Would any of you be interested in...

[aluminiumtrioxid]

...playing any of the following over Skype? My usual group either isn't interested, or busy playing different games.

 

- Dragon Age RPG (mostly the pre-written adventures, because they look pretty solid to me)

- Eclipse Phase (again, pre-written)

- anything New World of Darkness, except Promethean (no ideas yet, adventure would be specifically tailored to the PCs. Although if no one's familiar with it, and you choose Mage, I'd gladly run Reign of the Exarchs with minimal, if any, modifications.)

- classic Vampire, Mage, or Wraith - the new edition's better at doing the personal horror stuff, so these would be a bit more "epic" in scope. Well, if we define "epic" by number of explosions, that is.

- Orpheus (Ghostbusters: the Ghostbusting from White Wolf; comes with a pretty awesome pre-made adventure path that could last for years, methinks.)

- Numenera (no idea about adventures, but I've heard some of the pre-made ones are very good)

- Dark Heresy (I have a pretty extensive DMing experience with this one, and some half-baked campaign ideas, too. On the other hand, I'm already in two different DH games, so my interest is somewhat reduced.)

 

I could also be persuaded to run a few other games, but I generally have pretty good reasons why I didn't include them.

 

Game would be strictly text-only; while it comes with its limitations (foremost of them being speed), my accent makes pretty much anything I say unintelligible for most people, so voicechat is not really an option. Also, I really, really don't want to get a webcam/microphone/whatever, because my laziness knows no bounds.

 

I'm neither a nice, nor a particularly good GM. I tend to gloss over descriptions, have NPCs holding the Idiot Ball (it's the job of the players to solve the adventure, after all), and generally offer very little handholding, while ruthlessly following up on the consequences of the PCs' actions. On the other hand, I'm trying to be as fair as possible, let PCs have a chance at almost anything they attempt (however small that chance may be), and I'm generally listening to player feedback, changing my approach if they want me to.

 

If you're interested, write a PM, or post here. A small summary of which game interests you, why, and something about your previous RP-ing experiences would also help.

[aluminiumtrioxid]

...Aand we have a player interested in classic Vampire, Mage, Wraith, and new Changeling, Werewolf, (and to a lesser extent) Vampire. Also, Kult, but I'm understandably somewhat reserved about playing that with an all-new group.

[Walsingham]

I may be working away from home in the near future. If so your suggestion sounds ideal. 

 

Call of Cthulhu, Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay (old skool), Vampire the Masquerade

 

What might work is if I actually help you GM, by playing the incidental characters?

[aluminiumtrioxid]

 

Call of Cthulhu, Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay (old skool), Vampire the Masquerade

 

What might work is if I actually help you GM, by playing the incidental characters?

 

Consider yourself "in", then

 

Well, VtM seems to be a common ground, but I have to ask: how much is that preference set in stone? Is preferring it to the nWoD lines based on familiarity and lack of free time to get to know the new edition/the other lines, or some other reason? (E.g. "no [insert preferred clan] in the new" or "nWoD characters start out too weak for my liking" or "I find the 'toolbox' approach of the game unfocused and hard to get into" - these seem to be the most common ones in my experience.)

If it's more the former, that can be helped, since we'd most likely only start seriously in January/February, anyways, and the core system is basically 80% the same. But if you find that playing ghosts navigating the perils of the Underworld (Wraith)/ mages fighting for the enlightenment of mankind (M:tAs) / abused escapees of the horrors and wonders of Arcadia constantly on the run from their sadistic captors (nChangeling; yeah, that one's pretty hard to get into) / half-human, half-spirit warrior-investigators trying to maintain balance in the spirit world (nWerewolf, lends itself surprisingly well to noir-inspired games) doesn't interest you, then we'll most likely go with Vampire, if no new players show up. If they do (which I hope will be the case), we'll sort it out taking everybody's preferences into account.

 

Helping me GM sounds pretty cool, although I'm a bit fuzzy on the details: do you propose to play your own character and non-essential NPCs (as an aside, that's my preferred method to dealing with players whose characters are not active at the moment), or to co-DM (basically act as a second GM, with no main character, but a say in everything that happens)? (I'm fine with either, and the traditional player role, too, by the way.)

