• Tabletop war and roleplaying games

    From hollowone@21:2/150 to All on Fri Apr 21 09:59:45 2023
    Not sure if this is the place, if not then please suggest, is there any board or FTN I should know (apparently I don't) that is best to discuss tabletop games?

    -h1

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  • From Al@21:4/106 to hollowone on Sat Apr 22 22:37:48 2023
    Not sure if this is the place, if not then please suggest, is there any board or FTN I should know (apparently I don't) that is best to discuss tabletop games?

    This would be as good a place as any.

    I can't think of another more appropriate are in any net.

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  • From hollowone@21:2/150 to Al on Sun Apr 23 21:11:09 2023
    This would be as good a place as any.
    I can't think of another more appropriate are in any net.

    That's nice. As a part of my retro experience bonanza i started coming back also to old RPG books, first and second edition (Advanced) D&D most nominally.

    I find some equally expensive as Amiga 1200 without capacitors changed, but hell nostalgy has no price limit for a dedicated soul sometimes.

    Luckily as an anology to emulators, those old rpg books come as legal or illegal PDFs of various qualities, that can be self printed.

    I purchased back some genuine 1e/2e books in various vintage books, also have some self-printed and binded with glue/sewing and leather cover by professional book binders.

    Library looks impressive now after 2-3 years of collecting and recollecting, but most interesting is to actually read through them and try to have a reflection about those old world settings or rules.

    I don't dream to play again as I don't have anybody interested locally anymore and playing with kids being 43 is not exactly my option.

    But still, sentimental trip back the memory lane with those old DragonLance, Forgotten Realms, GreyHawk, Planescape or recently Birthright worlds is pretty enjoyable experience for me.

    Did anybody here discover similar passion?

    -h1

    ... Xerox Alto was the thing. Anything after we use is just a mere copy.

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  • From Arelor@21:2/138 to hollowone on Mon Apr 24 01:32:05 2023
    Re: Re: Tabletop war and roleplaying games
    By: hollowone to Al on Sun Apr 23 2023 02:11 pm

    That's nice. As a part of my retro experience bonanza i started coming back

    I find some equally expensive as Amiga 1200 without capacitors changed, but

    Luckily as an anology to emulators, those old rpg books come as legal or ill

    I purchased back some genuine 1e/2e books in various vintage books, also hav


    Actually, Dungeons and Dragons licensing around third edition made it so it was legal to produce rebranded versions of the game, so the Internet is flooded with legal clones of Dungeons and Dragons ( Basic, Expert, Immortals, whatever) and Advanced Dungeons and Dragons (mostly the first edition).

    When I say "clone" I mean the game is the same as the cloned one, with the branding removed.

    Around D&D 4E, a freaking CLONE beat Dungeons and Dragons in sales and popularity.

    I personally prefer early Warhammer Fantasy RPGs because the system is just more flexible and has better provisions for non-combat related activities. In addition, the lore beats most D&D settings IMO.

    I don't own any official D&D material besides some 4E books, but I own:

    * A B/X clone from a Spanish publisher, "Aventuras en la Marca del Este".
    * An 3rd edition clone (heavily modified) from another Spanish publisher, "El Reino de la Sombra".
    * A 5th edition clone which hails from Spain too: "El Resurgir del Dragón"

    I also have a bunch of clones of OD&D (think of the original boxes that used Chainmail's combat rules) and some AD&D clone, these ones in digital form.

    Castles and Crusaders deserves an honorary mention, because it is a pseudo-clonic evolution of AD&D which tried to be what Gygax would have wanted 3rd edition to be (instead of what we got). I am not a super-fan, but a lot of people is. I have a clone of this clone from a Spanish publisher.


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  • From Abbub@21:2/145 to Hollowone on Mon Apr 24 00:38:28 2023
    I have 9 hardcovers for first edition AD&D (primary books, monster manuals 1
    & 2, wilderness survival, dungeoneer's survival, unearthed arcana, and
    oriental adventures.)

    I have players and dm's guide for 2nd edition.

    I have a bunch of 3rd edition including the primary books, eberon,
    dragonlance, and forgotten realms.

    I have the primaries for 4th edition, and also the campaign and players guide to forgotten realms.

    I have the three primary books for 5th edition.

    I also have the original box set I bought for the FASA Star Trek RPG, and
    also an original 'Task Force Games' box for Star Fleet Battles. (And a bunch of supplementary material for both.)

    All of these are originals that I bought when they were current.

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  • From Arelor@21:2/138 to Abbub on Mon Apr 24 10:18:43 2023
    Re: Re: Tabletop war and roleplaying games
    By: Abbub to Hollowone on Sun Apr 23 2023 05:38 pm

    I have the three primary books for 5th edition.

    You know, DnD 5 flopped up in Spain because WotC was reluctanct to license translations to any language that was not English. Most Spaniards have no clue of English so that means no official manual got sold to a Spaniard for a good while. The veto was so tight you could not even get boardgames (such as Lords of Waterdeep) distributed to retailers over regular channels.

    By the time they decided to license a Spanish translation, people had either decided to stay with Pathfinder or had jumped to some 5E clone such as El Resurgir del Dragón. El Resurgir del Dragón is actually quite a deal because it is a grimoire of a manual which offers the player's handbook, monster manual and dungeon master manual in a single (gigantic) tome for 50 bucks, plus it also includes a custom setting. Nobody was spending 150 bucks in the official manuals when they could spend 50 in El Resurgir del Dragón. This clone might not be as complete as the three official tomes but it had 90% of the content + extras and allowed you to play right away.


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  • From Abbub@21:2/145 to Arelor on Mon Apr 24 14:42:40 2023
    such as El Resurgir del Dragón. El Resurgir del Dragón is
    actually quite a deal because it is a grimoire of a manual which
    offers the player's handbook, monster manual and dungeon master
    manual in a single (gigantic) tome for 50 bucks, plus it also
    includes a custom setting. Nobody was spending 150 bucks in the

    That sounds awesome! Is there's an English translation of that?!

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  • From Arelor@21:2/138 to Abbub on Mon Apr 24 18:42:22 2023
    Re: Re: Tabletop war and roleplaying games
    By: Abbub to Arelor on Mon Apr 24 2023 07:42 am

    such as El Resurgir del Dragón. El Resurgir del Dragón is
    actually quite a deal because it is a grimoire of a manual which
    offers the player's handbook, monster manual and dungeon master
    manual in a single (gigantic) tome for 50 bucks, plus it also
    includes a custom setting. Nobody was spending 150 bucks in the

    That sounds awesome! Is there's an English translation of that?!


    I can't find any. It is a shame because the publisher is very invested in the game line. They are carrying out organized games (similar to the Pathfinder ones) in which players run published modules for the game, report the results, and then the sessions are incorporated to the setting's History. Too bad I don't like the modules themselves much.

    It seems this publisher released an English version of Aquelarre, though, but that is a completely different game.


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  • From Darklord@21:3/171 to hollowone on Tue Apr 25 05:08:38 2023
    Don't give so easy guy - I'm 61 and I still play with my 32 year old son
    and some of his younger friends. Find a good local group and go for it!

    :)


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  • From Avon@21:1/101 to Darklord on Wed Apr 26 02:58:10 2023
    On 24 Apr 2023 at 10:08p, Darklord pondered and said...

    Don't give so easy guy - I'm 61 and I still play with my 32 year old son and some of his younger friends. Find a good local group and go for it!

    you know I've never played but it sounds interesting :)

    Kerr Avon [Blake's 7] 'I'm not expendable, I'm not stupid and I'm not going' avon[at]bbs.nz | bbs.nz | fsxnet.nz

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  • From hollowone@21:2/150 to Arelor on Tue Apr 25 12:50:04 2023
    You know, DnD 5 flopped up in Spain because WotC was reluctanct to
    license translations to any language that was not English. Most
    Spaniards have no clue of English so that means no official manual got sold to a Spaniard for a good while. The veto was so tight you could not even get boardgames (such as Lords of Waterdeep) distributed to
    retailers over regular channels.

    WOTC makes continual errors with D&D. I know many people who enjoyed D&D5e, but still all that corporate communication around the product and decisions are more focused on bullshiting people, or I'm not the target audience anymore.

    But if I am still the target audience for older editions and OD&D then perhaps it is still WOTC that fucks things up.

    And now they are cooking 6e. I wonder how that will go.

    -h1

    ... Xerox Alto was the thing. Anything after we use is just a mere copy.

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  • From hollowone@21:2/150 to Darklord on Tue Apr 25 12:51:21 2023
    Don't give so easy guy - I'm 61 and I still play with my 32 year old son and some of his younger friends. Find a good local group and go for it!

    :)

    And that is what I wanted to read/hear from somebody. YEAH!
    Thanks!

    -h1

    ... Xerox Alto was the thing. Anything after we use is just a mere copy.

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  • From Abbub@21:2/145 to Hollowone on Tue Apr 25 14:35:33 2023
    WOTC makes continual errors with D&D. I know many people who enjoyed
    D&D5e, but still all that corporate communication around the product
    and decisions are more focused on bullshiting people, or I'm not the
    target audience anymore.

    The trick is to completely ignore / avoid the BS corporate communication. 5e in-and-of itself is fine.

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  • From Arelor@21:2/138 to hollowone on Tue Apr 25 19:49:46 2023
    Re: Re: Tabletop war and roleplaying games
    By: hollowone to Arelor on Tue Apr 25 2023 05:50 am

    You know, DnD 5 flopped up in Spain because WotC was reluctanct to license translations to any language that was not English. Most Spaniards have no clue of English so that means no official manual got sold to a Spaniard for a good while. The veto was so tight you could no even get boardgames (such as Lords of Waterdeep) distributed to retailers over regular channels.

    WOTC makes continual errors with D&D. I know many people who enjoyed D&D5e,

    But if I am still the target audience for older editions and OD&D then perha

    And now they are cooking 6e. I wonder how that will go.

    -h1



    I have not followed 5E's development closely. What I have heard is they didn't do it too badly (since they had a somehow open testing process). Why do you think they were bullshitting people?

    I am not sure the OSR crowd is the target audience for 5E. I think the marketing claimed this indirectly ("this is the definitive edition that unites all game styles in a single DnD!"). While 5E runs smoother and has less numeric cruft at the table than the two editions before it, it is still an exercise in character building with crazy codified moves and powers.

    I have no hopes for 6E but I will watch what comes out of it. I will probably buy the Spanish clone XD

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  • From hollowone@21:2/150 to Arelor on Tue Apr 25 20:00:26 2023
    I have not followed 5E's development closely. What I have heard is they didn't do it too badly (since they had a somehow open testing process). Why do you think they were bullshitting people?

    It's what Abbub refers to as well. Less about the product, more about WOTC's corporate communication. But they are no unique. Companies are more focused to talk about politics and cutting themselves often from them in the past.

    I find it unnecessary in many cases. I find it often ridiculous if games and world of fantasy are involved in debates about racial segregation and social inequalities. it's just damn role playing game, that neither created the problem, nor will solve it.

    With all respect to all who may feel victimized by past times in whatever dimension of the same debate.

    When I played 1e/2e it was just a hobby and I'd love to keep it that way. Away from any discussion other than commenting it as a toy. Otherwise I find all such zealots no different than those who were fighting with TSR in the 80s accusing it for being evangelists of devil and Antichrists responsible for mental kids hurting themselves playing those games.

    We'd been there already and it indeed resolved nothing. Kids continue hurting themselves regardless of D&D connection, so racism and other inequalities will as same things never change, regardless how noble our intentions are...

    So I just don't trust WOTC and other corporations are noble while speaking about making people more equal through their products and services. I find it only a part of their commercial marketing to stay on top of current commercial trends where communicating WOKE and ESG can give you more profits.. If they are about profits, they should stay focused on good products and leave politics to political debates.

    That's what I call bullshitting. Just few involvements into political debates connected with the WOTC and I just boycotted the whole 5e, even though I'm aware it's relatively good product.

    And I apologize if I unintentionally offended anybody. There was no such intention. I support all the good people regardless of how we're different individually.. I just don't trust CORPs being honest in their CSR programs.

    -h1

    ... Xerox Alto was the thing. Anything after we use is just a mere copy.

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  • From Arelor@21:2/138 to hollowone on Wed Apr 26 00:49:34 2023
    Re: Re: Tabletop war and roleplaying games
    By: hollowone to Arelor on Tue Apr 25 2023 01:00 pm

    That's what I call bullshitting. Just few involvements into political debates
    connected with the WOTC and I just boycotted the whole 5e, even though I'm aware it's relatively good product.

    Fair enough. Actually, that has been my position for some time. You may notice I own mostly clones of DnD rather than the original. I don't like people who tries to shoehorn politics in a very serious game about space wizzards hurling fireballs at mutant werewolves. That is the very reason I stopped buying White Wolf and Onyx Path material all at once.

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  • From hollowone@21:2/150 to Arelor on Wed Apr 26 08:00:02 2023
    Fair enough. Actually, that has been my position for some time. You may notice I own mostly clones of DnD rather than the original. I don't like people who tries to shoehorn politics in a very serious game about space wizzards hurling fireballs at mutant werewolves. That is the very reason
    I stopped buying White Wolf and Onyx Path material all at once.

    Rules are easy to clone or to replace. I come with huge sentiment to old world settings. I find still so much undiscovered content from the past related to all the D&D worlds that is so interesting that all the reboots in 5e is just commercializing on the old to me.

    Nothing against that. This is old Disney tactics assuming you have enough IP to juggle. Still It's so easy to buy/download PDF today with old stuff and print it by yourself or get it printed already. Custom covers and book binding included and recreating your own collection on your own terms.

    Good that we're blessed with such a rich retro trpg offering on rpgdrivethrough.com that is my blessing if I can't find old book store with some antique DnD books somebody left for a good price. That rarely happens these days. I'm chasing for originals when business travelling and visiting shoppes, never the less!

