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Post by jeffb on Dec 5, 2020 19:16:50 GMT -6
Being with Someone is better than being with No One? Sounds like a bad marriage, Fin. Isn't one of Fin's players, his wife? rut roh.
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Post by jeffb on Dec 5, 2020 11:09:01 GMT -6
But, this brings up an interesting question: How long can a campaign last if the Ref/DM isn't having as much fun as the players? For me, so far at least 3 years. My current group has been playing mostly 5E that whole time, with an occasional visit to OD&D or Amazing Adventures or some other RPGs. Mostly 5E. Being with Someone is better than being with No One? Sounds like a bad marriage, Fin.
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Post by jeffb on Dec 4, 2020 16:43:47 GMT -6
I absolutely love/adore/enjoy Jay Little's Star Wars system for FFG. Jay is a pretty fantastic designer. I worked with him on a prototype many years ago that was never published, but he put a ton of great ideas in it. The way these things go at a big company, the designer rarely gets full freedom or final say. Many hands get involved along the way. Which, interestingly enough, is why Apple uses very small teams to incubate products. That's awesome. He seems like a cool dood! I do not believe in any way that this is a major "fault" of Jay's. Rather that Modiphius had their "many hands" in it, as you say.
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Post by jeffb on Dec 4, 2020 16:39:46 GMT -6
1st edition was pretty rough. 2nd fixed the main rules issues. To be fair, the 2nd edition could also use some cleaning up, but the core ideas of DQ Colleges of Magic and classes as skills (thief, ranger, astronomer, etc.) are excellent. Quite true. I'm guessing I should have inserted "several of" in front of "the main rules issues". Also agreed I love the "skills", which to me seem to be a precursor to career "package deals" in HERO system games ala Espionage! and Justice, Inc. It also had some excellent adventure material in Frontiers of Alusia and The Enchanted Wood (Jacquays!)
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Post by jeffb on Dec 3, 2020 18:02:11 GMT -6
Which still saddens me. DragonQuest is a gem. After reading through DragonQuest I never got what's so great about it. Maybe I need to see it in action. 1st edition was pretty rough. 2nd fixed the main rules issues.
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Post by jeffb on Dec 3, 2020 15:02:40 GMT -6
The RPG might be reduced to a bare minimum, but hell- They still own the rights to Dragonquest and have been sitting on it (having got it from the WOTC purchase-them having got it from TSR's purchase of SPI). So how does that work? They own the rights to the game itself, but the trademark on the name expired? Because Enix stopped calling their games "Dragon Warrior" quite some time ago. IANAL I just know, that DQ is tied up by WOTC, and this is why you have not seen it since TSRs 3rd edition.
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Post by jeffb on Dec 3, 2020 11:32:16 GMT -6
Eventually, they'll put it up for sale for an exorbitant price that only someone like Modiphius can afford to pay. Suddenly we'll see a version of D&D that uses their 2d20 house system and no longer looks anything like D&D at all. But Modiphius fans will eat it up, and it'll make enough money for them to justify its continuance. D&D will no longer be the dominant force in the market. Other, smaller companies will benefit from the 5% or so D&D players who are willing to look for new alternatives. But the market will fracture. I wrote a blog about this back in 2011, when 4e was tanking, and it started to actually bear out before 5e came along. The writing has been on the wall for D&D ever since it was bought out by a huge corporation; its success with 5e was a smart move and bought it some time, but its business practices since then have been questionable at best. What a bleak and depressing picture. I got the Modiphius John Carter game, the miniatures were fine, but the 2d20 game was awful. And the art was terrible - just a bunch of badly photo-bashed cg. The wall map of Barsoom was beautiful, but illegible and wildly inaccurate (to be fair, I don't think it is possible to reconcile a map with the text of the ERB novels). I absolutely love/adore/enjoy Jay Little's Star Wars system for FFG. It's one of my absolute fave systems to play. Modiphius essentially asked Jay to design their "house system" around that but using "normal dice", and it's just comes off clunky and forced and ups the "things to track" and meta currency from a bare minimum and clever (in Star Wars), to over the top and ridiculous. It's my understanding they have tried to tone the 2D20 system down with Star Trek and John Carter, but after using Conan a few times, I walked away from that for good. As to the OP- I don't see Hasbro getting rid of D&D. The name is worth too much to them as a lifestyle brand these days (which was the intent) The RPG might be reduced to a bare minimum, but hell- They still own the rights to Dragonquest and have been sitting on it (having got it from the WOTC purchase-them having got it from TSR's purchase of SPI). As WOTC marketing has said a million times, anything with the word "Dragon" in it, sells extremely well compared to other titles. I don't really like the guy, but I thank Ryan Dancey every chance I get for giving D&D gamers the OGL/SRD.
