Wizard Statue

Pan's page

RPG Superstar 6 Season Star Voter, 7 Season Dedicated Voter, 9 Season Star Voter. Organized Play Member. 5,687 posts (7,678 including aliases). No reviews. No lists. No wishlists. 2 Organized Play characters. 14 aliases.



1 to 50 of 72 << first < prev | 1 | 2 | next > last >>

Looks like they are really leaning into the video game action for this one. Could be fun.

After initial viewing, I think my fears about Whalberg are correct. Sully appeared to be much older in the game. He had this well travelled and charismatic uncle thing going on that I just dont see from whlaberg (whom I love to see in movies). What I do think would have been good for Whalberg is the role of Drake's older brother. I think thats the route they should have gone for this.

Sovereign Court

4 people marked this as a favorite.

Greetings,

We just paused our AV AP campaign and have been discussing our PF2 experience so far. The party is a Rogue, Champion, Fighter, Wizard/Cleric, and Druid. 2/3 of our encounters have been severe or extreme (not sure if thats how it should be our GM is pretty new to both PF2 and Paizo APs?) The challenge has been interesting until lately at level 4 where we have been running from every fight. Some of that is tactics, but a lot of it is being unable to affect the enemy or get past their defenses.

The wizard has fallen back on spells that do half damage on saves (which the enemy always does because they save on anything but a 1-3). Control has been entirely unsuccessful due to enemies having too high base saves.

The fighters feel its fine, just difficult. I dont disagree with that but casters feel very ineffective. I have been playing the Druid and gave up on control or damage spells and either heal or attack AC which I can reasonably pass unlike targeting saves.

Is this a common experience? Or has our GM misused the guidelines and stepped out of bounds?

Cheers.

Sovereign Court

Greetings,

So I have lots and lots of Bones reaper minis and I had painted 2 of them :) I've moved a few times had a lot of different things go in my life that delayed painting minis. Though, im finding myself with time do paint again.

That said, what is a good solid starter set? For the painters here, if you had to start over and collect the paints you want/need what would you do?

Cheers.

Sovereign Court

Anybody seen any of the movies in this franchise? Doing better than Marvel over there. Doing better than Marvel anywhere...


Greetings,

There has been some topic drift happening in regards to gaming systems going on. I dont always start threads, but when I do, I choose interesting topics. To really understand what RPG systems have to offer, you need to understand gamer play styles and gamer mindsets. This helps when moments of cognitive dissonance occur like the E.T. Atari game (WTH was that?). In advance, I'd like to point out this thread is a discussion about systems and not a definitive position on them as the title implies. Please participate appropriately.

It all started with my copy of Nintendo Power's Final Fantasy bestiary. This opened a whole new world to me. Do folks really play games this complex on paper??? I saw commercials for HeroQuest board game and demanded my parents obtain a copy for my brother and I. This would occupy us for months and I couldn't help but wonder; what was next?

My brother and I got a 2E D&D box set, but had no idea how the hell to run a game. My old man was no help, he was already annoyed we didn't spend every waking moment hitting baseballs and shooting pucks. So, our attempts to play the game correctly were short-lived. Though, we always imaged incredible journeys by fantastic heroes in our minds as we feebly tried to play.

Later, in my adult years, I was determined to finally get into a real pen and paper RPG group. Like many, my first and formative RPG experience was D&D. After several years of a regular group of 3E, I was starting to feel like I finally got the fantasy RPG experience that I always read and heard about. Then, the E war broke out and I was introduced to the much disputed gamer community on what exactly D&D was supposed to be. The E war was nasty and tore gaming groups asunder, however, it was during this time that I really begun to understand RPG systems and their impact on the gaming experience.

2008 might seem pretty late in the game to have this awakening, but each gamers journey goes at their own pace. I started catching up on the history lessons of old gamers like Gygax and freelancers dropping nuggets of wisdom in Dragon mags and little known internet forums. Seems the divide begun long ago, and perhaps was evident at the very beginning. Experts tried to understand the differences in games with things like the GNS theory and the Blacow model to determine system design purpose. There was always criticism that nothing really delivered specifics, just generalizations.

