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

[Agent of Z.O.G.]

Almost had a TPK when the ranged characters decided to get in melee with the guy who had multiple triple kills with a chainsaw axe on his record, who then proceeded to use the maneuver that lets him attack all adjacent targets.
Would have been a real TPK but I actually liked the characters so I let the guy actually good at melee survive a hit that would have took him out and he proceeded to crit the bad guy to death on his next turn.
Hopefully next time I throw them at a dangerous adventure only one will make a really dumb decision so I won't look like I'm babying them.

 

[RomanesEuntDomus]

Almost had a TPK when the ranged characters decided to get in melee with the guy who had multiple triple kills with a chainsaw axe on his record, who then proceeded to use the maneuver that lets him attack all adjacent targets.
Would have been a real TPK but I actually liked the characters so I let the guy actually good at melee survive a hit that would have took him out and he proceeded to crit the bad guy to death on his next turn.
Hopefully next time I throw them at a dangerous adventure only one will make a really dumb decision so I won't look like I'm babying them.

The thing is, as a GM, I don't find it bad to slightly fudge numbers to avoid a TPK. Shouldn't become a habit, though and the players should retain their suspension of disbelief regarding the fudging of numbers.

If the players do something really stupid, avoiding a TPK in favor of a nice group of characters is okay, too. But it should be a one-off thing and the group should be substantially more careful thereafter.

 

[Jet Fuel Johnny]

Well, like I said we wrapped up the old campaign and started a new one.

We had a MASSIVE map, but loading times became an issue and we had dice-lag on roll20.net which sucks, because the players liked having a huge map. Now, if you didn't know, roll20 recently changed the way dynamic lighting works and HOLY SHIT is it a lag-hog.

There's been some changes to the game since my last post. The characters are pretty much the same, but the witch's player bought a card pack.

So we use Tarot cards to come up with our missions, since if the cards look bad any mission I come up with will be: "Um, the cards said that relationships are in danger. I'm going to take my mother and my aunts shopping! The nobleman will just have to hope nobody murders his ass and he shouldn't have been down here anyway." It's smooth after a few weekends of practice and works really well.

Like I stated before, I've got the whole Gangs of New York shit going on in the background, riots now and then in the city over food and racial tensions (You better get your knife eared ass out of here, this is Blood Hawks territory, tree humper), as well as crooked guard.

I made some different city section maps and the city is basically a huge metropolis with rough descriptions of the areas and it still works well. A quick couple of geomorph map pieces for the next adventure and POOF, it works great.

We were kind of nervous about the family part. The players were nervous I'd do the whole "AND THEN THE BAD GUYS KILLED ALL YOUR FAMILY!" and I was worried they wouldn't want to interact with their family.

It works pretty good now. They had to get one of the kobold's cousins out of jail, bribe the guard with drugs, take him back home. He was smuggling "beehive bolts" for the crossbows, which is kind of this nebulous illegal hand crossbow bolt. So the kobold had the orc hold his cousin's head in a rain barrel while yelling "THIS IS WHY YOU STOP HANGING OUT WITH ELVES" till the cousin passed out, then they carried him back and the kobold's aunt beat the cousin's ass.

The two big locations are "Auntie's Mahjong Parlor" and "Uncle Sven's Tavern" where they hang out and pick up jobs. They followed the cards, which led them to two carts moving through the alleys at night. They stopped them, the guards on the carts had rusted chainmail and old short swords, so they beat these guys half to death. (Non-lethal is preferable in the campaign) The carts were full of bags of wheat. FUCKING SCORE. They had Uncle Sven fence it and took a couple pounds each of the wheat grain back to their families. This makes them local heroes. "That's my baby right there, (s)he made sure we got us some wheat!" and "Why can't you be more like your cousin? She makes sure everyone has wheat and you're lazy ass just panhandles outside the brothels."

The encounter between the kobold and the guards was a riot. The guards are looking for a sniper who kills every couple days. Heavy crossbow, fired from the rooftops, headshots, random (so far, no pattern had been figured out) victims. A noble's guard got sniped so the guard had to leave the wine-shops, taverns, brothels, and actually patrol the streets. The group gets stopped. Put up against the wall and patted down.

