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Role Playing Public Radio Podcast / Re: Cody Fan Club
« on: January 13, 2010, 10:55:43 PM »
So, I'm not really sure about the Cathartic Lobster, is there somewhere I could look to expand my knowledge?
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1487
RPGs / Re: My Gripe with 4th Ed.
« on: January 13, 2010, 03:08:26 PM »
To put my two cents in, I think that if done right, both are "equally good" (extrapolating 4E's potential of course to the 8 or whatever years 3.0-3.5 was out). The two are fairly different, and I think would be just as good as each other given a thorough understanding of the mechanics and a well-written/run/played game/session/campaign. What it ultimately comes down to (in my opinion, reading all of this as well as my experience) is that it is much easier to write/run/play 4E because it is more standardized and "balanced" (I won't necessesarily say simplified because I don't know if it really is). This may be a result of it being new, but I think the development had this in mind, especially the way levels work consistently in this version. A 5th level character can use a 5th level item and fight a 5th level monster with reasonable balance, and the same for any other level (as opposed to 3 where you had to deal with CR and tables to find experience). I think the standardization makes it much easier to run a good or great game with the same knowledge, experience, and time it would have taken to do a decent or okay game in the previous.
So that's pretty much the conclusion I've drawn. I wish there was more variety in the spells (reflecting back, I liked a lot of the random crazy spells like talk with animals, morph stone, or whatever else), and maybe a simplification of fighters, but hey, maybe that's something to homebrew, it certainly seems like it wouldn't be too tough. An idea I had recently to create more of a 3.0-3.5 feel is to boost the power of the at-will Martial powers a little, or allow 1-2 more, and remove the encounter abilities. Granted it would take some work and testing, but hey, maybe that would fix things up for people who don't like having so many powers to choose from.
So that's pretty much the conclusion I've drawn. I wish there was more variety in the spells (reflecting back, I liked a lot of the random crazy spells like talk with animals, morph stone, or whatever else), and maybe a simplification of fighters, but hey, maybe that's something to homebrew, it certainly seems like it wouldn't be too tough. An idea I had recently to create more of a 3.0-3.5 feel is to boost the power of the at-will Martial powers a little, or allow 1-2 more, and remove the encounter abilities. Granted it would take some work and testing, but hey, maybe that would fix things up for people who don't like having so many powers to choose from.
1488
Role Playing Public Radio Podcast / Re: The RPPR AP podcast site is now up
« on: January 12, 2010, 02:22:08 PM »
Just out of curiosity, how many/how long (time wise)/how much (memory wise) actual plays are recorded (roughly, if you happen to know)?
1489
RPGs / Re: Help with military style 4E game
« on: January 12, 2010, 12:49:51 AM »
The other question I forgot to ask opinions on was this:
What are your thoughts on the "morality" of the war, should it be more clearly defined with good vs. evil (i.e. a faction that wants to conquer and enslave and one that wants to protect), or less defined (with basically factions fighting for resources or territory).
There would obviously be a decent amount of moral ambiguity either way, but I can't seem to really decide between the two myself...
What are your thoughts on the "morality" of the war, should it be more clearly defined with good vs. evil (i.e. a faction that wants to conquer and enslave and one that wants to protect), or less defined (with basically factions fighting for resources or territory).
There would obviously be a decent amount of moral ambiguity either way, but I can't seem to really decide between the two myself...
1490
RPGs / Help with military style 4E game
« on: January 11, 2010, 10:28:39 PM »
Hey all. So I've been wanting to run a campaign set during a large scale war (on the lines of our World Wars), where I'm thinking an early decision of the players would be whether they would actively fight for a given group, or not (essentially making the war a backdrop and at times more pressing). I have several random ideas for adventures/sessions, but am having difficulty with figuring first off, where to start, and secondly, how to get the players hooked. I am obviously going to get a feel for what they actually want to do (actively fight, or use as backdrop), but I wanted to see if any of you had suggestions or could offer advice.
I'll be honest, the real reason I brought this up was that after listening to whichever episode it was that dealt with pacing, I realized that was one of my biggest problems running games, inconsistent/bad pacing. So I wasn't really sure if I should just start them in an army of one group or another, or have them effectively get "draft notices." I still have some significant world building, but I wanted to see if anyone had either experience with a similar campaign, or thoughts on the issue.
