Please, bear with the long post - I actually have a question I'd like your input on, but there's a lot of backstory and general concepts that I want to explain to give a clearer image of what's going on.
So, I'm a GM of a Fireborn game. First time I've GMed anything in my life, and I'm having a hilariously fun time as my PCs break every single NPC's brain. It took one PC (Todd's character) a single note to break one NPC's brain, one meeting to break the Atlantean council's collective brains, and a couple words to make a child-Atlantean get hero worship complex for the entire group of PCs.
Now, the entire concept behind Fireborn is that the PCs are dragons reborn in human form -- Scions they're called. You get fun powers, magic, karmic items, and flashbacks to the mythic era where they were all dragons and can use all their dragon abilities, plus their massive dragon forms of doom. One of the most important abilities is one that all dragons in a brood have -- Group Mind, the ability to chat amongst themselves without speaking. It also enables them to share skills, knowledge, and whatnot. It's like having a permanent internal walkie talkie, always on, that gives you a GPS position as well. Only the brood can hear this conversation, and only the brood is aware of the connection.
The NPC whose mind was broken with the note was never supposed to be a main player in this game. In fact, for the first three sessions, his name was "Mageboy". All the PCs knew was that he was Atlantean, was related to a family line that Todd's character had dealt with before (and that was only known because he was looking for a pendant that Todd's character had found, and he outright claimed it as his family heirloom), and was a mage of some power.
And then things happened. Because of what the PCs ended up doing, "Mageboy" took Todd's character on as a pupil, and began teaching him spells and the like. His name became Rosar, and things became personal. Rosar was having issues with the Atlantean council -- they preached inaction, he defied the order, saying that humans couldn't defend themselves alone, and it was the duty of their order to defend the defenseless.
Things happened - the long and short of it is that the PCs got to loot the treasury for karmic items, ended up having a nasty spat with the council, and got Rosar put on the council. Oh, and by the way, doing so returned a pommel stone (enchanted), a suit of light armor (enchanted), and a book of Rank 6 spells (the highest rank spells in the original Player's Guide is Rank 5) to Rosar. These were all items that had been looted from his family by the Atlantean order back when they were calling themselves the Knights Templar. The reason given? The items were too powerful, Rosar's family too insane, to handle the items.
The current Grand Master said that the items were willingly placed within the treasury. Eyewitness reports of that era say that the ancestor was raving, trying to cast spells, and in general mad as all heck about his items being stolen. Thus the "insanity" claim.
Anyway! Rosar is pretty important to the campaign. Or at least my PCs are insisting he is. In fact, they're insisting that they find a spell to permanently join Rosar into their Group Mind. I've accepted that they want to do this, and that I can wing a way for him to ritual himself in. Now comes the fun part.
Bleedover effects from being joined to a group of 5 Scions will be interesting. First comes the boosted karma pool, but that's not all that important nor life changing. It just means he gets to do more fun things more often. Added to that is the knowledge he gains, the ability to toss skills around easier, and so on and so forth. The REALLY fun part is that group mind is linked to flashbacks.
The challenge: Rosar is an Atlantean. Not a dragon. He doesn't have a past form to appear in. But Group Mind declares that he will appear in a substantial form.
The suggestion has been to have him appear in the form of one of his ancestors. But while the Scions accept everything as normal because they were there, Rosar wasn't, unless we want to pull up some really, really twisted reincarnation ideas. (And so long as I have him appear in the same body each time they reappear in certain eras).
Do any of you have any thoughts on how Rosar should react while inside the flashback? Or even other concepts on how he should appear with the Scions? I already know he's going to be flipping out the first time they 'awaken' in the real world again (there are some things the human - or Atlantean - mind is not supposed to deal with), but what should happen inside the flashback, especially the first time?
Keep in mind that he's been... decently open minded about all the wierd stuff going on around him of late. I don't mean magic-wierd -- he's Atlantean, after all, magic is his way of life. Heck, he's around 50 years old and looks 19-early 20s. The current grand master is over 200 and looks a sprightly 50. I mean dragon wierd. I'm thinking that the flashbacks will - at least when they're over - cause him to want a nice safe corner to curl up in (or a large stick to beat the PCs over the head with for convincing him to join their Group Mind). But I'm unsure as to what will happen inside the flashbacks.
Any thoughts? And sorry about the ramble-y. =P It felt necessary.
Fireborn: The game of dragons and modern day
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Hmm... for an NPC char, he sure does a lot plot wise. How about during flashbacks the others within the Brood will see Rosar's ancestor that for some reason looks a lot like the current Rosar. However, for a twist, instead of actually experiencing first-hand what happens during the flashback, Rosar/Mageboy, will be sort of like a passive passenger. You know like... like he's having a out-of-body experience where he sees what's going on with his body but he can't actually make it do something.
