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Post by Merctime on Nov 24, 2014 21:57:01 GMT -6
Yeah, they really are! Hey, idrahil, thanks for the remind, too... I saw these at work where I couldn't post to tetramorph's blog, and didn't post over there yet! Fixing that now
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Post by Merctime on Nov 24, 2014 16:47:59 GMT -6
Man, that sounds like it was a blast! You know, I never ever considered the encumbering value of a halfling before I bet you know what it is now!
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Post by Merctime on Nov 24, 2014 10:36:52 GMT -6
Dude!!! A game/comic shop slash coffee shop?!?!?! TAKE MY MONEY NOW.
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Post by Merctime on Nov 23, 2014 18:47:39 GMT -6
Also, it's fun to draw dungeon levels. Now that's what I'm talking about I just really like maps of dungeons. Drawing them, or finding the (primarily hand-drawn is what I like) maps done by others online really helps me 'get the feeling' of narrating a dungeon crawl for someone. I'm not sure I could get 'in the moment' like that, as a DM, with a flowchart. Not sure though as I've never tried.
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Post by Merctime on Nov 23, 2014 17:57:48 GMT -6
"or snotty young hipster,"
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Post by Merctime on Nov 23, 2014 15:38:16 GMT -6
That just baffles me. I'm very sorry your wife had to witness that sort of crap, to be honest. I'm sure there are still some great FLGS out there, though... I knew of one in Tacoma, Washington. Great place, forget the name; Comics, boardgames, warhammer 40k battles going on constantly, lots of RPGs of a variety of types. I guess it's all about where you can go?
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Post by Merctime on Nov 23, 2014 15:05:03 GMT -6
Helping some socially awkward fatbeard live his dream as a game store owner is not quite enough incentive. Yeah, this basically. Hahahaha. Nice one, Chainsaw, and very true! To be fair, I think there are some different game stores nearby a few games over. They generally meet the requirements posited above; Although I seem to notice a strange local phenomenon wherein most of the gamestore owners aren't too friendly. They seem a bit gruff and non-talkative, which makes me scratch my head a bit. If you don't want to be around people, why have a retail store?
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Post by Merctime on Nov 23, 2014 13:56:29 GMT -6
I suppose I am skewed due to my location. The FLGS here really only sells 4E (which I have no personal interest in whatsoever) but that makes sense as that is what the kids buy. So, I do all of my current game purchases online. I sure would like to support local game-stores, though... I miss the feeling of going into them and getting into great discussions with the other customers who just happen to be in there! Hopefully that face-to-face aspect of FLGS doesn't get lost in the online sales. I don't think the guy at my local store is getting rich, but it's otherwise a cool place. A SMALL portion of D&D books, some random comics and card games, models and terrain stuff, and an upstairs area where they all play 4E sometimes. Even if it ain't my cup o' tea at all, it's sure neat for them! Which is good
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Post by Merctime on Nov 23, 2014 13:03:03 GMT -6
There are a few variants of BfM out there. One of them that has a Fantasy spin is called Battle for Angmar. It is one of Alan Emrich's designs. He is a college professor of game design and I believe he works with Victory Point Games. Unfortunately, for the life of me, I can not track it down on the web any where. Suffice it to say, instead of Moscow you have Angmar. Instead of Germans and Russians you have the Men & Elf Alliance vs. the Goblin & Trolls. The map and terrain is very much the same as well as the sequence of play. Dude! I'd eat brussel sprouts to get a physical copy of such a game! Thanks, derv... I'll have to look around for that. EDIT: makofan of these boards is the guy who's teaching me how to wargame over HexWar.net. He's currently whipping me soundly teaching me the fine art of wargaming in "Napoleon at Waterloo" so I can get some chops. It's pretty fun
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Post by Merctime on Nov 23, 2014 10:30:42 GMT -6
Thanks, everyone! I have much to look into now. I'm hoping to rope my brother-in-law into this with me. This sort of thing will be great for winter; Hot cocoa, blankets, and the agonizing sounds of a defeated enemy! What more could a guy want? I'll have to look into SPI's Swords & Sorcery. I'm guessing it's out of print, but maybe I can find something out about it.
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Post by Merctime on Nov 22, 2014 23:56:26 GMT -6
I'm seriously considering this: www.victorypointgames.com/ancient-battles-deluxe.htmlNote, I'm almost totally green at wargaming in general, with only a single loss to my name! (A fellow on these boards is graciously teaching me on Hexwar.net) His advice for a starter was this, too... www.victorypointgames.com/battle-for-moscow.htmlI'm keen on getting it I think. I prefer more D&D-ish stuff, but that is probably hard to find that isn't made for children in hex-and-chit type stuff, isn't it? Might be fun to get into this kind of wargaming
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Post by Merctime on Nov 22, 2014 22:21:40 GMT -6
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Post by Merctime on Nov 22, 2014 21:15:04 GMT -6
That's YOUR drawing?!?!?!
