Topics

181

RPGs / Post Bargain Bin Favorites

« on: April 21, 2009, 12:40:20 AM »

The RPG industry has created a very extensive backlog of work in its short existence, the majority of which is totally or nearly forgotten by now. How many books are printed, sold off and never reprinted, only to drift from collection to collection until they fall apart or are thrown away? How many titles will never be read again? Of course every gamer has at least one old book they still read or use. Let's shed a little light on these bargain bin favorites.

I'll start with one I just picked up in the used book section of my local game store for 3 bucks.

    Black Lake, California, the idyllic small town you've always dreamed of . . . clean air, sparkling water and a scenic countryside . . . friendly townfolk and an easy life style . . . a perfect haven where everything is beautiful and peaceful!

    Almost.

    There's the mayor who doesn't remember hiring the investigators, the phones that give a constant busy signal, the sudden storm that drowns three brothers, the mysterious van that cruises the streets of Black Lake.

    And then the dead begin to walk . . .

    As the investigators unfold the strange events shrouding Black Lake, they are drawn deeper and deeper into a complex web of horror, uncovering a sinister plot that is paralyzing the whole town. Only they can foil the plot that threatens to turn Black Lake into Zombietown U.S.A.

I haven't read the whole thing, but Zombietown presents a believable small town, with detailed maps of every building in the town and the actual scenario is quite fascinating. It's written in a very bizarre manner though. The background behind the zombies and the actual plot isn't revealed until the last 2 pages of the 64 page module and even then it's only written in a sidebar! The game devotes more space to the greasy spoon diner than the reason why zombies are attacking the town.

However, the actual plot is pretty fucking cool. Basically a mad scientist invented a cloning machine that can copy a person's mind and grow a clone of them in 6 weeks. He can edit the person's memories and inject them into the clone. So, he's literally killed everyone in the town and replaced them with clones that are fanatically loyal to him. The zombies are just deformed clones with incredible regenerative powers. Oh and he's doing this to kill a rival scientist who's holed up in a mansion near the town. And the mad scientist's henchmen are badass mercenaries called the four horsemen, each of whom are named after a color (white the albino, black the black guy, red the native american and yellow the asian merc)

And it's dual statted for autoduels, which gives everyone in the town guns and a heavy tank cannon that can hit anything in a 3 mile radius around the town.

It's insane and I can't wait to run this 20 year old module.

182

General Chaos / Legendary threads on the internets

« on: April 20, 2009, 03:46:47 PM »

A collection of crazy and awesome threads throughout the Internet http://www.metafilter.com/81008/Legendary-Threads-and-Hive-Minds

Such as Lessons learned from the ER: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=257985

#5: Stay away from people named "Some Guy" or "This One Dude", because they for whatever reason, just punch someone in the face or hit them with a crowbar and run off. If I see them on the street, I cross the street to get away from them.

183

RPGs / Famous Last Words

« on: April 19, 2009, 11:26:48 PM »

http://www.karmakaze.org/flw/

# "Yeah, I know it's dangerous, but think of the experience points."

# "I stand right underneath the Fire Giant and point my wand straight up."

# "Don't worry. I've got a plan."

# "They can't see me. I'm invisible!"

# "I wonder what's in here?"

# "He wouldn't try that trick again!"

# "My two mutations? ...But I've only one!"

# "Just because you're a dragon doesn't mean you can push ME around."

# "They don't look so tough."

184

RPGs / Project Management in games - THIS SHIT JUST GOT REAL

« on: April 18, 2009, 01:43:44 AM »

Cody picked the wrong session of D&D to miss. Long story short: the party found out that a crazy bastard, Cortez, rules over a bunch of tribes near the mountains. He is a tyrant. Think Kurtz from the Heart of Darkness who uses a bag of devouring to execute dissidents.

So the party finds out this session that the spirit Ant granted Cortez power because he promised to use it to build civilization even if it means slavery and oppression. The players argue with Ant that mortals have free will and slavery is wrong. Ant doesn't give a fuck. Players say that mortals build more efficiently  if they are free. Ant is intrigued and decides to hold a contest. The players and Cortez are both told of ruins near their respective settlement. Whoever can rebuild these ruins first wins Ant's favor. NO OTHER RULES. The players find out that the ruins near Bordertown are a system of canals similar to the Venetian Arsenal http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venetian_Arsenal

I divided the project into 6 major tasks. Each task can be done by NPCs off screen or by the players through an adventure. 