    -h1

    ... Xerox Alto was the thing. Anything after we use is just a mere copy.

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  • From Arelor@21:2/138 to hollowone on Wed Apr 26 15:44:39 2023
    Re: Re: Tabletop war and roleplaying games
    By: hollowone to Arelor on Tue Apr 25 2023 05:50 am

    And now they are cooking 6e. I wonder how that will go.

    I was curious so I did some quick Internet browsing around.

    They don't seem to be working on anything mechanically meaningful - ie. nothing game breaking - besides including yet an ounce more of politics.

    A thread in therpgsite suggests WotC is banking on One D&D (the would be 6e) to bring a lot of customers to WotC's Games as a Service, in which customers purchase a subscription to WotC's Virtual TableTop and have access to the documents, rulebooks and tools needed to play, in their walled garden.

    Most of the thread I was reading is speculation, but some facts that endorse the Conspiracy Theory are that WotC has been hiring a lot of people from the videogame world whose area of expertise is sucking players in with subscriptions and micro-transactions, and that they have stated they intend to start making Players pay - because as of now, it is DMs who buy all the RPG material while the players play for free.


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  • From Abbub@21:2/145 to Hollowone on Wed Apr 26 14:44:34 2023
    Good that we're blessed with such a rich retro trpg offering on rpgdrivethrough.com that is my blessing if I can't find old book store
    with some antique DnD books somebody left for a good price. That rarely

    We have a used record/book/game store down in Denver called 'Black and Read' that has a fantastic selection of TTRPG books, both new and used. I was
    really happy when the 'vinyl revival' happened, not so much because I cared about buying records but because the traffic picked up enough in that store that I didn't have to worry about it going out of business. :D

    ---
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  • From hollowone@21:2/150 to Arelor on Wed Apr 26 19:37:06 2023
    A thread in therpgsite suggests WotC is banking on One D&D (the would be 6e) to bring a lot of customers to WotC's Games as a Service, in which customers purchase a subscription to WotC's Virtual TableTop and have access to the documents, rulebooks and tools needed to play, in their walled garden.

    That would put me me even further from their target audience. I'd better like to ask ChatGPT for rules, world setting and single adventure plot suggestions than getting walled into such micro payment sucked-in ecosystem.

    And I'd evangelize my kids to stay away from it by fucking far!

    I wonder when this SaaS/Subscription model ends. I have a theory that everything works in cycles and eventually every cycle ends. This model can't stay forever, I already have enough bills to optimize. I miss ownership, or a feeling of having it!

    -h1

    ... Xerox Alto was the thing. Anything after we use is just a mere copy.

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  • From hollowone@21:2/150 to Abbub on Wed Apr 26 19:38:24 2023
    We have a used record/book/game store down in Denver called 'Black and Read' that has a fantastic selection of TTRPG books, both new and used.
    I was really happy when the 'vinyl revival' happened, not so much
    because I cared about buying records but because the traffic picked up enough in that store that I didn't have to worry about it going out of business. :D

    Yeah, such stores are blessed discovery to me. I have a few in my neighborhood and I chase for such in every town I visit. Instant treasure hunting wakes up in your mind when you enter such a shop!

    -h1

    ... Xerox Alto was the thing. Anything after we use is just a mere copy.

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  • From Arelor@21:2/138 to hollowone on Wed Apr 26 22:43:20 2023
    Re: Re: Tabletop war and roleplaying games
    By: hollowone to Arelor on Wed Apr 26 2023 12:37 pm

    A thread in therpgsite suggests WotC is banking on One D&D (the would b 6e) to bring a lot of customers to WotC's Games as a Service, in which customers purchase a subscription to WotC's Virtual TableTop and have access to the documents, rulebooks and tools needed to play, in their walled garden.

    That would put me me even further from their target audience. I'd better lik

    And I'd evangelize my kids to stay away from it by fucking far!

    I wonder when this SaaS/Subscription model ends. I have a theory that everyt


    I doubt most people who grew with earlier editions is going to jump into a walled garden over this. For one thing, they already have their edition of reference on their shelves.

    It does not make much sense to jump into a walled garden for online play. You may as well use any general purpose chat system with a dice bot for running RPGs online. I have played a number of games, such as Trail of Cthulhu or Polaris, over voip with dice bots and a wiki for character stats and tracking the plot. There is just no need for somebody who knows better to trap himself in a net set by a service provider for this.

    Now, with kids... I foresee trouble. Even people from my generation can be so freaking dumb. You tell them of something cool and the first thing they ask you about is "Where do I get the app?" A lot of people has interiorized that things are delivered as apps and gets thrown out of balance when told it is not available in electronic format (or that you play the non-digital version).

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  • From hollowone@21:2/150 to Arelor on Fri Apr 28 20:21:54 2023
    Now, with kids... I foresee trouble. Even people from my generation can
    be so freaking dumb. You tell them of something cool and the first thing they ask you about is "Where do I get the app?" A lot of people has interiorized that things are delivered as apps and gets thrown out of balance when told it is not available in electronic format (or that you play the non-digital version).

    I hear you clear and loud and I'm with you on this opinion. But there is also another reflection. Think about games 100 years ago, there were board games and war games, but I can hardly believe that kids in 1870 were playing the same things kids in 1920 did..

    I think it must be also OK to consider many things are generational.. until this is my wallet! :>

    -h1

    ... Xerox Alto was the thing. Anything after we use is just a mere copy.

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  • From Arelor@21:2/138 to hollowone on Sat Apr 29 13:03:59 2023
    Re: Re: Tabletop war and roleplaying games
    By: hollowone to Arelor on Fri Apr 28 2023 01:21 pm

    I hear you clear and loud and I'm with you on this opinion. But there is als id..

    I think it must be also OK to consider many things are generational.. until


    Honestly, many old forms of entertainment are just as valid as today's.

    See, I have been listening to some old radio shows as of late. Many are quite fine.

    The problem with "platform based" entertainment is not that the entertainment is lower quality, but that it puts you in the hand of a complex chain of providers. If you buy a copy of Brass you will be playing Brass for the rest of your life if you want to. If you jump into a digital version of Brass, your entertainment now will require:

    * Access to the Internet
    * A device built with a lot of Chinesse electronics inside.
    * An Operating System compatible with the game (and typical commercil Operating Systems are not trustworthy either)


    Sure, kids in the middle age would have lots of fun hitting each other with wooden swords, but they didn't depend on a third party to activate their wooden swords so they could play with them.

    This reliance on third parties is a new phenomenom.


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  • From Darklord@21:3/171 to Avon on Wed May 3 00:06:28 2023
    On 25 Apr 23 19:58:10 Avon wrote...

    you know I've never played but it sounds interesting :)

    To which Darklord replies...

    It is! What surprises a lot of people about D&D is the amount of social interaction among the group. Some of the best times of my life have been
    when I've been playing in a campaign with a good D&D group. :)


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  • From Darklord@21:3/171 to hollowone on Wed May 3 00:08:16 2023
    On 25 Apr 23 05:51:21 hollowone wrote...


    And that is what I wanted to read/hear from somebody. YEAH! Thanks!

    -h1


    To which Darklord replies...

    No problem - us battle hardened gaming veterans gotta stick together! :)


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  • From Arelor@21:2/138 to Darklord on Wed May 3 04:23:48 2023
    Re: Re: Tabletop war and roleplaying games
    By: Darklord to Avon on Tue May 02 2023 05:06 pm

    On 25 Apr 23 19:58:10 Avon wrote...

    you know I've never played but it sounds interesting :)

    To which Darklord replies...

    It is! What surprises a lot of people about D&D is the amount of social interaction among the group. Some of the best times of my life have been when I've been playing in a campaign with a good D&D group. :)


    I have always found the irony overwelming.

    Everybody seems to think that RPG players are social pariah's with no friends who end
    up playing in dirty basements or whatever. They often tell you to do "healthy activities like playing videogames" instead. In reality, RPG sessions are all about
    social interaction and spending time with friends.

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  • From Commodore Clifford@21:3/171 to Darklord on Wed May 3 09:58:30 2023
    On 02 May 23 17:06:28 Darklord wrote...

    On 25 Apr 23 19:58:10 Avon wrote...

    you know I've never played but it sounds interesting :)

    To which Darklord replies...

    It is! What surprises a lot of people about D&D is the amount of
    social interaction among the group. Some of the best times of my life
    have been when I've been playing in a campaign with a good D&D group.

    To which Commodore Clifford replies...

    There was a guy at the last job who started a D&D Campaign with the
    co-workers. Funny thing was that eventually the wives/girlfriends joined
    in... Most were new to the game. In the end, they found they were
    playing for the comraderie but most of them ended up not liking the game
    so much.

    --- RATSoft/FIDO v09.14.95 [JetMail 1.01]
    * Origin: STar Fleet HQ - Running on real Atari ST Hardware! (21:3/171)
  • From hollowone@21:2/150 to Arelor on Tue May 2 19:25:30 2023
    Honestly, many old forms of entertainment are just as valid as today's.

    That is very true, especially when we talk about Chess and Checkers. :)

    See, I have been listening to some old radio shows as of late. Many are quite fine.

    Well I laughed at my parent's devotion to Beatles, now I love Beatles' music too. Some things come with age.

    The problem with "platform based" entertainment is not that the entertainment is lower quality, but that it puts you in the hand of a complex chain of providers. If you buy a copy of Brass you will be
    playing Brass for the rest of your life if you want to. If you jump into
    a digital version of Brass, your entertainment now will require:

    <cut>

    That's why I hope we all discover that the subscription and engagement economy is nothing more than slavery. Slavery meant just like in ancient times or feudal times with (land)lords and serfs... or citizens and slaves in Rome.. it was not always bad to be a slave back then... but you owned nothing, you were owned at the end and the owner defined level of services and quality of life available to you.

    This whole servicing economy is turning most of us into modern slaves, games, cars, residential rental/co-living... we're one of the last generations who massively may even appreciate ownership and control over the physical aspects of the air we breathe.

    Soon we may pay taxes to breathe if we're not worthy and global warming put as corporate CSR excuse to blur us from knowing, they're polluting. Just a metaphoric analogy, colorized to extreme, but I hope you get the point.


    This reliance on third parties is a new phenomenom.


    As I have already written up there... we're enslaving each other..

    -h1

    ... Xerox Alto was the thing. Anything after we use is just a mere copy.

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A48 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: 2o for beeRS>>20ForBeers.com:1337 (21:2/150)
  • From hollowone@21:2/150 to Bikerbob on Tue May 16 08:24:28 2023
    yeah.. finding groups is tough. I would still like to have something going. but I also have to admit I am not really open to new roleplaying games and gamers, I find creativity really lacking.. I love old school systems and people who really like to "get into the character" and play everythign about the character - its bonuses and flaws.


    Yeah, I'm turning over to old friends to address this. But as we all live in different places, sometimes even different countries, it's hard to organize too, especially if you don't believe online connection can substitute the meeting.

    -h1

    ... Xerox Alto was the thing. Anything after we use is just a mere copy.

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A48 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: 2o for beeRS>>20ForBeers.com:1337 (21:2/150)
  • From hollowone@21:2/150 to Arelor on Tue May 16 08:28:39 2023
    GUPRS feels like the Gentoo of RPGs in that they don't give you a system which is ready to go out of the box: they give you a massive set of
    tools, and you combine modules from here and there to make what you need.

    If you compare that to all the supplementary DnD books from 80s and 90s. I don't believe they differed that much.

    -h1

    ... Xerox Alto was the thing. Anything after we use is just a mere copy.

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A48 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: 2o for beeRS>>20ForBeers.com:1337 (21:2/150)
  • From Commodore Clifford@21:3/171 to Abbub on Wed May 17 07:47:40 2023
    On 13 May 23 08:30:29 Abbub wrote...

    Yeah... drinking "mountain dew" and "attacking the darkness" just
    like old times.

    Well, my 'mature' gaming group has mostly graduated from 'mountain
    dew' to 'craft beer', but other than that, it's pretty much just like
    it used to be.

    --- * Origin: Telnet: bbs.WalledCTTY.com:1989 - Fort Collins, CO USA (21:2/145)

    To which Commodore Clifford replies...

    It was a reference to a Dr. Demento skit. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5t-y_ENDlo

    --- RATSoft/FIDO v09.14.95 [JetMail 1.01]
    * Origin: STar Fleet HQ - Running on real Atari ST Hardware! (21:3/171)
  • From Commodore Clifford@21:3/171 to hollowone on Wed May 17 07:53:46 2023
    On 15 May 23 10:25:55 hollowone wrote...

    I'm perhaps to old to adopt D&D online sessions. I miss the vibe of
    all these discussions and side discussions, smell of the memory of
    the die rolled.

    To which Commodore Clifford replies...

    You sure that's not just the smell of the unwasshed gamers? :)

    Every once in awhile, I get reminded that this isn't just a myth when I
    used to go to the gaming nights at the local store.

    But the funniest was the last time I went to Gencon, I stayed in a suite
    nearby (the kind with a separate sitting area and full kitchen with stove/oven/full fridge, etc.) Nice high-end place.

    No soap... None at all... None in the bathroom or kitchen.

    I went to the front desk and said "you know, it's only a myth that gamers
    don't bathe". He looked confused until I explained. :)

    --- RATSoft/FIDO v09.14.95 [JetMail 1.01]
    * Origin: STar Fleet HQ - Running on real Atari ST Hardware! (21:3/171)
  • From Commodore Clifford@21:3/171 to hollowone on Wed May 17 07:58:56 2023
    On 16 May 23 01:24:28 hollowone wrote...

    yeah.. finding groups is tough. I would still like to have
    something going. but I also have to admit I am not really open
    to new roleplaying games and gamers, I find creativity really lacking.. I love old school systems and people who really like
    to "get into the character" and play everythign about the
    character - its bonuses and flaws.


