Jump to content

Redcrow

Member
  • Posts

    23
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Retained

  • Junior Member

Converted

  • RPG Biography
    RPGs
  • Current games
    RPGs
  • Location
    Iowa
  • Blurb
    RPGs

Redcrow's Achievements

Newbie

Newbie (1/4)

10

Reputation

  1. The description beneath the picture sounds like it is for The Terror of Ettinmarsh. Is that on purpose or an error?
  2. I try to end every game session with a little Q&A with the players so I can be certain where they are planning to go and what they want to do during the next session. For me this is an important step because I've been burned too many times by planning out one thing and the players decide they want to do something else entirely come game day. Far better to be sure than to assume. Aside from that I'm fairly prep-lite these days. Mostly just a few bullet points to highlight whats important. However, I do spend a lot of time between sessions thinking about descriptions of scenes and NPCs, but I rarely write any of it down. I recycle NPC statistics shamelessly and as far as I'm aware my players have never noticed. Its really the little details that make the NPCs memorable and that is the kind of thing I think about while I'm at work, watching t.v., or whenever. I only use maps if I'm expecting a lengthy and tactical combat. Short combats are usually just TotM. I also recycle maps shamelessly, but may change some details to help make the area a little more memorable.
  3. I just cast a vote and I'll try spread the word around to get others to cast a vote for Chaosium too.
  4. IME most players have a tendency to resent it when their character is affected by a social challenge from an NPC that would involve them roleplaying the effects in a way that is counter to what they wish to do. So you could probably come up with some mechanical means to resolve the standoff, however if it ever results in the PCs on the losing end wherein they are forced to give up their guns due to a die roll when that isn't what they wanted to do they will likely resent it. Based on the email you posted I just can't see any game-mechanical way you could resolve that type of standoff that wouldn't upset your players should they be on the losing end. To be honest, I still see this as a roleplaying issue rather than a missing game mechanism. YMMV.
  5. If the PCs in my games want to act like psychopaths then the world will treat them like psychopaths i.e. shoot first and ask questions later. If you describe a situation in which the PCs are outnumbered and outgunned and they still insist on fighting, I say let the dice fall where they may and if it ends in TPK so be it. The players have only themselves to blame. I had a group of Shadowrun players once that liked to play psychopath characters so I designed an entire campaign for the sole purpose of showing them that NPCs do not exist in a vacuum. The first run they went on they encountered a security guard armed with pepper spray and a nightstick and the group decided it would be just as easy to gun him down rather than try to sneak past. Just as I knew they would. What the players didn't know at the time was that this lowly security guard had a brother who was also a Shadowrunner and a very elite Decker (Hacker in 4e). The Decker was none too happy to find out his brother had been gunned down and was easily able to recognize a run gone bad. So the Decker used his vast resources to track down the runners who had done the job and proceeded to track them and even hire them to perform some runs (through 3rd party Johnsons of course). All the while the Decker is gathering/planting evidence regarding the runners activities. After about a year of playing this campaign it was time to bring things to a close. The Decker sent the runners on one final mission that unbeknownst to the PCs was a veritable suicide mission due to the security at the facility being tipped off ahead of time (by the Decker of course). The PCs made it out alive, but just barely. They limped back to their hideout to lick their wounds and had exhausted most of their ammo making their escape. Upon returning to their hideout they find a manilla envelope taped to their door. Inside is an old style photograph and a note telling them to turn on the trideo (t.v.). The photograph was of a man (the security guard from the first run) and his wife and daughter. Upon turning on the trideo (t.v.) the PCs see their faces and real names plastered all over every news station with the reporters announcing that evidence has surfaced linking these individuals to numerous crimes over the past year including the murder of a security guard. The game ended with the characters hearing sirens and seeing flashing red and blue lights outside their window. The players were a little perturbed at the way that particular campaign ended at first, but after awhile they started to think about all the little clues I dropped that they either dismissed as irrelevant or misinterpreted altogether and decided it was a great campagin afterall. When the next campaign started I noticed they weren't so quick to try and kill everything that moved just because they could.
  6. This is all I was trying to say, but don't always get my point across as well as I would like.
  7. This seems like a strawman. I have never said that Brawling is superior to formal Martial Arts. I've just been arguing that it should not be viewed as inherently inferior to all formal Martial Arts. Big difference.
  8. Yes, I've had more than my share of full contact fights. Both in formal tournaments and on the streets. I've been stabbed twice and shot once as well. You can believe what you wish, but I would say you have little experience or too many Martial Arts movies and/or too much Martial Arts culture has adversely colored your view. I will say nothing more.
