YDIN - Is three skill levels enough?
Was wondering, is three skill levels enough variety for character differences in different know-how? For you who might read this but is not familiar with YDIN mechanics, here it is in nutshell: Characters have attributes which range from 1 to 6 one being lowest and six the highest. Skill levels have currently three levels from 1 to 3 where one is lowest and three highest (of course there are unskilled actions but I don't take them in now). Skill level determines both bonus to attribute and a die used when character tries to accomplish a task. Bonuses are the following: Skill level... more »
Happy New Year 2011 and overview of 2010
Wow, year changed so fast I almost missed it and totally forgot to wish you all great rpg'ing new year and thank you all of last year! I'd like to thank all who visited here, read my blogs, commented and gave cool hints and tips. Thank you guys and gals! I am almost 30 now, and somehow it feels that even though years change, everything stays the same. When younger there was ofcourse school and every year you were closer to your goal of education (or getting rid of it) and so on. Today, I don't know, 2011 feels similar to 2009 actually. Big notable difference is what new products ar... more »
[V:tM] Let there be some color in my game
In every single Vampire: the Masquerade campaign I have ever ST'd there's allways been atleast one Malkavian. I love them. They are absolutely fantastic characters. They might be wise, bat-shit insane, strange, dangerous, just odd, insightful, not Malkavian-ish at all... anything. I know, that there's allways danger to make this whacky fish-malk character (troll in interwebz language if you will) but even they could be fun for a moment. And if Malkavian is really bat-shit insane, unpredictable, dangerous, doesn't follow rules or Traditions there is no reason why he wouldn't be punis... more »
The mighty Three to help gamemaster's plannings
This is really simple, and powerful tool to make great variation with only few simple steps. With this you can create illusion of living world as not everything unimportant (or even important) for campaign is static copies of eachother. So, get ready for The mighty Three to help gamemaster's plannings *Introduction: Example Of Gym Music Listeners* I'll just start with a bit complex example. Complex because this is actually not that complex, but I just want to show you how it can work basically with anything. So, here's the example, and all the explanation follows after it. * * * **... more »
Unreal Tournament in D&D
*Unreal Tournament, futuristic sports game with guns, shooting and action. But what if there was Unreal Tournament in Dungeons & Dragons? * Unreal Tournament is First-person-shooter what is like futuristic sport with guns. There are different types of matches with different winning conditions but they all rely on more or less on shooting and killing. You could also describe Unreal Tournament as a modern glariator type game slash sports. So, Unreal Tournament would be quite possible in realms of D&D, just take those big guns away and use melee weapons, ranged weapons and spells ins... more »
Missing some of my old rpg's
Today I don't usually sell rpg's. Well, I did sell some of my nWoD books, but I didn't like them and I replaced them with equivalent from oWoD line (ie. sold H:tV, got H:tR. Sold M:tAw, got M:tAs). But I have sold some rpg's what I now regret. I do collect games. I am not compulsive buyer, but if I see a good second hand deal, I most likely take it even though I know I wouldn't ever play that game. Some of the games I have sold before and I miss, are: *2300 AD (Tie Tähtiin 2300 AD in finnish* I liked 2300 AD alot. Finnish version had some serious game crippling typing errors, so so... more »
I could kill orcs to get to play D&D as player
Well, IF I got to play D&D as player, I could kill orcs. Problem is, I only have one player available. And she is player. She has gamemastered for me, mainly Vampire though. And she likes playing the most. She's okay with gamemastering though, but prefers the player's side on the table. So, if I was cunning enough, I could get her to GM for me, but the problem is, that she is more story oriented than rules lawyer. She often asks me how the rules work or what should I throw in this and that situation, as she is not that aware about the rules. She has read my rpg books, yes. But she ... more »
D&D solo play
Dungeons & Dragons, if we talk about it as rules set, is ment for a party. Crew of adventurers, who all fill some purpose. In older editions this was more clear. One healed, one cleared traps, one fought, one was long range, one cast spells etc. Every character (class) had their function and place in the party. For your average dungeon you most likely need them all. Lonely rogue cannot heal himself without stock of potions, warrior can easily run into traps and cleric can heal himself, but can he kill all the enemies? Basically, all the characters in party are "one". Like human head... more »
Story of the Demon Boy
It was christmas eve, in 1866 when a christian woman Matilda Herrings got violently attacked. Or so she claims. No evidence was found of violence. No bruises, scratches, wounds. Only her story. When she was laying on her bed and questioned for the details about this attacker, he couldn't tell what he looked like. But she referred her attacker as "it", not he. People of the town lit their torches and torchlights and armed themselves what ever they could find. Some with guns, other with pitchforks and even with kitchen knives. Search lasted for a month, but nothing out of ordinary coul... more »
Man eating tree
