I know some of us here at Shadowlack are tabletop gamers - be they RPGs like Dungeons and Dragons, war games like Warhammer or even more typical card/board games. Since I'm rather actively involved in a D&D campaign at the moment and I'm looking into some other RPGs to play, I decided I wanted to make a thread to talk about tabletop games and the games we're in. So I did. At the moment I'm in a 4th edition D&D campaign, where I'm playing an invoker (basically a divine mage in 4e) named Jakob. This is actually the first time proper I've gotten to play in a campaign, rather than a one-off... and I have to say, I am having a blast. It's not an easy campaign to be in, since I have to be up at ungodly hours of the morning because almost everyone else in the group lives in Europe, but I'm really enjoying it. Helps that this is a pretty RP-heavy group - just last session, we had combat for the first time in four sessions... out of seven. But yeah, I'm really enjoying the setting (it takes a LOT of inspiration from Norse mythology and Lord of the Rings), the storyline and the RP. And from what little combat I've had I think I'm going to enjoy the combat as well. Somehow I managed to beat the party's warlord in a melee spar... and crit my attack roll TWICE in the fight. The second one won me that fight! XD In case anyone's wondering we play with a program called Maptool (which basically simulates a tabletop, with some extra functions to help things go more smoothly) and Skype. Oh, and each session is recorded, so if anyone's interested in watching I can just post the link. :3 (Though I should warn you... each session can EASILY go for 5+ hours long!) Aside from that I'm also going to be in a Mutants and Masterminds game. (Mutants and Masterminds is basically a superhero RPG based on the d20 system, and it looks quite fun! Has a pretty versatile character creation system as well.) And I'm also going to be in a Jadeclaw game at some point. (Jadeclaw is basically a furry fantasy game set in a fantasy version of ancient China. It's the Asian-style counterpart to Ironclaw, which is set in a fantasy version of Renaissance Italy.) I've also got a ton of ideas for campaigns I could run, buuuut I don't really have the time at the moment. Though, running the Free Mages plotline has put me in a DMing mood, so... Well, that's about it for me. Any other walls of text? XD;;
Wow, that's a lot of tabletop gaming! I poked around in Maptools once, forever ago, but I've never actually played a game using it. I take it you like it? How does running a game with Maptools and Skype compare to sitting around a table with some geeks and Mountain Dew? :) I'd love to poke around your recordings to see how it plays! I used to play tabletop role playing games, from Dungeons and Dragons to Shadowrun, GURPS, and the World of Darkness games, but I've since transitioned into being more of a collector. I have a set of two tall lockers in my apartment, and one is packed full of game books from various systems and generations. My coffee table is styled to look like an old steamer trunk, and is stuffed with board games, most of which I've never played. And both collections just keep growing... I'm currently lusting after the Savage Worlds gaming system, with the Deadlands setting books. Weird West with plenty of horror? Yes please! I haven't looked at Mutants and Masterminds, but I'm a huge fan of Green Ronin's house-built gaming system that they used in their licensed tabletop conversion of the Dragon Age computer game. The AGE system is smooth and rules-light, and has lots of little quirks that look like they'd keep things fresh and interesting on the mechanics front, in addition to being set in the rich Dragon Age IP for great role play potential. Wil Wheaton recently played a game with the founder of Green Ronin, Chris Pramas, on his Tabletop YouTube show. I believe Green Ronin is also working on a standalone version of the system, for people to homebrew their own settings, and I really can't wait to see how it turns out with Dragon Age stripped away. There have already been so many DIY hacks of the existing Dragon Age Role-playing Game into various settings, including old D&D's Mystara, Firefly, and even one using the setting from Diablo! I also haven't seen Ironclaw or Jadeclaw, though I briefly looked at a copy of the Usagi Yojimbo Role-playing Game from the same publisher in my friendly local gaming store a while back. Definitely a neat looking setting! And there's another wall of geeky text! Anyone else? :D
To be honest, most of my tabletop gaming experience actually has been online - I've yet to play one on an actual tabletop. XD;;; Hopefully that'll change at some point, though. But anyway, I can say right off the bat that the big advantage of playing it this way is that you can get players from a lot of different places. Just in our group, we've got three British people (one Scottish, two English), a Swedish fellow, two Americans who live in different states, and then there's me, who's Australian. Physically getting a group like that to play each session... yeah. Not gonna happen. >_> On the other hand, from what people who've had experience with both online play and IRL play have said, you lose a certain je nais sai quoi that IRL tabletop gaming has - being able to feel the dice in your hand and so forth. Also we can't see each others' faces, which I personally don't mind as much, but I imagine being able to see each others' faces as you're RPing can change things significantly. There's a bunch of other differences, but those are the ones that come to mind at the moment. Alrighty: here's the link to a wiki page about the campaign - check the History section for links to the recordings. (Leaving it here in case anyone else might be interested.) I should note that 1) this is a relatively sane part of the whole website... 