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[Angryhead]

I'm running my first session of The Sprawl tomorrow! This will be the first thing I've run in the Apocalypse World system, so I'm a little nervous about running that kind of game which feels pretty different than the DnD style stuff I've DMed before. I've listened to a bunch of The Sprawl being played on Friends at the Table so I think I have a decent idea at how it should go. Really I'm just super excited to run something in a non fantasy setting and in a less rules heavy system.

This is from a while ago but how did it go?
I'm super into the idea of it and so ordered the book recently.

 

[Noisy Ninj4]

I've started looking into using Ufotable's Fate world as the background for an Exalted campaign. Basically generating servants as exalted with the masters as heroic mortals or possibly dragon blooded.

Anyone use the exalted system like this? How'd it go?

 

[FUBAR McDangles]

Probably going to be joining my first game in the next few weeks. Still can't find anybody in person but I've been all over Roll20 for the past few days trying to find games and get as much information as I can.

Don't suppose anybody on gaf wants to try something? I'm completely new to darn near everything - though I have done text-based RPGs on forums in the past.

Is anyone on GAF interested in starting up a new play by post game? I know some guys are already doing one, but there's room for more if we could get the players!

Sure. Should be fun. Could be a cool way for me to learn more about everything as a starter for me.

 

[dude]

I've started looking into using Ufotable's Fate world as the background for an Exalted campaign. Basically generating servants as exalted with the masters as heroic mortals or possibly dragon blooded.

Anyone use the exalted system like this? How'd it go?

Could you elaborate? I'm not familiar with Ufotable's Fate at all, and don't even know what it is - But I've been running Exalted for years now and it's our go-to game. We've had an Exalted campaign going for the last three years and we recently switched to 3e.

 

[ultron87]

This is from a while ago but how did it go?
I'm super into the idea of it and so ordered the book recently.

Also responding to this quite lately, but it was fun! The campaign didn't continue on as real life scheduling killed yet another RPG campaign, but I really like how the system plays. Having played almost exclusively D&D and Dungeon World for a long time it was really fun to play a cyberpunk setting for a session or two. I really enjoy the different set of options such a setting gives for adding in complications to a situation. You can mess with people's cybernetics, have corporate assets interrupt a mission, or have tons of other interruptions. The game generally being set in a mega-city makes that kind of interference from previously unseen forces make so much more sense than if you're at a classic RPG quest hub town surrounded by wilderness.

I need to schedule another one shot game of this sometime.

Other games I want to play soon are running one shots of Lady Blackbird, and possibly running a game of Monster of the Week for my friends that love Supernatural.

 

[ultron87]

I'm playing in a Paranoia one-shot tonight at a local board game cafe. I'm not totally sure if it is one of the older sets of rules or if it is the output from the Kickstarter, but I'm looking forward to playing it either way. Paranoia has been one of those RPGs I've wanted to try for awhile after hearing about it but haven't gotten the chance.

 

[Megalosaro]

Anyone pick up Yawning Portal?

 

[Megalosaro]

Anyone pick up Yawning Portal?

 

[Mike M]

Anyone pick up Yawning Portal?

Just got it tonight, actually. My sister-in-law got it for me to appease my wrath at her needing me to pick he kid up from the airport in the middle of the night when I have an early morning the next day because she forgot she's going to be in fucking Canada.

All these modules predate my interest in D&D, so it's all new to me. Plus they're short enough that I may be able to con my wife into playing.

 

[Megalosaro]

One of my players took Curse of Strahd dark.

They were speaking to Ireena about Strahd. They asked if she wanted to be Strahd's wife.
She said she'd rather be dead.

They then tried convincing her to commit suicide. Is mark over heard and shut that down.

 

[lethial]

I'm being a DM and creating the game but for the life of me I can't figure out exactly how ability rolls work and how I incorporate it into to puzzles. I have the books, I've googled but still can't find a good example that makes it clear. Any help would be appreciated, it's my first time DMing and really playing it.

 

[Mike M]

I'm being a DM and creating the game but for the life of me I can't figure out exactly how ability rolls work and how I incorporate it into to puzzles. I have the books, I've googled but still can't find a good example that makes it clear. Any help would be appreciated, it's my first time DMing and really playing it.

Just naked ability checks? The DM screen has some examples to go off of, if I recall correctly.

This looks pretty similar.

 

[lethial]

Just naked ability checks? The DM screen has some examples to go off of, if I recall correctly.

This looks pretty similar.

Let's say you have a secret opening in a wall and a character wants to use their "whatever" ability\int\char\etc to take a better look at the wall. Do you determine the difficulty (a number eg 25) of finding it and that is what the player rolls against to get =>?

Thanks for the link I'll check it out.