 

Edit: completely forgotten about it in the OP, but it would also be a tremendous help if any prospective players would describe their preferred playstyles (or the style of the games they've played in so far).

Edited December 1, 2013 by aluminiumtrioxid

[Osvir]

I'd love to join in if possible. What do I need to learn?

EDIT: I were part of and eventually helped run a RP site (don't judge but... Naruto RP) for about 4 years. I've got plenty of fantasy and I'd like to join in whatever really, sounds like a fun thing to do I just don't know mechanics/rules.

Edited December 2, 2013 by Osvir

[aluminiumtrioxid]

I'd love to join in if possible. What do I need to learn?

 

Well, it depends

 

Right now, it seems to me that Vampire (the Masquerade) will be the game of choice; on the other hand, I have some reservations about putting Wals and Player #1 (LC) in the same group, since a/ they seem to have very little overlapping interests, and b/ LC is quite attracted to themes and character concepts which others may find upsetting, and from what I've gleaned about Wals thus far, this might make him uncomfortable. Pre-play getting-to-know-you talks and boundary setting can, of course, alleviate this problem, but right now, I'm unsure.

If I decide to create two groups, you can choose whether to play in just one, or both. LC's mostly interested in Vampire: the Requiem, Werewolf: the Forsaken, and Changeling: the Lost from nWoD (if you have no preference, no other players join us, and she doesn't change her mind, Werewolf seems to be the most likely candidate), Vampire: the Masquerade and Mage: the Ascension from oWoD, and Kult, Unknown Armies and SLA Industries from other companies. She could also be persuaded to try out Eclipse Phase, but only if it's unanimously voted on. Wals' preferences, as he's laid out earlier, are Vampire: the Masquerade, Call of Cthulhu, or Warhammer Fantasy; of these, I only have experience with V:tM, but I have a lot of official adventures for the other two, so they're not out of the question. (As a fourth option, Warhammer 40k: Dark Heresy seems to be an ideal game for this group, since I have the most DM-ing experience with that system, and it's basically Call of Cthulhu in Space Warhammer.)

 

(Don't let this massive list scare you off, though; these are fairly simple games, so you don't necessarily need to familiarize yourself with them right now. We'll teach you along the way.)

 

By the way, I've obtained a preferred playstyle description from LC:

 

"It should be known about me as a player that I'm leaning towards the "soap operoid"/dramatic/method acting/narrativist/soul-searching playstyle - mostly, but not exclusively. Either the dark, angsty, brooding-under-the-dark-clouds, or the light, cute, humorous, or the morbid/surrealistic/trippy/grotesque/"mind**** sick ****ery" approach fits me, at times with a dash of splatterpunk (it depends on the game which applies, of course); at the same time, I'm quite bad at hard strategy/resource management and other "accounting"/dungeon crawling/obsessive ruleplayer/gamist-oriented stuff. Unfortunately, I'm not imaginative enough for the overly sandbox-y adventures, but railroading also irks me, so I prefer a healthy blending of the two. Furthermore: I love playing animal(istic), shapeshifting or weird freaky characters; sometimes, I'm prone to suffering from "unique snowflake syndrome" (as is everybody in my usual party, so it's kind of a bad habit), but I'm generally flexible, and if there are expectations toward the players (which, in my opinion, doesn't hurt, in order to avoid later facepalming and disappointments), I'll play accordingly."

 

And, as far as I've gleaned from this introduction, somewhat fond of overly detailed descriptions But I've interviewed her since, she seems pretty cool.

[Walsingham]

I'm pretty relaxed about the system, provided I can play characters with a bit of depth.

 

The one thing you can guarantee I won't do is rules lawyer. I'm too old and lazy to tally up numbers in my down time. Numbers are the GM's job.

 

My concept was to work as assistant GM. So I act the incidental hotel owners, squaddies, countesses etc. Leave you to make sure the plot is functional.

