Bay 12 Games Forum

Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
Advanced search  

Show Posts

This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.

Messages - Mesa

Pages: [1] 2 3 ... 217
1
General Discussion / Re: Dungeons & Dragons / PNP games thread: The Barren Snowflake Wastes
« on: December 09, 2019, 10:41:29 am »
Finally bit the bullet and decided to run a Starfinder campaign for my group. (Mostly thanks to the recent release of the Character Operations Manual.)
I pitched it as "XCOM meets Doom meets Destiny" - devils are invading the solar system, having overtaken one of the worlds for themselves as a beachhead, and the remaining worlds have founded a sort of Multiplanetary Anti-Devil XCOM, called Project PALADIN, to drive them back and the party are a new team of recruits.

And it sure is a colorful bunch:
- an uplifted bear technomancer
- a dragonkin soldier (with a barbarian-esque fighting style)
- a human envoy
- a dessamar (humanoid butterfly alien) mystic

They still need to pick which world they want to initially operate within (it's a tailor-made solar system, though still pretty kitchen-sinky in terms of the types of locales available - it all used to be part of one interplanetary empire that has since collapsed, so it's got that "classic D&D setting" vibe to it there, with lots of ruins and stuff to explore, particularly those of the "old XCOM" from that era).
I was initially worried since Starfinder's devil/demon selection is at best anemic, but then I found out how monster creation works, so now I'm excited to stat out some cool Doom-esque cybernetically-enhanced baddies.
There won't be like, the entire XCOM strategy/management layer, because that sounds like way too much for what seems to be the first time I actually feel confident in my ability to run a campaign for more than a few sessions - I have a strong pitch that's easy to write individual missions/adventures for, and at least a roughly idea of how it'll go (eventually they'll join one of the more specialized divisions of PALADIN and take on higher-responsibility missions, all while uncovering the devils' plan to eventually reactivate an old warp gate, establishing a connection to Hell and subjugating the entire system...So that'll be fun.) Also there might be demons and cults and corrupt nobles along the way too.

And if they end up losing, I can pull of XCOM 2! How convenient!

2
General Discussion / Re: Dungeons & Dragons / PNP games thread: The Barren Snowflake Wastes
« on: August 26, 2019, 10:16:28 am »
I have it.

Haven't had a chance to run or play it yet, though I'm gearing up for it - currently waiting for some preliminary updates/errata to the CRB and Bestiary come out, as well as the Lost Omens World Guide (the new world lore book that was meant to come out on Aug 1 alongside the others but was pushed to this Wednesday), and I'm gonna start my group off with the Fall of Plaguestone adventure.

So far we really like how things are looking, though only actual play will tell how it all works in practice, but most people seem to agree that a lot of the initial issues from the playtest were ironed out (though spells are still weaker than in 1e days, but honestly it deserved that to some extent - if you want powerful, long-lasting magic, you'd be looking at rituals, but their core rulebook selection is pretty small).

I think it'll do fine, but 4e also did decent for the first couple years supposedly before going belly-up. So I'd hold off for another year or so and for major supplements (which were already announced) like the Gamemastery Guide and the Advanced Player's Guide to come out before ultimately writing it off.

3
General Discussion / Re: ♪ The Great Music Thread ♫
« on: August 23, 2019, 11:08:52 am »
The HU - The Great Chinggis Khaan
Every single song they release is an absolute banger.

4
Other Games / Re: Games you wish existed
« on: October 22, 2018, 05:54:59 am »
Quote from: JoshuaFH on October 22, 2018, 05:30:12 am
How about a game that takes place in a fictional country locked in perpetual war with another country. Your role is to act as the dean of a military academy and train young and aspiring cadets before they go on to the war. You'd be tasked with keeping up with the war through news reports and hearsay from connections, managing the students lives, determining their training and learning priorities, learning about them and socializing with them, and best preparing them for the conflict that is destined for them.

You don't actually get to witness the fights they participate in, once they graduate, new students come in to replace them. After so long though, you'd get reports of their success, failures, or heroic/cowardly deaths on the battlefield. I imagine there'd be some RNG, but for the most part your efficacy in training them has a large influence on these battle reports, and they effect these reports have is informing you where you've gone right or wrong, whether students actually want to enroll your in academy, and most importantly the funding you get from the government for doing well or poorly.

After a long period of time, the reports you see can show that your contribution is turning the tide of the war. And veteran students that get honorably discharged can become new instructors that have real experience of war fighting and can confer that to their own students.

I'd imagine there'd be so randomization in the students, in names and appearances, and maybe in native talents and personalities, and this would enrich the narrative by making your students more recognizable and endearing, and helping you to steer students to what it is that they can do best.

I suppose the game could be story driven like Papers, Please, or it could be like a Tycoon game where you're on a time limit to complete such-and-such objectives with such-and-such funding and available manpower and resources available to you.


A story mode that follows a more pre-planned narrative and some kind of 'sandbox' mode aren't mutually exclusive, so that could work.

