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

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so the official boy scouts meeting for the game design thing starts tonight with multiple meetings in the future to get people interested and sign up. People have expressed interest in it already and do really want to do it so I should have a good roster for my campaign
 
So, I've recently been on a binge of zombie films and vidya, in particular George A. Romero's "Living Dead Trilogy" and the "Classic" Resident Evil games for PS1, and now I want to run a zombie campaign in the vein of those films. Some of my IRL players also want to play in this game after mentioning it, so I think I might be onto something.

I don't own All Flesh Must Be Eaten and right now I am not interested in learning a new system (that may change later) and I am thinking of using something like Big Eyes Small Mouth 1E, since I own it on hard copy (along with a few of the supplements) and it's fairly rules light, plus it's something that is familiar to both myself and the two people I have interested in it.

I'm thinking it might be a good zany concept that could work as a one-shot beer and pretzels game, or as a small-scale campaign.

We've agreed to go all-out and just have fun with the game, and I may even include crossovers and references from other works in there as well (like Resident Evil and Romero characters as NPC's, zombie versions of Sailor Moon and Batman, stuff like that).

One of my players decided he wants to play as Barry Burton from Resident Evil, and while I'd normally prefer they create their own original player character, I think this time it might work for the gonzo "just for fun" vibe I'm going for.

So, if anyone is interested in how it goes, I'll keep you posted.
 
From the new Waterdeep by Wizards of the Coast.

SJW-ism in gaming. Not even once.

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Given what each goddess of magic did and Eliminster I'm okay with them mentioning this. If it was in Dragonlance...No.

By the way...How much damage has WotC done to Toril? I remember Corellon Larethian always being male but being rather androgynous, it's why elves are seen as traps. Like fuck, he's had at least two wives that I can remember in the Forgotten Realms and a few children with them. See this is why I just stick to Ed's version of the world.

If their going for Greyhawk Corellon then yeah again this would be fine
From the 1980's Deities and Demigods 1st Printing
Corellon Larethian represents the highest ideals of elvenkind: "he" is skilled in all the arts and crafts, and is the patron of music, poetry, and magic. Corellon is alternately male or female, both or neither. The god is also mighty in battle, and is said to have personally banished such demons as Lolth from the sunlit Upperworld. Elven lore states that the race of elves sprang from the drops of blood Corellon shed in this epic battle.
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If you check out his entry in Forgotten Realms Demihuman Deities for AD&D 2nd Edition they refer to him as "he". Only in his avatar section does it mention that he appears as a androgynous male elf, but can appear as either sex.

You don't fucking change lore to suit a narative. All it does is shit on decades worth of legacy.

Whats next? Are they going to claim Eilistraee always wears clothes?
 
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Anonymus Fluhre said:
Given what each goddess of magic did and Eliminster I'm okay with them mentioning this. If it was in Dragonlance...No.

By the way...How much damage has WotC done to Toril? I remember Corellon Larethian always being male but being rather androgynous, it's why elves are seen as traps. Like fuck, he's had at least two wives that I can remember in the Forgotten Realms and a few children with them. See this is why I just stick to Ed's version of the world.

If their going for Greyhawk Corellon then yeah again this would be fine
From the 1980's Deities and Demigods 1st Printing
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To me it's the whole thing of taking Waterdeep, known for Undermountain and Skullport, known for being one of the roughest cities on the Sword Coast, and a hell of a place to run adventures. It was a rough town, I mean, hell, even in Neverwinter Nights it was a rough place.

Now they're describing it like a fantasy SanFran, and yeah, I know it's only a small part (that I've seen) but it seems to me to be indictive of a larger problem. Yeah, they quote Elminster's sex change and cross dressing at the orders of Mystra, but still.

It just feels off to me.
 
Jet Fuel Johnny said:
To me it's the whole thing of taking Waterdeep, known for Undermountain and Skullport, known for being one of the roughest cities on the Sword Coast, and a hell of a place to run adventures. It was a rough town, I mean, hell, even in Neverwinter Nights it was a rough place.

Now they're describing it like a fantasy SanFran, and yeah, I know it's only a small part (that I've seen) but it seems to me to be indictive of a larger problem. Yeah, they quote Elminster's sex change and cross dressing at the orders of Mystra, but still.

