Remains of the Game - The Secret History of Our Hobby

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Alien Rope Burn: Dec 4, 2004; _{The ensmuggenest.}

If you've gamed long enough, you have binders of stuff - character sheets, game notes, house rules, homebrewn games, campaign plans, adventures, maps, monsters, art, and so on. It remains buried, your secret stash from a dozens of would-be worlds. Nobody looks in your binders and folders and .txt files. They remain inviolate, a secret history of our hobby that will be forgotten and lost when you pass into the Earth.

Dig that poo poo up. Now.

This is the thread to post the detritus of games past, creative leftovers from games that will never return. But moreover, post game ideas you wrote up, logs of RP, handscribbled nonsense, unfinished settings, game notes, NPC statblocks, PC backstories, character journals and so on. It can be scans, document files, images, c&p from old documents, whatever. There are only a few guidelines:

Old stuff over new stuff. Post what you like, but seeing the raw garage band stuff you started out with is kind of what this thread is all about.
Find the good bits. The more interesting, the better. If you have something really cool, or a story that goes along with what you're posting, even better, though no pressure either way.
Contribute. This is the secret history of our hobby, the letters from wars untold, the embarrassing photos of your wizards in underoos. The more that gets thrown in, the more awesome this thread will be.
Unfinished is okay. A lot of games, rules, and so on will remain unfinished. It's okay to post them as-is.
Show and tell. This isn't a gaming stories thread per se - we have a thread for that. Feel free to tell tales, but make sure you have something to post that goes along with them.
Don't dump. In some cases people will be baring stuff that might be embarassing or dumb. And that's okay - that's what this thread is about. It's okay to criticize, but try not to poo poo all over people's memories.

Improbable Lobster posted:

I immediately thought of the Play Generated Map & Document Archive, which contains tons of this kind of stuff.

Yeah, that's a perfect example. And now it's linked!

And to take it on the chin first, here's some samples of what I'm talking about.

The Maelstrom RPG. Once, it was a GURPS Fantasy setting where everybody in our gaming group contributed a nation and a race. After the game fell apart, I picked up the pieces with the GM's permission, trying to make into a homebrewn game. It's really rough stuff, but if you want my first attempt to veer away from Tolkien, here it is. One of the key elements I had was making a system where any skill could be magically potent - Earthdawn and Exalted ended up taking the wind out of my sails on that, however. Warning: contains cat people named "Angora".
Did I put up a public website for my first Planescape game? Man, I can't believe how hard I worked on that game. Probably haven't worked that hard on a game sinc- well, there was the Mutants & Masterminds game, but that's something for another time. Unzip the whole thing to a folder and start from index.html, of course. From the days of index.html.
Here's Sani Okoku Toshi, a small setting for Legend of the Five Rings I submitted to the Imperial Herald and was likely to see publication. It's a small city where the Lion, Dragon, and Crane lands meet. Naturally, everybody gets along until they don't. However, it got lost between editor swaps when the game switched hands from Five Rings and Alderac, and I struggled to get heard again when nobody seemed to know who the editor was going to be. Should've tried harder to get it published, but there you have it. Oh, and I have some notes on writing for Rokugan that seem just awfully quaint to me now.

I could go on and on, but I won't. This isn't about me, after all. This is about you. Well, us.

Finally, a thread where it's okay to tell people all about your character.

_{As long as you post a character sheet.}

Now, show me your stuff!

Alien Rope Burn fucked around with this message at Jan 29, 2013 around 20:00

# ? Jan 28, 2013 02:45

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# ? May 24, 2013 20:32

unseenlibrarian: Jun 4, 2012

So I do elevator pitches for games a lot. Some get accepted by my players, some don't. Here's a sampling of the ones that didn't make that I've still got saved.

===

Barsoom or Bust: Castle Falkenstein. John Carter of Mars is accused of war crimes by the Freemason controlled US government. He claims he was on Barsoom when the crime, a massacre of Union prisoners during the War between the states was commited. The US claims he's mad; but they haven't dealt with madmen, not yet. Emperor Joshua Norton of the Bear Flag empire has allied with Emperor Napoleon III of France to launch an expedition to the Red planet and prove that Captain Carter's claims are true. Players would take the role of that expeditionary force.
===

Ladies and Gentlemen: Welcome to the 667th district. Let me begin by saying that you were NOT sent here because you are the best or the brightest; you're here because you're the biggest collection of fuckups that the SP's office thought were worth salvaging. We're going to find out whether they were right. You've heard that the 667th is called Hell's Rejects. That IS NOT OUR
NAME. We're called that because we're in Satan's own playground, ladies and gentlemen. We're the Neighbors of the Beast. Watch yourselves out there.

-Portion of a speech attributed to Chief Inspector Louis Wong, 667th HKPD district
===

Jedi Champloo: It's an alternate universe conceit: What if the Star Wars movies were much, much closer to the Kurosawa chambara movies that the first one was based on? The Jedi are less ascetic monks than a samurai caste that has now been marginalized thanks to the rise of a new emperor and his barbarian suppressing general, a man who never removes his black-lacquered armor. Even carrying lightsabers has been banned, and the emperor's prejudice against aliens had led to them being forced to the fringes of space. You could work for the Hutts East Galaxia company, trying to open the Empire to trade, or just be well-paid smugglers or former Jedi Bindu traveling incognito, forced to work as mercenaries. Maybe seven of you will take payment to save that small space station from space pirates.
===

In Feng Shui, your character is someone who'd star in an action movie. Maybe you're a hitman looking for redemption. Or a former special forces commando. Or a professional Martial artist, or just an everyman with exceptional luck. In any case, you're all on a plane that's due to land in Hong Kong when something...happens. The plane passes through a glowing portal in the sky, and nearly loses control before passing through another- and when you come out the other side, things are different. The pilot remarks to the co-pilot, not realizing that the announcement switch is on- "Hey, Steve? Am I crazy, or is everything loving dragons down there?"

And then you look out the window, and see he's right; the airport has been replaced by some sort of monstrous rookery, with dragons and rocs and the like instead of planes, and Hong Kong itself looks like something out of a horror movie set in the middle ages. The portal's gone, so the only choice for now is try to find somewhere to land, and figure out what happened in:

FENG SHUI: EVERYTHING IS loving DRAGONS.

===

Some folks never leave their hometown, because, they say, it's got everything. For a native of the Infinite City, this is literally true. It's a patchwork, a hodgepodge of thousands, maybe millions of other realities, all phasing in and out of a single immense cityscape. Neighborhoods change position and shift in the mosaic to make room for new realities, making navigation...interesting. Sometimes bits of the City will bleed into other worlds; all those stories about shops that were there one day and gone the next when the victim tried to return a cursed purchase? In the Infinite Cit they're their own protection racket.