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Post by jeffb on Nov 27, 2020 11:24:23 GMT -6
FYI- Essentials Kit is $7.79 shipped PRIME on Amazon right now.
The dice are worth that.
Great intro for the Kiddos.
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Post by jeffb on Nov 27, 2020 10:57:23 GMT -6
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Post by jeffb on Nov 18, 2020 9:44:12 GMT -6
Some old guy I know has a Bday coming up in a few days, perhaps he will ask his wife for a print copy of his OD&D SVE and a separate print copy of Supps 1-4.
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Post by jeffb on Nov 18, 2020 7:50:33 GMT -6
?? If you want to put GH,BM and EW into one booklet but bought the separate PDFs- is that possible? EDIT- NM. I see that is addressed. New question- they didn't give you a hard time about printing these files? To address your first question, even though you answered it yourself, the only limitation to the number of PDFs you can combine is the maximum pages allowed by the binding you choose. The second part? No. In fact, that's why I switched to them. A local print shop got some attitude with me when I tried to print them locally. I even assured them they were archival copies, but no dice. So I went to PrintMe1 on the recommendation of a friend and I was very happy. Excellent. Thank you Brother!
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Post by jeffb on Nov 18, 2020 7:31:08 GMT -6
??
If you want to put GH,BM and EW into one booklet but bought the separate PDFs- is that possible?
EDIT- NM. I see that is addressed.
New question- they didn't give you a hard time about printing these files?
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Post by jeffb on Nov 15, 2020 9:27:29 GMT -6
girl thingy! Bwahaha
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Post by jeffb on Nov 15, 2020 9:25:51 GMT -6
So many d20 (3rd edition) elements have been rolled into other OSR related supplements and offerings, why not the elegant offerings from 5e? My theory is that for most old school writers 3.5E in itself was of little interest, and offered only the possibility of re-writing the SRD to create clones of the original rules. What I'm seeing with the 5E SRD, on the other hand, is people taking the whole thing and modifying it so that it "feels" more old school. That may indicate that 5E is inoffensive enough to be house-ruled, while 3.5E only inspired wholesale re-writes. Agreed. 5E (And C&C, 10 years prior) seems like a more natural progression from the TSR editions. 3.0 was partly off the rails and could have been righted- but WOTC quickly got overtaken by the second wave of designers after Monte/Jonathan/Skip left and we got the enormous mess of 3.5. Too many moving parts. 5E as a rules set does not "offend" most D&D player's sensibilities- Old school, or otherwise. It's a pretty tight and well designed rule-set, "designed by committee". I've been down the "strip it back" road, and I don't find the results satisfying. It is still tight enough to cause issues with what I want to do with it. If I have to play 5E, I'll play it mostly as written utilizing the Basic Rules, MM, and a couple options from the DMG- and play to it's strengths as a tight and well designed game. :blathermodethinkingoutloudnoparticularpersonIamaddressing: My big issue with 5E as a ruleset is that they threw out the 4E baby with the 4E bathwater, and for every step forward in 5E design (which are mostly simplifications or re-wordings of 4E mechanics-not including A/D) WOTC took a couple or three back girl thingyfooting around sacred cows which don't make gameplay better or bring them into the 21st Century for that matter. 4E is a much more malleable ruleset, easily morphed and simplified or complicated due to it's consistency of systems, consistent math/formula, ability to mimic a variety of worlds/settings that don't require traditional D&D classes or subsystems (e.g. healing magic, or magic at all for that matter) and intentional divergence from providing "rules for roleplaying" i.e. narrative/lore, and only providing rules where rules are traditionally needed/desired. 5E still bakes things into the rules (Vancian Magic, reliance on having casters and healing magic) that upon removal for "narrative" purposes requires major re-writes/substitutions. I bought into, but never found an Alt 3.X system (unless one includes C&C) that did "old school D&D" very well- 3.0 was really the pinnacle there, despite it's massive flaws. For my $, I'm buying New games, because I want NEW games- not another re-hash of what has occurred for the previous 30 years. This has been my massive disappointment with 5E. We have TSR and OSR D&D (available in PDF and POD) for the original experience, and they do their shtick much better than 5E could ever hope to. I don't need or want "one system to rule them all" - I embrace the variety. For those who want a hybrid and feel the need to have "one true D&D", I'm guessing then 5E is probably the way to go.
