Dungeons and Dragons (and other tabletop RPGs)
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- F117Landers
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Re: Dungeons and Dragons (and other tabletop RPGs)
Hey all, is there a thread specific for the Stargate SG1 tabletop? If not, does anyone have experience with it? (Looking to see if it's worth sinking the money to pick up the main book).
- EMTP
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Re: Dungeons and Dragons (and other tabletop RPGs)
Anyway, chatting about 5e. Thoughts regarding the Sword Coast book that just came out? It's been *super* popular, to the point where I almost ran out since friday, but I'm not sure how much of that is just players starved for any content other than adventures. Anyone get a chance to review and comment?
A year late, here you go. I really like the additions to the rules, but I don't like having to wade through an ocean of FR lore to find it. I have never gotten interested in the FR as a setting and as Gob says, "I make up my own patter."
My $0.02: if you're going to give my a sourcebook, give me a sourcebook, with big fold-out maps and lots of adventure hooks and thousands of years of fake history. Give me Eberron or Lankhmar or the old Greyhawk boxed set. Background on one small region of a world…maybe if I already knew and loved it. But nothing about FR sticks in my mind. Maybe a fan of that setting can weigh in.
From a rules perspective, there are a lot of subtle touches. Variant half-elves can snag a cantrip or weapon proficiencies or Fleet of Foot. Winged Tieflings are now a thing (they could also be serviceable winged elves.) Bladesinger & weapon cantrips spice up your wizard options (like they need it!) Battleragers are back, although mechanistically they're rather meh.
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- Xanthir
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Re: Dungeons and Dragons (and other tabletop RPGs)
Note that Sword Coast's new Sorcerer subclasses are committing a sin that wotc's since stayed away from - they add more spells to the Sorcerer's Spells Known list. This has proven to be too powerful of a benefit, and so they don't do it any more.
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- EMTP
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Re: Dungeons and Dragons (and other tabletop RPGs)
Xanthir wrote:Note that Sword Coast's new Sorcerer subclasses are committing a sin that wotc's since stayed away from - they add more spells to the Sorcerer's Spells Known list. This has proven to be too powerful of a benefit, and so they don't do it any more.
Hmmm, maybe you're think of something else? The only new sorcerer path in Sword Coast is Storm, and they don't get any bonus spells.
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- Xanthir
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Re: Dungeons and Dragons (and other tabletop RPGs)
I might be; I know that Mearls said *some* early supplement had Sorc subclasses that added bonus spells, and those were a mistake they weren't repeating.
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Re: Dungeons and Dragons (and other tabletop RPGs)
Xanthir wrote:I might be; I know that Mearls said *some* early supplement had Sorc subclasses that added bonus spells, and those were a mistake they weren't repeating.
I think you're thinking of Unearthed Arcana, the online column where they release playtest materials. One of their VERY early efforts was a ludicrously overpowered offering called the "Favored Soul." This was a sorcerer path that not only granted 10 additional spells, but also threw in armor and weapons proficiency and oh, just for kicks, a second attack at 6th level.
That option has now been full-on nerfed with the release of the UA Sorcerer article, in which the favored soul is completely reworked and is much more balanced and on theme, actually.
PS: Some good-hearted soul has collected all the UA material and formatted like the PH with awesome art and released it as a free PDF. If you haven't been following UA it's like the Player's Handbook, vol 2, for free: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4jAv0 ... RXMWc/view
"Reasonable – that is, human – men will always be capable of compromise, but men who have dehumanized themselves by becoming the blind worshipers of an idea or an ideal are fanatics whose devotion to abstractions makes them the enemies of life."
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- Xanthir
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Re: Dungeons and Dragons (and other tabletop RPGs)
Oh shit, I've just been saving all the UAs individually; this is awesome!
Oh, except that URL appears to be broken; there's nothing at the other end. :(
Oh, except that URL appears to be broken; there's nothing at the other end. :(
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- EdgarJPublius
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Re: Dungeons and Dragons (and other tabletop RPGs)
I'm looking for a TTRPG system that would be appropriate to run a heavily Half Life inspired game. Right now I'm leaning towards a slightly homebrewed D20 Modern, or a heavily homebrewed DnD 5e adaptation, but I'm wondering if there's any other existing products worth looking into for this?
Or maybe if anyone would be interested in collaborating on this project?
Or maybe if anyone would be interested in collaborating on this project?