There's no real central authority in the Infinite City- how could there be, when the new neighborhood that just phased in might have a bigger gun than whoever was running the place until now, so most folks with any kind of power rely on troubleshooters. Troubleshooters do everything; check out newly arrived neighborhoods, bust up gangs causing trouble, investigate murders in neighborhoods that don't have their own cops, or just look into the history of Nexus itself for an obsessive archaeologist. There is no typical troubleshooter team, because they draw on the vast pools of talent that are found in the city. You might have a paladin from a world of high fantasy working alongside a shape-shifting monster from a world that mostly resembles EC horror comics and their partner, a cyborg hit man from Neo-Kong (A neighborhood whose primary export to the rest of Nexus is, in fact, cyborg mercenaries. Also rickshaw drivers, because the most reliable form of transportation in Nexus is human-powered. Otherwise your car might stall out in a neighborhood where magic works and the IC engine doesn't.)

===

So yeah. Horribly, I've got more, these are just the ones I liked on looking at them again.

# ? Jan 28, 2013 03:19

Bieeardo: Aug 21, 2000; Someone bold, someone blue, someone borrowed, someone new...

Age of Iron, Age of Doom, an adaptation of GURPS Reign of Steel, a fairly imaginative Terminator-like setting, to Victorian steampunk. In my defense, the file I dug the pitch out of is dated the end of March 1998, back before everyone and their dog was gluing cogs to everything.

quote:

You are asleep, and dreaming. Dreaming of an alternate history, one where a grant from the Queen resulted in both the knighting of Sir Charles Babbage, and the creation of his Analytical Engine�the first computer�over fifty years before the invention of the silicon transistor.
You dream of the implications: was this the creation of intelligent life in Mankind�s image? Debate was short: while the Engine was a very sophisticated machine, it was incapable of reproducing itself; secondly, it lacked initiative, reacting only to stimuli that it had been programmed for� and then reacted only within its instructed parameters. The idea of a thinking machine quickly fell out of vogue, and the Engines quickly became an accepted fact of life.
Although the idea of a thinking machine had lost popularity, it was by no means forgotten. A mixed bag of theologians, self-styled psychoanalysts, �clackers� and visionaries, with the help of financial and political entities, managed to procure first the use, and then the ownership of one of the first great Engines. Their theory was simple, but profound in its ramifications: by assuming that it was possible to make a learning machine, one that could eventually develop an intelligence of its own, they assumed that such an intelligence would also have a soul. Since the algorithms and stimuli that induced intelligence in the first place could then be quantified and measured, it was conceivable that they could do the same thing with a soul, and by doing so, they could first identify, and then anticipate the workings of the Creator.
In short, they were attempting to create a mechanical Oracle.
At first, they made massive changes to the Engine itself: it was given the ability to first write, and then automatically institute its own programs, theoretically allowing it to learn. The second phase of the project was much more massive in scale: by taking the concept of an infinite number of monkeys eventually being able to compose the complete works of Shakespeare, they wired their Engine into every telegraph line that they could reach; soon the sky over their Engine building was blotted out by a three-dimensional web of verdigris-coated copper wires, and entire corridors within the building became impassable with the snarl of metal nerves. It eventually reached the point that they were forced to hire young chimney-sweeps to perform maintenance on their machina infernalis; every so often, one would disappear inside the warren of cables, cogs and pistons, but that was considered to be an acceptable sacrifice.

There was a magically complex setting I was trying to develop at one point as well, working from a sidebar adaptation suggested in GURPS Cyberpunk. For some dumb conceit or another, only women could be spellcasters... but as a (dubious) sort of tradeoff, only men could be fitted with enchanted amulets and other bits of cyberware-analogous equipment. Further, spellcasting was aspected to one of the four classical elements, with most casters being naturally attuned to one or two elements at most. Oh, and ambient magical energy levels varied from place to place, and were likewise aspected to one element or another... and I think there might have been some quasi-furry poo poo snuck in too. I try not to think about that too much.
There was something about a city built on necromancy and a tall hill, ringed by white marble sewer outlets that vomited forth unbelievable foulness onto the countryside below too.

The Cheezonomicon. A 2nd Edition wild magic grimoire filled with cheese-based spells. The Elemental Plane of Cheese. Cheese golems and elementals. Please forgive me: I was in high school, it was the early Nineties, and without the Internet I thought cheese humour was the height of originality.

# ? Jan 28, 2013 04:37

unseenlibrarian: Jun 4, 2012

As a side note: Nexus: the Infinite City is a real obscure game that actually exists! It's the predecessor to Feng Shui, but has never, as far as I know, ever turned up as a PDF. The last pitch on the list was basically me explaining the premise to people who would never have a chance to see a copy of the book because it was an online tabletop group and all I had was a hardcopy with pages missing. (Though those pages were mostly 'adapt this to other systems' stuff.)

I really do like a lot of pre-Steampunk stuff in the same...genre space? Like Castle Falkenstein, which at least made Class conflict something that people actually worried about, despite the main narrator hanging out with mad kings and aristocratic French swordwomen. (Admittedly, it dealt with it by turning a lot of early industrialists into out and out supervillains, but, you know, they were called Robber Barons for a reason.) So I can't hate on Victorian Difference Engine skynet.

# ? Jan 28, 2013 05:00

Captain Foo: May 11, 2004; IF U CN RD THS, SCK M FCKNG CCK NTL T SPRTS LL VR R FC

At one point, I took over running a post-apocalyptic game, run in GURPS. The gist was that it was a nuclear winter, and poo poo was going bad. The game is somewhere on the forums, but I don't know when it was, exactly. Here is the notes.txt file I still have in my NUKE WINTER subdirectory.

Day 1: no current NPCs have electronics use - communications (except maybe davey) Day 1: Davey and Chris have gastro. anthrax Day 1: Laurie knows (11:46:37 PM) BurjDongai: 1) he's having serious gastrointestinal issues (11:46:48 PM) BurjDongai: bloody vomit (11:46:58 PM) BurjDongai: diarrhea (11:47:07 PM) BurjDongai: hes not eating much (11:48:51 PM) BurjDongai: 2) it showed up quickly after a foraging mission (11:48:58 PM) BurjDongai: 3) it's not e. coli/food poisioning No rads. Overall movement: As a team, slowest BM is 5 (mary, richard, Jackson, Lauren, Mark). Day 1 Encumbrance levels: mary (0) Richard (2) Mark (2) Fire (2) Jackson (2) Lauren (2) Rob (1) Ellen (3) [2 - see below] TRAVEL SPEED 2 (ellen is the slowpoke) not gonna be a jerk tho, some of her stuff gets put on the sleds TRAVEL SPEED 3 (3.75 mph) 3 miles to hospital (0.8 hrs = 48 min) snow (ankle-deep) = 2x time 1.6 hours = 1:36, three rolls for cold FP costs for travel, cold mary 1, 0 richard 3, 0 mark 3, 0 fire 3, 0 jackson 0, 0 (sled) lauren 0, 0 (sled) rob 2, 0 ellen 3, 0 St. Joe's: richard encumbrance (1) Melondude bailing, going to fiat the scene with Ellen's death should be a gift shop on depaul 1 blood draw (OP DRAWING CENTER) plan is to sweep, then search Fright checks (will-1, grisly mutilation): Mark: will 9, roll 9 margin of fail 1, result stunned for 2 seconds Robert: will 11, roll 9, success Jackson: will 12 roll 12, margin of fail 1 result Severe Faint, out cold for 9 minutes, takes 1 HP Lauren (gets +1): will 11 roll 14, margin of fail 3 result Faint, out cold for 2 minutes Richard: will 13, roll 4, success Fire (gets +1): will 10 roll 12 marign of fail 2 result -4 FP, stunned for 6 seconds

# ? Jan 28, 2013 05:07

Kai Tave: Jul 2, 2012

I have shitloads of stuff like this scattered across a couple of computers. Here's one I have on hand, which is information on a Shadowrun character I was in the process of putting together for an SR4 game that ultimately fell through. I was in full on hardcore nerd mode, going to put together a whole little dossier and stuff, but the game evaporated before I got far enough to do much more.