 

[Jest Chillin]

Let's say you have a secret opening in a wall and a character wantss to use their "whatever" ability\int\char\etc to take a better look at the wall. Do you determine the difficulty (a number eg 25) of finding it and that is what the player rolls against to get =>?

Yes. Look at the link that Mike M provided above. The section that you would want to reference is "Difficulty Classes." As DM, you want to decide just how difficult this wall opening is to discover based on your own criteria. That criteria can be things like what's hidden behind the wall? A powerful item? A short cut that would avoid several enemy encounters? A book with a bit of lore for the world? Etc.. etc... Based on whatever the criteria is, you come up with a number that they have to meet or exceed to reveal the opening.

 

[lethial]

Yes. Look at the link that Mike M provided above. The section that you would want to reference is "Difficulty Classes." As DM, you want to decide just how difficult this wall opening is to discover based on your own criteria. That criteria can be things like what's hidden behind the wall? A powerful item? A short cut that would avoid several enemy encounters? A book with a bit of lore for the world? Etc.. etc... Based on whatever the criteria is, you come up with a number that they have to meet or exceed to reveal the opening.

It's starting to make sense! Thanks!

 

[Swuabino]

Question for the more seasoned DMs here. I'm introducing several new players to the game and want to make the experience as easy/visual as possible. I've been a big fan of creating cheat sheets/reference cards for various items/spells in the past, and was wondering if anyone had recommendations for good first or third party decks? For example, I saw this set listed on Kickstarter and really enjoyed the art:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2031472730/heros-trove-item-cards-for-5e/description

Any other recommendations along those lines? Thanks!

 

[Megalosaro]

Gale Force 9 has cards

 

[ultron87]

Started a game of Masks: A New Generation with a group of my friends over Roll20 last night. We just made characters, and geez I love the whole Powered by the Apocalypse style of making characters. The way Playbooks are laid out and the way it encourages collaboration between the GM and the players is just so lovely. And it's super easy to do without having any of the complicated math or pouring over rulebooks you see in D&D.

Actually starting to play next Sunday, so we'll see how that ends up going. I haven't run a ton of games in that system, just a session of Dungeon World and a session of The Sprawl, so I'm still a little nervous on presenting a compelling enough story without planning everything out. We've got to play to find out what happens, of course. I'm glad I'll at least have this week to think up some villains and NPCs and whatnot so I'll have stuff to pull in when needed. I've at least listened to plenty of Friends at the Table now, so that has given me plenty of good examples of play to work from.

 

[Fou-Lu]

It's almost physically painful to not have a PnP RPG in my life. I keep trying to get my friends back home to play by Fantasy Grounds, Roll20 or PbP, but even if they are interested getting times to line up is nearly impossible. I've tried some local games but just didn't gel with the people or the environments.

 

[Speely]

Anyone pick up Yawning Portal?

Our DM got all the throwback modules. It's been a blast.

Just got it tonight, actually. My sister-in-law got it for me to appease my wrath at her needing me to pick he kid up from the airport in the middle of the night when I have an early morning the next day because she forgot she's going to be in fucking Canada.

All these modules predate my interest in D&D, so it's all new to me. Plus they're short enough that I may be able to con my wife into playing.

So we have Yawning Portal running as a hub of sorts from what I can tell, and our new lowbie characters just finished Sunless Citadel.

Hot damn it's been fun. Feels "classic" yet well-adopted to 5e for sure. We are playing through Forge of Fury now.

It's fun just being a player for a change. As an aside, Bards are amazing in 5e!

 

[ultron87]

It's almost physically painful to not have a PnP RPG in my life. I keep trying to get my friends back home to play by Fantasy Grounds, Roll20 or PbP, but even if they are interested getting times to line up is nearly impossible. I've tried some local games but just didn't gel with the people or the environments.

Yeah, this thing I just started is the first success I've had in awhile. Schedules are so tough to coordinate. The only other thing I had luck with getting together busy people was for games that are explicitly single session like Goblin Quest, The Quiet Year, Fiasco or Our Last Best Hope. People seem much more willing to commit to 3 hours on one night instead of an ongoing thing.

 

[Night Hunter]

Honestly, my group started to play online a decade ago, maintaining it would be impossible due to different schedules, even different countries now. But we decided to embrace the role playing aspect and have been playing the same campaign for 13 years now. By far the best GM I ever had, best group and the best campaign I have ever seen, official or otherwise.

If you have found a good group, never let them go.

 

[Dreavus]

I kind of went overkill for a bit there and tried to GM two games and play in one (all Dungeon World). As you can probably guess, they've all kind of dried up. It's just tough to schedule.

One is a super long running game that's probably due to end anyways. I've been thinking about trying to do one more session and just force an insane world-ending confrontation that's been simmering in the campaign's background, but I'm not sure if that's a fitting idea (kind of goes against the principles of DW).