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- pseudoidiot
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Re: Dungeons and Dragons (and other tabletop RPGs)
My first thought is Fate Core. It's basically designed to to be able to put together your own setting. Gonna be way more flexible than D&D. I don't really know anything about d20 modern, but I suspect Fate will also be easier to mold into what you want.
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Re: Dungeons and Dragons (and other tabletop RPGs)
Something like Delta Green - the Call of Cthulhu spinoff about current day agents defending Earth from Outsiders, and keeping the government from going all Weyland-Yutani on any remains (or live specimens) might be a better starting point.
A lot depends on what era of the Half Life setting you're going for, and what sort of atmosphere you're planning on. There's a big difference between Black Mesa science team during Half-Life, the military clean-up squad, the black-ops scrub squad, Black Mesa security, anyone working for/with the G-Man or his employers, someone during the 7-hour war, someone in Ravenholm (when people still went there), Combine troops, resistance members, civilians. Or people involved with Aperture Science, or...
A lot depends on what era of the Half Life setting you're going for, and what sort of atmosphere you're planning on. There's a big difference between Black Mesa science team during Half-Life, the military clean-up squad, the black-ops scrub squad, Black Mesa security, anyone working for/with the G-Man or his employers, someone during the 7-hour war, someone in Ravenholm (when people still went there), Combine troops, resistance members, civilians. Or people involved with Aperture Science, or...
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Re: Dungeons and Dragons (and other tabletop RPGs)
Depending on how crunchy you want your ruleset I can think of two options:
GURPS 4'th edition(Steve Jackson Games) "Generic Universal Role Playing System", very rules heavy but sourcebooks for pretty much any setting you want or want to invent. Steve Jackson is heavy on the research behind the books, so if you need a gamer friendly resource for modern equipment (High Tech) or how we currently understand solar systems form (to build your own, GURPs Space) it is a good series to look in to. There's options for cinematic games, but GURPS is much better for gritty realism (if you don't mind the crunchy rules).
I've played GURPS for years, from 3'rd edition in High School up through recently, though of late I've been looking at more "Rules Light" systems as having a job and a house I don't really have the time to pour through rulebooks all day.
Savage Worlds (Pinnacle Entertainment) is good for a cinematic game, and it' another non-genre specific ruleset. Honestly for your Half-Life game I'd go with Savage Worlds.
Edit:
Another potential option is Cypher System(Monte Cook Games). It's a genre-agnostic system like GURPS and Savage Worlds, but with a very different concept of how the rules work (the GM doesn't roll dice, stats like Strength and Intelligence act more like hit points than in D&D, so you exert yourself physically you lose points from your Strength pool.)
I mention it since I'm very much a proponent of seeing how other game systems work because even if you don't use that ruleset some of the ideas may improve your game in your system of choice.
GURPS 4'th edition(Steve Jackson Games) "Generic Universal Role Playing System", very rules heavy but sourcebooks for pretty much any setting you want or want to invent. Steve Jackson is heavy on the research behind the books, so if you need a gamer friendly resource for modern equipment (High Tech) or how we currently understand solar systems form (to build your own, GURPs Space) it is a good series to look in to. There's options for cinematic games, but GURPS is much better for gritty realism (if you don't mind the crunchy rules).
I've played GURPS for years, from 3'rd edition in High School up through recently, though of late I've been looking at more "Rules Light" systems as having a job and a house I don't really have the time to pour through rulebooks all day.
Savage Worlds (Pinnacle Entertainment) is good for a cinematic game, and it' another non-genre specific ruleset. Honestly for your Half-Life game I'd go with Savage Worlds.
Edit:
Another potential option is Cypher System(Monte Cook Games). It's a genre-agnostic system like GURPS and Savage Worlds, but with a very different concept of how the rules work (the GM doesn't roll dice, stats like Strength and Intelligence act more like hit points than in D&D, so you exert yourself physically you lose points from your Strength pool.)
I mention it since I'm very much a proponent of seeing how other game systems work because even if you don't use that ruleset some of the ideas may improve your game in your system of choice.
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- EdgarJPublius
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Re: Dungeons and Dragons (and other tabletop RPGs)
I do like the softer systems like FATE, but my players tend to prefer more crunch.
If I go with a setting-agnostic system it would probably be GURPS, 3rd ed was my first TTRPG and I'll always have a soft spot for it. Also, the last game I ran was Shadowrun and just about anything would be lighter rules-wise than that.