ITS AWESOME. No kidding!!! Great job!
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Post by Merctime on Nov 22, 2014 16:05:18 GMT -6
You know, oakesspalding, I can't tell ya All of the stuff I've gotten from Lulu has been softcover. Once I get my Teratic Tome in the mail in a week or so, I'll be able to comment on it.
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Post by Merctime on Nov 19, 2014 23:24:38 GMT -6
Ok, so after some *Phenomenal* advice from some folks (of course everyone above), I've bit the bullet and ordered both of the compilations Can't wait to get 8 issues of goodness in the mail soon! Thanks everyone! Thank you calithena!
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Post by Merctime on Nov 19, 2014 12:59:06 GMT -6
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Post by Merctime on Nov 19, 2014 12:48:13 GMT -6
Hey, folks... I've downloaded the free issue 2 of Fight On! magazine and I just had to say that the artwork done by kesher of these boards is fricken' awesome! Specifically the pic of the leprechaun and his halfling thugs! Beautiful work in there, man! The issue is great, too... I'll be ordering physical copies come next paycheck. But this is just a shout-out to great art!
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Post by Merctime on Nov 19, 2014 12:21:56 GMT -6
I searched for pictures of this. The pics I found remind me of the Conan movie where the team is diving under the water into that wizard's ice palace!
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Post by Merctime on Nov 19, 2014 12:00:43 GMT -6
Regarding the adventurers at the bottom right, near the gold... One of them, the left-most one, looks less happy than the others... He's not smiling... I wonder, did he spy a trap?
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Post by Merctime on Nov 18, 2014 20:24:45 GMT -6
You know, I've read this a few days ago and have been meaning to remark on it for some time now. I think it's time Staying on off topic henchmen and hirelings, I really feel that I've missed out on a whole gaming experience. My first games were with D&D Basic (Mentzer) although friends had the Moldvay/Cook B/X but I had been introduced to fantasy gaming through solo gamebooks so even the concept of an adventuring "party" as opposed to single protagognist hero was taking me a while to get my head around. I, too, feel like I've missed out on alot of the experience of gaming that I now love, the oldest kind, the 1974 kind. Thank God for these boards... Now I can! Bill, you are not alone here Also my playing groups were small: a DM plus four players tops, but then the paid-for scenarios would have taglines like "suitable for 6 to 10 adventurers"! Maybe there would be the occassional NPC "guide" or patron, especially useful when convincng the players to stop deviating too far from a main quest hook. "Olaf says the gnolls went West" Looking through different rulesets, hirelings and henchmen seemed to become more sidelined on each publication (it could be my interpretation,). I'm sure that there are many threads here on party sizes and henchmen. Regarding my own groups, I recall many a time when it was just myself and my cousin to play, or myself and maybe two players. We were a bit nonplussed about party sizes too... We just made do, though. But I definitely get you on this one! I've made quite a use out of 'guide' type npc's in my day, too. Only recently have I gotten really, really into henchmen... But I've always been interested in domain-level play. Reading the "Klytus I'm bored" thread has been very illuminating. For you and me both, brother! One imagins that OD&D could be played employing a squadlike scrum of adventurers with a handful of mercenaries squeezing themselves down passageways,weapons poking through from the second row, magic users moving to the front and ducking back, into the safety of the miniature crowd. It's a far call from myself and a friend taking out a couple of goblin guards and then hobbling back to town to heal up. I think it was on the K&KA website where I read a post that blew my mind. It was a post of some fellow who was talking about adventures being more like 'expeditions'; The players establishing large wagon-trains of supplies and dozens of camp-followers and mercenaries, to bring to the dungeon site and set up a camp outside of it! From this base, the players would delve, come out, rest and resupply in the wilds, and delve again until they wagon-trained back. Some left henchmen up top to act as sergeants and lieutenants of the campsite above, to keep it safe from above-ground wandering monsters. I am so in love with this idea! I like investing emotionally in characters from the start, but I also accept that thrill comes with risk. As a DM I was way too soft on my players, I think I loved the campaign narrative too much, at least I wanted the heros to win (sort of, I didn't realise how vain this was and how restrictive my adventures were). Not sure I'd agree with you on this being 'vain', but to me, the way I am today? The 'Story' is what happens AFTER the game session... AFTER all the exploits of adventure... And is not to be 'written in' to it from the very beginning. In my opinion, writing it into the beginning just makes it harder on the DM: It kind of makes him take all of his ideas from one box (the pre-written story) and doesn't allow to much leeway or lateral thought outside of that box. This is my opinion these days. And, for