Notable Gaming Experiences: The Gospel According to CobiWann's DM

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Traditional Games > Notable Gaming Experiences: The Gospel According to CobiWann's DM

Kobold: Jan 22, 2008; Centuries of knowledge ingrained into my brain,
and this STILL makes no sense.

I think around level 5 was considered a good starting point? You got some hit points, a few of your basic tricks... and casters have access to three levels of magic, giving them quite a few options. I could be wrong, though.

# ¿ Feb 12, 2012 02:36

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ¿ Apr 27, 2024 07:26

Kobold: Jan 22, 2008; Centuries of knowledge ingrained into my brain,
and this STILL makes no sense.

Pit of Despair posted:

I tell the DM "I'm quicksaving. F6, man."

...

"Um...quickload."

Is this an actual house rule you guys play with, or just the DM rolling with the idea to your group's benefit? Because I could definitely see that being an amusing option to the players if done right.

# ¿ Feb 23, 2012 22:19

Kobold: Jan 22, 2008; Centuries of knowledge ingrained into my brain,
and this STILL makes no sense.

Liesmith posted:

so basically you will either be the god-king of the administrative center of the Empire, or you will kill billions of people, becoming one of the most reviled villains in the history of a setting that is, shall we say, atrocity-rich.

dark side problems

I'd say use it as a last resort. Have it queued and threaten to use it if things turn sour. Either result is devastating to the planet as a whole, so it could make for one hell of a bargaining chip. It'd have to be played delicately... since the moment you're away from that machine, they'll be liable to off you. That's just me, though.

# ¿ Mar 20, 2012 01:26

Kobold: Jan 22, 2008; Centuries of knowledge ingrained into my brain,
and this STILL makes no sense.

DivineCoffeeBinge posted:

Also, does anyone else remember the tricks you could do with random-result items in 2nd Edition AD&D with a Wild Mage? There were things called Bracers of Brandishing that, when used with a wand, made the wand burn through 1d10-5 charges per use (so you could actually spend -4 charges and thus gain 4 charges). Wild Mages had a chance to choose the "random" result on a randomized-result item... so give them a wand of wonder and the aforementioned bracers and they could be tossing fireballs out of that wand all day every day and gaining charges as they went. God, it was broken.

In an odd bit of theorycrafting at one point, I got into a discussion on how horrible a Wild Mage would be at the helm of a Spelljammer ship. Mainly because the speed is directly correlated to the level of the caster at the helm, or so it goes I believe. So, with the random fluctuations of a Wild Mage... well, it'd make for a bump trip, we decided.

We later felt that it would be an interesting form of punishment for underlings when in a fleet situation. That's the ship you don't want to go on, for sure. Then it devolved into Barfbags of Holding and other such humor.

# ¿ Mar 22, 2012 03:09

Kobold: Jan 22, 2008; Centuries of knowledge ingrained into my brain,
and this STILL makes no sense.

What about the favor of a dead god?

# ¿ Mar 23, 2012 09:19

Kobold: Jan 22, 2008; Centuries of knowledge ingrained into my brain,
and this STILL makes no sense.

Section Z posted:

You can make a Revenant Goblin easy enough, yeah.

But JESUS that's some crazy odds. You'd have to be rolling below ten for the Vs AC or WELL below 10 for the NonAC stuff every single attack even with a party of level one characters.

Sometimes things work that way. The players in my group tend to have an innate ability to lower an enemy to 1 HP, then miss for several rounds before finally killing it. I think the longest (with seven players), was about four rounds.

# ¿ Apr 26, 2012 06:23

Kobold: Jan 22, 2008; Centuries of knowledge ingrained into my brain,
and this STILL makes no sense.

Benagain posted:

Two headed warforged with one head of a much higher quality than the other, unfortunately married in this unholy alliance of steel to preserve its mockery of life, but alas! The rogue techno wizard who performed the operation is dead, and the secrets of removing the head and reattaching it to a better body are lost forever.

Basically have a really snooty pretentious head tacked on to a workmanlike head that gets poo poo done. Bonus points if you and your wife switch who's what head for different sessions, with any minor personality differences described away as a result of random misfirings due to the experimental nature of the surgery.

Or you can go Asura/Hexidecimal style and have one head with multiple faces that rotate into place for whoever's in control at the time.

# ¿ May 2, 2012 20:26

Kobold: Jan 22, 2008; Centuries of knowledge ingrained into my brain,
and this STILL makes no sense.

DivineCoffeeBinge posted:

Let that sink in a bit. They didn't turn around and say "Hah, you Rebel scum are hosed now!" They jumped out of hyperspace about three milliseconds after clearing the atmosphere and ran like bitches.

I'm sure they just see it as a "strategic withdrawal." Plus with those shield generators down and all that sitting up there in the sky, I'm a bit worried they're going to try and box you in like you did to them.

# ¿ Jun 3, 2012 06:02

Kobold: Jan 22, 2008; Centuries of knowledge ingrained into my brain,
and this STILL makes no sense.

DivineCoffeeBinge posted:

Cowboy

Okay, that's the kind of power character I wouldn't mind seeing more often. Has it, but isn't trying to use it at every opportunity. His poor record. :smith:

# ¿ Jul 13, 2012 03:12

Kobold: Jan 22, 2008; Centuries of knowledge ingrained into my brain,
and this STILL makes no sense.