1. Scout the ruins - the Lemurian Arsenal has been buried and is now a dungeon basically.
2. Map the ruins - a cartographer has to take precise measurements after the general layout is known.
3. Unearth the ruins - gotta dig it up.
4. Plan the renovation - engineers gotta figure out how to rebuild it.
5. Acquire materials for renovation - a lot of stone and lumber will be needed
6. Construction - they need a whole load of manpower to do this.

There are 3 meta tasks/duties that affect all 6 major tasks. If the players have time or wish to get more help next session they can get help in these areas

1. Transportation - getting shit moved faster either by mundane or magical means
2. Security  - both physical security and information security
3. Logistics  - Coordinating this shit together to maximize efficiency


The players made deals with 6 of the 7 merchant lords of the colony (except Axgore the slave trader of course) both the Black Raven and Gray Fang tribes and Governor Wyatt to do 5 of the 6 tasks. The players will complete one of the tasks by doing a crazy balls to the walls pulp action Indiana Jones style adventure I will plan next week.

I ASK YOU OF THE RPPR FORUMS

What kind of complications, additional tasks or meta-tasks, adventure hooks and so on come to mind?  What curveballs can I throw at them, what steps have I ignored? I don't want to turn this into a corporate managerial task but I want the players to feel like real movers and shakers. Have you ever run a game with this kind of idea?

185

General Chaos / uncomfortable movie summaries

« on: April 15, 2009, 02:18:07 PM »

http://www.postmodernbarney.com/2009/04/uncomfortable-plot-summaries/

# BATMAN: Wealthy man assaults the mentally ill.
# BENJI: Family abandons beloved pet, forcing it to engage in a dangerous cross-country journey.
# BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA: Redneck trucker kills Chinese immigrants.

186

RPGs / Astropia - Icelandic gaming comedy movie

« on: April 14, 2009, 05:06:20 PM »

A listener emailed me about this gaming movie. The US trailer is here

<a href="" target="_blank" class="aeva_link bbc_link new_win"></a>

and all I can say is that I will do whatever it takes to see this movie.

187

Role Playing Public Radio Podcast / RPPR reviews on iTunes

« on: April 14, 2009, 01:38:49 AM »

We just got our first negative review (1 star) on iTunes. Why? Profanity from the new world campaign actual play, that's why. As a result, I have the default tag as explicit for all future podcasts as even our episodes do seem to be R rated these days. Also, I don't want to see any flames for the person who gave the review. It's an opinion and certainly valid. Not every wants to hear it and that's fine. If you don't like profanity, you wouldn't like the actual play. If you want to do something about the negative review, give a positive review on iTunes instead.

188

Play by Post / how to end a play by post game

« on: April 13, 2009, 01:05:00 AM »

http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=2636788&userid=0&perpage=40&pagenumber=69

A GURPS zombie survival horror game that lasted a long ass time (started in 2007) so even though I was a player I decided to wrap things up.

I'll update the Law and Orcdom game tomorrow night. Been studying for a crazy hard test.

Here's the last two posts. I'm Jack.

Jack

Shotguns roar. Molotovs sail through the air and burst into the flames against rotted flesh. Flames consume the walking corpses but not fast enough. A shell spills out of the hands of a survivor as he frantically tries to reload. The horde of undead descends upon the last survivors, only a few scant feet from the living when the unexpected happens.

A zombie sneezes.

"CUT!" Jack roars. A bell rings. "Check the gate!"

"We're clear."

Pyrotechnics experts swiftly douse the fires. The zombies stand up and relax.

"Let's break for lunch. Bob, how are we doing on time?"

Bob the producer rushes up to consult with the director. The actors head to catering, where a tent has been set up to serve the horde of hungry undead and survivors. The extras in zombie makeup start smoking, laughing and checking their makeup.

Jose or rather Manuel, is already talking to his agent in his native London accent about working on the stage. "It's been bloody ages since I was in something respectable. These damn b-movies pay the bills, but I want to tread the boards once again."

Trevor hugs his wife and two kids, who beam with pride after seeing Daddy at work. They laugh and head to his trailer.

After Jack consults with Bob about the schedule, he heads to grab some grub at the catering tent. A few of the extras spot him and rush up. They talk about being fans of his work and zombie movies in general. After taking a picture with them, Jack autographs a copy of the zombie survival guide and script for "DAYS AND NIGHTS OF THE DEAD" by the famous horror writer D. Bubonic. A fan asks "what would you do if the zombie apocalypse happened? Wouldn't it be awesome?"

