Ooooooh Tabletop RPG convo? (so it's a bit old...but lets see who is still around)

I've been GMing for yeeeeeeears...yes forever GM (but I secretly love it)

I'm currently running a Dark Heresy campaign with 6 other people over Roll20 and Skype. It's been going for over a year now and is just coming to it's bloody conclusion.

I'm also playing in a Call of Cthulhu campaign one of my friends is running (he is trying out GMing for the first time, tis going ok, even if I do oft times take it off the rails just for a bit of payback from all the years of them doing the same to me!)

Once the Dark Heresy ends, (should be in the next week or two) I'll be starting an Elder Scrolls (Focusing on Skyrim) RPG using an unofficial modification of the Warhammer Fantasy RPG rules, (looking forward to this quite allot, as all the players are familer with the franchise and all the groundwork/worldbuilding is already there, so I can let them run off the rails if they need to without having to completely make stuff up on the spot)

Also planning to take part in a New World of Darkness game (Vampire the Requiem) some time in the future, (another friend wanting to try GMing). His only description he has used so far is "Charlie's Angels...but with Vampires"...should be interesting!

And I also have a couple homebrew settings I run one-off games for every now and then using the Savage Worlds ruleset.

One setting is a funky fantasy setting where the players all play as races that would be typically considered "Monsters" "Centaur, Merfolk, Driders, Harpys, Insect men, Sentient Armour, Mutated Humans etc). Groups are hired and sent off to explore and salvage things from the ruins of an ancient civilisation, because hell...what sane human would go trekking through the wilderness and into dangerous uncharted ruins on the hunt for treasure that might not even be there? Especially when the world is full of creatures that would eat you as soon as they saw you! Yes...the smart thing to do is hire some monsters of your own, if you want the job done properly that is!

The other setting is a post apocalyptic superhero setting, where most of the population was wiped out by an evil villain's successful plan, and the survivors are struggling to rebuild. All the usual post-apocalypse tropes are in place, (raiders, scarce supplies, mutants, if you have played any "Fallout" games you get the drill) with the added exception that the players each have a couple minor super powers at their disposal. (Think "Heroes" if you ever watched that show). So players have to walk the line of using their powers to overcome their problems, while also attempting to hide them in public (as the general populace will flee or kill "Supes" on sight since they are not trusted any more). Tis good fun.

Phew...sometimes you don't realise how much time you spend on that stuff until you write it all down!

I would love to get a group together from here one time, even just for a one off game or two, I do most of my GMing over the net now anyway, as all my friends are scattered across the country, so I would happily run something ^^;

Wow, that all sounds awesome. You put a lot of thought and creativity into it.

We alternate DMing two different games on Wednesday. My game is sort of Lovecraft inspired so I try to keep it very dark. The PCs are all "witches" who have developed somewhat random powers in addition to their class features that seem tied to some ancient evil waking up. I guess it's kind of cliche in that they will have to save the world from being devoured.

My friend's game is set out in the unexplored wilderness of some very large island. How big? Iceland? Greenland? Australia? I don't know. We're exploring the frontier. Both games are Pathfinder.

Saturdays I play 3.5. That game started out being essentially Old England with a very low magic setting aside from the PCs having standard access from their class features and some very rare NPCs. It's been weird though. Magic is so rare that you can make someone think they're going insane with a message spell. I think the DM is adjusting after realizing that it doesn't quite work to have standard PCs in a world of almost all mundanes.

So I recently started to really get into tabletop games, slowly working messing around with systems (read only reading stories about and rule books) and trying to get my group of friends online to play some stuff with me or at least on a bit of a more consistent basis. Have been addicted to making characters though, any stupid idea I have when I am at my computer I just make a character.

Sadly it seems like the systems I would want to play seem to be highly out of favor in my area or I know nothing about really other then basic rules but really like the setting. 4e D&D and Dark Heresy respectively.

I like most got my start with D&D, but I've always gravitated towards Sci-Fi.  Star Frontiers, Traveller (am I dating myself?), etc. But my primary fixation was always...



Literally a tabletop boardgame/RPG. It was great until they jumped the shark with it and both the #@$@!# card games and the video games killed it.

As teens my brother and I started up a hobbyshop that was mostly gamer oriented (kiss o' death), that lasted just longer than the average 12 months of the average life of a small business. Stayed into it until I went into the army (to play with the closest things to Mechs) and discovered girls and motorcycles.  Been tempted to get back into it, there is even a local transgirl here who is in the local LARP group.  But I really don't have the time and fear I'd totally relapse into nerddom and become completely decoupled from the real world. 