Then again, he could become sort of like a ghost since chronologically he does not exist at the time when the flashbacks occur. However, he'll still be able to influence history or what not, i.e. move things, touch things, etc., even though he isn't corporeal during that timeline of the flashback. Although, he'll never get hungry because he is, technically a ghost
Then again, he could become sort of like a ghost since chronologically he does not exist at the time when the flashbacks occur. However, he'll still be able to influence history or what not, i.e. move things, touch things, etc., even though he isn't corporeal during that timeline of the flashback. Although, he'll never get hungry because he is, technically a ghost
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StarFyre
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The game itself is actually, uh, out of print. The people that made the game are called Fantasy Flight Games - they're actually a division of Blizzard, if you can believe it. It's a really, really fun game, designed to be more dramatic than anything -- trust me, your PCs get to be more powerful than pretty much everything else within a couple of game sessions, and there's NOTHING that can stand against them in the Mythical Era except another group of dragons.
I have a copy of both the GMs handbook and the Player's Guide, bought off of Ebay. If you're interested in just reading the stuff, though, here's a link to my pdfs of the stuff http://www.silveredmagic.com/downloads/
And Rosar was never supposed to do a lot! I keep trying to put him in the background, and the PCs keep dragging him to the foreground! I make the mistake of introducing Titania and Oberon in the second session (Rosar was talking with them, effectively bitching them out because he thought they or one of their fae followers had stolen his medallion), and suddenly Todd's character has gathered some books on the fae of the mythical era and hands these books to them, so that they can better remember who and what they were. And he says to me, "There are a lot of people around who could be useful - I'm going to build me an army, there's some nasty shit that going to be going down soon, I figure. I like my allies."
I have a copy of both the GMs handbook and the Player's Guide, bought off of Ebay. If you're interested in just reading the stuff, though, here's a link to my pdfs of the stuff http://www.silveredmagic.com/downloads/
And Rosar was never supposed to do a lot! I keep trying to put him in the background, and the PCs keep dragging him to the foreground! I make the mistake of introducing Titania and Oberon in the second session (Rosar was talking with them, effectively bitching them out because he thought they or one of their fae followers had stolen his medallion), and suddenly Todd's character has gathered some books on the fae of the mythical era and hands these books to them, so that they can better remember who and what they were. And he says to me, "There are a lot of people around who could be useful - I'm going to build me an army, there's some nasty shit that going to be going down soon, I figure. I like my allies."
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DragonFlight
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Well, speaking from past GMing experiences, I find you can run several ways with this sort of scenario, as all game rules are merely suggestions to the GM, and the GM's word is law.
In your scenario like this, my first question to myself would be -
Do you want Rosar to be involved with the party in this manner?
Not whether he can, or whether they want him to. Rosar is essentially your character. He's a developed NPC.... I've had many turn out that way. Starting as nothing and becoming strong or important. Do you want this to happen to him, as part of his story? Sounds a little selfish, I know, but that's what I would do.
Then, of course, the rest depends on your answer.
Yes, I want Rosar to join the party's Group Mind.
Well alright then. Come up with a unique dynamic just for him, since he's not a scion. As was previously mentioned, things like reincarnation, or a ghostly presence or astral projection, either interacting or observing... Perhaps there's something in his bloodline that permits this....or just skill in magic.
You say Group Mind declares he will have form during a flashback.... Well, what if he didn't? What if something is off about the link or even the individual that could be explored later on or explained, that if they flashback, he ends up somewhere very different? I'm not too familiar with the setting, yet, but like I said. The 'rules' are suggestions and the GM's word is law.
Or you go with...
No, I do not want Rosar to join the party's Group Mind.
If this is your take on the matter, then run with it. Your players insist they can locate a spell for this? Well, can they? If not, then lay it out as such. It doesn't exist, or the magical laws dictate that it won't do this or that or what have you.
If they can, continue with that. Rosar is an accomplished mage, but everyone can fail from time to time. A particularly catastrophic failure can make for great drama as well, if you're so inclined.
Me being the type of person I am, I might have something of that calibur drive the man insane during casting, as if the link developed during the spell, and knocked his concentration out enough that he went into a coma....or maybe separated his mind from his body by accident. (Ooh, note to self, use that one later....)
But that's me.
In a situation like this, it honestly comes down to what you want. You are the GM and the GM is the commander. If you want to send your Atlantean tromping through a flashback as a dragon's familiar or pet cat, do it. If you don't want him involved, make sure he doesn't get there.
The storyteller is absolute. The mechanics are secondary.
What exactly do you want?
^_^
In your scenario like this, my first question to myself would be -
Do you want Rosar to be involved with the party in this manner?
Not whether he can, or whether they want him to. Rosar is essentially your character. He's a developed NPC.... I've had many turn out that way. Starting as nothing and becoming strong or important. Do you want this to happen to him, as part of his story? Sounds a little selfish, I know, but that's what I would do.
Then, of course, the rest depends on your answer.