 

System we have in operation is you give me the NPC's name, their interests both overt and covert, and vital information I might impart, and what circumstances I will impart said information. 

[aluminiumtrioxid]

I'm pretty relaxed about the system, provided I can play characters with a bit of depth.

 

The one thing you can guarantee I won't do is rules lawyer. I'm too old and lazy to tally up numbers in my down time. Numbers are the GM's job.

 

My concept was to work as assistant GM. So I act the incidental hotel owners, squaddies, countesses etc. Leave you to make sure the plot is functional.

 

System we have in operation is you give me the NPC's name, their interests both overt and covert, and vital information I might impart, and what circumstances I will impart said information. 

 

Well, all in all, this sounds pretty awesome. A pretty good fit, I'd say, since I'm quite good with systems and overall story ideas, but the execution somehow tends to fall short of how I've imagined them playing out. Also, I'm guessing assistant GMing also covers discussing story ideas and asking your opinion about stuff from time to time?

 

Anyway, point is, I can see this working out very well. If you intend to limit yourself to assistant GMing, and system matters little to you, I think we should go with one of the three nWoD lines - Vampire, Changeling or Werewolf -, since these games are pretty big on political maneuvering, therefore they seem to be optimal for providing reasonably complex NPCs for you to play. We can discuss the unique themes and possibilities of said game lines over Skype as a group, and then decide (mostly based on Osvir's preference, I guess).

Edited December 2, 2013 by aluminiumtrioxid

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

I'd play Numenera...if I ever found the damn time.

[Malcador]

I'd be down for Dark Heresy - last time I played online we used ENWorld, worked ok.

[aluminiumtrioxid]

I'd be down for Dark Heresy - last time I played online we used ENWorld, worked ok.

 

Well, two groups it is, then. One yet-unspecified nWoD game, and one Dark Heresy. That should be manageable; game will probably be one session this, one session that, so if anybody wants to participate in both, that's fine with me. But I don't play PbP, because a/ it tends to move at a pace that would make glaciers ashamed of themselves, and b/ sometimes there is this expectation that you have to write a certain length, or you're "not roleplaying properly", which, aside from being total bull (I prefer to find out about a character by his/her words and actions, not a pages-long and usually terribly written "here are my thoughts and feelings right now" rant), further contributes to a/. So, Skype. Unless somebody's in an absolutely unworkable timezone, in which case I'll probably sigh and comply.

 

As for Numenera, I'd be happy to DM a one-shot sometime later, if there are more people interested.

[Keyrock]

As for Numenera, I'd be happy to DM a one-shot sometime later, if there are more people interested.

 

Count me in whenever that time in the future might be.

[aluminiumtrioxid]

 

As for Numenera, I'd be happy to DM a one-shot sometime later, if there are more people interested.

 

Count me in whenever that time in the future might be.

 

 

I'll send you guys a PM, but I wouldn't expect it before the summer

[Akimotos]

Numenera is a nice system. I haven't grasped it all yet, but it has some nice ways for a DM to play the game. Make sure you also follow "The Strange" the follow up on Numenera. It's "the Matrix" for Numenera and opens whole new possibilities.

[Oner]

When do you guys play/plan to play Dark Heresy? I doubt our time zones mix, so I don't think I could play, but my local group is going to play DH too, and I'd like to listen in and get some perspective if that's okay.

On a related note, does anyone know why Arbitrators start out so piss poor? I mean gear and money. 50-70 Gelt, a club, a knife, a relatively horrible shotgun?

[aluminiumtrioxid]

When do you guys play/plan to play Dark Heresy? I doubt our time zones mix, so I don't think I could play, but my local group is going to play DH too, and I'd like to listen in and get some perspective if that's okay.

 

On a related note, does anyone know why Arbitrators start out so piss poor? I mean gear and money. 50-70 Gelt, a club, a knife, a relatively horrible shotgun?