Quote from: Claire (formerly Magdalena) on October 20, 2013, 11:22:07 PM
Yukari, I used to run Twilight 2000, I remember it fondly. I think I did a terrible job, I was one of those GMs that stymied players and killed them off with no mercy or respite.

Well, it's kind of hard to be lenient if you want to be as gritily realistic as T2K. 

"You just got a face full of persistent nerve agent.  You're dead." 
"You just caught an AK round in the head. You're dead."
"You just stepped on a cluster bomb sub-munition. You're dead.  Oh?  You don't like that?  Ok, you're not dead. But your legs have been shredded and you now have to live as a double amputee with chronic pain and infections in a post apocalyptic environment with no medical care."

That's how I rolled.  But the way I did it was that I usually had a bunch of NPCs around (the rest of the squad/platoon/remains of the command) that the players could jump to if they got dead. Yeah no one ever got really attached to their characters and no one became a "hero", but that was always kind of the point of a game as dark as T2K.

Hmm... Let's see here.
I started playing again, for the first time since... June 2013, I think.
Playing a female character, and convinced my DM to let me do it. He generally refuses people playing characters different to their gender, but he seems very supportive of my transition and therefore is happy with me playing a girl.

As for the other side of the screen, I've been itching to run Runequest. Like, crazy. Great sword and sandal thing getting set up, somewhere between Burrowers From Beneath and 300 aaaand...

No one shows up. Or messages me. Or can be reached for over a week afterward.


How do people get their players to actually show up?

Quote from: LWhite on April 29, 2014, 01:19:30 AM
How do people get their players to actually show up?

I often find threats of physical retribution can act as an appropriate motivator...or offering free Pizza, whichever is more suitable.

I used to play Heavy Gear, a mech strategy/tactical tabletop game.

Quote from: Rainbow Brite on April 29, 2014, 07:15:51 AM
I used to play Heavy Gear, a mech strategy/tactical tabletop game.

That was a cool game, very similar to BT (taking Japanese Manga and Westernizing it) but more "realistic". But always found the minis to be too expensive, plus I was full invested in BT.

QuoteHow do people get their players to actually show up?

Threats of their characters being uses as NPC (ie: "cannon fodder") usually works.

Quote from: JamesG on April 29, 2014, 07:36:29 AM
That was a cool game, very similar to BT (taking Japanese Manga and Westernizing it) but more "realistic". But always found the minis to be too expensive, plus I was full invested in BT.

They were expensive but when you consider just how much metal they are made from, it's not that bad. All of the Gears seemed heavier than the mechs from BT/Mechwarrior. I also used to build miniatures from the different Warhammer universes.

To get players to show up to game:
FOOD!
and if they are of age to drink...beer

Add in the threat to have any PC not show up to game have their character fall prey of the beast of burden curse. This foul curse strikes any PC whose player is not there by polymorphing said character into a jackass complete with saddlebags. Said jackass will then be used to portage the other players gear and treasure. The jackass is rewarded with hay, rubdowns and the occasional checking and repairing of their horseshoes. Provided the other players remember to tend the livestock. Of course the jackass has no right to claim treasure or loot. But they can carry it around all day long.

Quote from: LWhite on April 29, 2014, 01:19:30 AM
How do people get their players to actually show up?

Honestly, I'd be inclined to try to find more enthusiastic players. That seems like a red flag to me. Enjoyment of the game should be their primary motivation. I ache when a game is scheduled and anything happens to prevent it because I've been looking forward to it all week.

Quote from: LWhite on April 29, 2014, 01:19:30 AM
He generally refuses people playing characters different to their gender...

WUT? But the whole point of RPGs is escapism. I'm certainly glad he's making an exception for you, but no exception should be necessary. The whole point of role-playing is you are placing yourself in SOMEONE ELSE'S shoes for a little while to experience a little slice of life from a different point of view. Your character should be whatever you find to be enjoyable for that particular game. Most every DM I've played with actually encourages variety. That's just crazy talk.

Quote from: dalebert on April 30, 2014, 02:16:17 PM
WUT? But the whole point of RPGs is escapism. I'm certainly glad he's making an exception for you, but no exception should be necessary. The whole point of role-playing is you are placing yourself in SOMEONE ELSE'S shoes for a little while to experience a little slice of life from a different point of view. Your character should be whatever you find to be enjoyable for that particular game. Most every DM I've played with actually encourages variety. That's just crazy talk.