Yes, I want Rosar to join the party's Group Mind.
Well alright then. Come up with a unique dynamic just for him, since he's not a scion. As was previously mentioned, things like reincarnation, or a ghostly presence or astral projection, either interacting or observing... Perhaps there's something in his bloodline that permits this....or just skill in magic.
You say Group Mind declares he will have form during a flashback.... Well, what if he didn't? What if something is off about the link or even the individual that could be explored later on or explained, that if they flashback, he ends up somewhere very different? I'm not too familiar with the setting, yet, but like I said. The 'rules' are suggestions and the GM's word is law.
Or you go with...
No, I do not want Rosar to join the party's Group Mind.
If this is your take on the matter, then run with it. Your players insist they can locate a spell for this? Well, can they? If not, then lay it out as such. It doesn't exist, or the magical laws dictate that it won't do this or that or what have you.
If they can, continue with that. Rosar is an accomplished mage, but everyone can fail from time to time. A particularly catastrophic failure can make for great drama as well, if you're so inclined.
Me being the type of person I am, I might have something of that calibur drive the man insane during casting, as if the link developed during the spell, and knocked his concentration out enough that he went into a coma....or maybe separated his mind from his body by accident. (Ooh, note to self, use that one later....)
But that's me.
In a situation like this, it honestly comes down to what you want. You are the GM and the GM is the commander. If you want to send your Atlantean tromping through a flashback as a dragon's familiar or pet cat, do it. If you don't want him involved, make sure he doesn't get there.
The storyteller is absolute. The mechanics are secondary.
What exactly do you want?
^_^
Database Being Revamped
'Epic' is most concisely defined as something that, were you to do it in view of a person in real life, they'd pretty much have to sleep with you immediately to maintain order in the universe.
I sneezed. It seems to have reshaped reality. My bad.
'Epic' is most concisely defined as something that, were you to do it in view of a person in real life, they'd pretty much have to sleep with you immediately to maintain order in the universe.
I sneezed. It seems to have reshaped reality. My bad.
I've got to agree with DF. What the party members want is one thing, but if it's at the expense of a useful NPC tool, or the NPC's personal history/makeup, it falls to you to decide yey or nay.
Author of Repurposed
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StarFyre
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Personally, it actually rather fits for him to be doing this - his family has been involved with this specific brood of dragons since the Mythical Era. He's following the family footsteps of being one who shakes up the status quo, no matter what others say. He does things his way, and he rarely takes no for an answer, unless the person saying no gives him a really, really, really good reason why.
That, and taking his motivations into account. He wants to help humans, he hates seeing the damage that taint, careless magic users, and greedy politicians with asperations to power both magical and mundane causes to the world and the common man. Joining the brood this way gives him access to knowledge, power, and the ability to easily call for backup when he's outclassed.
So, looking at it from his point of view (because no one realizes the connection between flashbacks and group mind), the benefits outweigh the disadvantages. The potential good he can do by joining the group mind outweighs the potential bad. He's so supremely confident in who and what he is, in his goals and asperations, that it'd take a mountain to move him.
That, and it's a wonderful way for him to give the Council the finger. He hates them, they hate him... classic case of methods clashing. Yes, he's a "tiny" bit petty about the whole council thing... but hey, when you've been butting heads with a group of 9 people who're all "holier than thou" on your behind, for well over 30 years, and then you're suddenly proven right about everything...
Nearly any other character, and I'd say the character wouldn't have enough motivation to do something this idiotic. For sure, all of the other atlantians, elves, or humans that I've introduced and played with would just laugh in the PCs faces and continue on with their life. That, and any earlier in the game, and Rosar would have laughed as well. But with everything that's gone on...
I actually kinda like the concept of him appearing as a cat or something *snickers*. It fits somehow, and I don't know why. (More, it tickles my fancy in that twisted, evil way that I have when it comes to characters of mine. I mean, come on.. heheheheh).
Actually, hmm.. I can see that being useful in later flashbacks.. ... ooh, plot concept..
Thanks DF!
That, and taking his motivations into account. He wants to help humans, he hates seeing the damage that taint, careless magic users, and greedy politicians with asperations to power both magical and mundane causes to the world and the common man. Joining the brood this way gives him access to knowledge, power, and the ability to easily call for backup when he's outclassed.
So, looking at it from his point of view (because no one realizes the connection between flashbacks and group mind), the benefits outweigh the disadvantages. The potential good he can do by joining the group mind outweighs the potential bad. He's so supremely confident in who and what he is, in his goals and asperations, that it'd take a mountain to move him.
That, and it's a wonderful way for him to give the Council the finger. He hates them, they hate him... classic case of methods clashing. Yes, he's a "tiny" bit petty about the whole council thing... but hey, when you've been butting heads with a group of 9 people who're all "holier than thou" on your behind, for well over 30 years, and then you're suddenly proven right about everything...