It just feels off to me.
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It's not that rough, just certain places...Just like in any good fantasy campaign world. Like it has nothing on certain cities in Ravenloft or Thieves World.
 
Anonymus Fluhre said:
It's not that rough, just certain places...Just like in any good fantasy campaign world. Like it has nothing on certain cities in Ravenloft or Thieves World.
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True on that. Or hell, the City State of the Eternal Emperor was a rough as fuck place too. Maybe I played it a bit too gritty and too attached to Skullport and the beholder run guild.

I think it's just more of the spackle they're spreading all over everything TTRPG to make it seem like something different. It went from an exciting sounding city to something else, but hell, I'm probably just turning into a grognard without realizing it.
 
Syaoran Li said:
Meh, Ravenloft was always better than Forgotten Realms in my opinion anyway.
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Ravenloft wasn't a bad idea, but I remember pointing out that if the Dark Powers insisted on snapping up powerful villains, eventually someone was going to notice and come looking for them. Eventually, you grab someone who is either (a) beholden to a serious power player -- a greater god or other entity -- or (b) might just be too powerful to hold onto (hello, Vecna!).

Which was handwaved away as 'oh the Dark Powers are more powerful than gods'. Yeah, whatever. Fuck right off with that.

It still amuses me that of the two villains to outright escape Ravenloft, one did it by simply refusing to rise to ANY bait at all (Lord Soth), and the other just fucking broke the multiverse to get out (Vecna).
 
Don't get me wrong, I understand that Forgotten Realms is popular and it has its good points every now and then, but in my simple and honest opinion I find that Forgotten Realms is highly overrated and over-exposed.

I've always wondered why Forgotten Realms became the most popular of all the D&D settings.
 
Syaoran Li said:
Don't get me wrong, I understand that Forgotten Realms is popular and it has its good points every now and then, but in my simple and honest opinion I find that Forgotten Realms is highly overrated and over-exposed.

I've always wondered why Forgotten Realms became the most popular of all the D&D settings.
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Ease of approachability, perhaps? The advantage of using tropes and cliches is that it's easier for newcomers to quickly understand the situation.
 
Syaoran Li said:
I've always wondered why Forgotten Realms became the most popular of all the D&D settings.
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It's because WotC went all-in on FR in 3rd edition. They did a huge setting book for it, big poster maps in Dragon magazine, lots of smaller books, and while they had a Living Greyhawk thing going on, it wasn't that popular comparatively. Then in 4E they basically dropped Greyhawk completely. It wasn't the default setting anymore, instead they had their stupid 'points of light' world where they would just drop some locations here and there and not bother to define anything else. Meanwhile FR was still getting coverage with setting books.
 
Gingervitis said:
But then why couldn’t they have used Greyhawk for that?
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Partially because Faerun has Kara-Tur and Zakhara (which leaves WotC in the classic SJW fork of representation/appropriation).

Really because 80% of the vidya have been set there.

Also, FR plays closer to the Noblebright thing, while Grewhawk has always had a more gritty feel. SJWs dislike characters with more than one dimension.
 
So I'm brewing up a new pair of games that will alternate on Sunday afternoons. Both are set in the same setting, which is set in a quasi-Napoleonic period where fantasy never really died, just kind of adapted to support Magitek. One game has the group as expeditionary leaders in Albion's attempts to colonize Lemuria (essentially a green Antarctica that is between Africa and SE Asia/Australia). It features exploration, pulp, dungeon diving, and colony management. The other game takes place in l'Republique, an unstable state that recently overthrew its King and is led by the Butcher himself, Maximillien. That game features intrigue, sabotage, and strategic warfare.

