Tabletop RPG Catch All

We played a session of Smallville to check out the rules. There is a Leverage RPG coming out loosely based on the same rules that we plan to try.

BadMojo wrote:
jlaakso wrote:

So last night we couldn't continue our 4E campaign and had to pick something else.

In my mind, I see some horrible accident that caused all the 4E books to explode and everyone's characters burn up.

Just a combination of "so the DM's computer went kaput tonight and all the characters and files are on the internal HDD" and "jeez, it's been quite a few months since the last game and nobody remembers where we were".

Quintin_Stone wrote:

We played a session of Smallville to check out the rules. There is a Leverage RPG coming out loosely based on the same rules that we plan to try.

Hasn't that been out for a while or are they making a rule revision? I have the Leverage PDF on my home PC, we were going to use it for something.

Very cool ruleset. I like cortex a lot.

Oh maybe it's out already not sure.

I'm currently reading Apocalypse World. Anyone played it?

oilypenguin wrote:
Quintin_Stone wrote:

We played a session of Smallville to check out the rules. There is a Leverage RPG coming out loosely based on the same rules that we plan to try.

Hasn't that been out for a while or are they making a rule revision? I have the Leverage PDF on my home PC, we were going to use it for something.

Very cool ruleset. I like cortex a lot.

I'm pretty sure Leverage is out. Margret Weiss Productions is currently cranking on the upcoming Cortex based Marvel RPG.

fogrob wrote:
Radical Ans wrote:

Put me down as an interested party. I picked up the pdf a while back, but havent had a chance to try it.

That's four of us now. Pretty good for just a few days. Should we move this to a new forum or to google+ or something?

G+ works for me. There's a link to my profile in my sig.

I'd love to know how you do that kind of stuff via G+ o.O

Radical Ans wrote:

Cortex based Marvel RPG.

That... sounds excellent. If it's anything like the Smallville stuff. But they need to expand the attention to the bad guys, too. Burning Empires did a stellar job on that front.

jlaakso wrote:
Radical Ans wrote:

Cortex based Marvel RPG.

That... sounds excellent. If it's anything like the Smallville stuff. But they need to expand the attention to the bad guys, too. Burning Empires did a stellar job on that front.

From what I've read, aside from the core RPG, there are going to be setting books focused on various Marvel crossover events such as Civil War, Age of Apocalypse, Secret Wars, etc. It should be really flippin sweet.

Plastefuchs wrote:

I'd love to know how you do that kind of stuff via G+ o.O

I've herd of a lot of people playing via Hangout. Which is pretty much the same as playing by skype. I'm hoping that now that the G+ API is out, people will start making things like dice rollers and mapping tools for hangouts.

Quintin_Stone wrote:

I'm currently reading Apocalypse World. Anyone played it?

I have. It is great.

Edit to add: if you have any questions, fire away.

I decided to change the thread title to something less cumbersome. enjoy.

Sent invites out to the people that had interest in Mouse Guard. If I missed some of you, or if you have interest in other storytelling type games, please let me know through here or on Google+.

I also have Burning Empires and Apoc World.

fogrob wrote:

Sent invites out to the people that had interest in Mouse Guard. If I missed some of you, or if you have interest in other storytelling type games, please let me know through here or on Google+.

I also have Burning Empires and Apoc World.

I'm still interested in Mouse Guard, but I haven't seen any kind of invite.

Radical Ans wrote:
fogrob wrote:

Sent invites out to the people that had interest in Mouse Guard. If I missed some of you, or if you have interest in other storytelling type games, please let me know through here or on Google+.

I also have Burning Empires and Apoc World.

I'm still interested in Mouse Guard, but I haven't seen any kind of invite.

You're in my circle on g+. Did you or plaste see the post I made about it?

I saw it after looking for it, the missing profile picture didn't make it easy to grab it. <.<
Since I haven't read that much of the book, how deep should I go at least to understand the concepts better?

Plastefuchs wrote:

I saw it after looking for it, the missing profile picture didn't make it easy to grab it. <.<
Since I haven't read that much of the book, how deep should I go at least to understand the concepts better?

Ok, profile pic fixed, so should be easier for you guys to find now. Feel free to read as much or little as you want, except for the missions. It's an open game between the GM and the players, so you won't be spoiling anything.

MikeSands wrote:
Quintin_Stone wrote:

I'm currently reading Apocalypse World. Anyone played it?

I have. It is great.

Edit to add: if you have any questions, fire away.

I wish he explained more!

For example, there's not a lot of info on what the MC should do if a character misses a roll. Like, opening to the psychic maelstrom. There's not a lot of info on how to approach the maelstrom at all. Reading one of the examples, the book says "The world’s psychic maelstrom in that game was all about love" (p.271) and I'm like, "What? It's supposed to have a theme?!"

I wish there were a few more examples of MC moves and how they work into the framework of the session and their back-and-forth with PC moves.

fogrob wrote:
Plastefuchs wrote:

I saw it after looking for it, the missing profile picture didn't make it easy to grab it. <.<
Since I haven't read that much of the book, how deep should I go at least to understand the concepts better?