Nearly any other character, and I'd say the character wouldn't have enough motivation to do something this idiotic. For sure, all of the other atlantians, elves, or humans that I've introduced and played with would just laugh in the PCs faces and continue on with their life. That, and any earlier in the game, and Rosar would have laughed as well. But with everything that's gone on...
I actually kinda like the concept of him appearing as a cat or something *snickers*. It fits somehow, and I don't know why. (More, it tickles my fancy in that twisted, evil way that I have when it comes to characters of mine. I mean, come on.. heheheheh).
Actually, hmm.. I can see that being useful in later flashbacks.. ... ooh, plot concept..
Thanks DF!
And thanks for posting this. O_O" I really want to play, now...
*gobbles up the PDF's and saves them for that magical time if/when enough likeminded people are around to actually set something up*
XD I don't suppose these kinds of games can be played between two people who have no prior experience?
eta: O.o For some reason the GM handbook isn't opening for me! What should I do?
*gobbles up the PDF's and saves them for that magical time if/when enough likeminded people are around to actually set something up*
XD I don't suppose these kinds of games can be played between two people who have no prior experience?
eta: O.o For some reason the GM handbook isn't opening for me! What should I do?
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DragonFlight
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Heheheh.... That cat comment was so random. XD But hey. If all of that helps. ^_^ It's good to see you at least know what you want in the scenario... And like I said, if the game mechanics don't give you enough, make up your own stuff. ^_~
Database Being Revamped
'Epic' is most concisely defined as something that, were you to do it in view of a person in real life, they'd pretty much have to sleep with you immediately to maintain order in the universe.
I sneezed. It seems to have reshaped reality. My bad.
'Epic' is most concisely defined as something that, were you to do it in view of a person in real life, they'd pretty much have to sleep with you immediately to maintain order in the universe.
I sneezed. It seems to have reshaped reality. My bad.
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StarFyre
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Dray: Strange, it works for me... Let me re-upload it, maybe the upload corrupted it somehow.
These things can be played, sometimes, between two or so people, but usually the larger the group the more fun it is.
It's a little more difficult over the net, but it is possible - if you and some others feel like playing a game of Fireborn, I'd DM for you. It's not quite the same as meeting in a group and doing it live, but it's decently close to be fun.
DF: I was winging this whole game for the first few times we were meeting, mostly because, like I said, I'm a brand new GM, but somehow, out of everything that's been going on, a plot formed that the PCs really seem to like.
Or, at least, really seem to like wasting the baddies that get thrown at them and proving that secret doors aren't secret enough (hey, when they're getting 15+ successes, it's hard to make a door secure for more than 1 round =P But they'll get their due... *cackle*)
In any case, I'm having fun, the players are having fun... it's all good.
These things can be played, sometimes, between two or so people, but usually the larger the group the more fun it is.
It's a little more difficult over the net, but it is possible - if you and some others feel like playing a game of Fireborn, I'd DM for you. It's not quite the same as meeting in a group and doing it live, but it's decently close to be fun.
DF: I was winging this whole game for the first few times we were meeting, mostly because, like I said, I'm a brand new GM, but somehow, out of everything that's been going on, a plot formed that the PCs really seem to like.
Or, at least, really seem to like wasting the baddies that get thrown at them and proving that secret doors aren't secret enough (hey, when they're getting 15+ successes, it's hard to make a door secure for more than 1 round =P But they'll get their due... *cackle*)
In any case, I'm having fun, the players are having fun... it's all good.
Reading through the player's manual is getting me really excited. XD I like how it sounds more flexible than D&D, and comes in terms that I can understand... the fact that 'soaking damage' comes from the Water aspect? Totally rad. XDD
I'm going to see if I can set something up with JKat and one or two other friends around here... to be truthful, I'm very nervous about GMing something like this since I already -know- that I'm a terrible mod online. >_>'' Still, it sounds like too much fun to pass up.
If that doesn't fly, could I contact you about doing something online? I'd really like to see how the game/plot/characters work and evolve!
I'm going to see if I can set something up with JKat and one or two other friends around here... to be truthful, I'm very nervous about GMing something like this since I already -know- that I'm a terrible mod online. >_>'' Still, it sounds like too much fun to pass up.
If that doesn't fly, could I contact you about doing something online? I'd really like to see how the game/plot/characters work and evolve!
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StarFyre
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Note: The GM's handbook is re-uploaded, go see if that fixes the issue.
It's a really fun system - its much more cinamatic than D&D ever was, and, to be honest, I've gone through entire six hour game sessions with just two rolls, one by a player to intimidate, one by me to see exactly how close to pissing themselves my two poor NPCs were. (With only three dice to throw at the roll, there was no way they could even hope to cancel out the seven successes that the PC got.)
