tog
Level 4 Theurgist
Detect Meal & What Kind
Posts: 148
|
Post by tog on Jul 19, 2014 15:54:28 GMT -6
Do you enjoy DIY computer projects? Those Raspberry Pi things they talk highly of on Lifehacker.com run about $35 (I think); you could throw together something with one of those, maybe? But I think geoffrey is asking for something ready-made.
|
|
tog
Level 4 Theurgist
Detect Meal & What Kind
Posts: 148
|
Post by tog on Jul 19, 2014 15:49:49 GMT -6
I want a new car but without wheels. It's the 21st Century. I was promised a flying car.
|
|
tog
Level 4 Theurgist
Detect Meal & What Kind
Posts: 148
|
Post by tog on Jul 15, 2014 19:52:46 GMT -6
Jeff Dee doin' Tekumel?
How did I MISS this?
I especially like his Shunned One - they've always been my favorite race for some inexplicable reason.
|
|
tog
Level 4 Theurgist
Detect Meal & What Kind
Posts: 148
|
Post by tog on Jul 14, 2014 22:18:09 GMT -6
Of course, gronan, you have the advantage that when some wet-eared wanker whines at you about "what you've done for the hobby" you can just cross your arms, smile and say "I HELPED CREATE THE DANG THING, SUNSHINE!".
|
|
tog
Level 4 Theurgist
Detect Meal & What Kind
Posts: 148
|
Post by tog on Jul 14, 2014 17:40:34 GMT -6
Over on this thread I mentioned the idea (*sigh*) of a re-issue of EPT with lots more artwork than the original, specifically the Professor's own work and DAT stuff like he did for Legions Of The Petal Throne. Of course, the one problem with this pleasant idyll is that the artists are both unfortunately passed on into the Land of the Excellent Dead, more's the pity. Anyway, who's got the visions now? I know there are people on DeviantArt doing Tekumel work; who would you hire for that fantasy EPT edition?
|
|
tog
Level 4 Theurgist
Detect Meal & What Kind
Posts: 148
|
Post by tog on Jul 14, 2014 17:28:57 GMT -6
You know, now that I think about it the other RPG I *MIGHT* consider putting out my shekels for based exclusively on art would be a re-do of Empire Of The Petal Throne (the old TSR version) with scads of Prof. Barker's and DAT's artwork.
You want beautiful maps? Look at the Professor's map of, I think it was Jakalla, in the style of old medieval city maps. MAR was a hell of an artist; makes me jealous not that he could do so many things but do them all so d**n WELL.
|
|
tog
Level 4 Theurgist
Detect Meal & What Kind
Posts: 148
|
Post by tog on Jul 13, 2014 19:57:15 GMT -6
WotC charging what the intend to charge for their new books borders on thievery; what else could they put in the rules that would warrant actually purchasing them? "Thievery" is a bit strong - as I pointed out earlier on this thread, in real dollars the core books these days don't cost a whole lot more than the LBBs did back in 1975. Admittedly the dynamics have changed - WOTC releases the core core rules for free, you can get your fan material off the internet rather than waiting weeks for the newest newsletter, and there are tons of systems to choose from rather than one.
|
|
tog
Level 4 Theurgist
Detect Meal & What Kind
Posts: 148
|
Post by tog on Jul 13, 2014 19:28:55 GMT -6
About the only edition of D&D I'd even consider buying "for the art" would be the first printings of 1e - Sutherland, Trampier, Tom Wham, Errol Otus.
I don't think anyone sane would go and dump $150+ on gaming books "for the art". Art is gravy.
|
|
tog
Level 4 Theurgist
Detect Meal & What Kind
Posts: 148
|
Post by tog on Jul 11, 2014 17:26:42 GMT -6
What/who is Scrap Princess? She does the blog "Monster Manual Sewn From Pants".
|
|
tog
Level 4 Theurgist
Detect Meal & What Kind
Posts: 148
|
Post by tog on Jul 11, 2014 14:05:02 GMT -6
Maybe Kirk and Co. just have luck like mine... vehicles constantly breaking down or needing replacement parts, usually at the worst possible moment. Scotty slides out from under the Galileo on one of those wheeled board things - "Ach, Captain, she needs a new water pump! Thet model hanna been sold since 2240!"
|
|
tog
Level 4 Theurgist
Detect Meal & What Kind
Posts: 148
|
Post by tog on Jul 11, 2014 13:41:06 GMT -6
It would be interesting if it was assumed that the shuttle was deployed on the Enterprise specifically as a response to the Alpha 177 incident; "we must never let a potential tragedy like this happen again" and like that.
Of course, then that's problematic in all the OTHER episodes where they could have used it and didn't!
|
|
tog
Level 4 Theurgist
Detect Meal & What Kind
Posts: 148
|
Post by tog on Jul 11, 2014 13:07:07 GMT -6
Some people kvetch about how "unplayable" Universe is. Pfeh.