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Post by jeffb on Nov 14, 2020 18:51:04 GMT -6
I'd like to see the 3.X Saves/4E Defenses make a bigger show in OSR and future D&Ds. The fewer the better, for my tastes. And best for stat blocks.
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Post by jeffb on Nov 14, 2020 18:46:51 GMT -6
The 5e forum on ODD74. Where posts go to die.
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Post by jeffb on Nov 12, 2020 14:23:13 GMT -6
Actually you brought up the pandemic and safety, so I was just riffing off that. I'm not telling people to disregard anything (though I personally feel, from what I've witnessed, much of it is BS). I'm saying If people don't want to sit idle and game virtually, start doing something about it. Start asking the tough questions, demand answers, and get active. And unfortunately the whole thing comes down to Politics, it's unavoidable when talking about why we are doing so much virtual gaming. Also unfortunately, the CDC is politically motivate (Despite being a Federal Agency, receives outside funding from large corporations such as Coca Cola, and the head of the CDC is a political appointee that does not require Senate approval- i.e. it's always some politician's golden child).
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Post by jeffb on Nov 12, 2020 12:34:46 GMT -6
Then don't play that way...? Seriously, no one is forcing anyone to play on-line, just like no-one is forcing you write posts here rather than talking in person to someone. Face-to-face D&D was booming prior to the pandemic. There are tons of 5E games locally here, facilitated by Meet-Up. One of my groups recently started a con (Scrum Con), and we had the second one just before the pandemic. It doubled in size from the first year. Gary Con was bigger than ever in 2019. As soon it is safe, I predict all of the FTF gaming will quickly return. I never said anyone is forcing me to play either, so I'm not sure why you feel the need to argue along these lines? Some of us are simply saying if we were forced to go virtual , we wouldn't bother playing and we are discussing the reasons why. The problem is, some people seem to be implying we shouldn't feel this way, because they don't feel the same way . That somehow we are misguided, or just don't understand the facts. *snip COVID guidance*
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Post by jeffb on Nov 12, 2020 11:22:58 GMT -6
An Analogy RPGs are like sitting around a campfire with my buddies when I used to go hunting and fishing- having a beer, talking about the day's events (or bad luck), BS'ing and lying about old times. A "virtual camp fire" could never even approximate that, let alone replace it. Sure, that's what my local groups are to me. I've been with one of them for over 10 years now. But what if we all moved to different parts of the country and still wanted to get together occasionally for games, say once a year or even once a month? What if I moved somewhere rural and couldn't find an RPG group within a reasonable driving distance? What if the only local groups I could find were all playing D&D and I'm bored of that and want to play EPT but no one local is interested? What if a fantastic GM was running a one-shot game in a different state? What if a played/ran in a great game at an out-of-state con and wanted it to continue? What if my partner works nights and I have to watch the kids, and only have time to play after they are asleep? What if I were disabled and couldn't regularly get out of the house? What if I became immunocompromised and couldn't be near others? Virtual gaming simply provides more options to increase gaming accessibility. During Virtual Gary Con my son & I played together in a session of Tunnels & Trolls run by fantastic game master who lived in New Zealand. I got to play T&T for the first time ever. We continued the game for a few weeks after. All made possible by virtual gaming. What if, those things don't sound exciting to me? I don't have an issue "leaving" something that no longer holds the interest or fun for me. I was a hobbyist archer and hunter, who got into it because I got bored with firearms. I left it altogether after 20 years as the industry boomed , technology increased, and I lost interest in the way competitions were being held. The parameters changed, and I no longer enjoyed it. RPGs are no different.
