Tabletop Roleplaying Games (D&D, Pathfinder, CoC, ETC.)

[Anonymus Fluhre]

Anyone else heard of a game called, Action Movie World: First Blood? It's a love letter to the macho action films of the 80s and early 90s. You do these where you actor plays in various "films" as different characters. It looks like it could be really fun.

Heard about that as I was getting A Very Special Episode books. Sounds interesting. Fits in with in with the other games that are based on movies/ making movies.

 

[Hummingbird]

Heard about that as I was getting A Very Special Episode books. Sounds interesting. Fits in with in with the other games that are based on movies/ making movies.

What are the A Very Special Episode books?

 

[Randall Fragg]

Heard about that as I was getting A Very Special Episode books. Sounds interesting. Fits in with in with the other games that are based on movies/ making movies.

Oooh, that sounds amazing. Playing as characters in a cheesy after-school special would be hilarious.
"The pedophile casts 'I have a puppy in my van', but you made your Stranger Danger save"

 

[Anonymus Fluhre]

What are the A Very Special Episode books?

Spirit of '77 adventure books, usually no more than 30 pages
Info on Spirit of '77
http://www.monkeyfunstudios.com

If you want to play Blaxploitation, this is probably the way to go

Oooh, that sounds amazing. Playing as characters in a cheesy after-school special would be hilarious.
"The pedophile casts 'I have a puppy in my van', but you made your Stranger Danger save"

The Wrath of the Cons is a pretty interesting book. Book it's self describes the adventure as

Tis adventure transports your players to the science fction convention, SpiritCon! As the former cast of the television show, Space Pioneer, they’ve come back together for a huge announcement that naturally becomes easier said than done.

 

[andr0id psycho sho(ker]

okay, got some special news regarding my own gaming project with the boyscouts game design merit badge. I officially have my foot in the door with a meeting at 6 with the scout master of my local troop. For the event itself, I'll post updates such as what the characters are, how I plan to run the adventure and how the players did in certain parts publicly and post the more detailed stuff like area maps, encounters, and items privately so people who want to use them in their own campaign can use them without spoilers. Wish me luck!

 

[weirdMcGee]

Whelp, I might make card game after I play some other card games. The basic premise for mine is that you play a shaman trying to defend his village from being overtaken by a rival shaman. The defending shaman uses defenses and the invading shaman use seige weapons.

The only thing they have in common is that they both can summon legendary heroes and minions to aid them.

 

[Surtur]

I kind of actually want to play in a DnD game, like I have been DMing for years but have not been a player in a proper campaign since like 2015.

 

[Hodor]

Got into a 5e group in meatspace.

The DM is a first timer running Forgotten Realms as the setting, and I need to be 'lore friendly'. I'm far from fond of FR, so this should be interesting.

 

[Randall Fragg]

I kind of actually want to play in a DnD game, like I have been DMing for years but have not been a player in a proper campaign since like 2015.

I'm running, like, two games over discord if you're interested. PM me!

 

[KimCoppolaAficionado]

Playing with a guy running a redneck vatjob infiltrator in Shadowrun. Some of his best quotes so far:
"It's okay that you're a lightweight; I used to just weigh 20 kilos, and look at me now!"
"That's what they get for dealing drugs and being Chinese at the same time."
"I remembered that the windshield was missing when we pulled into the carwash- I just didn't care."
"Sometimes, I even had to eat rats when I wasn't even in jail."

 

[Hodor]

holy shit, how did they manage to make Realms even more generic?

 

[Adamska]

So given I'm suffering from insomnia, might as well mention how our cleric wanted to commit suicide but accidentally the BBEG of the arc like it was nothing. The game itself is DnD 3.5, E6 rules.

So our cleric's player decided on some level that he wanted to play the warblade that he made as a back-up character, so he figured that the best send off he could do was to bullrush the BBEG as he tried to fend off a giant monster (a red fox due to us being awakened insects). To give you an idea of how awful this strategy was, the fox could insta-kill you if he connected, and the King himself was a combat beast bedecked in full-plate. Pickle (our cleric) was by comparison rather frail. So I and our other martial decide to do some ribbing. I even decided to write a bit of a eulogy, which went basically like this:

Here lies Pickle; he was a bitter acolyte of Dasani who got drunk in horror of his peers, then decided to go out like a cuck by failing to smash into the Cardboard King and falling into a bonfire.