Linked for

http://www.mediafire.com/view/?vsvd32j5m7d6cnt

http://www.mediafire.com/view/?53zz0doun1kdomn

# ? Jan 28, 2013 06:04

Improbable Lobster: Jan 6, 2012

I immediately thought of the Play Generated Map & Document Archive, which contains tons of this kind of stuff.

This is a favourite.

Improbable Lobster fucked around with this message at Jan 28, 2013 around 18:06

# ? Jan 28, 2013 17:56

Cardinal Ximenez: Oct 25, 2008; The 'X' is a voiceless velar fricative.

I worked out an alien species for fun for a potential revival of a campaign I did in person. (Based on Vernor Vinge's Zones of Thought series). It got a bit out of hand.

quote:

Species D - A worked example

Go to Space p. 140.
See Alien Creation I, Chemical Basis.

(normally only roll on this table with a 6 on 1d [default to water-based], but we'll roll for the sake of example)

Result - 14: Silicon/Liquid Sulfur Life (Warm to Infernal worlds between 250� F and 750� F)

We'll build a Standard (Greenhouse) world around this.

Go to World Design, ibid p. 73.

Atmospheric Mass: 1.23 (rolled 12, 13 on 3d)
Qualities: Suffocating, Lethally Toxic, Corrosive

Hydrographic Coverage: 5% (7 on 2d, 15 on 3d)

Surface Temperature: 552K [533.6 F] (arbitrarily)
Climate Type: Infernal
Blackbody Correction = 0.77 * (1 + (1.23 * 2.0)) = 2.6642
Blackbody Temperature = 207.1K

Density: 0.885 (9, 7 on 3d)
Diameter: 0.8334 (0.4589 - 0.9943; step = 0.0535; 9 on 2d, 10 on 3d)
Gravity: 0.7375G
Mass: 0.5123

Atmospheric Pressure: 88.5 atm (Superdense)

RVM: +2 (18! on 3d); assuming affinity of 10.
We'll determine the Zone of the Homeworld with a 3d6: 8, which we'll assume to be Low-Middle Beyond.
Population (in human biomass): 60 million * 1000 * 0.6945 * 10 = 41,676,000,000

We'll figure out the rest of the economic background after we design the species.

Jump to p. 143

Habitat:
Land-dwelling (4 on 1d, -1 for hydrographic coverage, yielding 3)
Jungle (15 on 3d)

Trophic Level: Omnivore (10 on 3d)

p. 149

Locomotion: Climbing (8 on 3d, +1 for omnivore, yielding 9), secondary Walking (8 on 2d)

p. 151

(biasing towards Human-scale creatures, we roll 1d, getting 4. Ignoring the first table.)
Size Modifier: -2 (2 on 1d) [0.9 yards]
Mass: 55 lbs. (12 on 3d)
Native Weight: 40.6 lbs.
ST: 8

p. 154

Symmetry: Spherical, with 4 sides (10 on 2d, 1 on 1d)
Number of limbs is thus 4, no tail.
Manipulators: 1 set with normal DX, yielding 4 (1 on 1d, +6 for sapient, +2 for brachiator, yielding 9)
Skeleton: Combination (11 on 2d, +1 for human-scale, +1 for land-dwelling, yielding 13)
bone-supported tetrahedron with ultra-flexible hydrostat tentacle leg-arm-mouths?

p. 157

The form of our creature and its environment suggest a logical covering, so we'll just go with that instead of rolling: DR 5 limited to the ceramo-chitinous core segment, with slippery, soft limbs.
Breathes "air".
Temperature: Warm-Blooded (6 on 2d, +1 for human-scale, +1 for land-dwelling, +1 for air-breathing, yielding 9)
Growth: Continuous (7 on 2d)

p. 161

Sexes: Asexual (2 on 2d)
Gestation: Live-Bearing (8 on 2d, +1 for warm-blooded, yielding 9)
Special Gestation: No (2 on 2d)
Strategy: Strong r-Strategy, 2d per litter, no care, +1 Short Lifespan (11 on 2d)

p. 164

Primary Sense: Vision (12 on 3d)
Vision: Telescopic Vision 4 (13 on 3d, +2 for climbing, +4 for primary, yielding 19) (comm. roll: 6)
Hearing: Acute Hearing 4 with Ultrasonic Hearing and Sonar (15 on 3d) (comm. roll: 6)
Touch: Normal (8 on 2d)
Taste/Smell: Acute Taste/Smell 4 and Discriminatory Taste (11 on 2d) (comm. roll: 5)
Special Senses: 360 Vision (10 on 2d, +1 for spherical)

Our creatures are quite sensory! They primarily use audio-visual communication.

p. 168

IQ: 9 (4 on 1d, +5 for sapient, +1 for omnivore, -1 for r-Strategy) (IQ reduced to 8 by later step!)
Mating behavior is irrelevant.
Social Organization: Solitary (7 on 2d, -1 for no pair bond)

p. 169

Mostly I stick to the flat modifiers, but if we roll a 6 on 1d, we'll vary them accordingly.

Chauvanism: -2 (-1 for solitary, -1 for asexual)
Concentration: 0
Curiosity: 0 (+1 for omnivore, -1 for strong r-strategy)
Egoism: 0 (+1 for solitary, -1 for strong r-strategy)
Empathy: -1 (-1 for solitary, +0 for variance)
Gregariousness: -7 (-1 for solitary, -1 for asexual, -5 for variance!)
Imagination: -4 (+1 for ominvore, -1 for strong r-strategy, -4 for variance)
Suspicion: +1 (+1 for solitary)
Playfulness: 0 (+1 for IQ, -1 for strong r-strategy)

Our creatures need their personal space!

Now we have a sort of good idea about what their society would be like. It's safe to assume they are very territorial; most of their interactions would probably be about defining safe boundaries. Space would run out pretty quickly if they kept their replication strategy unchecked, so they are probably hostile to their (and everyone else's) young (this is also probably ritualized to some extent). Their aesthetic sense would probably be dull, leading to near-uniformity in design as innovations slowly progress.

We can thus assume they get to TL1 without creating an elaborate social hierarchy, and they fill up everywhere they can inhabit. Writing is probably a huge innovation, allowing long-distance interaction without having to traverse territory. This would finally allow trade, and thus eventually, social stratification.