I'll be honest, the real reason I brought this up was that after listening to whichever episode it was that dealt with pacing, I realized that was one of my biggest problems running games, inconsistent/bad pacing. So I wasn't really sure if I should just start them in an army of one group or another, or have them effectively get "draft notices." I still have some significant world building, but I wanted to see if anyone had either experience with a similar campaign, or thoughts on the issue.
1491
General Chaos / Re: Best of Youtube
« on: January 11, 2010, 06:13:49 PM »Pachinko!Last one was best...
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1492
RPGs / Re: My Gripe with 4th Ed.
« on: January 11, 2010, 06:08:59 PM »I must admit, that is one of the most humorous examples I can imagine.Simple answer: Games arn't real life, and shouldn't attempt to model it completely. Should the car in Monopoly get to roll 3 dice because in real life, a car is faster than a thimble?As for wizards not being special - do you think there should be character classes that are just inherently better than others?Yes thats exactly how it should be. In real life everything isnt fair and blanced so why should everything be like that in games?
1493
Role Playing Public Radio Podcast / Re: Gobo Hulk playthrough
« on: January 10, 2010, 10:58:07 PM »I felt I had to post how much fun you can make from Ross's module.
I had to read this like 3 times before I realized it didn't say "how much you can make fun of Ross's module." Don't know why I saw that...
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General Chaos / Re: good kid movies.
« on: January 10, 2010, 01:25:13 PM »That looks like it would take a lot of endurance to watch...Studio Ghibli movies kick ass...
...although don't watch 'Grave of Fireflies'.
Don't get me wrong, "it is the most profoundly human animated film I've ever seen." But i watched it with my wife and by the end we were so enervated that we couldn't summon the power to move until the credits had finished rolling and all we could say was 'Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck'.
you should watch amv hell 3
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General Chaos / Re: Best of Youtube
« on: January 09, 2010, 03:01:46 PM »
Found this as a result of the above post...
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General Chaos / Re: good kid movies.
« on: January 09, 2010, 01:56:02 AM »Studio Ghibli moviesIndeed, if nothing else, they are absolutely stunning, beautiful, and impressive. I recently saw Ponyo and was just amazed at the complexity and detail of the animation...
1497
Role Playing Public Radio Podcast / Re: Question about Future New World Supplements
« on: January 08, 2010, 07:55:02 PM »Could you type up all your notes for all the episodes? That would be a good series of ransoms. : )
Didn't he/you (Ross) say at one point (at least about one session) that a lot was just improvised?
Maybe I just imagined that...
I do have a lot of notes actually - keeping track of every damn named NPC and plot-line plus in session 18 I actually wrote up the sewers as a full on dungeon.
However, I like writing about the new world - the goblin hulk was a lot of fun and if you notice, when the hulk was actually in the game, very little of the stuff in the PDF was in the game - I ran it first, then expanded on it for the PDF. Think of the PDFs as directors cut where I add in a bunch of shit you didn't see the first time around
Yeah, I guess I was thinking more about PDFs being released about adventures, rather than the general campaign rules and information.
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Role Playing Public Radio Podcast / Re: Question about Future New World Supplements
« on: January 08, 2010, 04:51:47 PM »Could you type up all your notes for all the episodes? That would be a good series of ransoms. : )
Didn't he/you (Ross) say at one point (at least about one session) that a lot was just improvised?
Maybe I just imagined that...
1499
General Chaos / Re: Best of Youtube
« on: January 08, 2010, 03:32:44 PM »okay I saw this on boingboing and it is crazy nightmare fuel
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I can't un-see the things I've seen...
Don't know what was more frightening, watching the video or reading the comments (half of which I couldn't tell whether they were being serious or satirical)...
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RPGs / Re: Famous Last Words
« on: January 08, 2010, 03:26:46 PM »I've only made one character in the eleven or twelve years that I've been roleplaying who was a relative non-combatant, and he ended up as the group's field medic. I managed to survive long enough to buy myself some Firearms and Melee dots though, so it all turned out well in the end.
I had fun with non-combat, but it was a lot of work, and I think the GM tried to overcompensate for it at some points by working in something for me to do during that time. It was also my first attempt at a relatively pacifist character (the character idolized MacGyver and tried to live by his example, so he wouldn't kill humans or use guns).