As others with similar avatars have said... I'm old, grumpy and tired...
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I'd suggest either the Mongoose Publishing edition of Traveller or Stars Without Number from Sin Nomine. Traveller is the classic sci fi rpg originally created by Game Designers Workshop that has gone through multiple editions / publishers. Stars Without Number is an OSR sci fi rpg with plenty of support. Both can be found on Drivethrough RPG (and on Paizo's store) as well as in dead tree form. More crunch in Trvaeller less in SWN but both fall, imho, into the range you mentioned. SWN has great support for sandbox style play.
Thanks. If I had time I might have done the beta, which is funny because it's supposed to save time. Well, we will see how it turns out.
They lost me with a subscription system and no (at present - I know they say they will have one in the future) off line system. The cost isn't bad but I have no desire to be constantly connected and, perhaps, lose my content if they fold. A stand alone program I would pay for, no problem. Content I would pay for, again no problem. But I want it available off line and not going "poof" if the company folds (or folds the servers). If they get the off line mode up and I can be certain the content I pay for won't vanish then I might sign on. If you're further into this and can answer my concerns I'd appreciate it.
That's pretty much exactly what Traveller (with the DGP task system added to it) and Megatraveller did. It systemized a rather chaotic method of determining success and failure at a given task. I always rather liked it myself.
It's been an age... I remember knowledge areas and ten sided / percentile dice but not much about the system itself (and there was an edition before SI). And I may be combining / mixing up the editions too. There is a Kickstarter on for a new Top Secret game called "Top Secret: New World Order" by the author of the original TSR game. Still e few days on the KS I believe and the PDF level for the core book was about $10 iirc. You say "Task System" to me and I think of the (later) Traveller and Megatraveller games...
I watched it as a kid. The (vinyl) LP soundtrack was the first album I bought. Farewell to the Batman and the Mayor of Quahog. RIP.
Last bit of playtesting material for "Xanathar's Guide to Everything" or will there be another round in July? The crunch book is due in November and given polling results, editing / layout, and printing I'm thinking this is it... Which makes the topic(s) of July's UA even more interesting.
The final iteration of all the Unearthed Arcana material they've been pumping out for playtest. It will be interesting to see what made it / didn't and what changes were made. Material that wasn't showcased in UA (as in how much, if, and what it's about) should be interesting as well. Kind of exciting...
Wow, just wow. That's what I thought. In one thread over a fairly short period...
Too much diversity and you divide your player base, reduce your sales of each item you publish and get bought out by a company that makes a card game. D@mn! Too late, already done. Anyhow, diversity can happen within one large campaign world with side trips to other planes. Paizo has Golarion and WotC has the Forgotten Realms. Most people, including me, have their own campaign settings. Material can be pillaged for ideas or dropped into a campaign with some work. Less with 5E than many systems. Especially with early modules / adventurers. They are often not that setting specific.
Most of them were originally set in Greyhawk. The older ones were pretty vague on setting and it wasn't too difficult to drop them into homebrew settings. I ran in several of them but never used them in my own campaign; I preferred to do my own. And still do :) The unifying theme is tales told at a tavern / inn in the Realms. In Waterdeep as I recall although it's been a long time since I read about the Realms...
The "hob" I first ran across was related to hobilar, a mounted medieval infantryman (sometimes referred to as a light cavalryman although they fought dismounted). A hobby btw is an active medium sized horse in medieval English. To "hobble" someone, or animal, is to prevent free movement. Hobilars either hobbled their horses to fight on foot or every 4th man held the horses. I've seen the hearth reference, either Welsh or Old English, too of course, as well as "hob" or "hobin" being a short for Robert. Later "Rob" or "Robin" which makes more sense to modern ears... Personally I find the connection of Hobgoblin (a trouble making Goblin also something to be dreaded) to Goblins and the term Bugbear (again something dreaded as well as a fey / goblin) interesting. A Goblin being the basic humanoid monster, the Hobgoblin being more dangerous and the Bugbear being the most dreaded version (which related the usage of hobgoblin and bugbear as something feared). For me, in my adolescent mind (in the mid seventies), I connected hobgoblin to hobilar and it made sense for the hobgoblin to be a soldier-goblin. And that's what they have been in my game ever since. Larger, more militarized, and disciplined Goblins. Which is largely the D&D / PF take on them as well. Given the multiple, and twisted, variations of "hob" just settling on something that makes sense in your own game, that has meaning in your own game world, is all you can really do. Well, and discuss the possibilities on message boards :)
He was a stone mason actually, if you're thinking of the "J" man (not the Joker...). The carpenter bit goes back to a bad translation, as do all those parables about shaping men like wood. Given the area has a real lack of timber and a lot of stone it makes sense as well. Is it evil to say I snorted at the 4th part of your spoilered bit? Probably :) I'm familiar with the arguments (though not to the extent of researching it as you did), but I think stone mason / stone carver makes more sense given the severe lack of wood in the region, and the expense of importing it. Even in Lebanon, the Phoenicians had about eliminated cedar (and other woods) for shipbuilding.