I have another newer game with a completely different group that's been sitting on the edge of it's second chapter for ages. That's mostly on me, but we meet at one of the other guys' places so it's weird scheduling around the two of us (+ the others to actually assemble the group). Half the time plans fall through and we sometimes salvage it into general board games.

And a third group which I play in - like, as a PC, I can't believe it either! - is a ton of fun and I love my character concept, but the other members have pretty inconsistent work schedules and we've been away from it for months.

Started a game of Masks: A New Generation with a group of my friends over Roll20 last night. We just made characters, and geez I love the whole Powered by the Apocalypse style of making characters. The way Playbooks are laid out and the way it encourages collaboration between the GM and the players is just so lovely. And it's super easy to do without having any of the complicated math or pouring over rulebooks you see in D&D.

Actually starting to play next Sunday, so we'll see how that ends up going. I haven't run a ton of games in that system, just a session of Dungeon World and a session of The Sprawl, so I'm still a little nervous on presenting a compelling enough story without planning everything out. We've got to play to find out what happens, of course. I'm glad I'll at least have this week to think up some villains and NPCs and whatnot so I'll have stuff to pull in when needed. I've at least listened to plenty of Friends at the Table now, so that has given me plenty of good examples of play to work from.

I'd love to hear how it goes. I have been a PbtA convert for a while now and absolutely adore Dungeon World, but I know a few of the people in my group are super hero fans so that game sounds very interesting.

 

[Speely]

Starting my new campaign this week! So psyched. I have 4 players on board who are eager to roll up some characters.

It's a homebrew campaign setting about secret magical societies and... food. Kinda goofy/spoofy but I think it'll be fun. Sorta Monty Python meets D&D. And, erm, weird cooking/brewing mechanics.

Running it with a very lightly-modified Cypher System ruleset. I think it's gonna be a fun romp.

 

[Famassu]

Had my first GMing experience last sunday. Had a kind of a one-shot thing though left it at a point where they can continue it easily. Have only played for a couple of years and even from that we had one game of 2-3 months (of playing every 1-3 weeks) in 2015 and then almost a year break and then once or twice a month (with one 2+ month break) from July/August 2016 to April 2017, before this.

I'm kinda trying to make up my own scenarios. Might look into some (free) modules in the future for ideas if I feel like I can't come up with anything myself, but my first ghost ship-y scenario went pretty decent, so I feel inclined to continue this way. I have some larger story beats & possibilities in my head on an idea-level (some pretty ambitious ones, lol), but nothing too specific until I get a bit of an idea where the PCs are headed. I left them with a cursed vase they found from the ship that they are supposed to take back to the queen who sent them on the mission of finding out what had happened to the ship & bringing back what the OG crew had been sent out to do, but considering what had happened at the ship, I'm interested to see whether they'll just go ahead and try to find a way to destroy it, in which case the queen would prooobably not be happy and that would have its own consequences.

Have also asked the players to write a short ~1 page bio of their characters now that the one-shot is done and they seem like they might like to continue, just to see if I'll get some stuff that I could implement into the story this early on.

It was a pretty fun experience for me as well. I need to prepare some stuff a bit more (especially look for some better rewards), but otherwise it went pretty well. I had underestimated the PCs a bit, so I had to throw a few more zombies at them to provide any kind of challenge & increase the HP of the end boss(that I had slightly weakened in a few ways because it was a higher level monster) on the fly by quite a lot since they had this Fighter PC who was completely insane at dealing damage at lvl 3. -_-;

 

[Jest Chillin]

Deborah Ann Woll (True Blood, Daredevil) being interviewed on DnD's Twitch right now.

https://www.twitch.tv/dnd

 

[ultron87]

I'd love to hear how it goes. I have been a PbtA convert for a while now and absolutely adore Dungeon World, but I know a few of the people in my group are super hero fans so that game sounds very interesting.

I've run my first two sessions of actual gameplay of Masks now. I like it a lot! I think it does a super good job of being about a specific superhero genre: the young hero team, Teen Titans/Young Justice kind of thing. Once I got that in my head it made a ton of sense why it does stuff like not keeping track of harm, but instead inflicting conditions like Angry and Guilty when you get hit in a fight. The players then recover from those conditions by having conversations and emotional moments between the characters, so getting beat up in a fight leads to the team having those great little conversations after a fight that build up their personalities and relationships. As a GM who has always struggled with getting my players to have these kind of conversations, the game itself pushing them so heavily helps me out a ton.

My other favorite rule is how the stats work, where they're labels that represent what the hero thinks about themselves instead of static things like Strength and Dexterity. And they're designed to change, so if some condescending adult hero chides the character about the collateral damage they've been causing, that could result in the character increasing their Danger label while reducing their Savior label.