Because he needed a 20 to fucking hit, and at the beginning of this session and all of last session? We've been rolling like fucking trash, with most of our stuff whiffing. So naturally after my words of encouragement he manages to get a nat 20 much to our amusement and him crowing in triumph. This leads to him crane kicking the King and then riding him like a surfboard on the mystical grease our mage Felicia busted out earlier in the fight. Then Pickle gets an 18 on his reflex save, and proceeds to John Woo dive off the king to safety as the king cooks in said bonfire.

Then he decides to ensure he dies by shooting the screaming and burning bandit king with his hand crossbow. Again, he needed a 20 to hit, since the King's AC was high due to plate mail and the fact he was prone on the ground. I again chime in at this point, saying he does have a 5% shot, so why not? Right as I finish saying that, he then manages to full on shoot the King with his hand crossbow right into the eye with a nat 20 non-confirmed crit. The king then proceeded to gibber as he plucked out his own eye, passing out and then cooking to death due to his heated plate mail.

Remind me later when I'm more coherent to post about how the fox, which should've been this eldritch terror, was a massive pile of failure too since that session was so amazing we got three stories out of it.

 

[andr0id psycho sho(ker]

So about the session, I was planning to run. I have some ideas, I'll share with you lot that I plan to run by the scout master to see if they are accepted.

-Having both DM's (me and the scout master plus whatever helpers) go full blown evil DM during the campaign and make it punishingly hard for a bunch of new players but allow the players to beef up their characters during creation to give them a fighting chance

-taking suggestions from the players on what to add in each area be it possible encounters, npc's, items, locations and what not

-have the first meeting be dedicated to character creation and taking suggestions so the players and DM's can get to know each other, swap ideas, help each other out and prepare for the campaign while the DM's see how many players they will have to deal with and what they are like

-making a rough draft of the campaign with the scout master before accepting new players so that the campaign will be nearly ready to go at the time of the first character designing meeting, barring tweaks to the existing bits for the party and adding in new material as finishing touches

@Surtur @Randall Fragg your thoughts on this as DM's would be appreciated

 

[Adamska]

Rule number one: Throw out that AD&D trash that is the hostile DM concept. The best games tend to be where both sides give and take, and both sides need to be at least content to get a good game going. If they hate it, then you have no game. If you hate it, you will not want to play. Be firm on things you want, but do not force them; they will more likely than not rebel if you do.

Rule number two: get the kids willing to play together so they can create this party as a group. You do not want to deal with in situ character creation since that means that there will be confusion and bitching about who does what. Also since it sounds like you're doing rookie players, you may want to stick with simpler classes and be on hand to help them out; fighter and barbarian for example is a very good opening class for first time players. The second part of your plan is spot on for this one.

Rule number three: Your third portion is about on spot for what you want. Just be warned to have improv events on hand since a party can and will break your setting over your knee. Expect at any point that they will blow through your dungeon or chump your villain. Expect them to want to go off track into a different place. Since they're newbies, a good ol' fashioned dungeon crawl is a good idea actually. It also allows you to use an AD&D thing I think is missing in most settings now: fucking traps.

Rule number four: Ask for comments, concerns, things that they think could be done better. This helps you grow as a DM since you will then know what your players think of how it's going so far.

 

[andr0id psycho sho(ker]

Rule number one: Throw out that AD&D trash that is the hostile DM concept. The best games tend to be where both sides give and take, and both sides need to be at least content to get a good game going. If they hate it, then you have no game. If you hate it, you will not want to play. Be firm on things you want, but do not force them; they will more likely than not rebel if you do.

Rule number two: get the kids willing to play together so they can create this party as a group. You do not want to deal with in situ character creation since that means that there will be confusion and bitching about who does what. Also since it sounds like you're doing rookie players, you may want to stick with simpler classes and be on hand to help them out; fighter and barbarian for example is a very good opening class for first time players. The second part of your plan is spot on for this one.