Guard, slightly pissed off: "Any weapons?"
Kobold> My crossbow
New young guard: "HE'S GOT A CROSSBOW!"
Old guard: No he doesn't. LOL
NYG: He totally admitted it.
OG: It's not a crossbow. Beep, show him.
The kobold pulls out a kobold sized hand crossbow. You know, a fucking tiny weapon.
OGs: AHAHAHAHAHAH!
NYG: What the fuck is that?
Kobold: My crossbow.
OG: AHAHAHAHAHAHHA!
NYG: That's not a crossbow. Put that shit away.

Guard leaves, forgetting to search the group, laughing at the whole "It's a crossbow!" shit.

It's been a long time since I've done an evil/street campaign and I forgot how interesting it could be. Someone stole from the guards and disappeared into the slums. The guard got ahold of auntie and uncle and the witch tossed the cards, which gave us an idea of how to go. So the players catch him, the guard takes this dude out to the edge of the docks, and the guard just shoots the dude in the back of the head with a crossbow, tell the PC's to thank Auntie and Uncle, and the next time they get picked up by the guard, they got let go with "We're even now."

The players have been having the character's shook up by the guard just snuffing the dude, so they're real careful around the guard again.

Establishing big families is fun too. "Beep" has cousins and siblings all over the place and we've established that kobolds are tight knit, so when the PC's were running from a North Dock Gang, they saw a kobold sweeping an alley and got help, hiding out till the coast was clear then getting home through the sewers escorted by a couple kobolds. This let me establish the sewers as winding, multi-level, with some sections from the old city that got buried, and pretty interesting.

The most important part though, is the players are having fun. Using the Tarot Deck as our adventure generator/hook and having family all up in the PC's business really alters the whole "murder hobo" thing, since the PC's use non-lethal means. (The Monk's "stunning blow" is kind of used like a knockout punch, the orcess can pick a dude up and powerbomb him through the table, the witch stands in the shadows and fucks people up with her hair, the kobold hides under the table)

Doing the whole 'Cyberpunk/Shadowrun' thing for adventures has really paid off too.

Gotta say, it's really nice.

 

[I-chi]

Well, like I said we wrapped up the old campaign and started a new one.

We had a MASSIVE map, but loading times became an issue and we had dice-lag on roll20.net which sucks, because the players liked having a huge map. Now, if you didn't know, roll20 recently changed the way dynamic lighting works and HOLY SHIT is it a lag-hog.

There's been some changes to the game since my last post. The characters are pretty much the same, but the witch's player bought a card pack.

So we use Tarot cards to come up with our missions, since if the cards look bad any mission I come up with will be: "Um, the cards said that relationships are in danger. I'm going to take my mother and my aunts shopping! The nobleman will just have to hope nobody murders his ass and he shouldn't have been down here anyway." It's smooth after a few weekends of practice and works really well.

Like I stated before, I've got the whole Gangs of New York shit going on in the background, riots now and then in the city over food and racial tensions (You better get your knife eared ass out of here, this is Blood Hawks territory, tree humper), as well as crooked guard.

I made some different city section maps and the city is basically a huge metropolis with rough descriptions of the areas and it still works well. A quick couple of geomorph map pieces for the next adventure and POOF, it works great.

We were kind of nervous about the family part. The players were nervous I'd do the whole "AND THEN THE BAD GUYS KILLED ALL YOUR FAMILY!" and I was worried they wouldn't want to interact with their family.

It works pretty good now. They had to get one of the kobold's cousins out of jail, bribe the guard with drugs, take him back home. He was smuggling "beehive bolts" for the crossbows, which is kind of this nebulous illegal hand crossbow bolt. So the kobold had the orc hold his cousin's head in a rain barrel while yelling "THIS IS WHY YOU STOP HANGING OUT WITH ELVES" till the cousin passed out, then they carried him back and the kobold's aunt beat the cousin's ass.

The two big locations are "Auntie's Mahjong Parlor" and "Uncle Sven's Tavern" where they hang out and pick up jobs. They followed the cards, which led them to two carts moving through the alleys at night. They stopped them, the guards on the carts had rusted chainmail and old short swords, so they beat these guys half to death. (Non-lethal is preferable in the campaign) The carts were full of bags of wheat. FUCKING SCORE. They had Uncle Sven fence it and took a couple pounds each of the wheat grain back to their families. This makes them local heroes. "That's my baby right there, (s)he made sure we got us some wheat!" and "Why can't you be more like your cousin? She makes sure everyone has wheat and you're lazy ass just panhandles outside the brothels."