I keep meaning to try Savage Worlds, there's a pulp 1920s-30s games I've had in the back of my mind for a couple years now that seems like it would be a good fit for, but I've been trying to track down a particular supplement I read about that's supposed to have a bunch of pulp character options/classes.
I hear good things about Monte Cook games, particularly Numenera, but haven't actually played with any of them. I also really like looking at systems that do different stuff to poach ideas from, so I'll definitely take a look at Cypher System.
I hadn't thought about trying to modify a Lovecraftian setting/system for this project. I guess Lovecraft has just become so popular/ubiquitous in the last few years that it's just background noise to me now. But actually giving it some thought, it seems like an obvious fit, and I was considering adding a bit more cosmic-horror flavoring anyway.
I think part of the problem I'm having is that while it would be relatively easy to let the players all be spec-ops ninjas or HECU Marines and any of the mentioned systems would handle that with little-to-no need for additional twerking, I want the party to all be members of the Science Team, with maybe a Barney and/or maintenance/janitor thrown in, while still having relevant/useful skills and abilities for navigating and surviving the damaged facility full of alien monsters from beyond the stars.
So far what I've got is that maybe different characters could have different clearances to access parts of the facility and operate machinery, and the maintenance worker could repair damaged systems. But that doesn't really seem like enough to hang a character class on or anything like that.
If I go with a setting-agnostic system it would probably be GURPS, 3rd ed was my first TTRPG and I'll always have a soft spot for it. Also, the last game I ran was Shadowrun and just about anything would be lighter rules-wise than that.
I keep meaning to try Savage Worlds, there's a pulp 1920s-30s games I've had in the back of my mind for a couple years now that seems like it would be a good fit for, but I've been trying to track down a particular supplement I read about that's supposed to have a bunch of pulp character options/classes.
I hear good things about Monte Cook games, particularly Numenera, but haven't actually played with any of them. I also really like looking at systems that do different stuff to poach ideas from, so I'll definitely take a look at Cypher System.
I hadn't thought about trying to modify a Lovecraftian setting/system for this project. I guess Lovecraft has just become so popular/ubiquitous in the last few years that it's just background noise to me now. But actually giving it some thought, it seems like an obvious fit, and I was considering adding a bit more cosmic-horror flavoring anyway.
I think part of the problem I'm having is that while it would be relatively easy to let the players all be spec-ops ninjas or HECU Marines and any of the mentioned systems would handle that with little-to-no need for additional twerking, I want the party to all be members of the Science Team, with maybe a Barney and/or maintenance/janitor thrown in, while still having relevant/useful skills and abilities for navigating and surviving the damaged facility full of alien monsters from beyond the stars.
So far what I've got is that maybe different characters could have different clearances to access parts of the facility and operate machinery, and the maintenance worker could repair damaged systems. But that doesn't really seem like enough to hang a character class on or anything like that.
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- Dauric
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Re: Dungeons and Dragons (and other tabletop RPGs)
EdgarJPublius wrote:... the maintenance worker could repair damaged systems. But that doesn't really seem like enough to hang a character class on or anything like that.
Salvage and jury-rig (perhaps with a bit of "Weird Science" thrown in). Black Mesa was obviously barely holding together with bailing wire and sealing wax even before the resonance cascade incident, it's the maintenance guys that keep the particle scanners working on minimum budget and with available parts. Your "maintenance class" can build a one-shot missile launcher from a vacuum cleaner hose, a bottle of industrial solvent and that weird goo you found in that vat three floors down... Just.. use it before that goop eats through the hose...
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- DaBigCheez
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Re: Dungeons and Dragons (and other tabletop RPGs)
EdgarJPublius wrote:I hadn't thought about trying to modify a Lovecraftian setting/system for this project. I guess Lovecraft has just become so popular/ubiquitous in the last few years that it's just background noise to me now. But actually giving it some thought, it seems like an obvious fit, and I was considering adding a bit more cosmic-horror flavoring anyway.
I think part of the problem I'm having is that while it would be relatively easy to let the players all be spec-ops ninjas or HECU Marines and any of the mentioned systems would handle that with little-to-no need for additional twerking, I want the party to all be members of the Science Team, with maybe a Barney and/or maintenance/janitor thrown in, while still having relevant/useful skills and abilities for navigating and surviving the damaged facility full of alien monsters from beyond the stars.