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Post by jeffb on Nov 12, 2020 9:57:17 GMT -6
An Analogy
RPGs are like sitting around a campfire with my buddies when I used to go hunting and fishing- having a beer, talking about the day's events (or bad luck), BS'ing and lying about old times. A "virtual camp fire" could never even approximate that, let alone replace it.
Or perhaps the "yule log" video that plays 24/7 on cable.
Not my thing.
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Post by jeffb on Nov 12, 2020 9:46:56 GMT -6
some people see the word "virtual" and think it means the video game, instead of the online gaming experience. It's easy to be unreasoning about something you have never needed or wanted to understand. But a little understanding can help to clarify discussion. I get what you are saying in the general sense, but this is clearly opinion, and there is no misunderstanding or "unreasoning" for my part and I'm guessing Jason's as well. - As I stated on Page 1, as soon as a digital map and "tokens" go up, I'm out- to me that's veering towards too much "video game". I also don't like maps and minis in my FTF gaming. Roll20 just adds more "videogamey" elements to something that already ruins immersion for myself (and most of my players) I've spent the last 8 months doing Google Meet thanks to my Daughter'school. Even when it's just myself and the teacher discussing matters, it's still not like being together at her school even though we are discussing the very same topics. It's a colder "sterile" conversation that gets to the point without the same sort of engagement. For gaming-in the same room, being able to clearly see reactions on faces, see players squirm and shift in their seats, see them nervously drum their fingers, roll dice back and forth in their hands, seeing eyes open wide, etc. shuffle feet, All that "intimacy" is lost in a virtual game. It my not be an issue for some, but for me, those are the reasons I game.
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Post by jeffb on Nov 11, 2020 20:12:30 GMT -6
There better be a future for real tabletop gaming, because I don't, won't, and will NEVER do that "virtual tabletop" garbage. Tried it very briefly, thought it was utter crap. If you want to play a 1980s text-based video game, play a 1980s text-based video game. Sorry, I know people love it and bully for you if you do. I just absolutely ABHOR EVERYTHING about this "virtual world" crap we've all been told to love and embrace. Tabletop RPGs are nothing unless you're actually, physically sitting around a table or at least in a room with your nearest and dearest, munching on snacks, throwing dice, consulting real books, and looking at the GM over a real GM screen. Amen. Preach it brutha!
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Post by jeffb on Nov 11, 2020 10:59:35 GMT -6
Brownies
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Post by jeffb on Nov 6, 2020 15:14:07 GMT -6
I also stumbled on this tidbit about goblins: The word goblin derives from the Greek kobalos (“rogue”).Kobalos sounds an awful lot like Kobold. And as per the conversation I had with Gary many moons ago @ ENWORLD (you can do a search in the ask gary/col. pladoh thread/s), The DCS AD&D Kobold illos were never meant to be- they slipped past him and got approved by Tim or someone else. A/D&D Kobolds were meant to look like evil twisted Gnomes.
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Post by jeffb on Nov 5, 2020 7:39:20 GMT -6
Over the years I've become so tired/sick of the standard D&D demi human races that the only one I do include/allow/that exists in my homebrew setting/s is the Gnome. I've always liked Gary's /AD&D's take on them (which is essentially as hamurai described above: Rock Gnomes, and Forest Gnomes)
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Post by jeffb on Oct 28, 2020 8:07:55 GMT -6
It would have to have a REALLY interesting premise/thematic/narrative take for me. There are already several OSR games out there that have borrowed 5e-isms (plus 4e and 3Eisms), like BlackHack & Relics & Ruins to name a couple. Then of course there's the boatload of things out there that are just stripped down 5E.
I would reiterate the first sentence again. If it's just another D&D esque fantasy game with all the same self referential D&D brand fantasy nonsense, no thank you. If it's a Mazes & Minotaurs, Encounter Critical, Seven Voyages of Zylarthen, or Exemplars and Eidolons? (Or some of your own works like Guardians, etc) Bring it on!