I have a friend and have heard many other people that do the same. It isn't so much a discouraging variety for most of them, at least from most of the people I have asked, but a blanket rule so they don't run into those people that will play the role of the extreme stereotypes just because. Though those people all are open to the idea if a person comes to them and talks to them about it. It isn't perfect, but I can understand their stances.

I played DnD a few times, but it's a mess. Lore's all over the place. The deities are from Greyhawk, yet we use Forgotten Realms monsters and uhm... well, I don't know. A big melting pot. I'm a bit of a lore-buff on Forgotten Realms (I hate the setting and think Ed Greenwood's a moron, but roleplayed in a lot of FR games intensively), so I literally improvised a campaign and the feedback was that it was better than what the previous GM had spent two weeks working on, so eh... yeah, never had that much fun with tabletop.

Players with "celestial eagles" as pets amongst other OP retarded stuff, starting out at level 10, ridiculous loot... I guess I just attended out of pressure to come along, because I cringed a lot and couldn't really take it seriously...

That said, I'd love to play something from World of Darkness... mostly Vampire: The Masquerade, in a contemporary setting... gah, so wish it were possible. I'm a bit burned out on generic medieval fantasy settings with their knock-off elves and dwarves...

Some people are very funny about players having opposite gender characters. My own anxiety about how people will react has kept me from joining the local Pathfinder Society games...

The biggest problem is usually that they do it badly or are juvenile about it and it becomes an annoyance & distraction to the story and flow of the game...  It's hard enough for some people to stay in character when it's very close to their own personality, it takes an experienced player to really be able to pull off a different persona well.  That's why GM/DMs don't allow it, its not a trans gender thing.

Most gamers are cool with transfolk.  They are almost as weird as they are. 

Quote from: Rainbow Brite on April 29, 2014, 08:32:37 AM
They were expensive but when you consider just how much metal they are made from, it's not that bad. All of the Gears seemed heavier than the mechs from BT/Mechwarrior. I also used to build miniatures from the different Warhammer universes.

Did you ever build any of the Japanese plastic models that HG was based on? 

Don't get me started on W40K...

My favourite thing to do is play a changelling/shapeshifter character. That way I can get the best of both worlds, and can even switch between my male and female voices for a bit of fun

Once you remove gender as a defining character trait, I find the characters I play are much more interesting.

[Temporarily Removed by User]

Quote from: Alyssa L. on May 08, 2014, 09:40:05 AM
I too love to play shapeshifters. I am sure it has nothing to do with my desire to be whoever I want

I am currently playing d&d 4th edition in the zeitgiest campaign world. We are playing the pre-built modules, but they are the best that I have ever played. Very unique encounters and lots of things to do other than kill stuff. While 4th edition isn't my favorite it is easy to run as a GM and no one in our group likes to GM

I am a big fan of more free form game systems where you have the ability to really describe what you are doing and have it affect the outcome of the action. One of my favorite, but never played PnP RPG's, is a system called Universalis. It is a GM-less RPG that has huge potential for great story telling. Unfortunately some of the people I play with can't seem to wrap their heads around it

Alyssa

Sounds good

I'm a big fan of pure story driven games as well, to GM and play.

Nowadays, if I want to sit down an dungeon crawl or hack and slash with my friends, I can do that far easier and much faster on a video game, rather that organising and running a tabletop night.

Tabletop RPGs are really amazing in my opinion when you can create an interesting group story, if there are no maps or tokens involved, I am sooooo much happier

I'm trying to steer my group of friends away from standard D&D esq types of campaigns as a result of this.

I've managed to have a number of good sessions of "Everyone is John" with them (Which is great fun for a night off from your regular campaign etc).

Now that I have breeched to them the idea of a pure story driven RPG, I'm going to try and get a few games of Monsterhearts. Its a pure story driven game where players take on actors in a teen monster drama TV show, ala Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Vampire Diaries etc. The tough thing with that is that the game embraces all aspects of the teen drama, including having mechanics and rewards for turning people on and sex etc, so it requires quite a mature mindset going in otherwise it turns into a farce.

Well this is about tabletop games so I just have to reply, as they are awesome.
My favorite system out of the tabletops that I have played is World of Darkness, I'm kinda addicted to the theme and how dark it is, I've been playing Werewolf: The Apocalypse this year, which has been lovely and dark.
Plus the chance to be a big bad creature is always half the fun..
So looking forward to the new WoD stuff!