*Not my text, but taken from the Unexplained Mysteries forums. Original poster there is Kar-Zid. Text below is copypaste, but I thought I'd share it as it could be fascinating for roleplaying games.* MAN EATING TREES A CASE STUDY A tree which not only is capable of killing a full grown man, but uses the corpse to sustain it's own life. The Man Eating Tree is a fabled plant, and is one that dates back a long way. The earliest known report of the specifics of this botanical cryptid was all the way back in 1881. Carl Liche, the German explorer, wrote of what he had witnessed in Madaga... more »
Christmas rpging
Finally finished last adventure. It was ment to be only 1-3 game sessions, but stretched to be over 10. I liked it, but didn't like how it came out. I have another Call of Cthulhu in more traditional Mythos way what I also would like to do as 1-3 sessions game, and this time I will success! It just needs planning ahead. Another option is to play Vampire: the Masquerade with the same character we used in last campaign what we finished. Two options to choose from. I also got us Nintendo Wii. Our only of these new gaming consoles. I already have old XBox an PS2 though, but this is the... more »
Old World of Darkness - Easy way to create a plot + Few ready made plots for you to use
You might have planned a campaign you are running, but you would like to run some side quest. Or you might have sandbox styled game but for the next session you are out of ideas. What ever the case is, here is simple way to get *inspiration in creating a plot*. Take character sheet of the game you and your group are playing. You see, that skills are in three categories and in each category there are 10 skills. And V:tM uses ten sided dice. Roll D10 for each skill category, and see what skill the die result points at. Write those skills down. They are moods, settings, ideas, actions ... more »
I must learn to gamemaster short sessions!
There are several games in my shelf I want to play. But I don't want to play full campaign, but one to five sessions adventures. Problem is, that my gamemastering style is slow. By slow I mean, that my games always are long. I tried to run Call of Cthulhu campaign set in modern world in one, maximum two sessions, but last weekend I ran eleventh session. Why? Well, even though I wanted to make one-shot I got carried away with mood and character relations building. Mood takes lots of time. If I'd run one-shot, I feel that I had to rip so much off from the role part from roleplaying. ... more »
[D&D] Zapper wand Harry Potter style
I saw this trailer at Youtube. Haven't played the game and I don't even know what it is like, but man, it looks so ridiculous. It's like FPS but with zapping wands! But I got an idea to make Zapper Wand for Dungeons & Dragons (3rd ed) based on this trailer of Harry Potter game. So here it is... Zapper Wand Zapper wands are weapons in high-magical lands of fantasy. They are weapons that were used in great wizard wars. Even now wizards who are warriors do use these commonly. Zapper wands come in huge range of sizes. Rule of thumb is, that the bigger Zapper wand is the greater damag... more »
Random flailure table - When flail fails
*Cleric and his party encountered band of orcs what are known to roam the countryside killing and robbing travellers, stealing village's livestock and causing trouble for commoners. The battle begins and initiative roll favours the band of heroes. Cleric with highest initiative declares, that he'll bash some orc skulls as they aren't that hard opponents. Cleric pics up his D20, rolls it... Result is "1"...* Random Flailure table is for all players whose character uses flail. If you botch critically, ask your player to roll 20-sided die and tell his flail fail result! * * D20 Roll - ... more »
Wendigo - my version for RPGs
(Wendigo in Wikipedia.) *Origin* Spirit of winter and nature, stalker of the night and cold. Beast of the spirit world who consumes human(oid) flesh. No one truly knows where Wendigo origins but it is speculated that when humanity conquered forests for their own interests in Northern and snowy parts of the world Wendigo was awaken. When human abuse forest for their own needs hacking trees for goods and space to live within, Wendigo get's what is rightly for him: Human victims. A true protector of winter wilderness Wendigo cannot be exile. It was awaken or became carnivorous spiri... more »
Lazy on writing combat rules for YDIN project
Someone who has followed this blog might know that I am developing my own rpg system. In the following link to this blog you can find set of rules already written: http://cradleofrabies.blogspot.com/p/ydin.html But I have been stuck on writing the rules. There is not yet rules for * combat* and *wounding*. I know how it works already, but am too lazy to write them down. Rules for combat and wounding are most detailed and long to write down. I am currently quite busy in my life, so those rules have been delayed for some time now. I am planning to write so called *basic combat* to jus... more »
Orbs are dust particles, or are they?
Everyone knows so called ghost photographs with orbs. Orbs are those floating circles and balls what are said to be spirits. But the truth is not that fascinating or paranormal. Orbs are just dust particles or moisture reflecting camera's flash. Or the brightest ones are lens flares. So, there is nothing paranormal in orbs. They are not proof of orbs or existence and activity of spirits. They are just normal phenomenom. And worst "proof" of ghost activity. But in your horror campaign, what if orbs *are* paranormal? How to make these real life dust particles and camera flash reflecti... more »
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