"Hob" in Welsh is hearth iirc. Putting hobgoblins in their with Brownies. And Puck was described as a hobgoblin. It's been awhile since I putzed around with the etymology of monster names though...
He was a stone mason actually, if you're thinking of the "J" man (not the Joker...). The carpenter bit goes back to a bad translation, as do all those parables about shaping men like wood. Given the area has a real lack of timber and a lot of stone it makes sense as well. And you're right about smiths. Smelting metal and working it is often seen as a divine gift or magic by early civilizations. Hence the divine blacksmiths in pantheons.
The problem with mind flayers and beholders is the same as with using great Cthulhu in your campaign. They're way too iconic and well-known to be as strange and scary as they are supposed to be. Even the most mundane monster can be strange and scary if played properly. Well, the evil ones anyway. The good can be wondrous, but not so scary...
Exactly, movement used to be defined in inches. We used miniatures and rulers from the beginning just like we did for miniature games. We used a grid for dungeon and indoor settings from the beginning because it made it easier. When non-miniature gamers began to get into RPGs is when theater of the mind became a thing. The idea that 3.x is the first set of rules emphasizing miniatures is what I find odd. I guess it just depends on when you started and who you played with.
We always used miniatures, but we started with the old Chainmail miniature rules and wondered into the original D&D game. The only version of D&D I haven't played / DMd is 4E. I read 4th (the original core 3 books) decided it wasn't for me and gave my books to someone who liked it. Honestly I don't remember much about the read through though. Miniatures always helped with visualization and eliminated confusion about what / who is where for us. So, yeah, I'd say TOZ has it. It's the players who dictate miniatures. I've known groups who've never used minis as well (although I've never hung with a 4E crowd, so I've no clue there). To each, their own on minis, maps, etc..
In the event of traffic jams it might just be perfect... ahem. Just thinking of my last trip down to LA :)
Couldn't they come out with "The Dungeons & Dragons Campaign Sampler" and include a bunch of campaign settings in it? Kind of how the DMG has details on a variety of planes (Arcadia, Mechanus, Acheron, etc.) and fantasy styles (Sword & Sorcery, Gothic Horror, Epic Adventures, etc.).I think it could work well, but the only way it makes sense is in a PHB2 type book that has a major player rules expansion. It would make sense if it was spun as a "multiverse" bit. Showing the connections between the core Forgotten Realms material plane setting and a number of other material plane settings. How they are connected, how they could be used in a campaign and, of course, information on the settings. More popular ones could get expanded treatment in other books (adventures etc.). Kind of a handbook of the planes for the material planes. And a regular handbook of the planes would be nice as well...
Original D&D. 15 years old. Fun times. Damn, I'm getting old... well, beats the alternative.
We used to play Napoleonic and medieval miniatures in the early 70s. Added D&D in 74. "Grognard" has never been a negative term around here. Well, except when I have by British or Austro-Humgarian troops on the table...
I know the feeling. I'm missing a couple of Dragons and a couple of it's forerunner the Strategic Review. It's a bit of a pain to plow back through them looking for stuff despite several indexes, but fun just to see it. And the non D&D articles on Traveller and other games. They turned out a CD Rom compilation of Strategic Review and Dragon (The Dragon Magazine Archive) up through issue #250. It helps; you can print out miscellaneous articles if you want hard copy. It has a front end that allows you to navigate the files year by year (if you have the correct disc inserted) go to a specific issue, but all the magazines are on the discs in PDF format numbered. I generally just drag it out and drop a copy on my desktop. I really need to archive them in case the discs go south on me. A modern PDF viewer allows a much improved viewing format over the old program. It was turned out late TSR / early WotC. Alternity was new and AD&D (2E) still ruled. Good days.
