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Post by barrataria on Jan 8, 2023 11:25:48 GMT -6
Is there a C&C SRD-like document? As far as I can see, no. I'm still looking into it. I recall seeing discussion of TLG sending takedown requests/demands to someone that tried to start an SRD website. I don't recall who/when or if it happened more than once, but for whatever reason they didn't want the (considerable) open content on a website.
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Post by barrataria on Dec 18, 2020 14:25:51 GMT -6
This is the best idea since having Ron Howard direct a film about the seamy criminal underworld of Coruscant! Lol. Ron Howard is a real hit or miss director with a couple truly brilliant films, but definitely not the first pick to do a seedy criminal underworld film. I think what Lord and Miller (the directors that were fired) was making was probably next level genius, and the execs just couldn't understand and wanted too much control. I actually liked that movie more than any of the other Disney ones in the end, but it always struck me that Howard made no sense at all except to the studio/finance suits. Anyway, I'd rather they left Firefly alone and used their limitless resources to make up new stories/settings/characters, but we'll see (assuming I keep paying for Disney/Hulu/ESPN+ that long).
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Post by barrataria on Dec 15, 2020 17:06:22 GMT -6
This is the best idea since having Ron Howard direct a film about the seamy criminal underworld of Coruscant!
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Post by barrataria on Nov 28, 2018 0:13:45 GMT -6
That worked on my PC but on my phone I had to switch browsers :/
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Post by barrataria on Oct 15, 2018 7:52:16 GMT -6
I'm just dipping into 5E and my gut reaction to feats is about like Gronan's.
But I agree completely (and sadly) with your reasoning.
And I've always felt dwarves were overpowered, at least from B/X on, so they've managed to preserve that "tradition" quite well. I'm tempted to give halflings some kind of missile bonus. But I haven't even played yet so I'll keep an eye on that.
Anyway, it's a clean idea and can colorize variant humans some without kludging up the game forever after.
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Post by barrataria on Oct 5, 2018 9:32:42 GMT -6
Hi Simon and fellow-travellers ... can someone briefly explain what all these "X games" are? I assume they are mechanically the same, are they like BoL or d20 like Go Fer Your Gun and those, or something else?
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Post by barrataria on Jan 20, 2018 23:43:06 GMT -6
Seems like you should be able to mine gritty rules from the Wilderness Survival Guide, and if you really want to harness your inner Cormac McCarthy don't forget good old Twilight 2000.
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Post by barrataria on Oct 29, 2017 20:59:21 GMT -6
If you sell to NK, you'll net 25% or less of the value on your books---Aaron (the owner) is a good guy but he basically follows the used bookstore model when buying. Last year or so I shopped a pile of stuff to them including my copy of Cairn of the Skeleton King... they offered me way less than half what that was worth for the whole lot, and the other stuff was not worthless. It was such a silly offer I just deleted it, then a few days later I got a smarmy "hey, why didn't you make a counteroffer?" message. So I told them why. I won't bother trying again. I then sold that stuff on ebay, and ended up with two failed sales, one buyer who thought she got to decide how to ship and another that just flat out bailed. I guess ebay's still the best choice, as I don't want to sell things piecemeal, but I think I might try forums first next time. Oh, and Rafael... our tax rule is "all income from whatever source derived", so be glad you get to keep 400E first
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Post by barrataria on Aug 2, 2017 15:53:38 GMT -6
I love these kind of ideas for their creative and fictional value. But I have found gaming this stuff difficult. There is nothing more boring to players, and me as their ref, than just some hazard they can't escape or figure out. If you don't routinely include nonthreatening plants or "nothing" encounters, as soon as you do include a dangerous plant or a plant that hides a monster the players will immediately go to Defcon 1 and run away or totally ignore them. It also helps break up the routine of overland encounters, especially if your players are curious enough to investigate/fool with/taste/interact with the plant/item/location. Every so often one of them should include some random (minor) treasure, and more often than that, some random piece of campaign flavor- an old statue, exotic skeleton, etc.. Giving your players things to interact with gives them the opportunity to in fact interact with things.