I also really like how the different Playbooks work, since they are more about the kind of inner conflicts the player wants to have instead of their abilities. So the unpowered, but heavily trained person could be a "Beacon" where they're the Hawkeye like character that inspires their team and tries to fit in with all these superpowered people, or they can be a Protege where they've trained with a mentor and have to reconcile that mentor's beliefs and methods vs their own. In either case they might have the exact same abilities in fiction! The actual super hero rules are mostly left up to what every fits with the fiction and what the character has already been established as being able to do. It just comes down to whether you think they can do it easily, or if it'll be a stretch in which case they should make a roll.

Overall, it's been super fun. I'm playing with some really good friends from around the country so it's unlikely that'd it'd ever be a bad time, but the game has certainly enhanced things. There's definitely been some exciting and fun story beats that have arisen directly from the rules and that's been awesome. Doing the PBTA "play to find out what happens" thing for sure!

 

[Henchmen21]

For funsies (cause I still can't find a group), decided to make a paladin in 5e. Here's his backstory.

Human male, stats: 16 str, 9 dex, 16 con, 10 int, 12 wis, 14 cha. Folk hero background. Lawful good. Sword & shield w/chain mail.

Never having met his parents, Corin was left on the doorstep of a monastery as a baby. He never really fit in there and so at the age of 10, he packed up all his meager belongings and ran away. For the next two years he traveled on the road going from village to village, working any odd job for food & lodging.

It was during his travels that he happened to come across a village under siege by a demon horde. He should have ran but something strange happened to him that day. He felt a sense of righteousness swell within him as he heard the screams of the villagers and quickly ran down to help them.

The village was in flames and corpses of the slain littered the ground. Taking a sword that had been left in a villager's corpse and grabbing the lid of a barrel as a makeshift shield, he ran through the village trying to help anyone he could.

He eventually came upon a family crouched in terror as the head of the horde, a demon knight, was towering above them ready to strike. He quickly came to their aid just as the demon struck. The blow obliterated the wooden shield leaving it in splinters and broke Corin's right arm. Still he stood there defiant. The demon knight just laughed.

Its black armor glinted in the light of the flames that licked and danced all around them. Its sword, a dark serrated blade dripping with the blood of the many it had slain. Its face was covered beneath a helmet that hid its features except for two deep red eyes that glowed with hatred & malice.

The demon knight brought his sword down on Corin in a mighty blow that knocked Corin's sword out of his hand and left a deep wound across his chest. He let out a loud cry of pain as the sword tore a gash across his flesh. He fell to his knees as his blood poured from his body. The demon was about to make a killing blow when another sword intercepted the jagged blade mid-strike with a clash. A knight in gleaming silver armor had saved Corin. Corin looked around to see many other knights had come to the village's aid. Corin also saw the knight clashing with the demon before he fell unconscious from his wound

He awoke days later. His right arm was mended and the gash across his chest now a permanent scar. The knight was standing in the room and introduced himself as Cathrian Eohric, Knight Captain and Paladin of Torm. He told Corin that what he did for those villagers was very brave and, though the demon knight escaped, that if he wanted to he would teach Corin in the martial arts and even the ways of the Paladin. Corin readily agreed.

So for the next 18 years, Corin trained heavily under Cathrian. Corin quickly grew to admire Cathrian even to the point of seeing him as a father figure even going as far as taking the surname Eohric in honor of Cathrian

 

[Fou-Lu]

I like it, Paladins are one of my favourite classes. I love having the chance to be a hero above all else. I am in the same situation of not being able to find a group so have multiple unused character backstories too.

Example of an as of yet unclassed individual:

This village doesn't feel like home anymore. I'm not sure if it ever did.

The first thing I do every morning is check if my ailing Father's heart still beats and his lungs still draw breath. When his continued living is confirmed I help him to his chair by the fire, and bring him one of his favourite books to read. After doing my best to feed him the half liquid, half solid slop that is the only thing he can manage to keep down I head for the mines. Once my father was the foreman of the mine. He was the best at what he did and the miners and townspeople loved him. It was also down in that mine that they say he caught this illness that plagues him, something only miners get. It is a sort of wasting sickness that can take years to end your life, but it makes what is left of it quite miserable. The letter explaining this to me had arrived at the University where I was once a student. I had soon after found myself returning home, abandoning my talents to work in the same mine that would be the death of my Father. It seems it will now be the death of me too.

I do what training I can, in what small amount of free time I have. For both my body and my mind. My Mother is a traveling scholar, she is learned in many things from magic to science, and she made certain to emphasize the importance of a well-trained mind to me when she was still around. I haven't seen her in over two years, I don't even know if she knows my Father is sick. I sent letters but there has been no reply. My Mother is a bit of a mystery. Everyone in town knows my Father was born here and left as a boy to become an adventurer, he came back a strong, silent man with my Mother at his side. A heavily pregnant woman who was eccentric beyond kenning to the people of simple rural village. She gave birth to a son almost as strange. In the years she spent here before returning to her life as a traveling scholar few learned anything about her. She took me on her scholarly excursions from time to time, but I could tell that those were quite different from those she took alone. Despite everything, despite the growing resentment over leaving my Father alone to die, I miss her and wish she was here.

