Tabletop RPG Catch All

jlaakso wrote:

With D&D 4E, digital character creation is the only way to go. So much faster, easier, foolproof.

With everything else, I consider it an abomination. Character creation with pencil, dice, paper and books is a holy rite and something I truly value. It's downright critical in establishing a level of trust and intimacy between GM and player in a traditional game, and yes, a computer in the process would dilute that experience.

I think it comes down to the system. Super crunchy systems with rules creating software is great. There aren't any that absolutely require it, I think, but it can help stuff out. Of course the other direction can be pretty sweet, and there's a place for games as simple as Avalon or Amber Diceless, where in computer based character creators are basically impossible.

jlaakso wrote:

With D&D 4E, digital character creation is the only way to go. So much faster, easier, foolproof.

With everything else, I consider it an abomination.

Have you ever played Champions?

Once I had character generation down in various systems, I would happily use a generator to stat out a new character idea. At that point I knew what the skills / abilities / rules were and just wanted it out of my head in a hurry. I could either print up a new sheet, chart something out on lined paper, or push a few buttons.

I also have zero problem using character generators to create NPCs.

240 miniatures for $100. http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/...

MrAndrewJ wrote:
jlaakso wrote:

With D&D 4E, digital character creation is the only way to go. So much faster, easier, foolproof.

With everything else, I consider it an abomination.

Have you ever played Champions?

Yes, but I didn't have to create the character myself

First, some context: I played AD&D throughout my adolescence (sadly, mostly in my room by myself...sniff). But I was serious enough to play in some tournaments, etc. Loved it. Then I think I became too self conscious and concerned with girls, and didn't play for about 20 years. Now my son (11) has expressed a lot of interest. I encouraged him to save his allowance for a starter box for some RPG, which he did, and he just got the Pathfinder Starter Box from Amazon. He is already obsessed, and I'm determined to support his habit despite the busy schedule of a dad of 3 and boss of 20.

I'd like to plan a good introductory campaign for him and his brother (9 yo, but is interested). Since I've been out of the game for a while, does anyone have any suggestions for good tools/scenarios/resources that could help make their experience a good one? I've already explained that the rules are just there to give shape to your experience, and that they should expect to be surprised at what comes their way. But I would love to see some modules (are they still called that) or user-generated GM summaries, etc. to help me get my bearings. Because of their age, I want to keep it simple but introduce them to the basic idea of how a real RPG works (i.e., just because it is in the book, doesn't mean you're going to fight a red dragon and become rich every time!)

Anyone know of good apps (either Apple or Android) to keep track of Pathfinder character sheets?

BadMojo wrote:
Nevin73 wrote:

Do I need additional resources (books) to get a basic adventure off of the ground or am I good to go for a simple quest with my son and a friend?

Yes. Play it. And if you can't find something you want, make it up and make a note to look for more books later.

Also, this is a great free site for pathfinder content if you are looking for ideas or information on weapons, spells, etc.

hubbinsd wrote:

First, some context: I played AD&D throughout my adolescence (sadly, mostly in my room by myself...sniff). But I was serious enough to play in some tournaments, etc. Loved it. Then I think I became too self conscious and concerned with girls, and didn't play for about 20 years. Now my son (11) has expressed a lot of interest. I encouraged him to save his allowance for a starter box for some RPG, which he did, and he just got the Pathfinder Starter Box from Amazon. He is already obsessed, and I'm determined to support his habit despite the busy schedule of a dad of 3 and boss of 20.

I'd like to plan a good introductory campaign for him and his brother (9 yo, but is interested). Since I've been out of the game for a while, does anyone have any suggestions for good tools/scenarios/resources that could help make their experience a good one? I've already explained that the rules are just there to give shape to your experience, and that they should expect to be surprised at what comes their way. But I would love to see some modules (are they still called that) or user-generated GM summaries, etc. to help me get my bearings. Because of their age, I want to keep it simple but introduce them to the basic idea of how a real RPG works (i.e., just because it is in the book, doesn't mean you're going to fight a red dragon and become rich every time!)

Keep on the Borderlands is a time tested and amazing experience. My trip through that campaign back when I started playing remains one of my favorite D&D memories. It's also very free-form, so you can let them run amok doing whatever they want, or insert some subplots based on things you know they will enjoy. It's kind of the quintessential starter campaign. Also, no dragons in sight. The original is in old-school D&D stats, but you could super easily convert to PF simply by using the Pathfinder statblocks instead of the existing ones. This should mostly account for the increased power of PF characters as opposed to D&D ones. And of course you can always adjust on the fly if things aren't balancing right.

Since you're already in the Pathfinder stream, you should know that Paizo (the company that makes the game) makes some of the best module series (they call them Adventure Paths) on the market. I would recommend one of the earliest ones, Rise of the Runelords, but there's a later module that involves a murder mystery that is way inappropriate for that age. You could change things around, but you know, sounds like you are busy. =) You can find a link to descriptions of the various Adventure Paths here, or standalone modules here.

