MMORGs and role playing discussion.

My favourite game/genre is Call of Cthullu - RPG in HP Lovecraft's dark 1920's. Refereeing a good game is an art, and with the right players can be extraordinarily dark and intense - though with the obligatory RPG ROFLMAO moments for light relief I've also had amazing games of Vampire (The Masquerade) and Mage - all of these have been much more exercises in role-playing than your usual hack and slash D&D. Though for the best FRPG hack & slash, you can't beat Runequest - all hail Orlanth Rex

I think this would be the most interesting to me. Although the espionage sounds really cool. I've never heard of that type of RPG.The elves in LotR were really cool (their history, abilities, etc.). So I'd stick with wizard/theif.What do you normally use? Is their snobery in RPG as far as which charaters you use? Which are the "gay" characters that you make fun of? Do you guys talk shit to each other while you play or is there a serious tone in the game?- Oni

Priceless!4th ed is a real change in the rule structure; revolution rather than evolution. Gone are the priorities of chargen. All point buy. Too true. I'm playing with some younger people just out of uni and they don't seem to know much about the common rule sets so I feel a bit like a rule lawyer at the moment but when our Storyteller does something wrong I chaff at the bit, wanting to say "actually I think you'll find...."But I'm new to this group so I want to come across as a wise elder statesman rather than a twat

Hi Oni, Most RPG characters start out relatively puny. This is certainly true in D&D. If you're a 1st level wizard, you probably get to cast one Magic Missile per day. ZAP! That's it, you shot your bolt. Being multi-class makes you more of an all-rounder, but you advance slower.This does put some people off, but for me the real pleasure is in advancing the character through gameplay. They get stronger and you get more of an idea about what makes them tick as personalities.Mutate and Survive

Ever played Kult?Dark game...

No, but not having played anything in the past nine years or so, desperate for something Streamlining my business at the moment, so hopefully will have much more time for such things. Perhaps we should arrange an EvC gaming weekend...?

Even better than that; play in Brian Lumley's Necroscope world (piss poor system, though) and you get to play cold war era Spycraft and Cthulhu Mythos (Lumley did several Mythos stories) vampires in the form of the Wamphyri.Good times. I normally DM (the director of the shared story experience) so I rarely get to play one character, but I would play wizards or talky type character.Over the years no one in my group will play halfling (hobbits) because my group knows I will victimise halflings (unless it is on Athas) so halflings get the shaft in my games.Not many people like Bards much as they are a jack-of0all-trades and concurrently masters-of none.Fighters used to be teh suck but with modern iterations of D&D the different roles one can play are far more equal.We basically talk shit to one another throughout the sessions.I've never played a game dead straight and getting hammered or cained as common or not.I'm sure other get into the roles but in my experience it's more National Lampoons Middle Earth Vacation that the hand wringing Bored of the Rings.Edited by Larni, : Extra content.

Ah, so that's where Metallica got Call of Kutulu from. Refereeing? There's referee's? Now whats his/your job as a ref? I'm gonna look this stuff up.- Oni

Hi GM, Ok, so these games, and characters, they evolve as the game progresses. Is it one single game, or story? How does the game progress?Is it one game that goes on forever?How do you win, or are there winners?Do you save some kind of "time playing the game" and this establishes the power of your character? Or is it recorded somewhere?- Oni

Now that is an idea.....and there is a chat function on EvC (not that it has seen much use since The Great Purge).It could be doable....

No priorities? That's a shame. I liked the way they made character creation as easy or as simple as you wanted it to be. I take it they still have off-the-shelf template PCs? They are great for getting started, just plug-and-play.I use a couple of rules from Shadowrun in my D&D. The perception tests are really useful in Shadowrun, so I added a Perception stat. Also the contacts system comes in really handy running a fantasy city game. It makes investigative missions much easier to write and adds a lot of flavour.I think most long running games end up with their fair share of house rules.Mutate and Survive

Every session your PC (player Character) gets experience points. When he/she reaches a specified amount you character becomes better at what he/she does.So I start my adventuring career as a first level fighter and go on a quest that last (real time) 4 hours (although this could be weeks in fictional game time).This garners me 1500 experience points. This is a cumulative total. When I accrue 2000 experience points (for example) I become a second level fighter and become that much better at being a fighter. This allows me to fighter more challenging monsters.Think of the film The Matrix. Neo starts as a pussy but after he completes his adventures become more adept at doing his thing. In essence that's how D&D (as an example of role playing) works.By the time you get to 20th level you are fighting gods and such. This of course take loads of time in real time and the highest level characters I've ever DMed from first level was 13th level. In real time this took my group about 2 years in real time i.e. 2005 to 2007.

Yep, as well as that dread couplet, uttered by the mad arab, Abdul Al'Hazred in his Necronomicon:

quote:

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That is not dead which can enternal lie...

​

And with strange aeons even death my die

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Which you have seen on a certain Iron Maiden album cover That's the Dungeon Master, as we'd call him/her in D&D. RPGing is about telling a living story - the referee is essentially the author, and the players the major characters. e.g.Player1: ok, I'm going down the stairwell - anyone following?
Player2: yep, though I'm keeping a good eye out behind me
Player3: not a chance - I'll stay put
Ref: you follow the tight spiral stairs down, your torch just about lighting up the walls. There's a growing stench - sickly sweet - that's starting to make you both nauseous...
Player2: not so sure about this - shall we go back up?
Player1: no, we have to find her
Ref: there's a sudden shriek from upstairs, a dull thud, and...
Player3: huh? What's going on? What's happened?
Ref: you're peering down the stairwell - you feel something move behind you - you shriek
Player3: I pull my gun and spin round...
Ref: just as a club comes down on your head. You feel no more...Edited by cavediver, : No reason given.

You can still have templates to quick play but I think they lack the immediacy of the 2nd ed archetypes.4th ed Shadowrun does a good job of keeping up with our (modern tech) e.g. wireless decks and such but the glaring omission of any critter in the main rules book I thought was unforgivable.4th ed D&D has a perception stat for both environmental cues and social cues. I can't really be more happy with 4th ed D&D.I used to be the house rule king but now I find my penchant for realism has waned with old age.Now I'm more cinematic.

Player1: ok, I'm going down the stairwell - anyone following?
Player2: yep, though I'm keeping a good eye out behind me
Player3: not a chance - I'll stay put
Ref: you follow the tight spiral stairs down, your torch just about lighting up the walls. There's a growing stench - sickly sweet - that's starting to make you both nauseous...
Player2: not so sure about this - shall we go back up?
Player1: no, we have to find her
Ref: there's a sudden shriek from upstairs, a dull thud, and...
Player3: huh? What's going on? What's happened?
Ref: you're peering down the stairwell - you feel something move behind you - you shriek
Player3: I pull my gun and spin round...
Ref: just as a club comes down on your head. You feel no more...
Player1: I search Player3 and take his stuff