5
General Discussion / Re: Dungeons & Dragons / PNP games thread: The Barren Snowflake Wastes
« on: October 13, 2018, 04:47:52 pm »
I don't exactly use traps either, in particular because a lot of standard traps don't exactly fit a sci-fi setting (in particular, a spaceship), although inevitably something will come up - though not now because the ship my party is on is in statis so most defenses (namely, turrets) don't exactly work, though that might change if the party fails to stop the reactors from being repaired...


Barring this doubly specific scenario however, I don't see the appeal of traps in general either, at least of those that serve as minor nuisances or stopgaps rather than genuine challenges in their own right - plus there is also that issue of "more likely to be troublesome to your own troops and minions and whonot, than to invaders" with most trap layouts (which is kind of an immersion breaker) - then again, Dwarf Fortress' many varied trap designs do show that you can have a functional living space that is still defended through traps both big and small, so maybe I'm in the wrong there.

6
General Discussion / Re: Dungeons & Dragons / PNP games thread: The Barren Snowflake Wastes
« on: October 12, 2018, 03:08:01 am »
Last week we had my Open Legend session (even though the premise is pretty much identical to that of Scum & Villainy, which in turn is literally "Blades in the Dark in space"). Gonna have to wait for another week or two until we can play again though. ;o;
Spoiler: "A report" (click to show/hide)

7
General Discussion / Re: Dungeons & Dragons / PNP games thread: The Barren Snowflake Wastes
« on: September 27, 2018, 09:18:32 am »
Quote from: Telgin on September 27, 2018, 09:02:10 am
Quote from: scriver on September 27, 2018, 08:48:30 am
But are there Apache Knives?

Not really the question you're asking, but my very vague recollection was that equipment was very abstract and vague.  Like, I think you literally said you were "heavily" encumbered and that meant you could pull out 3 useful items at whatever point you wanted, and they could be whatever you needed for that moment, without having said what they were before hand.

The game overall looked interesting, but playing as criminals didn't appeal to me much and the one time our game group tried it, it didn't work out so great.  That was due to group dynamics much more than the game itself though.


Yeah, the game does do a lot of...some would say retconning, but there are ways to twist and bend the timeline a bit to your advantage, with how equipment is handled and with the whole mechanic of flashbacks. It's not time travel[size=78%], [/size]but you definitely do not play in one continuous, unchanging timeline either.


Take this scenario for instance - you're running away from a bluecoat (policeman), you take a turn into a side alley and whoops it's a dead end! You're cornered now. You cannot use a flashback to say that you took out this exact bluecoat the day before so he wouldn't chase you into this alley now, but you can say you brought a gun with you (even if there was no mention of it up until now), or that you went into this alley earlier this week, and you know there's a hidden door here that can lead you elsewhere.


Of course the GM can impose costs on the more out-there flashbacks (in the form of Darkest Dungeon-style stress, leading to Darkest Dungeon-style traumas) so sometimes you might just end up taking these things on the chin, but still, there's ways to weasel your way out of even very dire situations with some creative thinking and GM allowance.

8
General Discussion / Re: Dungeons & Dragons / PNP games thread: The Barren Snowflake Wastes
« on: September 27, 2018, 07:57:23 am »
Yeah, you play as a crew of scoundrels in a city which is a mishmash of 1870s London, Venice and Prague (so there's trains, rudimentary electricity, guns, the sorts), with some fantasy magic and magitech (powered by demon whale blood, of all things!) and ghostly shenanigans thrown in for good measure.
There's heisting, there's assassinations, there's smuggling, there's turf wars, there's faction relationships, and mechanics which help cut down on the boring parts - like planning no longer needs to take an hour by itself! And it's all presented very nicely as well, with a well-formatted rulebook and a bunch of useful printables like character sheets (which state what all the abilities and stuff do) and rules references.


On top of that, the roll20 character sheet for this is the slickest looking one I've ever seen on that website, holy hell.


Speaking of roll20, there's been some, err, drama surrounding it lately, but I honestly don't know what to think of it.
I definitely don't really want to abandon the platform since there's nothing that ticks the same boxes out there currently, and I'm not a paying user anyway; same goes for all my friends. Like Fantasy Grounds might have a better feature set overall, but the business model is a pretty big turnoff for us, and not all of us would be able to run that thing either (I mean it's pretty hard to beat something that is both free to use meaningfully* and runs in a browser).


* - sure you can technically play FG for free, but only as a player (no GMing), and only with those who have the money to shell out for the ultimate version.

9
General Discussion / Re: Dungeons & Dragons / PNP games thread: The Barren Snowflake Wastes
« on: September 26, 2018, 06:42:30 pm »
Recently while prepping for my space pirates Open Legend campaign, I discovered Blades in the Dark, and oh man oh man, I am so deep into it - already gathering some players, reading through the rulebook, watching a campaign (featuring the designer himself as the GM no less!). The premise and the setting and everything about it is just so well put together, and it pulled me in wholecloth.


