[RPG] I Can't Believe I am Doing This- Advanced Dungeons and Dragons 2nd Ed

There are times in my life when I think the universe decides to teach me a lesson, and likes laughing at me while doing so.

I am pretty well known for not enjoying D&D in any way, shape or form. Between the "medieval fantasy as trope", the limiting characters, classes and alignments, the very ridiculous to me armor/to hit rules, and the general... BLAH nature of the genre and game, I have always found it as interesting as milquetoast.

this is far prettier than what I think of D&D 

But recently, this funny thing happened. I made a new friend, and the new friend is a HUGE AD&D nut. He has a group that he plays with regularly and it is massively fun for him. He's genuinely passionate about playing and can't wait to get new people involved in games and gaming. (It's really fun to have a friend that is just invigorated about getting people into gaming as I am- I was sort of burning out for a while. Having him as a friend is feeding my fire, and that allows me to feed his right back. I love the synergy of positive relationships and how they help the people in them grow.)

So very recently, one of the GMs that plays at my shop was announcing that he had openings in his AD&D 2nd Ed Game, and my new friend was very interested in the game. I know this GM well, and he is a really stand up guy. He's very friendly, easy to talk to, and the group he has at the moment seems to be one of the nicest around. I very generously vouched for the fellow in question and while doing so, realized I pretty much talked myself into a corner and that I needed to play in the game or look like an idiot.

So I joined my 2nd ever D&D game.

For me, the best part has been the people I am playing with. I won't lie- it is very hard for me to play with people I don't know, and I HAVE to like them. But I really didn't know the guys at all, nor did I have any idea whether we would get along well. I sat down for my first session, worried about whether I would fit in, or if they would like me, and a million other things.

I should never have worried. Playing with these guys was like finding my way home again. It's super comfortable, fun and wonderful to be back at a table again.

It is super weird to be ENJOYING a game I generally don't like- but it's an important lesson for me, that I can do things and have fun again.

[RPG][WOD] Blood on Fire- Trav

Trav Parker is the last member of Blood on Fire to change. He's fresh and raw, still learning about The People and his place in the world. Luna demands an incredible sacrifice from him, and Trav is learning how to accept it. He's the member of the pack I wrote first, and his change is what forged this pack- literally with blood and fire.

While he's Trey's younger brother, it's Hilary that he looks up to now that he has his legs under him. She tirelessly answers every question, while holding the pack to unyielding standards. Trav's respect for her command and dedication is unparalleled, and Trav would do anything Hilary asked of him to prove his loyalty.

There's a lot of terminology in this one, but I hope you understand him even through the jargon.

[RPG]{WOD] Trey's Stats

There's some experience spent here, but not nearly as much as Hilary got.

Trey is an Iron Masters Rahu.


Int 3
Wits 2
Resolve 2

Str 3
Dex 2
Stam 3

Pre 3
Man 2
Comp 1

Mental skills
Academics 1
Computer 3 (specialty in build/repair)
Crafts 1 (specialty in computer)
Crafts 2 (woodworking)
Investigation 1
Medicine 1
Occult
Politics
Science 1

Physical Skills
Athletics 2
Brawl 2
Drive 1
Firearms 2
Larceny 1
Stealth 2
Survival 1 (Specialty in urban settings)
Weaponry 1

Social skills
Animal Ken
Empathy
Expression 1
Intimidation 3
Persuasion
Socialize
Streetwise 2
Subterfuge

Merits
Primal Urge 2
Resources 2
Ambidextrous

Renown
Purity 2
Cunning 2
Glory 1

Gifts
Clarity
Attunement

Partial Change
Mighty Blow

Left Handed Spanner
Nightfall

Health 8  Willpower 3 Size 5  Defense 2 Initiative Mod 3 Speed 10 Harmony 7
Primal Urge 2

Vice: Pride  Virtue: Fortitude

[RPG][WOD] Blood on Fire- Trey

Next up for this pack is Trey Jenkins. He has a successful computer repair/build operation, and lives in a self built cabin on the edge of the Blood on Fire territory.