So far what I've got is that maybe different characters could have different clearances to access parts of the facility and operate machinery, and the maintenance worker could repair damaged systems. But that doesn't really seem like enough to hang a character class on or anything like that.
You might consider something in the World of Darkness system, or similar to it; mechanically, I like how it handles degrees of success and failure, and the skill/stat system is fairly robust in both combat and non-combat scenarios. (Fair warning, I'm most familiar with Exalted, which does behave slightly differently.) It tends to have a *lot* of setting-specific crunch, though, so you might need to find a more general sourcebook or do a bit of jury-rigging to make it either more adaptable or more specifically suited to your needs. I'd think a basic World of Darkness (as opposed to Mage, Werewolf, Vampire, etc.) sourcebook should cover most of the things a Black Mesa squad would be interested in, though.
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Re: Dungeons and Dragons (and other tabletop RPGs)
EdgarJPublius wrote:I think part of the problem I'm having is that while it would be relatively easy to let the players all be spec-ops ninjas or HECU Marines and any of the mentioned systems would handle that with little-to-no need for additional twerking, I want the party to all be members of the Science Team, with maybe a Barney and/or maintenance/janitor thrown in, while still having relevant/useful skills and abilities for navigating and surviving the damaged facility full of alien monsters from beyond the stars.
So far what I've got is that maybe different characters could have different clearances to access parts of the facility and operate machinery, and the maintenance worker could repair damaged systems. But that doesn't really seem like enough to hang a character class on or anything like that.
I'm not sure a class-based system is a good idea for playing members of the science team, but if you include a Barney and a tech, then you could get 4 classes fairly easily: Physicist, Biologist, Security, Maintenance/Tech. Physicists could design (but not make) new devices, and control cross-dimensional effects (including teleportation and travel to/from Xen); Biologists would be able to understand, and get/provide bonuses against, intruders, and analyse and adapt things like the hornet gun; Security would have weapons and the training to use them; Maintenance would have access everywhere and the ability to build/repair/adapt devices.
In general, unless someone manages to get hold of an HEV suit, alien encounters are going to be lethal - having Barneys involved may help, but even they aren't going to be able to deal with more than a few enemies at once - without an HEV, just one successful attack by a headcrab is going to be lethal, so even a lone headcrab poses a serious threat.
It's also worth bearing in mind that there's considerable evidence that Black Mesa has been researching Xen for some time before the Cascade Event, so various members of the science team would have knowledge of common hazards like headcrabs and barnacles.
All of this points toward something more like Call of Cthulhu than D&D - skill-based rather than class-based, low combat, high lethality, and with investigation a big focus.
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Re: Dungeons and Dragons (and other tabletop RPGs)
Okay, I must vent...
I hate Paladins and Jedi.
and i'm going to spoiler it because I get a bit ranty
I hate Paladins and Jedi.
and i'm going to spoiler it because I get a bit ranty
Spoiler:
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- eran_rathan
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Re: Dungeons and Dragons (and other tabletop RPGs)
I always love having Paladins in my group, precisely because I (since I typically GM) can hold them to certain moral choices or have them stripped of their powers (which I am not at all loath to do - I do that Clerics and Druids too. The gods in my world are VERY active.)
One of my favorite games, the group came across a vampire who was turned unwillingly and wanted to be 'cured'. He was a paladin of Pelor, with the specific ethos of "Bringing Light into the dark places." The group was all for 'lets just kill it and move on' but the Paladin was like, "No. This is an innocent, and we have the power to save her soul. I will not let you kill her." He actually was willing to fight the rest of the party to save this kid.
That began an epic quest that ended with the Paladin bringing her to a specific temple and getting her cured of the vampirism. It was really emotional.
One of my favorite games, the group came across a vampire who was turned unwillingly and wanted to be 'cured'. He was a paladin of Pelor, with the specific ethos of "Bringing Light into the dark places." The group was all for 'lets just kill it and move on' but the Paladin was like, "No. This is an innocent, and we have the power to save her soul. I will not let you kill her." He actually was willing to fight the rest of the party to save this kid.
That began an epic quest that ended with the Paladin bringing her to a specific temple and getting her cured of the vampirism. It was really emotional.
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- EdgarJPublius
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Re: Dungeons and Dragons (and other tabletop RPGs)
Ugh, DnD powergamers.