 

Dunno, early February? When I'll get some reactions out of the prospective players. But I think most of us have a pretty extensive (about 4 years for me) background in DH, so if you have any specific questions, you can ask in the game's main topic

 

Shotgun's awesome. Just use the updated ruleset of Only War. Also, Arbitrators already have cover built in (nobody's gonna ask questions if an investigator-type appears investigating stuff, while the same can't be said about, say, a Scum), access to both combat-related and investigation/lore-oriented stuff, better pay than Guardsmen... only downside is their horrible Ag advance cost.

[Oner]

Thanks, I've been reading the FFG forums, so all my current questions are answered. Just pondering the story right now and wondering how others tell the game. WH40k tends to be bombastic and grandiose with lots of made-up words thrown around, I have to get used to it.

And inspiration of course, that's always good to get. Like this suggestion for city fights:

 

 

• Fire. If in doubt, always add fire.
• Fighting enemies whilst a building is collapsing.
• Finding the escape route (walkways, doorways) is collapsing
• If facing cultists as well as just zombies/daemons, maybe they'll have enough sense to use the cargo-handling equipment - crane arms, big mono-task servitors, fork-lift trucks, dropping crates and containers
• The possibility of making a getaway in one of said trucks. Of course, getting through an industrial district, during a plague outbreak/riot/ whilst being shot at, in a vehicle no-one really knows how to drive is challenging to say the least.
• One of the most important things they need to do is get the word out. More specifically, they need to get a warning to Arbites/Magistratum precints and patrol stations far enough away from them to get a solid quarantine line set up before the nurglesque mobs reach them. Which means a public vox, or something similar
• At the same time, they need to make sure that no infected make it out on public transport before the quarantine can be put in place. If that means blowing up a mag-train with other people on it too.....welcome to the Inquisition, kid.
• A large number of wounded civilians in dreadful agony. Stopping and aiding them will take too long. Putting them out of their misery...you might have time for mercy kills. Might. Are you going to risk wasting the ammo before the fight, though?
• Another armed group, seemingly uninfected, also trying to fight clear. Of course, heavily armed group of unknowns in a district like this probably means gang members. Are you going to trust criminals?

 

 

[aluminiumtrioxid]

Thanks, I've been reading the FFG forums, so all my current questions are answered. Just pondering the story right now and wondering how others tell the game. WH40k tends to be bombastic and grandiose with lots of made-up words thrown around, I have to get used to it.

 

Not for me I usually GM in a more down-to-Earth, Call of Cthulhu-meets-Paranoia-with-added-espionage-and-courtly-intrigue style, but yeah, the great thing about W40K is that you can tell any kind of story with it.

[Oner]

Oh I didn't mean the set pieces, I meant the huge buildings with lots of decor, dirty slimy narrow underhives, bio-waste-funnel-thingie-doohikies, etc. Lots of stuff to describe.

[aluminiumtrioxid]

When do you guys play/plan to play Dark Heresy? I doubt our time zones mix, so I don't think I could play

 

As an afterthought, if you're Hungarian (and why else would you know how to pronounce Csíkszentmihályi correctly?), our time zones are the same. (In which case, if you're interested, welcome aboard.)

[Oner]

 

When do you guys play/plan to play Dark Heresy? I doubt our time zones mix, so I don't think I could play

 

As an afterthought, if you're Hungarian (and why else would you know how to pronounce Csíkszentmihályi correctly?), our time zones are the same. (In which case, if you're interested, welcome aboard.)

 

Haha, cool. I'll see how busy I'll be around February. If it's okay, I'd play an Arbitrator.

[aluminiumtrioxid]

Haha, cool. I'll see how busy I'll be around February. If it's okay, I'd play an Arbitrator.

 

Nekem teljesen jó.

[Walsingham]

Looks like I'll be up for the gaming. To put a flag in teh ground, suggest Tuesday or Wednesday evening, 1930-2200hrs GMT.

[aluminiumtrioxid]

That's 20:30-23:00 for me. Sounds acceptable, but I'll have to know whether I have any important lectures at the next morning. It definitely seems workable, though.

[Lioness]

I am late to the show, but interested.

 

PnPwise, I mostly have Earthdawn experience, but can read up on whatever else.

 

Also I suggest that using roll20 instead of Skype, since voip is out anyway.