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[Toaster]

I would like to hand in my "I'm an adult" card while keeping my current pay please. That or just stop going to Half Price Books.

See, I've got an RPG bookshelf. It's quite full at the moment and I promised my wife I wouldn't buy anything I already don't have at least one book for until we move into a house with a spare room I can commandeer. Just over the past week, this has forced me to pass up complete boxed sets of Ravenloft and Forgotten Realms, Alternity, and City of Brass. Today, I had to pass up Spirit of the Century and both 7th Sea core books, both of which I've played in college and quite enjoyed.

So, rather than any of those neat things, I nabbed an adventure for the Arcanis d20 setting.

I think I have a problem.

What, you can't hide them somewhere until you move?

[Mephisto]

What, you can't hide them somewhere until you move?

I've been leaving one shelf on my bookcase empty. I suppose I could put all of the books I don't care about on that one for the cats to get all furry.

It wasn't so much a "no more games" promise, it was more like "until I get a game room, I'm limited to one bookcase".

[Sergius]

Well, it seems that the Star Control 2 game with my pen&paper buddies is happening (someday). I asked everybody and they appeared willing to do any genre, including hard or soft sci-fi.

So now, I'm gathering some data from my memories of the game and the intertubes, got the basic "endgame" (I looked a walkthru and it all boils down to "blow up the Sa-Matra!" - tho a different conclusion would be possible, if the players are clever enough to come up with an alternative and succeed at it). Other than the required items (a bomb, freeing a certain species from a shield, and safely acquiring a Talking Pet) pretty much everything else would be open ended.

I'm actually going to expand it a bit backwards, with a "prequel" sequence/adventure/"tutorial?", where the players find out and activate the Precursor factory in Unzervalt, then fast forward to 15-ish years later.

I'm not sure how I'm going to handle space combat - I'm thinking just using regular skill rolls to either use multiple Flagship systems, which should have enough guns or whatever for all players whenever they just want to straight-up shoot, and of course pilot escorts that they've acquired. I know that I'll have to add face-to-face encounters somehow too, I suppose it will be about 50%/50% whenever some MacGuffin location is visited.

[Rolan7]

That's an interesting way to handle the Flagship's power, if I understand you.  Instead of grinding resources to upgrade, having them unlock its precursor systems with skillchecks?  I like.

I also like the idea of multiple ways to resolve the campaign.  The original was very open for exploration and growth, but the main quest was... mostly linear.  Besides finding allies to assist.

Further ideas PM'd (;

[Sergius]

I'm not exactly sure how I will handle upgrades. I think I'm going to keep whatever the actual capabilities of the ships are in the video games. Unlock flagship tech via story and trade, maybe (not actually grinding for RUs or Melnorme "Credits").

Also, keeping with the spirit of SC, I think I'm going to have PCs (and NPCs/mooks) absorb damage using their own resources.
So you don't attack a ship, you attack the crew (individual named characters or a mob).

Combat would be more or less like this:
Player 1: I shoot the cannons! (roll attack)
Player 2: I also shoot some cannons!
Player 3: I'm in the Shofixti fighter thingy. I shoot (roll attack)

So, anyone can attack another ship at all times (unless prevented by some status or something). Also, since people are targeted, not ship hull or whatever, everyone has to roll their own dodge. Moving the ship would have to need some consensus, but essentially one player uses his "move action" or roll for extra speed and everyone else on board that ship cruises along.

Ship size will dictate how many players can be in a ship. By default, the Flagship can carry all the characters. Also maybe upgraded to carry extra mooks.

EDIT: This may sound OP but I don't intend to make ship battles 1-vs-1. If the Flagship gets 4 character doing actions it's not going to be just them vs one fighter or drone at a time.

[timferius]

I'm excited to be running a game of Dread in a few weeks for my friends, in celebration of Halloween. Paranormal/Ghost stuff seems popular amongst my group as the preferred form of spoopyness. I'm having a lot of trouble coming up with a non-cliche plot though. Damned media has ruined me. I'm picturing crisp autumn air, rolling in to a ruralish area, gravel crunching under car tires, spooky mansions, that fun stuff. I figure it's all fine if I can come up with a reasonably original premise for them going there, the haunting etc. I plan them to "escape" the mansion, only to be followed or something, somewhere they feel safe.

[Fniff]

A premise that really struck a chord with my players, that I unfortunately didn't continue, was that you're going to the funeral for your father. I didn't know where I was going with it but that could add a sense of bittersweetness to any ghost shenanigans. It's not just a spooky mansion, it's your childhood home fallen into darkness. It's not just a spooky specter, it's your dad warped by death into a demented spirit.

As for escaping the mansion... Well, the specter is their parent. They want to follow them to their homes because they miss them, but sadly they just cause more chaos and destruction.

I have a feeling it's been done before, but it's not too cliché.

[Mephisto]

Is this cliche?

It starts out as a group of college students going on a camping trip, whereupon they get chased/eaten by werewolves.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

It ends with one of the students in a mental institution. I'm uncertain if those events made her go crazy and the murders were pinned on her or if she had some form of break and murdered her friends.

[timferius]

Is this cliche?

It starts out as a group of college students going on a camping trip, whereupon they get chased/eaten by werewolves.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

It ends with one of the students in a mental institution. I'm uncertain if those events made her go crazy and the murders were pinned on her or if she had some form of break and murdered her friends.

Saw that actually haha. It's one of the three default games you can download off the dread website actually. It's cool, but less goost and more monster. I love the ending though, keeps you guessing.

[Fniff]

I'm trying to match popular fiction characters to three factions of NPCs in a post-apocalyptic setting. You know, so that the factions are easier to explain. What I got stuck on was coming up with a character that is utterly driven by base urges and will do anything to satisfy them.

Anyone got any ideas for fictional characters that fit that criteria?

[Toaster]

Ungoliant, the giant spider so driven by hunger that it eventually ate itself?

[Fniff]

That's a neat metaphor, and I'll probably steal that. However, I'm thinking more like a character that most people can recognize or at least link to a video of. Like, the other factions are guilt-ridden survivalists (Represented by Mad Max) and arbitrary bandit-kings (Represented by Vaas from Far Cry 3).

[GiglameshDespair]

The Joker is driven by irrational whims, and follows them for its own sake, not for gain.
Maybe him?

[Rolan7]

The Harkonnens maybe?

[Mephisto]

This may be a bit old-school, but Leisure Suit Larry was recognizable at one point. If you're not sure what his base urge is, I'll tell you when you're older.