Show Posts

This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.


Messages - ckenp

Pages: [1]
1
Role Playing Public Radio Podcast / Re: Future Podcast Topics
« on: March 22, 2013, 01:44:44 PM »
9. Cross-Ginger Horror (or, how to make "My Little Redhead" scary)
fixed.

2
Role Playing Public Radio Podcast / Re: Precognition
« on: March 20, 2013, 07:02:08 PM »
A great use of the Precognition power I've seen is in Dark Heresy: it gives a bonus to dodge and parry while active, like seeing what the opponent will do just before they do it. It doesn't work at all in a story busting capacity.

As for the seeing the future, I like the idea of split time lines occurring across multiple parrallel universes, so what they see may not be what they empirically experience, just what happens in one possible stream of existence.

You could also play the "Final Destination" angle where they cheat the foreseen outcome, but the end result occurs in other ways.

3
Have you seen the Teratic Tome by Rafael Chandler? (reviewed here and here) It's a fantastic new bestiary designed with Old School D&D in mind, but the monsters are brilliant and evil and really could be used in any game (with some fiddling to translate between systems of course). The book is Open Game Content and the PDF is pretty cheap (only 6.66 from rpgdrivethru). One that caught my eye which could be of particular use in a Call of Cthulhu game is the Thrallborn. Check out this description:
Quote
When the physicians of Miravell were approached by
an elven sorcerer who claimed to know of a cure for
insanity, they were skeptical. But she proved herself;
under her ministrations, a dozen lunatics were cured in
as many days.
The physicians had no idea that she had extracted the
madness in physical form, and transported it from the
insane asylum. These beings are her thralls: shiny wads
of black tissue covered in barbed tentacles and
appendages. Madness incarnate, they slither and clamber
across floors, walls, and ceilings until they have captured
a live humanoid.
After wrenching off the victim's arms and legs, a thrall
tunnels into the abdomen and latches on to the spinal
column. It is now able to see through the eyes of the
dying victim. As the victim bleeds to death, the corpse's
teeth elongate, and its eyes redden.
In its new body, the monster swings from ceilings, clambers
across walls, and scuttles across floors with alarming
speed.
The sorceress, Catarina Tenaglia, vanished years ago,
but the thrallborn continue their endless hunt.
The corresponding picture is a fantastically gruesome limbless woman with dozens of dark tentacles protruding from her torso, vampiric fangs and pure evil in her eyes. This is just ONE example from the book. So great.

It struck me as both fun and devious to insert a monster whose creation cures madness but whose existence creates terror into a Cthulhu campaign.

4
Role Playing Public Radio Podcast / Movie Quote Conversation...
« on: March 15, 2013, 11:49:16 AM »
Is there a way to turn this into a drinking game and thereby make it an actual play podcast?
  • Set up a round table, one person starts with a quote, the next person follows with another, and whomever can't provide a quote drinks.
  • You can bluff a quote, but if someone challenges you and you can't provide the movie (and perhaps character or scene) they can make you drink (and if you prove them wrong they have to drink) - raise the stakes and allow multiple challengers for multiple drinks/drink paybacks
  • Make each round dedicated to a particular genre of movie and if someone breaks genre for their quote they have to drink
  • If someone can follow the preceding player's quote with the exact next line from the movie then everyone has to take a drink, and the order of play reverses (previous player becomes next)
  • Drink twice if caught repeating a quote anyone else has used previously

I'm not sure what the rules should be; the above are what came to mind first. Regardless it strikes me as something that could make for epic tier hilarity in an AP podcast.

5
RPGs / Re: High Level Play/Economy Play...
« on: March 13, 2013, 12:17:22 PM »
The cool thing about the print version is you get two extra chapters, one on AI and one on civilization building. He's also put out supplements for crafting cyberpunk worlds, stellar navies, and espionage campaigns. There's free supplements too for things like nanotech, transhuman tech, etc.

6
RPGs / High Level Play/Economy Play...
« on: March 12, 2013, 06:37:20 PM »
Have you seen/read Stars Without Number by Sine Nomine Publishing? There's a free version on RPGNow. The game itself is a Sci-Fi game geared towards sandbox style play and has lots of great world building resources (in fact, most of the publisher's works are loaded with such resources). Of note from Stars Without Number is the chapter on Factions.