Jack smiles a bit and shakes his head. "No. I imagine we'd all be fucked." He hands back the guide and script and disappears into the crowd in the tent.

next post is from the GM DocBubonic

Finale

The movie hits the theaters to moderate success. Being a horror film not too many critics like it. Fans on the other hand show a much greater appreciation of the movie. There is a lot of discussion among the fans about the ending.

Jack and Jose lead the survivors of the Walmart away from the zombies in a last ditch escape. They make the fateful choice of leaving behind what was to become their home. It looked like the movie might end with the survivors on the road looking for safety, but in a miraculous turn of events they meet up with other survivors. The several survivors that left previously welcome the new arrivals. The remnants of the Walmart survivors set up a new home. They work hard as winter approaches and manage to survive through into spring. The credits close as they see the first blooms of spring.

Many fans wondered if that was it. What happened to them? Other fans criticize the movie as being too easy on the survivors. Still there were a few that hated the film for being unrealistic.

Those involved in the film, however, feel a bit unnerved about the possibility of a real zombie apocalypse.

I let the thread slip a bit too much, but at least we have an ending. clockworkjoe, I liked what you did, so I figured I'd work off that. Thank you to everyone involved in the game.

189

General Chaos / Omegle - for all your random chat trolling

« on: April 12, 2009, 04:30:58 PM »

http://omegle.com/

It connects you to a random person on the Internet so you chat. I am not very good at it.

You're now chatting with a random stranger. Say hi!
Stranger: Hi
You: Hello
Stranger: asl?
You: did you roll up a character?
Stranger: nay
You: If you didn't you can use a pregen
Your conversational partner has disconnected.

You're now chatting with a random stranger. Say hi!
You: Hello
Stranger: hello
You: how are you
You: are you ready to begin
Stranger: I'm fine thank you (:
You: That's good
Stranger: yes I am
Stranger: how are you?
You: Good!
You: I'm doing great
Stranger: great
You: Okay you find yourself in a strange new land
You: you seem to be in a forest
Stranger: okaay
You: it is morning
Stranger: cool
You: and early spring
You: what do you do
Stranger: ooh
Stranger: hmm
Stranger: I'm singing and dancing around
You: you hear birds singing up in the trees
You: when suddenly!
You: a branch snaps nearby!
You: something lurks in the bushes
Stranger: ooh!
You: about ten yards from you
Stranger: Oh no!
You: what do you do?
Stranger: stop singing and turn around to look
You: you see a horn poking through the bushes
You: a single long horn
Stranger: EEEEEEK!!!
Stranger: jesus chirst!
You: then you see a horse's face
You: attached to the horn
Stranger: aww...
Stranger: it's a unicorn?
Stranger: so sweeet...
You: there is a tattoo under the unicorn's eye
You: a tattoo of a teardrop
You: you recognize it as a prison tat
Stranger: beautiful I think
You: this unicorn has done hard time
You: it is looking at you while it munches on some leaves
Stranger: aww.. you little poor beauty
You: It narrows its eyes
You: what do you do?
You: you remember that you must get to the village before dark
Stranger: I think he/she doesn't like to be called litlle beauty
Stranger: Oh I remember!
You: the unicorn starts picking its teeth with a switchblade
You: you're not sure how it can hold a switchblade but you dare not question it
You: what do you remember?
You: the unicorn finishes picking its teeth
You: then eyes the purse of gold coins tied to your belt
Stranger: geez, I'm trying to empathise in this story ok
Your conversational partner has disconnected.

190

General Chaos / Problem Sleuth and MSpaint adventures

« on: April 12, 2009, 01:14:03 AM »

http://mspaintadventures.com/?s=4

It begins here. This is a long adventure and you shouldn't try to rush through it in one sitting. Let it fester in your imagination for a few days, especially when THE SHIT GETS REAL.

191

RPGs / The Ultimate RPG Resources thread

« on: April 10, 2009, 02:24:34 AM »

Going to make this a one stop shop for RPG resouces on the Internet. This will take a while.

