Tabletop Gaming General

I think we need one of these, so I made one (if an admin could kindly add it to the media thread list that'd be ace).

Also I'm probably gonna be getting tabletop sim for Christmas which will lead to all manner of tabletop shenanigannery.
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Comments

  • I've learned to tolerate drama...except on the boat
    added to the media thread
  • edited 2016-11-24 06:27:16
    Thanks for making this thread @Jane!  I dunno how much I'll be able to contribute but I've definitely always kinda sorta been interested in tabletop RPGs.

    Right now I'm about to embark on a solo Pathfinder campaign playing as a witch.  If anyone feels like commenting on my character, here's the sheet: http://pastebin.com/WBFSfEhY
    Note that some house-rules have been used when building this character.
    The campaign is meant to be a metroidvania-like "megadungeon", so the spells list looks weird because of that.

    Last night I found myself bored in bed and surfing DriveThruRPG for anime-related systems.  Something always felt a little weird about BESM.  Found OVA, which I remembered I'd seen somewhere -- and I think it was a kickstarter a while back.

    I feel like I kinda want some way of statting out characters in such a way that is "transferable".  It's something I kinda did as a kid.  I gave Pokémon team lineups and assigned character-specific personal weapons to Voltron characters, imagining them as mon trainers and martial artists.  I wrote up elemental affinities and magic spells for some schoolyard acquaintances.  It's just something fun to do, to be able to put together characters in a way that goes beyond simply dealing with them as static devices within their own universes and stories; sometimes I can't exactly use the characters as is but I can always modify them in my imagination to fit together in a way that makes sense.  My Belphegor University musings are probably a version of this.
  • My dreams exceed my real life

    https://1d4chan.org/wiki/Everyone_Is_John


    I found the TRPG version of Cards Against Humanity
    I saw some guys who played a slightly reskinned version of that for a Batman game.

    It was called Everyone Is Joker
  • My dreams exceed my real life
  • My dreams exceed my real life
    The Everyone Is John sample players kinda went overboard on edge
  • I think what I'm currently interested in is a system that's relatively light on RPing but heavy on customizable abilities and their balance.
  • My dreams exceed my real life
    I've heard Gamma World 7e is great for that
  • edited 2016-11-26 04:26:09
    Jane said:

    a crunchy game, ya mean

    Not really sure what is meant by "crunchy", but I'm thinking of something that can serve a setting where magic, other supernatural abilities, and similarly "extraordinary" abilities are commonplace and basically "normal", where people can have things like personal weapons that they can materialize on command, where themed powers are actually not cheesy, but potent, where you may be able to compare "power levels" but people can still use abilities that are lesser on paper to great effect.  So, basically, some sort of mashup of wuxia, JRPGs, and fantasy anime, maybe with the additional condition that the world feels like a world full of main characters, rather than just being about the protagonists being the only ones who are exceptional.

    This probably would involve, relatively speaking, more emphasis on defining characters' abilities, and less emphasis on defining aspects of personality like intelligence or charisma.

    I played Mutants & Masterminds once and I kinda remember something vaguely like this, with like buying abilities and weaknesses to build characters.

    I've also heard of a thing called Super Console which I might check out at some point, though that might be a bit too gamey.  I'm thinking more simulationist.
    Odradek said:

    I've heard Gamma World 7e is great for that

    I guess I'll check that out too.
  • "Crunchy" just means "math heavy" as opposed to math-light games which are, by contrast, fluffy.

    Anyway does anyone know if there's 5e stuff for Eberron yet?
  • edited 2016-11-27 03:50:17
    My dreams exceed my real life
    Jane said:

    "Crunchy" just means "math heavy" as opposed to math-light games which are, by contrast, fluffy.


    Anyway does anyone know if there's 5e stuff for Eberron yet?
    More "rules heavy" than "math heavy"

    Exalted is an extremely crunchy game, but it's not FATAL or Don't Look Back: Terror Is Never Far Behind which make you solve quadratic equations to do simple things and it'd still probably be described as crunchier than the latter.
  • My dreams exceed my real life
    People seem to be under the impression D&D is a system built for simulating any kind of fantasy. This is untrue. D&D is terrible at simulating, say, Tolkien or Dunsany, but excellent at simulating D&D. You play D&D if you want to play in a world where gangs of semi-helpful murder hobos wander the land and everyone knows that a +2 longsword is better and costs more than a +1 longsword.