The reason I picked up Fireborn to be the first game I GMed is because of that cinamatic styling, the simplistic stats (forget the stupid Int/Wis/Con/Dex/etcetc that most systems do -- four stats. FOUR. Everything flows off of them. Fire for active physical, water for defensive physical, air for active mental, earth for defensive mental. It makes.. so.. much.. SENSE.), and the dragons. Can't forget the dragons. The Mythical Era is fun, too, and if your players really play up the fact that they're just now remembering being dragons, it can lead to some really funny "WTF?!" moments in game.
Of course, I think my favorite thing about the current group of players I'm running for is that, as soon as they started realizing what group mind did, they started doing "song spam" -- one player would start an obnoxious song, another would counter with another one, and so on and so forth. The best string they've come up with so far involved several Madonna songs, The Song That Never Ends, "Ice, Ice Baby", and a handful of other one-hit wonders.
I couldn't stop laughing.
And sure, I'm willing to GM some online. ^_^
It's a really fun system - its much more cinamatic than D&D ever was, and, to be honest, I've gone through entire six hour game sessions with just two rolls, one by a player to intimidate, one by me to see exactly how close to pissing themselves my two poor NPCs were. (With only three dice to throw at the roll, there was no way they could even hope to cancel out the seven successes that the PC got.)
The reason I picked up Fireborn to be the first game I GMed is because of that cinamatic styling, the simplistic stats (forget the stupid Int/Wis/Con/Dex/etcetc that most systems do -- four stats. FOUR. Everything flows off of them. Fire for active physical, water for defensive physical, air for active mental, earth for defensive mental. It makes.. so.. much.. SENSE.), and the dragons. Can't forget the dragons. The Mythical Era is fun, too, and if your players really play up the fact that they're just now remembering being dragons, it can lead to some really funny "WTF?!" moments in game.
Of course, I think my favorite thing about the current group of players I'm running for is that, as soon as they started realizing what group mind did, they started doing "song spam" -- one player would start an obnoxious song, another would counter with another one, and so on and so forth. The best string they've come up with so far involved several Madonna songs, The Song That Never Ends, "Ice, Ice Baby", and a handful of other one-hit wonders.
I couldn't stop laughing.
And sure, I'm willing to GM some online. ^_^
O.o It seems like my computer's just... not downloading it! The download will show up in its window, but it finishes immediately and then says 'could not open file'. 9_9'''' I'm going to ask Kat to try to DL it... but at the moment she's rip-roaring through homework, so I'll get back to you on that! XD
As for the stats, they make sense to me, too! I like how they didn't go on the stereotypes of the elements (or rather, not as much as they usually are) and that they seemed to have done all their research for things like Sires. ^_^' The TH systems (except lifting and carrying!) make sense to me so far... and this is good thing.
"He would be a terrific warrior... if only he could do the math."? That's me in a nutshell. XD
Your group sounds so hilarious! How do you find these people? (D: Could help if I wasn't in a tech institute full of partying college boys! Boooo!)
As for the stats, they make sense to me, too! I like how they didn't go on the stereotypes of the elements (or rather, not as much as they usually are) and that they seemed to have done all their research for things like Sires. ^_^' The TH systems (except lifting and carrying!) make sense to me so far... and this is good thing.
"He would be a terrific warrior... if only he could do the math."? That's me in a nutshell. XD
Your group sounds so hilarious! How do you find these people? (D: Could help if I wasn't in a tech institute full of partying college boys! Boooo!)
I remember looking at this game, not too long ago, at one of our game stores. I'm not sure how well it sold, as I think they still have a copy of it XD
I wish we could find a good game group out here, for any game.
I wish we could find a good game group out here, for any game.
www.valmorran.com/malnev.html
www.valmorran.com/kavera_weyr.html - in progress
www.valmorran.com/wolfden.html - under construction
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StarFyre
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Huh, that's strange -- did you try the zip file? It has everything in it, including the GM's guide... as a last resort, you might try that.
They stereotyped the elements enough to make sense and resonate with our cultural 'view' on the four elements, but at the same time, not enough to be contrived. To be honest, Fantasy Flight is a really good game maker, but Blizzard never gives them enough funding to get the information out there. Fireborn was at GenCon 2005 and 2006, but never appeared after that, and two of my players were at GenCon '05, and never knew the game existed.
My group has made me laugh so hard sometimes, that it takes about a half hour for me to collect myself and get the game moving again without breaking into laughter again.
I found them the first year I came to college - the college was having an event called "Meet Me On Main", and my roommate and I, in one of the only mutual decisions we made, trooped out there in the 98 degree weather and took a looksie at what was out there. One of the booths had a bunch of figurines and games on it, and of course I drifted over. There was one woman manning the booth and a few others, the woman pretty much latched onto me as soon as she realized I was interested in gaming, and I pretty much got dragged to my first ever SGS (Strategic Games Society) meeting.