1974. Summer. July. One of my friends picked up a copy of D&D. Described it as "like the Chainmail fantasy appendix" (which we were already playing in miniatures). Great I thought. Played it, and it was better than that. YOU were in the game. Hooked immediately. By August me and my brother had our own copy. *sigh* So much time to play with... I'm surprised I graduated from high school :)
Forgot, but you can get the Stars Without Number: Free Edition pdf on Drivethru RPG. For free, obviously. They have the free Mandate Archives PDFs as well, there are several of those. Another Sci Fi RPG, but not so simple, would be Mongoose version of Traveller. If you like older versions of Traveller, those are available as CDs, typically one per version (Classic, MegaTraveller, TNE, T4, T20 and the new Traveller 5) from Far Future Enterprises. Traveller, as much as I love it, is not simple. Especially T5. SWN has stayed fairly straight forward. Anyway, although SWN and Traveller have background settings they can be played without setting specific material. Other setting agnostic systems that I know / have are largely out of print.
Stars Without Number. It's OGL, class based (standard 3 classes) and sandbox. Think of an OGL Traveller. Starships, etc. There are a number of supplements, free material and another related game called Otherdust (think a gritty nanite based Gammaworld). It's very well done.
I came here to say that and post this. Excellent! I, literally, just finished the last episode, logged on to check the boards before bed, and bingo, news that there's more to come. Life can surprise pleasantly on occasion.
Is it me, or is the overall quality of the trailer falling short of a lot of fan CGI I've seen lately?Wait ... what trailer??? You mean the UFO sighted during STS120 by the Discovery? That was on 10/31/ ?year 2007 0r 8. This is the only thing that comes to mind right away...
Too bad, that would have been symmetry. Any way, there's a new Star Trek RPG announced by Modiphius using their 2d20 system. Called Star trek Adventures, it covers everything but the new movies with a summer 2017 release. Should be interesting. I'll probably wait a week before seeing Beyond; it's opening weekend tomorrow and it'll probably be crowded. Well, no probably, it will be crowded...
Looked like it.
For those of you who like well written military history on obscure topics, I'd suggest "Medieval Maritime Warfare" by Charles D. Stanton. It covers pretty much all aspects of the topic including the ships, navigation, logistics, crews, strategy and tactics. To quote the back sheet "Covers the sea wars fought by the Byzantines, the Muslims, the Normans, the Crusaders, the Italian City States, the Vikings, the English, the French, the Hanseatic League". This is not a topic that has received a lot of scholarly attention and it's well written. Three of my degrees are in history, and sad to say, a lot of historians can't write. Really, really, can't. Not just kind of can't... Anyway, the author is a retired U.S. naval officer who went off to Cambridge after serving to study history. His specialty, and prior book, is on the Normans in the Mediterranean. it's good too, but more specialized. This one is broader, a virtue in an underserved specialty. Aside from being interesting in and of itself, my mind was ticking over the aspects of how it would adapt, and change, in an RPG. Always a bonus :)
Yes. Basically they are supposed to allow the equivalent to face to face gaming at a distance. With mixed success I gather. Still, it you don't have a local group, want to play or GM for a change, or want to play a different game, it seems to be a good method.
If you can't find a PBP game, it sounds like a VTT is your best bet then. I've considered several, but haven't settled on one yet. I GM face to face. I don't have the time to both GM and play. A VTT might solve that problem for me, but like any game, finding the right table and players is always a problem... good luck! *edit* That's a bit odd. There was nothing below Nohwear's post, I took a minute to type and when I posted, bingo, a post from SmiloDan shows up ahead of mine. Oh well... back to work on my game. Prep work makes for a happy DM.
I think a lot of people didn't notice the high barrier to entry for Pathfinder because they were already playing 3.5 and it was an easy transition. Unless you were new of course. It's easier to see looking back from 5E because of it's relative simplicity. If you want a simple fast D&Desque science fiction RPG try Stars Without Number. It's an OGL (and OSR) game with great sandbox support and scratches that Traveller itch rather well. There are a number of supplements for it and a related (and compatible) Gamma World type game / setting called Otherdust. Mutation by nanites for that old school mutant feeling. They are both excellent and there are a number of free products (PDF) by the author that can add to your game. Really good stuff imho.
Not at low level. In OD&D (and AD&D) Fighters got better faster as they levelled up. Everybody started out about the same (needing a 10 to hit an unarmored enemy). Fighters went up in hit probability in 3 level jumps, other classes in 4 (Clerics, Thieves) or 5 (Magic Users) level groups.