The encounter between the kobold and the guards was a riot. The guards are looking for a sniper who kills every couple days. Heavy crossbow, fired from the rooftops, headshots, random (so far, no pattern had been figured out) victims. A noble's guard got sniped so the guard had to leave the wine-shops, taverns, brothels, and actually patrol the streets. The group gets stopped. Put up against the wall and patted down.

Guard, slightly pissed off: "Any weapons?"
Kobold> My crossbow
New young guard: "HE'S GOT A CROSSBOW!"
Old guard: No he doesn't. LOL
NYG: He totally admitted it.
OG: It's not a crossbow. Beep, show him.
The kobold pulls out a kobold sized hand crossbow. You know, a fucking tiny weapon.
OGs: AHAHAHAHAHAH!
NYG: What the fuck is that?
Kobold: My crossbow.
OG: AHAHAHAHAHAHHA!
NYG: That's not a crossbow. Put that shit away.

Guard leaves, forgetting to search the group, laughing at the whole "It's a crossbow!" shit.

It's been a long time since I've done an evil/street campaign and I forgot how interesting it could be. Someone stole from the guards and disappeared into the slums. The guard got ahold of auntie and uncle and the witch tossed the cards, which gave us an idea of how to go. So the players catch him, the guard takes this dude out to the edge of the docks, and the guard just shoots the dude in the back of the head with a crossbow, tell the PC's to thank Auntie and Uncle, and the next time they get picked up by the guard, they got let go with "We're even now."

The players have been having the character's shook up by the guard just snuffing the dude, so they're real careful around the guard again.

Establishing big families is fun too. "Beep" has cousins and siblings all over the place and we've established that kobolds are tight knit, so when the PC's were running from a North Dock Gang, they saw a kobold sweeping an alley and got help, hiding out till the coast was clear then getting home through the sewers escorted by a couple kobolds. This let me establish the sewers as winding, multi-level, with some sections from the old city that got buried, and pretty interesting.

The most important part though, is the players are having fun. Using the Tarot Deck as our adventure generator/hook and having family all up in the PC's business really alters the whole "murder hobo" thing, since the PC's use non-lethal means. (The Monk's "stunning blow" is kind of used like a knockout punch, the orcess can pick a dude up and powerbomb him through the table, the witch stands in the shadows and fucks people up with her hair, the kobold hides under the table)

Doing the whole 'Cyberpunk/Shadowrun' thing for adventures has really paid off too.

Gotta say, it's really nice.

I would actually be interested to know more about the mechanics of how this sort of system would work? Or maybe I'm just autistic and not getting as much of a read on it as I could be just from your descriptions ( and they are wonderful to read ). I say this because coincidentally, my current Saturday group has been using a little tarot deck for occasional fun and I get the feeling the DM is using some of the readings to nudge forthcoming events in a particular fashion. Nothing game breaking, but just as a point of noticing.

This is actually a really flavorful sounding way to give the DM some exploration.

 

[Wallace]

Another day, another Onyx Path writer accused of being a sex pest. This time, it's Matt McElroy, Onyx Path's operations director and longtime employee of DriveThruRPG. He's a contributing author on a few Onyx Path titles, along with the rapist Matt McFarlane and lolcow David Hill. So that's two sex pests that David has associated with. He must be shitting the bed even harder than usual now, if the net is closing in around him.

 

[Jet Fuel Johnny]

I would actually be interested to know more about the mechanics of how this sort of system would work? Or maybe I'm just autistic and not getting as much of a read on it as I could be just from your descriptions ( and they are wonderful to read ). I say this because coincidentally, my current Saturday group has been using a little tarot deck for occasional fun and I get the feeling the DM is using some of the readings to nudge forthcoming events in a particular fashion. Nothing game breaking, but just as a point of noticing.

This is actually a really flavorful sounding way to give the DM some exploration.

To be honest, a lot of it is just pulling it out of my ass.

It's a standard roll20.net Tarot deck. It has the explanation of the cards, and I just look at the three or six cards she pulls and start just making stuff up and applying it to the game.