From there, things went "downhill" =P I got involved in several games, met some people, got involved in other games, learned the L5R (Legend of the 5 Rings) system, the D&D system (and decried it as stupid in comparison to L5R, another really cinamatic game system), and the Shadowrun system (cinamatic and fun to watch, but cyberpunk isn't my style). I realized that one of the people in my L5R game was literally one floor below me, we started chatting and hanging out, he taught me Magic: The Gathering, Texas Hold'em, and how to hold my own in a guy's one-up-manship contest. By my second semester, I was going out with one of the guys I'd met in my first D&D game (then who helped me create a Shadowrun character). Started hanging out with others from gaming, including Todd and April, a married couple - April's like the older sister I never had, and Todd the big dofus brother that I always wanted my brother to be.
Last semester, I decided to run a game - April decided to join, Todd decided to join, my boyfriend joined, our club advisor joined, and another one from my boyfriend's collection of friends joined.
All in all, there's only five girls in SGS, including me - the rest are guys. A few of them are the traditional gamer-guys, but a lot of them aren't. Most of the people that I know are either Engineering majors of various sorts or Computer Science majors like me. So outside of gaming we can get into some really strange conversations that most people wouldn't understand.
Think of it like this: take engineering jargon and jokes, mix in gaming jokes, gaming jargon, and the occasional drinking joke, and you have an approximation of what our conversations can get to be.
Yes, we're nuts ^_^
They stereotyped the elements enough to make sense and resonate with our cultural 'view' on the four elements, but at the same time, not enough to be contrived. To be honest, Fantasy Flight is a really good game maker, but Blizzard never gives them enough funding to get the information out there. Fireborn was at GenCon 2005 and 2006, but never appeared after that, and two of my players were at GenCon '05, and never knew the game existed.
My group has made me laugh so hard sometimes, that it takes about a half hour for me to collect myself and get the game moving again without breaking into laughter again.
I found them the first year I came to college - the college was having an event called "Meet Me On Main", and my roommate and I, in one of the only mutual decisions we made, trooped out there in the 98 degree weather and took a looksie at what was out there. One of the booths had a bunch of figurines and games on it, and of course I drifted over. There was one woman manning the booth and a few others, the woman pretty much latched onto me as soon as she realized I was interested in gaming, and I pretty much got dragged to my first ever SGS (Strategic Games Society) meeting.
From there, things went "downhill" =P I got involved in several games, met some people, got involved in other games, learned the L5R (Legend of the 5 Rings) system, the D&D system (and decried it as stupid in comparison to L5R, another really cinamatic game system), and the Shadowrun system (cinamatic and fun to watch, but cyberpunk isn't my style). I realized that one of the people in my L5R game was literally one floor below me, we started chatting and hanging out, he taught me Magic: The Gathering, Texas Hold'em, and how to hold my own in a guy's one-up-manship contest. By my second semester, I was going out with one of the guys I'd met in my first D&D game (then who helped me create a Shadowrun character). Started hanging out with others from gaming, including Todd and April, a married couple - April's like the older sister I never had, and Todd the big dofus brother that I always wanted my brother to be.
Last semester, I decided to run a game - April decided to join, Todd decided to join, my boyfriend joined, our club advisor joined, and another one from my boyfriend's collection of friends joined.
All in all, there's only five girls in SGS, including me - the rest are guys. A few of them are the traditional gamer-guys, but a lot of them aren't. Most of the people that I know are either Engineering majors of various sorts or Computer Science majors like me. So outside of gaming we can get into some really strange conversations that most people wouldn't understand.
Think of it like this: take engineering jargon and jokes, mix in gaming jokes, gaming jargon, and the occasional drinking joke, and you have an approximation of what our conversations can get to be.
Yes, we're nuts ^_^
My Call of Cthulhu / Star Wars game group about 8 or so years ago was like that. They were so completely amazing. One guy could do voices, so when he was GMing our gurps Cyberpunk campaign we had such a ball. Another was the "I'll always play the big strong soldier type no matter what genre the game is", and he was a bit ... on the ... short end of the INT scale. 
So it was hilarious when he learned that Istvan (yes, the precursor to all the Sangers) was bisexual... heeeeee. the color he turned...
There were times when we would suddenly just stop cold at what had just been said, and laugh for like 5 straight minutes. It was hard getting back into the game, but we did it.. slowly...
"I'm looking for a tall, well built man in leather," he said. haaaaaaaaaah we died. Because this was at a gay bar. and he was threatening some other dude wearing a police cap and chaps and ... he didn't GET it...
So it was hilarious when he learned that Istvan (yes, the precursor to all the Sangers) was bisexual... heeeeee. the color he turned...There were times when we would suddenly just stop cold at what had just been said, and laugh for like 5 straight minutes. It was hard getting back into the game, but we did it.. slowly...
"I'm looking for a tall, well built man in leather," he said. haaaaaaaaaah we died. Because this was at a gay bar. and he was threatening some other dude wearing a police cap and chaps and ... he didn't GET it...
