I am probably like a lot of games masters, in that I want to infinitely tweak things. I find that I can never decide on a system, an adventure, or a world to use. When I do make a decision, it only lasts for a little while and then I either get A. Bored with it, or B. Annoyed with it.
Last night while I was trying to fall asleep I had a thought about creating a random table for myself and then just going with the results. Here's the example
The system that shane will run (Roll a d8)
1. B/X with descending AC
2. Whitebox FMAG
3. Basic 5e
4. Advanced Fighting Fantasy 2.0
5. 2nd Edition AD&D
6. BFRPG
7. Blueholme
8. LOTFP
There is literally nothing wrong with any of these games, they all run pretty decent. The problem I have is that I blur the lines between them more often than not. Which gives rise to "Hey I'll just write my own system". Example I really like FMAG, but I'd like it to be more swingey and use +/- 3 for attributes. I really like 2e but feel I'd get bogged down with all the extras that's in the book, and run it more like basic D&D with thaco and NWPs. Basic 5e is alright, but I haven't run 5e in awhile and would likely run it a lot more like an OSR game (which is fine). BFRPG is probably the one that is as close to what I'd like, BUT I really dig the single saving throw from FMAG.
Not to mention the infinite amount of hacks out there.
Like this one: https://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/comments/b11syu/here_is_some_fucking_dd_a_micro_rpg_in_four_pages/
You see my problem.
Here's another good one....
WORLDS THAT SHANE SHOULD RUN
1. Greyhawk
2. Mystara
3. Black Marsh
4. FR
This list could be longer....
I like all of them, but canon gets in the way sometimes (in my head). Creating a home brew is the best option, but of course I'd steal bits from all of the above.
The problem with using a world/adventure/game is that there's always going to be something that you really like and things that you don't quite like.
What I have learned using roll20 is the easier the system the better for playing online. You get less bogged down with the minutiae. Which throws out a few of the systems above. It's too bad there isn't a FMAG character sheet (Not that anyone has used a character sheet in my games yet).
What is probably the absolutely best bet is to create a straight up dungeon crawl and use BFRPG, and just roll with it....
Those are my ramblings for the day.
Note: Thus far I have not been laid off, it appears to be biz as usual until we are told otherwise.
Showing posts with label Rambling. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rambling. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 1, 2020
Tuesday, July 9, 2019
Epic conundrum
I had a wonderful session last night with the "Monday Night Miserable Bastards". Lots of roleplaying, a lil exploration, a bit o' accounting. I'll write up a play report tomorrow hopefully.
What I wanted to discuss today, is the fact that I didn't sleep last night. I stayed up awhile thinking about running a game on roll20. As you all well know I'm a big fan of Advanced Fighting Fantasy (as it was the first game I ever ran). What I was thinking about was spending the time to work on the Blacksand adventure in roll20. There's lots of little nice maps in the book that could be scanned or recreated for parts of the adventure (the battle ones could be done with pyromancers).
The adventure (and most of the aff releases) were a bit of a railroad but fun nonetheless. While I like all of the implementations that were done in Version 2 of AFF, I personally feel that the original rules would be perfect for a roll20 game. It's just a bit more rules light. The only real issue is the leveling up.
In the newer version, during combat you roll to see who hits, and then how much damage and or reduction of damage happens. This is a lot of rolls per person. In the original I believe that all damage was 2, but if you tested your luck you could do 3. Which is fine. The combat is still quite deadly.
Basically AFF2.0 is a bit fiddly, although not that bad. I just think it might be a bit too fiddly for online play. Speaking from having played Basic D&D, anything more than that might be quite time consuming.
As well having the rules readily available for the players. I do have a copy of the basics of AFF version 1 that I could kinda modify for the campaign, and I may just do that.
Of course I'm thinking far too ahead, but I do like the idea of slow prep. Even if its just for giggles in front of a computer.
I suppose time will tell. I do have some other more pressing work to get on before this. Oh and I realized exactly how the next Isle of Dread session is going to go.
Finally figured out what I'm going to do when the PCs show up in Tanora. Originally I was going to have the natives on the beach with home made spears looking all concerned (but not outright aggressive) But I figured that would just start a fight. That said They haven't actually had a fight yet. So I think what I'll do is as the boat is coming ashore, they will notice the village is over run by giant lizards. This will hopefully create a bond with the villagers.
