GDS RPG Group Fun Madness Extravaganza!

[mjdgoldeneye]

I know I've posted topics about this before, but I think it's fair to repost if half a year passes between topics...

Does anyone out there wants to try running some sort of tabletop RPG campaign with GDS people?

I've already run a few Pathfinder games online and they work surprisingly well.

If you are familiar with these types of games, I'd be interested in running a Pathfinder campaign. It's basically the same thing as D&D 3.5 with some changes and updates. Though, if anyone else out there prefers 4e (or even regular 3.5 or something like Shadowrun), I'd play, but I wouldn't be experienced enough to DM.

If you aren't familiar with these games (or just know that "D&D" is something nerds do in the basement ), basically, just try it out and I'm sure you'll like it. If you're a GDSer and play mafia, this type of game is certainly up your alley. You control a character in a fantasy setting and, really, everything after that is up to the players and DM ("dungeon master", the person running the story). There's combat, puzzle sort of things, diplomacy... It's multiplayer Skyrim for old people!

We're probably not going to be very heavy with the RPing, so don't be afraid that you'll be expected to speak in character... It'll probably run like a very thematic game of Risk, but, of course, that depends on player preference.

Also, don't worry ahead of time about scheduling. If you want to play in general, don't worry about specifics. We can run on a schedule ranging anywhere from multiple times per week live via chat to a really slow play-by-post set up in a thread on here. That gets sorted out later.

Info and Stuff:
- We'll run a max of 6 PC's at a time. If we have more people who want to play, we may end up with a rotating roster of party members depending on who's available.

- Useful sites:
http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/
Dice Roller
Google Docs

- Legal races and classes are in this post.

- No Evil players.

- Start with average starting wealth for your character + 25gp. Use the chart at the top of this page for average starting wealth for your class. If your class isn't there, it's on your class's page.

- You start with a tent, a waterskin, 10 days of rations, a backpack, and a bedroll for free.

- The party as a whole will also get 50 feet of hempen rope and a grappling hook.

- House rules for encumbrance and vision are here.

- To start, your base health is your starting class's full hit die. (Barbarians get 12, Wizards get 6, etc.) We roll every level after first for HP. I may extend the "full hit die" thing to second level as I've always found the low-level frailty of Pathfinder characters to be a detriment to the experience.

- Fun Time Pathfinder Chat of Win: http://gdsrpgmaddness.chatango.com/

Party So Far:

Astil - Human Druid
IER - Vanara Ninja
Wallbanger - Dwarf Barbarian
TheKenwyne - Half-Elf Ranger
MLT - Half-Elf Cleric
Arrows - Human Sorcerer

[moon_lit_tears]

I play 4e, but have a friend who has been in Pathfinder for sometime now and can coax him into giving me a general rundown of the differences I may need to know

[mjdgoldeneye]

Originally Posted by moon_lit_tears

I play 4e, but have a friend who has been in Pathfinder for sometime now and can coax him into giving me a general rundown of the differences I may need to know

I'll give everyone a full rundown before and during play. All the rules are online and freely available.

http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/gettingStarted.html

Unless you want to, I wouldn't advise going off and reading everything. As with any tabletop RPG, there's rules galore. Luckily, most of them are very situational and not necessary to know at all times.

The biggest difference between 4e and Pathfinder is that it's a lot easier to randomly die in Pathfinder at low levels. I will probably provide for people to make sure there isn't a pointless party wipe 2 encounters in.

[djthefunkchris]

In the interest of NOT cluttering up the scummie award thread, I'll post it here.

Originally Posted by Ranson

Are you talking just a dice roller, or a whole play-by-post site?

'Cause one of the few things Wizards has done right in the last few years is this.

It's perfect I suppose... I was looking for a sight where you could have people make die rolls though, and anyone on could see the result (to keep from cheating).

I see MJD just made a post about playing a game again. When I was younger I thought it was funny every time people at my job mentioned playing. I went to watch one night, and the guy that ran it, I didn't expect it to be him. He's a really cool guy, plus was one of the legitimately nicest and probably the strongest guy I have ever met in my life. Beat one of those steel garbage dumpster's in with his fist so bad one day we had to kick it back out to get it to shut again. Anyways, I listened, learned and was shocked I was actually finding it funny and interesting. Was like watching a really good movie, to be quite honest....

So I started playing, and eventually got talked into running some of the idea's I had for games (kept trying to get the normal GM to run it, but he wanted me to do it so he could play). Long story short, I was a hit with it, so much so I got invited to actually run them at events (which I never caved in to do though).

