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RPGs / Re: HIGH SCHOOL ROLE PLAYING GAMES
« on: November 26, 2010, 12:44:18 AM »
The game I ran in high school went for more than two years. It mostly ran at lunch or on weekends, but in my final year, I was running it through class times, and people were skipping class to play. Rather gratifying. I used to carry two school bags to school each day - one with schoolbooks, and one with D&D books.
It was a 2nd ed D&D game, homebrew campaign. In all honesty, I can't remember a huge amount about the world, except that the national boundaries were drawn based on political system (so I had a democratic place, a communist place, a theocratic place, monarchy, tribal place etc). It was good fun, although I'd rather like to think that I had grown somewhat as a DM since then.
One short anecdote for the readers. The party came to a mountain range - difficult for them to climb - and had to think of a way to get over it to their destination on the other side. The kender handler simply climbed using her climbing skill. I think the mage turned himself into a rock scorpion and skittered up. The bard (I had an irrational hatred for bards back then) altered self into an aarakocra and flew over. The paladin was rather more stuck. He had a magical cow (the explanation behind this was basically that the paladin's dragon mount got turned to stone, and in anger he called his patron godess a cow... so that's what he got), and was puzzled as to how he would ever get himself in his full plate armour over, let alone this cow. So he did what he had a proclivity to do - whacked it with the flat of his sword. It mooed loudly, and summoned a massive gust of wind which blew up the side of the mountain, propelling the whole party about a thousand feet above the top of the peak.
The bard obviously just flapped his wings and sailed down - unfortunately to be alone in the middle of an ogre camp - and was beaten to mushy clubbed death. The others found themselves plummetting quickly towards imminent splatty doom. The paladin decided that his only option was to vent his anger and frustration on the cow with many well-aimed blows. The results included the whole mountain growing alfalfa, a 100 cubic foot area of the mountain directly beneath them disintegrating, and a savage rainstorm. Lucky for them, the rainstorm filled the gaping hole, which they plummeted into, soggy and bedraggled, but alive. At which time, the ogre encampment was rushing towards their green, leafy, wet location. The mage threw a couple of well-aimed fireballs, causing a great deal of damage to the charging ogres, but the paladin sought to one-up his magic friend by slapping his cow one more time. A heal spell, great! But not centered on them - centered on the ogres. Not so great. This is what one gets for being the only paladin to the godess of trickery.
The party managed to luck their way out of that encounter by using one of the wishes in the paladin's luck blade - he wished that the ogres would all be teleported into the king's castle. Unfortunately, the only room in the castle the paladin could clearly envision was the king's private garderobe. Imagine the king's surprise when he opened his door for his evening visit only to find that there was an entire tribe of angry ogres stuffed in there tighter than children in a phone booth.
The paladin in that game really was the star of the show. From using his high charisma to get out of awkward situations, to combining a ring of blinking and a sword of sharpness (several lost limbs in the party later...), to attempting to "break a door down quietly", to tribal genocide and mass deforestation, he always had a unique view on how to get things done.
It was a 2nd ed D&D game, homebrew campaign. In all honesty, I can't remember a huge amount about the world, except that the national boundaries were drawn based on political system (so I had a democratic place, a communist place, a theocratic place, monarchy, tribal place etc). It was good fun, although I'd rather like to think that I had grown somewhat as a DM since then.
One short anecdote for the readers. The party came to a mountain range - difficult for them to climb - and had to think of a way to get over it to their destination on the other side. The kender handler simply climbed using her climbing skill. I think the mage turned himself into a rock scorpion and skittered up. The bard (I had an irrational hatred for bards back then) altered self into an aarakocra and flew over. The paladin was rather more stuck. He had a magical cow (the explanation behind this was basically that the paladin's dragon mount got turned to stone, and in anger he called his patron godess a cow... so that's what he got), and was puzzled as to how he would ever get himself in his full plate armour over, let alone this cow. So he did what he had a proclivity to do - whacked it with the flat of his sword. It mooed loudly, and summoned a massive gust of wind which blew up the side of the mountain, propelling the whole party about a thousand feet above the top of the peak.
The bard obviously just flapped his wings and sailed down - unfortunately to be alone in the middle of an ogre camp - and was beaten to mushy clubbed death. The others found themselves plummetting quickly towards imminent splatty doom. The paladin decided that his only option was to vent his anger and frustration on the cow with many well-aimed blows. The results included the whole mountain growing alfalfa, a 100 cubic foot area of the mountain directly beneath them disintegrating, and a savage rainstorm. Lucky for them, the rainstorm filled the gaping hole, which they plummeted into, soggy and bedraggled, but alive. At which time, the ogre encampment was rushing towards their green, leafy, wet location. The mage threw a couple of well-aimed fireballs, causing a great deal of damage to the charging ogres, but the paladin sought to one-up his magic friend by slapping his cow one more time. A heal spell, great! But not centered on them - centered on the ogres. Not so great. This is what one gets for being the only paladin to the godess of trickery.
The party managed to luck their way out of that encounter by using one of the wishes in the paladin's luck blade - he wished that the ogres would all be teleported into the king's castle. Unfortunately, the only room in the castle the paladin could clearly envision was the king's private garderobe. Imagine the king's surprise when he opened his door for his evening visit only to find that there was an entire tribe of angry ogres stuffed in there tighter than children in a phone booth.
The paladin in that game really was the star of the show. From using his high charisma to get out of awkward situations, to combining a ring of blinking and a sword of sharpness (several lost limbs in the party later...), to attempting to "break a door down quietly", to tribal genocide and mass deforestation, he always had a unique view on how to get things done.