that fashion, not being able to use/demonstrate your class abilities. If the rest of the party knew and it was an IC 'public-facing' paladin, fair enough but I can imagine the rest of the players being mightily cheesed off at the reveal / that they couldn't rely on a comrade.
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Post by Oneiros on Sept 19, 2015 7:19:51 GMT
No, but it does sound interesting. Some of us here know one of the guys involved with writing the new version and he seems very excited, so will try and take a look when that comes out.
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Post by Oneiros on Sept 16, 2015 16:51:33 GMT
I thought it might have turned out to be Edison, faking his death in the explosion for reasons unknown, until it was revealed that 'Guy' was a gal. New thoughts (some obvious): Sasha's mother/sister; another member of BaratI stt's syndicate who left (who he wanted dealt with, particularly since he had the intel already); a relative of the police officer; a former love interest of Bertie's, one of the reasons why he no longer has his family fortune I do think that some kind of switcheroo has been pulled - Alex sounded very pleased with himself just before the fight was joined back in Ep 14. I suspect the real mastermind is the one who backflipped away from Sasha on the rooftop...
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Post by Oneiros on Sept 14, 2015 18:55:39 GMT
Once a spellcaster gets their hands on 6th level spells they become a real DM headache... *remembers Derenn'ai and Kareema*
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Post by Oneiros on Sept 14, 2015 18:49:43 GMT
Game design you say... ;-)
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