Tabletop RPG Catch All

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"

Hey, thanks! I've been meaning to check that out one day. I love it how pen and paper games don't really become obsolete, except perhaps if their rules are really bad and a new version is just superior in every way. Downloading now.

Whoah. I can't believe it's been twenty years since Vampire: The Masquerade. I was 13 when it hit over here. I've had some of my best RPG experiences with that game - mostly first edition. I skipped the 2nd edition and moved straight to Revised, which is in my mind the single best RPG book/game on my shelves. Don't care about the later versions, either.

The anniversary edition sounds like it could be a good thing, though.

Oh neat! One of the freebie pumpkins is Werewolf: The Apocalypse Revised!

Also: here's a link to AFMBE for all you lazy types.

jlaakso wrote:

The anniversary edition sounds like it could be a good thing, though.

I've heard that it is - a few mechanics updated for the current edition of their system, but essentially the same game as when it came out. I'm a little tempted to get it for a short nostalgia/angst game

Please let there be a Dread free-be <3

EDIT: Look out, if you put free stuff in your basket and then switch sites (to the wargaming variant for example), the price for the free stuff changes back to its regular one.

Anybody have any experience running Savage Worlds ruleset for a variety of game styles? My group is taking a break from the intense, intrigue-heavy L5R campaign I was running and I was thinking Savage Worlds would be the perfect way to get into something a lot more over-the-top action oriented. Any thoughts?

Benticore wrote:

Anybody have any experience running Savage Worlds ruleset for a variety of game styles? My group is taking a break from the intense, intrigue-heavy L5R campaign I was running and I was thinking Savage Worlds would be the perfect way to get into something a lot more over-the-top action oriented. Any thoughts?

Savage Worlds as per the core rulebook, leans towards action/pulp. If you want an even more pulp/action feel than the core rules offer, there's always "Thrilling Tales" by Adamant Entertainment (which happens to be going on sale over the Thanksgiving weekend). There are also a ton and a half of settings that add "Setting Rules" for various different genres such as Western (Deadlands), Grim Fantasy (Hellfrost, and Sundered Skies), Sword & Sorcery (Solomon Kane, Mars, and Beasts & Barbarians), War (Weird War II and Tour of Darkness), and even Cthulhu (Realms of Cthulhu).

Subscribing, nothing to see here.

If you want over the top action in spades, check out Wushu Open. Doesn't hurt that it's a freebie as well. On that note, in case I have not made a shameless plug here lately, another freebie that is kind of like a character driven version of Fiasco is The Trouble with Rose. You can download the rules and play sets from where it's hosted on Google Docs.

Wushu Open
http://danielbayn.com/wushu/freebies.html

The Trouble with Rose
https://docs.google.com/#folders/0B0...
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TAZ

jlaakso wrote:

Whoah. I can't believe it's been twenty years since Vampire: The Masquerade. I was 13 when it hit over here. I've had some of my best RPG experiences with that game - mostly first edition. I skipped the 2nd edition and moved straight to Revised, which is in my mind the single best RPG book/game on my shelves. Don't care about the later versions, either.

The anniversary edition sounds like it could be a good thing, though.

Wow. Now I feel old. I was 12 when Vampire: The Masquerade came out. Though I didn't really play it till I was 14 or so. I heartily agree with your comment on Revised. I loved that setting. I bought books that I didn't need just to see how they were advancing the metaplot. I've tried getting in to Requiem, but it just doesn't feel as fun as Revised did.

I'd love it if I could find a decent forum or something that was running a Revised game.

I did the same things, but with Werewolf, primarily (though Mage and Changeling books were purchased as well.) We mostly played 2nd edition, though. Part of that was down to when we started picking it up and playing it, and part of it was that we liked the setting in its 'stasis', rather than mid-Armaggeddon.

Revised was a neat advancement, but by that time, I couldn't keep up with WW's moneysink production schedule. Doesn't mean that I didn't buy the nice leatherbound Werewolf and Mage editions in the slipcases when it came out. I've still got most of my Tribe and Tradition/Convention books on my shelf, primarily to supplement those two editions.

I don't care for most of the Storyteller expansion books, but there's some really nice core games with Mage, Werewolf and Vampire, 1-3 editions. Changeling 1st edition was really evocative and interesting and we had a cool campaign. It was a mechanical mess, though.

