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Relic
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Modiphius throwing a big event tomorrow to confirm the launch details for the Fallout pen-and-paper RPG.

No idea whatsoever why it's taken this long to have a Fallout  P&P RPG. As a franchise it's incredibly well-suited to it and the amount of background material available just from the video games massively outnumbers that from long-established tabletop RPGs.

That reminds me I need to pick up a copy of their Dune TT RPG, which should be available this month.

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From the website:

Take your characters on a journey through the worlds of the seminal Dune sci-fi book series from Frank Herbert, Brian Herbert, and Kevin J. Anderson, inhabiting elite agents working

 

Talk about heretics of Dune.

Edited by Comrade Jace, Leftist
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22 hours ago, Comrade Jace, Leftist said:

From the website:

Take your characters on a journey through the worlds of the seminal Dune sci-fi book series from Frank Herbert, Brian Herbert, and Kevin J. Anderson, inhabiting elite agents working

Talk about heretics of Dune.

Yeah, that's unavoidable as long as Brian Herbert is his father's literary executor.

I think most fans will be playing in Frank's sandbox and completely and totally ignoring anything that comes from the hackmeisters' fanfiction.

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1 minute ago, Werthead said:

Yeah, that's unavoidable as long as Brian Herbert is his father's literary executor.

I think most fans will be playing in Frank's sandbox and completely and totally ignoring anything that comes from the hackmeisters' fanfiction.

I wanna be a guild navigator. The rest of the team will be forced to push my spice gas tank around and help bear the cost of my melange needs. In return I offer nothing but snark and incoherent riddles on the future.

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The Fallout tabletop RPG is looking pretty good, though the Tabletop Bundle and the limited editions are both very expensive. But the core rulebook by itself is more than reasonable (and pretty huge at 438 pages).

14 hours ago, Comrade Jace, Leftist said:

I wanna be a guild navigator. The rest of the team will be forced to push my spice gas tank around and help bear the cost of my melange needs. In return I offer nothing but snark and incoherent riddles on the future.

So, a bard?

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  • 1 month later...
  • 7 months later...

A group of friends and I just passed one year of playing the Forgotten Realm's Rime of the Frostmaiden via Zoom.  The DM just uses Photoshop to share maps, illustrations, etc. and we all just roll physical dice at our locations (but maybe we'll incorporate an online dice roller sometime?)  It's worked well for us and has really been something fun to do - especially during the winter with COVID and everything.

But the greatest thing about it is really that we are introducing our children to D&D.  This group is our first run playing D&D online and it consists of me, my daughter, the DM I grew up with and his two sons (one of whom is currently DM'ing), and another friend who grew up playing table top D&D with us all through high school and college. 

I have no doubt that the kids will probably break off and do their own thing with roleplaying relatively soon but I think we old folks will probably continue playing a bit via Zoom as well.  There was some skepticism that it wouldn't work in the beginning but we discovered that it does.  So, it's been a nice discovery!  I'm sure we'll probably just continue to play pre-made stuff, though (not like the old days):)     

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I haven't managed to get an RPG to the table (I've barely managed to get board games to the table) but I did pick up a whole bunch of the games I've been talking about for a while.

Dune: Adventures in the Imperium is fine, and I really like the approach they've taken which is to make it very Dune in feel and tone. For example, there's no shop-keeping/inventory system as such. They suggest that if you're playing a bunch of guys going into a shop in Arrakeen to buy lasguns and krys knives before heading out to a "dungeon" (maybe an abandoned sietch) to search for loot, something's gone wrong somewhere and you should just be playing another game. They use a "resources" system instead so your character can get the equipment they need for the task at hand from the stores of the house or faction the character belongs to. They also put a lot of thought into how the "party" is formed and how it can make sense, and how a game can switch between grand galactic politics and a more traditional, small-scaled adventure. A much bigger focus on atmosphere and storytelling over crunch.

I also really like the Dishonored RPG. It's super-focused on evoking the spirit of the video game but in a party-based approach, with a lot of emphasis on replicating the stealth and worldbuilding.