    Dungeon Meshi is totally set in this kind of world, incidentally.
  • My head starts spinning when I try to consider what various RPGs are trying to simulate on an emotional level

    Also unrelated but I'm far too controlling to ever play tabletop games. I just start wanting to make my own game and get distracted.

    It's why I'm making an RPG even though I really don't have much experience with them >_>
  • edited 2016-12-01 18:58:17
    nvm
  • looking at the Shadows Over Innistrad OOC thread:

    They changed making the target roll a reflex save (in 3.5e) to making the caster roll an attack (in 5e)?
  • I'll be 100% honest, I'm not entirely sure how spell attacks work in 5e.

    I just made my best guess, and so far Alduin hasn't contradicted me. 
  • Splat Charger Specialist
    5e made a lot of differing aspects of the game work the same way, I've heard. To simplify it
  • My dreams exceed my real life
    I am going by my knowledge of 3.5, but some spells require a reflex save to avoid, and some do not. Also some require you to make an attack roll to hit and some do not. Magic Missile famously always hits.
  • Splat Charger Specialist
    This is true, but by and large, more spells use saves rather than attack rolls. And a number of those which require attack rolls still require saves
  • edited 2016-12-10 03:26:08
    I think spells tended to be treated as area-of-effect things which meant that they used saves rather than attack rolls.

    Delivering touch attacks and other targeted attacks, on the other hand, is an attack roll, IIRC.

    So, like, fireball is AOE so roll reflex saves, while shocking grasp is targeted so roll to attack.

    This is what I know of 3.5 (and consequently Pathfinder).
  • edited 2016-12-11 02:06:56
    I feel like creating a paladin character in Pathfinder, inspired by this pic.  http://safebooru.org/index.php?page=post&s=view&id=1255849
  • My dreams exceed my real life
    Despite everything, Rifts is the best roleplaying game because it has rules for circus generation
  • looking at the Shadows Over Innistrad OOC thread:

    They changed making the target roll a reflex save (in 3.5e) to making the caster roll an attack (in 5e)?

    Yep.
  • Giving their abilities to other alignments cheapens the cost they pay
    for having to stay LG. They are trusted with that power because they
    can't misuse it. CE antipaladins literally CANNOT misuse their
    power...anything is acceptable, anything goes.

    MOving away from LG should progressively weaken the powers paladins
    should get. Chaotics, after all, can lie, cheat, bluff, steal, break
    laws, get drunk, have sex freely, stir up rebellion, and so forth. AND
    give them everything a Paladin can do? I'm sorry, potentially being the
    only class that can use a Holy Avenger isn't fair.

    LE and CE can add murder, assassination, poison and drug use,
    blackmail, torture, rape, use of fiends and all THAT to the list. And
    they should get the reversed powers of paladins, too?

    I don't think so.

    TL;DR the other alignments can do anything.  Paladin's OP abilities are balanced by being very restricted in what they can do.

    counterargument:

    the above argument presumes the paladin's code is about morality and ethics.  instead, the counterargument is that the paladin's code is based on zealotry -- i.e. why they do it:

    Paladins are Lawful Good but can be for a God/dess of any alignment.



    Lawful means you follow strict rules. Paladins are a member of a
    militant arm of their church. Being part of a military they must adhere
    to strict rules, follow a chain of command, do as their superiors tell
    them etc. Therefore Paladins are a part of a Lawful militant order of
    their church.



    Good means doing things for the betterment of others rather than your
    own personal gain. As long as the paladin is putting aside their own
    personal fortune and prestige in order to better their church's goals
    and look after their church's followers and interests then they are
    good.



    One of my players had a LG paladin of Calistria and I have so far not
    had a problem with it. She is a prostitute of the church and as long as
    she puts her church's interests ahead of her own and does what the
    church and her superiors demand of her then I have no problem with it.


    She overseas disputes and puts peoples rights to revenge at the
    forfront. An eye for an eye. She promotes lust and polygamy among the
    populace. She sleeps around and she tries to right any wrongs she sees
    being done by helping those avenged to seek a suitable revenge in
    fitting with the slight against them.

    Personally I wouldn't go so far as to agree with having LG paladins of any alignment, even CE, but I think that having paladins or paladin equivalents of other alignments based on their dedication to the cause actually makes the most sense.

