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1

RPGs / Re: Anecdote Megathread

« on: April 17, 2010, 02:12:46 PM »

So you decided that you didn't want to have fun and win an imaginary game?

No, not really. I'd been in like half a dozen games over the previous day and a half or so, and I was a little loopy from lack of sleep. I just thought of that solution and wanted to see if it would work. It was never about winning. I just explained that part of it so there'd be some context about why the other players were were giving me looks at the end.

If something had interacted with me or if the Keeper had had a monster find me, I would have played the situation out. And granted, the Keeper could have done that at any time he liked, but he didn't. The whole idea started out as kind of a joke, but then when it kept on working, I figured what the hell, keep doing it.

I just think it's funny that in a game as deadly as CoC, sometimes the best way to live through an "all you need to do is survive, there's no plot beyond that" style scenario is to make yourself as unobtrusive as possible.

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RPGs / Re: Anecdote Megathread

« on: April 17, 2010, 03:12:02 AM »

Here's one of my favorites, from a con game I played in back in like '95 or '96 or so.

We were playing Call of Cthulhu, with about 6 players. I'd played the game before, but not very often. Maybe three or four times. However, I'm a giant Lovecraft nerd and had read everything he'd written, more or less.

So the setup for the game was that the person whose character survived the longest, and lasted to the end of the session, would win some little convention prize. But that we'd have to work together to get through the first half of the session or so, before it would make sense to turn on each other.

So the scenario is that we're passengers on a fishing boat that gets washed up on a mysterious island in a storm. We need to survive until help arrives, and the only structure on the island is a spooky old mansion and it's surrounding out-buildings. On this little island, about 1 mile square.

So I hand the Keeper this note, and tell him this says everything about what my character is doing for the entire game. And every time my turn comes up, I just say "Read the note. That's my action."

Then the other characters start dying in gruesome Mythos fashion, one after another. But my character makes it to the end, and lives to see the rescue helicopter. The Keeper laughs, congratulates me on playing a very boring but very effective CoC hero, and I win the little scenario bonus. The other players start giving me the stink-eye and demand to see the note. Here's what it said:

"Dear Keeper,

Unless I say otherwise, my character does the following every round: I find the spot on the island that's the furthest away from the water, but also not in a building. I then curl up on the ground someplace hidden with my eyes closed and my fingers in my ears. Every so often I look around, and if I see any of the other PCs, I ignore them and do my best to remain hidden.

I know why people die in Call of Cthulhu."

3

RPGs / Re: Good GM Habits

« on: April 16, 2010, 06:51:11 PM »

All the best GMs I've seen have one thing in common; they like the setting and are well-versed in it. Nothing's worse than a GM who can't adapt to their players going even slightly off-script, or who runs a game that's not internally consistent, because they can't be bothered to give a crap about which political faction that one NPC assassin actually worked for.

I think knowing the world enough that you can improvise things or react well to player initiative is a key part to being a good DM.

And have some enthusiasm for the setting. If someone doesn't give a crap about L5R, then maybe they shouldn't run it, no matter how many of their players are crying about not being able to play Crane Clan courtiers in Shadowrun.

A really half-ass game that takes place in a really awesome setting is the worst kind of game. Expectations are too high, and if the DM can't deliver or doesn't care to put in the work, then it's better to just pull the plug on it before everyone's fun gets ruined.

But a really kick-ass game that takes place in a setting that maybe the players don't like as much, but that the DM can get excited about, will usually turn into something really fun, because it's the DM's job to keep things moving.

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General Chaos / Re: Introduction

« on: April 16, 2010, 04:15:43 PM »

Welcome Ulf. Cool website by the way, I like the look of some of those rock terrain sets.

Hey, thanks!

5

RPGs / Re: Anecdote Megathread

« on: April 16, 2010, 04:08:12 PM »

I wanted to share one of my favorite terrible-game anecdotes here, but it would have been a ridiculously gigantic wall of text.

So here's a little taste of it. If you want to read the rest, there's a link down below this excerpt.

The Dungeon of Shame, or How I Learned To Stop Trusting My Players To Take Over As DM.

OK, so, many moons ago my good friend AJ decides that he wants a turn at DM'ing for our D&D 3.5 group. Now, let me preface the rant that follows by saying that AJ is a great guy, and I've got nothing bad to say about him. But, letting this good friend of ours behind the DM's screen turned out to be a lot like letting a lovable 6-year old behind the wheel of a semi truck, barreling through a crowded shopping mall at 70 miles an hour. Bad shit happening was the only possible outcome, and it was bound to end in tears.

So, the set-up for the game:   AJ says he wants to run in the Forgotten Realms setting, and he wants us all to play something we've always had our eye on, but other DMs wouldn't let us play. He tells us to cut loose. Anything officially published by WOTC is fair game. This is the first sign of trouble. Savage Species books get pulled off shelves. Players start dusting off Books of Vile Darkness and Races of Faerun.

As a long-time DM, I can see the stormclouds on the horizon already, and there's not a tornado shelter in sight. I decide to try and do something to mitigate the madness. I play a human paladin. I figure if the inevitable freakshow party has a very vanilla moral center, maybe we'll survive long enough to follow the plot, right? I can help steer the party away from decisions that will totally derail the game, right?