I wish I had a basic system, but right now we're still in the 'ass pull' stage of figuring stuff out.

 

[Swiss46]

The thing is, as a GM, I don't find it bad to slightly fudge numbers to avoid a TPK. Shouldn't become a habit, though and the players should retain their suspension of disbelief regarding the fudging of numbers.

If the players do something really stupid, avoiding a TPK in favor of a nice group of characters is okay, too. But it should be a one-off thing and the group should be substantially more careful thereafter.

I tend to fudge outcomes rather than numbers most of the time. For example instead of an orc chopping off the fighters head and rampaging into the other party members, I'll have him knock the fighter out and threaten to end his life if the rest of the party doesn't surrender. It gives the players a chance to save their friend or lets them decide to be orc prisoners looking for a way to escape. Of course They could also still ignore it and fight letting the fighter die, but usually they aren't dicks.

 

[RomanesEuntDomus]

I tend to fudge outcomes rather than numbers most of the time. For example instead of an orc chopping off the fighters head and rampaging into the other party members, I'll have him knock the fighter out and threaten to end his life if the rest of the party doesn't surrender. It gives the players a chance to save their friend or lets them decide to be orc prisoners looking for a way to escape. Of course They could also still ignore it and fight letting the fighter die, but usually they aren't dicks.

That's good, too.

The "NPC doesn't want to get killed/kill" angle is often underrated by GMs I think and instead of getting characters killed, GMs should just make them end up in a cell and give them the opportunity to flee in an epic fashion.

I've got a bit of a soft spot for "classical" roleplaying shit, like the dimwitted cell guard, that the characters outsmart or steal the keys from, tavern brawls with people swinging on chandeliers and all that jazz.

 

[Jet Fuel Johnny]

I tend to fudge outcomes rather than numbers most of the time. For example instead of an orc chopping off the fighters head and rampaging into the other party members, I'll have him knock the fighter out and threaten to end his life if the rest of the party doesn't surrender. It gives the players a chance to save their friend or lets them decide to be orc prisoners looking for a way to escape. Of course They could also still ignore it and fight letting the fighter die, but usually they aren't dicks.

That's kind of the nice thing about the "non-lethal" part of the combat in my new game.

A character knocked out can be threatened. And both sides do it.

"Back off or your friend gets it..." really works because there's a lot of getting knocked out and coming back.

I've also had the whole "Your Intimidate check reminds two of the guys you're facing that the bruises on their face from the last time you fought them haven't healed and they put their hands up and back up, leaving the rest of the group looking a little more nervous."

It also lets me fudge sometimes. Have the sneak attack be with a truncheon instead of a dagger, that way if I accidentally crit and would have dropped them to -11 or whatever, instead it just left them REALLY messed up.

 

[Agent of Z.O.G.]

Another day, another Onyx Path writer accused of being a sex pest. This time, it's Matt McElroy, Onyx Path's operations director and longtime employee of DriveThruRPG. He's a contributing author on a few Onyx Path titles, along with the rapist Matt McFarlane and lolcow David Hill. So that's two sex pests that David has associated with. He must be shitting the bed even harder than usual now, if the net is closing in around him.
View attachment 1408162
View attachment 1408163
View attachment 1408164
View attachment 1408165
View attachment 1408166
View attachment 1408167
View attachment 1408168
View attachment 1408169
View attachment 1408170
View attachment 1408171

I made it a paragraph before quitting, is this something real or is it just some bitch who realized it's "get every one of your ex-boyfriends' careers ruined" month?

 

[WinchesterPremium]

I made it a paragraph before quitting, is this something real or is it just some bitch who realized it's "get every one of your ex-boyfriends' careers ruined" month?

After the first two pages it reads like a parody, after three I hate whoever wrote this.

From what I can tell there was no sex consensual or otherwise, he just awkwardly hit on a crazy chick. Big step down from Black Hate "Pedo Rapist" Matt.

 

[I-chi]

To be honest, a lot of it is just pulling it out of my ass.

It's a standard roll20.net Tarot deck. It has the explanation of the cards, and I just look at the three or six cards she pulls and start just making stuff up and applying it to the game.

I wish I had a basic system, but right now we're still in the 'ass pull' stage of figuring stuff out.