    Yeah, I'm turning over to old friends to address this. But as we all
    live in different places, sometimes even different countries, it's
    hard to organize too, especially if you don't believe online
    connection can substitute the meeting.

    To which Commodore Clifford replies...

    The online thing can work though... I find it works best in situations
    where people already have known each other in person. There was a D&D
    group at the last place I worked. I didn't join in on their sessions but
    it started out in person. Then they had a guy from the Arkansas office
    who wanted to play. So they'd sit around the table and have a laptop
    with MS Teams for him. Pretty soon, as the weather got bad, they'd just
    do the whole thing over teams.

    It worked well for them because having played together (the Arkansas guy
    got to play in person a couple times when there would be business related meetings that got him flown out here) the relationships were fully
    formed, so playing "remotely" didn't feel as "remote".

    --- RATSoft/FIDO v09.14.95 [JetMail 1.01]
    * Origin: STar Fleet HQ - Running on real Atari ST Hardware! (21:3/171)
  • From Arelor@21:2/138 to hollowone on Wed May 17 22:42:48 2023
    Re: Re: Tabletop war and roleplaying games
    By: hollowone to Arelor on Tue May 16 2023 01:28 am

    GUPRS feels like the Gentoo of RPGs in that they don't give you a syste which is ready to go out of the box: they give you a massive set of tools, and you combine modules from here and there to make what you nee

    If you compare that to all the supplementary DnD books from 80s and 90s. I d


    Well, even during the OGL orgy of 3rd party supplements, the corebooks were sold as an standalone game you could add on. If you check GURPS 4e corebooks, it is obvious you are intended to use it as a game building toolkit.

    As mentioned earlier, there are pre-built GURPS games but I don't think they are the focus of the publisher.

    --
    gopher://gopher.richardfalken.com/1/richardfalken
    --- SBBSecho 3.20-Linux
    * Origin: Palantir * palantirbbs.ddns.net * Pensacola, FL * (21:2/138)
  • From hollowone@21:2/150 to Commodore Clifford on Thu May 18 08:55:41 2023
    I went to the front desk and said "you know, it's only a myth that gamers don't bathe". He looked confused until I explained. :)

    Hilarious ;)

    But yes, you're correct. In old days, when we were younger both conventions and demo scene parties to me were about partying and integrating with people, and the sleeping room was quite often at the venue. Nobody was thinking about hygiene too much...

    Now I can't imagine a proper quality hotel room when I think about logistics related to such events.

    -h1

    ... Xerox Alto was the thing. Anything after we use is just a mere copy.

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A48 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: 2o for beeRS>>20ForBeers.com:1337 (21:2/150)
  • From hollowone@21:2/150 to Commodore Clifford on Thu May 18 08:57:43 2023
    <cut>
    It worked well for them because having played together (the Arkansas guy got to play in person a couple times when there would be business related meetings that got him flown out here) the relationships were fully
    formed, so playing "remotely" didn't feel as "remote".

    Perhaps that makes sense. I'll think about it, and yeah.. relationship is always the key to make things easier together.

    -h1

    ... Xerox Alto was the thing. Anything after we use is just a mere copy.

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A48 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: 2o for beeRS>>20ForBeers.com:1337 (21:2/150)
  • From Darklord@21:3/171 to Commodore Clifford on Mon May 22 06:55:32 2023
    On 13 May 23 07:28:32 Commodore Clifford wrote...

    To which Commodore Clifford replies...

    Yeah... drinking "mountain dew" and "attacking the darkness" just
    like old times.

    To which Darklord replies...

    There ya go, that's the spirit...! :)


    /\
    Dark><Lord
    \/

    --- RATSoft/FIDO v09.14.95 [JetMail 1.01]
    * Origin: STar Fleet HQ - Running on real Atari ST Hardware! (21:3/171)
  • From Darklord@21:3/171 to Commodore Clifford on Mon May 22 06:57:30 2023
    On 13 May 23 07:32:56 Commodore Clifford wrote...

    To which Commodore Clifford replies...

    Really man... This year since I resolved the transportation situation
    so late I'm probably going to miss Gencon this year. Might try
    Origins since that's just in Columbus and the bosses boss will
    probably want me in town that week anyway. But next year, if you
    want we could meet up (probably bring the son along) for some good
    times.

    One of my biggest regrets was never going with my dad. He was more
    into the WWII miniture games, but never got to do one of those big
    ones. I finally got into a massive on at Gencon the year after he
    passed and I just couldn't shake the feeling about how he would have
    loved it.

    There's just nothing like being in a whole convention hall of people playing games like this (and some of these guys go all out) with like minded people you've never met.

    To which Darklord replies...

    That sounds like a great plan! Maybe sometime when you're on vacation and
    not planning on going anywhere.


    /\
    Dark><Lord
    \/

    --- RATSoft/FIDO v09.14.95 [JetMail 1.01]
    * Origin: STar Fleet HQ - Running on real Atari ST Hardware! (21:3/171)
  • From Commodore Clifford@21:3/171 to hollowone on Sun May 28 19:46:24 2023
    On 18 May 23 01:55:41 hollowone wrote...

    But yes, you're correct. In old days, when we were younger both
    conventions and demo scene parties to me were about partying and integrating with people, and the sleeping room was quite often at the venue. Nobody was thinking about hygiene too much...

    Now I can't imagine a proper quality hotel room when I think about logistics related to such events.

    To which Commodore Clifford replies...

    It's been awhile since I went to a convention and saw a "sleeping room"
    for sure. I remember a convention that used to be held at the local
    university the weekend at the end of spring break (meaning back to class Monday). It was a Friday-Sunday afternoon thing and we used to declare
    "SLEEP IS FOR THE WEAK!"

    By Sunday night it was more "THE WEEK IS FOR SLEEP!"

    They would have 24-7 anime showings at the university theater in the
    student center where the convention was held. Was a decent place to take
    a power nap and not have anyone notice. :)

    Was a damn shame that when I went back to finish the degree, someone had
    been screwy with the money and the university wasn't going to allow the convention to happen again until that was resolved. :(

    --- RATSoft/FIDO v09.14.95 [JetMail 1.01]
    * Origin: STar Fleet HQ - Running on real Atari ST Hardware! (21:3/171)
  • From Commodore Clifford@21:3/171 to Darklord on Sun May 28 19:48:44 2023
    On 21 May 23 23:55:32 Darklord wrote...

    On 13 May 23 07:28:32 Commodore Clifford wrote...

    To which Commodore Clifford replies...

    Yeah... drinking "mountain dew" and "attacking the darkness" just
    like old times.

    To which Darklord replies...

    There ya go, that's the spirit...! :)

    To which Commodore Clifford replies...

    Bet you had your fair share of saying "I cast MAGIC MISSILE!!!"

    --- RATSoft/FIDO v09.14.95 [JetMail 1.01]
    * Origin: STar Fleet HQ - Running on real Atari ST Hardware! (21:3/171)
  • From Commodore Clifford@21:3/171 to Darklord on Sun May 28 19:50:34 2023
    On 21 May 23 23:57:30 Darklord wrote...

    That sounds like a great plan! Maybe sometime when you're on vacation
    and not planning on going anywhere.

    To which Commodore Clifford replies...

    Well..... usually if I'm actually on "vacation" I'm planning to go there.
    :)

    --- RATSoft/FIDO v09.14.95 [JetMail 1.01]
    * Origin: STar Fleet HQ - Running on real Atari ST Hardware! (21:3/171)
  • From Darklord@21:3/171 to Commodore Clifford on Mon May 29 05:59:04 2023
    On 28 May 23 12:48:44 Commodore Clifford wrote...

    To which Commodore Clifford replies...

    Bet you had your fair share of saying "I cast MAGIC MISSILE!!!"

    To which Darklord replies...

    Actually no. I typically play melee characters. I don't recall ever
    playing a character that had the ability to cast Magic Missile. :)

    I love Fighters and BattleClerics, as well as a couple of other, more specialized classes (depending on what version you're playing) such as
    Cavalier in Pathfinder or the Holy Avenger in 4e. Oath of Enmity for the
    win!


    /\
    Dark><Lord
    \/

    --- RATSoft/FIDO v09.14.95 [JetMail 1.01]
    * Origin: STar Fleet HQ - Running on real Atari ST Hardware! (21:3/171)
  • From hollowone@21:2/150 to Darklord on Mon May 29 07:49:00 2023
    Actually no. I typically play melee characters. I don't recall ever playing a character that had the ability to cast Magic Missile. :)

    Oh come on... and how about that mountain dwarf who farted it every dinner, especially if an elf was close by, at the table? :>

    I'm sure that would be politically incorrect and racist to play dwarf like that today...

    -h1

    ... Xerox Alto was the thing. Anything after we use is just a mere copy.

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A48 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: 2o for beeRS>>20ForBeers.com:1337 (21:2/150)
  • From Commodore Clifford@21:3/171 to Darklord on Mon May 29 14:46:08 2023
    On 28 May 23 22:59:04 Darklord wrote...

    Actually no. I typically play melee characters. I don't recall ever
    playing a character that had the ability to cast Magic Missile. :)

    I love Fighters and BattleClerics, as well as a couple of other, more specialized classes (depending on what version you're playing) such
    as Cavalier in Pathfinder or the Holy Avenger in 4e. Oath of Enmity
    for the win!

    To which Commodore Clifford replies...

    Honestly, I skipped most of 3rd and 4th ed D&D. We played 2nd my first
    time through college. We had just started looking at 3rd when we all
    kinda went our separate ways. I bought the player's handbook, but I
    don't know if I ever even got the DM guide (and usually, that's my first
    two purchases together). I didn't touch or think about the game really
    until I went back to finish the degree, and by then 5th edition was
    coming out.

    And now... googling the date on that.... am I hearing right? They're
    ending 5th edition now?

    Now it's "One D&D"? Why not "D&D X"?

    Well... need to read up on that. So much for being productive on the
    last day of the long weekend.

    --- RATSoft/FIDO v09.14.95 [JetMail 1.01]
    * Origin: STar Fleet HQ - Running on real Atari ST Hardware! (21:3/171)
  • From hollowone@21:2/150 to Commodore Clifford on Mon May 29 19:21:21 2023
    And now... googling the date on that.... am I hearing right? They're ending 5th edition now?

    You haven't missed much. Modern DnD (5e) is safe narrative like if you watched Disney while expecting Burton's imagination.

    ODD variances, PathFinder and coming back to 2e plus customization of rules (like Player's Options that basically create 3e feeling) can keep you busy with DnD until end of your life.. you just need to find bargain prices as books can be expensive or buy PDFs and self-print and bind them (which is my way).

    I'd totally skip D&D to other variances of similar rules but I have huge sentiment to it's old worlds and narrative that WOTC desperately wants to keep nice and friendly and politically correct to match current WOKE generation of people who seek racism, sexism and other injustice in its past fantasies.


    Now it's "One D&D"? Why not "D&D X"?

    yeah, more disney, less books.. all online

    -h1

    ... Xerox Alto was the thing. Anything after we use is just a mere copy.

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A48 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: 2o for beeRS>>20ForBeers.com:1337 (21:2/150)
  • From Arelor@21:2/138 to Commodore Clifford on Tue May 30 00:30:27 2023
    Re: Re: Tabletop war and roleplaying games
    By: Commodore Clifford to Darklord on Mon May 29 2023 07:46 am

    And now... googling the date on that.... am I hearing right? They're
    ending 5th edition now?

    Now it's "One D&D"? Why not "D&D X"?

    It has already been talked about, so in order not to repeat the whole thread:

    Summary is they want to turn the next iteration of DnD into a rolling release that you access over a subscription model.

    --
    gopher://gopher.richardfalken.com/1/richardfalken
    --- SBBSecho 3.20-Linux
    * Origin: Palantir * palantirbbs.ddns.net * Pensacola, FL * (21:2/138)
  • From Arelor@21:2/138 to Commodore Clifford on Tue May 30 00:43:38 2023
    Re: Re: Tabletop war and roleplaying games
    By: Commodore Clifford to Darklord on Mon May 29 2023 07:46 am

    Honestly, I skipped most of 3rd and 4th ed D&D. We played 2nd my first

    By the way, I think missing 4th Edition is not missing much. It had some good ideas but also massive flaws, and it didn't feel like DnD at all. They should have sold it as a skirmishing game under a different name, in my opinion.

    Lots of people swear for 3rd edition (and that is why we have Pathfinder today). I personally find it a bit too burdensome to play.

    I tend to like 5th Edition. It manages to be very "gamey" without being slow or heavy on technicalities. It also feels like a family version of something that was dark and then was watered down - just as if they remade the original Frankenstein movie and removed the haunting parts in order to make it more PG friendly. This is the reason why I like it, but not "that much" :-)



    --
    gopher://gopher.richardfalken.com/1/richardfalken
    --- SBBSecho 3.20-Linux
    * Origin: Palantir * palantirbbs.ddns.net * Pensacola, FL * (21:2/138)
  • From Darklord@21:3/171 to Commodore Clifford on Tue May 30 07:07:44 2023
    On 29 May 23 07:46:08 Commodore Clifford wrote...

    To which Commodore Clifford replies...

    Honestly, I skipped most of 3rd and 4th ed D&D. We played 2nd my
    first time through college. We had just started looking at 3rd when
    we all kinda went our separate ways. I bought the player's handbook,
    but I don't know if I ever even got the DM guide (and usually, that's
    my first two purchases together). I didn't touch or think about the
    game really until I went back to finish the degree, and by then 5th
    edition was coming out.

    And now... googling the date on that.... am I hearing right? They're ending 5th edition now?

    Now it's "One D&D"? Why not "D&D X"?

    Well... need to read up on that. So much for being productive on the
    last day of the long weekend.

    To which Darklord replies...