Systems
ORE

Reign
Reign Character Generator http://rpgs.mapache.org/reign/ore-character-generator

Free Systems
This is the one stop list for free RPGS http://www.metafilter.com/98869/Just-add-dice
Free RPG List one http://www.darkshire.net/~jhkim/rpg/freerpgs/fulllist.html
Free RPG list two: http://www.1km1kt.net/
Free RPG list three: http://www.homebrew.net/games/

Mapping Software
Hexographer http://inkwellideas.com/?page_id=229

Online Game Software
Maptool: http://www.rptools.net/

Game Design
D&D Dungeon Analysis http://www.enworld.org/forum/general-rpg-discussion/168563-dungeon-layout-map-flow-old-school-game-design.html


Fantasy
Random dungeon generator: http://www.gozzys.com/article.php?cm_id=8
Skeleton Key Random Dungeon generator: http://www.random-generator.com/dungeons/index.php
Magical Medieval Cities http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=55264&filters=900_0_0_0
Creation and Depiction of Fantasy Cities http://forum.cartographersguild.com//showthread.php?t=2844

4E D&D resources
Encounter generator: http://www.asmor.com/scripts/4eEncounterGen/
Monster math cruncher: http://www.asmor.com/scripts/4eMonsterMathCruncher/

Horror
Creepy plot hooks

192

Play by Post / [Risus] Law and Orcdom SVU - Tavern Troubles

« on: April 09, 2009, 09:55:40 PM »

Kell's Tavern - 1 AM - Saturday

A call comes into the station. Homicide at a local tavern, popular with adventurers. The case is immediately assigned to SVU. As with so many other nights, you drop what you're doing and head to Kell's Tavern.

A fine mist washes over you as you head over. Another storm elemental passing over the city-another illegal immigrant looking for work in the prime material plane. The night watch has already cordoned off the street in front of Kell's tavern by the time you get there. It's square in the middle of the slums, goblin shantys built on top of squat human tenements. The streets emptied after the night watch showed up.

The victim is Kell the 7th, owner and operator of the tavern, sprawled in the street in front of the tavern. A wicked drow dagger sticks out of his chest. Three watchmen stand by, eating glazed rations.

Welcome to the Law and Orcdom game. Post your character's name at the top of your post in bold. Post your actions as normal text. Post Out of character stuff in italics. For the purposes of this game, all characters can participate in all parts of the investigation. The lawyers have to stick lawyering type actions while the detections stick to detecting. But you're all members of the same team, so don't worry too much about proper protocol.

193

RPGs / Dave Arneson passed away

« on: April 09, 2009, 01:20:00 PM »

http://grognardia.blogspot.com/2009/04/sadly-this-is-accurate.html

He is the co-creator of D&D and the author of the first campaign, Blackmoor.

194

General Chaos / Motor Home From Hell

« on: April 08, 2009, 10:42:41 PM »

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Motor-Home-from-Hell/87919469745

http://www.rifflepictures.com/

It rolls on Axles of Evil!

The mysterious fortune teller, Madame X, had a psychic vision of a 1975 recreational vehicle packed with vampires and zombies, driven by the Devil.

Phil Philby, parapsychological PI and ex-C.I.A. hit man, took the case. A Cajun meth cooker, a sadistic country sheriff, sinister government agents, and a pricey Indian medicine man are only a few of their problems.

Can they stop this horrific challenge to Homeland Security before the evil RV triggers the apocalypse? Hell-on-wheels takes on a horrific — and hilarious — new meaning. It’s a wicked political satire that resonates with the weirdness of today’s news. Motor Home From Hell rolls on axles of evil, powered by an infernal combustion engine of explosive, subversive humor.


Ask me about the movie here.

SPECIAL FOR RPPR listeners

Podcast Edition DVD - $15.50 - Get a bonus RPPR Postcard with a unique message from Tom and I with your copy of MHFH.

Mystery Grab Bag $22.50 - Get some random schwag related to RPPR - What will it be? Character sheets from previous games? Stuff I got at Gencon? WHO KNOWS!??

195

RPGs / Scenario Hooks and Ladders

« on: April 07, 2009, 07:57:31 PM »

This is a forum game I just came up with: First, you post one scenario hook, a one sentence description of a possible scenario that incorporates the ladder from the previous post.  Then you post a scenario ladder, which extends to the next person's post. The ladder is a single element (theme, NPC, item, place) that can be described in one sentence.

So it goes

Poster 1: Hook one
Ladder one

Poster 2: Hook two (using ladder one)
Ladder two

Poster 3:
Hook three (using ladder two)
Ladder three

I will go first

Hook one: A mad sorcerer wrote all of his accumulated knowledge as arborglyphs, carved messages on every tree of a remote forest but hundreds of years later a great evil shall be summoned and can only be stopped by a ritual written on seven specific trees scattered far and wide through it.


Ladder one:  Legacy systems archaeologist - WANTED: INDIVIDUALS FAMILIAR WITH 3270, VAX/VMS, COBOL, AS/400, AND OTHER LEGACY SYSTEMS NO ONE ELSE REMEMBERS.