Exhausted with the fantasy genre, (D&D/PF in particular) I felt it was time to explore strange new worlds and civilizations and boldly roll in a system I never rolled in before. I'd spend the next several years exploring the horror genre with Call of Cthulhu, sci-fi sim with Traveller, western adventure with Aces and Eights, generic you call it with Savage Worlds, etc.

I discovered a number of things. First, a lot of players take their unique D&D experience and apply it to any and every game they play. Some folks grow out of this with experience and coaching, some just have a well developed wheel house from their first RPG experience. If a system doesn't match, it often sucks in their opinion. The role of a GM is of utmost importance here. The GM needs to set the stage properly. The GM should be able to teach the system and facilitate the feel. The GM also needs to be intuitive of player understanding versus lack of player interest. Some gamers are along for the ride, not the experience.

Another thing I learned, some systems are designed to simulate a feeling, not a world. Dread uses a Jenga tower to add stress to the players as the game progresses. Call of Cthulhu has insanity mechanics to give the feeling of a character losing their mind and grip on reality. Other systems, are generic mechanical resolution systems that were designed to be dropped in any setting. While player understanding of a generic system is a strength, lack of a unique feel can be a weakness in terms of interest.

Ok, that was a lot more than I anticipated coming out of me on a Monday lunch hour. I'mma leave it here for now, I have plenty more to say on the topic. I turn it over to y'all for now to further the discuss. You can find additional food for thought here and there. Cant wait to hear about your journeys!

-Cheers

Sovereign Court

Anybody catching this? Spoilers ahead!

My favorite part of the first 3 episodes was the Billy Butcher Stillwell bomb reenactment. "shut up ya dumbbat; or I'll b+#&%!+s ya" Nothing he would ever say and sanitized for TV. Sometimes the smallest jokes of this show give me the biggest laughs. Like Black Noir, and Sea-land :)

It was fun to see The Deep in action, though im kind of tiring of his depression story. Maybe its just gotten too much with Huey also in the dumps. Though, im hoping recent developments mean thats over.

I never read the comics, but i've heard alot about Stormfront. In the comics, I guess Stormfront is an anti-captain America. Basically an S.S. soldier that was one of the first to get compund V used on them. In fact, I also read that Homelander is cloned from Stormfront's DNA in the comic. Apparently Stormfront returns and gives Homelander all kids of run for his money, so thats a major departure from the series Stormfront. The series Stormfront feels like a gen-x feminist though certainly enjoys killing it seems. Be interesting to see where this goes.

What do y'all think so far?


1 person marked this as a favorite.

Covers usually dont bother me, and sometimes they are great, though, once in awhile a cover just bugs ya, amirite?

No, no, no...

Sovereign Court

They got the guys from horrible bosses and game night working on it...

Sovereign Court

HBO's Stephen King novel adaption starts out intriguing, gets curiously mysterious, and finishes in a satisfactory yet unremarkable way. Though, I really enjoyed this series it was well executed and written. If you like King brand of mystery/suspense/horror this is one of the best adaptions.

Sovereign Court

1 person marked this as a favorite.

I just finished my courses and have a bout 4-5 weeks before they start up again. So I had the perfect time available to get MW5 going.

The Good; Action packed first person sim dogfighting tanks and mechs just the way MW intended. Great graphics on tanks, mechs, etc. The landscapes are absolutely beautiful. Inner Sphere map is enormous with lots to explore. Decent merc company management tools. They got the main voice actor from Deus Ex do some work on the game. I can listen to that gravel throated dude for hours.

The bad; Steep learning curve for using the mech lab, interstellar travel, and contract negotiation. Some graphics are really bad like interstellar travel and buildings. Voice acting is generally bad. Intel officer sounds like computer generated voice from ok computer radio head album. Chief mechanic sounds like the Geico Gecko from TV...