sure, as a player, IF I play well enough to survive for a few levels... Man, do I have a story to tell you!!! Nowadays I'd love to trial moral dilemmas and maybe open up possibilities - sandboxing as well perhaps. What happens if the players kill a bunch of innocents by mistake? What happens when they turn the quests down or kill the wealthy benefactors? ...Whatever the DM feels that the repercussions are for those actions, in my opinion! See, to me, that is the 'freeing' aspect of old-school DMing. You only give the players opportunities... THEY make the call. THEY rush out to adventure, or don't. THEY make moral decisions, or THEY face the consequences. The DM is just there to adjudicate In T&T they talk about "stables" of adventurers, which reminds me of save files in modern games, but I can't imagine playing enough games at the moment to be trying a different class and race in every game. ...Unless that game is sufficiently challenging... There may be enough deaths from 'oopses' on the player's part or just a bad die roll that it won't be long before another character is rolled up! Certainly, after a bit of this, player and DM skill will increase to the point where people's character's begin to survive more and for longer. I think the henchmen and hirelings rules must increase survivability of PCs just enough to let a player build a personality over a few sessions. The PCs may not be heroes at 1st and 2nd level, but with a little gold and charisma they can still be are leaders, captains and managers and that has to add something to the roleplay perhaps? I think these are good points. I certainly believe in henchmen for survivability, and of course for player power as I spoke about above. Characters can definitely be leaders, of course considering charisma and how the player plays them, and gold too haha... I mean, the level title of a 1st level Fighting-man is "Veteran". This denotes the experience to lead! And, sure, character's don't start out as heros... But enough good play on the players part... And they can become them through great deeds and high adventure! Sorry for the huge post. But I got the idea you were pouring yourself out to us with it, and really believe you should see something in return for such a bold effort on your part. In any event, Fight On! -Tim ("Merctime")
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Post by Merctime on Nov 18, 2014 19:08:22 GMT -6
Man, I love it! Spider-man poking out in the background and all! That deadly water splash looks scary!
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Post by Merctime on Nov 18, 2014 12:44:24 GMT -6
Jeffrey Talanian is a stand up and awesome guy. ASSH is a wonderful product too! --Ron-- Quote for truth!
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Post by Merctime on Nov 17, 2014 11:45:49 GMT -6
I should note here some discrepancies on my part, but they are specific to Delving Deeper and not necessarily OD&D. This is just for clarification on my post above: Ahah, so Delving Deeper calls it Unguarded Treasure, that makes sense. I need to clarify that I mislead you on this. Delving Deeper allows for both methods of applying treasures to dungeons (rather unlike OD&D), and for rooms containing unguarded treasure (Just like OD&D). The 'unguarded treasure' note starts by talking about 'treasure guarded by traps' and follows with notes that unguarded treasure is determined in the same fashion as those found guarded by traps. This is also useful for placing treasures for monsters present that don't necessarily have the numbers for having a lair in the dungeon, but have some valuables (As far as I understand it). The Delving Deeper text further states that "The number of monsters is best determined by the level being considered and the kind of monster inhabiting the room or space. The Monster Table from Volume II can be most helpful here." This is, as I've spoken to above, different than the rules found in OD&D. It shows us that some monsters do actually lair in the dungeon and can/would use the 'treasure type' tables, and also that if some monsters aren't 'lairing' in the dungeon that they might still have some valuables as determined by the paragraphs concerning the 'treasure guarded by traps/unguarded treasure'. This post is simply meant to show one of the minor differences between Delving Deeper, and the original 1974 TSR rules of the game it's a clone of. While I personally believe it's a great clone of such, there are some differences that I'm still trying to wrap my head around. Of course, @gronanofsimmerya and Stormcrow's advice is of clear value regarding actual OD&D, which I can't really speak on too much. All the best, -Tim ("Merctime")
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Post by Merctime on Nov 16, 2014 12:13:13 GMT -6