Rule number three: Your third portion is about on spot for what you want. Just be warned to have improv events on hand since a party can and will break your setting over your knee. Expect at any point that they will blow through your dungeon or chump your villain. Expect them to want to go off track into a different place. Since they're newbies, a good ol' fashioned dungeon crawl is a good idea actually. It also allows you to use an AD&D thing I think is missing in most settings now: fucking traps.

Rule number four: Ask for comments, concerns, things that they think could be done better. This helps you grow as a DM since you will then know what your players think of how it's going so far.

okay, thanks for those tips. Would you like to hear what areas I have planned for the party as a whole?

(Also a little tidbit. If you are responding to me, just make sure to quote the message so I can be absolutely sure I know I have a conversation going. Thank you for your time)

 

[Adamska]

okay, thanks for those tips. Would you like to hear what areas I have planned for the party as a whole?

(Also a little tidbit. If you are responding to me, just make sure to quote the message so I can be absolutely sure I know I have a conversation going. Thank you for your time)

I wouldn't mind seeing the areas you have ready; gives me and the other more experienced DMs here an idea on what you might need.

 

[andr0id psycho sho(ker]

I wouldn't mind seeing the areas you have ready; gives me and the other more experienced DMs here an idea on what you might need.

Okay. Here they are and general ideas for encounters

1st level: The city of sigma: the first area is having the characters meet in a large trade city with lots of shops and ruins. After various minor npc events the group awake in the night to find the city is under attack by monsters and have to save it and reach a large glowing light where the monsters seem to be coming from

2nd level: the rubble: a large trash strewn garbage dump, it features fewer encounters but a fair number of traps and hazards the characters must work around to get by.

3rd level: the labs: featuring various odd experiments going on along with various traps, security features and enemy encounters, it also has various side rooms that reward exploration

4th level: the proving grounds: a large set of artificial environments, it features various mini dungeons in the dungeon itself, wilderness areas and even a few towns and villages that allow the characters to stock up and get healing if needed

5th level: the hidden city: the final area of the dungeon, it features a lot of encounters and npc fights along with the end of the adventure in a stable portal leading out of the dungeon the characters find themselves in

 

[Adamska]

Okay. Here they are and general ideas for encounters:

Okay, so you need to plan for if the kids decide to CHEESE IT, given that that does sometimes happen with a group if they feel it's too overwhelming. You could probably rope them into the Rubble area if they flee with some good misdirection though if that happens. The labs should probably be loaded in either as a building or fort they can duck into from that point, or accidentally fall into. The last ones probably should work so long as you have them on your tracks beforehand.

You might also have the group want to explore stuff early before going to sleep for the hook, so you might want to have the nearby ruins as little mini-cairns that you can probably just use a dungeon generator for a small one floor dungeon or so in case they go off script. Do not feel too bad if they go straight shooting either though, since my experience is so long as you have a loose plan like this with vague outlines, it goes well.

 

[Sable]

Remind me later when I'm more coherent to post about how the fox, which should've been this eldritch terror, was a massive pile of failure too since that session was so amazing we got three stories out of it.

So many horrible things happened to that fox. Even though my character played a part in all of it, the best was probably the NPC.

 

[andr0id psycho sho(ker]

Okay, so you need to plan for if the kids decide to CHEESE IT, given that that does sometimes happen with a group if they feel it's too overwhelming. You could probably rope them into the Rubble area if they flee with some good misdirection though if that happens. The labs should probably be loaded in either as a building or fort they can duck into from that point, or accidentally fall into. The last ones probably should work so long as you have them on your tracks beforehand.

You might also have the group want to explore stuff early before going to sleep for the hook, so you might want to have the nearby ruins as little mini-cairns that you can probably just use a dungeon generator for a small one floor dungeon or so in case they go off script. Do not feel too bad if they go straight shooting either though, since my experience is so long as you have a loose plan like this with vague outlines, it goes well.

thanks for the tips. I was sort of planning to do some of the things you mentioned so I am good on that front. The next post I make related to this topic will be related to what the characters are and other bits about them

Just a minor edit, but I will hopefully have a adventure background for the thing ready wednesday night that I will be willing to show to people who don't mind spoilers for the adventure along with getting final approval for the adventure the same night and hopefully having the first draft of the adventure ready that week or the next