    I think most people are calling it " 6 "... :)



    /\
    Dark><Lord
    \/

    --- RATSoft/FIDO v09.14.95 [JetMail 1.01]
    * Origin: STar Fleet HQ - Running on real Atari ST Hardware! (21:3/171)
  • From Darklord@21:3/171 to hollowone on Tue May 30 07:15:00 2023
    On 29 May 23 00:49:00 hollowone wrote...

    Oh come on... and how about that mountain dwarf who farted it every
    dinner, especially if an elf was close by, at the table? :>

    I'm sure that would be politically incorrect and racist to play dwarf
    like that today...

    -h1


    To which Darklord replies...

    Methinks you're confusing "Putrid" Missile with Magic Missile... :)

    And yeah, some of the politically (over)correct crowd would probably scream racial appropriation if we didn't get "real" Dwarves to play the Dwarven characters in our games... :) :) :)


    /\
    Dark><Lord
    \/

    --- RATSoft/FIDO v09.14.95 [JetMail 1.01]
    * Origin: STar Fleet HQ - Running on real Atari ST Hardware! (21:3/171)
  • From hollowone@21:2/150 to Darklord on Tue May 30 08:53:26 2023
    Methinks you're confusing "Putrid" Missile with Magic Missile... :)

    Aye.. could be so matey, could be so! :)


    And yeah, some of the politically (over)correct crowd would probably scream racial appropriation if we didn't get "real" Dwarves to play the Dwarven characters in our games... :) :) :)


    Fucking elves were always fag! I kept sayin' so until I plugged a fucking arrow off my butt one day! Now I just say... fucking elves. period! :)

    Back to diggin'

    -h1

    ... Xerox Alto was the thing. Anything after we use is just a mere copy.

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A48 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: 2o for beeRS>>20ForBeers.com:1337 (21:2/150)
  • From Commodore Clifford@21:3/171 to Arelor on Tue May 30 20:16:08 2023
    I've heard that too about 4th edition (not missing much).

    For D&D 5... Yeah, I liked it too... but anymore I find I just don't like random groups with all that's going on (with the world and all).

    But since my friends are all old like me and have jobs... not much chance
    of getting the gang back together.

    --- RATSoft/FIDO v09.14.95 [JetMail 1.01]
    * Origin: STar Fleet HQ - Running on real Atari ST Hardware! (21:3/171)
  • From Darklord@21:3/171 to Arelor on Fri Jun 2 06:54:44 2023
    On 29 May 23 17:43:38 Arelor wrote...

    By the way, I think missing 4th Edition is not missing much. It had
    some good ideas but also massive flaws, and it didn't feel like DnD
    at all. They should have sold it as a skirmishing game under a
    different name, in my opinion.

    Lots of people swear for 3rd edition (and that is why we have
    Pathfinder today). I personally find it a bit too burdensome to play.

    I tend to like 5th Edition. It manages to be very "gamey" without
    being slow or heavy on technicalities. It also feels like a family
    version of something that was dark and then was watered down - just
    as if they remade the original Frankenstein movie and removed the
    haunting parts in order to make it more PG friendly. This is the
    reason why I like it, but not "that much" :-)


    To which Darklord replies...

    I like Pathfinder, I like 4th edition (tendency for combat to get really involved and lengthy but there are ways to get around that), and 5th
    Edition feels like "D&D Lite" to me... :)


    /\
    Dark><Lord
    \/

    --- RATSoft/FIDO v09.14.95 [JetMail 1.01]
    * Origin: STar Fleet HQ - Running on real Atari ST Hardware! (21:3/171)
  • From Darklord@21:3/171 to hollowone on Fri Jun 2 06:58:54 2023
    On 30 May 23 01:53:26 hollowone wrote...

    Aye.. could be so matey, could be so! :)


    And yeah, some of the politically (over)correct crowd would
    probably scream racial appropriation if we didn't get "real"
    Dwarves to play the Dwarven characters in our games... :) :)
    :)


    Fucking elves were always fag! I kept sayin' so until I plugged a
    fucking arrow off my butt one day! Now I just say... fucking elves.
    period! :)

    Back to diggin'

    -h1


    To which Darklord replies...

    LOL...and since you're " diggin' " you might as well have a nice
    soundtrack to go along with it. Check this out (if you've not already
    seen it). :)

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34CZjsEI1yU


    /\
    Dark><Lord
    \/

    --- RATSoft/FIDO v09.14.95 [JetMail 1.01]
    * Origin: STar Fleet HQ - Running on real Atari ST Hardware! (21:3/171)
  • From hollowone@21:2/150 to Darklord on Fri Jun 2 11:48:00 2023
    LOL...and since you're " diggin' " you might as well have a nice soundtrack to go along with it. Check this out (if you've not already
    seen it). :)

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34CZjsEI1yU

    It's played now. Thanks for sharing, much appreciated.
    I love these High Fantasy mellodic metal in styles like Blind Guarian, Nightwish or WIthin Temptation. I just added them (Wind Rose) to the bucket.

    -h1

    ... Xerox Alto was the thing. Anything after we use is just a mere copy.

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A48 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: 2o for beeRS>>20ForBeers.com:1337 (21:2/150)
  • From Arelor@21:2/138 to Darklord on Sat Jun 3 13:49:15 2023
    Re: Re: Tabletop war and roleplaying games
    By: Darklord to Arelor on Thu Jun 01 2023 11:54 pm

    I like Pathfinder, I like 4th edition (tendency for combat to get really involved and lengthy but there are ways to get around that), and 5th
    Edition feels like "D&D Lite" to me... :)


    DnD 4th feels so much like a skirmishing game at its core.

    I think it plays fine as an RPG until you hit parangon tier. Past level 12 or so, you start hitting combats that are decided in a couple of rounds and then drag on and on and on despite the fact there is no longer much tension.

    It took them years to incorporate an official attempt at a fix (with one of their newer manuals featuring threats that died faster but also killed faster, therefore leading to much faster combat).

    --
    gopher://gopher.richardfalken.com/1/richardfalken
    --- SBBSecho 3.20-Linux
    * Origin: Palantir * palantirbbs.ddns.net * Pensacola, FL * (21:2/138)
  • From hollowone@21:2/150 to Arelor on Thu May 4 19:49:26 2023
    Everybody seems to think that RPG players are social pariah's with no friends who end
    up playing in dirty basements or whatever. They often tell you to do "healthy activities like playing videogames" instead. In reality, RPG sessions are all about
    social interaction and spending time with friends.


    I'd not survive a single month in corporate environment if I did not play tabletop rpgs focused so much on politics and intrigue for years before.

    You'd not believe sometimes how playing Vampire:Masquerade was no different to work at Microsoft back in Gates/Balmer times :>

    Game session invented quotes like 'fuck this dude, I have more powerful friends than him" used in real life suck though.

    -h1

    ... Xerox Alto was the thing. Anything after we use is just a mere copy.

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A48 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: 2o for beeRS>>20ForBeers.com:1337 (21:2/150)
  • From Arelor@21:2/138 to hollowone on Fri May 5 13:34:33 2023
    Re: Re: Tabletop war and roleplaying games
    By: hollowone to Arelor on Thu May 04 2023 12:49 pm

    You'd not believe sometimes how playing Vampire:Masquerade was no different


    Ah, so junior employees in Microsoft attack senior employees and drink their blood so they can become as powerful as the senir employees? And then they get a Humanity Score reduction? This explains so much.

    --
    gopher://gopher.richardfalken.com/1/richardfalken
    --- SBBSecho 3.20-Linux
    * Origin: Palantir * palantirbbs.ddns.net * Pensacola, FL * (21:2/138)
  • From Jimmy Anderson@21:3/122 to hollowone on Sat May 6 04:20:00 2023
    hollowone wrote to Al <=-

    This would be as good a place as any.
    I can't think of another more appropriate are in any net.

    That's nice. As a part of my retro experience bonanza i started coming back also to old RPG books, first and second edition (Advanced) D&D
    most nominally.

    Did anybody here discover similar passion?

    Yeah - old time RPG'er here too. :-) Top Secret by TSR (the
    first edition, not SI) was my first RPG back in the day...

    AD&D 2e was the first "fantasy" RPG I played, and I have
    some books in the pod (had some MAJOR floor reworking, so had
    to box up almost everything from the house - haven't pulled
    them back in yet) that I wouldn't mind getting rid of...




    ... Then the manure hit the rotary air displacement unit.
    === MultiMail/Mac v0.52
    --- SBBSecho 3.11-Win32
    * Origin: Final Zone BBS (21:3/122)
  • From Jimmy Anderson@21:3/122 to Darklord on Sat May 6 04:22:00 2023
    Darklord wrote to hollowone <=-

    Don't give so easy guy - I'm 61 and I still play with my 32 year old
    son and some of his younger friends. Find a good local group and go for it!

    Or go to a con and find other 'old guys' like us :-) I'm 56, BTW.



    ... The truth is out there... Anyone know the URL?
    === MultiMail/Mac v0.52
    --- SBBSecho 3.11-Win32
    * Origin: Final Zone BBS (21:3/122)
  • From Jimmy Anderson@21:3/122 to Abbub on Sat May 6 04:26:00 2023
    Abbub wrote to Hollowone <=-

    Good that we're blessed with such a rich retro trpg offering on rpgdrivethrough.com that is my blessing if I can't find old book store
    with some antique DnD books somebody left for a good price. That rarely

    We have a used record/book/game store down in Denver called 'Black and Read' that has a fantastic selection of TTRPG books, both new and used.
    I was really happy when the 'vinyl revival' happened, not so much
    because I cared about buying records but because the traffic picked up enough in that store that I didn't have to worry about it going out of business. :D

    We don't have one within 2 hours of me, but Half Price Books is a favorite
    when we go to Indy...




    ... I know a good tagline when I steal one!
    === MultiMail/Mac v0.52
    --- SBBSecho 3.11-Win32
    * Origin: Final Zone BBS (21:3/122)
  • From Jimmy Anderson@21:3/122 to Commodore Clifford on Sat May 6 04:28:00 2023
    Commodore Clifford wrote to Darklord <=-

    There was a guy at the last job who started a D&D Campaign with the co-workers. Funny thing was that eventually the wives/girlfriends
    joined in... Most were new to the game. In the end, they found they
    were playing for the comraderie but most of them ended up not liking
    the game so much.

    That's where board games come in. :-) You 'wipe the slate' with each
    new session, and you can play different games...



    ... Act my age? I've never BEEN my age before!
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    --- SBBSecho 3.11-Win32
    * Origin: Final Zone BBS (21:3/122)
  • From Margaerynne@21:2/138 to Arelor on Sat May 6 05:54:09 2023
    Re: Re: Tabletop war and roleplaying games
    By: Arelor to Darklord on Tue May 02 2023 09:23 pm

    Everybody seems to think that RPG players are social pariah's with no friends who end
    up playing in dirty basements or whatever. They often tell you to do "healthy activities like playing videogames"
    instead. In reality, RPG sessions are all about
    social interaction and spending time with friends.

    I can't say I've ever heard anyone say video games are a healthy activity, but I've also only ever seen
    1/7B of the human experience.

    I wonder if D&D hasn't shifted too far in the social direction, though! There's so much buzz around
    etiquette, culture, and standards in the D&D community, and it sometimes makes me wonder if we're
    not pushing out the antisocial geeks who were here first.


    Granted, I'm about as boring and normal as they come, so I'm definitely part of the problem.


    I wish I was cool enough to have a weird, off-putting dnd character
    --- SBBSecho 3.20-Linux
    * Origin: Palantir * palantirbbs.ddns.net * Pensacola, FL * (21:2/138)
  • From Darklord@21:3/171 to Arelor on Sat May 6 03:54:46 2023
    On 02 May 23 21:23:48 Arelor wrote...

    I have always found the irony overwelming.

    Everybody seems to think that RPG players are social pariah's with no friends who end up playing in dirty basements or whatever. They often
    tell you to do "healthy activities like playing videogames" instead.
    In reality, RPG sessions are all about social interaction and
    spending time with friends.


    To which Darklord replies...

    Exactly...! :)


    /\
    Dark><Lord
    \/

    --- RATSoft/FIDO v09.14.95 [JetMail 1.01]
    * Origin: STar Fleet HQ - Running on real Atari ST Hardware! (21:3/171)
  • From Commodore Clifford@21:3/171 to Darklord on Sat May 6 06:51:20 2023
    On 05 May 23 20:54:46 Darklord wrote...

    On 02 May 23 21:23:48 Arelor wrote...

    I have always found the irony overwelming.

    Everybody seems to think that RPG players are social pariah's
    with no friends who end up playing in dirty basements or
    whatever. They often tell you to do "healthy activities like
    playing videogames" instead. In reality, RPG sessions are all
    about social interaction and spending time with friends.


    To which Darklord replies...

    Exactly...! :)

    To which Commodore Clifford replies...

    Just so we're all clear, I know this guy... he's agreeing to the "social pariah" part about playin in dirty basements. Trust me... I've seen the pictures.

    --- RATSoft/FIDO v09.14.95 [JetMail 1.01]
    * Origin: STar Fleet HQ - Running on real Atari ST Hardware! (21:3/171)
  • From Commodore Clifford@21:3/171 to Jimmy Anderson on Sat May 6 07:33:22 2023
    On 05 May 23 21:22:00 Jimmy Anderson wrote...

    Darklord wrote to hollowone <=-

    Don't give so easy guy - I'm 61 and I still play with my 32 year
    old son and some of his younger friends. Find a good local group
    and go for it!

    Or go to a con and find other 'old guys' like us :-) I'm 56, BTW.



    ... The truth is out there... Anyone know the URL? === MultiMail/Mac
    v0.52 --- SBBSecho 3.11-Win32 * Origin: Final Zone BBS (21:3/122)

    To which Commodore Clifford replies...

    Spent some decent time at Origins and Gencon... For a young pup at 50.

