So we had this crazy idea.

My RPG group – a bunch of players who’ve been operating together for more well over a decade – share a really beautiful custom-built world, with each major segment built by one or more players.  We’ve been having fantasy campaigns in this world for years now, each adventure building the history of the world, or filling out an unexplored area.  Heck, it’s even got it’s own Wiki so we can attempt to keep track of it all.

A few weeks ago, we decided to kick the timeline forward twelve years, and run a Grand Campaign.  This campaign will run for a year, and will have as many different GM’s as needed – but the same characters.  So, for example, I’ll kick the campaign off, and run for 4-6 sessions, then hand off to another GM and pick up playing my character.  Nobody will have to run longer than they feel like, and there should always be somebody else ready to run their segment.  Adventures don’t have to be linked, but over time I’m sure they will be.

Because some of the guys have more time as GM than others, I’ve imposed some pretty draconian limits on the characters.  Fixed stats – 17, 15, 15, 13, 13, 11.  (You can move one point from one stat to one other stat).  Fixed gold – you can’t have more than the 3.5 DMG says you can have *as personal gear*.  (You can spend excess on a castle or a personal traveling circus, just not on a talking magic sword).  So far, everybody seems to be adapting to the restrictions fine – everybody is looking forward to playing a single character for such a long time period.

Strangely, our group has never played characters over level 16.  This campaign is designed to change that, by allowing you to play your hero from level 1 to level 20 (or maybe beyond).  I’m looking forward to that.

Further updates as we get into the Campaign.  This should be interesting.

Note: This post will make my Operating System preferences clear.  However, it is not a post about Operating Systems, and any comments relating to an OS war will be ignored and probably deleted.

“I just think 3.5 feels a lot more like UNIX.  You can do whatever you want.”  That’s what one of my players said to me.  That would be great, an gaming edition that lets you do practically whatever you want, writing scripts to let you perform any action, putting input in one end, and getting a phenomenal result on the other side.  Hundreds of small single-purpose pieces that let you pipe input and output however you need to.  You could have a wizard where you put components, casting time, and targets in one end of the equation, and get a a targeted mini-Fireball with each foe’s name on it out of the other side, telling you how much dice to use for each one so that it is balanced with your abilities and the other classes of the same level.  You could have a paladin script based around how the enemy responds to his Smite Evil. Read the rest of this entry »

OK, SO I”M *REALLY* unhappy with the firearms in D20 Modern.  One of our GM’s wants to run a game set in it.  He’s asked us to ‘fix’ the gun combat with as few changes as possible, while keeping the game somewhat heroic – so guns don’t need to be simulator realistic.

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So, as I mentioned in a previous post, I’m running my first 4e game soon.  I’m not 100% sold on it, just like I’m not 100% sold on 3.5.  But, I do have some serious questions I need to ask before I go forward.

• How hard is it for a character to die in 4e?  To me, with all the checks and healing surges, it seems nearly impossible.  That seems to really rob the game of any sense of danger.
• Do the limited number of ‘paths’ make it difficult to truly ‘customize’ a character?  (i.e. do all Fighters feel alike?)
• Are the number of given options in combat overwhelming or freeing compared to 5th ed?  Do they eventually get tedious?
• Do the healing surges, in practice, really mean that you’re never carrying around any damage?
• Is there anything I should know about the learning curve?  Any beginner’s mistakes I need to look out for?

Another idea that I have had for an Ideal RPG is a critical stystem.  Crits should hurt.  Yes, dealing massive amounts of damage does hurt, but in an abstracted HP system, the damage is just eventually healed anyway.  In my opinion, it was always more fun when we played a system where a crit meant something (i.e. Warhammer RPG or Mechwarrior).

Crits should have lasting effects in game, that aren’t easy to fix.  The critical could sever an artery, cost a player an eye or leg, or scar his face.  This may mean lasting repercussions to the character, or at least disadvantage until they could be properly healed (what if clerics couldn’t fix all damage immediately? That may be a topic for another post).

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In celebration of Halloween, I present you with a Neil Gaiman classic, I, Cthulhu.  Enjoy, oneheads.

So the band of heroes isn’t acting very heroic?  They’ve told the old King to go rescue his own daughter?  They’re starting bar fights because they won’t accept the quest and they’re getting bored?

It’s time to bring in the Mentor.

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Every system and edition has its strength and weaknesses.  In particular, D&D 3.x was good at individual optimization, and 4e is good at group optimization.  But, it still seems that there is room to better simulate what is possible in real life, without getting bogged down in details, tables, and dice rolls.

So, Wolfgod and I came up with a few things we would eventually like to see in a game system.  These may be eventually made into a system; we’d have to hash out some statistics first.  For now, it is just a pipe dream.  Here’s a smattering of our ideas: Read the rest of this entry »

This post over at Critical Hits really struck a chord with me.  Not because it reminded me of my group’s adoption of 3rd edition.  We actually had quite the opposite reaction.  For years, we had been playing 1st edition with some 2nd edition tacked on.  We only had two Player’s Handbooks, and most of our books were in rough shape.  Most of our materials were treated as carefully as the Dead Sea Scrolls.

When 3rd Edition hit, and we saw how good it was, we all bought a copy.  Finally, we had enough PHB’s for everyone.  It was joyous.  There was some initial resistance to 3.5, but after seeing the improvements it made, and the broken things it fixed (remember 3.0 Rangers, anyone?), we eBay’d our 3.0 books and upgraded.

Now, in a little over a month, I am going to try to run my group’s first 4e game.

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