And so, I do not feel at home here. The people whisper about me, about my family. They pity me for my Father... and for my Mother, but they do little to help. I scrape by with the money I make in the mine and I do my best to make my Father's final days as peaceful as possible. Always dreading -and yet in some deep part of myself yearning for-, the day he draws his last breath and I can leave this place behind forever.

Example of a Warlock:

"Hello?!" He called out into the surrounding Darkness. An echo that sounded less and less like His own voice was the only reply, Hello hello hello. He shivered despite the lack of any discernable temperature or even stimuli in the Darkness. He found His feet taking one step in front of the other before His brain had caught them and it was only then that He felt floor beneath His feet. He decided that even if he walked into some terrible trap or unspeakable creature in the Darkness that it would be better than standing still and waiting forever.

He continued for a time with no change and for more time past after that before He realized at some point sound had begun to return to Him, here in the Darkness. He noticed His footsteps against what sounded like marble at first, but then the Music drew his attention. It was soft, but grew increasingly louder, as though He was drawing nearer to it. It was a song He had never heard before played by an instrument wholly unknown to Him, and yet it was strangely familiar. He noticed He had begun to run toward the Music and that His steps were now bringing Him upward at an increasing incline. The Music filled Him completely as he reached the Top.

There was a Voice that joined the unknown instrument, and that Voice was the most beautiful sound He had ever heard. With the Voice came the Rain. It rained light. Like a thousand tiny suns falling from unknown heavens hidden in the Darkness. The Rain was warm against His skin. With the Rain came vision. He stood atop a hill covered in blood red flowers, no marble floor to be seen. From the hill, the flowers stretched for eternity and a sky of rolling blue and pristine clouds hung overhead. At the center of the hill was a tree, the tree was ancient and gnarled and obviously on its last legs. In a circle around the tree the flowers were a pearly white instead of crimson. At the base of the tree there were two chairs.

The Music ceased, yet the owner of the Voice sat there, watching Him. She was striking, inhuman, yet beyond human. Her features were sharp as if cut from diamond, Her skin as pale as the flowers about her feet, Her flowing dress as crimson as the flowers beyond. It was Her eyes that truly startled Him, they were as blue as the sky above from sclera to pupil. She gestured for Him to join Her and He did so without hesitation. The chair was comfortable and made of a material He could not discern.

"You are fated to die long before you even awake from this dream," She said, an amused smile quirking Her lips.

He swallowed dryly and looked for the words to reply, "Yet you sit here speaking to a man who will soon be dead?"

She laughed and reached out to grasp His hand in Hers. She was cool to the touch. "Fate does not bind one such as I, nor will it bind you much longer."

He considered those eyes of the sky and considered Her words as though they made perfect sense. "You would offer me a reprieve from my demise?" He asked.

"I offer you not just that my Love. I offer you freedom and the power to keep it." She pulled his hand to her lips and kissed it gently. Her touch was cool, but her lips were as hot as the desert sun. "You were mine once and I lost you, but never again."

He knew what She said defied all reason. He was no consort of this ancient creature, and he certainly had not lived long enough to have forgotten one such as Her, yet Her words fell on His ears with a ring of truth. "Who are..." He dared not ask the question and instead asked another that came from His lips before He could reel it back, "Who am I?"

"You were The Lost One, but I have found you my Love." She climbed to Her feet and pulled Him with Her. "Let us make a Pact under the Lantern Tree. A kiss for Freedom."

He looked up and found the tree's branches were filled with glowing lanterns of an endless number. How had He not seen them before? He turned back to Her. He pulled her toward him and their lips met hungrily. In that singular moment, his mind expanded with infinite possibilities, He thought things beyond all that He had ever known.

Slowly His mind contracted again, yet it seemed to stop well before where it used to rest. He was different now. She let Him go and the colours started to fall away into the Darkness again. Through the Darkness Her last words echoed, "Stand tall my Love. Stand tall and shake the Heavens."

She was gone, yet He could feel Her with Him. He knew that He always would now. He closed His eyes and he dreamt of that kiss for what felt like a thousand years. Until...

He awoke to silence. He lay next to a long cold firepit in a clearing ringed by towering trees. He felt as though he has been asleep for an eternity. His body shuddered and his joints creeked as he came to his feat. He could feel her power with him, a part of him now. His memories were those of a simple hunter from a nearby hamlet, but the dream had revealed something hidden behind those memories. Something he feared to prod. He left the campsite wearily, heading toward what should have been home.