TL2 is probably a phase of major expansion as better tools and cooperative labor allow for better crop yields in more potential locations. Memes are generally highly disruptive to our creatures, so this blob probably expands into a global culture. The first major wars are also around this time, between various individuals more than any distinct ethnicities. Lack of hereditary succession makes the world inherently chaotic (remember that they cull their children).

TL3 is slightly more stable, with physical wealth able to be replaced with credit, and walls are built everywhere.

TL4 ruins everything by introducing gunpowder, upsetting the delicate balance of massive fortifications keeping things calm. Division of labor is finally starting to kick in, and Status 0s can live without having to necessarily farm. Dedicated guilds emerge to take over the positions of the myriad tyrants.

TL5 brings the telegraph, finally allowing for the first functional large-scale states to emerge: mostly democracies and coalitions of guilds. The era is largely defined by the conflict between meritocracy and plutocracy in the political-corporate world. Trains allow for large-scale shipping of goods, significantly raising the quality of life for everyone. (There's too little hydrographic coverage for ships.)

TL6 allows colonization of many previously uninhabitable environments. A global war thus ensues. It's won by... moderates (3 on 1d). An International Council of Guilds forms to enforce comfortable, well-spaced standards for workers, merges all guilds of a given occupation, but allows guild control to be bought and sold by shares.

At TL7, there is an obvious demographic problem: culling has become so efficient, not enough children exist to replace their parents! Various solutions are proposed, from mass psychiatric intervention to make children likable to waiting for the Icosohedrotheon to make their prophesized arrival, granting immortality to the faithful and ending the Scourge of Children forever. The ICG settles for the moderately unpopular method of controlled birth, explicitly not culling the strongest in the batch.

First contact is inevitable at TL8, assuming they live in the middle beyond. We'll go into more detail after generating the rest of the system.

Jumping to p. 100 for Generating Star Systems.

Stars: 3 (13 on 3d, +3 for open cluster)

1st Mass: 1.05 (7, 5 on 3d)
2nd Mass: 0.25 (4 on 1d, 16 on 3d)
3rd Mass: 0.25 (5 on 1d, 16 on 4d)

Age: 8 by (13 on 2d+2; 4, 0 on 1d-1)

1st Type: G1 V (Main Sequence) (6100K, 1.1-2.2 lum, 8.8 M-Span, 1.4 S-Span, 0.8 G-Span)
1st Luminosity: 2.1
1st Radius: 0.006036 AU

2nd Type: M4 V (3235K)
2nd Luminosity: 0.016
2nd Radius: 0.001873 AU

3rd Type: M4 V (3379K)
3rd Luminosity: 0.016
3rd Radius: 0.001717 AU

2nd Orbital Seperation: Wide (14 on 3d+8)
2nd Orbital Radius: 72.7 AU (7 on 2d)
2nd Eccentricity: 0.46 (11 on 3d)
2nd Min/Max: 39.258 AU / 106.142 AU

3rd Orbital Seperation: Distant (automatic on 3d+14)
3rd Orbital Radius: 334 AU (7 on 2d)
3rd Eccentricty: 0.79 (16 on 3d)
3rd Min/Max: 70.14 AU / 597.86 AU

(oh crap there's a 4th star)

3a-th Mass: 0.25
3a-th Type: M4 V (3305K)
3ath Luminosity: 0.015
3ath Radius: 0.001738 AU

3a-th Orbital Seperation: Very Close (6 on 3d-6)
3a-th Orbital Radius: 0.457 AU (9 on 2d)
3a-th Eccentricity: 0 (1 on 3d-6)
3a-th Min/Max: 0.457 AU / 0.457 AU

1st Inner Limit: 0.105 AU [0.105 or 0.014]
1st Outer Limit: 42 AU
1st Snow Line: 5.087 AU
1st Forbidden Zone: 13.086 AU / 318.426 AU

2nd Inner Limit: 0.025 AU [0.025 or 0.004]
2nd Outer Limit: 1 AU
2nd Snow Line: 1.94 AU
2nd Forbidden Zone: 13.086 AU / 318.426 AU

3rd Inner Limit: 0.025 AU [ditto]
3rd Outer Limit: 1 AU
3rd Snow Line: 1.94 AU
3rd Forbidden Zone: 0.152 AU / 1.371 AU

1st Gas Giant Arrangement: None
1st Homeworld Placement: 2.611 AU

2nd Gas Giant Arrangement: None
3rd Gas Giant Arrangement: None
3a-th Gas Giant Arrangement: None

1st Outermost Orbit: 36.521 AU
1st Orbit II: 22.826 AU
1st Orbit III: 12.681 AU
1st Orbit IV: 7.459 AU
1st Orbit V: 4.661 AU
1st Orbit VI: 2.611 AU (Homeworld)
1st Orbit VII: 1.632 AU
1st Orbit VIII: 1.024 AU
1st Orbit IX: 0.602 AU
1st Orbit X: 0.334 AU
1st Orbit XI: 0.196 AU

1st Potential Planet I: Terrestrial Planet (Standard) (12 on 3d-3)
1st Potential Planet II: Terrestrial Planet (Tiny) (8 on 3d)
1st Potential Planet III: Terrestrial Planet (Tiny) (7 on 3d)
1st Potential Planet IV: Terrestrial Planet (Small) (11 on 3d)
1st Potential Planet V: Terrestrial Planet (Standard) (14 on 3d)
1st Potential Planet VI: Homeworld
1st Potential Planet VII: Terrestrial Planet (Standard) (14 on 3d)
1st Potential Planet VIII: Asteroid Belt (6 on 3d)
1st Potential Planet IX: Terrestrial Planet (Small) (10 on 3d)
1st Potential Planet X: Terrestrial Planet (Standard) (13 on 3d)
1st Potential Planet XI: Empty Orbit (-1 on 3d-9)

Homeworld Moons: 2 (2 on 1d-4)
1st Homeworld Moon Size: Tiny (9 on 3d)
2nd Homeworld Moon Size: Tiny (11 on 3d)
1st Homeworld Moon Type: Tiny (Rock)
2nd Homeworld Moon Type: Tiny (Rock)
1st + 2nd Homeworld Moon Surface Temperature: 200.9K
1st + 2nd Homeworld Moon Climate: Frozen

1st Homeworld Moon Density: 0.86 (15 on 3d)
1st Homeworld Moon Diameter: 0.0621 (0 on 2d-2) [0.0621-0.3724, step 0.0310]
1st Homeworld Moon Gravity: 0.0534G
1st Homeworld Moon Mass: 0.0002

2nd Homeworld Moon Density: 0.86 (16 on 3d)
2nd Homeworld Moon Diameter: 0.0621 (0 on 2d-2? the gently caress?) [0.0621-0.3724, step 0.0310]
2nd Homeworld Gravity + Mass: Ditto

2nd Orbital Period: 543.6632 earth-years
3rd Orbital Period: 5353.6260 earth-years
3a-th Orbital Period: 0.4369 earth-years

Homeworld Orbital Period: 4.1173 earth-years
Homeworld Eccentricity: 0.093 (9 on 3d)
Homeworld Orbital Min/Max: 2.3682 AU / 2.8538 AU

