Messages

61

Role Playing Public Radio Podcast / Re: Dirk Daring Appreciation Thread

« on: April 02, 2009, 03:16:52 AM »

Do you mean Dick Marvel from Achy Breaky Mythos or am I forgetting someone?

You mention him in the Actual Play at 1:00 when you recap the last session where Dirk Daring helped them fight the Cult of Cthulhu. Dick Marvel is an analogy for disgusting GM abuse of pet NPCs, I don't sense any of that in the majesty that is Dirk Daring and I'm a little insulted you'd make such a comparison.

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Role Playing Public Radio Podcast / Dirk Daring Appreciation Thread

« on: April 02, 2009, 01:19:26 AM »

I just want to take this opportunity to single out one of the heroes of roleplaying lore; Dirk Daring. There is a constant criticism about DMPCs stealing the spotlight from the PCs, but I find that criticism to be fueled almost completely by the petty jealousies of simple people. Whenever the PCs having trouble in an encounter, who do they turn to? Dirk Daring. When the puzzle is too hard to solve, who solves it? Dirk Daring. When an NPC refuses to give up some crucial piece of info, who gets them to finally crack? Dirk Daring. Instead of complaining that the game has 'devolved into a reading of the GM's self-fellating Gary Stu fanfic', I think it's about time to give credit where credit is due.

So, come on people, man up and give props to the man who saves every session. You should all notice that the Actual Play session ended in disaster because of ONE crucial mistake; Dirk Daring was absent. He could have dodged Azathoth, sure, but he would've mowed him down first with three tommy guns (one being attached to a codpiece and fired using his cock) and then shoved a stick of TNT down those stupid piping appendages before the gibbering mass even had a chance to react.

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RPGs / Re: A Study in the Logic of Gaming

« on: March 31, 2009, 09:49:19 PM »

Inbetween rolls, talk about WoW.

During your turn, talk about how what you're doing relates to something you do in WoW.

Define your character, the setting, the other party members and the encounters in terms of WoW.

Try to hurry the game so you can get back to WoW, or say you're going to leave early because of something you need to do in WoW, then end up staying later than usual because you're talking about what you've been doing in WoW.

In short, don't come to game, come to talk about your real hobby: WoW.

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General Chaos / Re: Best of Youtube

« on: March 31, 2009, 08:07:17 PM »

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General Chaos / Re: 5 Best Video Game RPGs

« on: March 31, 2009, 08:05:23 PM »

1.) Fallout 2 - Great setting mixed with a great story, winning combination. I picked this one because I think it's a much smoother game than the original.

2.) Arcanum - The single best steampunk game ever released. You can play a knight with a hand-cannon and a mechanical spider pet, what's not to like?

3.) VtM: Bloodlines - There are so few modern RPG games that it's worth mentioning, plus the characters are actually interesting.

4.) Deus Ex - Cyberpunk goodness.

5.) System Shock 2 - "L-L-Look at you, hacker... A p-pathetic creature of meat and bone... Panting and sweating as you ru-ru-run through my corridors... How can you challenge a perfect immortal machine?"

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General Chaos / Re: Post the best fight and/or death scenes you can find

« on: March 30, 2009, 04:31:15 PM »

Fist of Legend is my all time favorite martial arts film. Here are some of its highlights.

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

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General Chaos / Re: Intoduction

« on: March 30, 2009, 04:24:06 PM »

I'm Will. My parents bought me HeroQuest as a kid and I've been a gamer ever since. I've been around the block with so many systems that it's pointless to list them all, but if I had to pick the top of the heap I'd say D&D, nWoD and Shadowrun were my favorites. I'm currently playing in games of Shadowrun 2nd Ed, D&D 3.5 and Swashbuckling Adventures d20. I'm also running Hunter: The Vigil and a post-apocalyptic game using the Morrow Project setting and Unisystem rules.

Oh, and just to set your mind at ease that isn't me in the picture.

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RPGs / Re: Most boring campaign?

« on: March 30, 2009, 04:15:00 PM »

The most boring campaign I was in was a Vampire: The Requiem game set in 1960s New Orleans. The ST spent at least three sessions over the course of the campaign explaining to us the roadmap of New Orleans and the surrounding parishes, it was continually stressed to us that we were pitiful neonates and most every other kindred in the city was stronger and more connected than us, and most of our political intriguing consisted of taking notes and giving away more and more lagniappes (favors) with little payoff. Our characters had no direction and no goals other than 'eliminate the Carthian menace' which despite our best efforts we could never get any information on beyond vague rumors. I liked the idea of the game so much that I stuck it out, but it seemed like I was chasing my own tail and never accomplishing anything.

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RPGs / Re: The review of Paranoia XP

« on: March 30, 2009, 04:06:53 PM »

You could use Risus or Wushu since there's so easy to customize. Sounds fun though. Would this be a one shot or campaign?

The original idea of the steampunk one came to me as the beginning of an Iron Kingdoms campaign. The players would escape their underground dystopia into the world of Iron Kingdoms and now have the choice of going on and startling their lives fresh or perhaps gathering strength for a future return to their home to liberate the others. However, as I sat down to start writing it I realized I had a lot more fun writing about the complex and the thought something this cool was going to play such a bit part in the story seemed like a waste to me. So, the way I have it structured now would be a one or two shot with the first session being about introducing the place to the players while feeding them tidbits which shatter their characters' perceptions about the status quo. The second would be some event which either they've instigated (stirring discontent) and has gotten out of control or an event that happens outside of them which lets the players now that this life all of them they have been living is unsustainable. It then becomes focused around escaping the complex while evading the 'authorities'. If they want to try and convince others to join them, they can, but they know they'll be under the gun and some of the residents are stubborn and remain deluded.

Anyway that's my outline thus far. A lot of the particulars remain to be decided and I'm more than open to suggestions.

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RPGs / Re: The review of Paranoia XP

« on: March 29, 2009, 06:21:37 AM »

I had always considered Paranoia good for a one-shot where you get out all your GM frustrations by crunching the PCs into a fine paste and watch as they tear at one another like rapid dogs for your amusement. However, the idea Paranoia XP proposes for a serious game in Alpha Complex intrigues me. I've been kicking around a few ideas in this vein; from a 'I Have No Mouth Yet I Must Scream' character based game to a steampunk Alpha Complex of clockwork horrors and massive engines belching thick acrid smoke a la 'The Machine Stops'. The only problem I have is that the Paranoia system doesn't really appeal to me. I've considered replacing it with Unisystem.