    --- RATSoft/FIDO v09.14.95 [JetMail 1.01]
    * Origin: STar Fleet HQ - Running on real Atari ST Hardware! (21:3/171)
  • From Commodore Clifford@21:3/171 to Jimmy Anderson on Sat May 6 07:34:26 2023
    On 05 May 23 21:26:00 Jimmy Anderson wrote...

    Abbub wrote to Hollowone <=-

    Good that we're blessed with such a rich retro trpg offering on rpgdrivethrough.com that is my blessing if I can't find old book
    store with some antique DnD books somebody left for a good price.
    That rarely

    We have a used record/book/game store down in Denver called
    'Black and Read' that has a fantastic selection of TTRPG books,
    both new and used. I was really happy when the 'vinyl revival' happened, not so much because I cared about buying records but
    because the traffic picked up enough in that store that I didn't
    have to worry about it going out of business. :D

    We don't have one within 2 hours of me, but Half Price Books is a
    favorite when we go to Indy...



    ... I know a good tagline when I steal one! === MultiMail/Mac v0.52
    --- SBBSecho 3.11-Win32 * Origin: Final Zone BBS (21:3/122)

    To which Commodore Clifford replies...

    I feel fortunate that we have a friendly local game store that has
    regular gaming nights... alas, I don't attend much... been years... but
    knowing that I could is a great feeling.

    --- RATSoft/FIDO v09.14.95 [JetMail 1.01]
    * Origin: STar Fleet HQ - Running on real Atari ST Hardware! (21:3/171)
  • From Commodore Clifford@21:3/171 to Margaerynne on Sat May 6 21:45:50 2023
    On 05 May 23 22:54:09 Margaerynne wrote...

    I wonder if D&D hasn't shifted too far in the social direction,
    though! There's so much buzz around etiquette, culture, and
    standards in the D&D community, and it sometimes makes me wonder if
    we're not pushing out the antisocial geeks who were here first.

    Granted, I'm about as boring and normal as they come, so I'm
    definitely part of the problem.

    I wish I was cool enough to have a weird, off-putting dnd character
    --- SBBSecho 3.20-Linux * Origin: Palantir * palantirbbs.ddns.net * Pensacola, FL * (21:2/138)

    To which Commodore Clifford replies...

    I think part of it was due to how they pushed game stores to really adopt
    the in store play. Before, you organized your own group, usually in your
    own home. If you were playing in the store, it was pretty much the same
    thing, just in a public building.

    But when they went to standardizing the experience and opening it to all,
    now you're essentially creating a situation where you never know who is
    going to be at the table. Now you need to have all that etiquette,
    culture, standards and all that.

    Before, if someone disagreed or was "offended". Well, you don't invite
    that person back. Now, you're kinda stuck with them.

    It's actually why I quit going to the weekday gaming sessions at the
    local store. There was this one guy... The guy who figured out how to do
    the double wield heavy crossbow that can fire every round, but still
    points out every little rules mistake that each player makes to the
    detriment of his own party (even when the DM says "no, it's fine, I'll
    allow it" he is still arguing and won't stand down until the DM agrees
    with him).

    What's worse, he didn't even have transportation... he was being brought
    by another HS kid who was kinda guilted by the parentals into bringing
    him. That poor kid was always apologizing for bringing the kid who was
    ruining everyone.

    --- RATSoft/FIDO v09.14.95 [JetMail 1.01]
    * Origin: STar Fleet HQ - Running on real Atari ST Hardware! (21:3/171)
  • From Margaerynne@21:2/138 to Commodore Clifford on Sun May 7 19:15:56 2023
    Re: Re: Tabletop war and roleplaying games
    By: Commodore Clifford to Margaerynne on Sat May 06 2023 02:45 pm

    But when they went to standardizing the experience and opening it to all, now you're essentially creating a situation where you never know who is going to be at the table. Now you need to have all that etiquette,
    culture, standards and all that.

    That's definitely a good point! Having to tailor the experience to the
    subculture-at-large, rather than your small group of friends.

    (Maybe there are parallels with small/large internet communities?
    More self-selection leads to everyone feeling a little more at home,
    rather than being in digital public all the time)


    Before, if someone disagreed or was "offended". Well, you don't invite
    that person back. Now, you're kinda stuck with them.

    Or you gave them a second chance, because you know them through another channel.
    If your friend is bad at D&D, you can fix that. If you meet a guy through D&D and
    he ruins the mood, then literally all you know about him is that he's unpleasant,
    so there's no reason to tolerate him anymore,



    Also, that sounds painful with the high schooler, but I can't really throw stones.
    I'm sure my cousin's DM breathed a sigh of relief when I wasn't tagging along to their
    sessions anymore.
    --- SBBSecho 3.20-Linux
    * Origin: Palantir * palantirbbs.ddns.net * Pensacola, FL * (21:2/138)
  • From Arelor@21:2/138 to Margaerynne on Sun May 7 23:55:10 2023
    Re: Re: Tabletop war and roleplaying games
    By: Margaerynne to Arelor on Fri May 05 2023 10:54 pm

    I can't say I've ever heard anyone say video games are a healthy activity,
    1/7B of the human experience.

    I wonder if D&D hasn't shifted too far in the social direction, though! The
    etiquette, culture, and standards in the D&D community, and it sometimes ma
    not pushing out the antisocial geeks who were here first.


    Granted, I'm about as boring and normal as they come, so I'm definitely par


    I wish I was cool enough to have a weird, off-putting dnd character

    Well, my experience is a lot of people in high school and college would try to pull me off my rpg hobby because it was something only freaks played. They would try to convince me to partake in politically acceptable forms of social interaction, like getting drunk with friends and everything else teenagers and young adults do.

    D&D has a commercial product has definitively shifted its focus, which is the reason why so much people is staying with old editions, or outright playing other games. The D&D team is trying so hard not to get ANYBODY offended that it feels they are watering down the whole experience. D&D as of today is the least common-denominator of medium-weight games. It is like a tabletop Disney experience of sorts.

    Compàre that to games like Aquelarre, based on Spanish and Arab myths as recorded in ancient folklore. A random local legend would be that there was a water demon living in a cave that would wreck your ass if you disturbed him too much. Combined with middle-age lore in which people from certain ethnic groups was considered less than human, women were considered not to have a soul and other niceties, this caused the game to be edgy and tense well before the characters started fighting hellspawns.

    My group got started with Warhammer Fantasy RPG and it was a blast precisely because the setting didn't pull punches. People in Warhammer is Xenophobic, but that is ok because foreigners are Xenophobic torwards you. You generated your character mostly at random and could find yourself either being the son of a wealthy lord or a prostitute trying to make it past another day.


    --
    gopher://gopher.richardfalken.com/1/richardfalken
    --- SBBSecho 3.20-Linux
    * Origin: Palantir * palantirbbs.ddns.net * Pensacola, FL * (21:2/138)
  • From Arelor@21:2/138 to Commodore Clifford on Mon May 8 00:00:08 2023
    Re: Re: Tabletop war and roleplaying games
    By: Commodore Clifford to Margaerynne on Sat May 06 2023 02:45 pm


    I think part of it was due to how they pushed game stores to really adopt the in store play. Before, you organized your own group, usually in your own home. If you were playing in the store, it was pretty much the same thing, just in a public building.


    My understanding is that the begining of the hobby was based on open tables, for good reason.

    The game club would have a dungeon master running a campaign session at a known time of the week. Random people would show up and the dungeon master would direct an expedition into the dungeon with whoever had shown up.

    We used to run a similar campaign years ago. It worked very well.

    --
    gopher://gopher.richardfalken.com/1/richardfalken
    --- SBBSecho 3.20-Linux
    * Origin: Palantir * palantirbbs.ddns.net * Pensacola, FL * (21:2/138)
  • From Bikerbob@21:3/171 to Darklord on Tue May 9 04:21:52 2023
    On 24 Apr 23 22:08:38 Darklord wrote...

    Don't give so easy guy - I'm 61 and I still play with my 32 year old
    son and some of his younger friends. Find a good local group and go
    for it!

    :)

    /\
    Dark><Lord
    \/

    --- RATSoft/FIDO v09.14.95 [JetMail 1.01] * Origin: STar Fleet HQ - Running on real Atari ST Hardware! (21:3/171)

    To which Bikerbob replies...

    yeah.. finding groups is tough. I would still like to have something
    going. but I also have to admit I am not really open to new roleplaying
    games and gamers, I find creativity really lacking.. I love old school
    systems and people who really like to "get into the character" and play everythign about the character - its bonuses and flaws.

    James

    --- RATSoft/FIDO v09.14.95 [JetMail 1.01]
    * Origin: STar Fleet HQ - Running on real Atari ST Hardware! (21:3/171)
  • From Commodore Clifford@21:3/171 to Bikerbob on Tue May 9 15:35:14 2023
    On 08 May 23 21:21:52 Bikerbob wrote...

    To which Bikerbob replies...

    yeah.. finding groups is tough. I would still like to have something
    going. but I also have to admit I am not really open to new
    roleplaying games and gamers, I find creativity really lacking.. I
    love old school systems and people who really like to "get into the character" and play everythign about the character - its bonuses and
    flaws.

    James

    --- RATSoft/FIDO v09.14.95 [JetMail 1.01] * Origin: STar Fleet HQ - Running on real Atari ST Hardware! (21:3/171)

    To which Commodore Clifford replies...

    I'm more a GURPS fan myself. Same set of rules, any genre you want, with
    as much/or as little realism as you like.

    --- RATSoft/FIDO v09.14.95 [JetMail 1.01]
    * Origin: STar Fleet HQ - Running on real Atari ST Hardware! (21:3/171)
  • From Arelor@21:2/138 to Commodore Clifford on Wed May 10 00:29:37 2023
    Re: Re: Tabletop war and roleplaying games
    By: Commodore Clifford to Bikerbob on Tue May 09 2023 08:35 am

    I'm more a GURPS fan myself. Same set of rules, any genre you want, with
    as much/or as little realism as you like.


    I have never played GURPS myself. It looks like a wet dream for Game Masters that love to overprepare.

    GUPRS feels like the Gentoo of RPGs in that they don't give you a system which is ready to go out of the box: they give you a massive set of tools, and you combine modules from here and there to make what you need.

    It is the sort of thing I would pick if I had comitted players, just like Rolemaster. If you have players who want to play a month long mini-campaign and then want to try another system, you cannot really bet on one that takes too long to prepare.

    --
    gopher://gopher.richardfalken.com/1/richardfalken
    --- SBBSecho 3.20-Linux
    * Origin: Palantir * palantirbbs.ddns.net * Pensacola, FL * (21:2/138)
  • From Commodore Clifford@21:3/171 to Arelor on Fri May 12 05:39:44 2023
    On 09 May 23 17:29:37 Arelor wrote...

    Re: Re: Tabletop war and roleplaying games By: Commodore Clifford
    to Bikerbob on Tue May 09 2023 08:35 am

    I'm more a GURPS fan myself. Same set of rules, any genre you
    want, with as much/or as little realism as you like.


    I have never played GURPS myself. It looks like a wet dream for Game Masters that love to overprepare.

    GUPRS feels like the Gentoo of RPGs in that they don't give you a
    system which is ready to go out of the box: they give you a massive
    set of tools, and you combine modules from here and there to make
    what you need.

    To which Commodore Clifford replies...

    In some ways, that depends. There are also the "GURPS Lite" rules which
    is really just a few pages of free PDF. There are sourcebooks that let
    you "do it yourself" but also full blown modules for those who don't want
    to have to build worlds. A lot of content is on the Warehouse23/E23 site
    (or whatever they call it today, I think it got recently redone). A lot
    of that is inexpensive downloadable content.

    The main reason I like it, you can easily switch genres without having to
    make the players re-learn a new core rules system. Today, it's a
    contemporary police office campaign, patrolling the streets, keeping the
    city safe... until... they stumble upon a secret alien presence in the
    city... then the government "recruits" them to a black ops campaign as
    they "already know too much"... but then, who are the real bad guys? Now
    the party is working to help the aliens..... in their home galaxy (so now
    it's a space campaign).


    And you never had to re-roll or learn the new rule set.

    --- RATSoft/FIDO v09.14.95 [JetMail 1.01]
    * Origin: STar Fleet HQ - Running on real Atari ST Hardware! (21:3/171)
  • From Arelor@21:2/138 to Commodore Clifford on Fri May 12 13:42:44 2023
    Re: Re: Tabletop war and roleplaying games
    By: Commodore Clifford to Arelor on Thu May 11 2023 10:39 pm

    In some ways, that depends. There are also the "GURPS Lite" rules which
    is really just a few pages of free PDF. There are sourcebooks that let
    you "do it yourself" but also full blown modules for those who don't want
    to have to build worlds. A lot of content is on the Warehouse23/E23 site (or whatever they call it today, I think it got recently redone). A lot
    of that is inexpensive downloadable content.

    I have the Discworld RPG (which is GURPS 3rd edition, I think) and the corebooks for 4th edition. I also have the Fantasy suplement.

    Using a pre-packaged GURPS (such as Discworld) seems to me like a great way of saving time, but it is still Game Master heavy when compared to most things I usually put on the table.

    You can build a player character just like you want it to be because the GURPS toolbox is impressive, but that also means you either have a group composed of comitted players in order to take advantage of it, or use pregens. My experience using pregens with medium-to-heavyweight games is not great because non-comitted players tend to forget how their characters work if they have not created them themselves.

    I think *good* generic PRG systems are nice for the reasons you have stated (ie. learn the system once, play any genre you want without switching rules) but when I GM for uncomitted players I'd rather not spend an afternoon adapting a generic system for a setting. I prefer to keep a collection of lightweight nonñ-generic systems you can explain to the players in 15 minutes. It is not great, but it removes burden from my shoulders.

    See also the OpenD6 series of games. OpenD6 is a generic engine with has pre-packaged adaptations for Fantasy, Science-Fiction and pulp-style Adventure. It has a couple of off-shots which are very lightweight adaptations and I am way more likely to pick any of those if I need a generic system.