Multiple attacks was in the original Chainmail combat system that OD&D used. Not in the "optional" (new d20 based system from Book I of OD&D). Fighters did get multiple attacks against opponents of less than 1 hit dice in OD&D. That is Goblins (1-1), Kobolds (1/2) and Skeletons (1/2). You could add Giant Rats to that after Greyhawk. Other than that it was 1 attack in OD&D. AD&D gave multiple attacks slowly... iirc a 7th level fighter got 5 attacks in 4 rounds. Then it went 3/2 for level 7-12, then 2/1 for level 13+. Rangers and Paladins went up a bit slower in multiple attacks as I recall. I don't have my old books in front of me at the moment. 2E AD&D was a bit different too I think.
After 3rd level, yes. Fighters weapon proficiency in 5E makes them better with a wide range of weapons from the get go.
Paladium RPG? It's been a looong time since I played it, but I don't remember too many similarities... I just remember giant amounts of damage...
Fighter in 5E have the same starting advantage they always had, more / better weapons and more hit points. Everything else came later. It was "baked in" to the class, but I think fighters in 5E get better as they level up too.
Yes, Thieves skills were specific to them... and they pretty much sucked at them. The only thing they were really good at in OD&D / 1E AD&D at 1st level was climbing walls. 87% for the win. The standard method of escape for them :) Everything else was 10-25% as I recall. You had more of a choice in 2E where you could pick where to put your percentages iirc. I think there is a truth in what you say about this, but it's a trade off between being better overall and having others play in your sandbox and being poor at it but no one else could do it (well, except Assassins and Monks).
I think the assumption is that you'll have higher ability scores in what your class focuses on and raise those abilities as you level up versus raising characteristics that aren't as useful for your class. They've given you choice in 5E, but that includes bad choices (for your class) or, if you prefer, more flexibility in play style for each class. People have been whining about the "lack of choices" in 5E character generation / builds without realizing the choice is there. Imho, of course.
Which, to an extent, is why Pathfinder requires a ton of base classes arch-types to do what 5E does with fewer classes / arch-types.
To each, their own. I've played, and enjoyed, every version of D&D / AD&D (except 4E). They are all different from each other.
No. Not after Greyhawk anyway. A 13 Dex got you a +1 with missile weapons, and a 15 Constitution got you a +1 on hit dice. After Greyhawk Constitution got you up to +4 (only Fighters could get above +2) and Strength gave bonuses up to +4 (again, only Fighters could get above +2 iirc). And yeah, except for Dexterity bonuses required 15+. In the beginning only Dexterity (8 or under) gave a penalty (-1 with missile weapons), after Greyhawk there were penalties for low Strength and Constitution iirc. Mostly, the classes Prime Requisite effected experience gained, with bonuses of up to 10%. There were other odds and ends in there too.
A "martial" with 10 Strength will hit harder than a Wizard. Because he has better weapons :) Just like the original game. 5E is a different game than previous editions. I think it's closer to earlier editions than 4E. And it's a game I'll play and enjoy. Which, mind you, I could do with 2E or OD&D with Greyhawk and the other supplements.
That would be a fun crossover.
Taylor Swift kind of bad. Her and any of her son... er exes.
I thought that was one of Travellers more interesting features. You had to balance stacking up skills / cash / a ship versus dying and starting over. It was it's own little game, especially with Mercenary and all the later supplements year by year career progression... I may have to pick up the Mongoose version. I have all the other older versions, excluding TNE, and T5 is a bit messy. Is Mongoose Traveller still compatible with T5? My favorite version, mechanically and minus the Rebellion which was a bit absurd, Megatraveller.
Cool to hear that Jessica and Crystal are getting recognition / panel time at GenCon. Sad that it's so controversial / extraordinary for some people based on their gender... people can be so... annoying at times.
Several people up-thread have mentioned variations on "How do they know you're really a Paladin?". Probably because the real Paladins are going to cut you into little pieces if you're not... I doubt fake Paladins are going to get off easy. So, for awhile you fake it, word gets around and your head leaves your shoulders. And the next would be fake "paladin" considers a new scam.
I think what DigitalElf is saying is that in the old days you explored the setting, discovered the fantastical. Your character was relatively mundane, the anchor, your point of view and the really cool stuff was what you found / discovered. Now people want to *be* the cool / strange stuff (stranger than a wizard?) rather than finding it. It's like the game has moved from exploring the world to exploring your character. I still prefer exploring the world myself.