 

[Henchmen21]

I like it, Paladins are one of my favourite classes. I love having the chance to be a hero above all else. I am in the same situation of not being able to find a group so have multiple unused character backstories too.

Example of an as of yet unclassed individual:



Example of a Warlock:

Lol and I thought my backstory was too long. I've never made a warlock since I still don't fully grasp how their spellcasting works in relation to the others.

 

[Dreavus]

I've run my first two sessions of actual gameplay of Masks now. I like it a lot! I think it does a super good job of being about a specific superhero genre: the young hero team, Teen Titans/Young Justice kind of thing. Once I got that in my head it made a ton of sense why it does stuff like not keeping track of harm, but instead inflicting conditions like Angry and Guilty when you get hit in a fight. The players then recover from those conditions by having conversations and emotional moments between the characters, so getting beat up in a fight leads to the team having those great little conversations after a fight that build up their personalities and relationships. As a GM who has always struggled with getting my players to have these kind of conversations, the game itself pushing them so heavily helps me out a ton.

My other favorite rule is how the stats work, where they're labels that represent what the hero thinks about themselves instead of static things like Strength and Dexterity. And they're designed to change, so if some condescending adult hero chides the character about the collateral damage they've been causing, that could result in the character increasing their Danger label while reducing their Savior label.

I also really like how the different Playbooks work, since they are more about the kind of inner conflicts the player wants to have instead of their abilities. So the unpowered, but heavily trained person could be a "Beacon" where they're the Hawkeye like character that inspires their team and tries to fit in with all these superpowered people, or they can be a Protege where they've trained with a mentor and have to reconcile that mentor's beliefs and methods vs their own. In either case they might have the exact same abilities in fiction! The actual super hero rules are mostly left up to what every fits with the fiction and what the character has already been established as being able to do. It just comes down to whether you think they can do it easily, or if it'll be a stretch in which case they should make a roll.

Overall, it's been super fun. I'm playing with some really good friends from around the country so it's unlikely that'd it'd ever be a bad time, but the game has certainly enhanced things. There's definitely been some exciting and fun story beats that have arisen directly from the rules and that's been awesome. Doing the PBTA "play to find out what happens" thing for sure!

Hey just wanted to say thanks for this write up a few months back. I'm not sure if I'm in a position to start a new group ATM but the system sounds pretty cool. I'll keep it in mind in the future for sure. Definitely a bit of a departure from the swords and sorcery setting.

 

[ultron87]

Sure thing! I've run a few more games of Masks since then and it's continued to be great. Then weekend got busy and we've had a month off. As happens with all RPGs.

My "play all the games" itch is running hard right now. In addition to that I have a huge desire to start a Blades in the Dark game. (Id really like to play in it, but I doubt I'd be able to get any of my friends to run it.) I also want to play Microscope and Fiasco sometime soon as one shots things. Ahhh. I need to plan lots of one shots soon or something.

 

[Famassu]

Yesterday was the kind of day of D&D that means there has to be someone throwing mostly nat 20s on the other side of the globe to make math right again. So many 1s, 2s & 4s and higher sub 10s.

And yet we didn't die even in a fight with, like, 10+ goblins, 6 hobgoblins, 1 goblin cleric & 1 goblin king because our GM was throwing like shit, too. Our rogue with 11HP was in the middle of 3-5 goblins (two hobgoblins for a round or two) for a majority of the fight that took, like, 10+ rounds and no one hit her until the second to last turn or something.

 

[Speely]

Yesterday was the kind of day of D&D that means there has to be someone throwing mostly nat 20s on the other side of the globe to make math right again. So many 1s, 2s & 4s and higher sub 10s.

And yet we didn't die even in a fight with, like, 10+ goblins, 6 hobgoblins, 1 goblin cleric & 1 goblin king because our GM was throwing like shit, too. Our rogue with 11HP was in the middle of 3-5 goblins (two hobgoblins for a round or two) for a majority of the fight that took, like, 10+ rounds and no one hit her until the second to last turn or something.

That sounds like divine providence. If my 33hp bard goes anywhere near anything, he is making death saves within 2 rounds lol.

 

[Henchmen21]

Yesterday was the kind of day of D&D that means there has to be someone throwing mostly nat 20s on the other side of the globe to make math right again. So many 1s, 2s & 4s and higher sub 10s.

And yet we didn't die even in a fight with, like, 10+ goblins, 6 hobgoblins, 1 goblin cleric & 1 goblin king because our GM was throwing like shit, too. Our rogue with 11HP was in the middle of 3-5 goblins (two hobgoblins for a round or two) for a majority of the fight that took, like, 10+ rounds and no one hit her until the second to last turn or something.

1) What lvl are you?

2) How does your rogue have only 11hp?