His pride is his greatest falling, but he's slowly learning there's honor in accepting one's place in the pack and among the People.

He doesn't do anything easy, and writing him was no exception. He was an absolute pain in the ass to get written, but I'm very happy with the end result.

[RPG] [WOD] Hilary's Stats

Here is the sheet as I see her now. I gave her a lot of experience- she carved the territory Blood on Fire controls herself, spent almost a year alone waiting for her packmates to change, and built a business so she wouldn't get fired.

She is a Storm Lord Cahalith.


INT- 2
WIS - 2
RES- 3

STR- 4
DEX- 3
STAM - 2

PRE- 2
MAN- 3
COMP-2

Mental skills:
Academics -1
Computer
Crafts
Investigation -1
Medicine- 1
Occult-1
Politics
Science

Physical Skills:
Athletics -2
Brawl -3 (specialty in Dirty infighting)
Drive
Firearms
Larceny -2
Stealth -2
Survival-2
Weaponry -1 (Specialty in Improvised Weapon)


Social Skills:
Animal Ken
Empathy
Expression -3 (Specialty in Dance)
Intimidation- 3
Persuasion - 2
Socialize- 2
Streetwise -1
Subterfuge- 1

Merits:
Fleet of Foot -2
Resources- 2
Primal Urge- 2
Striking Looks -2

Renown:
Glory:3
Honor: 2

Gifts:
Warning Growl
Luna's Dictum
Voice of Command

Pack Awareness
Resist Pain

Right Words

Health: 7 Willpower: 5  Primal Urge :2  Harmony: 7 Defense: 2  Initiative Mod: 5
Speed: 15

Vice: Lust Virtue: Faith

[RPG] [WOD] Blood on Fire- Hilary

First up for the WOD show and tell is Hilary Carson.

Tiny, blonde and fierce; Hilary is the Alpha and was the first among Blood on Fire to change.  Her body and personality seem much more suited to a life as a Rahu, but Hilary has adapted as Luna's choice dictated. Her skill as a Cahalith is beyond effective, based on her understanding of the ways to motivate and inspire her packmates. Her talent for fighting is often underestimated, based on her looks.

Inspired by the group making characters, I wrote up Hilary's first change. The tale of any first change is burdened by that which lies underneath. Deepest fears, greatest longings and righteous fury are unleashed in the bath of Luna's gaze.

Here it is. It's just a touch "adult"-  and yes, there are a lot of "H"s in this one.

I'll put her sheet up separately.

[RPG][WOD] Introducing Blood On Fire

The old WOD game ended and a new one has begun. It's set in Savannah, GA, and it's limited to Mages and Werewolves. As the Werewolves were sitting around and creating characters, I had an idea for a character that I really liked.

The idea was fleeting and fickle. It flirted with me, coy and complicated for quite a while. It finally decided to behave, and I started working on it in earnest. While I was giddily writing this lovely little nugget down, the smoke of a more complete concept unraveled fully in my head. It wasn't just ONE character, but three.

As the idea exploded into lots more than what I imagined, it became obvious I had a pack of Werewolves in mind. Whether these Uratha are NPCs in the Savannah game, NPCs in a game I run, or just ideas I never use, they are interesting enough that I thought I'd share.

Blood On Fire is a pack of 3 Uratha in the Georgia area. Their original location was set outside of Fort Stewart, in a yet unnamed semi-rural town. I'm still undecided as to whether I'll keep them there or move them closer to Atlanta.

The pack is comprised of 2 brothers, Trey and Trav; along with Trey's former girlfriend Hilary. They are bound by more than blood; their pack becomes forged by sacrifice and fire.

I will be putting up the write ups for each one fairly soon, I hope.