The Ugly; The UI both in and out of combat adds a certain "nintendo hard" aspect to the game. Hard to track objectives and enemies. Nearly impossible to order around A.I. lancemates. Keeping track of target distance, ammo reserves, and torso twist is very difficult. Enemy spawning never ceases and often happens immediately behind you. (UI doesnt work like a radar should but is a vision cone???) First person avatar to walk around (incredibly slowly) the ship (which is HUGE) doesn't add much to the game and is a time sink. Story campaign is uninspiring and feels completely phoned in.

I'd say for mechheads this game is an 8/10 (despite its hopefully soon corrected issues). 6/10 for everyone else.

Sovereign Court

Sad news. A terrific actor, will be missed.

Sovereign Court

Greetings,

I recently discovered playdiplomacy.com.

I love this game but many of my gamin buddies wont commit or wont play out of fear of getting stabbed :)

Anybody doing diplo online?

Sovereign Court

I just spent the last few hours navigating Bandersnatch. Wow that was a great experience fitting of Black Mirror.

Anyone else see this yet?

Sovereign Court

So I made a handful of characters since im on vacation this week. Good lordy do I hate thinking about having the browse that spells chapter again.

My recommendations please:
1. Separate spells and powers.
2. Skip the alphabetization and just list them by level. It would be so much easier for leveling.

Sovereign Court

So they are opening one of these bad boys in the Twin Cities soon. Cant wait!

Sovereign Court

Promo footage here.

Sovereign Court

2 people marked this as a favorite.

After the sad news this weekend, I binged a bunch of No Reservation episodes. I forgot how great that series was. Bourdain didn't just go to exotic places, and eat weird things, he really let cultures tell their own stories. Living vicariously through his adventurers was a real treat. He will be missed.


After seeing mods only listed in the monster stat blocks, I want it for PCs too. Every "but" I can think of for making stats go away has been answered in the new design blogs. Well, every "but" but rolling for stats that is.

What if rolling now used the D12? Stay with me here gang.
D12 stat results:
1-2 = -1
3-4 = 0
5-6 = 1
7-8 = 2
9-10 = 3
11-12= 4

For rolling fans, is this too much of a change? Im sensitive to tradition since I like a few sacred cows myself, so I am curious if rollers can dig this method?

Or an alternative 2D6.

Sovereign Court

I have seen the first 3 episodes of Counterpart on Starz. I really like the show so far its something different. I have been wanting something to scratch that cold war era spy genre and this is doing it. Simmons is good as usual, but not making the show on his own. The writing and execution is what is making it a hit for me. I don't expect that to be universal though its more tinker tailor than bond or bourne.

Anybody else checking this out?

Sovereign Court

3 people marked this as a favorite.

Cancer I hate you so much. First Sharon, now Charles......

For a frame of reference for folks who dont know Charles Bradley was featured in Luke Cage. After Copperhead was killed, Sharon Jones also was featured in the first season. Its pretty damn cool they both made it before the big C took them from us.

Usually news like this calls for a night of pubbing with the gents but I think tonight calls for an evening in with just me and the ol lady. Drop the needle on some black velvet and take it all in.


Greetings,

I do not want to derail any other threads further with discussion about streaming services. However, in this new age of a 'la carte television I thought it might be nice to have a place to discuss viewing habits and choices.

I'll start but mentioning my habits. I still have cable TV, though only for the football season and premium content. I reduce my service to basically network TV and HBO/Showtime/Starz during the rest of the year. My high speed net is bundled into the deal. We also have a Netflix subscription.

A recent topic that came up was how the sites have become so numerous. Along with rising costs of belonging to so many subs, some folks also feel the quality and quantity of programing is suffering. It's easy to understand with all premium channels having a streaming service, along with Amazon, and now CBS striking out on their own, folks have a lot of choices and subs to choose from. How do you feel about the current streaming environment?


Greetings.

