Monday, August 29, 2011

Names for Swords

Stonefriend

Icebane

Stormfinder

Rainheart

Elvish Swords

Elendi

Aien

Innalatar

Aliatar



Thanks to Rusty Battle Axes' Random Blog Post table!

Sunday, August 28, 2011

Spec Ops Mission 8-28-11

Most of the game took place right here, in the alleyway.
Thanks, Google Maps!

So yesterday was the kickoff of our new Special Ops campaign. The players were independent agents that were hired (under the radar) by a higher-up in the army, who knew one of the players from his history with the Green Berets.


WARNING! Cliche plot ahead!


The team was to capture a shady arms dealer who was in Madrid currently. What followed would be described as a disaster in the real world, but as awesome in a game.  Madrid's citizenry seeing gunfire and subsequently running and screaming until the police were alerted. The police then chasing the agents. The agents chasing Ian Riage (the arms dealer) and his guards. The guards trying desperately to escape, hindered by the fact that Madrid streets are small, their car was hitting 120 mph, and that Riage was gravely injured. Mayhem. But extremely fun mayhem.

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Poll Response 5

So we don't like us some Pathfinder? Why?



(I'm working on getting that logo done)

Level Up Your GURPS Characters

1. Estimate how many enemies they have defeated that were more powerful.
2. Multiply by four.
3.Estimate how many were less powerful.
4. Add to total without multiplication.
5. How much treasure have they (currently)? Calculate in est. worth. Divide by number of game sessions played. 
6. Add sums together.

10-100 First Level
101-200 Second Level
201-300 Third Level
...and so on...

Let's say Bill the Fighter has defeated 25 orc warlords and 6 ogres. (31 x 4 = 124) But Bill has also defeated 12 kobolds and 6 unarmed Halflings. (18) Bill has a full set of leather armor, a shortsword, and 6 copper coins, and 29 gold coins.  (200 + 300 + 6 + 29 = 535) Bill's played in seven games. (535 divided by 7 = 76)

124 + 18 + 76 = 218

Bill the Third-Level Fighter

Monday, August 22, 2011

GM Badges

Strange Magic has a post with GM Badges that describe one's GM'ing style. So, I thought I'd give it a go, and on that note, here are my badges.

Folly's Badges


Tactics-Very Important. Charging into battle without thought and strategy gets you killed.


Story-I do my best to tell an interesting story (which the PCs usually change)


Player vs Player-One of my players is plotting to take out another player right now.


Mirror- A week ago someone said, "It'd be awesome to fight a full-on dragon". This week the PCs fought a Blue Dragon.


GM is In Charge- Uh-huh.


Improvisation-I have a map and stats for NPCs. Everything else is improv.


"Beer-and-Pretzels"- We don't have serious games. I have spent half a game session watching players knocking on villager's doors and harassing them.


Tinkering-You know what? Sometimes, there's too many rules. Sometimes, I want to swing a sword without checking for encumbrandce, speed of swing, sword strength, chance of breakage, etc., etc.

Saturday, August 20, 2011

I'm Too Ambitious

I've been thinking about new games and new campaigns, and I've made a list of things I'd like to try.

GM'ing a GURPS Special Ops/Spy style game
GM'ing an Alien Invasion game.
Pathfinder-as a player
Continuing my current fantasy game

Suggestions?

Thursday, August 18, 2011

Sunday, August 14, 2011

GURPS Session August 11 '11

The players finished the first level of my dungeon. The game lasted about an hour and a half, and was described as "hard". Well, I warned them! (Evil GM laugh) Halfway through the players had found crossbows in an armory. They were subsequently charged by three bugbears. The first received a bolt to the chest. The second received a bolt to the chest. The third ran in terror. He then received a bolt to the back. Oh well. Bugbears were made to be defeated.

Thursday, August 11, 2011

My Victims...I Mean, My Players

So I've created HeroMachine versions of the players that will be braving my dungeon. And this dungeon? This is my most difficult dungeon yet. About 60 rooms, spread apart four levels, filled with traps and monsters and treasure to be won. A TPK may be scored today. Here are my victims, Elfina the Half-Elf Ranger and Canin the Protector.

Library Problems

Is it weird to get 30 to 40 books from the library every time I go? Maybe, but I think it's great!

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Poll Response 3

OSR severely beat "New-School" gaming, 10 to 1 in our latest poll. I know now my audience. However, I have been thinking of doing more dungeon crawling in my existing fantasy campaign, so maybe that'll be OSR-like enough.

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Old West? Meh.

Old West? Hmm. Not as interested as I was two days ago. However, two things I made up for the game I think were quite cool. (In my own humble opinion)


Swagger
Each article of clothing or weapon was assigned a Swagger score. This would add to a reaction roll, so wearing nice clothes would benefit the player.

Flashy Moves(tentative title)
When creating a character, the player would pick a Flashy Move, which would be a combat action that was stylish and cool. Some examples would be...

Hat Trick-Shoot off someone's hat as a warning.

X-Ray Punch-Punch through a weak wall and hit an enemy on the other side.