Frankly, most of the best things from 5E that make gameplpay interesting are tweaked and re-named 4E-isms
monster recharges lair actions death saves hit dice/healing surges encounter powers/short rest powers "interrupt" actions/attacks
but IMO, people are focusing way too much on rules/rules set in the OSR these days, and not enough on worlds & adventures (barring the ever present "hex crawling" or "mega dungeons"). There no Arduins, or Warlocks, EPTs. or even T&T's anymore- most of todays OSR variants are just the SoS with some different wrapping paper and a pretty Kickstarter campaign.
I don't mean to sound bitter, I'm not- just so bored with/over the OSR in the past few years. If James M hadn't started back up on Gognardia, I'd probably be completely tuned out to D&D/OSR by this point. I'm starting to wander off to other games.
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Post by jeffb on Oct 16, 2020 7:41:17 GMT -6
IDK where the future will take us....
:blathering on: I'm old fashioned, stubborn, and set in my ways. I'm also past the age where technology is something I enjoy and try to keep up with. I'm technology'ed out. More often than not, I'm going back to old ways of doing things. Not because they are easier, but but because they are more enjoyable. I see how integral technology has become to the lives of my kids (or at least how they are made to feel that way), and it frightens me. My 9 yo the other day on the way to school (remote 1/2 the week, in class the rest-hopefully full time soon!) asked me "Daddy, how do you know all this stuff?, you didn't go to college!" (I was schooling her on some word origins she nonchalantly asked about). I told her that for the first 35 years of my life I read books. Lots of them. I told her my love for American History, Military History, etc. And I told her how D&D (Gygax) made such an impact on my vocabulary. I jumped onto Computers ata young age, but these days, I check emails, come to forums like this, look up a recipe- very basic stuff. I don't play computer games but a few hours every couple of months- (and what I play are the old old SSI D&D games I bought from GoG!)
Getting both of my Kids to read a book is/was like pulling teeth. I read to them both every night when they were younger (even in the womb!), and had them read to me, but the technology crept in. They'd rather have the Tablet or Ipad or Phone and watch something. My Son is in his last year of College, and I still buy him books, but he doesn't read them. My 9yo I lost the battle with my Mother-In-Law on getting her a tablet/ipad, but now my Wife sees the issue, and Tablet Time has been slashed. I buy the 9 yo books. She doesn't read them. I'm hoping I can turn this around.
I think I'm on @dungeonmonkey 's wavelength for the most part. Maybe just backed off a bit.
:GandalfVoice: They are one...the gameplay and sitting around with family and/or friends...
I also think the only way I would enjoy an online game is just like a google meet. Just talking. No dice rollers, no virtual tokens, no virtual maps. Justa conversation, trust for dice rolling. That virtual trinket stuff kills immersion for me, and turns it into a CRPG, AFAIC. And in that case, I'd just as soon play the CRPG.
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Post by jeffb on Oct 15, 2020 4:54:35 GMT -6
I'll give you three guesses
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Post by jeffb on Oct 14, 2020 14:36:21 GMT -6
Not sure much needs to be said. For me it's a tie
B4 - total pulp S&S adventure with massive campaign potential inside 20 some odd pages. Amazing amount of detail and very few words.
and
X2 - Funhouse, that isn't a deathtrap like S1 or disjointed like S2. Also much adventure potential outside the Mansion. It's so much fun to run, and everyone loves it when I run it.
Honorable mention X1, B2.
Moldvay and Zeb are my fave adventure writers along with Gary.
Tom did fantastic creative stuff no matter where he was- TSR, Pacesetter, Avalon Hill. I miss him as much as I do Gary. It makes me really sad that he passed on before the OSR revved up- he never got to see/hear all the love for his creations. And I would love to see what he would have come up with had he got back into RPG writing.
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Post by jeffb on Oct 14, 2020 8:52:10 GMT -6
I also dig DiTerlizzi's Orcs (and Goblin) in the 2E Monstrous Manual. I feel his versions are more grounded in our world's mythology, instead of modern fantasy fiction or cinema (for the time they were drawn in). Kobold is pretty funny too, little rat bastards.
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