As I said, I been trying to come up with a "Mafia" type version of it, that would capture the, excuse the corny phrase "magic" of playing D&D. This was way back in the 80's, and D&D was only in the 2nd edition at the time. I've actually kept up with it by reading about it online and such, and know about a lot of the new rules... too many rules to really make it that fun anymore though. To much information for all playing to actually have to keep up with in my opinion... I like my notes to be mostly about the NPC's, Monsters, towns and a dungeon's rather then exactly how much a PC knows about picking berries and herbs, and quite frankly a ton of skills that seem to squash the reason to go to towns for goods, information, etc. I think I even read somewhere about tracking being a skill anyone could learn now, and just to be understood, I would only allow something like that under heavy penalty. I've seen the splitting of stats in two, the forgotten realms, the oriental adventures, and tons of other things, and I would be willing to let some of these supplements into a game, as long as all bases are covered before the adventure begins.

I've had up to 20 people involved at once. The trick is to get most of them separated by the end of the session, to meet up later if they so desire (if they are ever together again). This way if only six or two or five, or pick a number from the sky... show's up for the next session, the whole thing makes a little sense, and other's can show up at different times to "catch up" for lack of a better word.

In any case, I'm still trying to figure out a way to make it work for a Mafia game. If anyone wants to get with me on doing something like that, hit me with a PM with idea's or thoughts on the matter.

[mjdgoldeneye]

If you need a perfect dice rolling thingy, go here: http://rolz.org/

You create a room on the fly and can roll whatever dice you need and everyone gets to see the results.

When I play online, I use that site and Google Docs. Google Docs has a built in chat and the spreadsheet program makes an amazing map grid.

[Arrows]

D&D was a game I'd wanted to play when I was younger, but the only group of people I knew who played were... interesting. They stayed in a little room practically all the time smoking and playing D&D, and weren't about to invite kids.

Doubting I'd ever find the creativity to play these days.

[moon_lit_tears]

Originally Posted by Arrows

D&D was a game I'd wanted to play when I was younger, but the only group of people I knew who played were... interesting. They stayed in a little room practically all the time smoking and playing D&D, and weren't about to invite kids.

Doubting I'd ever find the creativity to play these days.

I dabbled when I was a kid. NEver really cared for it, but picked it up about 3 years ago and love it. It's not just about killing stuff (though that's freaking awesome) I love the story behind it, and the being able to interact and live in a fantasy world. I guess it's why I read a lot.

Now if you could get this done online and get a group together who could play a weekly biweekly game or something I'd so be down for this. I'm rocking out a Hybrid half elf Shawman right now.

[djthefunkchris]

Originally Posted by Arrows

D&D was a game I'd wanted to play when I was younger, but the only group of people I knew who played were... interesting. They stayed in a little room practically all the time smoking and playing D&D, and weren't about to invite kids.

Doubting I'd ever find the creativity to play these days.

The main thing, to get the most fun out of it, is playing your character right. RPG (Role Playing Game), is fun if done right. I don't mean go overboard and dress up or anything like that, as I find that creepy in some ways...

An example of what I mean would be this guy I let be a Half Ogre. Back then Half Ogre's weren't meant to be character players, but there were idea's of how to use them in a campaign (group). I told him I would only allow him to play as one if he acted the part, and he did... To the point that I couldn't have planned it better. The first time out with this character, he grabs what the skeleton's were cuffed to, which was a spiked ball and chain. He grabs it at every chance as a weapon, and proceeds to use it as ineffectively as anyone would using it for the first time as a weapon, knocking out his own member's more then the enemies... And did it against creatures that none of them would have had a problem with otherwise. Funniest dang thing ever.

The point: IF you can make a character you like, and will like playing as, you will be able to have fun.

[mjdgoldeneye]

For anyone looking to see a sample of how this works, here's some info:

An average party is 4-6 people. Usually you'll have a healer type (cleric or paladin), a sneaky type (rogue or ranger), a magic type (wizard or sorcerer), and a bulky fighting type (fighter or barbarian). There are a bunch of other classes, but generally you'll fall into one of those for categories.

The campaign usually starts with the group meeting and being given some quest. Then, how the group goes about completing the quest may vary. Say, at first, the local town lawman needs the party to handle a tribe of lizardmen who keep causing trouble by attacking the town or steal livestock or whatever. You can simply go an slaughter the tribe (using combat), but it may also be possible to reason with them (using diplomacy, if someone in your group knows draconic or can cast a spell to bestow communication in some way) or even scare or trick them into leaving the area (with intimidate or bluff, respectively).

The above options aren't the only ones, and there's plenty of ways to augment your course of action. You can provide the tribe an offering of value (or make them think it's of value) or capture the chief at night and ransom him.

It's entirely open ended and lots of fun.