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Post by barrataria on Dec 30, 2016 15:57:09 GMT -6
Best of luck! Looks very nice (and not just your artwork)!
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Post by barrataria on Dec 28, 2016 10:16:08 GMT -6
I also didn't see the need for AT-ATs, especially how easily they were destroyed by hand held weaponry. Technically they are not AT-ATs, and I suppose the idea is that the AT-AT is an improved model based on the setbacks suffered by the AT-ACT or whatever it is in this battle. In general, I didn't like how it portrayed the Rebellion, the Empire, or the Force, and kinda wish the movie had never been made. I actually really liked the Quixotic Jedi character (which is what he was) and wish fervently that Yoda, if he ever went to fisticuffs with someone, would have fought that way instead of with a toothpick lightsaber. I liked the concept that there were these sorts of semi-force users who were set adrift when the Jedi were smashed: in my Ancient SW campaign I use multiple orders of force wielders that end up all congealed into the Jedi (who are basically space Jesuits IMC). If the Force surrounds and binds all things in a near-infinite universe, there should be a lot of styles of force-users. I found the characters to be flat, other than Donnie Yen. I didn't think the new villain was very villainous; maybe he would have made a better toady than lead villain. And the "Dirty Dozen" type squad didn't get fleshed out enough for me. I would have ditched the opening scene entirely and used that time for more development of the characters that we ended up with, seeing more break out of jail, etc. I'm not sure I cared about the Forest Whitaker subplot either, maybe that was fan service for Clone Wars fans? As for the film: I liked it. It was objectively unsettling to watch a SW film without the crawl, the score, etc., but once I got over that it became a good sci-fi film. I guess it goes to show that even in Hollywood an unlimited budget, multiple reshoots, and cutting-edge visual and sound effects can still be used to make a decent movie. I'll get a DVD eventually and watch it, and am optimistic about the Han Solo one-off (but already dreading the Boba Fett one-off, if that's really what they're doing).
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Post by barrataria on Dec 14, 2016 16:05:29 GMT -6
Can't cut and paste at the moment, but.. 1. Isle of Dread. See players' map. Adding a couple of important/obvious landmarks to the map helps orient things in relation to your map, which will help you run the game. 2. You should also include some errors on their map. Maybe those landmarks are a couple hexes out of place, maybe a lake dried up, maybe a town was sacked and burned since that map was drawn. Especially in the chaotic period in which you have set your game. 3. Also throw on a red herring or two. I use Campaign Cartographer, so I find some weird symbol or graphic and stick it in an empty spot. The more typical sort is like Dragotha's lair marked on the White Plume Mountain map. Finally, a simple unexplained "X" stuck in a random spot makes for loads of entertainment
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Post by barrataria on Nov 1, 2016 14:12:08 GMT -6
I suppose the best description is: either/or depending on the sort of idea I have. When I wanted a C&C campaign world dominated by a far-flung empire, and a couple of times designing worlds based on maritime trade and exploration... top down.
The world I designed for my B/X campaign, and any others I may throw together to actually run in-person games: bottom up.
In both cases, once I've got a firm enough idea to go on, I use Fractal Terrains to generate a bunch of world maps... when I find an interesting one that suits the creation, I copy it into Campaign Cartographer and start zooming in on areas to map out more fully. Those become hooks for campaigns, and the left-out portions remain "here be dragons" until I need them.