Well that was rambly wasn't it!
What I wanted to discuss today, is the fact that I didn't sleep last night. I stayed up awhile thinking about running a game on roll20. As you all well know I'm a big fan of Advanced Fighting Fantasy (as it was the first game I ever ran). What I was thinking about was spending the time to work on the Blacksand adventure in roll20. There's lots of little nice maps in the book that could be scanned or recreated for parts of the adventure (the battle ones could be done with pyromancers).
The adventure (and most of the aff releases) were a bit of a railroad but fun nonetheless. While I like all of the implementations that were done in Version 2 of AFF, I personally feel that the original rules would be perfect for a roll20 game. It's just a bit more rules light. The only real issue is the leveling up.
In the newer version, during combat you roll to see who hits, and then how much damage and or reduction of damage happens. This is a lot of rolls per person. In the original I believe that all damage was 2, but if you tested your luck you could do 3. Which is fine. The combat is still quite deadly.
Basically AFF2.0 is a bit fiddly, although not that bad. I just think it might be a bit too fiddly for online play. Speaking from having played Basic D&D, anything more than that might be quite time consuming.
As well having the rules readily available for the players. I do have a copy of the basics of AFF version 1 that I could kinda modify for the campaign, and I may just do that.
Of course I'm thinking far too ahead, but I do like the idea of slow prep. Even if its just for giggles in front of a computer.
I suppose time will tell. I do have some other more pressing work to get on before this. Oh and I realized exactly how the next Isle of Dread session is going to go.
Finally figured out what I'm going to do when the PCs show up in Tanora. Originally I was going to have the natives on the beach with home made spears looking all concerned (but not outright aggressive) But I figured that would just start a fight. That said They haven't actually had a fight yet. So I think what I'll do is as the boat is coming ashore, they will notice the village is over run by giant lizards. This will hopefully create a bond with the villagers.
Well that was rambly wasn't it!
Monday, January 7, 2019
So basically I've been a bit busy.
Pardon the rambling.
Just latetly I wrote an adventure for Matt Jackson. He has a series of Barrow mounds that he is populating.
The one I did was called "The Grey Acolyte" and it's just been released. Here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/23784003
The setup:
The Grey Acolyte was burned long ago as a heretic. He preached that the world would change, the gods would fade and the land would rot. After he was burned, his carcass was thrown into a makeshift grave to be forgotten about. Rumours exist the he was buried with ancient religious texts, and the wealth he accumulated from worshippers. The wealth was thought to be tainted.
Just a quick note, It's friggin deadly! The rules are B/X Essentials.
I intend to do a few more of these. I like them because most of the maps don't have a pile of rooms in them. It allows for some major creativity!
Matt gave me a crazy shout out, which was very nice:
The always awesome mentioned in his latest AnchorCast that he wrote an amazing adventure for me and I have failed to share it with the world! So Happy New Year all, and enjoy a most excellent adventure written by the awesome Shane Ward!
In other news, I'm almost finished the layout project for D-oom publishing. Should have it completed tonight. Then onto a NEW layout project. A heartbreaker house rules project. Woo! I'm excited about that.
In other other news, I created a group on mewe called "the lab". The gist of which is a place to bounce ideas off of people, push each other to complete things, possibly collab when needed. If you are interested it's here: https://mewe.com/group/5c3125b6ff70c83347de4e84
My intention was a place to bounce writing ideas off of each other. I remember when I first started on gplus and there was so much fun stuff happening, conversations would quickly turn into fun gameable stuff. Later on FB the "FY DIY rpg group" did some fun stuff as well.
Oh and I recorded a podcast on the weekend: https://anchor.fm/gilligans-isle-of-add
On a personal note, I'm desperately trying to not bite my nails this year. So far so good. 3 days. Oh and I really want to learn how to spell "unfortunately" correctly this year.
The one I did was called "The Grey Acolyte" and it's just been released. Here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/23784003
The setup:
The Grey Acolyte was burned long ago as a heretic. He preached that the world would change, the gods would fade and the land would rot. After he was burned, his carcass was thrown into a makeshift grave to be forgotten about. Rumours exist the he was buried with ancient religious texts, and the wealth he accumulated from worshippers. The wealth was thought to be tainted.