Wonderland Session 8

After an extremely long break between sessions due to illness, schedule issues and other shenanigans, my little troupe met again.

We have M- Sir Epperson the Third; Captain and Noble
B- Squeakers the Clown
Z- The Policeman
L- Sorceress
K-Tennessee Jones, Explorer
C- Alistair, "Batman"
K-Lem, Ghost

Lem and Alistair were not able to make the session, but we went ahead with the adventures.

The group landed on the shores of Meridia safely and made their way towards the main settlement after parking the boat, to which Squeakers has developed a method of communication.  The settlement is built into a large grotto which is dotted with random rocks across the landscape. The rocks are tall and similar-ish to those found at Stonehenge, but in various colors. The buildings of the settlement are tucked into the grotto, along side the rocks in a fairly random fashion.

No palm trees, though.

State of Affairs

I am currently not playing in any games. My favorite cohort to cause trouble with and discuss ideas with is now working 12+ hours a day. I am bogged down by a lack of any real social life and not as much fun as I want.

I am, in effect, uninspired.

Writing this blog us directly related to my gaming life and what's got me excited and interested today/this week/this month.

At the moment, I'm casually working on a pack of Werewolves for a World of Darkness setting, but I'm not anywhere near done and I find myself stalling a lot.

I also recently rediscovered my affection and adoration for paper crafting and altered art; which might correspond to the lack of gaming ideas and might just be happenstance.

Many of the ideas I had in draft are boring to me now, and I wonder if I need another trip to the strip club to get my mind fired up again.....

Wonderland Session 6 & 7

We finally had our entire group together as we began this session.

When we left our intrepid "heroes", the group had heard voices crying for help through the Void, and had gone to their rescue despite the Captain's protests. Once on the island, they had encountered a group of people huddled together on the beach, and one of the people had turned towards the Captain with a wild look of hunger, and we had faded to black.

When we picked back up, I fully intended for there to be a conflict during the session. All of the players had commented at one point or another that they wanted a fight, and I had planned the adventure with that in mind.

But my players had other plans.

Wonderland Double Feature (Sessions 4 & 5)

So I totally forgot to do a write up of Session 4, and then we had Session 5 this week.

In Session 4, the group was visiting an "island" inhabited by monks living in a monastery. The monks were extremely polite and friendly, rising the group's paranoia. They eat dinner and go to bed for the night, where the island effectively "rolls up" for the night.

The clown and Alistair don't sleep but somehow don't see their boat being taken by the monks and hidden. When the group wakes, they discover the boat is missing, and are invited to go to "service", where they learn more about the Twin Gods and the overall beliefs of the world.

The group stops the revered leader after the service to find out where the boat went and why the monks are trying to stop them from leaving. A larger discussion begins, and the group finds out quite a lot, much of it through observation.

There's a revelation that the TwinGods are off doing something important that takes a while, and somewhere the notion that they are having a baby comes about. While this conversation is happening, the leader of the monks begins to reverse his aging process almost in front of their eyes. As the leader learns, he becomes younger. His encounter with the group seems to reverse his age by a decade, if not more. This process continues throughout the rest of their conversations with him.

The group discovers that the monks came from somewhere else, and moved to their current island to escape the distractions of anything other than studying the TwinGods. They've forgotten what women are like except in a theoretical sense so the presence of the "pretty lady" has them somewhat baffled.  They have also lost sight of the instructions given to them by the TwinGods and the revelation that they need to follow all THREE of the rules laid down is a big deal.

The monks reveal that they left some men and a large contingent of women and children on their homeland, and that they don't remember where their home is, but it's "that way".

The group decides to try to find the monks's homeland if for no other reason than it must be full of women. They set off to the general area closest to where "that way" is, and they prepare to embark out into TheVoid.

that ended session 4.... Session 5 started with the group getting on their boat, trying to get back to the "land of the women ladies".