 

[Famassu]

That sounds like divine providence. If my 33hp bard goes anywhere near anything, he is making death saves within 2 rounds lol.

Yeah, she was being a freakin' ninja. Even more amazing she was flanked so two goblins were always throwing with a +2. And yet no one hit her (her AC is 15 so pretty high for such a low lvl character).

The funniest thing about the whole fight was that the lvl 2 rogue & sorcerer were the clear MVPs of the fight. My paladin got absolutely nothing done and our tank-warrior-dwarf killed maybe 3 goblins. xD I think I did 7 rounds of misses before hitting something.

1) What lvl are you?

2) How does your rogue have only 11hp?

1) Lvl 2.

2) I'm not sure, our GM is pretty stingy with giving us more HP. :S I think she has a low CON. She might've started with only 7HP or something

 

[Henchmen21]

Yeah, she was being a freakin' ninja. Even more amazing she was flanked so two goblins were always throwing with a +2. And yet no one hit her (her AC is 15 so pretty high for such a low lvl character).

The funniest thing about the whole fight was that the lvl 2 rogue & sorcerer were the clear MVPs of the fight. My paladin got absolutely nothing done and our tank-warrior-dwarf killed maybe 3 goblins. xD I think I did 7 rounds of misses before hitting something.


1) Lvl 2.

2) I'm not sure, our GM is pretty stingy with giving us more HP. :S I think she has a low CON. She might've started with only 7HP or something

Rogues start with a d8 hit die and if she has a 10 or 11 CON than it's possible.

Paladin? What Oath you planning on taking?

edit: 15AC isn't high for low level. A fighter or a paladin can start with 18AC with just Chain Mail & a shield

 

[Famassu]

Rogues start with a d8 hit die and if she has a 10 or 11 CON than it's possible.

Paladin? What Oath you planning on taking?

edit: 15AC isn't high for low level. A fighter or a paladin can start with 18AC with just Chain Mail & a shield

I guess hers just feels high because she's otherwise such a weakling and with no armor. I mean, I'm a Paladin with an AC of 14 (I'm using a two-handed weapon so no shield). :S

Oath of Devotion, probably.

 

[Henchmen21]

I guess hers just feels high because she's otherwise such a weakling and with no armor. I mean, I'm a Paladin with an AC of 14 (I'm using a two-handed weapon so no shield). :S

Oath of Devotion, probably.

Not wearing heavy armor?

 

[Jest Chillin]

A mace and shield life cleric can get like 19 or 20 AC. Paladin's should have higher than 14 AC though unless you choose to wear a lighter armor or there's a restriction on your gear placed by the DM for whatever reason.

 

[Famassu]

Not wearing heavy armor?

I don't think I had the money for one. I think I have a basic Scale Mail that gives me the +4 (no Dex bonus). Will upgrade if I stay alive long enough to get some money from our current quest and get to a town to buy one.

A mace and shield life cleric can get like 19 or 20 AC. Paladin's should have higher than 14 AC though unless you choose to wear a lighter armor or there's a restriction on your gear placed by the DM for whatever reason.

Again, no shield currently, though we found some kind of magical one-hand mace that I might take so I'll probably ditch my halbert for that & pick up a shield for a bit more defense.

 

[Henchmen21]

A mace and shield life cleric can get like 19 or 20 AC. Paladin's should have higher than 14 AC though unless you choose to wear a lighter armor or there's a restriction on your gear placed by the DM for whatever reason.

Ring Mail (the lowest of the heavy armors) also has a base of 14. It's also dirt cheap at 30gp

I don't think I had the money for one. I think I have a basic Scale Mail that gives me the +4 (no Dex bonus). Will upgrade if I stay alive long enough to get some money from our current quest and get to a town to buy one.


Again, no shield currently, though we found some kind of magical one-hand mace that I might take so I'll probably ditch my halbert for that & pick up a shield for a bit more defense.

I mean, play your character however you want. I was just curious about your stats. It all depends on what role you want to fill in the party. If you want to be more tanky, than definitely ditch the halberd and go with a shield + some form of heavy armor. If you want to be more of a damage dealer than stick with the halberd.

 

[Famassu]

Ring Mail (the lowest of the heavy armors) also has a base of 14. It's also dirt cheap at 30gp



I mean, play your character however you want. I was just curious about your stats. It all depends on what role you want to fill in the party. If you want to be more tanky, than definitely ditch the halberd and go with a shield + some form of heavy armor. If you want to be more of a damage dealer than stick with the halberd.

Well, considering I'm constantly on the verge of dying (I've been at -7HP a couple of times xD), I think I'm ready to ditch the +2 max damage & x3 critical for being a bit tougher an opponent to damage.

 

[Henchmen21]

Well, considering I'm constantly on the verge of dying (I've been at -7HP a couple of times xD), I think I'm ready to ditch the +2 max damage & x3 critical for being a bit tougher an opponent to damage.