Just a quick note, It's friggin deadly! The rules are B/X Essentials.
I intend to do a few more of these. I like them because most of the maps don't have a pile of rooms in them. It allows for some major creativity!
Matt gave me a crazy shout out, which was very nice:
The always awesome mentioned in his latest AnchorCast that he wrote an amazing adventure for me and I have failed to share it with the world! So Happy New Year all, and enjoy a most excellent adventure written by the awesome Shane Ward!
In other news, I'm almost finished the layout project for D-oom publishing. Should have it completed tonight. Then onto a NEW layout project. A heartbreaker house rules project. Woo! I'm excited about that.
In other other news, I created a group on mewe called "the lab". The gist of which is a place to bounce ideas off of people, push each other to complete things, possibly collab when needed. If you are interested it's here: https://mewe.com/group/5c3125b6ff70c83347de4e84
My intention was a place to bounce writing ideas off of each other. I remember when I first started on gplus and there was so much fun stuff happening, conversations would quickly turn into fun gameable stuff. Later on FB the "FY DIY rpg group" did some fun stuff as well.
Oh and I recorded a podcast on the weekend: https://anchor.fm/gilligans-isle-of-add
On a personal note, I'm desperately trying to not bite my nails this year. So far so good. 3 days. Oh and I really want to learn how to spell "unfortunately" correctly this year.
Monday, January 15, 2018
So I was thinking about D&D and then ADHD kicked in.
Yesterday when I got up I started thinking about D&D (like every friggin day). In between coffee and skyrim I started re-reading the 5e DMG. At some point in time I may have to take a turn DMing 5e again. I started looking thru some of the options in the back, just to see what I could do. My guess is that it would be a one shot, however it's always good to have a backup "campaign" outline just in case. Considering we have 4 DMs in the group, this may not be an issue for me.
Campaign Ideas:
Wuxia style campaign with Aliens. I was skimming the Oriental adventures book at the same time.
Western Marshes style campaign: Read more info here. Using Blackmarsh.
Jakandor: Would be super nifty, however since we are running around an island currently it might be a bit too similar.
If we have to stick with Faerun, running Al Quadim or the wuxia thing in whatever part of Faerun that works might be an idea.
Alternatively (and what I will probably do) is not do any actual world building other than a brief sketch. Create a small hex map with 3 or 4 adventure locations, plant a town on the border and leave it at that. I really don't want to do typical high fantasy bs though. There is a bit in the DMG about campaign styles, and the last paragraph is sort of "the whole kitchen sink", that's the most appealing to me. Samuari's, Aliens, Flying airships, barbarians.
As I've said before I wouldn't mind creating new character classes, and races and or sticking with the basic ones. The only issue is the players. And I know it's "My campaign" but its still gotta be fun. If someone gets annoyed because they can't play their fav tiefling warlock/warrior hybrid, that's no fun.
Whatever the case, what I end up with is going to be deadly. I'm throwing CR's out the window for the most part. You goto the hext with the big ugly dragon. Good luck.
In one of +Samwise Seven RPG videos he talks about throwing out Charisma as a stat and using the sanity rules. This seems like a wonderful idea. I"m in agreement with him that making deception checks are boring with a dice roll. I'd rather RP it out.
Event Based Adventures:
This whole idea seems very railroadey and not very O5R. I'm sure when I was younger I was writing event based adventures, and it does seem to be a good idea for Fifth edition. I may take a crack at it for the sake of argument.
Alright so obviously this is a whole bunch of random ADHD this morning.
This week i get to play in a blueholme game with +God Emperor Leto II which is going to be FUN!
The return of the blue baron is coming along! Check it out here:
Happy Gaming!
Campaign Ideas:
Wuxia style campaign with Aliens. I was skimming the Oriental adventures book at the same time.
Western Marshes style campaign: Read more info here. Using Blackmarsh.
Jakandor: Would be super nifty, however since we are running around an island currently it might be a bit too similar.
If we have to stick with Faerun, running Al Quadim or the wuxia thing in whatever part of Faerun that works might be an idea.