Hey, that's still an idea! If you ever do end up refining it further, then by all means get it out there. I'm glad it's working out so well for your group.

 

[robobobo]

After the first two pages it reads like a parody, after three I hate whoever wrote this.

From what I can tell there was no sex consensual or otherwise, he just awkwardly hit on a crazy chick. Big step down from Black Hate "Pedo Rapist" Matt.

Yeah, it actually got hilarious when she started mentioning keeping her hand on a knife in her purse around him and always putting her back to a wall. Just imagining this oblivious guy walking down the street with a woman who's crab-walking along a wall with a knife in her hand giving him a fish-eyed stare the whole time.

 

[WinchesterPremium]

Yeah, it actually got hilarious when she started mentioning keeping her hand on a knife in her purse around him and always putting her back to a wall. Just imagining this oblivious guy walking down the street with a woman who's crab-walking along a wall with a knife in her hand giving him a fish-eyed stare the whole time.

My favorite part was "MY FEMALE ROOMATE IS IN THE COAST GUARD! DON'T MESS WITH ME!" and then saying he backed off because of that like it was a valid threat.

 

[VIPPER?]

There are some genuinely good SJW type games,

goddamn Eclipse Phase

 

[Maskull]

I've tried twice. Once I was GMing GURPS and we didn't get past character creation (and I realize what I could have done better in retrospect), the other time I was playing Delta Green and we managed to get through one session before it fell apart. If I was going to try it again, either GMing or playing, I'd want it to be a public thread on KF so that the open spots inevitably created when people drop out can be filled quickly and easily.

I've been wanting to run a game for a while, since moving to the other side of the world. But because I'm working insane hours and am shy of the International Date Line, it's hard to arrange for groups.

I made a huge mistake of deciding to advertise on Roll20, to see about timing. I seemed to have hooked all those in the pronoun crowd.

It seems there's a fair bit of interest in setting up a game here. Why not give it a whirl? The worst thing that happens is that nothing would come of it.

 

[Jet Fuel Johnny]

Yesterday's was fun despite all the goddamn glitches in the system. The dynamic lighting is screwed, they moved the sensing for dynamic light to the upper right corner of the square meaning that it was easy for the group to accidentally see into sections. The character sheets got swapped for other ones and we had to change them back. Then the Bestairy wasn't properly populating the NPC sheets.

Sometimes Roll20 feels like a goddamn trash fire.

Uncle Sven was worried about some kobolds who hadn't picked up their paychecks from the Sewer Management Guild, so the party had to not only track down a kobold named Beep's boss, but then get access to the sewers, then followed Beep's chalk marks through the sewers which twice led in a circle. They got rousted twice by the guard. First time the guard was looking for weapons, drugs, or 'erotic halfling pamphlets' and again we had the "He's got a crossbow" and then "AHAHAHA. GTFOH", the second time they were let go because they had the key to the sewer and said they were working for the Guild. Fighting zombies or skeletons when they got off track, being ambushed by goblins, collapsing a tunnel dug up from the undercity where they think the goblins were coming through, then an ambush by an advanced crocodile (which led to them just running).

The good news was, they rescued Beep.

Then they went home to lick their wounds, make a necklace out of a crocodile tooth, and have cupcakes that Beep's mother made for them.

This is really turning into a fun game for a bunch of evil characters.

 

[Lithos]

It seems there's a fair bit of interest in setting up a game here. Why not give it a whirl? The worst thing that happens is that nothing would come of it.

Fine I will. Anyone want to play in a Starfinder or Star Trek Adventures campaign? I'm in Tokyo time, so arranging that on Discord will be fun.

 

[Maskull]

Fine I will. Anyone want to play in a Starfinder or Star Trek Adventures campaign? I'm in Tokyo time, so arranging that on Discord will be fun.

Perhaps an independent thread would be the best way to advertise.

Actually a thread that advertises online campaigns in general would probably be even better.

 

[Lithos]

Perhaps an independent thread would be the best way to advertise.

Actually a thread that advertises online campaigns in general would probably be even better.

Eh, I put it up on one of many Discord servers that kiwis frequent. But putting up a "RPG Gatherings for Quaratined Farmers" thread that could be pinned may be a good idea.