I'm just speaking personally, and not 'how I've done it' since I haven't ever gotten to play OD&D outside of PbP. BUT. I'm working on a dungeon myself, and had the same sort of quandary as you, generally. I've spoken to some others about it. It seems to me your idea is really cool I don't have the LBB, but do have Delving Deeper, so I might be 'off' on some of the stuff you say. I suppose I should say here, that OD&D is my favorite of all the 'versions' also. I think what you mean is using the treasure tables by dungeon level ("Unguarded Treasure") for dungeon treasures, and the "Treasure Type" lists only for outdoor lairs. I bet it's quite workable! It sounds to me, like you are simply using the "Unguarded Treasure" tables to fill in treasures for monsters not really numerous or 'dug in' to have a treasure type with them. I think this is fine, personally... But it might be cool to have a few of those monsters having a full treasure type, just to give the players a chance to luck into a big hoard. And, of course, you're consideration of monsters you place on purpose as being 'in lair' inside the dungeon would definitely warrant treasure type rolls! All of this is based off of advice I've been given by others who've ran dungeons with these rules and this type of 'how did it get played way back when' mindframe. Some of that same advice I was given on the same subject, was not to fiddle too much with number of creatures to amounts of treasure. If your dungeon is large and sprawling enough, you might, say, give only 40% of a treasure roll to a lair with only 40% of the maximum creatures present; But I was advised that it's still fun and rewarding to just give them a full roll, especially if your placing them and not randomly filling a room/rooms. Besides, if the game is fraught with peril, and makes the players really work hard, character death might cull some of the treasures they acquire! For your idea on gems, I think I like it. It seems you're just giving a bit more opportunity for each individual gem to be present, so some gems will be present, but not handfuls of them. Nice. Still, If I were you, I'd make at least a few of the placed encounters that you plan have the kind of treasures you want to be in them. Let the other treasures around the level be randomly determined. This is just me; Like I say, the earliest D&D I got to play was holmes or B/X (Been so long I can't recall which). I can't really speak on precedents. In any event, good luck, have fun, and Fight On!
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Post by Merctime on Nov 16, 2014 11:31:04 GMT -6
Have a look at classicmarvelforever.com for some really awesome TSR marvel goodness, folks... It's worth your time I haven't read comics since the late 90's, and I'm no fan of marvel's current leadership, but that website is as up-to-date as you need. They've got stats for characters in this age and ages past, houserules, good discussions on the game. I don't have my set anymore, either. Man, though... I used to LOVE it. There is just something satisfying about taking a swipe at Electro or the Beetle and knocking them high into the air and about 4 city blocks away! And then they crawl out of the rubble and come right back atcha! If you're looking for realistic stuff, look somewhere other than this game. Guns usually do less than a super-hero punch, and lots of people get turned off by this. ...But if you're looking for realism, why are you playing a comic-book game? If you check out that site over there, really plumb the forums for the maps that you can download and print. And print them. I can't state enough how much those maps really increase the fun and excitement of these games. I mean, they were included in the boxes for a reason. Get the PDF's, download/print the maps, give it a whirl... And you will see what I mean!!! Avengers... ASSEMBLE!!!
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Post by Merctime on Nov 15, 2014 19:11:49 GMT -6
The only thing I bought from DTRPG (Or was it RPGNOW???) in print was Rob Conley's Blackmarsh. It's not a big book, but otherwise fine in terms of quality. Given the option, I'll buy Blueholme from Lulu, for what it's worth. That's how I bought Delving Deeper, and even considering the 1/2 symbol glyph thing, I am fine extraordinarily happy with my DD books (I got two of them). But I should say that is far more due to what is inside the books as opposed to which company printed them. tkdco2, I'm more of a consumer than a publishing dude, so I don't know how to reply like these fella's above do! But Vile Traveller's note about more gamers is probably worth considering.
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Post by Merctime on Nov 14, 2014 19:35:30 GMT -6
This one's pretty neat! I downloaded it and loved it! Printed it out at work, too But when Mako brought up the one-page version, I had to go find that one, too. Printed that out at work also
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Post by Merctime on Nov 14, 2014 16:30:37 GMT -6
Thanks for the heads-up everyone I especially appreciate giving me the in-depth of what issues have what in them. I think I'll go for the first four to begin. You guys rock!
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Post by Merctime on Nov 14, 2014 11:51:44 GMT -6
Hi, folks! Title says it all. I'd like to look into Fight On magazine... I've read so many good things about it! If someone where brand new to this, and wanted a good showing of the magazine, what issues would people recommend? I'm sure this has been asked a million times... Sorry for yet another one I'm less interested in new classes, more interested in dungeons (especially if in a 'series'; Issue #3, #5, #8 for the final part, etc), and lists of cool things like city encounters, rumor tables, or random minor treasures and stuff. Thanks for reading and for any advice
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Post by Merctime on Nov 14, 2014 11:25:05 GMT -6
Hey, man... I wish you the best of luck getting your adventures out! Just be sure to drop the line out when they are... I might wanna buy one
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