Another series that I've had good luck with is Dungeon Crawl Classics. They're meant to emulate the style of old-school D&D modules: light on intrigue and politics, heavy on combat and exploration. There are a bunch of them that use the D&D3.5 ruleset, which is darn close to Pathfinder.

Actually, I don't know why I even typed the rest of this post. Keep on the Borderlands. Hands down.

Haven't looked it over but this page has some conversions for Keep on the Borderlands to 3.5

Does anyone have any experience with Stars Without Number? It's a sandbox science-fiction RPG, where the parties are exploring planets and systems that had previously been devastated by a universe wide event that destroyed the fast long-distance space travel mechanism that was in place, stranding many systems. It's free through Drive Through. The system itself is fairly light, gives you some cool hooks for generating places to go and events and has an interesting background.

Review:

Mixolyde wrote:

Does anyone have any experience with Stars Without Number? It's a sandbox science-fiction RPG, where the parties are exploring planets and systems that had previously been devastated by a universe wide event that destroyed the fast long-distance space travel mechanism that was in place, stranding many systems. It's free through Drive Through. The system itself is fairly light, gives you some cool hooks for generating places to go and events and has an interesting background.

It's my go to for Space Opera. My group loves it. What did you want to know?

EDIT: I run it twice a month, and have been for almost 6 months now. The campaign is wrapping up next session (Sat.). It will be my third campaign. The group wants to do something Post Apoc, and have decided to go with Other Dust by the same author

athros wrote:
Mixolyde wrote:

Does anyone have any experience with Stars Without Number? It's a sandbox science-fiction RPG, where the parties are exploring planets and systems that had previously been devastated by a universe wide event that destroyed the fast long-distance space travel mechanism that was in place, stranding many systems. It's free through Drive Through. The system itself is fairly light, gives you some cool hooks for generating places to go and events and has an interesting background.

It's my go to for Space Opera. My group loves it. What did you want to know?

EDIT: I run it twice a month, and have been for almost 6 months now. The campaign is wrapping up next session (Sat.). It will be my third campaign. The group wants to do something Post Apoc, and have decided to go with Other Dust by the same author

Didn't want to know anything specific other than how much other people liked it and what they thought of the sandbox generation systems.

Mixolyde wrote:

Didn't want to know anything specific other than how much other people liked it and what they thought of the sandbox generation systems.

Fair enough. I really only run sandboxes anymore, it's a lot easier on me than trying to shoehorn my players into a story of my devising. I can let them pick and choose what they want to go after, and tailor the story to their actions rather than to what the story needs to continue.

The sector generation is really well done. It has a small problem of not really allowing more than one "significant place" per system, which is easily rectified. It took me roughly an hour to come up with this (made with Hexagrapher). That's the player version. On the whole, to get it fully fleshed out to my liking, it took me about 2-3 hours from start to finish. All of the tables, and anything referencing the sector generator are in the book. The only thing from the generator missing in the free version is the society/government generation.

So, for instance, to get a group of Qotah (out of the Mandate Archive here) I got the bare bones of this out of the generation system, and added to it. The biggest power in the sector is The Ancestors Alliance. Again, I got the bare bones for them from the sector generation system and added to it. The ship list here was an outgrowth of my messing with the starship creation system.

For note: Ruuk's World is at 04,05 - the Qotah are at 04,03 04,02 05,02 05,01 and the Ancestors Alliance are on the bottom edge, 04,07 and below.

I'll dig around and see if I can find the other groupings of stars, along with the GM's version of the map (there are several systems not on this map) as well as the actual World Tags etc. for the areas. I know the Upper right (06,04 07,04 07,03) were based on Eastern Orthodox + a Preceptor Archive intermingling (basically, ComStar ) and I think I left the other group alone until the players wanted to go there.

EDIT: I should give some context for the players too. I had 3 for this campaign, they each chose a different class: one Warrior, one Expert and one Psychic. If I remember right, we picked up 4 more players, which ended up being one more warrior, one more psychic and 2 more experts. I dropped the initial group on Rukk's World and they did some basic jobs (introducing an aspect of the system each time) before they got their own ship. I converted some of the Future Armada ships over and gave them a choice between 4 of them.

Some of the notable in game moments were

  • They decided to investigate the Pretech Jump Ring, and almost TPK'd when the insane, immortal psychic who used to bend space and time to transport ships across the galaxy chased them through the corridors ranting about "VOICES EVERYWHERE!!!! TOO LOUD NOW!". They managed to get back to their ship. Cost of repairs: a cool million (3 sessions of doing things to make money).
  • Crashed on a jungle world in a shuttle. It wasn't on any known charts. It took them 2 sessions (about an ingame month) to get off that rock. Trying to keep things charged, weapons working, while trying to get enough resources to patch the hull.
  • Joined the war against the Flocks. Lots of daredevil missions behind the lines trying to determine if any humans lived on those planets (there were) and how they fared (very very very badly)

That's all really awesome stuff! Thanks.