    --
    gopher://gopher.richardfalken.com/1/richardfalken
    --- SBBSecho 3.20-Linux
    * Origin: Palantir * palantirbbs.ddns.net * Pensacola, FL * (21:2/138)
  • From Darklord@21:3/171 to Commodore Clifford on Fri May 12 23:14:42 2023
    On 05 May 23 23:51:20 Commodore Clifford wrote...

    To which Commodore Clifford replies...

    Just so we're all clear, I know this guy... he's agreeing to the
    "social pariah" part about playin in dirty basements. Trust me...
    I've seen the pictures.

    To which Darklord replies...

    You're just jealous 'cause you wasn't invited that time...! :)


    /\
    Dark><Lord
    \/

    --- RATSoft/FIDO v09.14.95 [JetMail 1.01]
    * Origin: STar Fleet HQ - Running on real Atari ST Hardware! (21:3/171)
  • From Darklord@21:3/171 to Jimmy Anderson on Fri May 12 23:16:38 2023
    On 05 May 23 21:22:00 Jimmy Anderson wrote...


    Or go to a con and find other 'old guys' like us :-) I'm 56, BTW.


    To which Darklord replies...

    Ha, that would work fine too! :)


    /\
    Dark><Lord
    \/

    --- RATSoft/FIDO v09.14.95 [JetMail 1.01]
    * Origin: STar Fleet HQ - Running on real Atari ST Hardware! (21:3/171)
  • From Darklord@21:3/171 to Bikerbob on Fri May 12 23:44:32 2023
    On 08 May 23 21:21:52 Bikerbob wrote...

    On 24 Apr 23 22:08:38 Darklord wrote...

    Don't give so easy guy - I'm 61 and I still play with my 32 year
    old son and some of his younger friends. Find a good local group
    and go for it!

    :)

    /\

    Dark><Lord
    \/

    --- RATSoft/FIDO v09.14.95 [JetMail 1.01] * Origin: STar Fleet
    HQ - Running on real Atari ST Hardware! (21:3/171)

    To which Bikerbob replies...

    yeah.. finding groups is tough. I would still like to have something
    going. but I also have to admit I am not really open to new
    roleplaying games and gamers, I find creativity really lacking.. I
    love old school systems and people who really like to "get into the character" and play everythign about the character - its bonuses and
    flaws.

    James

    --- RATSoft/FIDO v09.14.95 [JetMail 1.01] * Origin: STar Fleet HQ - Running on real Atari ST Hardware! (21:3/171)

    To which Darklord replies...

    And that's not a bad approach. Lots of people orientate that way. Some
    prefer the combat, some prefer the social interaction, some prefer the background stories for their characters and spend endless amounts of time perfecting them. There's pretty much room for all, IMHO. :)

    /\
    Dark><Lord
    \/

    --- RATSoft/FIDO v09.14.95 [JetMail 1.01]
    * Origin: STar Fleet HQ - Running on real Atari ST Hardware! (21:3/171)
  • From Commodore Clifford@21:3/171 to Arelor on Sat May 13 14:27:00 2023
    Valid points... I'm not a fan of some systems because of levels. I
    really hate the concept of levels and I really hate the way "hit points"
    tend to work, which is another reason I'm a big fan of GURPS.

    I mean, sure... all those systems have a rule like "well, if something
    happens that is obviously fatal, you're dead". But let's face it, you're
    going to have a hard time as a DM pulling that without argument. For
    most people, getting shot in the head tends to be pretty fatal.

    But there are real life exceptions where the universe had other plans.

    So the concept of someone just sitting there taking hit after hit after
    hit and just laughing it off, until they're finally killed by a 1 point
    hit from a little girl smacking their big toe with a hammer just doesn't
    work for me. (And again, people might say there are asterixs everywhere
    in that, but we know how it tends to go in practice).

    And the amount of source material is amazing. Just got the "marketing
    mail" yesterday.

    They have a book/module for so many little things to give you as much, or
    as little detail as you want. So to say that the GM has to do a lot...
    really depends. There are a lot of resources out there that you can just
    slap together.

    Now for anyone who really wants to take it seriously, I highly recommend
    one of the character generator/maintenance apps out there. Saves a lot
    of time.

    But then again, at the end of the day, I'm not really trying to be the
    sales rep for SJG... And it's not the only system I play.... I'm going to
    take a serious look at the OpenD6 as well. Not to mention I have tons of little "Indie" systems that are kinda cool.

    One of my favorites was actually designed by a game company in Cleveland
    OH (I'm about 30 min southish). We met at Gencon to play one of their
    games called "Spacers" (think 50's 60's sci-fi B movie genre RPG) and
    then later played one called "CrawlSpace".

    So imagine this as an RP genre. Your "character" is an "actor" in a
    horror film (naturally a low-budget sub-B flick). This has some really
    great possibilities as death just means you get "Darrened" into a
    different part. One time when my "character" "died" unnecessarily in the "movie" I pitched a royal diva fit and insisted that "Steven Rynn does
    NOT die as an AFTERTHOUGHT!" and "made the director rewrite the scene".

    Another player was kind of stumped as to what his character should do
    next in the movie and ended up just shouting "LINE!!!!" and the GM felt compelled to spoon feed the solution to the problem.

    The game system is so simple as well, and based on a deck of cards since
    the guy was originally designing some of these while serving in the army,
    where a deck of playing cards was always available but a dice set might
    not be.

    --- RATSoft/FIDO v09.14.95 [JetMail 1.01]
    * Origin: STar Fleet HQ - Running on real Atari ST Hardware! (21:3/171)
  • From Commodore Clifford@21:3/171 to Darklord on Sat May 13 14:28:32 2023
    On 12 May 23 16:14:42 Darklord wrote...

    On 05 May 23 23:51:20 Commodore Clifford wrote...

    To which Commodore Clifford replies...

    Just so we're all clear, I know this guy... he's agreeing to the "social pariah" part about playin in dirty basements. Trust
    me... I've seen the pictures.

    To which Darklord replies...

    You're just jealous 'cause you wasn't invited that time...! :)

    To which Commodore Clifford replies...

    Yeah... drinking "mountain dew" and "attacking the darkness" just like
    old times.

    --- RATSoft/FIDO v09.14.95 [JetMail 1.01]
    * Origin: STar Fleet HQ - Running on real Atari ST Hardware! (21:3/171)
  • From Commodore Clifford@21:3/171 to Darklord on Sat May 13 14:32:56 2023
    On 12 May 23 16:16:38 Darklord wrote...

    On 05 May 23 21:22:00 Jimmy Anderson wrote...


    Or go to a con and find other 'old guys' like us :-) I'm 56, BTW.


    To which Darklord replies...

    Ha, that would work fine too! :)

    To which Commodore Clifford replies...

    Really man... This year since I resolved the transportation situation so
    late I'm probably going to miss Gencon this year. Might try Origins
    since that's just in Columbus and the bosses boss will probably want me
    in town that week anyway. But next year, if you want we could meet up (probably bring the son along) for some good times.

    One of my biggest regrets was never going with my dad. He was more into
    the WWII miniture games, but never got to do one of those big ones. I
    finally got into a massive on at Gencon the year after he passed and I
    just couldn't shake the feeling about how he would have loved it.

    There's just nothing like being in a whole convention hall of people
    playing games like this (and some of these guys go all out) with like
    minded people you've never met.

    --- RATSoft/FIDO v09.14.95 [JetMail 1.01]
    * Origin: STar Fleet HQ - Running on real Atari ST Hardware! (21:3/171)
  • From SirRonmit@21:2/120 to all on Sat May 13 15:25:29 2023
    For me : I did get into D&D back in the mid 80s.

    But then I came across Star Frontiers, Top Secret & Top Secret S.I., and TWILIGHT:2000 (then they came out with the PC version).

    Timothy Norris
    aka SirRonmit
    admin@f4fbbs.com
    bbs.f4fbbs.com:62323

    ... A Meteor is an example of a rock star.

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A48 (Windows/32)
    * Origin: Files 4 Fun BBS (21:2/120)
  • From Abbub@21:2/145 to Commodore Clifford on Sat May 13 15:30:29 2023
    Yeah... drinking "mountain dew" and "attacking the darkness" just like
    old times.

    Well, my 'mature' gaming group has mostly graduated from 'mountain dew' to 'craft beer', but other than that, it's pretty much just like it used to be.

    ---
    * Origin: Telnet: bbs.WalledCTTY.com:1989 - Fort Collins, CO USA (21:2/145)
  • From Arelor@21:2/138 to Commodore Clifford on Mon May 15 19:18:39 2023
    Re: Re: Tabletop war and roleplaying games
    By: Commodore Clifford to Arelor on Sat May 13 2023 07:27 am

    Valid points... I'm not a fan of some systems because of levels. I
    really hate the concept of levels and I really hate the way "hit points" tend to work, which is another reason I'm a big fan of GURPS.

    I mean, sure... all those systems have a rule like "well, if something happens that is obviously fatal, you're dead". But let's face it, you're going to have a hard time as a DM pulling that without argument. For
    most people, getting shot in the head tends to be pretty fatal.

    Haha, that is called the Critical Existence Failure, or something similar.

    I think pure HP systems have a place if you want a gamey-styled sort of adventure, like dungeon crawls in which you break into the Castle of Evil, beat every baddie and take their stuff.

    I tend to like Rolemaster's approach: every time you take a meaningful hit you roll in a critical table. Depending on your result and the severity of the hit you take, you are given a particular wound with functional effects. One of the best RPG combats I have been involved with was a siege in which I played a support character. Our warrior was blocking a gateway while baddies tried to break in. Somebody hit the warrior in the knee and shattered it, so he fell down. Just as he was going to take a stab in the stomach, I took at shot at the baddie. He took the bullet in the shoulder and lost his sword.

    Most non HP systems I am aware of use wound levels or damage levels, though. Characters move down the damage ladder everytime they take a wound and receive a functional side effect.


    --
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  • From hollowone@21:2/150 to Arelor on Mon May 15 17:08:53 2023
    Ah, so junior employees in Microsoft attack senior employees and drink their blood so they can become as powerful as the senir employees? And then they get a Humanity Score reduction? This explains so much.

    More or less :>

    -h1

    ... Xerox Alto was the thing. Anything after we use is just a mere copy.

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A48 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: 2o for beeRS>>20ForBeers.com:1337 (21:2/150)
  • From hollowone@21:2/150 to Jimmy Anderson on Mon May 15 17:10:45 2023
    AD&D 2e was the first "fantasy" RPG I played, and I have
    some books in the pod (had some MAJOR floor reworking, so had
    to box up almost everything from the house - haven't pulled
    them back in yet) that I wouldn't mind getting rid of...

    Oh... I'm pretty sure shipping to Poland would not be an option...
    If it was,I'm curious what you have!

    -h1

    ... Xerox Alto was the thing. Anything after we use is just a mere copy.

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A48 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: 2o for beeRS>>20ForBeers.com:1337 (21:2/150)
  • From hollowone@21:2/150 to Margaerynne on Mon May 15 17:25:55 2023
    I wonder if D&D hasn't shifted too far in the social direction, though! There's so much buzz around
    etiquette, culture, and standards in the D&D community, and it
    sometimes makes me wonder if we're
    not pushing out the antisocial geeks who were here first.

    I believe if this was more traditional gathering of gamers it was social and creating some local bonds and communities connected to this passion.

    I wonder how it may go if that trend of having online games and online games only and streaming wins over traditional, little bit hectic sometimes but more social version of the same game.

    I'm perhaps to old to adopt D&D online sessions. I miss the vibe of all these discussions and side discussions, smell of the memory of the die rolled.

    -h1

    ... Xerox Alto was the thing. Anything after we use is just a mere copy.

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A48 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: 2o for beeRS>>20ForBeers.com:1337 (21:2/150)
  • From hollowone@21:2/150 to Commodore Clifford on Mon May 15 17:27:24 2023
    Just so we're all clear, I know this guy... he's agreeing to the "social pariah" part about playin in dirty basements. Trust me... I've seen the pictures.

    Stranger Things fans would instantly reply that this is the classic way of playing the game! NO BASEMENT, no fun :>

    -h1

    ... Xerox Alto was the thing. Anything after we use is just a mere copy.

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A48 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: 2o for beeRS>>20ForBeers.com:1337 (21:2/150)
  • From Arelor@21:2/138 to hollowone on Mon May 15 22:04:07 2023
    Re: Re: Tabletop war and roleplaying games
    By: hollowone to Margaerynne on Mon May 15 2023 10:25 am

    I'm perhaps to old to adopt D&D online sessions. I miss the vibe of all thes

    I have played my share of online RPGs but I don't think dungeon oriented games work that well.

    Modern D&D is supposed to be an exercise in tactics. That means that if you play online you are going to need a representation of the battlefield to show the players. I know there are technical solutions, but they don't look that flexible to me. Now, for playing detective games, horror games or storytelling games, you can make it work perfectly with just voice chat and a die bot.

    It is still much better in person.

    --
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    --- SBBSecho 3.20-Linux
    * Origin: Palantir * palantirbbs.ddns.net * Pensacola, FL * (21:2/138)
  • From Darklord@21:3/171 to hollowone on Thu Jun 8 17:01:54 2023
    On 02 Jun 23 04:48:00 hollowone wrote...

    It's played now. Thanks for sharing, much appreciated. I love these
    High Fantasy mellodic metal in styles like Blind Guarian, Nightwish
    or WIthin Temptation. I just added them (Wind Rose) to the bucket.

    -h1

    To which Darklord replies...

    You've very welcome and I love those bands and that "style" too! :)

    First time I heard (and watched the video for) "Ice Queen", "Wishmaster"
    and songs of that ilk I was forever *hooked* !