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Post by barrataria on Dec 26, 2015 19:30:11 GMT -6
Based on what I've seen at the various schools I work at, I think the typical kid today probably considers Marvel's Avengers franchise to be "Their" Star Wars. When I first saw the original Star Wars in 1977 it blew me away because it was so much better than anything out there. It had special effects that were miles above other scifi movies of the era, had a musical score that was miles abouve other scifi movies of the era, and so forth. Whether or not it was "original" wasn't questioned because it just blew everyone away with the total package. Nowadays folks have seen 3E and IMax and other stuff like that before, so the new Star Wars can't possibly exceed everyone's expectations. All it can do is to offer a fun story and (hopefully) build on the previous SW universe in a way that is entertaining. I was thinking about these exact things as I watched the previews at both SW screenings I attended. All of which were superhero movies, post-apoc movies, fantasy and sci-fi computer RPGs, and ads for SW tie-in products. 40 years ago most other sci-fi movies were the stuff later made fun of on Mystery Science Theatre 3000 or campy un-sci fi stuff like the Batman or Hulk or Wonder Woman TV shows (even though I watched all that stuff). SW was the only film that was as much fun as the comics or rather MORE fun than the comics. Assuming the spinoff films and the next two episodes are as good as this film, I will not complain. But between the SW cartoon, the extra films, and a whole new trainload of EU books... and the filming of the DC universe, and the Disney/Marvel movie parade, the market is awash in this stuff. Plus Harry Potter, GoT, Hunger Games... it's a great time to be a nerd, but while waiting to hear that magical music again it struck me just how much different the entertainment world is at the moment with regard to fantasy/sci-fi stories. I certainly don't miss the Jennifer Aniston movies, but I do wonder how long it will be before Hollywood dollars start chasing something else. Oh, and back to the original thread... I loved it MORE on second viewing. Still not hot on the bad guys, and the story is still... not much of a story, but it was much easier to appreciate everything excellent. I'll try to see an IMAX screening this week just to appreciate the eye candy a bit more.
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Post by barrataria on Dec 22, 2015 23:53:28 GMT -6
Seen it twice so far and will probably see it a few more times in the coming weeks. I loved it and really wanna crack open my Star Wars D6 books and play! I've done that, and there have been threads all over other boards about the same thing or, more amusingly IMO, about whether to use this or that newfangled game system. Zombies! Supers! Some thing with proprietary dice.. but how to convert it?!?!?! Just don't... so much wheel reinvention when the tasty original is right there ripe for the picking. The First Order and The Resistance make for great RP opportunities, more so than the Expanded Universe's New Jedi Order Era (which this basically replaces). That EU stuff was generally terrible, but IMO there's basically nothing different about this "new" period than there was in the post-Ep. IV period. Rebels vs. Empire. People can just get out the old d6 adventures and change a few details and they'll be fine. Oh, and welcome to the board, funny that you ended up in this little corner of the internets to discuss SW! As for the film itself, I agree with others herein that the story is weak and the villains are very flat. I'm not sure how Gollum got to be 20 feet tall, or why that gal's stormtrooper armor was silver... but they were all very derivative or forgettable. They may as well have just had the war go on 30 years and have and Emperor's clone in the lead anyway. Maybe with any luck they really all died at the end and the next movie will be about trying to bring the Hutt crime empire to justice or something. I liked the sets, loved that it was filmed with actual people and terrain, enjoyed the starship and vehicle animations immensely, and really loved Rey and the way Daisy Ridley played her. Her performance is certainly better than Hamill's in the original or Hayden Christiansen (or Jake whatshisname, god help us) in the prequels. If she turns out to be a Skywalker, she might end up the badass pilot/fighter/space wizard that was in the script in 1976. The crowd I watched with (on a Monday morning at 9AM no less) pretty much ate it up, applauding the opening crawl and the end of the movie. I didn't, but I could have.
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Post by barrataria on Dec 17, 2015 16:50:07 GMT -6
Like, reporting live from Germany: This was an unhappy audience, and people made sad faces on their way out of the cinema. I think, whatever mojo SW had left after the terrible prequels, it is now gone. Well that's interesting, because most of the reviews I've seen have been pretty positive. Not that it's a universal guideline, but it includes reviewers I actually trust. Like others, I'm more than a little concerned at the pastiche-y story, if that's indeed what it is. And starting on a desert world and going to an ice world... :/ I was looking forward to some weird sort of planet, akin to some they came up with for the Clone Wars cartoon. Anyway, hoping to get to see for myself on Sunday morning. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
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Post by barrataria on Oct 27, 2015 19:24:44 GMT -6
Good find, Rick! I'm not usually a fan of play videos but it's nice to see people getting into it.