Wrong. We end with the following gems:

-A wemic barbarian who was some kind of unstoppable ride-by-attacking combat juggernaut.

-A human paladin with a longsword and a shield. (me)

-Some sort of half-devil, platemail-wearing, tumble-skill-specializing greatsword-wielding fighter chick (this player quit after like two sessions, thus ironically proving she was the wisest of all of us).

-A half water-elemental pacifist cleric who fought with a great-club and who’s combat role was simply to go full defense and provide flanking opportunities, heal us and cast Bless every once in a while.

-A wizard from some race that I’ve never even heard of, that the player found in a poorly-translated D&D errata on a Belgian website or something. This character was kind of human, but also kind of made of shadows or darkness, or something…. I don’t fucking know. All I remember is that he tried to screw us out of any treasure we found, every single time we found any.

-And of course, it goes without saying, the timeless D&D classic; a monkey-man bard from some oriental setting book, who played a lute with his tail and feet and danced around on his hands, singing lyrics from bad 70s and 80s heavy-metal songs. Yes, he was Man-O-War Monkey Man….

So, you know, the classic party template. Tolkien would have been proud.

The Hook…. a Broadway classic, as it turns out.

Apparently we’re all in this desert together, thousands of miles from anywhere. And we’ve never met before. Wait, what? And we have no supplies of any kind.  And no reason for being there. It’s just, you know, fate or coincidence or something…. or maybe it’s…. what’s the word? Oh yeah. “Lazy, incompetent fucking DMing”. That was it.

Then a city appears. Yup. Just sort of materializes around us, right in front of our eyes. Poof! A giant city, stretching for hundreds of miles. And we’re standing in the middle of a big market. The PCs are all like “Hey, what the fuck? First I run into this bizarre menagerie of freakshow characters, and now a city appears out of nowhere?” But never fear, because an absolutely awesome rationale is coming for this series of events!

No there isn’t.

So, long story short, the very first thing that happens is that the party is summarily overpowered and imprisoned (for what crime is never made clear, but my paladin’s Detect Evil ability shows that no one here, not a single person, is evil, so clearly we must have been guilty, right? Guess we shouldn’t have been randomly walking around the interior of a vast fucking world-spanning desert without supplies, huh? We should have known the cops would show up….). This all happens completely off-camera, and we have no chance of avoiding or escaping this fate. And then we’re thrown into an arena, where the DM informs us that we’re expected to fight for our freedom.

Then he lets us know that the city only appears once every 500 years, and stays there for 24 hours, after which it vanishes into the mists of time once more. If we can win our freedom in that time, we can leave. To which my response is something like “You mean we’ve been captured by the cast of Brigadoon? Really? I sneak out during intermission!”.

Next comes the part where our DM introduces us to a dude he describes as “an NPC party member to help you guys out if you need it. You’ll love him. I worked really hard writing him up, and he’s a totally original character.”

Enter the NPC…. I shit you not, it was a dual scimitar-wielding drow with a heart of gold, with levels in sorceror and ranger, accompanied by a shadowy dog-cat-monster-thing that could turn into a little statue. His name was Rz’zitt’n. And oh yeah, he also wielded Spellfire, and was the chosen of Mielikki or some shit like that. He was also like 15th level, where the rest of us were level 4.

Continued in Part 2: The Dungeon…. or, Oh My Fucking God This Is Making My Brain Hurt.

Here's the link to the entire thing, posted on my blog, Dice-Speak:    The Dungeon of Shame

6

General Chaos / Re: Best Internet Vidyas

« on: April 16, 2010, 12:58:10 PM »

Not sure if this has made it to this thread yet, but anyone who's ever seen Warhammer being played, this should give you a good chuckle....  Make sure to watch it all the way through to the end of the credits, though!

My Dark Elf Army Is The Greatest Power For Evil In The Lower Mainland of British Columbia!

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General Chaos / Re: Introduction

« on: April 16, 2010, 12:40:17 PM »

Hi all

My names' Ulf, and no, that's not a nickname or character name, before anyone asks...    I'm 34, been gaming since the 80's sometime, and I just found this podcast. I'm getting caught up on all the back epsiodes right now, and I have to say I think it's one of the better gaming podcasts out there.

I'm originally from Germany, now living in northern California after spending quite a few years in New Jersey.  I used to manage a pretty successful game store in Jersey, but have since moved into a career as a professional artist and small business owner.

I love the more off-beat RPGs, but like many people out there I've had trouble getting players to invest in non-D&D games and commit to them. My favorites are probably Kult, The Whispering Vault, Changeling (oWOD 2nd ed), D20 Modern and Mage the Ascension (oWOD 2nd ed). I'm also a big fan of wargames. Particularly Warmachine, Hordes, WH40K, Warzone, and Confrontation.

Tom, I have to tell you, when you read your letters on the episodes it's all I can do to stop from shouting "Amen! Tell it like it is!!".  I've been known to have some strong opinions about RPGs, wargames, and the people who play them, and I've gotten flak for it in the past. So to hear someone else rant on about the same dumb bullshit that drives me crazy.... well, it warms the heart. So thank you! The one about GMs doing bad voices while thinking that they're Oscar-worthy actors, was so dead-on that for the briefest of moments I was sure you must have been spying on this awful 7th Sea game I was involved in..... priceless!