So folks I am getting hitched in a little over a year. Been working on the planning phase for the big day. We already have the venue, caterer, and photographer lined up. We are now working on the little, but just as important details. One I'm particularly interested in is the music for ceremony, cocktail/dinner hour, and dancing.

I'd love to hear from folks what they chose and why. What would you do again and what would you do differently? Did you have a DJ who blew the roof off the house or did they leave the floor empty? Any live music? Did you allow crowd participation, or have a strictly chosen playlist?

I ask because I'm waffling between a DJ or a playlist. I experienced both in the last couple of weeks. One wedding allowed folks to pick songs off spotify and turned into a miley cyrus and fallout boy festival (I very much did not enjoy!). The second had a fairly decent DJ who was playing a lot of standards mixed with todays latest hits. I didn't know many of them myself, but the kids loved it. Until the last song of the night which was oddly enough Eddie Money.

Eddie's 80's classic cleared the dance floor and had the party screaming "one more song" which they didn't get. Which brings up the argument that a DJ can read the floor and get people dancing. I know its not foolproof but id like to avoid such a situation.

I'll comment more on specific topics but lets start with DJ vs. playlist and go from there.

-Cheers

Sovereign Court

Greetings,

I am curious about solar panels for my home in Minneapolis. I read several sites that say "invest this and save this after x years" which sounds great but I dont quite understand all the ins and outs. Wondering if any folks have gone solar on their homes and care to discuss it?

(Im also curious about a Tesla battery to reprieve power outages in case anyone has gone that step further.)

Sovereign Court

From rat pack to Mr potato head, Don is gone.

Sovereign Court

New Board Game from MPLS designer. Check it out!

Sovereign Court

Greetings,

I was out at Target the other night and my fiancé expressed some interest in the Kings Quest collection for PS4. I loved these games on PC as a kid. Anybody have any experience to give me a review of this reformat re-release?

Sovereign Court

I am really glad I got to see her a few years ago. She had just beat cancer and was more energetic than Tina Turner on stage it was amazing. I loved getting to see her on Luke Cage performing at Harlem's paradise.

FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF 2016!!!


1 person marked this as a favorite.

Greetings folks,

So the time has come for Pan to ask for his lady's hand in marriage. I have no idea what im doing when it comes to getting a ring though. Was wondering if the wise folks here could give me some pointers?

Specifically id like to know about these topics;

My mother gave me a stone that belonged to my great grandmother some time ago. Is it better to buy a ring made anyways, or go custom and use my stone? Or buy a set up and have my stone dropped in it? (I dont at this time know what the 4Cs of my stone come out to.)

How do you go about finding your SOs ring size without just asking?

Thats it for now but would love to hear from y'all about anything you think is relevant to topic.

Thanks,
Pan

Sovereign Court

Greetings,

So I joined a 5E game at work to get a feel for the new D&D. I really liked what I was reading about BA and (dis)advantage. A quicker combat game with less mechanical baggage sounded sweet. Now I wanted to get into the mix and see how it plays.

Well, I rolled up a half-elf Sorc to fit in with the groups existing half-orc bard, dorf cleric, and human ranger. A few session in we got a human fighter also to join up.

So far most of our game has been combat due to the time we play (over lunch at work). This is fine because its what I really wanted to try out. I will admit I was a little biased about cantrips that scale. However, after playing I really think 5E gives casters a big advantage. So at level 5 the damage dice is now doubled on cantrips. That means a caster gets double dice on a single hit. Martials get two attacks but must hit twice. My experience so far is that martials are falling behind me because they often miss one of the attacks.

Other comparisons are AC and HP. Its true casters have much less HP but its become pretty easy to armor up a caster in this edition. Also, the daily spells can give a boost like blur and mirror image. Martials don't really have anything to compare.

Admittedly the group im playing with isn't the most optimized or rules proficient. Care to chime in about your experiences? Id love to see what we are missing or if casters once again really have the leg up on martials.

Sovereign Court

Just got back from a promo screening. If you love Bourne you'll enjoy this. If you liked bourne, but want a little more out of the next bourne film, this isnt it.