We don't have much established yet (still need to do a proper session 0 which will most likely happen tomorrow) but I'm already very excited to play it, despite not really having much interest in these sorts of systems before (it's a PbtA derivative, so not quite like Dungeon or Apocalypse World, but closer to those than to FATE or DnD or what have you, and definitely different from what me and my group is used to) - hell, it's the first time I'm truly enamored with a tabletop game's default setting and want to use it instead of rolling one purely of my own design.


And the fact it has a free SRD, quite a few resources for sheets and handouts, and is very hackable? I might have just found my new favorite system, and it all stemmed from me offhandedly deciding to ask someone on a tabletop discord what all the Blades in the Dark rage is about.

10
General Discussion / Re: Dungeons & Dragons / PNP games thread: The Barren Snowflake Wastes
« on: August 09, 2018, 09:54:24 pm »
Re: PF2.
My current character concept (which I may or may not use in this upcoming campaign depending on whether or not I get to be a player or GM, the jury's still out on that) is a gnome alchemist...but the way I'm putting her together now REALLY calls for a rogue multiclass later down the line.
(It's the Criminal background, probably.)

11
General Discussion / Re: Dungeons & Dragons / PNP games thread: The Barren Snowflake Wastes
« on: August 02, 2018, 08:08:53 am »
Pathinder 2e Playtest is here!
Although I imagine the website will slow down to a crawl today, but at last, it's starting!

12
Other Games / Re: Warframe - F2P Sci-fi L4D-like
« on: July 27, 2018, 08:04:11 pm »
So far it went:
- Defense was absolutely hellish and took me like four attempts (in public, but still).
- Interception was a total cakewalk, but frankly after being so frustrated with the Defense one I appreciated the relief.
- Survival was...a bit chaotic towards the end, but manageable.


I still need to do the bonus Defense one because I gotta snag that Rift Sigil, but I'm not looking forward to that...

13
General Discussion / Re: Dungeons & Dragons / PNP games thread: The Barren Snowflake Wastes
« on: July 27, 2018, 05:28:21 pm »
Quote from: Jimmy on July 25, 2018, 06:43:31 am
Nearly time for the release of Pathfinder 2.0 and it's looking... different. Certainly gonna give it a shot, but I dunno if it's gonna click for me. Anyone else doing the Playtest?


Yep, very eager to try it out. PF1 I find very intimidating and full of trap choices and other things that kind of dispel the magic of it having so much choice and variety and complexity, so I'm very hopeful for PF2.
(I'm very surprised that people reacted to today's blog on multiclassing as well as they did, since I remember it being a very big point of contention when a person on Reddit who got their playtest books early leaked some info on that - there's still people upset over the changes of course, but not as many as I expected.)

14
Other Games / Re: Warframe - F2P Sci-fi L4D-like
« on: July 27, 2018, 04:23:02 pm »
We have a Tactical Alert on our hands (apparently the first one in 1.5 years? Surely the first time I see one)!


Proxy Rebellion - three (and a bonus fourth) lengthy missions where you only fight Corpus proxies and get sweet rewards for each one, including the super-sweet-and-super-elusive Rift Sigil for the final, bonus mission. But also Endo, an Exilus Adapter, Orokin Cataclyst+Reactor, and a whole bunch of credits to boot.

(Some of) My friends have already done it and I'm now kind of struggling because it's deceptively tough (and a slog, really - 20 waves of defense followed by 3 rounds of interception followed by 20 minutes of surival followed by 20 rounds of defense).


It lasts for 3 days.

15
General Discussion / Re: Dungeons & Dragons / PNP games thread: The Barren Snowflake Wastes
« on: July 24, 2018, 07:27:54 am »
So in semi-breaking D&D 5e news, WotC just announced two new sourcebooks yesterday:


1) Guildmasters' Guide to Ravnica, which is gonna land in November, featuring the fan-favorite Ravnica setting from Magic: The Gathering (you know, the bigger WotC property).


2) Wayfinder's Guide to Eberron, which features the semi-classic pulpy magitech setting from the 3.5e days. It's out now as digital-only, and is described as a prototype/playest material - so more things and changes (including the addition of the artificer class, as the first full official non-PHB class in 5e) are on the way.
There is also the Races of Eberron UA, which is already part of the Eberron book, but doesn't have a $20 pricetag attached. Some cool stuff in there.




While I predominantly play homebrew D&D settings (indeed I have yet to actually play a game that takes place in a published setting...), I'm SUPER glad that WotC is FINALLY starting to experiment and branch out to other settings which are not Forgotten Realms (and even then, it's only been the Sword Coast and Chult, and not even all of the FR world) - so I hope that both books do well (Eberron more so), even though I imagine a lot of people are not super happy with that sort of cross-promotion between D&D and MtG and would rather have seen something like Dark Sun or Spelljammer in the place of the Ravnica guide - but there's a good chance those are on the way too.
(I know there was the series of the free Planeshift supplements...earlier this year? But the GGtR seems to be a step-up from that in terms of production value, or so I hope.)

Pages: [1] 2 3 ... 217