    So you'd have your "lawful evil paladin", which is basically a fascist an authoritarian enforcer who believes in harsh punishments, but who does not because he/she gains anything but only because he/she just believes in it.  Or perhaps a "chaotic neutral paladin", who goes around causing disorder and fomenting disruption against both good and evil regimes, again not for personal amusement but to serve what they believe to be the proper condition of the world.  Something like that.

    Incidentally Pathfinder does have an Inquisitor class, which seems to be Paladin minus alignment restriction plus allowed to be dickish when it serves the cause.  So basically a Paladin with a Rogue outlook.


    Copied posts are from this thread: http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2mqg6?Paladin-Alignment

  • also i wonder if political operatives would be inquisitors lol
  • image Wee yea erra chs hymmnos mea.
    You're the first person I've ever met who has made the claim that Paladin abilities are overpowered. A key argument against them has always been that even without the alignment restrictions, they just aren't particularly great at anything. (In part because they suffer from really severe stat spread problems.)
  • edited 2016-12-16 06:23:31

    You're the first person I've ever met who has made the claim that Paladin abilities are overpowered. A key argument against them has always been that even without the alignment restrictions, they just aren't particularly great at anything. (In part because they suffer from really severe stat spread problems.)

    FYI I did not claim this; the post I quoted did.

    For the record: I do not have an opinion on whether the paladin's ability list is overpowered.  At present I do not feel that I have sufficient perspective regarding D&D3.5 or Pathfinder, the two systems I do know, to draw subtle conclusions regarding game balance.
  • Sup bitches, witches, Haters, and trolls.
    I feel like I haven't RPed in a while and I should change that.
  • Is there a tabletop gaming system that's roughly for stereotypical swords-and-sorcery fantasy (D&D-style, JRPG-style, whatever) but has less lore/setting information than D&D, but mainly just focuses on the mechanics?

    For example, rather than having an existing pantheon of deities, it would have guidelines for designing your own deities.
  • My dreams exceed my real life
    image
  • I actually want to play this as a one-shot at some point during Christmas break.

    Anyone up for it? I'm talking, like, a 2-4 hour commitment one weekend in the next two weeks.
  • I've learned to tolerate drama...except on the boat
    What's a good system for a first-time GM like me to run? My Unknown Armies campaign shrank down into a one-shot Yarrun wants to run because we didn't anticipate the complexity of the system...

    I wanted to play Calica's Sorcerer campaign, but did not realize it was already ongoing and I couldn't join because it would have complicated things. I'm not sure if I'd prefer to play that or GM it. I'd almost prefer the latter, because the GM controls the demons.
  • there is that one that Kraken likes that I have forgotten the name of

    TavernTales I think?
  • Munch munch, chomp chomp...
    I think that's what he played or such, yeah.
  • Sup bitches, witches, Haters, and trolls.
    I'd say GMing Sorcerer is pretty difficult because even though there aren't that many rules it can be tough to make sure exactly when you want to apply them but if you think you can learn from my mistakes I'd say go for it
  • I've learned to tolerate drama...except on the boat
    what were your mistakes, in your view?
  • Sup bitches, witches, Haters, and trolls.
    I feel like the demons weren't thought through enough for consistency  and also I was bad at giving them unique voices, that I wasn't good at figuring out when I needed to roll the dice (a common phrase is "say yes or roll the dice", fwiw), three players might've worked better than four players
  • edited 2016-12-30 08:03:57
    Risus.  Six pages worth of rules.

    On a more serious note, though...

    Ryuutama seems to be pretty well-geared toward novice players and GMs, especially collaboration between the two, and also has lots of room for growth and depth.  I think the rulebook even includes a sample scenario.

    The PDF's like $9.99 but if you let me know I can share my copy with you privately.

    I am not familiar enough with any other systems to say for sure whether they work well for first-timers, aside from D&D 3.5 and Pathfinder which I wouldn't recommend for first-timers.
  • I've learned to tolerate drama...except on the boat
    Haven tried a Strike! campaign once, that seems pretty lightweight too...
  • Munch munch, chomp chomp...
    Oh it definitely is, I reckon you could pick it up super easy.
  • My dreams exceed my real life
    http://tumblintuck.tumblr.com/post/155129768679/bogleech-glumshoe-prokopetz-prokopetz

    There's a famous running joke in D&D about how you could build a dungeon room entirely out of monsters that camouflage as other things

    Furniture mimics, a dresser mimic containing living clothes, a living floor and ceiling
  • I've learned to tolerate drama...except on the boat
    When you GM, do you look at the book, or write down the mechanics on a sheet of paper or something?
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