Messages

136

RPGs / Re: Game Fodder / Story Fodder

« on: February 25, 2010, 03:13:07 PM »

A Short History of Ireland, BBC Radio 7.

I'm about halfway through this series and it's absolutely brilliant. If you've got a traditional Europe-based fantasy setting, this series gives real-world flavor for Empire vs. Barbarian combat, religious war, subjugation of the impoverished, and the taming of wild lands that's invaluable. It's definitely helped shape my current campaign.

Unfortunately, the series is no longer on the BBC iPlayer, and I would never, ever recommend finding it through torrent sites such as RadioArchive.cc because that would be illegal even if the show were on such sites. Which it is.

137

RPGs / Re: Game Fodder / Story Fodder

« on: February 25, 2010, 10:45:59 AM »

This is the start of a CoC adventure if I've ever heard one.

Roughly 2 million years ago, the Taylor Glacier sealed beneath it a small body of water which contained an ancient community of microbes. [...] Evolving independently of the rest of the living world, these microbes exist without heat, light, or oxygen, and are essentially the definition of "primordial ooze."

-- Blood Falls

138

General Chaos / Re: Best of Youtube

« on: February 25, 2010, 02:06:58 AM »

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

Elder Sign creates an invisible barrier that polyps can't pass through.

139

Role Playing Public Radio Podcast / Re: Chatting with whores

« on: February 25, 2010, 02:03:58 AM »

if you had only take the time to type it out using punctuation.

I dunno, I kinda like the idea of a light-bulb-overhead-prostitute. Sounds like something from Futurama.

140

RPGs / Re: Rifts post-palladium conversion Work in progress

« on: February 24, 2010, 07:16:50 PM »

A ways back, I was involved in a group that published free serialized fiction online. An attempt was made, half jokingly, to post Heroes Unlimited stats for the major characters. We were told almost immediately by Palladium that they don't allow any derivative works, period, end of sentence.

Sure, they can't sue you for posting modified versions of the mechanics, but any term that's their copyright and original IP they can and will harass you about.

Besides, there are already plenty of people making adaptations and system fixes - I can name the Savage Worlds RIFTS adaptation and Doug Wall's "Better Than RIFTS" system off the top of my head - so why bother with another one?

141

RPGs / Re: Game Fodder / Story Fodder

« on: February 23, 2010, 07:22:07 PM »

Apparently, you can view the deck plans of the QE2 online

Princess has deck plans, minus employee-only areas, available online for all of their ships. You can even print them off.

142

RPGs / Re: Game Fodder / Story Fodder

« on: February 23, 2010, 04:28:10 PM »

holy shit http://buncheness.blogspot.com/2010/02/most-disturbing-submission-letter-ever.html?zx=52258aecb5e0c0d7

That's what he gets for having Rob Zombie write his biography.

143

General Chaos / Re: How did you find RPPR?

« on: February 23, 2010, 02:35:28 PM »

I got the idea of doing an actual-play for the system I'm writing and started looking for RPG podcasts to see what other people were doing. I found Paul of Cthulhu's "Horror on the Orient Express", and from the Yog-Sothoth forums I found RPGPodcasts.com. I went through every single AP podcast on there and RPPR was one of a handful of AP podcasts that not only had a high enough recording quality to be listenable but also had a cast that I didn't want to strangle.

144

General Chaos / Re: Forum Rules - READ THIS

« on: February 23, 2010, 12:23:58 PM »

i know that the forum is next to the senate and the vomitoriums but what does that mean on the internet?

145

RPGs / Re: Game Fodder / Story Fodder

« on: February 23, 2010, 12:15:06 PM »

I think that was the most terrifying thing I have read in a long time if not ever...

Like I said, it's really good for showing how to set a terrifying mood. Whenever I want to scare the beejeezus out of the players, I always remember Spielberg's rule of thumb - give an idea of what the monster can do, but don't actually show the monster until the last possible minute. Ted's Diary is a good example of how well that works.

Another good story for a horror atmosphere - Algernon Blackwood's "The Willows". One of Lovecraft's inspirations. it set the tone for future vague, "ancient horror" stories. Good fodder for "spooky woods" settings.

146

RPGs / Re: Game Fodder / Story Fodder

« on: February 22, 2010, 09:53:14 PM »

How do you make people ignore you've moved to a society of total surveillance? Make them self-surveil.

Or loan them equipment that can spy on them, but don't tell them you can spy on them.

Parents of sophomore Blake Robbins last week filed a lawsuit against Harriton High School alleging that the school monitored him via Webcam while he was at home. The family filed the suit after a school administrator accused Robbins of engaging in "improper behavior" in his home and offered a still image from the laptop Webcam as evidence, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported last week.

-- Security Experts Baffled By Pa. School Webcam Spying Case

147

RPGs / Re: Game Fodder / Story Fodder

« on: February 22, 2010, 08:13:24 PM »

Ted's Caving Diary.

Old, but good stuff. I re-read it whenever I want to create a claustrophobic underground atmosphere for players.

148

Role Playing Public Radio Podcast / Re: The Arcadia Signal

« on: February 22, 2010, 05:31:15 PM »

I kept calling it "the Winslow" because it made me think of Carl Winslow from Family Matters.

Another missed opportunity for using celebrity impersonations to provide characterization to NPCs.

149

Role Playing Public Radio Podcast / Re: The Arcadia Signal

« on: February 22, 2010, 02:53:41 PM »

I won't defend his art style, but the Phil & Dixie comic strips in the early issues of Dragon definitely shaped my perceptions of what role-playing should be.

Can't really get into Girl Genius tho'.

150

Role Playing Public Radio Podcast / Re: The Arcadia Signal

« on: February 22, 2010, 02:46:41 PM »

as I am not the Arcadia Signal, I am not omniscient and I do not get this Winslow reference.

The Winslow is a recurring character in Phil Foglio's comics. He's the only being in existence to meet all of the qualifications of being a deity. Unfortunately, he's also a giant, fuzzy, space-faring alligator with no concern at all for the existence of life in the universe.

Phil used to have a page on his StudioFoglio.com site about the origins of the Winslow, but I can't find it at the moment.