The Fallout tabletop RPG, despite using the same system as Dune (2d20), goes in the opposite direction of basically being the post-apocalyptic equivalent of D&D, and they make some really good rules adjustments for that. Lots of fun, whether you're a fan of the video games or not.

Alien also got its Colonial Marines expansion, which is to overcome the issue with the original RPG that it was a bit too based on Alien (and Alien: Isolation), with a heavy focus on horror and PC fatalities being more encouraged than in other games. This version goes to town on the Marines and a more action-based game with more carnage and casualties. I'm not sure the Free League rules system they use for the game is best-suited for that kind of approach but it seems to work.

Next up is the Homeworld RPG, although I am starting to get slightly bored of the 2d20 system. It's a good rules set, but it's going to be the fourth RPG I've bought in a year using it.

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The in-person game I DM is quickly approaching its 7 year anniversary (I believe some time in January or early February) and the characters have just hit 16th level. Usually the games I DM that manage to hit high levels end up dying out around this area so hopefully that won't happen. I'm starting to draw stories to a close so the characters have built a stronghold, established themselves as the de facto rulers of the local area, and are now dealing with a dragon that has been manipulating things and the local nobles that are incensed by these common upstarts. This includes dealing with an army that has attacked a town that they have been heavily involved in over the course of the campaign.

I also got dragged into DMing another 5e game over Roll20 that just passed its 1 year anniversary in October. The characters just hit 7th level and are part of an expedition to find an ancient lost city. Lots of traveling and very different from the other game.

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  • 6 months later...
On 12/15/2021 at 8:59 PM, Durckad said:

The in-person game I DM is quickly approaching its 7 year anniversary (I believe some time in January or early February) and the characters have just hit 16th level. Usually the games I DM that manage to hit high levels end up dying out around this area so hopefully that won't happen. I'm starting to draw stories to a close so the characters have built a stronghold, established themselves as the de facto rulers of the local area, and are now dealing with a dragon that has been manipulating things and the local nobles that are incensed by these common upstarts. This includes dealing with an army that has attacked a town that they have been heavily involved in over the course of the campaign.

I also got dragged into DMing another 5e game over Roll20 that just passed its 1 year anniversary in October. The characters just hit 7th level and are part of an expedition to find an ancient lost city. Lots of traveling and very different from the other game.

How are your games going?

Our Eberron campaign, which I mentioned above, just had its 42nd session and we're still just ramping up. Players are 6th level, which i feel is a pretty nice and steady progression rate. 

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6 hours ago, Relic said:

How are your games going?

Our Eberron campaign, which I mentioned above, just had its 42nd session and we're still just ramping up. Players are 6th level, which i feel is a pretty nice and steady progression rate. 

Still going!

The 7 year campaign is drawing to a close. We typically only play once a month so it's not closing out quite as quickly as I'd like, but plot lines are getting wrapped up, villains getting gibbed, and PC's getting absurdly powerful loot. Unlike apparently a lot of other DM's, running high level games is kind of liberating in a way. The PC's have so many options and generally have a lot of NPC allies that they can all on to help them that I can just set up a situation and tell the PC's to "have at it" and they will likely figure out a way to do whatever is needed. It may be the dumbest possible way to solve their dilemma, but they'll do it, sans some hit points, potions, scrolls, and spell slots. Some of the players have said to me that they are a getting "bit tired" of this campaign so I'm trying to close things off as quickly as possible while still having things end in a satisfying manner.

They're 17th level right now, soon to be 18th if they survive their current somewhat self-imposed fuck up. They finished helping to defend a city from an army of evil dragonborn, undead, and mercenaries, which culminated in a simulacrum of one of the villains trying to collapse a mansion on them. The cleric/paladin got feebleminded during the fight and had to be dragged out by his friends, but they survived, out of spell slots, ki points, and low on hit points after a full day of fighting mooks. After climbing out of the ruins of the mansion, I told them they could see the sun rising in the east and hear the chants of victory from their allies they all pretty much said in unison "Thank god. I'm out of.... everything!"