Character generation is a bit complicated but since you generate not only a PC but their home environment I've come up with some really neat PCs as a result, like the guy who grew up on a world circling a brown dwarf where Construction skill was routinely taught to deal with the occasional tidal earthquakes.
Planet gen is simple - you get a description of the general resources (rich/poor), a general description of the environment (Terran/minimal/hostile) and a temperature. Planet maps are divided into environs, which makes drawing maps based on a specific hydrographic percentage easier to do.
I particularly like the classification for alien life as well, basically how well it corresponds to earthlike carbon/protein life. A system for generating new life forms would have been nice, but you could always modify Traveller's system I suppose.
Starships are modular deals - you get a "hull" (which I've always envisioned as more like a frame) and plug in particular modules as you need them.
I'd run/play it in a heartbeat, frankly.
|
|
tog
Level 4 Theurgist
Detect Meal & What Kind
Posts: 148
|
Post by tog on Jul 11, 2014 10:36:41 GMT -6
Basically, what kind of supplement do you wish would "come out" next week? Ready Ref Sheets Vol. 2.
|
|
tog
Level 4 Theurgist
Detect Meal & What Kind
Posts: 148
|
Post by tog on Jul 11, 2014 9:26:43 GMT -6
2. He may be a jerky jerk-face but you should separate his jerky jerk-faceness from his game I thought I've been perfectly reasonable.
|
|
tog
Level 4 Theurgist
Detect Meal & What Kind
Posts: 148
|
Post by tog on Jul 10, 2014 15:48:55 GMT -6
Hey, if you have nothing better to do than determine the pocket contents and daily schedules of a couple hundred mercantile nonentities, go for it. I'm guessing there are all those random tables pertaining to the City State in the Ready Ref Sheets for a reason.
|
|
tog
Level 4 Theurgist
Detect Meal & What Kind
Posts: 148
|
Post by tog on Jul 10, 2014 11:39:50 GMT -6
CITY-STATE OF THE UNSPEAKABLE ANTI-GOD sound? Star-Ship of the Invisible Thunder-Sword? Call James Raggi right now with your product pitch! Anyways, what matters about Vornheim, isn't the mood of the place. Its how cities are treated as massive sprawling overground dungeons, that can be randomly generated on the fly by drawing out overlapping letters an numbers. I dunno, I think the whole idea of using letters/numbers to quickly map out territory without fretting about drawing the whole dang city beforehand is brilliant. I'm sure there are people who think using geomorphs is cheating. De gustibus non disputandum est, I guess.
|
|
tog
Level 4 Theurgist
Detect Meal & What Kind
Posts: 148
|
Post by tog on Jul 10, 2014 11:34:31 GMT -6
Robert E Howard was racist and suicidal, yet still ranks among my favorite authors of all time. Having said that, however, I can see where a person might like or dislike a written work based on the author simply because the author's personality often comes through in the work. To stick with the example of REH, some of his writings would never be PC enough to be published nowadays if he already hadn't built a level of fame. When I read about REH's life, I sometimes think "wow, this guy was sure messed up" but that doesn't equate to me disliking his stories and imagination. As Orwell once pointed out, Jack London had a fascist view, yet I thoroughly enjoy his story The Iron Heel (and White Fang keeps getting assigned to school kids). Freidrich Engels' favorite author was the belligerent Royalist Honore Balzac. Frank Miller is a racist jerk, but Dark Knight Returns is an awesome comic. Joe Shuster drew fetish art. Hemingway and Fitzgerald were alcoholics. Steve Ditko is an Objectivist flake. Neal Adams has some unusual ideas about the Earth. Creativity is weird stuff, and doesn't always come from angels, and there's very little connection between a creator's private life and their output, unless they set out to make one.
|
|
tog
Level 4 Theurgist
Detect Meal & What Kind
Posts: 148
|
Post by tog on Jul 10, 2014 7:25:05 GMT -6
Still trying to figure out why author personality must therefore equal product quality.
|
|
tog
Level 4 Theurgist
Detect Meal & What Kind
Posts: 148
|
Post by tog on Jul 9, 2014 22:01:28 GMT -6
The Scorpio series is awesome fun. Finished the first one. Really liked the Master and Commander background of the hero, and the recurring Scorpio/scorpion motif. It looks like the later books get really gonzo (Not that I'm complaining...). In volume 33 (!) the planet Kregan gets invaded by a plague of werewolves! I read Transit To Scorpio and wasn't really impressed; maybe I should stick with it. Some Judges Guild stuff seems to have been influenced by Prescott - there are write-ups of a couple Kregan beasts in the Dungeoneer Journal #25, and a bunch of listings in the Field Guide To Encounters (as well as loads of references to Lin Carter's "World's End" series, a big hunk of fun cheese in itself!).