Suleman posted:

Suleman: Or perhaps a sith whose name is so embarassing that he doesn't want to say it.
The_GM: Darth Not-Really-All-That-Good-Actually
Suleman: Bravely brave Darth Robin flew forth from Korriban
Suleman: Darth Pissoffihaveaheadache
The_GM: Darth Whatchootalkingboutwillis
Suleman: Darth Complainsofnames
The_GM: Darth Bigears
The_GM: Darth Woobie
The_GM: Darth Fuzzywumpkins

Sounds like what happened when I was debating getting into the Star Wars MMO. I was throwing out goofy Sith names along with a couple friends who were also thinking about it. Ended up with Darth Entaksis, Darth Meat, and a few others that slip my mind at the moment.

# ¿ Jul 28, 2012 17:56

Kobold: Jan 22, 2008; Centuries of knowledge ingrained into my brain,
and this STILL makes no sense.

Remembered another one. Darth Brooks. Never did actually play the game, but I don't feel I missed out on too much.

# ¿ Jul 29, 2012 03:36

Kobold: Jan 22, 2008; Centuries of knowledge ingrained into my brain,
and this STILL makes no sense.

DarkHorse posted:

We still tell stories about the "Kamchatka Special Forces" holding off enemies outnumbering them 20:1 though.

When I was still in the military, a couple of the folks I worked with and I would play continuous games of Risk during our lunch breaks. When the break ended, we'd move the board off the table and wait until the next day to continue... and we had stuff like that happen too. I remember completely shutting down one attack into the countries I owned with a single soldier.

The whole idea ended up being... interesting, playing Risk during the lunch breaks. Since the wall between the break room and the office was mostly glass, I'd look up from my work to see one of my coworkers just... hovering at the window. Studying the board, planning their next move.

# ¿ Aug 1, 2012 18:16

Kobold: Jan 22, 2008; Centuries of knowledge ingrained into my brain,
and this STILL makes no sense.

You know, as awesome as all this sounds - and it really does - I'd have to go against the grain of "Man, I'd want to be in this." Mostly because I'm sure these debates and plans would come up and I'd just fall short in helping out. You're planning to use radiation to hunt down cloaked SSDs as an early warning system... I would've just focused on somehow just... I dunno, disabling their cloaking system somehow.

Modified EMP burst or something after somehow getting them to show up and removing their ability to do that. But that would involve both getting them to show and managed to use whatever device would allow such a thing before they just blow you up. I am not good at these sorts of super in-depth plans... mostly, I think, due to a lack of personal knowledge in such matters.

# ¿ Oct 25, 2012 07:09

Kobold: Jan 22, 2008; Centuries of knowledge ingrained into my brain,
and this STILL makes no sense.

DivineCoffeeBinge posted:

I understand, believe me - but one of the best things about our GM is that he's also really good at explaining poo poo and if he sees a flaw in your plan he'll try and make it clear to you... and then he's just as liable to say "but you could do this, this, or this, and any of those might work."

Ah, that probably helps a lot. None of the games I've been in have gone heavily into details, so I don't have as much experience with it. My games tend to have more simplistic and, sometimes, silly ideas for how to deal with a problem. My most successful ventures have usually involved throwing one problem into another problem, such as when one of my old 3.5 characters grappled and then threw a golem into another enemy.

# ¿ Oct 26, 2012 02:15

Kobold: Jan 22, 2008; Centuries of knowledge ingrained into my brain,
and this STILL makes no sense.

Kurieg posted:

From your descriptions I believe this was a 4e Game, right?
Level appropriate Magic Items are kind of vital to even hitting things as a part of the game's math. This guy sounds like a giant dick who just wanted an audience to inflict his neuroses on.

There IS the ability to just use inherent bonuses so that you get the equivalent bonuses to hit, damage, and defenses without having to go along the loot treadmill (and thus be able to use more aesthetic items that fit your character rather than just picking up the latest, most powerful thing). But I have the hardest time imagining that a DM like that taking an option that gives more FREEDOM to his players.

# ¿ Mar 5, 2013 20:03

Kobold: Jan 22, 2008; Centuries of knowledge ingrained into my brain,
and this STILL makes no sense.

Cornwind Evil posted:

I'm pretty sure you just avoided a fight with Dire Donkey Kong.

Just reading that reminds me of when I had a Half-Demon gorilla serving as both guard and librarian to a lich's library. And was armed with a Barrel of Returning. Mostly got ticked off when people weren't quiet when in the library, but was pretty peaceable otherwise.

# ¿ Apr 11, 2013 06:50

Kobold: Jan 22, 2008; Centuries of knowledge ingrained into my brain,
and this STILL makes no sense.

kizudarake posted:

And does it ride a motorcycle with it-hanger handlebars?

Not so much. The barrel had an animated rope-with-grappling-hook inside it that looked like it was made of several smaller monkeys, though, if that counts for anything.

# ¿ Apr 11, 2013 18:43

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ¿ Apr 27, 2024 07:26

Kobold: Jan 22, 2008; Centuries of knowledge ingrained into my brain,
and this STILL makes no sense.

Agrikk posted:

I read it this way as well. Why people would go ballistic over a thermos of space campbell's soup was a little beyond me.

But a guy with a bunch of bombs will use said bombs and always at awkward or inopportune times.

I'm oddly inspired to have a character who carries around a variety of different soups to deal with all sorts of situations. Would probably be the group healer, since that makes the most sense in my mind. One soup for acid burns, another soup for stat drain, a third soup for petrification wherein it's never explained how said recipient partakes of it...

Could just be really gimmicky, but also decently amusing.

# ¿ Sep 26, 2013 00:30

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Traditional Games > Notable Gaming Experiences: The Gospel According to CobiWann's DM