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Post by barrataria on Aug 12, 2015 19:24:01 GMT -6
Wargaming teaches you how to play intelligently in rpgs. And nobody is born a good tactician; it takes practice. Every loss should be looked at as a learning experience. Don't play wargames if you're not OK with the idea that you're gonna get handed your @ss in a basket. A lot. Sorry I missed this post when it happened. The first wargame I remember playing with a "real" gamer was SPI's (excellent) Persian Gulf. It has an interesting pre-game "diplomacy" round where the NATO and Warsaw Pact players curry favor with various factions in Iran and around the Middle East. In this particular session I was the NATO player and ended up with the Kurds, Israelis, and a handful of Iranian rebels. This was, IIRC, the equivalent of a pair of sixes in a game of draw poker. It did not end well, at all. Also, I noted Finarvyn mentioned the Complete Wargames Handbook, I had and loved that. And the reviews of D&D were SAVAGE. Basically, "what are these nerds doing and why don't they get off our lawn?". Funny to read now, but I was amazed when I later fell into a D&D group and enjoyed the game immensely. Good luck with your editing Gronan!
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Post by barrataria on Feb 5, 2015 21:05:12 GMT -6
I was goofing around on youtube and thought to look for old Gene Siskel/Roger Ebert interviews, and I found this Nightline appearance with Ted Koppel in all his droning glory. I always loved Roger a lot, and he's pretty eloquent on the film. Nice to see Gene take it to John Simon, your typical NYT crank reviewer. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ky9-eIlHzAE
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Post by barrataria on Jan 19, 2015 14:31:33 GMT -6
What excellent taste you have! I'm always glad to see someone mention this! I designed it with new players/games in mind, thus the many small encounter areas. You'll need to unstat a bit to use with OD&D but I'm sure you'll have no problem with that.
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Post by barrataria on Jan 15, 2015 20:16:38 GMT -6
It's commonly known there are unaired episodes of the Clone Wars cartoon on Netflix. What some don't know is that unfinished episodes for the remainder of the last season are also available online. The animation is of storyboard quality (adequate to visualize the action, but rather crude) but the voice acting and sound effects are exactly as for a finished episode. There are 4 full length (~25 minute) episodes. www.starwars.com/video/the-clone-wars-legacyIt wasn't commonly known by me. Thanks!
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Post by barrataria on Dec 30, 2014 7:34:32 GMT -6
Some of us simply bid as much as we're willing to pay and forget about it, and we either get the item or we don't. I didn't think there was any other reasonable way to do it, since the computomachine will mindlessly bid up at .01 increments or whatever until your max bid is reached. Not that different from live auction strategy, in which the non-insane buyer should decide a hard cap before placing his/r first bid.
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Post by barrataria on Dec 18, 2014 12:02:54 GMT -6
Of course there are meant to be aliens, my point was to emphasize the morass of weird, despicable, unique creatures in backwaters like Tatooine, rather than have each planet be the honorable homeworld of an entire noble race. No non-human Jedi, either. I never thought about that, but I guess there weren't any nonhuman rebels (outside of Chewbacca, the later-to-be-amnesiac-Kashyyk-general-and-friend-of-Yoda). I was going to say that you didn't see aliens outside of Mos Eisley because the film took place mostly on the all-Imperial Death Star, but the closing celebration was pretty clear. You could also consider Tatooine and the "Outer Rim" as where the alien races are, mingling and coming into contact with the Empire on the wild frontier. Maybe the Empire obliterates whatever aliens they contact when they settle worlds, on purpose or on accident or both.
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Post by barrataria on Dec 17, 2014 18:32:44 GMT -6
Sadly, all his work would have by then been replaced by ugly CGI in "the now-only-available" remasterised and redigitalised versions. And worse, more often than not the CGI also replaces characters, plot, and story
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Post by barrataria on Dec 16, 2014 17:53:53 GMT -6
I do have one guy who is super immersed in the EU, who won’t like some of what I’m doing, but assuming I can get the rest of the group on board and we’re having a blast, he won’t be a problem. It's such an evocative universe that should be no problem. I ran a fun pre-Jedi force user campaign set before the Tales of the Jedi... basically space opera with some SW aliens and familiar planet names. Anyone with an interest in SW or science-fantasy will get sucked in quickly. One more thought on WEG SW materials... there are a LOT of aliens, some horrible and some very cool. I imagine you have plenty of Trek universe things to crib, but mining the SW books for aliens might be useful to you. I've actually been using some for ideas for human races in a fantasy setting I'm messing with.