1st Homeworld Moon Orbital Radius: 11.2509 edm (5 on 2d+2)
2nd Homeworld Moon Orbital Radius: 22.5018 edm (11 on 2d+2)
1st Homeworld Moon Orbital Period: 3.0996 earth days
2nd Homeworld Moon Orbital Period: 8.7671 earth days

1st Homeworld Moon Tidal Effect on Planet: 0.1552
2nd Homeworld Moon Tidal Effect on Planet: 0.0194
Stellar Tidal Effect on Homeworld: 0.0226
Total Tidal Effect on Homeworld: 3
Homeworld Rotational Period: 21 earth hours (21 on 3d+13)

Planetary Tidal Effect on 1st Homeworld Moon: 397.6254
Planetary Tidal Effect on 2nd Homeworld Moon: 49.7032
Total Tidal Effect on 1st Homeworld Moon: 6209
Total Tidal Effect on 2nd Homeworld Moon: 776

both are tide-locked

Homeworld Retrograde Rotation: No
1st Homeworld Moon Retrograde Rotation: No
2nd Homeworld Moon Retrograde Rotation: No

1st Homeworld Moon Apparent Cycle: 1.2191 earth days
2nd Homeworld Moon Apparent Cycle: 0.9720 earth days
Homeworld Day Length: 21.0122 earth hours

Homeworld Axial Tilt: 27 degrees (10 on 3d, 7 on 2d-2)

Homeworld Geological Activity: Heavy (29 on 3d+14)
both moons are dead
Homeworld Tectonic Activity: Moderate (12 on 3d+2)

Earth Day = 1.1428 Homeworld Days
Homeworld Year = 1717.64 Homeworld Days
Homeworld Year = 485.16 1st Moon Orbits
Homeworld Year = 171.52 2nd Moon Orbits
1st Moon Orbit = 3.54 Homeworld Days
2nd Moon Orbit (Homeworld "Week") = 10.01 Homeworld Days
1st+2nd Moon Cycle = 35.43 Homeworld Days
Homeworld Month = 70.86 Homeworld Days (5 out of 6 months have 71 days, leap days occur every 10th month)
Homeworld Month = 7 Homeworld Weeks
Homeworld Year = 24.23 Homeworld Months (24 months + an extra-seasonal week)

Max Radiation from 2nd star on Homeworld: 16.28K [0.3556](39.258-2.3682=36.8898)
Min Radiation from 2nd star on Homeworld: 9.46K (106.142+2.8538=108.9958)

Max Radiation from 3rd star on Homeworld: 14.05K (70.14-2.3682=67.7718)
Min Radiation from 3rd star on Homeworld: 6.30K (334+2.8538=336.8538)

Combined Effect of Radiation on Homeworld, Max: 80.81K
Combined Effect of Radiation on Homeworld, Min: 41.99K

1st Star Apparent Magnitude from Homeworld: -25.41
2nd Star Apparent Magnitude from Homeworld
* Min: -12.05
* Max: -14.41
3rd Star Apparent Magnitude From Homeworld
* Min: -10.9
* Max: -13.77

Planet I Blackbody Temperature: 755.91K
Planet I Type: Standard (Chthonian)

Planet II Blackbody Temperature: 579.06K
Planet II Type: Tiny (Rock)

Planet III Blackbody Temperature: 431.32K
Planet III Type: Tiny (Rock)

Planet IV Blackbody Temperature: 330.71K
Planet IV Type: Small (Rock)

Planet V Blackbody Temperature: 261.96K
Planet V Type: Standard (Garden) (18 on 3d+10) [interesting...]
Planet V Atmosphere: Normal, 1 atm mass
Planet V Hydrographic Coverage: 73%
Planet V Surface Temperature: 255.29K
Planet V Climate Type: Cold
Planet V Density: 0.92
Planet V Diameter: 0.7847 [0.4956-1.0737, step 0.0578]
Planet V Surface Gravity: 0.7219
Planet V Mass: 0.4445
Planet V Atmospheric Pressure: 0.7847 atm (Thin)
and... two major moons.

Planet VII Blackbody Temperature: 155.01K
Planet VII Type: Standard (Ice)

Planet VIII Blackbody Temperature: 93.98K
Planet VIII Type: Small (Ice)

Planet IX Blackbody Temperature: 70.05K
Planet IX Type: Standard (Hadean)

The most notable thing we've found from generating the rest of the system is that Homeworld undergoes periods of extreme climate variation due to the other stars. AST ranges from 590-630K, staying towards the low end the majority of the time, but varies by up to 10K every 500 years. Note that sulfuric acid boils at 610K! Periodic depletion and refilling of sulfuric acid into the liquid sulfur seas is probably a major part of the ecosystem...

None of the other planets in the system are habitable by our creatures's standards, but Planet V makes a conveniently distant trading outpost for the vast majority of other lifeforms.

We've established enough to finally begin the racial template!

Attributes: [0]

ST -2 [-20]
Our creatures are actually pretty well built for their size, but still weaker than a human-sized organism.

DX +3 [60]
High, but to be expected from its niche.

IQ -2 [-40]
Can't have everything.

Secondary Characteristics: [0]

SM -2 [0]

Per +4 [20]
Compensating for the IQ penalty as well as fitting with the concept.

Basic Speed -0.5 [-10]
The senses are placed on the tentacles and the brain is in the core, which would logically lead to a slower reaction time.

Basic Move -2 [-10]
Calculated as per Space p. 146

Advantages: [158]

360 Vision [25]
3D Spatial Sense [10]
A given considering its environment and body plan.

Acute Hearing 4 [8]
Acute Vision 4 [8]
The senses don't quite match up to the ludicrous rolls on the tables, for example, we won't really be able to smell things that often. So let's save some points.

Ambidexterity [5]
Also needed for symmetry.

Brachiator [5]
This seemed logical for a spherical organism in the jungle.

Damage Resistance 8 [28] (Torso Only: -10%; Semi-Ablative: -20%)
A rocky shell surrounding the core.

Enhanced Tracking [5]
Logical considering the implementation of its mouths.

Four-Limbed - 35 pts.: Extra-Flexible Arms [10] + Extra Arm (Extra-Flexible: +50%; Foot Manipulator: -20%;) [13] + Extra Arm (Extra-Flexible: +50%; Foot Manipulator: -30%;) [12]
The most complicated part of it! Originally the limbs were going to be long as well, but that went a bit over budget. The extra arms are different advantages because one of the foot manipulator limitations is "One Leg" and the other is "Legless"

Extra Mouth 3 [15]
Injury Tolerance (No Head, No Neck) [12]
More anatomical features.

Temperature Tolerance 2 [2]
Necessary for dealing with Homeworld fluctuations.

Disadvantages: [-110]

Hidebound [-5]
Our creatures are not that innovative, as mentioned earlier.

Increased Consumption 1 [-10]
To reflect their higher metabolism.

Increased Life Support [-20]
Both "Extreme Heat" and "Pressurized" apply.