We played the hell out of Vampire The Dark Ages, too, that was a great fit with the vampire themes. Kindred Of The East was all over the place, but I got a kick out of it anyway, mostly because by that time we had played so much Vampire we needed something new. That book had so many competing mechanisms and a new name for absolutely everything, it was a real chore to study.

Man. I just saw the oWoD Changeling book at half price books for like $8. I should have grabbed it.

Radical Ans wrote:

Man. I just saw the oWoD Changeling book at half price books for like $8. I should have grabbed it.

I've still got my paperback copy around somewhere. I'll be holding on to that, though.

If it's okay with you all, I'd like to intrude with a little commercial moment: I've been writing a game, Monster of the Week, which is now up for a preorder/fundraising campaign on IndieGogo.

The game is about modern day monster hunters, inspired by stuff like Buffy, Supernatural, and Hellboy. The rules are a hack of Apocalypse World, adjusted to provide quick session preparation for the GM and exciting mystery investigation and monster slaying action.

The game's written but not fully polished, so I'm after money for professional editing, artwork and to cover initial print costs. As is, the game's solid fun (and I'm giving funders access to the beta version too, so you can play while waiting for the final copy).

Interesting! Good to see people working on their own games.

How would you compare it to Buffy RPG? Hunter: The Reckoning? Also, I'm not familiar with Apocalypse World, is it crunchy or geared towards making drama happen or what?

jlaakso wrote:

How would you compare it to Buffy RPG? Hunter: The Reckoning? Also, I'm not familiar with Apocalypse World, is it crunchy or geared towards making drama happen or what?

I think the main difference to Buffy/Hunter is that the setting is built up for each game as it goes, rather than plugging in to an already generated setting. Each Monster of the Week game will develop its own version of the monsters they meet, how magic works, and how those fit together.

The system works using "moves", which are broad and fairly defined skill/ability rolls. Each will have certain results on success, partial success and failure. The bit I like the most about this is that the effects all feed back in to what's happening in the game, enriching the story. In a nutshell, they encourage a lot more narration than "you hit!" or "you miss!" In fact, misses can often be more entertaining, as it leads to complications for your character to deal with.

Interesting! Evil Hat Games, who made Spirit of the Century and The Dresden Files RPG, will be making an Atomic Robo game: http://www.deadlyfredly.com/2012/01/atomic-robo-wears-the-evil-hat/.

Now downloading: Dragon Age RPG Set 3 Open Playtest: http://greenronin.com/2012/02/dragon...

Drive Thru RPG/RPG Now is having their Game Master's Day sale this week

There's a LOT of... chaff to sift through to find the good stuff. According to the page there are 8,278 items on sale!

Last night I played a game of The One Ring, which has a bunch of neat little bits of system to bring out Tolkien's style. I liked it enough that I went ahead and ordered a copy this morning.

Highlights of the story:
- Flubbed courtesy rolls when asking to stay the night, rescued by use of a Hope point. It turned out they were cousins of the one of us who had made the roll.
- You allocate jobs when travelling, and make some rolls to see how you do. Again, failed rolls led to exciting encounters along the way.
- Combat felt pretty heroic, and uses a system where you don't worry about exact position, but instead choose generally where you are in the battle (Forward, Open, Defense, Rear). Each option has a special move you can do while there, and affects how easy it is for you to hit and be hit. Fighting off a goblin attack, the two of us in forward positions (waiting to meet their charge) slew the first two in a single blow. After that it got messier. The tactical choices felt significant: moving to a safer position, or a particular stance to get the special move (e.g. open stance allows you to rally people and restore some endurance to the party).
- Our final plan to defeat the goblins, which involved getting all the goblins drunk and then sneaking in to steal a mcguffin off the king.

One of the other players was my eight year old (she's previously played Mouse Guard) and she had a great time as an wood-elf warrior.

I finally moved all my game books to their new shelf:
IMAGE(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7130/7046246089_88ab2b87af_z.jpg)

And what's this?
IMAGE(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7178/7046246269_271ae5a6e4_z.jpg)

Why it's my first official playtesting credit in a published RPG. My name is in there right on the very first page.

My Chessex Pound O' Dice showed up from Amazon today. Dumped them on the table, and the kids are utterly fascinated by them. It's time for the nerding to begin.