Sovereign Court

Hail to the king baby!

Groovy

Sovereign Court

So I knocked out quite a few birds with a single stone recently. I got games for my brothers and even their GFs. The amazon box arrived yesterday.

FFG Citadels
Innovation card game
Eucher box set
Love letter x2

So anybody else doing any BG shopping for x-mas? Need any suggestions? Lets chat.

Sovereign Court

Heya folks.

I am looking for a good site that has recently submitted cases to the court system that are first amendment issues. Can be news site but has to be within the last month anywhere in the U.S.. I am looking for recent submissions or court cases to review for a class.

Thanks for your help gang.

Sovereign Court

So I didnt happen to notice a thread for this series. I just started watching it and am really liking the dynamic between Alice and Luther. Anybody else check this out?

Sovereign Court

Many folks have mentioned being turned off/away by WOTC products and/or decisions in the past 5-10 years. Many folks mention that they don’t trust WOTC any longer it’s quite evident that WOTC lost much of its social capitol. My question is for folks who say they no longer trust WOTC, is there a way for WOTC to repair their rep with you and what could they do to make that happen? Is it possible?

Sovereign Court

Anybody else catch this one? I think they got a good feel for the genre. The talent is great and the effects look good.

Sovereign Court

Heya.

So in the old timers thread its come to my attention there are some TC folks looking for a game or meetup. Well lets talk it out here.

I live in Nordeast MPLS have a basement gaming area as well as a screen porch for playing. I am close to source and FFG shops. I prefer FFG for gaming and probably meeting up too.

Systems familiar:
PF/D&D
Call of Cthulhu
Traveller
Savage Worlds

Board games:
Too many to list. I like BGs as much as TTRPGs

I am back in school and have a regular game or two currently. Though I do occasionally get a Friday, Saturday, or Sunday off.

Thats me in a nut shell, so please introduce yourselves and lets work on a meetup and/or game session.

cheers,
Pan

Sovereign Court

Greetings.

I will be playing a cavalier of the cockatrice order starting next week. If it helps we will be running the Jade Regent AP. I would like some help coming up with witty and fun taunts/stories to use at the table.

1. I kill more Gobos by 9am than most humans kill all day!

Sovereign Court

not thrilled.

Sovereign Court

Checky out!

Sovereign Court

1 person marked this as a favorite.

So it was a marvelous last session. We played for 8 hours. We used the harrow cards like hero points and each of my 5 PCs had to use them to stay alive through the end. We played every other Saturday for 2.5 years. I was going to keep them going to level 20 but I am back in school and decided to pass the reigns. Next up is Jade Regent and I get to play this time.

Going to drop a few notes on each book in spoilers for y'all.

Haunting of Harrowstone:

Good: Great story and excellent start to the AP. I really enjoyed the PCs having to do their homework to find out whats going on. The children singing the creepy song was a huge hit. I added my own NPC to the mix. He was a simpleton named Morty. I had the Splatter Man posses Morty. The party wizard was so freaked out he cast colorspray defensively. Lets just say the townspeople had trouble believing the wizard's story. Until the town-hall fire that is. The players really enjoyed bringing the alchemist and sheriff together. That red herring had the players all worked up! Haunts are fantastic my players love em and so do I.

Bad: Trust mechanic was no good. Thousand and one ways to lose trust but hardly anyways to gain it. I pretty much waved the system away. Splatter man was an absolute TPK machine unless you had him take a dive. This was a bummer for us because my players could tell I was playing SM stupidly. I added Adivion to the funeral so that the AP villain would be present much earlier. At this point the PCs and Kendra consider him an ally.

Trial of the Beast:

Good: New city to explore. Lots of RP potential. More investigation for the PCs! Trial was a blast. Adivion introduced the PCs to the judge as a member of the order. He later left with Kendra to take her to Caliphas. PCs help free beast and help free Alpon. Epic fight in schloss caromarc!