Wonderland Session 3

This session showed that even with planning, games can go sideways without too much influence. Two of my players were unable to attend, so the events I had planned for the session had to be scrapped and new ones had to be implemented quickly.

My players were on an island that had time zones- large geographic regions that were permanently twilight, early morning, afternoon, etc.  They had found the remnants of what might have once been a village and decided to camp there for the "night" (even though it was mid afternoon). 

The group woke up, and two members of their group were missing. As they started to look around, The Captain noticed that some of his clothes were lightly wet. It wasn't really "wet", but somewhat more tacky, like antibacterial hand gel. Further investigation showed that there were spots of the tacky like liquid along the tops of the stonework ruins, but not anywhere on the ground. 

Wonderland Session 2

We had a great session of Wonderland this week.

I lost a player and gained one, and I think I handled this change pretty well.

The group traveled through the Void; which was terrifying and strange. The group moved through total emptiness, and then through a cemetery of souls that grabbed for them, and then through the roots of a world above them.

As the group made it to the "end" of the Void "road", they felt a bump as if they had run aground. They saw a small pinhole of light, and as they peered through the pinhole, they saw what appeared to be twilight.

[RPG] Wonderland Session 1

Last night was the beginning of my Wonderland campaign.

I had more players than I expected, which was a very good thing. I explained the world and background to them, and answered a LOT of questions from a player that is new not only to the system, but roleplaying as a rule. It was really fun being able to explain things in a way that made sense, but gave the sense of mystery and uncertainty that a "new world" offers. I started them off on Miracle City, one of the islands in the ocean of the void. The city itself was Steampunk/Victorian in overall setting. 

I had them roll up characters, and I wound up with the following people: A Sorceress, A Drunk Cop, The Ghost of a Samurai, A Crazy Explorer, An Engineer Plumber and a Miming Clown. 

[WOD] Why Does He Do That?

On Vinnie motivations and such.

Vinnie started off in Austin as a soldier, looking for an army to join.

As an Ordo, he had a built in army. He was given missions from higher ups, just like any soldier. some of his missions had a direct and obvious purpose, while others were more subdued, inobvious and vampire-y.

Vinnie doesn't talk about why he does things very often, and certainly not with other Kindred. He knows Kindred share a tendency to be less than clear about their motives or aims, and sees the wisdom in it, after having seen first hand all sorts of scheming.

Vinnie was primarily motivated by the pursuit of power. Vinnie's particular avenue to power has always been knowledge. Most of his interactions with other Supernaturals have been to gain information or access to it, and he has used the information to fuel his adventures. Some of the people he has encountered have been more useful than others, and he has pursued deeper relationships with them.

Vinnie embraces both his Mekhet and his Ordo natures, and has come to realize that the only way to gain the power he wants is to adapt as things progress, 'see things', and do a whole lot more listening.

At one point, Vinnie wanted to kill the Commissioner if the situation presented itself. He's now in the position of viewing the Commissioner as something of a mentor, especially regarding philosophy and the nature of God's purpose for the Kindred in their existence.

While Vinnie doesn't have a lot of experience understanding or discerning supernatural things, he has been exposed to quite a few and is just now starting to understand how they interact with each other and what advantages to use when. His particular avenue of attack at this venture is to befriend one of the Mist-Walkers, and use this person as a  walking "dead-detector". He's also decided that it's hilarious fun to torment the Mages, but in a subtle and devious way.

(The Mages are protecting someone they think Vinnie and/or Reese are after for nefarious purposes. Vinnie has made a big production of wanting to talk to the fellow, and the Mages have become defensive. Vinnie doesn't really care about the person in question, but instead wants to push the Mages out of their hidey hole by being very persistent about finding said person.)

My major problem with playing Vinnie at the moment is that I don't think very quickly. I am usually trying to play catch up by at least one game session, if not two...

[Wonderland] Second Chances

Several people have asked me how my session of Wonderland went on Wednesday.