The two parties are:

Lemuria Trading Corporation
  • Shaun and Elmer: A mystic ranger who pals around with his moose companion. The two often find themselves as entertainment for nobility or the wealthy. In this case, he's out to explore Lemuria's wildlife and essentially outshine the Druidic Circles that often look down on him. An ardent worshiper of Selene the Moon Goddess.
  • Zazac the Strong: A Veranzi native and a member of one of the many orc clans that dot southern Uralia. He is known to be a curiosity among the Albion nobility ever since he was able to lift a 6 pound cannon and use it as a club to murder its artillery crew during one of the many wars amongst the duchies that encroached on his farmland. Not too bright, but as strong as a Giant.
  • Sir Morris the Brave: An eccentric petty noble and budding warblade who is out for a fun adventure out into the bush. He has noble goals for the colony he has been given commission to set up; he is out to civilize the very wild and unruly tribes of Lemuria and bring the light of the Pantheon to them.
  • Earl Huxley: The expedition leader and utterly barmy artificer (NPC). He is the main backer of the corporation, as he has grown rich on the production of wondrous items like the mighty Steamjack. However, he's as mad as a hatter due to his profession regularly using mercury.

Gallian Revolution
  • Alemento Dumantes: A disgraced noble who had to sacrifice his identity and very soul in order to get revenge on the men who ruined his life. His dream is to one day turn the tables on these men and gain vengeance. Little else really motivates him now.
  • Banon Cowell: The ultimate weathervane; his opinions always and will without fail always lean in the direction of the strongest voice in the room. Despite this he's a skilled duskblade, being able to channel his magic into his fighting style.
  • Hans Schaffner: A Kruger mercenary who tied his fate to l'Republique and to another power; his arcane might is a tool that obviously can only be turned on a target for the right price. He believes that good men get paid, and he's among the best.

Here's some more details I have on the setting; it'll be a couple of months at least before I start running this:
 

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Capsaicin Addict said:
Ravenloft wasn't a bad idea, but I remember pointing out that if the Dark Powers insisted on snapping up powerful villains, eventually someone was going to notice and come looking for them. Eventually, you grab someone who is either (a) beholden to a serious power player -- a greater god or other entity -- or (b) might just be too powerful to hold onto (hello, Vecna!).

Which was handwaved away as 'oh the Dark Powers are more powerful than gods'. Yeah, whatever. Fuck right off with that.

It still amuses me that of the two villains to outright escape Ravenloft, one did it by simply refusing to rise to ANY bait at all (Lord Soth), and the other just fucking broke the multiverse to get out (Vecna).
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Very few people look for villains, only Neutral characters with a thirst for knowledge for knowledge sake would seek them out.

When Vecna was taken he was rather weak when he was taken to Ravenloft. I believe it was 3.0 that listed him only as a lesser god and as a Neutral God, before that he was just a Demigod and Lawful Evil in AD&D.

Syaoran Li said:
Don't get me wrong, I understand that Forgotten Realms is popular and it has its good points every now and then, but in my simple and honest opinion I find that Forgotten Realms is highly overrated and over-exposed.

I've always wondered why Forgotten Realms became the most popular of all the D&D settings.
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Forgotten Realms was on of the early High Fantasy series that came out for the system at the time. Greyhawk and Dragonlance was more "normal" fantasy while things like Darksun and Ravenloft was seen as more Low Fantasy.
 
Anonymus Fluhre said:
Very few people look for villains, only Neutral characters with a thirst for knowledge for knowledge sake would seek them out.
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I think we'll have to disagree on this.

Most (I'll admit, not all, but MOST) D&D settings, things like good, evil, law and order aren't just abstract concepts but tangible aspects of the universe. If you take a major player off the board, it leaves a vacancy and other powers are going to notice that sort of thing. Hence why Lord Soth in particular was such an issue (aside from Margaret Weis throwing a huge tantrum over it); his removal from Krynn would NOT have gone unnoticed.

Very few people look for villains? Yeah, except for adventurers who might want to derail their latest plot, minions looking to get paid, peers looking for an angle, and overlords wondering 'Where did my favorite beatstick-on-legs disappear to?'.

When Vecna was taken he was rather weak when he was taken to Ravenloft. I believe it was 3.0 that listed him only as a lesser god and as a Neutral God, before that he was just a Demigod and Lawful Evil in AD&D.
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'Just a demigod', which is what raises my hackles about the quasi-Mary-Sue-ness of the Dark Powers. 'Oh, we can totally restrain a god even!'. And where does it list Vecna as a neutral deity?
 
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