This threads back? Third time I believe. Well, time to contribute... not so much obscure as just fun and fondly remembered. Besides my D&D fixation. Empire of the Petal Throne. And later games set in Tekumel right up to the new game, Bethorm. Incredible setting. I miss Professor Barker. If you liked Jeff Dee's art, Bethorm is his game btw... Elric / Stormbringer. Moorcock. Angst. Philosophy. The Lords of Chaos. And I love the armor as damage reduction rule using a dice by armor type rather than hit location. Mekton Zeta. I used it to run a Star Wars campaign. Used the vehicle construction rules to build everything from TIE Fighters to the Death Star. Star Wars fits anime themes very well. Bushido. Feudal Japan. Great stuff. And ninja. I tinkered with a Tekumel / game using Bushido rules / ideas. Never got to run it. *sigh* Space Opera. An rpg that came out of a set of miniature rules (rather like D&D did), Space Marine. The game was a bit of a mess, but it had a campy sci-fi flavor. A nice break from the "realistic" feel of my favorite sci-fi rpg, Traveller. I still love Traveller, and I swear I will finish reading T5 some day. And speaking of Traveller feel... Stars Without Number. Sandbox sci-fi retro rpg goodness. Like Original D&D and Traveller had a child together... Severe nostalgia attack oncoming. I feel the need to unpack some boxes... the wife will kill me, but the urge is strong :)
He was born on Earth. He invented warp drive. On Earth. He moved off Earth. He lived on Alpha Centauri later in his life. Probably after a life time exploring and travelling. Disappeared from Alpha Centauri to be found by Kirk and company later... makes sense to me...
Homebrew forum. No setting mentioned. Discussing generic Paladin Code, honor and poison. It's already been mentioned upthread that a different code might change the use of poison... and various other Paladin Codes have been mentioned. If the code in question didn't have a poison prohibition we wouldn't be having this discussion. Well, not this specific one anyway. At times people in this thread has seemed to want a distinction between lethal and non lethal poisons for the generic code. And of course the "use poison or watch children be murdered" bit has been trotted out to attack the generic poison prohibition... pretty much your standard paladin alignment / code thread :)
Given a world with absolutes of alignment, why would anyone have a problem with codes involving absolutes of behavior? Absolute prohibitions in this case. The people who do probably have problems with the alignment system too. But as Makeitstop points out this prohibition has to do with honor. For me, the no poison rule is about honor. It's not supposed to be easy. Being a Paladin. You're supposed to give, and receive, hard blows. Hard to do when the opponent is paralyzed or asleep. What have you risked then? What have you sacrificed? It's a kind of medieval mind set, but hey, my game has a strong dose of that in it. Further I would argue that lawful good is built around codes of behavior. Hence the lawful. The Paladin's code is just pickier and more exacting than most. I would expect chaotic good characters to decide behavior on the fly, situationally btw. All imo, of course and, as always, ymmv. Now, could you construct a different code for a different take on Paladins? I suppose so, but then there's no need to ask questions about poison use then.
I've used both PC and NPC classes in that role in 3.x. My players have adventured with NPC friends and had henchmen and hirelings of various classes, PC and NPC. A simplified NPC type class is less of a burden to run (for DM or PC) than a PC class I'd agree. I imagine I'll continue to use both depending on the NPCs role and origin. For me the NPC classes are very useful in populating the world, but that population includes the people the PCs move through and around...
... A handful of classes? You have large hands :D Original D&D with just 3 classes and zero level NPCs... that was a handful of classes.
I moved into D&D from miniature wargaming (Chainmail). For us, there was always a degree of "simulation" in the game world. NPC classes (and PC classes for that matter) were a convenient way to organize and rationalize this world.
In short you're custom building your NPCs. That's fine in an AP. I run a sandbox and I sometimes need to produce NPCs on the fly in fairly large numbers or pre prepare a batch of NPCs to fit a role and use them as needed. An NPC class serves that goal by giving you a framework. It works for me, but ymmv. Obviously :) I used the idea of a d8 per level for all classes btw.
Yes, it does, to answer the original question. Keep it simple. Limit them to a 10 level class on the theory that anybody higher level than that should be a PC class. They're useful for world building / populating places. Simpler than PC classes, but more flexible than the NPC types from the MM. Rough out a chart for what level different NPCs should be (plus or minus a bit). For example what level should a master smith be? What level should a typical city watchman be? One of the best features from a DMs point of view, and imho, was the NPC classes. The virtue of the cookie cutter MM NPCs is simplicity, but they have the same issue 0 level NPCs had pre 3.x. You end up using PC classes when you want something that isn't a pushover or a clone. And if you keep building tougher cookie cutter NPCs you might as well have the NPC classes in place. All in my opinion of course. Ymmv. *edit* And yes, I'm working on my own versions based on what I used in 3.x. I started messing with them when I went to convert my own setting to 5E...
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