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Post by barrataria on Dec 16, 2014 11:34:03 GMT -6
That’s the idea, but here’s the question: Do I state right from the beginning that the other movies and cartoons and books don’t exist, causing a possible crisis of imagination on the front end? Or, do I just try to steer clear of post-1979 material, but let them overall keep their preconceptions — but that might stifle what I want to do, and/or cause an argument every d**ned time I go against canon? I worried about this a lot whenever I started a new SW game. Don't. Of course it depends on your players; if you run a public game in a store I think it's quite likely you'll have super SW nerdcanonlawyers in your face. If you are gaming with quality gamer friends they should slip right in. I do think that your idea of starting with the movie characters at the end of "Episode IV" (sorry) would give a nice clear break and make abundantly obvious what you are doing with the campaign. Your ideas on Vader will probably throw people, but I don't know that you need to disclose it at the beginning rather than expose it during play. Maybe the team sees bounty notices or runs across a Vader-subordinate or something to give some exposition of how you're rejiggering the Empire from the ESB/RotJ model. I'm a little envious... you're going to have a blast. Such a great game! If you do run, please report how it goes... I'm going to have to deal with this "new canon" business again next year when they extend the timeline into when I've always set my games.
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Post by barrataria on Oct 7, 2014 8:03:19 GMT -6
A few weeks ago, the databank at starwars.com purged all EU information so it is now fairly minimal. No information about the early novels unfortunately. starwars.com/databank I'm not an expert on Wookieepedia, but they're marking EU information with a "Legends" banner, which marks the Disney announcement that they're officially ditching the EU. So, you may be able to back yourself into an OT-only reading by not reading things with the "Legends" banner. Of course the Rebels cartoon will probably start piling on new non-OT content in short order. But that might help inform your reading a bit. starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Star_Wars_Legends
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Post by barrataria on May 7, 2014 21:01:24 GMT -6
Hi Gronan, I'm pretty fascinated at the idea that (basically) random strangers let a bunch of sandtable nerds roam the grounds at their house. And it sounds like it was a really warm experience for all of you. Cool.
I've never heard a discouraging word about Don't Give Up the Ship, and your accounts explain why. I've never even played Wooden Ships and Iron Men, but one of these days I'll make it to one of these cons and wear them all out. Thanks for posting these accounts!
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Post by barrataria on May 7, 2014 20:43:57 GMT -6
The winner writes the history, right? So what if the "truth" is that the Empire is actually a well-meaning Police force trying to protect its citizens from the terrorists who call themselves "the Rebellion"? Perhaps the rebels are actually thugs who sabotage the legitimate government and disrupt shipping and miliary operations and the like. I think you have committed a great heresy, and the Fanboy Police should be along any minute now to get you. How dare you make the black and white of the SW Multiverse grey! I like your ideas generally, although I don't like carrying the idea too far in the other direction. In designing my SW campaign, the three movies are basically Rebel propaganda films. And as you say, the victor writes the history, so the man on the street on Bespin knows "the story" of the farmboy that saves the Princess and how they teamed up with a roguish smuggler to throw down the evil Empire. But yes, the Rebels most certainly must have broken some eggs to make the omelet of freedom celebrated by the joyous furry wonderful happy ewoks on their forest moon. And of course the Empire itself is an oppressive institution and the Dark Siders are evil. But the trains ran on time, the space supplies zoomed all over the galaxy, and some pretty nasty, scary things worse even than the Empire were kept bottled up in dark corners of the universe. I don't know what Disney intends for the aftermath of the Galactic Civil War, but I think it would look a lot more like the MegaTraveller "Hard Times" campaign than a happy ever after universe where all beings are somehow "free" even while being ruled by an interstellar government.
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Post by barrataria on Feb 8, 2014 19:00:01 GMT -6
Hey Mike, I can't remember - were you ever given any credits in any of the books? Greyhawk, PHB. You're listed in Moldvay's Basic book too.
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