Loner (6 or less) [-10]
Phobia (Demophobia, 12 or less) [-15]
This probably models the extreme anxiety of the species well.

Racial Obscurity 1 [-10]
Ispep is sufficiently far out of the way due to life-support requirements and population density.

Restricted Diet (Common, liquid sulfur-based compounds) [-20]
Allwheat is explicitly water-carbon based.

Short Lifespan 2 [-20]
This is detailed on Space p. 159.

Quirks: Loathes children [-1]

The final template:

Hedgehog-Dilemmans - 47 points - Attributes: ST -2 [-20], DX +3 [60], IQ -2 [-40]; Secondary Characteristics: SM -2 [0], Per +4 [20], Basic Speed -0.5 [-10], Basic Move -2 [-10]; Advantages: 360 Vision [25], 3D Spatial Sense [10], Acute Hearing 4 [8], Acute Vision 4 [8], Ambidexterity [5], Brachiator [5], Damage Resistance 8 (Torso Only: -10%; Semi-Ablative: -20%;) [28], Enhanced Tracking [5], Extra Mouth 3 [15], Four-Limbed [35], Injury Tolerance (No Head, No Neck) [12], Temperature Tolerance 2 [2]; Disadvantages: Hidebound [-5], Increased Consumption 1 [-10], Increased Life Support (Extreme Heat, Pressurized), Loner (6 or less) [-10], Phobia (Demophobia, 12 or less) [-15], Racial Obscurity 1 [-10], Restricted Diet (Common, liquid sulfur-based compounds) [-20], Short Lifespan 2 [-20]; Quirks: Loathes children [-1];

This is pretty good, but we need to figure out how this thing is going to survive on Ispep, which is a radically different environment. Probably the easiest way to do this is to convert whatever we need into an advantage, and price it proportionately to a known similar item.

Suit Limitation - -45% (Breakable (DR 6, SM-2, machine): -35%; Can Be Stolen: -10%;)

Vacc Suit, TL9 (Suit: -45%;) [77]: Damage Resistance 6 (Flexible: -20%;) [24], Doesn't Breathe (Oxygen Storage) [20], Pressure Support 1 [5], Radiation Tolerance (PF 2) [5], Sealed [15], Temperature Tolerance 66 [66], Vacuum Support [5]

Super-Pressurized Environment Suit, TL9 (Suit: -45%;) [124]: Damage Resistance 10 (Flexible: -20%;) [40], Damage Resistance 10 (Flexible: -20%; Limited (piercing or cutting): -20%;) [30] Doesn't Breathe (Gas Storage) [20], Internal Pressure 2 [10], Radiation Tolerance (PF 2) [5], Sealed [15], Temperature Tolerance 100 [100], Vacuum Support [5]

Cost:
124/77 = 1.61 (proportional multiplier)
1.61 * 12000 = 19320 (proportional cost)
19320 * 2 * 2 = 77280 (adjustment for TL and racial obscurity)

Weight: 30 * 1.61 * 0.2 = 9.66 lbs.

Power:
Base = 2C + B (21B) / 24 hrs.
Added Functions = 33.6B / 24 hrs.
Size Adjustment = 6.72B / 24 hrs. = 1C / 36 hrs. ($200 per month)

CO2 Supply: 3 large tanks = 36 hours, 6 lbs, $720, refills negligible

# ? Jan 28, 2013 20:24

Chamale: Jul 11, 2010; Men on the moon and men spinning around the earth and there's not no attention paid to earthly law and order.

I play Magic: The Gathering competitively, and I keep track of information on paper for tournament games. I dug up some notes from 6 months ago, when I played a deck all about maximizing value and attacking with small evasive creatures. Nowadays I play a deck that's all about playing the biggest creatures early and taking huge attacks. Compare a match from then and a match from now, the difference is apparent even if you don't play Magic:

(I'm on the right)

20 20
18 18
17 15
12 9
7 6
6 4
4
3
0

Game 2:

20 20
18 18
17 16
14 12
11 11
10 10
16 9
13 7
10
9
8
1
0

Nowadays:

20 20
14 12
0

Game 2:
~~20 20~~
0 18

# ? Jan 28, 2013 22:50

ThreeStep: Nov 5, 2009

Back around 04-05 I was pretty keen on d20 Modern/Future and wrote up a bunch of random stuff for it, ranging from ships, robots, a game about finding Bigfoot (that I tried to run on WOTC's play by post forum; more on that later?) and a post-apoc setting called "Ashes of Apocalypse."

quote:

The collapse of civilization shook things up a little, wiping the old tourist spots off the map. In the decades that have followed, new places of interest have popped up.

Caner�s Vale: A swampy island off the new southern coast of America, right where Florida used to be is the town of Caner�s Vale. Legend has it that this was the location where man sent things into space, and sometimes brought them back. The name of this mystical city is largely a mystery, but evidence is brought up by muckrakers every day.

The population of Caner�s Vale is a hardy group of scavengers and tinkers. Muckrakers comb the swamps for technological scraps to sell on the market. A strange breed of tinker has set up residence in the town and outside it, individuals who are obsessed with recovering the dream of space flight.

Approaching Caner�s Vale, travelers first notice what appears to be dozens of somewhat clean scrap heaps. These are in fact the �launching pads� of rocket tinkers, or storage for muckrakers (both groups have codes against looting another�s scraps). As the terrain gets soggier and the water rises, building appear, elevated on stilts. The town itself is constructed on a series of platforms, arranged in a circular formation. Governmental buildings such the council hall and jail, are in the center. Radiating outward are the homes of the wealthy, market places, the less wealthy and at the outer edge, more scrap. Below the platforms are the �Docks,� where amphibious transportation is stored. The space beneath is cramped, with little room to stand upright.

The slightly toxic nature of the swamps and a lack of edible animal life has forced Caner�s Vale to create their own food source. Half an hour away by boat is the farm, a collection of greenhouses sunk directly into the ground. Complex filtration bartered from the Alphas and modified for water allows a rich harvest of plants not commonly native to the swamps. An adjoining building houses livestock, mainly specially bred fish. Tampering with the farms is a serious offense, and security is tight around the buildings.

Life in Caner�s Vale is dirty and damp, but despite the hardened appearance of the inhabitants, living there is quite pleasant. A higher than average level of technology helps keep the town safe and secure, as well as assisting with daily life. A council of five officials, chosen from each ring oversees the affairs of the town. There are few laws and many unwritten rules. However for the ease of visitors, the Council laid down some ground rules:
1. Property is sacred.
2.
Punishment varies on the infraction and is determined by the Council. For minor crimes fines or restitution are common. Death is reserved for the most serious of actions (in memory it has only been used three times); exile is a more frequent punishment.

Much of the year, Caner�s Vale is a quiet place. Twice a year, however, the town is host to an event that draws even the Alphas. On the first day of spring, and the last day of summer, Caner�s Vale hosts a Scrap Bazaar. For three days and two nights the muckrakers display their best findings to the public, tinkers unveil their latest creations, and entertainers make their living. The population doubles temporarily, and while crime rises the council often �drafts� a security force.