Unfortunately, there weren't any players. However, on the way out of the store, I ran into a buddy and we started chatting in the parking lot.

The buddy and his girlfriend are just learning about RPGs, and had a lot of questions. While talking, they expressed interest in my little playground, and so we're going to try again next time. Then when I got home, TheBoy told me he really wanted to play, so it looks like I have potential players for next session!

This "second chance" gives me time to flesh out the background packets I'm passing out to the players, as well as work on the map some more. (I need to find a way to share my map with you guys! I think you will like it.)

[Wonderland] Beginnings

Rather than talk and dream and blather about the Wonderland idea, I decided it was time to actually run it.  I'm jumping in.

I'm scheduled to run my first session (intro and character making) tomorrow. I still have some work to do (printouts and maybe clean up the map some more), but I can't back out now...

I'm still not sure if I am crazy or convinced, but I am doing it.

I'll let you know how it goes.

[RPG] Dissonance

I know, without any real preface or explanation, that I don't like OSR and/or old school stuff. It's just not for me. That doesn't bother me. I know what I like... it's pretty simple stuff.

What's simpler than 4 chords and incredible attitude?

Jeff had a really interesting post recently about the apparent lack of a first level as he sees it in the Next iteration of D&D. He went on to talk about what he DOES like in a game, which generated a metric crapton of comments. His follow up post had a real eye opener for me. One of the guys responding made an off the cuff remark about CoC, which struck me in a very particular way.

I don't enjoy a fragile first level character for a D&D game. It makes me all kinds of mental to consider that my D&D dude might die the first session out of the gate. (I don't like a D&D game at all, really; but that is beside the point.) However, I fully enjoy (and expect!) a fragile " first level"character for CoC. I LOOK FORWARD to the inevitable decrepitude, insanity and/or mangling of any character facing the Eldritch horrors, but not for D&D.

The question of the day for me boiled down to: Why?

What makes one character being a meat puppet unconscionable, while the other is gladly given as grist for the mill? I have absolutely no illusions that if I were playing, my CoC character could live long enough to gain a lot of experience or make a prestige class; and I am totally ok with that. Reconciling that against my angst about a D&D character's prospects becomes something I want to do, just to keep my head from spinning.

I have a thought or two, but I'm hesitant to put it out there right yet. I'd love to hear whether any of you have similar dichotomies, and if so, how you reconciled them with each other.

The Games that Shaped Me

A little while ago, Frontline Gamer put out a charge to all of us, to think about the games that have shaped us, and talk about when, where, why and so on.

Well, I can't really let that Brit have all the fun, now can I?

I told him I had a lot, and I felt a post was probably a lot more appropriate than a quick reply over on his blog. So here we are at mine, with my ever so verbose thoughts.

After the jump, of course.

[RPG][Wonderland] Creating Opposition

I have finally decided on a system to use for Wonderland. I'm going with Risus.

After considering about 6 systems (including Savage Worlds and Mutants & Masterminds) and talking to TheDude about running something I can't "sell", I decided to do what I wanted and worked best for my game idea, and stop trying to do what I "should".

The map has been made (although it needs serious cleaning up) and the setting(s) are defined fairly well, with a lot of room to breathe and change if the soon-to-be players mess things up, confuse me, or otherwise X+1 me.

The next thing I am working on is the "opposition"- the things the players will face in the environment, and decide motivations, mannerisms and so forth for them. Because as much as this game is ultimately intended to be a "players vs. the world" sort of idea, there will be things to Deal With.

Most of what the players face will be much like themselves, but maybe with different beliefs, reasons for doing things, or understandings of the fundamental rules of the world. At some point there will be conflict; or at least I expect so given this is a game and there is an underlying want to "kill orks for beer money" in many gamers I know.

Coming up with those beliefs, values and reasons is a lot harder than coming up with "what they look like". GM's, what is your take on making opposing forces?

How do you make them, what do you consider important, all those things- please share!