I am still around. A lot of hiding under a rock and trying to deal with my depression; sort out how the heck to do a Kickstarter, and be a good person in a libelous age. I didn't want to make this about my Kickstarter, but I am doing a Q&A with Dan tonight, and you're also welcome to come, and PM any other questions about stuff beyond the KS if you wish. I've had a long week, and need a bit of online time tonight to deal with real life which has been overwhelming me lately.

A) Sister is a gamer, has been diagnosed with serious but not a terminal illness. She's a fighter though. Known for her White Wolf gaming locally and being a very good storyteller.
B) Blew out a tire because of exhaustion.  I've been pretty much the only driver for six adults. LONG STORY because of A in part. (Neither of her children can drive, and my elderly mom needs some things healthwise done before driving again. Cataract surgery, likely knee surgery)
C) Started running an online Gamma World game, and am working on running an MSH one. Also been running an offline MSH one (so I don't have to think about my own rules worries so much.)
D) Got White Star: Galactic Edition. Thinking about it and other OSR Sci-Fi games again. I can't write one. 150 pages of drivel made me realize this, especially nothing comparable to this or Stars Without Number.

So what's new game wise, life wise? Whatever?

Quote from: Silverlion;1054597I am still around. A lot of hiding under a rock and trying to deal with my depression; sort out how the heck to do a Kickstarter, and be a good person in a libelous age. I didn't want to make this about my Kickstarter, but I am doing a Q&A with Dan tonight, and you're also welcome to come, and PM any other questions about stuff beyond the KS if you wish. I've had a long week, and need a bit of online time tonight to deal with real life which has been overwhelming me lately.

A) Sister is a gamer, has been diagnosed with serious but not a terminal illness. She's a fighter though. Known for her White Wolf gaming locally and being a very good storyteller.
B) Blew out a tire because of exhaustion.  I've been pretty much the only driver for six adults. LONG STORY because of A in part. (Neither of her children can drive, and my elderly mom needs some things healthwise done before driving again. Cataract surgery, likely knee surgery)
C) Started running an online Gamma World game, and am working on running an MSH one. Also been running an offline MSH one (so I don't have to think about my own rules worries so much.)
D) Got White Star: Galactic Edition. Thinking about it and other OSR Sci-Fi games again. I can't write one. 150 pages of drivel made me realize this, especially nothing comparable to this or Stars Without Number.

So what's new game wise, life wise? Whatever?

Good to see you back!

Hey there Silverlion! Great to see you!

I'm sad to hear about all the problems vexing you at the moment, and you have my good vibes in hope that things will clear up.

As for gaming personally, I'm playing in both a Starfinder game, a newest edition Legend of the 5 Rings game, and a Warhammer FRP first edition game. For reading, I'm trying to chomp through the newest edition of Warhammer FRP (ver. 4) as well as Torg: Eternity, and may be planning a game of Adventurer, Conqueror, King in my spare time.  

Take care!

Quote from: Atsuku Nare;1054612Hey there Silverlion! Great to see you!

I'm sad to hear about all the problems vexing you at the moment, and you have my good vibes in hope that things will clear up.

As for gaming personally, I'm playing in both a Starfinder game, a newest edition Legend of the 5 Rings game, and a Warhammer FRP first edition game. For reading, I'm trying to chomp through the newest edition of Warhammer FRP (ver. 4) as well as Torg: Eternity, and may be planning a game of Adventurer, Conqueror, King in my spare time.  

Take care!

We started Starfinder, then my players rejected the rules. I threw in some Spelljammer, got inspired by old fantasy ideas, mixed in Star Trek and Star Wars ideas, and that all had the thing we play now as a baby: Vesk Merc, Ratoski Tech, Goblin Detective, Illithid Diplomat (with changes to make some things more playable) also a Beholder narrator was added to help the Goblin's player as he has a hard time with social RP and playing up the fact he's a TV detective solving real cases.

Next adventure I hope is soon involves a diplomatic dinner. All to discuss in secret the looming threat of the Gruagagh (Grugach) elves who terraform every world, for THEM. Only them and their creations, they've already shown Guyversque bio suits to fight in--but not POWERFUl ones, and that they can infect people, mind control them as drones, and when the drones die turn into food for magically super growing foliage.


How is the new L5R, I've friends who might be interested?

Quote from: Silverlion;1054597So what's new game wise, life wise? Whatever?

Having a midlife crisis, took off to France for a bit. Rode the bullet train at 225 Mph.

GMing a 5e Group in my homebrewed campaign world of Darthon with a mixed group of teens, 20 somethings, and of course a few of us fossils.

On staff at GaryCon providing support for GMs, and of course running old school games.

GMing classic Traveller campaign. People have been comparing it to The Expanse, honestly we have been running Traveller this way since long before the books and the cable series made what is old, new again.

Back on the convention circuit running old school games, attended CincyCon, GaryCon, Origins, and ran Koltar over to GenCon this year.

Silverlion! Good luck on prepping for your KS. Do lots of research and pre-marketing. There are LOADS of great resources about KS tips and "how to" not botch them. I suggest heavy focus on your financials, including tax issues and padding for unexpected costs. Also, I tell everyone doing a KS to promise delivery later than sooner.

If you say the book will arrive in 9 months, you are a golden god when you deliver in month 7.
If you say the book will arrive in 6 months, you are LITERALLY HITLER when you deliver in month 7.

People are weird and think KS is a preorder machine.
 

Quote from: GameDaddy;1054632and ran Koltar over to GenCon this year.

That's much better than "ran Koltar over AT GenCon"!!