Facts, Rumors and Legends:
The pre-Collapse launch site is still intact and sealed up. Opinions differ as to the exact location, whether it is submerged or not.
Several tinkers have rediscovered the rocket science. Once a month their experiments light up the sky, thunder rumbling across the swamps. So far, they�ve had mixed results; perhaps they�ve sent a tiny satellite into orbit.
Ever wonder why there aren�t many animals around Caner�s Vale? There�s one big monster that eats them all up. Stories vary as to what it looks like, but a giant snake or squid is the most common depiction.

# ? Jan 28, 2013 23:31

ritorix: Jul 22, 2007; Vancian Roulette

I have no idea what this is.

Anyway, I acquired it sometime in the early 90's from my school-age 2e D&D group and found it again a few years ago.

It's a 300+ page bound softcover of seemingly every single wizard spell in existence at the time. The Player's Handbook, all sorts of spell supplements, whatever...its all there. No table of contents or index, just a giant content dump all about wizards. Everything is very readable, doesn't look like a cheap photocopy. Towards the back is even Dragon articles on various wizardy subjects:

Some 80's version of

? Whatever it is, someone spent a lot of time to compile it.

# ? Jan 28, 2013 23:37

dwarf74: Sep 2, 2012; It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue.

How about some home-grown stuff?

So, a few months back, my parents moved from the house they'd lived in for like 20 years. They brought down the remaining poo poo from my closet - mostly old gaming stuff. A lot of it was absolute treasure, like some Spelljammer stuff, my old TORG books and some Marvel Superheroes (FASERIP-style) stuff. And ... a big suitcase, full of crap I'd saved from games I was in or games I ran through elementary, middle, and high school. I have a lot more of it, but a while back I took some pictures of the funniest. I need to dig through it again; sadly a lot was actual garbage.

So without further ado...

From ancient days... I couldn't tell you the context, nor which of my friends made this. Pretty sure it wasn't me. But if you wanted AD&D stats for Gumby and Pokey, I got ya covered.

An old dungeon map! Fully Gygaxian Naturalized! Note the fancy-schmancy script on the compass rose.

My favorite hobby was making overpowered magic items while I was supposed to be paying attention in class. Also, this particular misspelling of "twilight" stuck with me for longer than I care to admit.

I also made up really lovely names for my characters. Witness AElyx PhOEnixflame.

Neither of these players are me. One of them is in politics now. Doug didn't run a lot of games, if I remember, but I think this was for a Throne of Bloodstone attempt with 100th level characters.

Sigh. This one's embarrassing. In the late 80's/early 90's, before we could argue about D&D on the internet with total strangers, my friends and I argued with each other about D&D via long notes passed to each other during or between classes. I have no loving clue what we were arguing about. I am Bill, and I am 99% sure I was wrong about whatever this was.

...and might I add, we took D&D goddamn seriously, with pseudo-legal signed documents. This is about Spellfire. I was the DM, but I couldn't tell you what the issues were. That's my friend Brad's handwriting though; whenever we wanted something to look good, we let him write it because he was neat and tidy.

I can dig up more if there's interest.

EDIT:

I will also now release into the world some poo poo I apparently worked really hard on about 20 years ago. I am 99% sure it is terrible, and it is certainly for AD&D 2e. I take no responsibility for anything here; I'm a lot older and a lot wiser. For all I know it's groggy as all hell.

So I give to you...

RYTHIAL!
This setting went through about a half-dozen revisions, and I think I actually put together this last draft sometime early in college. I should post up the map sometime. I don't know if I understood such concepts as "game balance" and "good design" back then.

Rythial Part I (This one is "yay, magic!")
Rythial Part II (This one isn't.)

And I don't even remember this one a tiny little bit, but ... KAELOS!

Download this one! (It looks lovely indeed!)

dwarf74 fucked around with this message at Jan 29, 2013 around 04:09

# ? Jan 29, 2013 03:49

MadScientistWorking: Jun 23, 2010; "I was going through a time period where I was looking up weird stories involving necrophilia..."

ritorix posted:

Some 80's version of ? Whatever it is, someone spent a lot of time to compile it.

I'm going to guess that very often when one compiles a large amount of magazines and the like they very often bind it into a book.

# ? Jan 29, 2013 04:07

Alien Rope Burn: Dec 4, 2004; _{The ensmuggenest.}

unseenlibrarian posted:

Jedi Champloo: It's an alternate universe conceit: What if the Star Wars movies were much, much closer to the Kurosawa chambara movies that the first one was based on? The Jedi are less ascetic monks than a samurai caste that has now been marginalized thanks to the rise of a new emperor and his barbarian suppressing general, a man who never removes his black-lacquered armor. Even carrying lightsabers has been banned, and the emperor's prejudice against aliens had led to them being forced to the fringes of space. You could work for the Hutts East Galaxia company, trying to open the Empire to trade, or just be well-paid smugglers or former Jedi Bindu traveling incognito, forced to work as mercenaries. Maybe seven of you will take payment to save that small space station from space pirates.

Alternate Star Wars always seem cooler than regular Star Wars. Hmmm.

Bieeardo posted:

The Cheezonomicon. A 2nd Edition wild magic grimoire filled with cheese-based spells. The Elemental Plane of Cheese. Cheese golems and elementals. Please forgive me: I was in high school, it was the early Nineties, and without the Internet I thought cheese humour was the height of originality.

Love to see the actual thing, if you still have it.

Kai Tave posted:

I have shitloads of stuff like this scattered across a couple of computers. Here's one I have on hand, which is information on a Shadowrun character I was in the process of putting together for an SR4 game that ultimately fell through. I was in full on hardcore nerd mode, going to put together a whole little dossier and stuff, but the game evaporated before I got far enough to do much more.

This makes me think good layout folks could make some $$$ offering to do custom sheets, though copyrights would be an issue, I suppose. Less so for open games like d20 or Dungeon World, tho.

ritorix posted:

Some 80's version of ? Whatever it is, someone spent a lot of time to compile it.

I remember spending an hour or two at the college library copying entire books. Oh, the work I went through to save... $8? $10? And such crappy quality!

And of course I have some stuff to post.

Here's GURPS Bubblegum Crunch!, a psuedo-sequel series to Bubblegum Crisis. Only the names have been removed to protect the ~~innocent~~ people who are not to blame. Playing a male character was considered an "Unusual Background"... and here are my secret notes on the characters from the animays. (Priss on welfare, huh?)

I had a web page with most of this info and a bunch of other resources collected at the time. It actually got me noted in the actual Bubblegum Crisis RPG under "online research".

And to prove somebody used GURPS Vehicles in an actual game: here's all the vehicles of the AD Police, Priss' bike, your basic "boomer", and here are the hard suits the PCs got (and their boomer companion).

# ? Jan 29, 2013 19:56

Alien Rope Burn: Dec 4, 2004; _{The ensmuggenest.}

Improbable Lobster posted:

I immediately thought of the Play Generated Map & Document Archive, which contains tons of this kind of stuff.

You're totally right.

Adding this to the OP.

# ? Jan 29, 2013 19:58

Squidster: Oct 7, 2008; Life's just better with Ominous Gloves.