  9. Its your game and you are free to do with it as you wish of course. I just hate the separation of Brawling from other Martial Arts as if it were inherently inferior. I guess I just don't understand the reasoning behind why a Martial Artist should gain an additional combat action while a Brawler of equal skill does not nor the reasoning behind why the Martial Artist would do more damage by default. It assumes that a Martial Artist with 50% skill is always better and will typically always win against a Brawler with 50% skill because for some unknown reason the Martial Artist strikes harder and more often. If it were broken down by individual Martial Arts or even better based on specific techniques I could probably agree to an extent, but I just can't get behind the notion that Martial Arts in general are always better than Brawling. Again, its your game so do as you wish. I'm obviously in the minority on this point, so I won't say anymore about it.
  10. What prevents a Brawler from learning any of that? Experience is a wonderful teacher. Some would even say its the best teacher. Something that makes Brawling so effective is its unpredictability because not every Brawler is necessarily going to know the same sets of techniques. Learning things like positioning, stance, when to attack and when to duck can be picked up through experience. If you don't know how to make a fist and punch someone, how long would it take you to learn after being on the receiving end or even just witnessing it in a fight that doesn't involve you? Again, untrained does not necessarily equal inexperienced. There are many sub-cultures right here in the United States for which Brawling is a way of life like Street Gangs, Biker Gangs, etc. Unfortunately, many formally trained Martial Artists envision that all Brawlers are just fat, beer swilling couch potatos who may get into the occasional bar or street fight and may know how to punch, kick, and bite and little else because they didn't train in a dojo under the guidance of a Sensei. IMO, the idea that Martial Arts are all inherently better than Brawling is misguided and uninformed. One good punch can end a fight and I have no reason to believe that a Brawler couldn't deliver that punch as easily as a trained Martial Artist. I've actually seen it happen.
  11. I guess we will have to agree to disagree on that point. I think the Brawler who gets hit in the throat (or strikes someone else in the throat) during a fight learns just as quickly how advantageous the strike is as a Martial Artist who is told by his Sensei "hit 'em in the throat". I don't believe that all Martial Arts are created equal, though. Its just that I don't believe that Brawling is inferior to Martials Arts in general and shouldn't be treated as such in the game. YMMV.
  12. Sure, hitting soeone in the temple or throat is generally more effective than a simple punch. But why wouldn't an experienced Brawler be able to or know to strike those locations? They would know how effective striking those locations are if they had ever been on the receiving end and I can't think of anything that would make them physically incapable of striking those locations. I can't think of any reason an experienced Brawler would be incapable of performing any technique that a Martial Artist could. The only real differences I see between the two is where/how they learned their techniques. Its definitely possible for a Martial Artist to know techniques that a Brawler doesn't, but I can't think of any reason a Martial Artist would know any techniques that a Brawler couldn't also know.
  13. I would just like to mention that untrained does not necessarily mean inexperienced. You can't typically sign up for classes in Brawling at the local gym so a lot of formally trained Martial Artists tend to look down their noses at it as an inferior form of fighting. IMO, that is a mistake.
  14. I just purchased a pdf copy of R&R from rpgnow.com and it has a few issues. I haven't finished reading through it yet, but some things are missing. First there doesn't appear to be a Table of Contents. There is a page at the beginning with the header CONTENTS at the top, but the rest of the page is completely blank. Next page 34 under POWERS seems to be missing a column on Cybernetics. The left column is there, but the right column is missing. The left column ends with "When inactive," and then nothing. The next page (35) starts a new section on Biological Modifications. As I said, I haven't finished reading through it yet, but those are two issues I've discovered so far.
  15. I usually only require keeping track of expendables like ammunition, food, etc. when the lack of those items will add something to the narrative. In any world or environment where clean water and uncontaminated food are scarce they become valuable commodities. A person can go a very long time without any arrows to fire from their bow, but aren't likely to live too long without food and water for sustenance. People are also less picky about what they eat in a setting where the alternative is starvation. If you treat clean water and uncontaminated food as valuables (like money) then all you need to do is assign some value to them based on how clean the water is and what type of food. The value can range from low (Fried Beetles) to high (T-Bone Steak). To keep things from getting stale (no pun intended) make sure the group starts out at the low end e.g. after fending off a bandit attack the group searches the bodies and finds enough Rat-Jerky and dirty (but drinkable) water to keep them alive for a few more days. Have them find a trove of food that may have been delicious once, but is now rotten and spoiled. Have them encounter merchants selling/trading food & water of a questionable nature. Ticking off expendables by itself IS quite boring if the narrative doesn't show why its important.
×
×
  • Create New...