Ok, profile pic fixed, so should be easier for you guys to find now. Feel free to read as much or little as you want, except for the missions. It's an open game between the GM and the players, so you won't be spoiling anything.

Ahh! I've found you and added you to a Mouse Guard specific circle.

Re: Apocalypse World

Quintin_Stone wrote:

I wish he explained more!

For example, there's not a lot of info on what the MC should do if a character misses a roll. Like, opening to the psychic maelstrom. There's not a lot of info on how to approach the maelstrom at all. Reading one of the examples, the book says "The world’s psychic maelstrom in that game was all about love" (p.271) and I'm like, "What? It's supposed to have a theme?!"

I wish there were a few more examples of MC moves and how they work into the framework of the session and their back-and-forth with PC moves.

When someone misses a roll, you can't really go wrong with just taking an MC move off the list. Everything you do should come out of what's happening in the game, so I find that there's usually one or two of the moves that pop out, as they make the most sense. I think it's a little hard to discuss in the abstract, because the correct move for a miss really depends on exactly what's happening in the game.

In fact, I found it much harder to work out what to do next as a player That might be just too much GMing in my past. Also, once you've played for a bit, I found the MC moves got internalised. I would just roll with what was happening without explicitly checking the moves list any more.

I think the key thing is that the MC moves are the ways you are allowed to respond to questions or misses (or successes) from the players. Like, if someone asks "can I get a machinegun?" you can say "sure, this dude Mysteron has guns for sale at the market" (Make them buy) or "if you go into the cannibal hive, there's supposed to be guns in there. You want to go?" ('Tell them the consequences and ask' or this is 'announce future badness') or "Okay while you are busy finding gun parts in the junkpile, Sunset is still at the bar when Balls comes up to talk" (Separate them).

And I don't think the psychic maelstrom is supposed to have a theme. In the games I've MCed (one campaign, a couple of convention one-shots) I just let the way the characters opened their brains give me some ideas about it. Then as things happened, it became sort of obvious what it was like. In my campaign, it turned out to be leftover cyberweapons still fighting the apocalypse in everyone's brains, so it didn't really have a theme (except maybe "if one of the weapons gets into your brain, you're screwed").

Because of the way he's embedded the setting into what the characters and moves imply, you can't decide anything before the first session with all its questions and answers. That populates a ton of details that, as you think about them, all start fitting together to build your post-apocalypse. I guess you could also sit down and do some basic group setting design at the beginning, too, if you want to make sure everyone's on the same page.

A new guy has joined our long-running group to round out the numbers as I'm not going to be around after my wife drops our firstborn. Probably for the best. The guy is everything I hate in a roleplayer. Quite apart from his politics, which I can usually ignore at the gaming table, he's a passive-aggressive powergamer who, when presented with an opportunity to roleplay an encounter, loudly whined BUT WHYYYYYYY?! and demanded we just start the fight.

Now there were 3 good reasons to roleplay that encounter: our druid wasn't available that session and it would suck to do the last big fight without him; we had a tactically sound plan that would have achieved our objectives more effectively than just stepping up and rolling initiative; and lastly if I wanted to throw roleplaying out the window and just roll dice until people died I'd play a wargame.

It was all I could do not to just punch his lights out.

Do not play with people you don't like at the table. PERIOD. You will have a miserable time and waste everyone's time. Your playing style is not compatible with everyone else's, nor should it be. I would rather play with one guy I like than with three or four I'm not completely on the same page with.

Granted, I've broken this rule sometimes if I feel like I must out of courtesy, but only if it's for the short term.

Of course great players are able to adapt to different group dynamics. But even then, go with your gut instinct. If you're not enjoying yourself, what the hell are you doing at the table?

I've been playing with this group for nearly 3 years so I really don't want to throw the whole thing away on the basis of one douchehat. I've voiced my concern to some of the others but if they don't agree, well, I'm not going to have time for RPGs soon anyway.

Paizo posted an unboxing video of the Pathfinder RPG Beginners Box up on their blog

Looks like a heck of a lot of content! I think I'll be picking this up!

Fiasco's Dresden Files setting? Also - Call of Cthulhu, Beyond the Supernatural?

Edit: NVM - Hocus Focus *is* the Dresden setting

I get together with Certis, Brennil, and a few friends every Thursday for some game time, either board games or RPGs. With halloween being this Monday, I figured it'd be fun to do something thematically apropriate. From my game library:

Other than Fiasco, Don't Rest Your Head, and Dresden, I've not played anything on this list. Has anyone else? Any other games I should be looking at?

[EDIT]: Oh! I just remember that I have the DM Rewards Program Tomb of Horrors module! This might be perfect!

There's always "All Flesh Must be Eaten" if you are in the mood for some zombie stomping.

Speaking of "All Flesh" you can get a free pdf copy from drivethru RPG. They're having a sort of scavenger hunt promotion where you search their site for pumpkins. The one at the bottom of the main page is a free copy of "All Flesh"

Radical Ans wrote:

Speaking of "All Flesh" you can get a free pdf copy from drivethru RPG. They're having a sort of scavenger hunt promotion where you search their site for pumpkins. The one at the bottom of the main page is a free copy of "All Flesh"

Thanks for the heads up! Downloading now