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Any D&D/D20

Shadowrun

World of Darkness

Palladium

Other (feel free to post about it)

[TheBiggerFish]

@milo:  I kinda wanna play that.

Failing that I kinda wanna make a game based on that.

[Digital Hellhound]

Ran my first real-life, in-person, flesh-and-blood pen-and-paper RPG session a few days ago, start of a Mutants and Masterminds campaign for my friends. It was  a ton of fun - we ended up playing for almost ten hours because no-one felt any need to stop. The basic gist of the story was: star professor of an MIT-knockoff university has been manipulating his star pupils and using them for a string of crimes, proper criminal mastermind-style. Heavily investigation-based, but with enough scraps to make things dangerous/interesting/varied.

That's not to say it went perfectly; I had trouble getting a few players involved at the start, because they felt their characters wouldn't have any reason to involve themselves in the power-armoured bank robbery I had there to start things off. It worked out in the end, but they just sat there for a while. I also didn't get to show much characterization for most of the bad guys, though some NPCs that weren't even supposed to feature heavily did end up getting the spotlight. But hey, that's the way it goes, no problem there.

Also, though I prepared for the mind controller and prepared for the superspeedster, I sure didn't prepare for them working together in a situation I'd just improvised into existence. I put one of the villain's minions to shadow them without really considering how he'd get away if they went after him. They caught and mind controlled him, and it ended up being somewhat of a farce of a scene for a while as I furiously thought of some way to not have them spoil the entire plot at that point.

Eventually one of his accomplices sent his drones in, which actually managed to incapacitate the (incredibly squishy) mind controller and let the dude escape. They got a fair amount of information out of him, which was good for the story, but he did manage to get away, which was even better for the story.

Still, for the vast majority it went great - the players followed the plot much better than I'd actually expected, though there was a few times where they weren't totally sure of what to do. The best bit was probably an interrogation of one of the students that devolved into dark comedy as the Constantine-style mage accidentally almost killed her, leading them to lock the Director of the university out of the room and then create an illusion of everything being totally fine when she finally got in. They also had an unexpected amount of trouble with a seemingly unkillable student with power fists who kept rolling really well, all the time. Who they also decided had a choking fetish after he got force choked by the group telekinetic. I never thought I'd get to roll Insight for discovering new fetishes.

The main villain got burned and crippled at the end, and is definitely coming back... as Crucible, evil mastermind of super-engineering! His minions will also probably return, at least the memorable power fist dude. At some point, anyway.

Any tips or comments for a GM who's mostly run things online and mostly on forums before? I'm having a ton of fun with all this.

[Jimmy]

If there's one piece of advice I can give as a meatspace DM, it's to beware the social beast. The majority of games I've been involved in have collapsed due to interplayer conflicts rather than lack of interest. Make sure the people you're inviting are able to get along and not be douche-bags, and the rest should sort itself out.

[milo christiansen]

@milo:  I kinda wanna play that.

Failing that I kinda wanna make a game based on that.

The problem is that I have this awesome idea for a setting, but no real knowledge of how to write good rules or run a game, and even worse, no one to play with (I know exactly 0 people who would be interested in an RPG).

If you (or anyone else) can turn the setting into something useable, then post some stories from a game here and I will be forever happy

[NullForceOmega]

Any tips or comments for a GM who's mostly run things online and mostly on forums before? I'm having a ton of fun with all this.

First: Congratulations on your first table session, I'm glad you enjoyed it.

One thing I do, is that after every session I ask each player how the experience was for them, using their feedback I try to tailor the game somewhat (not rules-wise, but story/motivations.)

It is also helpful to have a good understanding of how each player interacts with the story (as well as the other players, table games can get heated sometimes, don't be afraid to take breaks for a cool-down), by knowing what the player wants from the game you can better handle them.

We're here to offer any advice you may need, so by all means, ask any specific questions you want answers on.

[FallacyofUrist]

The problem is that I have this awesome idea for a setting, but no real knowledge of how to write good rules or run a game, and even worse, no one to play with (I know exactly 0 people who would be interested in an RPG).

Two words: Forum game.

[kilakan]

Heck do a forum game with a pre-existing rules system if you want to take out even more work for yourself, I'd recommend pathfinder since it's rules database is free if it would fit your setting.

[TheBiggerFish]

Heck do a forum game with a pre-existing rules system if you want to take out even more work for yourself, I'd recommend pathfinder since it's rules database is free if it would fit your setting.

Pathfinder would not fit this setting without significant houseruling.

[milo christiansen]

It might be fun (heck, I would love to), but I only have internet access for a few hours a day, twice a week (can't get it at home, so I drive to the nearest library).

Maybe someday.... For now I will watch. (but the day is coming)

[Egan_BW]

If the idea is mostly about the setting, consider doing a roll to dodge! Who needs rules when you have dice?

[kilakan]

Oh yeah I just realized he posted on the previous page about it.  Well I mean building a rules system isn't easy by any-means and I can't think of any existing system that would work well for your game... well hmmm maybe exalted and use manse rules for the pillars... probably still need tons of customization though.

It might be fun (heck, I would love to), but I only have internet access for a few hours a day, twice a week (can't get it at home, so I drive to the nearest library).

Maybe someday.... For now I will watch. (but the day is coming)

Oh sorry to hear that.  Well then, bide your time and scheme for your future time as a game master!

[Tawa]

Speaking of Pathfinder forum games, I'm still looking for applicants for Valhalla-Bound, a play-by-post low fantasy Norse-themed Pathfinder game. No offense to the people working on sheets already, but they're, er, certainly taking their time with it, and I'd like to have an array of charatcters to pick from.

[SOLDIER First]

nyoro~n <:3

[milo christiansen]

Roll-to-dodge would actually probably work well for that setting, provided there was some GM discretion...

You would need players that want it to work though, as one ass could ruin the game by insisting on a ridiculous character or something... You wouldn't have hard rules to justify yourself, so once again we are back to needing reasonable, interested, players.

Oh well, I still don't have enough time to do a good job of it. I will definitely keep my documents around and keep adding detail as time goes by, maybe someday...

[Sirus]

Speaking of Pathfinder forum games, I'm still looking for applicants for Valhalla-Bound, a play-by-post low fantasy Norse-themed Pathfinder game. No offense to the people working on sheets already, but they're, er, certainly taking their time with it, and I'd like to have an array of charatcters to pick from.

I do not appreciate this public shaming ;~;