Alternatively (and what I will probably do) is not do any actual world building other than a brief sketch. Create a small hex map with 3 or 4 adventure locations, plant a town on the border and leave it at that. I really don't want to do typical high fantasy bs though. There is a bit in the DMG about campaign styles, and the last paragraph is sort of "the whole kitchen sink", that's the most appealing to me. Samuari's, Aliens, Flying airships, barbarians.
As I've said before I wouldn't mind creating new character classes, and races and or sticking with the basic ones. The only issue is the players. And I know it's "My campaign" but its still gotta be fun. If someone gets annoyed because they can't play their fav tiefling warlock/warrior hybrid, that's no fun.
Whatever the case, what I end up with is going to be deadly. I'm throwing CR's out the window for the most part. You goto the hext with the big ugly dragon. Good luck.
In one of +Samwise Seven RPG videos he talks about throwing out Charisma as a stat and using the sanity rules. This seems like a wonderful idea. I"m in agreement with him that making deception checks are boring with a dice roll. I'd rather RP it out.
Event Based Adventures:
This whole idea seems very railroadey and not very O5R. I'm sure when I was younger I was writing event based adventures, and it does seem to be a good idea for Fifth edition. I may take a crack at it for the sake of argument.
Alright so obviously this is a whole bunch of random ADHD this morning.
This week i get to play in a blueholme game with +God Emperor Leto II which is going to be FUN!
The return of the blue baron is coming along! Check it out here:
Happy Gaming!
Thursday, January 4, 2018
Rambling about 2nd Edition
The gist is that If I had never discovered the OSR then I would have always played 2nd Edition. Basically if someone said "hey you wanna play some DnD", I would have pull out those books.
There's a few reasons why. First I should state that I only have the core books. I have one splat book that was given to me (the drow of the underdark). What was contained in the 3 core rule books was always enough for me. Later on I got a copy of the FR campaign setting and the Menzoberranzan setting. In general however I pretty much played in my own world, on occasion jumping to Shadowdale.
Part of the reason that I would have just stuck with those books and edition, is that I'm very cheap! hahaha. I'm a grognard, in the way that I was perfectly happy with 2nd Ed (even thaco). Because I didn't know any better! I have to admit there's a bit of comfort in only knowing one thing. Of course I'm on the other side of that now, I know about ascending AC, and a variety of other cool things.
Case in point, when we first started playing fifth edition a friend of mine really wanted to try D&D. Even though I had already begun to fall down the OSR rabbit hole, I pulled out my 2e books and started re-reading them. I do that from time to time. There's some good ideas in those books. Of course there was comfort in them for me as well. Once we got into fifth ed, I remember having a conversation about how spells worked. I honestly could wrap my head around spell lists, and the character only have access to those and knowing them all regardless of level (this shit must have been implemented in 3rd ed or something).
I must admit that the 1e/5e DMGs are far superior than the 2e one.
My collection of 2e books has not got any further than the following:
*PHB, DMG & The basic MM (There was a pile of them! I had the one pictured below).
*Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting
*Drow Of The Underdark
*Menzoberranzan
*Sword of the dales adventure
*The Dales Campaign Setting
*Dragon Knight (DLA2) Dragonlance Adventure
*DM screen with the terrible adventure "terrible trouble at traigdore" (remember that gem!)
And that's about it!
Know and again I pull out the monster manual and start flipping thru it. There are a pile of great adventure ideas hidden within that book. On that point, I have no intention of buying the 5e MM. There's enough information in the DMG to convert the 2nd ed monsters. As well there's enough information to convert 2nd ed adventures (which I've done already).
This post lost a bit of focus. Had I not discovered the OSR the following would have probably happened.
1. I doubt strongly that I would have ever released any material.
2. I would have probably played a bit of 2e every once in awhile. (It's not the easiest game for a newb)
3. I still would have disliked but dealt with thaco.
4. I would not have met all these cool liked minded people
5. I may have ended up buying full into 5e. Although the games would have felt like a 2e game.
Maybe someday, at some point I will run this game again. I will never part with these books however. Well except one "Dragon Knight", because reasons. I will probably run the adventures again, although converted to 5e probably. Despite how much I've rallied against FR, it's in my gaming DNA (as you can see in some of my writing). Wrapping my brain around the new timeline and the 2nd edition time line could be entertaining. "Sorry there are no dragonborn or tieflings in this game". Anyways, that's my thoughts for this morning. I should get to work!
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