2) the people there know me as BlueCoati, or simply Blue; 3) my character first shows up in Session 4; and 4) again, each session is VERY LONG. >_> Ooh, Savage Worlds. I think I was gonna be in a Savage Worlds game at some point, years ago... but that was before I really got into tabletop gaming. I don't think that campaign ever got off the ground, unfortunately - shame, 'cause it's got some settings that look fun. Like Deadlands, as you mentioned. And that sounds cool! I remember reading the Dragon Age RPG rulebook, and looking back on it now, it looks like it could work well for a lot of different settings. Once that standalone system comes out I'd like to see how well it'd adapt to some of my own setting ideas. Come to think of it, I had something similar in mind for the Ironclaw/Jadeclaw system as well - take it and create a new setting with the same rules... one with anthropomorphic dinosaurs. (I've already had one of my tabletop gaming friends want to join that campaign! XD) And I absolutely have not tinkered with the idea of a Shadowlack tabletop RPG. Nu-uh. >_>
I absolutely have not gently prodded Jodie once or twice about making a Shadowlack sourcebook for some gaming system or another. Nor am I trying to board-game-ify Jemdrull... >.>
Hehe lets see. I am with two roleplay groups currently. One group sticks to only one game until it finishes. The other is made of multiple gm's and dm's so there are 5 different games which alternate depending on who wishes to run that particular night. :3 Group one: Having finished the 3rd ed dnd campaign where I was playing a 10th level warlock tinker gnome. He was working on magical energy storage and powered platemail. After the storyline finished we begun on a different game. We pondered games from Babylon 5 to Star trek. Eventually settling on World of darkness Vampire. Currently just begun. Playing a Tremere fashion designer and occult collector. Group two: In this we have several games running, four for now. A vampire game with myself as a girlyboy Salubri. He is currently looking for a cure, though not for himself as he likes being undead and staying young. The second is a Shadowrun game. In this my character has after several mishaps caused by other players ended up with almost his entire body replaced by cybernetics. This irked me as he had haf full facial modification to look like an anthro fox. Including synth fur over his body. For now we have stopped after creating a place to stay and begun working out what to do next due to our... rivalry with a troll biker gang. The third game is a normal dndish game in Eberron. In which my character is an engineer trying to take over the family business while the world gets broken apart by end of the world stuff. And the fourth which has yet to start and is in the planning stages. A Star wars game. In which everyone starts as force attuned clone troopers. There might have been another game too but I cant remember. we switch in and switch out on a 4 monthly basis sometimes.
@Fey: Wow, you're in quiiite a few games... though yeah, your group's got the right idea, alternating multiple games on one night. Means that games don't take up so much of your schedule. Unfortunately my group's had to learn that the hard way. ^^;;; Well, we finally began our Mutants & Masterminds campaign late last month. So far we've only had two sessions, for a bunch of reasons that all involve RL stuff getting in the way, but each one's been a blast. ^_^ It's basically an urban fantasy game with a gothic theme, but each player's had their own take on what "gothic" meant, from the crazy vampire to the paranormal investigator from the 19th century. I'll give a quick list of highlights from the wackiness: Said paranormal investigator and a cryptozoologist investigating a large creature making tremors in the sewers... and getting lost for 16 hours because that's what the DM rolled on a d24 (though it was later retconned because it wouldn't have worked with what was going on) My character giving the paranormal investigator a shock by responding to the fact that witnessing a supernatural event was illegal... by turning into her werebat form A crazy vampire (not the one in our party, though) saying that a silenced gun would make too much noise and that his minions should use a chainsaw Our crazy vampire (who is basically a walking Hellsing Abridged reference) giving the paranormal investigator the severed heads of several vampire priests, which he set on fire and threw in the trash... which, naturally, lead to the building being evacuated - and all without the DM doing anything! My character using one of her party members, the heavily de-powered archangel Gabriel, as an improvised weapon - twice! And she used him as a bowling ball the second time. This was actually beneficial to him, as he doesn't have any ranged attacks at the moment. So yeah... it's been a wild ride. XD As I've mentioned a few times, I'm also DMing an upcoming game! It's Ironclaw, though set in a homebrew setting 20 years after the game's canon setting. Basically it's the world's equivalent of the Caribbean when lots of European powers were fighting over it... so, competing foreign powers, pirates, natives being unhappy with the whole thing and fighting back, etc. Oh, and mages, the occasional necromancer, undead things, and ruins of ancient empires ruled by mage-kings. Because why not? :P
New game started with my group. Rifts. It's intersting. Has yet to be fully started though. *Scurries for a wiki about it* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rifts_(role-playing_game) Basically post apoc Earth. Rifts and such all over the globe allowing access from other worlds/versions of Earth. This means you can use any game setting that is d20 system. And those that are not you can convert to d20. :3 For now base player characters theorized right now is a Jedi, a talking raptor hobo, a Tau firewarrior (myself), a timelord, the vault dweller and a brain in a jar. Hehe. This may get interesting...