Author of Repurposed
kshau-protectorate.com
kshau-protectorate.com
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StarFyre
- Ancient Dragon
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Oh gods.. *gigglefits* Isn't it absolutely hilarious when everyone gets into character? I think that's the best thing about this group that I'm running with right now, they actually get into character, which helps me get into character more than usual (I spent 2 hours playing a politician trying to save face in front of the dragons =P wow that got fun near the end).
Jess: The only thing I can suggest is ask around at the game stores. Usually a store than sells RPG materials will also provide a place for the players to play, or at least know where gaming groups meet. At least, that's how it is here.
Jess: The only thing I can suggest is ask around at the game stores. Usually a store than sells RPG materials will also provide a place for the players to play, or at least know where gaming groups meet. At least, that's how it is here.
One group I ran a furry/high fantasy game with was in character the moment they walked in my door.
I swear to god, I went to the kitchen to MAKE DINNER for them, and half an hour later they're still talking IN CHARACTER... I was blown away.
of course, they were also the same people, who when I was attempting to run them through a demo of the combat system - you know, so they'd KNOW HOW TO USE IT? They ROLEPLAYED OUT OF IT.
I was like, okay, you win, but next time, the barfight's happening *whether you want it to or not*.
I swear to god, I went to the kitchen to MAKE DINNER for them, and half an hour later they're still talking IN CHARACTER... I was blown away.
of course, they were also the same people, who when I was attempting to run them through a demo of the combat system - you know, so they'd KNOW HOW TO USE IT? They ROLEPLAYED OUT OF IT.
I was like, okay, you win, but next time, the barfight's happening *whether you want it to or not*.
Author of Repurposed
kshau-protectorate.com
kshau-protectorate.com
:( The zip file is in the format of a .rar, which Mac's can't open... 'Winrar' = Windows Rar's, which causes my computer to scream like a scared puppy and then piddle on itself.
...so maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration. XD Kat seemed to be able to DL the .rar just fine (ahhh, there's so much more in there than in the loose PDF's!) I'm going to see if she can either email me the copies individually, or zip them up in a .zip file... or I'll just steal her computer and freaking print everything off and kill some trees if I have to. :O
You know, come to think of it... I'll bet that there's a large gamers group around here. O_o' Most of the people around me are electrical engineers, power engineers, civil engineers... the list goes on. And then there's those in the hotel/management class who do nothing but sleep all day and eat and drink all night. XD I can't believe that that's their -course-!
Maybe I'll look into it. :33
...so maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration. XD Kat seemed to be able to DL the .rar just fine (ahhh, there's so much more in there than in the loose PDF's!) I'm going to see if she can either email me the copies individually, or zip them up in a .zip file... or I'll just steal her computer and freaking print everything off and kill some trees if I have to. :O
You know, come to think of it... I'll bet that there's a large gamers group around here. O_o' Most of the people around me are electrical engineers, power engineers, civil engineers... the list goes on. And then there's those in the hotel/management class who do nothing but sleep all day and eat and drink all night. XD I can't believe that that's their -course-!
Maybe I'll look into it. :33
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StarFyre
- Ancient Dragon
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=P Right, I forgot that my computer usually does rars instead of zips - and yeah, that folder has pretty much everything I have - including the Secrets of Fire (expansion packets made by FFG), the DM's shield, char sheets of two different forms, etc.
Check your college's collection of student clubs, or ask around. Check out any game shops in the area, etc. You're bound to find something with a collection of geeks like that around you.
Check your college's collection of student clubs, or ask around. Check out any game shops in the area, etc. You're bound to find something with a collection of geeks like that around you.
XD I was talking with Mud today and forgot that she's been lurking in the Nexus... if it weren't for the fact that my classmates are so busy right now, I would ask them if they'd like to try the system out! O.o' I'll have to settle for waiting patiently for the semester to end... maybe doing some trial and error with JKat and some coworkers. XD
I'm not sure who else would be interested in running one of these online... but if anybody is and has the time, I would love to try whenever everybody's available?
Not sure if AIM, Gdocs or some other method would work best... perhaps Xalia's chat room would do the trick! :O
I'm not sure who else would be interested in running one of these online... but if anybody is and has the time, I would love to try whenever everybody's available?
Not sure if AIM, Gdocs or some other method would work best... perhaps Xalia's chat room would do the trick! :O
Hehe, I was right; one of our game stores did have a copy. My husband just picked it up for me XD
I'd be interested in trying it out online, if you guys get something started
I'd be interested in trying it out online, if you guys get something started
www.valmorran.com/malnev.html
www.valmorran.com/kavera_weyr.html - in progress
www.valmorran.com/wolfden.html - under construction
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StarFyre
- Ancient Dragon
- Posts: 3246
- Joined: Wed Jul 06, 2005 10:44 am
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I've done it over AIM a few times - it works okay, not the best of course -- never used Gdocs before, so I couldn't say how well that would lend itself. Xalia's chat room would be almost the same as using AIM, minus some features like auto-logging (and I think the text-enter-size is smaller on the chat room than on AIM).