    /\
    Dark><Lord
    \/

    --- RATSoft/FIDO v09.14.95 [JetMail 1.01]
    * Origin: STar Fleet HQ - Running on real Atari ST Hardware! (21:3/171)
  • From Darklord@21:3/171 to Arelor on Thu Jun 8 17:06:14 2023
    On 03 Jun 23 06:49:15 Arelor wrote...


    DnD 4th feels so much like a skirmishing game at its core.

    I think it plays fine as an RPG until you hit parangon tier. Past
    level 12 or so, you start hitting combats that are decided in a
    couple of rounds and then drag on and on and on despite the fact
    there is no longer much tension.

    It took them years to incorporate an official attempt at a fix (with
    one of their newer manuals featuring threats that died faster but
    also killed faster, therefore leading to much faster combat).


    To which Darklord replies...

    I tend to agree - the later tiers became much more heavily involved.
    Quite a few people ( the DM especially!) complained about the number of interrupts availabe to the players and how much they derailed combat
    being streamlined.

    Our DM's tended to "home fix" the combat sessions even before the
    attempts at official fixs were made. They tended to mod existing
    opponents so that they were the proverbial "glass cannons" which made for
    much more exciting (and dangerous!) encounters but also usually over much quicker than when using the stock choices.


    /\
    Dark><Lord
    \/

    --- RATSoft/FIDO v09.14.95 [JetMail 1.01]
    * Origin: STar Fleet HQ - Running on real Atari ST Hardware! (21:3/171)
  • From Jimmy Anderson@21:3/122 to Commodore Clifford on Tue Jul 18 06:24:00 2023
    Commodore Clifford wrote to Jimmy Anderson <=-

    Spent some decent time at Origins and Gencon... For a young pup at 50.

    Been to Gencon twice... Usually falls at the beginning of school,
    so I can't take off and go. :-(

    Son and daughter in law live just outside Indy, so we stayed
    with them when we went. :-)






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  • From Jimmy Anderson@21:3/122 to Commodore Clifford on Tue Jul 18 06:26:00 2023
    Commodore Clifford wrote to Jimmy Anderson <=-

    We don't have one within 2 hours of me, but Half Price Books is a
    favorite when we go to Indy...

    Just saw my quoted part here... Went to Half Price Books in
    St. Louis a few weeks ago and found a mostly unpunched
    copy of Magic Realm!

    To which Commodore Clifford replies...

    I feel fortunate that we have a friendly local game store that has
    regular gaming nights... alas, I don't attend much... been years... but knowing that I could is a great feeling.

    Yes - that's good!






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  • From Jimmy Anderson@21:3/122 to Commodore Clifford on Tue Jul 18 06:30:00 2023
    Commodore Clifford wrote to Bikerbob <=-


    I'm more a GURPS fan myself. Same set of rules, any genre you want,
    with as much/or as little realism as you like.

    SJGames fan here, but never tried GURPS...




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  • From Jimmy Anderson@21:3/122 to Arelor on Tue Jul 18 06:33:00 2023
    Arelor wrote to Commodore Clifford <=-

    Re: Re: Tabletop war and roleplaying games
    By: Commodore Clifford to Bikerbob on Tue May 09 2023 08:35 am

    I'm more a GURPS fan myself. Same set of rules, any genre you want, with
    as much/or as little realism as you like.


    I have never played GURPS myself. It looks like a wet dream for Game Masters that love to overprepare.

    GUPRS feels like the Gentoo of RPGs in that they don't give you a
    system which is ready to go out of the box: they give you a massive set
    of tools, and you combine modules from here and there to make what you need.

    It is the sort of thing I would pick if I had comitted players, just
    like Rolemaster. If you have players who want to play a month long mini-campaign and then want to try another system, you cannot really
    bet on one that takes too long to prepare.

    The Star Wars FFG rules were converted to Genisys for that same
    effect. Haven't used it for anything but Star Wars, but the
    concept is sound!




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  • From Jimmy Anderson@21:3/122 to Commodore Clifford on Tue Jul 18 06:37:00 2023
    Commodore Clifford wrote to Darklord <=-


    There's just nothing like being in a whole convention hall of people playing games like this (and some of these guys go all out) with like minded people you've never met.

    Agreed!!!




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  • From Jimmy Anderson@21:3/122 to SirRonmit on Tue Jul 18 06:39:00 2023
    SirRonmit wrote to all <=-

    For me : I did get into D&D back in the mid 80s.

    But then I came across Star Frontiers, Top Secret & Top Secret S.I.,
    and TWILIGHT:2000 (then they came out with the PC version).

    Top Secret was my first RPG to play! Bought into Twilight:2000 but
    we only played a few sessions...




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  • From Jimmy Anderson@21:3/122 to hollowone on Tue Jul 18 06:41:00 2023
    hollowone wrote to Jimmy Anderson <=-

    AD&D 2e was the first "fantasy" RPG I played, and I have
    some books in the pod (had some MAJOR floor reworking, so had
    to box up almost everything from the house - haven't pulled
    them back in yet) that I wouldn't mind getting rid of...

    Oh... I'm pretty sure shipping to Poland would not be an option...
    If it was,I'm curious what you have!

    Still haven't pulled them out - but yeah, would probably
    be cost prohibitive...




    ... Thesaurus: ancient reptile with an excellent vocabulary
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  • From Commodore Clifford@21:3/171 to Jimmy Anderson on Wed Jul 19 06:02:42 2023
    On 17 Jul 23 23:24:00 Jimmy Anderson wrote...

    Commodore Clifford wrote to Jimmy Anderson <=-

    Spent some decent time at Origins and Gencon... For a young pup
    at 50.

    Been to Gencon twice... Usually falls at the beginning of school, so
    I can't take off and go. :-(

    Son and daughter in law live just outside Indy, so we stayed with
    them when we went. :-)
    (21:3/122)

    To which Commodore Clifford replies...

    Yeah, the timing isn't always good. And having somewhere to stay is
    nice. Though I've found sometimes you can get good deals. The one year
    I stayed at a place by the airport (even though that meant overshooting
    Indy since I'm from Ohio) and that was the year they had the shuttle, so
    not having to drive was amazing... that LaQuinta was a great deal. I
    think that suite was bigger than my actual apartment at the time and with
    the discount I got from working at Walmart back then, I was paying about
    $95 a night.

    The best year though was the year I won the hotel lottery and got a room
    booked in the hotel right across the street (just had to use the
    skywalk).

    That was the year I got to enjoy some drinking while gaming.

    --- RATSoft/FIDO v09.14.95 [JetMail 1.01]
    * Origin: STar Fleet HQ - Running on real Atari ST Hardware! (21:3/171)
  • From Commodore Clifford@21:3/171 to Jimmy Anderson on Wed Jul 19 06:04:16 2023
    On 17 Jul 23 23:30:00 Jimmy Anderson wrote...

    Commodore Clifford wrote to Bikerbob <=-


    I'm more a GURPS fan myself. Same set of rules, any genre you
    want, with as much/or as little realism as you like.

    SJGames fan here, but never tried GURPS...

    To which Commodore Clifford replies...

    If you're interested, they do offer "Gurps Lite" which is a free version
    of the rules that will get you the basics of the system.

    --- RATSoft/FIDO v09.14.95 [JetMail 1.01]
    * Origin: STar Fleet HQ - Running on real Atari ST Hardware! (21:3/171)
  • From Commodore Clifford@21:3/171 to Jimmy Anderson on Wed Jul 19 06:06:16 2023
    On 17 Jul 23 23:39:00 Jimmy Anderson wrote...

    SirRonmit wrote to all <=-

    For me : I did get into D&D back in the mid 80s.

    But then I came across Star Frontiers, Top Secret & Top Secret
    S.I., and TWILIGHT:2000 (then they came out with the PC version).

    Top Secret was my first RPG to play! Bought into Twilight:2000 but
    we only played a few sessions...

    To which Commodore Clifford replies...

    Never actually played much Star Frontiers, but I did have some of the
    books and read them often... just couldn't find a group. :(

    --- RATSoft/FIDO v09.14.95 [JetMail 1.01]
    * Origin: STar Fleet HQ - Running on real Atari ST Hardware! (21:3/171)
  • From Arelor@21:2/138 to Jimmy Anderson on Thu Jul 20 13:21:53 2023
    Re: Re: Tabletop war and roleplaying games
    By: Jimmy Anderson to Arelor on Mon Jul 17 2023 11:33 pm

    The Star Wars FFG rules were converted to Genisys for that same
    effect. Haven't used it for anything but Star Wars, but the
    concept is sound!

    The only Star Wars RPG I am pseudo-familiar with is the one from West End Games, and only because it uses the D6 engine (which I have played a couple of times).

    Which sort of system is the Star Wars one from FFG?

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  • From Jimmy Anderson@21:3/122 to Commodore Clifford on Mon Sep 25 09:44:00 2023
    Commodore Clifford wrote to Jimmy Anderson <=-

    On 17 Jul 23 23:24:00 Jimmy Anderson wrote...

    Yeah, the timing isn't always good. And having somewhere to stay is
    nice. Though I've found sometimes you can get good deals. The one
    year I stayed at a place by the airport (even though that meant overshooting Indy since I'm from Ohio) and that was the year they had
    the shuttle, so not having to drive was amazing... that LaQuinta was a great deal. I think that suite was bigger than my actual apartment at
    the time and with the discount I got from working at Walmart back then,
    I was paying about $95 a night.

    Now that's a deal! And the shuttle too!?! Parking is not cheap...

    The best year though was the year I won the hotel lottery and got a
    room booked in the hotel right across the street (just had to use the skywalk).

    WOW! Yeah! :-) I can imagine playing more than sleeping... ;-)




    ... Remember the immortal words of Socrates: "I drank what?"
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  • From Jimmy Anderson@21:3/122 to Commodore Clifford on Mon Sep 25 09:45:00 2023
    Commodore Clifford wrote to Jimmy Anderson <=-

    On 17 Jul 23 23:30:00 Jimmy Anderson wrote...

    Commodore Clifford wrote to Bikerbob <=-


    I'm more a GURPS fan myself. Same set of rules, any genre you
    want, with as much/or as little realism as you like.

    SJGames fan here, but never tried GURPS...

    To which Commodore Clifford replies...

    If you're interested, they do offer "Gurps Lite" which is a free
    version of the rules that will get you the basics of the system.

    Yeah - I used to be an MIB so I had paper copies of that... :-)





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  • From Jimmy Anderson@21:3/122 to Arelor on Mon Sep 25 09:48:00 2023
    Arelor wrote to Jimmy Anderson <=-

    Re: Re: Tabletop war and roleplaying games
    By: Jimmy Anderson to Arelor on Mon Jul 17 2023 11:33 pm

    The Star Wars FFG rules were converted to Genisys for that same
    effect. Haven't used it for anything but Star Wars, but the
    concept is sound!

    The only Star Wars RPG I am pseudo-familiar with is the one from West
    End Games, and only because it uses the D6 engine (which I have played
    a couple of times).

    Which sort of system is the Star Wars one from FFG?

    "Narrative dice" - where you have symbols instead of numbers. You roll
    a number of 'positive dice' based on your skill, talents, help,
    equipment, etc. - and you also roll 'negative dice' based on the difficulty, environment, etc. You cancel successes with failures and you have 'other' symbols too - advantage and threat - they cancel as well. Whatever is left
    over is the result, so instead of a static D6 or D20 'pass/fail' system,
    you have "success with advantage" or "slight success with lots of advantage"
    or "failure but advantage" or "success with DISadvantage" etc.

    You use the 'other effect' to help with the narrative, or help/hinder
    PC's or NPC's, etc.





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  • From Arelor@21:2/138 to Jimmy Anderson on Mon Sep 25 18:14:24 2023
    Re: Re: Tabletop war and roleplaying games
    By: Jimmy Anderson to Arelor on Mon Sep 25 2023 09:48 am

    "Narrative dice" - where you have symbols instead of numbers. You roll
    PC's or NPC's, etc.

    Thanks for the info.

    It sounds like wht FFG did to Warhammer 3rd edition. Nobody I know liked it.

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  • From hollowone@21:2/150 to Arelor on Tue Sep 26 11:08:46 2023
    "Narrative dice" - where you have symbols instead of numbers. You roll PC's or NPC's, etc.

    I only know one good narrative roll.. the initiative roll :)
    It sets the narration beyond any words one can imagine!

    -h1

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  • From Arelor@21:2/138 to hollowone on Tue Sep 26 13:32:57 2023
    Re: Re: Tabletop war and roleplaying games
    By: hollowone to Arelor on Tue Sep 26 2023 11:08 am

    I only know one good narrative roll.. the initiative roll :)
    It sets the narration beyond any words one can imagine!

    I thought the real narrative roll was the save-or-die roll, muahahahahaha

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  • From Arelor@21:2/138 to hollowone on Tue Sep 26 13:33:52 2023
    Re: Re: Tabletop war and roleplaying games
    By: hollowone to Arelor on Tue Sep 26 2023 11:08 am

    I only know one good narrative roll.. the initiative roll :)
    It sets the narration beyond any words one can imagine!

    FOr the record, there are some good storytellin/narrative games out there. YOu just have to fish for them. I don't find them to work as RPGs but they scrath the same itch.

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  • From hollowone@21:2/150 to Arelor on Tue Sep 26 12:31:21 2023
    FOr the record, there are some good storytellin/narrative games out
    there. YOu just have to fish for them. I don't find them to work as RPGs but they scrath the same itch.

    Agreed and you don't need to look far. Amber was diceless by design.
    I personally was storytelling WOD games without die for years. Encouraging my palyers to be creative when they think about the dots on their character cards and I was giving handicaps and bonuses for such while I was adapting my story.

    Some liked it.. some wanted to roll anyway...

    -h1

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A48 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: 2o for beeRS>>20ForBeers.com:1337 (21:2/150)
  • From hollowone@21:2/150 to Arelor on Tue Sep 26 12:33:55 2023
    I only know one good narrative roll.. the initiative roll :)
    It sets the narration beyond any words one can imagine!