Quintin_Stone wrote:

And what's this?
IMAGE(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7178/7046246269_271ae5a6e4_z.jpg)

Why it's my first official playtesting credit in a published RPG. My name is in there right on the very first page. :)

That's awesome! What was it like dealing directly with Cam Banks? Been a fan of the Cortex Plus games since Smallville. Yet another reason to pick up the Marvel RPG.

Haha, I wouldn't know, I've never met Cam Banks. But my friend Matthew probably has. He's the one who got our Wednesday RPG group in as playtesters.

Anybody got any idea how one might run a Shadowrun Campaign? The new Kickstarter has my once-fallow group itching to get some Futuristic Super Soldier vs the evil Corporation fun on but I'm not sure if I should get a new version, an old version or jury rig some other system (looking at you, Savage Worlds) to do it. Thoughts?

Benticore wrote:

Anybody got any idea how one might run a Shadowrun Campaign? The new Kickstarter has my once-fallow group itching to get some Futuristic Super Soldier vs the evil Corporation fun on but I'm not sure if I should get a new version, an old version or jury rig some other system (looking at you, Savage Worlds) to do it. Thoughts?

Disclaimer: I haven't used the 4th edition rules since my group converted en masse to FATE - which was 2 years ago. We've since played in a FATE conversion of Shadowrun, but nothing Savage Worlds.

The 25th Anniversary, 4th edition by Catalyst Games is the most current set of rules. It incorporates all of the errata, fixes and system changes that were discovered in the generic 4th edition. The dice pool mechanic was unified across Magic, Hacking (once known as decking) and normal actions. It's still pools of d6's. Lots and lots of d6's. 5's and 6's succeed, though there are optional rules to change how the pool works..i.e 'if half your dice pool comes up 1's, but you manage to make the difficulty, you succeed with something bad attached' and the like. There were several major world and background changes as well.

Pros:

  • Unified dice mechanic
  • Updated the setting for current tech extrapolations
  • Pretty, full color corebook
  • Hackers, now wireless, can go with the group to do jobs.

Cons:

  • There are still 'Go out for pizza' times when investigation is called for.
  • Depending on how the group/game goes: If you're not highly specialized, you're going to suck at everything. This is very group dependent.
  • A lot of the older edition vibe is gone.
  • Some of the setting changes make the logical individuals amongst my group go "Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, Batman!?"

Old editions: Still fun, in a crazy sort of way. We had a good solid 3rd edition group for a long time. I don't have much to say, other than if you like the old editions, you can still find books in all the usual places (EBay, used book stores and such).

Savage Worlds and Conversions: I can't speak to Savage Worlds too much, other than I think it would work really well. Interface Zero is a cyberpunk themed setting splat for Savage Worlds. Shadowrun also works well in FATE - specifically, Strands of FATE. It has enough of the fiddly bits that the number crunchers in my group are happy, and is narritive enough for the rest of us. It has, thus far, ran for approximately 15 game sessions, with no end in sight.

Man, that just tells me that I need to pick up Strands of FATE, because I've become quite taken with the system since the awesome that is the Dresden Files RPG.

The only problem being that I don't seem to have it in me to manually convert stuff to run using FATE. i.e I would be perfectly happy playing Shadowrun under 4th Edition Anniversary.

As such I find the trend toward more narrative based systems to be a good thing - it puts the human storytelling back into the game, where in some cases the rules are just seen as something to tell you what loot you found after having rolled dice to kill stuff.

MilkmanDanimal wrote:

My Chessex Pound O' Dice showed up from Amazon today. Dumped them on the table, and the kids are utterly fascinated by them. It's time for the nerding to begin.

Dude, get out of my head! I just ordered those last night and they should be arriving tomorrow.

Falchion wrote:

Man, that just tells me that I need to pick up Strands of FATE, because I've become quite taken with the system since the awesome that is the Dresden Files RPG.

The only problem being that I don't seem to have it in me to manually convert stuff to run using FATE. i.e I would be perfectly happy playing Shadowrun under 4th Edition Anniversary.

As such I find the trend toward more narrative based systems to be a good thing - it puts the human storytelling back into the game, where in some cases the rules are just seen as something to tell you what loot you found after having rolled dice to kill stuff.

Well...the creator of Strands of FATE did most of the work for you Srtands of FATE Resources or, a direct link to the PDF for Shadowrun.

I never convert things exactly. Too much work. You should see the Strands of FATE Exalted conversion. It kept stalling out, and is stalled out completely as of now.

I'll dig around, and see if any of my notes survived from the SoF Shadowrun Campaign.