Quote from: Silverlion;1054627How is the new L5R, I've friends who might be interested?

Our GM had the starter box, so we played premade proto-samurai going through a tournament as a rite of passage. As a way to start things off, it wasn't bad.

We required some prompting in situations where we didn't know what to do, such as one of the other proto-samurai from a minor clan drinking too much sake and challenging the head of the household to a duel (and said person was a crane clan legendary duellist!). Overall, the adventure hit its targets, exposing us to a lot of Rokugani stuff in quick succession, like the Willy Wonka tunnel ride.  

As for the system, it is now based on custom d6s and d12s (similar to FFG's other games like Star Wars and Genesys). Rolls are attribute (element, like earth, air, or void) + skill, and the two are now completely divorced from each other with the elements representing different approaches you can take. So if two people are playing Go, one might roll Earth + Gaming to represent a conservative, grounded approach, while the other might roll Fire + Gaming to represent a more aggressive, hot-headed approach to the game.

The starting characters had one attribute at 3, one at 1, and the rest at 2. Most of the time everyone in the party rolled their best attribute so as to have more dice, justifying their actions in-game. The interesting thing about the adventure was that judges in the tournament would score certain approaches higher than others, so if you never varied your approach, you'd pass, but end up with less points than someone who figured out what the key attribute in question was.

You roll a number of d6s equal to your attribute and d12s equal to your skill, then keep a number of dice up to your attribute. Aside from a blank result, dice can produce successes (with 2 being the usual needed to succeed at a basic level), explosions, and strifes.

Explosions let you roll another die of the same type. As long as the new die keeps rolling explosions, you can keep rolling. You still are limited to Attribute number of dice kept, but hopefully this gives you a better pool to draw on.

Strifes are new. Everyone had a "calm" level around 10 or so (I'm forgetting the exact term), and strifes accumulate on your character sheet. Once you hit or go over your calm, you commit a minor dishonorable act - my crab clan bushi would get frustrated with those people around her and yell at them about how they were doing nothing to help secure the Wall against the Shadowlands, probably because they were weak, or cowards, or both. Oops. I lost Honor the time this happened, but I had fun acting out her rant when her calm level broke. The premade characters all had their tantrums laid out, so I don't know if the full rules would let you make that up yourself, or have to choose from a list, or what. It's a neat mechanic, reminding me a bit of rolling a bad Passion in Pendragon, or in Earthdawn when your social defense took a hit and the enemy provoked a specific reaction from you (anger, fear, etc.).

The one thing I'm not sure I liked was how lethal the combat system was. I know this is probably (A) realistic and (B) in keeping with how previous editions of the game operated, but I had 8 health and no armor and had the bad luck to catch up with the fleeing ronin by myself first, and had to survive a round of combat before the rest of the PCs arrived. I took two hits and went down. Not dead, but helpless on the ground moaning from katana wounds. I'm not saying this is bad design, but it may be more lethal than I want *in a game I play*. We'll see. The GM has downloaded another adventure for the starter box characters and is going to run it for us next session. Should be interesting, anyway.

Nobody in the party used magic, so I can't comment on how that works.

The dice are a bit harsh as well, usually producing Strife on every roll (there's lots of success+strife sides on the dice), which means that as you use (or are forced to use) your abilities, you're essentially on a timer until you snap. Not sure I like that either, at least at this rate of accumulation.

That's about all I have to say about it; I think if you liked previous versions of L5R you'll probably like this.

Quote from: Silverlion;1054627How is the new L5R, I've friends who might be interested?

L5R 1e continues to be your friend! I dip my fingers into each new L5R and never find a compelling reason to stick with other editions.

Did you ever try out Danbuter's Bushi D6?
https://www.therpgsite.com/showthread.php?28602-Bushi-d6

Welcome back!

Quote from: RPGPundit;1054966Welcome back!

Why thank you. I'm just so busy. Gah. Writing, trying to deal with juggling Kickstarter stuff, life stuff, and a new rescue dog (someone had starved her nearly to death.) Funny, I've more scars from saving dogs, or dog friends who think I'm able to carry all 200+ lbs of them like a puppy, than anything else life has thrown at me. Proud of those at least, it means I've done a little good for some critter.

Quote from: Silverlion;1055596Why thank you. I'm just so busy. Gah. Writing, trying to deal with juggling Kickstarter stuff, life stuff, and a new rescue dog (someone had starved her nearly to death.) Funny, I've more scars from saving dogs, or dog friends who think I'm able to carry all 200+ lbs of them like a puppy, than anything else life has thrown at me. Proud of those at least, it means I've done a little good for some critter.

That is noble, for sure. As you might have guessed if you've watched some of my videos, I'm a cat lover myself (but dogs are certainly great too).

Quote from: RPGPundit;1055788That is noble, for sure. As you might have guessed if you've watched some of my videos, I'm a cat lover myself (but dogs are certainly great too).

Nothing wrong with cats, only reason I don't have any is severe allergies. Mind you, not sure how my rescue dogs would be around cats, I know my late Great Dane, who I raised thought they were funny looking but happily made friends with a stray one that visited her--it looked at her at first like "I just saw my life pass before my eyes." But she sniffed its head and she never bothered it. It even felt safe enough to have kittens in our garage (which the Dane could just walk in whenever she was outside.)

I'm pretty sure that any video of mine that my cats choose to guest-star in gets extra views on account of that.

Quote from: RPGPundit;1056437I'm pretty sure that any video of mine that my cats choose to guest-star in gets extra views on account of that.

Probably. Seems to be a phenomenon.

Mostly the extra viewerss are also cats, but apparently according to the metrics, that still counts.