    I thought the real narrative roll was the save-or-die roll, muahahahahaha

    Your narrative is way to cruel, mister :) I like cliffhangers that smell like a scent of suspense that has shades of gray instead of 0:1 solution :)

    Unless somebody plays Rambo who desperately wants to help police :)

    -h1

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A48 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: 2o for beeRS>>20ForBeers.com:1337 (21:2/150)
  • From Arelor@21:2/138 to hollowone on Sun Oct 1 18:57:41 2023
    Re: Re: Tabletop war and roleplaying games
    By: hollowone to Arelor on Tue Sep 26 2023 12:31 pm

    Some liked it.. some wanted to roll anyway...

    There is something specially in rolling the dice. Lots of players love to do it even if they don't need to XD

    I was thinking of structured storytelling games, like Polaris, which give the players a rule framework to build a story.

    I once managed to run a Polaris game over audioconference. We had a wiki where we uploaded the sheets of the characters and we kept a log of everybody's story.

    --
    gopher://gopher.richardfalken.com/1/richardfalken
    --- SBBSecho 3.20-Linux
    * Origin: Palantir * palantirbbs.ddns.net * Pensacola, FL * (21:2/138)
  • From Arelor@21:2/138 to hollowone on Sun Oct 1 19:02:56 2023
    Re: Re: Tabletop war and roleplaying games
    By: hollowone to Arelor on Tue Sep 26 2023 12:33 pm

    Your narrative is way to cruel, mister :) I like cliffhangers that smell lik

    Oh, that is because I don't use save-or die.

    I use:

    case save)
    Player gets a glimpse of hope and soldiers on despite the fact there is no way on Earth he will succeed.

    case don't-save)
    Something important to the player is destroyed, such as his arms and legs, but a glimpse of hope suggests things may improve somehow, if only the Gamew Master wants to cooperate, because he can't be so bad. Sure he can't.

    And now you know why I am the guy whose reputation as a Dungeon Master is THat Dungeon Master who laughts like a Hyena

    --
    gopher://gopher.richardfalken.com/1/richardfalken
    --- SBBSecho 3.20-Linux
    * Origin: Palantir * palantirbbs.ddns.net * Pensacola, FL * (21:2/138)
  • From hollowone@21:2/150 to Arelor on Mon Oct 2 06:54:03 2023
    And now you know why I am the guy whose reputation as a Dungeon Master
    is THat Dungeon Master who laughts like a Hyena

    Heheh.. and yeah, I used to be like that in the past as well.. now as my books are just getting dust and are occasionally browsed, I miss the time I was actively running the games.

    Lots of fun that I hope will eventually come back one day.

    -h1

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A48 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: 2o for beeRS>>20ForBeers.com:1337 (21:2/150)
  • From claw@21:1/210 to hollowone on Wed Oct 4 07:45:26 2023
    On 02 Oct 2023, hollowone said the following...
    And now you know why I am the guy whose reputation as a Dungeon Maste is THat Dungeon Master who laughts like a Hyena

    Heheh.. and yeah, I used to be like that in the past as well.. now as my books are just getting dust and are occasionally browsed, I miss the
    time I was actively running the games.

    Lots of fun that I hope will eventually come back one day.

    -h1

    Is it a time thing or a people thing? With Foundry VTT you can play with your friends anytime all over the world.

    |23|04Dr|16|12Claw
    |16|14Sysop |12Noverdu |14BBS |20|15Radio|10@|14HTTP://Noverdu.com:88
    |16|10 Standard ports for SSH/Telnet |04 WEB|14@|12HTTP://noverdu.com:808 |20|15Global Chat, Global Messaging and Games! |16|10Ditch the Unsocial Media

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 2021/12/24 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: Noverdu BBS (21:1/210)
  • From hollowone@21:2/150 to claw on Wed Oct 4 10:35:57 2023
    Is it a time thing or a people thing? With Foundry VTT you can play
    with your friends anytime all over the world.

    Kind of both. I tried VTT but it ended up preparing tables and mostly for board games or card games than anything else. I played MtG with my son and then tried to convince him to play Battletech too.

    It worked for a while, but still he's different generation, can't blame him not to play games with his dad :>

    My own gen... let's say I'm one of few who's left interested in it. I have a project to revive it among my group of friends from home town and use VTT or something similar to play.. but we just can't sync up for the last 2 years.

    On potentially reaching out to strangers to join/play/run game... I don't trust I can prioritize that nor I have much time to develop new relations today..

    All above combined creates mostly a limitation in my head, perhaps... but still I mostly keep the books and read them occasionally.

    I found ChatGPT close to a game session as well.. not exactly that you can do RPG with the bot, but I had few conversations that my questions were indeed like if I was playing an investigation kind of game... it was cool.

    -h1

    ... Xerox Alto was the thing. Anything after we use is just a mere copy.

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A48 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: 2o for beeRS>>20ForBeers.com:1337 (21:2/150)
  • From claw@21:1/210 to hollowone on Thu Oct 5 08:28:37 2023
    On 04 Oct 2023, hollowone said the following...
    Kind of both. I tried VTT but it ended up preparing tables and mostly
    for board games or card games than anything else. I played MtG with my
    son and then tried to convince him to play Battletech too.

    It worked for a while, but still he's different generation, can't blame him not to play games with his dad :>

    My own gen... let's say I'm one of few who's left interested in it. I
    have a project to revive it among my group of friends from home town and use VTT or something similar to play.. but we just can't sync up for the last 2 years.

    On potentially reaching out to strangers to join/play/run game... I
    don't trust I can prioritize that nor I have much time to develop new relations today..

    All above combined creates mostly a limitation in my head, perhaps...
    but still I mostly keep the books and read them occasionally.

    I found ChatGPT close to a game session as well.. not exactly that you
    can do RPG with the bot, but I had few conversations that my questions were indeed like if I was playing an investigation kind of game... it
    was cool.

    -h1

    Well I have 2 kids and I'm still going to try to get them to play it. Even if Dad is boring :p. The way I got around the whole everyone being separated is I made a Nextcloud server for with the Talk service. Its like out own private social media for just our group. The app makes it like texting but you can share pictures and see history. Share files and so on. It even has a shared calendar so you can set a schedule. Just and idea that might help you get back to it. If you are just looking for a new group. It would be nice to not have to GM/DM all the time. All are welcome on our teamspeak server. Voice.clawfest.com Just say you know Claw and everyone is pretty friendly. Right now I'm working on reading through the Dungeons and Dragons books since I haven't played since I was 12. I need to know the new rules.

    Once I can afford it I will be buying a license for Foundry VTT and setting up a server for it. Then we have the nice visual maping for the battles if nothing else.

    Let me know what you think.

    |23|04Dr|16|12Claw
    |16|14Sysop |12Noverdu |14BBS |20|15Radio|10@|14HTTP://Noverdu.com:88
    |16|10 Standard ports for SSH/Telnet |04 WEB|14@|12HTTP://noverdu.com:808 |20|15Global Chat, Global Messaging and Games! |16|10Ditch the Unsocial Media

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 2021/12/24 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: Noverdu BBS (21:1/210)
  • From hollowone@21:2/150 to claw on Thu Oct 5 11:15:45 2023
    Voice.clawfest.com

    Sounds cool. I checked your website and I finally need to visit your board this week. I can't join voice as I'm most likely geo blocked

    I'm connecting from Poland where I live. It's CET (GMT+1) as a timezone.
    What's your timezone and typical time you're active over there?

    Once I can afford it I will be buying a license for Foundry VTT and setting up a server for it. Then we have the nice visual maping for the battles if nothing else.

    I'm huge sentimentalist for ODD and up to 2nd Edition. If I want to keep it complicated like 3E, I use Skills and Powers. If this is all about dungeon crawling and rolling, then nothing else than ODD is required.

    I never got into 5e. I have a number of 3e books on my shelf, purchased already in time I had no chance to play. I heard 5e brings back oldschool vibes but still designed to attract new generation.

    Regardless ..

    Let me know what you think.

    .. if we can only match somehow in timezones or there is heads-up that makes it easier to plan, happy to try.

    -h1

    ... Xerox Alto was the thing. Anything after we use is just a mere copy.

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A48 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: 2o for beeRS>>20ForBeers.com:1337 (21:2/150)
  • From claw@21:1/210 to hollowone on Fri Oct 6 10:30:03 2023
    On 05 Oct 2023, hollowone said the following...
    Voice.clawfest.com

    Sounds cool. I checked your website and I finally need to visit your
    board this week. I can't join voice as I'm most likely geo blocked

    Strange it should be blocking anyone. we get people from all over the world connecting. It is not a website. You need the teamspeak client (Which is free) to connect to it. Teamspeak.com

    I'm connecting from Poland where I live. It's CET (GMT+1) as a timezone. What's your timezone and typical time you're active over there?


    I'm Central US I believe thats -5 GMT. I try to be on most days and am on arond 5 - 6 PM till I go to bed around 10PM and on weekends most of the time. 9 AM - 2 AM ish

    I'm huge sentimentalist for ODD and up to 2nd Edition. If I want to keep it complicated like 3E, I use Skills and Powers. If this is all about dungeon crawling and rolling, then nothing else than ODD is required.

    I never got into 5e. I have a number of 3e books on my shelf, purchased already in time I had no chance to play. I heard 5e brings back
    oldschool vibes but still designed to attract new generation.

    Regardless ..

    .. if we can only match somehow in timezones or there is heads-up that makes it easier to plan, happy to try.

    -h1

    Well It would be cool I don't mind runnig large groups so the more the better. It all just involves scaling the amount of creatures and the size of the battle areas

    |23|04Dr|16|12Claw
    |16|14Sysop |12Noverdu |14BBS |20|15Radio|10@|14HTTP://Noverdu.com:88
    |16|10 Standard ports for SSH/Telnet |04 WEB|14@|12HTTP://noverdu.com:808 |20|15Global Chat, Global Messaging and Games! |16|10Ditch the Unsocial Media

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 2021/12/24 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: Noverdu BBS (21:1/210)
  • From hollowone@21:2/150 to claw on Fri Oct 6 13:44:13 2023
    Strange it should be blocking anyone. we get people from all over the world connecting. It is not a website. You need the teamspeak client (Which is free) to connect to it. Teamspeak.com


    Oh.. I didn't know I need a client. I just tried the browser.

    I'm Central US I believe thats -5 GMT. I try to be on most days and am
    on arond 5 - 6 PM till I go to bed around 10PM and on weekends most of
    the time. 9 AM - 2 AM ish

    6h difference. your 6pm is my midnight then. No chance right now, but I'll try that teamspeak even if this is only passive attendance, one day.

    -h1

    ... Xerox Alto was the thing. Anything after we use is just a mere copy.

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A48 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: 2o for beeRS>>20ForBeers.com:1337 (21:2/150)
  • From Arelor@21:2/138 to claw on Wed Oct 11 18:30:56 2023
    Re: Re: Tabletop war and roleplaying games
    By: claw to hollowone on Thu Oct 05 2023 08:28 am

    Well I have 2 kids and I'm still going to try to get them to play it. Even st our group. The app makes it like texting but you can share pictures and w group. It would be nice to not have to GM/DM all the time. All are welco ince I haven't played since I was 12. I need to know the new rules.

    I am not a super fan of playing these things online. If I am gonna go through a web interface I'd rather play a multiplayer videogame instead or a dedicated board game application (ie. an actual Terraforming Mars server, for example).

    That said, you don't need much in technical means to play an RPG online. A vioce chat with a dice bot works fine. Last time I played Polaris online I used Mumble with a custom bot for rolling dice and a wiki for players to keep track of names and events. We had a blast.

    I don't like most virtual tabletop providers because they work like silos. THey drag you in and then apply vendor lock-in on your stuff.

    --
    gopher://gopher.richardfalken.com/1/richardfalken
    --- SBBSecho 3.20-Linux
    * Origin: Palantir * palantirbbs.ddns.net * Pensacola, FL * (21:2/138)
  • From claw@21:1/210 to Arelor on Thu Oct 12 07:37:59 2023
    On 11 Oct 2023, Arelor said the following...
    Well I have 2 kids and I'm still going to try to get them to play it. st our group. The app makes it like texting but you can share pictures w group. It would be nice to not have to GM/DM all the time. All are ince I haven't played since I was 12. I need to know the new rules.

    I am not a super fan of playing these things online. If I am gonna go through a web interface I'd rather play a multiplayer videogame instead
    or a dedicated board game application (ie. an actual Terraforming Mars server, for example).

    That said, you don't need much in technical means to play an RPG online.
    A vioce chat with a dice bot works fine. Last time I played Polaris
    online I used Mumble with a custom bot for rolling dice and a wiki for players to keep track of names and events. We had a blast.

    I don't like most virtual tabletop providers because they work like
    silos. THey drag you in and then apply vendor lock-in on your stuff.

    --
    gopher://gopher.richardfalken.com/1/richardfalken
    --- SBBSecho 3.20-Linux

    I can see that. Well I'm settled on Foundry VTT. One time license and your done. Its my server on my hardware and had tons a customizability to grow if I want. Or as simple as I need it to be. I get the idea of playing in person but at my age must people including myself have moved and getting together isn't as easy as it used to be. So this is an option to do something we loved back in the day now. I would love it if we could all GT every Thursday but I think the flights would get expensive.

    |23|04Dr|16|12Claw
    |16|14Sysop |12Noverdu |14BBS |20|15Radio|10@|14HTTP://Noverdu.com:88
    |16|10 Standard ports for SSH/Telnet |04 WEB|14@|12HTTP://noverdu.com:808 |20|15Global Chat, Global Messaging and Games! |16|10Ditch the Unsocial Media

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 2021/12/24 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: Noverdu BBS (21:1/210)