Bill Kirsch's page

I'm running a mostly urban campaign and I've been impressed by some of the other lists composed on the boards. I'd prefer mostly serious vignettes. The city is Saltmarsh from the DMG2. It's a small walled city with a port and a river running through it. I have set it between Cormyr and Sembia in the Forgotten Realms just south of the Vast Swamp if anybody wants to throw some Faerun goodness into the mix. I'd rather have quality over quantity (i.e. one or two short paragraphs rather than several single sentence entries).

Thanks for your input in advance! I'll start it off:

1) Two large wagons, one pulled by a pair of horses, the other by a sturdy ox, block a narrow street from both directions. The drovers (one human, one half elf) are arguing who has the right of way. Things are becoming rather heated as voices are raised, and a small crowd gathers to watch the impromptu entertainment.

I've seen references to it all over the boards, but I have no idea what it is.

The party was attempting to climb a cliff under duress. This was the first time I DMed Pathfinder, so I was unaware the Use Rope skill was eliminated in the conversion. I like Use Rope for climbing and securing enemies and cargo to mounts and so on, so we defaulted back to 3.5 rules, but it didn't seem completely fair to the players as they had no way to put skill points into it.
So how do you guys handle the stuff that used to be under the Use Rope skill in PF? I found almost nothing about utilizing ropes in the core rule book.
Survival maybe?

With my core group, the unwritten rules are:
1) DM's are providing the entertainment, therefore they don't have to bring any snacks.
2) The person hosting is providing the location, therefore they don't bring snacks, either.

However, with my other group, everybody brings their own snacks with sharing rarely occurring.

What are your groups' "snack rules?"

Last night's Big Bang Theory got me thinking. How many times have D&D and other tabletop RP games been shown on TV? As an avid gamer, I'm always interested in how the hobby is depicted in mass media.
Here's what I personally remember:

1) Mazes and Monsters. A made for TV movie during the height of the early 80's D&D scare starring Tom Hanks of all people. He goes crazy because of the game and in the end is completely removed from reality. About as negative a portrayal as you can get.

2) Freaks and Geeks. In what I believe was the season (and sadly, series) finale, the geeks invite one of the freaks to play 1st edition D&D with them. I loved that episode because I think it captured what early D&D was about. Everybody having a great time about a kitchen table killing monsters and taking their stuff. A very positive portrayal.

3) Futurama. Gary Gygax actually guest-started. While played for comedy, the writers clearly loved D&D. At the end of the episode, several characters end up playing D&D for all eternity when the universe is destroyed. I can think of worse fates. Positive portrayal.

4) The IT Crowd. Again played for comedy, even the newcomers to the game end up loving it. Some truly funny moments involving actual role-play as well. I don't think it was D&D per se, but it captured the spirit. Positive portrayal.

5) Community. An entire episode is devoted to the game as the study group sits down to play in order to prevent a supporting character from committing suicide. Sounds a lot darker than it was. Lot's of comedy, some surprising emotional heft, and lots of easter eggs including an actual module. Mostly comedic, but a positive portrayal.

6) The Terminator Series. A tech guy teaches an AI to play D&D. It doesn't end well. An odd portrayal, made even odder by the fact the tech guy is painting plastic miniatures.

7) Big Bang Theory. Yes, they went for low hanging fruit with the no girls and virgin jokes, but in the end a bunch of friends are around the table throwing dice and having a good time. And the game even helps Sheldon and Amy's relationship. A positive portrayal.

Thoughts? I know there are others out there.

Anything and everything not related to actual game play can go here. Eventually, advancement stuff like how to invest your karma can go here, too.

A long, dreary winter has finally come to an end. The people of New York City are enjoying their first nice Saturday in several months. Citizens are flocking to the crown jewel of NYC's park system, the one of a kind Central Park. Jogging, walking, napping, playing, biking, eating, reading, or simply watching the various street entertainers, thousands of New Yorkers have descended upon the pathways, forests, ponds, fields, and museums spread over the two and a half mile long recreational area.
Included among them is your character. What has brought you to the Park today? Which area of the park are you in? Did you come alone or with a friend?

GM NOTE: Check out http://www.centralparknyc.org/ for info on the park including an excellent interactive map with pictures of its various landmarks. GAME ON!!!

NOTE: Check the Interest Check thread for more information

Greetings, True Believers!

This is the official recruitment thread for my Advanced Marvel Super-Heroes online play by post campaign. Familiarity with the original game system from TSR back in the 80's is a plus. Check out this link:
http://www.classicmarvelforever.com/cms/
for all the information you need (including downloads of the original rulebooks if you dig a bit).

Expectations:

Ability to post at least 5 days a week. No villain characters (anti-heroes are okay). Must play well with others. As you will probably be forming a team with a karma pool, it's very important people are on the same page (especially regarding killing foes). Some basic knowledge of the Marvel Universe, as your characters will be citizens of it. No aliens. No magic-users (having artifacts of mystic origin give you your powers is fine).

Character Generation:

I strongly recommend the Ultimate Powers book. It is the definitive character creation text for MSH. FASERIP is determined by a 140 point buy system. If you want Remarkable fighting, it will cost you at least 26 points. No stat may be higher than Incredible(40). I feel this is necessary for play balance.
You have 100 points to spend on Resources and Powers. You can divide these points up however you wish, with a maximum of Incredible (40) in any particular power or Resource rank. NOTE: Double powers (see UPB) use points on a 2 to 1 ratio. For example: you could have a character with three powers at In(40), Rm(30), and Ex(20) with a Resource Rank of Good(10). Or you could have a character with five powers of Rm(26), Ex(16), Ex(16), Gd(12), and Gd(10) with Ex(20) Resources.
You have 60 points to spend on Talents and Contacts. Each talent or contact costs you 10 points. So you could be a Talented individulual who's a loner, a well connected person with few skills, or somewhere inbetween. NOTE: In my experience, Contacts make for a better, more enriched game, so I'd recommend that your character has at least one.
Talents and Contacts must come from the Advanced Player's Book.

Send your characters to me via PM. I will be accepting up to 5 characters. The campaign will be set in New York City, 'cause that's where most of the superhero-types are, but it's a backdrop so don't worry if you've never been there. Recruitment will cease one week from today or whenever I have sufficient suitable candidates, whichever comes first.

Post any other questions or concerns below.

Make Mine Marvel!

I want to turn an Interest Check thread into an official Recruitment thread. I figure the easiest way to do so is to simply change the title, but I can't seem to find anyway to do that.
Is it even possible? Or should I just start a new thread?

Do you have Karma?
Are you more FASE than RIP?
Got the itch for a Power Stunt?
I've been itching to run a superhero game again, but most of my group have no interest, so I'm reaching out to the fine folk here on the boards.
Basic idea is a moderate power level game set in good ol' New York City with plenty of guest-starring heroes and villains. Instead of the random stat system the original game came with (which created some truly unbalanced outcomes), we'll do a point buy system (I'm thinking 180 points, with no attributes above Incredible) and you can pick upto 4 powers or take a chance and roll randomly.
Don't really want to go into more detail until I see the interest level.
So respond if you're interested and give me a brief (a paragraph) idea about your hero. You don't even need to stat anything yet.
I'd prefer to have at least a couple of the potential players be experienced with the game. Access to the Ultimate Powers Book and Universal Chart would be very useful.
Here is an excellent site about the Class Marvel Super-heroes game:
www.classicmarvelforever.com