The Factions chapter is included in the game as a GM tool for moving the world along around the PC's. It makes a faction into a character (hit points and all) that creates plot hooks and events that affect the setting to which the characters can respond. It has rules and stats for their resources, money and actions (and their costs) that they can take to bolster themselves, take down other organizations, expand their level of control, etc. The size and scope of these factions could range from local, national, planetary or intergalactic. Worth noting is it can also be a mini-game for PC's which have gained enough power to become their own faction. 

Even if you weren't going to play Stars Without Number, this chapter (especially since it's free) might be a good tool not only for campaign building but also to create gameable experiences for characters who have become too powerful for adventuring, as well as offer tools for crafting value and cost for events at the table and in your campaign milieu.

7
Role Playing Public Radio Podcast / Re: Plot vs Polish/Episode 75
« on: March 12, 2013, 05:35:13 PM »
During the episode Tom mentioned that there were things not covered by rules/mechanics in the Palladium system that are part of why it's broken. Could that be elaborated on? I'm curious about game systems that feel broken because they don't have enough mechanics, and ways to improve them.

Conversely a roll applies but the character's description of the attempt is imaginative and/or detailed enough to waive or modify the roll: finding traps, searching for clues, or trying to negotiate with or bluff/trick NPC's, combat abstraction (clever use of scenery and/or strategy) by the player characters to create advantages or opportunities.



8
Role Playing Public Radio Podcast / Plot vs Polish/Episode 75
« on: March 12, 2013, 04:11:32 PM »
One of the things mentioned in this episode is the need for mechanics and rules to cover important things, and finding the balance of governance (between fascism and anarchy). I have a question:

What is the difference between a situation not covered in the rules (that you feel should be) and a situation that's best covered by role-play and/or "rulings" instead of by the book rules?

10
RPGs / BADASS!
« on: March 08, 2013, 03:58:09 PM »
Have you guys heard of/played BADASS!? I stumbled upon it when snagging the link for the Kuro review. It's a free RPG, 28 pages long, and strikes me as something the RPPR group might find fun.
Game here
Author here
Review here
Excerpt from review:
Quote
BADASS is a new rules-light roleplaying game written by Jay Steven Anyong (aka “pointyman2000″) that takes its inspiration from many of those movies we keep as guilty pleasures even though we know we shouldn’t… Films like American Ninja, Bloodsport, Naked Weapon, and many many more. As Jay says in the introduction – “BADASS is not a game that you can attempt to work your way around with logic. In fact, BADASS kicks that logic in the face, twists its arm behind its back, and makes it cry for its momma.” All the way through this book, I was chuckling to myself about the Awesomeness Jay wrote right into the text. It’s dripping with serious badassitude!
One of the main mechanics of the game is Badass Points (BP's) which reminded me of the awesome points from Old School Hack. I've only just discovered this game, but something tells me I'd pay money to hear the RPPR guys give it a shot (especially as April 1st nears).

11
RPGs / Re: Kuro?
« on: March 08, 2013, 03:16:45 PM »
You may have already seen it, but here's a review of Kuro on Philgamer's blog.

12
Could you do a video about Playing Arkham Horror? Maybe not the whole session, but certainly the setup, and perhaps a bit of tutorial, and then if you're recording the whole session maybe just clips of some of the more entertaining moments?

Also, have you made an RPPR commercial? A clip with footage of Podcasts being recorded, games being played, and assorted candid moments of the RPPR guys with poignantly chosen background music and voice overs that promotes the site and its products?

13
RPGs / Re: Making Dark Heresy engaging for new players to 40k
« on: March 07, 2013, 11:33:16 AM »
Have your player's read Dan Abnett's novels about the Inquisition? Those help not just with immerision but also present multiple planets for setting ideas.

edited to add:
Not to cross polenate, but there's a Warhammer 40k podcast called Independent Characters that recently did an episode about Dark Heresy (found here) that talks about the game from the perspective of introducing it to Warhammer 40k players who may not normally play tabletop RPG's. Their product doesn't compare to RPPR's impeccable work, but since it's related to the topic I thought it worth sharing.

14
RPGs / Re: Plot nodes and such
« on: February 21, 2013, 10:12:45 AM »
There's a great post on Keith Davies' blog about node based campaign setting design that gives good insight on arranging story elements in a non-linear way to allow story to evolve organically. In it he references an essay found on  The Alexandrian which explores node based scenario design as well. I apologize that this doesn't answer the question about specifc games but the theories discussed could apply to any game.

Pages: [1]