Bad: Story is a little far fetched. Why use the beast to simply break in and steal the statue? It works, but could be tighter. PCs make their money by looting Alpon's castle? (Pricing out a sarcophagus really???) I had Alpon pay them a reward and down payment to go after the WW.

Broken moon:

Good: Cool werewolf fights. Decent investigations at Ascanor lodge but not as great as books 1 and 2. Played up the politics between werewolves.Finally meet up with some WW guys.

Bad:
Do not recall too much about this book failing us. Everyone was hoping book 4 would knock our socks off.

wake of the watcher:

Good: We are Call of cthulhu players so we eat this stuff up. A fun module with plenty o' weird stuff going on. Some cool fights and unusual baddies like mi-go.

Bad: WOTW is an excellent module. However, its a pretty poor fit for CC. The story goes off track and the PCs struggled to put it together. We enjoyed it enough but this whole thing felt out of place by conclusion.

ashes at dawn:

good: See bad.

Bad: I re-wrote this book because it didnt work for me. I kept the NPCs because many of them work. I changed it up and had the WW hire the witch sisters to turn the vamps against the order of the palatine eye. It was wonderful felt like playing Yo Jimbo the RPG for awhile. I was able to do damage control on the plot and get the PCs back into the game.

shadow of gallowspire:

Good: sweet haunts and battles. Great dungeon crawl. Epic final battle. I had the PCs fight AA as a human magus. By killing him they turned him into a lich. They had to fight him again and it was awesome.

Bad: Not much role play opportunity in this module. High level play starts to eat all our session time.

Overall it was a pleasant experience. I am thankful to have finally completed an adventure path. I look forward to moving on to Jade Regent.

Sovereign Court

Greetings.

So Thief was supposed to be delayed then wasnt. Since the game is now on time, Target was unable to get an ad out about their exclusive steelbook version of the game. Just letting anyone who is interested know here.

Sovereign Court

Booked my tickets and cant wait. Twin city boy here so super excited they added the 'mats today! Anybody else going to the show? I'd link but using a phone and it sucks. Maybe later.

Sovereign Court

Talented actor will be missed.

News is still coming in but sounds like drug overdose.

Sovereign Court

Heya.

I will be starting the Jade Regent AP soon and I want to make a Cavalier that is good on the horse and off. I know this will stretch my feats and abilities a bit but its what I want to do. Was wondering if folks could chime in on their thoughts on how to proceed.

Things I am soilid on:
Human
Cavalier order of the cockatrice
(I really want to use the emissary archetype but am negotiable)

I could really use some feat advice. What feats would you find essential for both a mounted and melee character. Keep in mind im trying to balance between the two.

Possibilities:
ride by attack
power attack
intimidating prowess (for braggart ability)
spirited charge
furious focus

Thanks gang Ill check in a bit later. I ams o excited I havent been able to play in forever. Just wrapping up GMing carrion Crown for the last two years. :)

Sovereign Court

Not looking for spoilers. I may be playing in this AP in a few weeks when my CC game wraps up. If I plan on a cavalier will I get use of the mount?

Sovereign Court

So as a kid I used to love to go to baseball games. I loved having a nice snack while watching the game too. I remember getting a nice big soft pretzel and cheese sauce to dip. It was pretty tasty. Since I have grown and the popularity of the soft pretzel seems to have continued on. You can get them at convience stores, the mall, and even corporate cafeterias.

Prolem is that every soft pretzel I have had since becoming an adult has been an absolute disapointment. They seem to have gotten smaller and more dough-y. The pretzels have just become terrible. The only way to eat them is to drown them in an equally terrible cheese cup.

So I have to ask if soft pretzels have ever been good? Or was it just being a kid at the ball game? Maybe the experience was an added ingredient that made the pretzel great. I am just not sure. What do you folks think? Have the soft pretzels always sucked or has the quality of them tanked?

Sovereign Court

Heya folks was looking at the Doctor source books for adventures in time and space RPG. Anyone pick one of these up or got a few words to say on them?

1 to 50 of 72 << first < prev | 1 | 2 | next > last >>