Nevin73 wrote:

Anyone know of good apps (either Apple or Android) to keep track of Pathfinder character sheets?

One of the guys I used to play with gave me a PDF version of the Pathfinder Character sheet, that had all the info stored in it. You used drop down menus for stuff and it did the math where it was needed. Don't know where he got it or, how much it supported (it did Core and Advanced books). I can throw it up here if anyone would like it.
*full disclosure: I never got a chance to actually create a char with it; I moved shortly after receiving it and, haven't rp'd since *

Thanks for all the recommendations! I'll definitely check them out.

Tonight, after a hellish day at work (hooray for server boot disk failures!!), I sat down and we ran through the first hour or two of the Pathfinder newbie scenario from the GM guide. Holy crap was that fun. I felt the evil glee of introducing him to the hard reality of being a puny PC. I think he was a little taken aback by the idea that he doesn't always win and get to be Legolas, but he'll be better for it, dammit!

Looking forward to many years of brutal humiliation.* BWAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

*And quality Dad-time. Definitely quality Dad-time.

Ah! Found the Moscovites.

The biggest thing when I run sandboxes is I let the players do what they want. I always preface my games with "You could very well run into things that will turn you into paste. I claim no fault!" I also have organizations and such in the background doing things. I don't go too overboard with the details, mainly because that can lead to over writing, and the GM rocking in place and talking about "Average Rainfall".

Stars Without Number has just the right amount of detail without going overboard, which is why I like it so much.

hubbinsd wrote:

I think he was a little taken aback by the idea that he doesn't always win and get to be Legolas, but he'll be better for it, dammit!

If that begins to be a problem for him (not sure it will, but my daughter can get frustrated with not winning), maybe try Dungeon World? That has the same fantasy feel but the characters get to be more effectively heroic right from the start.

I've written quite a few chargen apps in my time. Console, VB, Java... I love chargen apps! I wrote one specifically for the Cinematic Unisystem Fallout rule system I wrote. Truth is though that I play few games that actually need them these days. My trad game group turned into board/card games and my indie game group plays games that don't really need them.

Tigerbill wrote:
Nevin73 wrote:

Anyone know of good apps (either Apple or Android) to keep track of Pathfinder character sheets?

One of the guys I used to play with gave me a PDF version of the Pathfinder Character sheet, that had all the info stored in it. You used drop down menus for stuff and it did the math where it was needed. Don't know where he got it or, how much it supported (it did Core and Advanced books). I can throw it up here if anyone would like it.
*full disclosure: I never got a chance to actually create a char with it; I moved shortly after receiving it and, haven't rp'd since *

PCGen also supports Pathfinder, which saves you having to look up all the weapons and armor and such when you are equipping. And, if you like, you can run it from a jump drive.

So, FF has made a new Star Wars RPG. Does anyone have the PDF? I'd like to try to run a game of it.

Same question for DnD Next, actually.

oilypenguin wrote:

Same question for DnD Next, actually.

Here is the link for the playtest page for D&D Next. Sign up, get access, and you can download the documents for the playtest.

oilypenguin wrote:

So, FF has made a new Star Wars RPG. Does anyone have the PDF? I'd like to try to run a game of it.

Same question for DnD Next, actually.

I have the book and it seems super interesting. There actually is no pdf as Lucasarts won't let them produce one.

Edwin wrote:

240 miniatures for $100. http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/...

Those are fantastic!

Oh nice! I didn't know they went forward w/ the RPG for Star Wars. I am going to collect the everloving crap out of those books. My biggest regret was missing out on all the cool SAGA edition supplements.

thejustinbot wrote:
oilypenguin wrote:

So, FF has made a new Star Wars RPG. Does anyone have the PDF? I'd like to try to run a game of it.

Same question for DnD Next, actually.

I have the book and it seems super interesting. There actually is no pdf as Lucasarts won't let them produce one.

I thought it was just a play test? They produced an actual book for a play test? FF, you so crazy.

Edit: Oh, I reread my post. No, I am not looking for a copy of the actual book without paying for it =) I just thought a preview build or something was out.

oilypenguin wrote:

I thought it was just a play test? They produced an actual book for a play test? FF, you so crazy.

Yes, they did. Yes, they are.

MikeSands wrote:
oilypenguin wrote:

I thought it was just a play test? They produced an actual book for a play test? FF, you so crazy.

Yes, they did. Yes, they are.

From what I understand it was mostly because their agreement with Lucasarts didn't give them the right to publish a digital PDF

Trachalio wrote:

From what I understand it was mostly because their agreement with Lucasarts didn't give them the right to publish a digital PDF :(

PDF or print, I think charging for a beta version is a bit sassy.

Edited to add: I guess covering the cost of the book is fair enough, but it sounded like they're pricing a bit higher than that.