|
|
tog
Level 4 Theurgist
Detect Meal & What Kind
Posts: 148
|
Post by tog on Jul 9, 2014 21:46:26 GMT -6
I found the Morrow Project, contrary to expectations, had only one real rule: the most awesome calculation (and I don't use that word figuratively) for gunfire damage EVER. There's actually a guy out there with a very extensive MP blog still running. He's attempting to do MP sketches of all 50 states... I think I've seen that blog; I seem to recall downloading a "road guide" for MP that might have been from there. One of the most amazing parts of Morrow Project's system was Blood Points - you not only had to keep track of your character's hits, but BP as well - meaning it was possible to suffer slow bleeding, internal bleeding, fun stuff like that. TriTac was almost as amazing - if you shot someone with a burst from an automatic weapon (and I think this applies for MP as well) you needed to roll separately for each bullet in the burst as to whether or not it hit, its hit location, and its effect. TriTac games also gave you rules for tracking hunger/starvation and detailed lists for food values, including cannibalism ("The Alfred Packer Food Program").
|
|
tog
Level 4 Theurgist
Detect Meal & What Kind
Posts: 148
|
Post by tog on Jul 9, 2014 20:35:54 GMT -6
Look princess, your metaphors are excruciating and illogical. In this world, which is the real world, no-one needs your permission to give their judgement. oh no I have been schooled how will I ever live with myself.
|
|
tog
Level 4 Theurgist
Detect Meal & What Kind
Posts: 148
|
Post by tog on Jul 9, 2014 19:50:03 GMT -6
I didn’t reject it, I downloaded it and reviewed it. T'wasn't referring to you as such; at least you appear to be willing to look at the product itself and judge it apart from the author. Zak says in the introduction that it's basically his own reference work; if you happen to dislike Planescape Dark Gothic that's fine with me. It's like turning down free pie - I can see if you don't like strawberry rhubarb, but to fret and snark about how the cook dresses is, shall I say, a bit petty.
|
|
tog
Level 4 Theurgist
Detect Meal & What Kind
Posts: 148
|
Post by tog on Jul 9, 2014 17:44:48 GMT -6
I'm voting for #14 'cause I don't have it yet.
|
|
tog
Level 4 Theurgist
Detect Meal & What Kind
Posts: 148
|
Post by tog on Jul 9, 2014 17:43:09 GMT -6
Just seems to me a shallow reason for rejecting a game supplement, especially a free one.
Hell, I paid money for RPGPundit's game*, and while I think he's a paranoid loon I'm not afraid I'll get cooties from opening the PDFs.
*Someone (maybe Jeff Rients) highly recommended Forward To Adventure! and at the time I didn't know about the extent of Pundit's story-game moonbattery. And they're PDFs so I can't re-sell 'em.
|
|
tog
Level 4 Theurgist
Detect Meal & What Kind
Posts: 148
|
Post by tog on Jul 9, 2014 17:33:59 GMT -6
Something about the Eighties seems to have fostered "realism" in RPGs, creating massive cruft in rules. Aftermath! and a lot of FGU titles, Morrow Project (and all the TriTac games, much as I love the settings), add-on systems like MARS, every RPG suddenly had to have a detailed hit location system... I mean, look at Booty And The Beasts - along with gonzo goodness like jovians and Vancian creatures you have a detailed hit location table so you can determine which organs got pulped and which bones got shattered. Maybe it was something in the water.
|
|
tog
Level 4 Theurgist
Detect Meal & What Kind
Posts: 148
|
Post by tog on Jul 9, 2014 8:45:01 GMT -6
Just checked it out for the first time. What a mess. Not loving the quadruple fighter/magic-user/cleric/thief class? Hey, if you're going to play a class-based system, why not play all of them at once?
|
|
tog
Level 4 Theurgist
Detect Meal & What Kind
Posts: 148
|
Post by tog on Jul 9, 2014 8:35:01 GMT -6
Rats, FFE's not selling the big floppy Traveller LBBs anymore, except for the JTAS collections. I had hoped to get the Adventures reprint at some point.
Anyway, on-topic, I picked up the PDF of Aftermath! a while back from DriveThruRPG, but have never taken a look at it. I'm rather burned out these days on rules-heavy systems.
|
|
tog
Level 4 Theurgist
Detect Meal & What Kind
Posts: 148
|
Post by tog on Jul 8, 2014 19:43:15 GMT -6
You're more than welcome! Glad to know my immersement in science fiction geekery hasn't been wasted.
|
|
tog
Level 4 Theurgist
Detect Meal & What Kind
Posts: 148
|
Post by tog on Jul 8, 2014 18:03:05 GMT -6
|
|
tog
Level 4 Theurgist
Detect Meal & What Kind
Posts: 148
|
Post by tog on Jul 7, 2014 11:01:10 GMT -6
"Hey, Master, what begins with G and ends with F and rhymes with 'Go F*** Yourself'?" "Ooooh, I can see someone who's not going to be getting a Christmas bonus in HIS packet!"
|
|