After a bit of post battle clean up, including a bit of grieving over some of their fallen NPC allies, they raced off to head off another army that was making for their stronghold and decided to do so by.... fighting it head on? Not the best decision and after a botched first attack and a more successful secondary ambush, they're now figuring out how they're going to be able to retreat with everyone in tow. Even 17th level characters have their limit, which is something I really like about 5e. Even low challenge creatures can pose a threat if used in sufficient numbers or with good enough tactics. A 3e or Pathfinder character would just chop through the entire army, which is cool I guess, but not entirely ideal.

The other campaign is going well. The characters are soon to be 9th level after this current quest is resolved. They successfully completed a heist of a merchant company's headquarters and are now looking into a mysterious murder at a remote trade depot that just might involve a vengeful body-hopping, possessing demon. When trying to investigate some suspicious cargo, they found one of the guards dead and the local constable has taken them in for questioning after finding them in the vicinity of the dead body. Little do they know that the constable is the demon's current host and is in his "Fuck with the party, sow suspicion, and make their lives as difficult as possible" part of its plan. That's where than one has left off and that was Session # 28 I think.

After this, they're planning on making their way to an orc "city" to meet with a shaman and hopefully track down some more info about this lost city and about why their dreams have been so weird lately.

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20 hours ago, Relic said:

How are your games going?

Our Eberron campaign, which I mentioned above, just had its 42nd session and we're still just ramping up. Players are 6th level, which i feel is a pretty nice and steady progression rate. 

How long do your sessions typically run? I'm DMing a campaign and we are at session 16 and mid-way through level 5.  Our sessions tend to run in the 3-4 hour range and we typically laugh about how slow we tend to progress.  I'd come up with content that I thought would be for a single session and is typically 2-3.  In fact our last session literally didnt finish off the single, enemy waves battle.  Beer may have something to do with it...

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4 hours ago, horangi said:

How long do your sessions typically run?

Around 3 hours. But we also introduced a second set of PCs into the world. That being said, as a DM, i DO like to take progression slow. I feel it allows for the players to be creative with what they have, without constantly getting more. Does that make sense?

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In person, our games are about 6ish hours, but a good chunk of that time is spent A) Bullshitting, B ) Eating, and C) setting up terrain for the next encounter. I guesstimate we get about a good 4 hours of actual play time.

Online, our sessions are about 3ish hours, but there's much less bsing and everybody mostly comes to game, whereas the in person sessions are more "See friends and have fun and game if there's time left over." Which is fine, I love hanging out with my friends in person, but it would be nice if maybe, sometimes we were a bit more focused on the actual game rather than whatever new shitty Disney+ show just dropped.

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4 hours ago, Relic said:

Around 3 hours. But we also introduced a second set of PCs into the world. That being said, as a DM, i DO like to take progression slow. I feel it allows for the players to be creative with what they have, without constantly getting more. Does that make sense?

I think whatever pace is fun for you and your players is best.

I prefer a bit faster pace, but I like to give the players a couple of sessions to enjoy their abilities before moving them on. Typically, I have them level up after a major story beat, but if a particular story or quest goes by quicker than anticipated, then I may delay it a session or two. Really just depends honestly.

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4 hours ago, Relic said:

Around 3 hours. But we also introduced a second set of PCs into the world. That being said, as a DM, i DO like to take progression slow. I feel it allows for the players to be creative with what they have, without constantly getting more. Does that make sense?

Absolutely, the best timing is whatever works for the group!  I like to do the same in that the less I am speaking and the more they are, the more I feel like its going well.  That said, I have a smaller than average group, so they tend to end up deciding things pretty quickly.  I wonder, are you doing in person games or online?  As much as I've loved that Roll20 and D&D Beyond have allowed us to get the old gang back together, I feel sometimes it increases the rails from back in the old days off huddling around a kitchen table (being we are now all scattered across the planet).  I have to pregenerate maps for encounters so improvising locations is a bit harder then just whipping out a piece of graph paper and making something up on the spot when it comes to having a battle.  Always looking for tips though, so cheers!

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