Oh, man, I'm reaching back to 2007 here, back when I thought I was going to be a painter and not a soulless cubicle junkie.

The thing that made me join SA was my frustration with my failed steampunk India campaign - I wanted to set a story of a lost british column in a land with no allies, desperately trying to survive and return to glorious Britain. Much of it was set in the Eternal Serpent City - a narrow strip of a city in bleakest desert, built around an oasis that moved. As the underground groundwater dried up and shifted ever-east, palaces and crumbling castles would be abandoned, and new ones built further to the east. A narrow strip of ruins stretching back a thousand years now covered hundreds of miles of desert.

But my players were assholes, I didn't have the balance in my head, and goddamn, my players were assholes. "Shouldn't they be raping her?" "Between screams of terror, he starts choking out the answer to your questi-""I cut off his feet!"

But here's some art assets from the abandoned game. Someday, I'll have to revive this thing as a standalone campaign setting.

"This is your home. Its name is Grub.

Lightly armored and helpless in combat, the Grub is designed as a fast support vehicle for a single 50-man platoon and it's enlisted support crew on long-term missions.

Built on a modular design, Grubs can be inexpensively re-purposed as mobile hospitals, troop transports, or armored research labs.

Many troops prefer Grub-class sandcrawlers for their smooth rolling gait, and open rest deck."

A foreign legionnaire.

The Captain's Yacht - this short-range walker is used for ceremonial occasions only, and is absolute murder on the legs.

I also used to illustrate characters for our weekly D&D 3.5 games - which gave me great fodder for the old Worst Tales thread.

A disagreeable rogue!

The definition of cheese, this player char-opped a hulking hurler to such a stupidly absurd degree that the DM threw his hands up in disgust and cancelled the campaign.

Satin, a bored noble who got into thievery for the hot thief chicks. So wealthy that he used a chandelier as a grappling hook.

Belkar our long-suffering cleric, who kept dead party members in his barrel of holding until we made enough gold to resurrect them.

# ? Jan 29, 2013 21:25

potatocubed: Jul 26, 2012; Who? Me?

This is an awesome idea for a thread!

When 4e D&D first came out, I ran a game of it. It was incoherent, all my finest plot ideas lost in the mad scramble of a party who killed the people they were supposed to ally with and allied with their mortal enemies with a near-religious fervour. It also featured this exchange about four sessions in:

Player: "You could give us some quest XP."
Me: "That's true. Have you completed any quests?"
Player: "...no."

Anyway, I still have some of my sketchy notes from that game that people might like to read - maybe you can finish the plots I never could?

The first adventure! Notable mostly for the purification chamber (area 3) and some pre-statted goblins if you need them.

This was the second adventure as I recall - in the end it featured a lot of roleplaying, virtually no combat, and one of my players said it was the best D&D he'd ever played.

This one was from later on and I never got to use it because the paladin punched out the noble patron, looted his house, and the session turned into an impromptu jailbreak. Sadly this is not the first time in one of my games a naked paladin has fled from the law with the cry "I'll be back for my stuff!" but that's another story... Anyway, it's a page of plot notes that you might find inspiring for your own games.

If anyone's interested I also have a vast campaign I was mid-way through writing for Conan d20 when the line was killed. It's pretty fleshed out, but lacking in stat blocks because I really wasn't looking forward to building high-level d20 characters.

Edit: And have this, an 'old-school' dungeon I wrote many years ago which revolves around terrible jokes and being a massive dick to the players. Probably reads better than it plays.

potatocubed fucked around with this message at Jan 29, 2013 around 23:38

# ? Jan 29, 2013 23:24

Kai Tave: Jul 2, 2012

Alien Rope Burn posted:

This makes me think good layout folks could make some $$$ offering to do custom sheets, though copyrights would be an issue, I suppose. Less so for open games like d20 or Dungeon World, tho.

I don't know how profitable it would be, but especially with the self-published pdf market I kinda think there'd be a moderately successful niche to be carved out of publishing form-fillable "generic prop documents" for roleplayers. Like, hospital reports, police reports, intelligence dossiers...do up a few different styles of each (so, like, you could have an old-style 1920s/30s style for Cthulhu-esque games, a modern day layout, a cyberpunk/future layout, etc.) and then include some things like lists of police codes or medical jargon, etc.

# ? Jan 29, 2013 23:29

Captain Foo: May 11, 2004; IF U CN RD THS, SCK M FCKNG CCK NTL T SPRTS LL VR R FC

Belkar is awesome.

# ? Jan 30, 2013 01:54

Winson_Paine: Oct 27, 2000; Oh no, the Grumpy Old Troll! Maybe if you solve his riddle he will leave you alone.

I love this thread. I have a notebook in my personal poo poo box* in the closet with tons of my old notes. I remember when we got a used copy of PRICE OF FREEDOM and found someone else's character, BUCK HARDWAY, who for his gear had an "M-79 THUMP GUN, TWO FRAG, TWO SMOKE, TWO BARS OF CHOCOLATE, THREE CONDOMS, BOTTLE OF WHISKEY." Nothing else. This was a man prepared to stop the Soviets.

That dude was the best.

_{* The box I have my old personal poo poo in, not a litter box I keep for myself in the closet.}

# ? Jan 30, 2013 02:15

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# ? May 24, 2013 20:32

Alien Rope Burn: Dec 4, 2004; _{The ensmuggenest.}

It's a Bogrin Paragon class for Iron Kingdoms d20!

It's useful to noone. The game I was going to play a bogrin in never happened. Added errata, which is doubly pointless!

Bogrin Paragon

Hit Die: d8
Class Skills
The bogrin paragon's class skills (and the key ability modifier for each skill) are Alchemy (Int)*, Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Hide (Dex), Intimidate (Cha), Move Silently (Dex), Profession (Wis), and Wilderness Survival (Wis).

* Replace with Swim (Str) in 3.5.

Skill Points at Each Level: 4 + Int modifier

Base Attack Bonus: As Fighter.
Good Saves: Reflex

Class Features
All of the following are class features of the bogrin paragon class.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Bogrin paragons are proficient with all simple weapons, shortbows, short swords, and with light armor, medium armor, and with all shields (except tower shields).

Tricky (Ex): At 1st level, a bogrin paragon gains an additional +2 racial bonus to Hide and Move Silently. This stacks with their existing bonuses.

Hardy (Ex): At 1st level, a bogrin paragon's racial bonus against poisons is increased to +3.

Pyromaniac: At 2nd level, a bogrin paragon gains a +4 racial bonus on Alchemy checks to create alchemical fire and any other alchemical substances that causes combustion. Furthermore, they gain a +2 bonus on attack rolls with alchemical, fire-causing substances.

Ability Boost (Ex): At 3rd level, a bogrin paragon's Dexterity score increases by 2 points.

_{Errata: Replace "Alchemy" under "Pyromaniac" with "Craft (alchemy)" for a 3.5 update.}

# ? Feb 8, 2013 13:43

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Games > Traditional Games > Remains of the Game - The Secret History of Our Hobby