Ricochet-Fire a bullet at a wall and hit an enemy that was hiding.

New Project

So, in addition to planning for my new campaign, I'm working on a new Old West-themed RPG, which will be pretty rules-light and similar to an OSR game as far as character creation ( rolling up characters,  character classes) I'll probably give the game out for free on the site, since it's my first "product." So far I'll be drawing the maps and will be soliciting people to draw pictures, but I would appreciate any tips on making a good system.

Saturday, August 6, 2011

The Alien Invaders Have Arrived!

Here are stats for an alien trooper in my new campaign. The Valis have an average ST of 18 and an average HT of 16-other stats are equal to humans.


Valis Soldier
ST-20[+20] HP-20
DX-12[+40] WILL-13
IQ-13[+60] PER-13
HT-18[+20] FP-18
Basic Lift 80 Damage: thr 2d-1/sw 3d+2
Basic Speed 7.5 Basic Move 7.5
Dodge 10 DR 1 SM +1


Languages
Valisian(Native)

Advantages and Perks
Acute Hearing 10 [20], Ambidexterity [5], Claws (Sharp) [5], Constriction Attack [15], DR 1 [5] Innate Attack (Thrown Plasma Bolt) 5d burn Range 40 ft, Armor Divisor 2, Cyclic (1 sec), Explosion, Inaccurate 1



Disadvantages and Quirks
Disturbing Voice [10], Frightens Animals [10], Monstrous [20]

Skills
Artllery (Guided Missile) 15, Beam Weapons (Pistol) 15, Beam Weapons (Rifle) 16, Spacer 14, Comm Operation 14, Sensor Operation 14, Explosives (Demolition) 14, Gunner (Machine Gun) 14, Gunner (Cannon) 15, Gunner (Beam) 15, Innate Attack (Plasma Bolt) 16, Liquid Projector (Flamethrower) 13, Melee Weapon (Knife) 14, Navigation (Space), Piloting (High-Performance Spacecraft) 14, Piloting (LIght Airplane) 15, Soldier 15

Equipment
Plasma Grenades (3) 6dx4 burn ex-Weight 1-Fuse 2
Laser Rifle 5d(2) burn-Acc 12+2-Range 700/2,100-Weight 10/neg.-RoF 10-Shots 150(3)
Under-Barrel Grenade Launcher-4d(10) cr ex [2d]-Acc +2-Range 150/440-Weight 3.5-RoF 1-Shots 1(2)
Blaster Pistol-3d(5) burn-Acc+5-Range 300/900-Weight 1/neg.-RoF 3-Shots 200(3)
Assault Boots-feet-DR 12/6-Weight 3
Ballistic Vest-torso-8/2-400cc-Weight 2
Belt
Shoulder Strap
Belt Holster
Blastgas Cartridge-Weight neg.-Shots 200
Solar Battery-Weight neg.-Shots 150
Concussion Grenades(3) 6d cr ex-Weight 1-Fuse 4


Thursday, August 4, 2011

GURPS Dungeon Fantasy 14-Psi Released!

Steve Jackson Games has released a new Dungeon Fantasy supplement, Psi.
Unlike Loadouts, this actually looks pretty cool!

The site says...


When you're roaming through a dungeon and you meet something elemental, transcendental, or hell-bental on destruction . . . it's time to get mental!


The PDF features 24 new psi abilities, a new profession (mentalist), mental power-ups (whatever those are), mind-powered monsters, and gear especially for psi characters. I won't buy it, but I think it looks alright.

Superhero Thursday!

Masterclad (Not mine, a friend's)

Talon

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

My Dice...or Die

I literally have a bunch of black-and-white d6's and this semi-translucent red one. And...that's all, folks!

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

New Campaign

So I'm thinking about a new GURPS campaign. I was watching a teaser for the new Falling Skies show on TNT, and I like the premise of guerrilla warfare against a technologically superior alien race. And of course I thought about that type of story in an RPG. I could pick up GURPS Ultra-Tech for the aliens' equipment. However, one thing holding me back from a modern campaign is the matter of transportation and the huge amount of available places to go (the entire world) The maps would need either to be immense in size or I would need to somehow limit the players' transportation. And then an epiphany was had. Google Maps! Maps for the entire world! In addition, there is Street View, so players can see exactly what the GM describes. So I'll continue my current campaign, but hopefully I can either gain some new players or clear it with my current ones.

Orc Name Generator

Roll a d12 on each table and add the results together to make a proper Orcish name.



Gnash
orr
Kor
akh
Rakk
ang
Nashk
ag
Hak
nag
Nang
ak
Ohk
gor
Hahk
gar
Nagh
ar
Bla
rag
Garsh
nak
Agh
bak
 

Monday, August 1, 2011

Mini-Sessions

Lately I've been playing "mini-sessions" in RPGs. A game will last around forty-five minutes. It seems this works well, as we can then play almost daily. A minimum amount of preparation, and a short game. Less game time, but a game more often. So, blogosphere, what do you think? Anyone out there do this?