Ridolfin's page

Hi all,

I am starting to prepare this path with a french group of players and I would like to know if someone here has some translations to share.

Just let me know and I will come back to give an email address or so.

Thanks

My Grand-Father said me:
“More laws or more complicated laws are just making the trials longer and the lawyers wealthier but not the people happier or enjoying more freedom. But, all in all few can say the system is not equitable. It’s not funny but it’s logical.”

I would like to express my worries and my frustrations about where is arrived D&D after thirty years. The aim of this post is simple and unachievable: to give a voice on this messageboards to the ideas of plenty of gamers (players and GM) who will never participate to our experts’ arena. But, because these people are around me the silent majority of our hobby and because in the newcomers they will be essential for the future of the game, we need to take care of them more than of ourselves.

Of course, the OD&D rules had to be improved along the time. But, why have the designers generate at the end of the day the hyper complicated logical code called 3.5 ? Today, thousand of posts in this messageboards are just a race in the direction of more that, or more for this one (class, race, power, feat,…), or more mechanism of that kind and so on. I’m lost !

Frankly speaking, I love D&D and I’m faithful to it for almost thirty years. IMO, its strength, its essence and its sex appeal are coming from the epic origin which his the kernel of that universe. Somewhere in the past the rules seemed simpler and also non invasive and whatever the holes they had it was never a point difficult to deal with. That is no more true.
I will use an image now because it’s the simple way to picture my feeling: In the old nights I found a beautiful and epic adventuress whom I followed with great pleasure, even without knowing all her secrets. But nowadays I have seen her using more and more make-up, even some surgery and implants and becoming and expert and talented whore. So perhaps she is right for the old blasé man I am (not so sure these days) but she has nothing to seduce the new romantic hearts around. And yet I still see the beauty of the old days and the desire consumes me to see a true champion (not of a Nip Tuck kind) to reveal again her grace.

When I read Paizo will try to move on an alternative to 4E, I placed a lot of hope in it. This team is by far the best for keeping this epic fire burning in our game. They have splendid story tellers, designers, editors, publisher and artists. So I imagined they will have the aim to restore some rule set which will help in finding back the not so old spirit rather than to mimic painfully the clichés and effects of the MMORPG or other video games. I am now thinking I was wrong and that this direction of the road is closed, perhaps forever.

I will now give the example of our game circle. We have many players and we have always enjoyed D&D adventures with 6 to up to 10 players. Now, IMHO, it is a little bit sad to say that most of the modules are designed for only four. The game and the players wasted away I guess. But does it mean that tomorrow we will have rules only for two + one referee – like my wargamers’ buddies ? Or worse, will we be in the future alone in front of a screen ! I can’t let it happen without rising up against that fate. Even with 3.5, the Dming of a good session with 6-10 players is an intellectual and even a physical trial. I know that because I did it every week during the last five years. But now, I’m exhausted and fed up by all that poor task, from within the grace of a good role play is hardly touched. I have house ruled a lot to simplify, but the more I work the more the designers push the ball. When reaching high levels, on a table of 6-10 I have players bored by the overwhelming rules and meta gamers who crawl in their sin with delectation and conceit.

I’m afraid PFRPG will just push me a little bit more on the edge of the abyss and with me a lot of gamers who prays in silence.

Jason, Erik, Lisa are you sure of your move ?

Fellow DMs your support or even your slaps are welcome to revive an old (perhaps) alone but (certainly) experienced gamer.
As I’m not a native speaker I hope at least you’ve got the gist of this.

Be easy (and creative)

Damned I did have a trouble with that Spoiler thing I guess...
To see what was supposed to be hidden just click here

Just to have a link in this post for the Starting Hit Points comments which are located here

One of my player starting SCAP is a Pelor half-elf cleric 1. I'm concerned to built more data for him and it leads me to some research about:
- Relationships of Pelor clerics and other institutions of Cauldron: temples, government, merchants, nobles, citizens ... (I know the few words in HC about Kristof and his Wee Jas phobia)
- How to join the father Kristof and to be accepted by him? What type of errands will be asked to a new adept ?
- What about the murder of the former high priests of Pelor - How, who, how many, when, where ?
- Is it possible for my PC to get a room in the Church and to live here?
Let me know your tips

First Timer Here – I’m starting shortly SCAP with 2 groups of PCs. I’m an experienced french DM and I have ruled sessions and campaigns in CoC, Runequest and DD for 25 years. I will run SCAP with a lot of house rules with a basis of a purified 3.5 rules’ set. I’ve worked and I’m still working on the necessary adaptation on the HC material to smoothly fit with this.

I would like to start by two remarks on The Vanishing - translated in French by ‘la Disparite’ which gives it some fun :

It’s seems like very few clues about the disease can be found by the PCs. But The Vanishing occurred 75 years ago. For a gnomish life span it’s just like a 15 human years old story. So, for a so hurting event which hit a whole community we can expect that a lot of data are still available through the gnomes of Cauldron. How have you deal about that possible knowlegde of the dark secret of the Gnome in the city ?

Even after reading almost all the dedicated threads (and the HC) I’m still in balance on how to deal with the Vanishing contamination and effects. Does a SR apply as soon as a PC touch an infected item? Is it a roll against Fortitude or against Will - magical disease? Does a new SR apply every period of time the PC keeps the contact with the object - each 12 hours or each day ? When a PC is infected and cured is he stabilized at his current state or is he recovering it’s standard shape? How works the cure, is it instantaneous or painfully long?

Let me know about your experience in game