Last 5e game I played in, every other PC was Variant Human and I had to spend an excessive amount of time each level explaining how I knew that the way I was building my character wasn't 'mechanically optimal' and that I was ok with that.
Last 5e game I played in, every other PC was Variant Human and I had to spend an excessive amount of time each level explaining how I knew that the way I was building my character wasn't 'mechanically optimal' and that I was ok with that.
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Re: Dungeons and Dragons (and other tabletop RPGs)
The main issue is that early editions of D&D had very tight fluff/crunch integration - just look at things like the non-human level caps and the rigmarole for high level Druids in 2nd Ed - but that's been largely dropped over subsequent editions. Paladin ethos is a holdover from that era, and is easily overlooked by murder-hobos and their enabler DMs now that it's an isolated anomaly rather than being just one among many fluff-based limitations on crunchy abilities.
Of course, rules-as-written, straight-rolling 3d6 for each stat in turn, the chance of rolling the stats needed for a 2e Paladin is around 1 in 750, so Paladins are, in theory, incredibly rare and it's a great privilege to have the opportunity to play one and attempt to follow the code of ethics etc. In practice, players want to play the cool shiny tin can, and DMs are sympathetic to players who feel that having a character class in the PHB that you might have one person at the local game store who legitimately met the requirements to create is somewhere between a tease and a waste of paper.
Third ed scrapped the entry requirements for races and classes, which is generally a good thing, but it did mean that Paladins lost a lot of their rarity value, and left their piety requirements as an oddity. 4th Ed was even more crunchy and less fluffy, and I've not yet picked up the 5th Ed rules so can't comment on them.
There was a story I heard some years ago about a DM who allowed a party of all Paladins, and, as a hook, gave them a desperate request for aid from a village under threat of extermination by an oppressive force. They adventure that way, and arrive to find that it's an Orcish village under threat from their human neighbours. At which point the players quit the game...
Of course, rules-as-written, straight-rolling 3d6 for each stat in turn, the chance of rolling the stats needed for a 2e Paladin is around 1 in 750, so Paladins are, in theory, incredibly rare and it's a great privilege to have the opportunity to play one and attempt to follow the code of ethics etc. In practice, players want to play the cool shiny tin can, and DMs are sympathetic to players who feel that having a character class in the PHB that you might have one person at the local game store who legitimately met the requirements to create is somewhere between a tease and a waste of paper.
Third ed scrapped the entry requirements for races and classes, which is generally a good thing, but it did mean that Paladins lost a lot of their rarity value, and left their piety requirements as an oddity. 4th Ed was even more crunchy and less fluffy, and I've not yet picked up the 5th Ed rules so can't comment on them.
There was a story I heard some years ago about a DM who allowed a party of all Paladins, and, as a hook, gave them a desperate request for aid from a village under threat of extermination by an oppressive force. They adventure that way, and arrive to find that it's an Orcish village under threat from their human neighbours. At which point the players quit the game...
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Re: Dungeons and Dragons (and other tabletop RPGs)
Dauric wrote:↶
These character types get a lot of really nice and powerful abilities, but what keeps slipping people's minds is that those abilities comes with a price: You don't get as much freedom to choose your actions.
That's extremely not true. The Paladin class in D&D is mechanically balanced with the other classes, straight out. Roleplay is not involved or considered in the balancing; Paladins aren't "more powerful, but with an RP drawback". You can take the Paladin's mechanical skeleton and do a simple reflavor into a Mageblade, and end up with a perfectly fine and balanced class.
The character you're ranting about was being a passive-aggressive dick. Their character class doesn't play any part in that; their actions would be no better and no worse if they were a Wizard or a Fighter or anything else. Roleplay restrictions are roleplay-based, and should stay that way; if your Paladin was roleplaying a typical "godly fighter-ish character" and, in an immersion-breaking manner, roleplayed jerkishly, that's a bad deal because of their bad RPing.
(Jedi may or may not try to balance mechanical power with RP drawbacks; I haven't played any SW RPGs, and anyway there's many independently-created systems that might make different choices.)
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Re: Dungeons and Dragons (and other tabletop RPGs)
As an aside, I have been quite enjoying the "Natural 1" podcast: https://natural1podcast.com/
I like the idea of a randomly generated world. Some of the random generation was done in the background. It makes me itch for a randomly-generated "west marches" system.
I like the idea of a randomly generated world. Some of the random generation was done in the background. It makes me itch for a randomly-generated "west marches" system.
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