Well than yeah go for the shield and try to get some sort of heavy armor. Medium is ok if you have at least a 14 or 15 in your Dex (higher if you have the medium armor master feat) but since you said you have no bonus to your dex, heavy is better since you get a base score to work with that doesn't add dex to it unlike light & medium. Be warned though that you need a 13str to wear chain mail or you suffer movement penalty. Splint mail & plate mail are higher (17AC & 18AC respectively) but are way out of your price range right now. Plate is like 1500gp and requires a Str score of at least 15 to wear without suffering the movement penalty.

Are you guys homebrewing 5e? Because you mentioned -7hp and 5e by RAW you don't go to negative numbers. You hit 0hp and than start making death saving throws. Unless of course any remaining damage once you hit 0 equals or exceeds your max hp than you die outright.

 

[Famassu]

Well than yeah go for the shield and try to get some sort of heavy armor. Medium is ok if you have at least a 14 or 15 in your Dex (higher if you have the medium armor master feat) but since you said you have no bonus to your dex, heavy is better since you get a base score to work with that doesn't add dex to it unlike light & medium. Be warned though that you need a 13str to wear chain mail or you suffer movement penalty. Splint mail & plate mail are higher (17AC & 18AC respectively) but are way out of your price range right now. Plate is like 1500gp and requires a Str score of at least 15 to wear without suffering the movement penalty.

Are you guys homebrewing 5e? Because you mentioned -7hp and 5e by RAW you don't go to negative numbers. You hit 0hp and than start making death saving throws. Unless of course any remaining damage once you hit 0 equals or exceeds your max hp than you die outright.

Our GM likes the old death mechanic better. Dropping to below 0 renders one unconsicous, then one has to make d10 rolls and if they don't get a 10, they'll continue to bleed out. Getting a 10 stabilizes the player. Each failed throw means -1HP. Getting to -10HP means death. It works well on low levels, but I'm gonna have to have a discussion with GM if we ever get to higher lvl enemies that can dish MASSIVE DAMAGE and easily push someone below -10HP if they are even moderately low on health.

 

[AbsolutBro]

x3 critical

3.x Edition?

 

[Speely]

Cast Hypnotic Pattern on a group of 7 orcs (led by a chief.) They all failed their Wis save. Felt good. My save DC is only 15!

Needless to say, the group suffered 0 damage. I feel like in 5E, 5th level is a real milestone. That proficiency bonus kick does so much. My lore bard is finally shining a lil bit, and next level I get to pick two spells from any class. Unf.

Two Yawning Portal modules down, and onto the Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan!

 

[Fou-Lu]

I am finding it very difficult to find a group to play with IRL. Perhaps I am just too picky, but I want to play with a group that can take roleplay... seriously isn't the right word, but I don't want everything to be wacky hijinks at all times. I also don't want people bringing their climate change denial to the table, not fun. I'd love to play with my friends back home on roll20 or the like, but they always end up having plans when the day to play comes.

I tried Adventurer's League, but having multiple games in the same room makes it really hard to focus on my own game.

 

[Speely]

OMFG

Ran the first session of my homebrew campaign setting tonight. Cypher System fantasy I am calling "Megalomagica." It was batshit insane. I let the players create whatever they wanted, so we ended up with:

1) A half-demon fire sorcerer with weird fetishes.

2) A child illusionist with a raven familiar (who is actually his sister.)

3) An elf mage with super-speed who is a really bad thief but happens to be a clepto.

4) A gnome con artist who happens to be an actual miracle worker.

5) Basically Batman (Explorer specializing in devices who happens to be a good scrapper.)

They went HAM. Within minutes they were making opposed rolls against each other. It's gonna be mad.

I think the Cypher System is great for lighthearted games. This setting is very goofy, and the rules-lite approach works well with it. The sorcerer had a pee battle with a famous paladin, and it went very smoothly, for example

I noticed a lot more actual role-playing going on than I expected, and I think part of that is letting players make exactly the kind of characters they wanted to make. I customized some abilities for them to do this, and boy did it pay off.

I mean, they only got into one fight. The rest of the session they were just RPing with each other or with my NPCs. These are players who are super into system-driven games like Magic and D&D.

Feels good. I really love the Cypher System. It's so fun to run.

 

[CarbonatedFalcon]

I might be getting into a group that's going to play Edge of the Empire (Star Wars) or DnD 5e, depending on how it all shakes out.

Any opinions on the Star Wars title?

Also curious if anyone here has played Shadowrun or the new Starfinder (sci-fi Pathfinder)? Interested in maybe trying one of those at some point.

Either way, this'll only be my second time playing a tabletop RPG like this -- only have played Dungeon Crawl Classics for a class last year otherwise. Looking forward to it.