Really, it all depends upon what everyone can use and feels comfortable with. My evenings and Sundays are mostly free, and look like they'll be mostly free for this entire semester. Saturdays are difficult =P Seeing as I'm running and playing on alternating Saturdays from noon to midnight (hee, bum).
Really, it all depends upon what everyone can use and feels comfortable with. My evenings and Sundays are mostly free, and look like they'll be mostly free for this entire semester. Saturdays are difficult =P Seeing as I'm running and playing on alternating Saturdays from noon to midnight (hee, bum).
I might be interested as well, depending on timing and such...
As for using my chat room, if logs are needed, there is a way to save a text file of all conversations over the past three days or something like that. I've done that in the past when I had an informational conversation with someone on a dragon I had or something. It's really easy to do, I'll just have to go in and remember how to do it.
As for using my chat room, if logs are needed, there is a way to save a text file of all conversations over the past three days or something like that. I've done that in the past when I had an informational conversation with someone on a dragon I had or something. It's really easy to do, I'll just have to go in and remember how to do it.
Gdocs is like a wiki page... it's very good if everybody knows that the turn is theirs to write for, but it's terrible for chatting on. It's auto-save means you don't have to edit out user names or anything; it's just one cohesive chunk of writing.
Maybe having Gdocs for the narrative parts and an AIM chat room for the chatter and doing the rolls and such (isn't there an AIM feature that allows you to do dice rolls?) would be a good mixture.
My nights are all good, save Monday -- have an evening class then!
So far:
M - No Dray
T - No Xalia
W - No Jess
R - No Xalia
F - No Jess
S - No Starfyre
Su - Free
Dray, Starfyre, Xalia and JessD have expressed interest in joining. :O
Yay redundancy department of redundancy!
Maybe having Gdocs for the narrative parts and an AIM chat room for the chatter and doing the rolls and such (isn't there an AIM feature that allows you to do dice rolls?) would be a good mixture.
My nights are all good, save Monday -- have an evening class then!
So far:
M - No Dray
T - No Xalia
W - No Jess
R - No Xalia
F - No Jess
S - No Starfyre
Su - Free
Dray, Starfyre, Xalia and JessD have expressed interest in joining. :O
Yay redundancy department of redundancy!
Last edited by Dray on Fri Jan 25, 2008 5:09 pm, edited 2 times in total.
If we're going to use Gdocs wouldn't it be easier to just use Gmail Chat instead of AIM? They have the ability to invite more than one person to a chat on Gmail now...
And for scheduling purposes: At present I am /never/ available Tuesday or Thursday nights (yay, Jujitsu class! HYA!) but I might be able to make any other night work depending on timing... What time frame are we looking at here? >.>
And for scheduling purposes: At present I am /never/ available Tuesday or Thursday nights (yay, Jujitsu class! HYA!) but I might be able to make any other night work depending on timing... What time frame are we looking at here? >.>
For evenings, I would only be available Sunday and Monday - hmmmm, seems I finally found the drawback to this schedule! Normally things work better with me on evenings XD
I might have to sit this out - I don't have anything but AIM anyways XD
I might have to sit this out - I don't have anything but AIM anyways XD
www.valmorran.com/malnev.html
www.valmorran.com/kavera_weyr.html - in progress
www.valmorran.com/wolfden.html - under construction
Seems like Sunday's the best day for this -- and AIM is okay, too.... I have -really- reduced text-limits in AIM chatrooms using Meebo (I can't even write one paragraph without it not sending, and then failing to inform anyone that it didn't send!) so... I dunno if that will be a major drawback. But I do have AIM so it could still work!
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StarFyre
- Ancient Dragon
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- Joined: Wed Jul 06, 2005 10:44 am
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That actually seems to be the trouble with most multi-user chats, except for IRC which...
Well, we could do that, "easy". It all depends on how others feel (mm.. I'd need to re-find the client I like, too.. not that that's hard).
IRC just has issues intrinsic of itself =P Being what it is. Bloody convoluted system.
Personally, I don't care which client we end up using =P Name something, and I've probably used it in the past, or am currently using it, or know about how to use it. The only things I'm not familiar with are anything Google related, because I've always dealt with Yahoo instead of Google.
Well, we could do that, "easy". It all depends on how others feel (mm.. I'd need to re-find the client I like, too.. not that that's hard).
IRC just has issues intrinsic of itself =P Being what it is. Bloody convoluted system.
Personally, I don't care which client we end up using =P Name something, and I've probably used it in the past, or am currently using it, or know about how to use it. The only things I'm not familiar with are anything Google related, because I've always dealt with Yahoo instead of Google.