Savage Synnibarr: Bio Syntha Cyborg: Infiltrator

Agility: d6
Smarts: d6
Strength: d12+1
Spirit: d6
Vigor: d6

Charisma: (-2)
Pace: 6+d6
Parry: 6
Toughness: 5+1=6

Skills:
Fighting d6
Shooting d6
Streetwise d4
Climbing d4
Notice d4 2
Persuasion d6
Pilot d4
Swimming d4
Stealth d4
Tracking d4
Knowledge (Computer) d6

Edges:
Power Points (Extra)

Hindrances:
Outsider (Uncanny Valley)




Powers:

Chameleon [5] (+Voice Emulator / Synthesizer)

Construct [5]

Interface [Computer Domination] [2]

Awareness [Radar] [3]

Superstrength: 3 steps

Fearless [2]

Savage Synnibarr: Amazon

Agility: d8
Smarts: d6
Strength: d6 or d12+2 when activated
Spirit: d6
Vigor: d6

Charisma: 0
Pace: 6+d6
Parry: 6
Toughness: 5+1=6

Skills:
Fighting d8
Shooting d8
Throwing d4
Climbing d4
Notice d6
Persuasion d6
Swimming d4
Stealth d4
Tracking d4

Edges:
Power Points (Extra)

Hindrances:






Powers:
Telekinesis [2]: d10 Strength

Heal [Golden Hand] [2]

Telepathy [2]
[Talk to  ghosts] Interface [2]

Super Strength [4] [Chi Focus]
Telekinesis [2]: d10 Strength
Heal [Golden Hand] [2]

Telepathy [2]
[Talk to  ghosts] Interface [2]

Super Strength [4] [Chi Focus]
Heal [Golden Hand] [2]
Telepathy [2]
[Talk to  ghosts] Interface [2]

Super Strength [4] [Chi Focus]
Telepathy [2]
[Talk to  ghosts] Interface [2]

Super Strength [4] [Chi Focus]
Super Strength [4] [Chi Focus]
Super Strength [4] [Chi Focus]

Attack, Ranged [Chi Shout] [8]: 3d6, cone template

Ensnare [Whip] [2]

Whip: Reach 2, Damage: Str+d8

Synnibarr Aliens

Ardimians: p. 353; humanoid energy beings with mohawks; like Helderem (Major)

Bendra'katar: p. 357: redskins with mind control virus (Major)

Drake, Space: p.374; on asteroids around Synnibarr (Major)

Drell'dem'se: p. 376; plantlike octupus with 3 legs and arms and tentacle (Major)

Helderems: p. 384; blueskinned wrestling elves; telekinesis, telepathy, illusion; Battle Armor (Major)

Iloka'ssen: p. 389; silicone based; stone praying mantis, magic; only like Drell'dem'se (Major)

Neria Bendix: p. 405; insect dinosaurs; light membrane; highest tech in universe (Major); Tech Trooper; Supertrooper

Xiapathians: p. 436; giant blue brains with tentacles; Shadow Master enemies; best PSI in universe (Major)

Savage Synnibarr: Drake Hatchling

Agility: d6
Smarts: d4
Strength: d4
Spirit: d6
Vigor: d6

Charisma: 0
Pace: 6+d6
Parry: 
Toughness:

Skills:
Fighting d6
Shooting d6

Hindrances
All Thumbs: Roll of 1 causes malfunction
Loyal:  never betray / dissappoint friends
Clueless: -2 common knowledge
Young: 3 attributes / 10 skill point; +1 benny

?26?
Armor: [4+2]
Attack; Melee [4] +2d6
Attack, Ranged [6+2] 3d6 Cone
Flight [8] 48 / 120 mph

Savage Synnibarr: Creatures

Arberiverim (Sy349): Rat Swarm (Psi Cancellation Weakness)  + Superpower [Spells: Inflict Wounds + Invisible Defender]
Drake: Drake or Dragon (WC)
Rontu Bieel: mini devils
Sasquatch (Sy417): Ogres + Superpower: [Plane Phase, Sy263] Intangibility (from Phsyical and Energy) SHC43 (5PP)
Shark, Hammerhead (Sy420): 1-10; 15 feet, humanoid form (10 feet) SWDX140
Shark, Tiger (Sy420): 1-6; 15 feet; tiger form; Superpower: Paralysis
Tenjohussan (Sy426): Orcs + Superpower: [Sticky Tongue] Ensnare (Ranged) (5PP) SPC36 + Swinging (3PP) SHC55; Poison Claws [Lvl. 25] SWDX90
Tenjohussan Whale (Sy426): + Superpower [Sonic Attack]

Savage Synnibarr: Powers of NPC Adventurers

This is how the Super Power Points of standard NPC Guild members are spent:

Alchemist:
Low Level:
Attack, Ranged SHC30 [Star Bolt Sy34]  2d6 (3PP)
Armor  SHC29 [Starfire Shield]  +6 Armor, except back (3PP)
Invent SHC44 5Lvls (10PP)
2 of 1d6
1[Ball Lighning] Sy200 Attack, Ranged 2d6 Medium Burst SHC30 (+2PP)
2[Eye of Alchemy] Sy202 
3[Lesser Elemental Summoning]
4Telekinesis [Mist of Force]
5[Transmute Matter Into Mist] Sy203
6[Transmute Self Into Air]
[Alchemist Pouch] Sy34

Amazon:
Low Level:
Strength: d12
[See Spirits] Sy35
Heal/AntiHeal [Gold/Red Hand]
[Call/Banish Spirits (of the Dead)] Sy36
Imitate Death
[Increase Strength and Reactions] SuperStrength d12+4 (4PP); Extra Action (3PP)
Telekinesis
Telepathy
[Amazon Toolkit]
1 of 1d6
1[Chi Dim Mock Sy210] Attack, Melee +4d6 (8PP)
2[Chi Shout Sy210] Attack, Ranged: 3d6 Cone Template SHC30 (8PP)
3Create Chi Object Sy213
4[Fate Call] Luck (Extra Bennie) 
5Mind's Hand And Eye
6Teleport Sphere
7[Ward of Cloaking]Invisiblilty (to Magic, etc)
8Ward of Control

Wereman
Low Level:
Immunity Sy65: to 2 Power Sources, needs activation SHC42 (2x3PP)
Absorption [Absorption Field] SHC21: Vigor Roll: Wounds by 1 Power Source on Attackers (9PP)
[Shadow Form] Sy66 -> Teleport, Read Minds (Touch), Attack, Melee

Synnibarr: Psisheen Mushrooms and Psisha Adreemus

As we have a Shadow Master in our party, that has a major dependency on Psisha Adreemus, this could become very important.

One other 'natural' substance of note - the chemical Psisha Adreemus, which restores 1,000 psionic points per teaspoon and sells for the bargain price of $100,000,000 per pint. There's a flat 35% chance that any given shop has it in stock, no mention of any modifiers for size or class of clientele, so there must be some very good anti-shoplifting security in place all across Synnibarr. And yes, this is the same Psisha Adreemus that was mentioned back as a training tool for the Shadow Masters in Chapter 1; if your character is a Shadow Master, someone was willing to spend a minimum of $1 million on drugs to set you up as an adventurer. No pressure...

On Psisheen Mushrooms:

They can temporarily instill psionics in a character once per day. If you take it more than once in a day, you'll just go temporarily insane. Remember when I talked about the Shadow Masters and how they're not master economists? Well, here's where I get back to that. Psisheen Mushrooms can be distilled into a substance called Psisha worth 100.000$ per pint. Now, Shadow Masters can, with special arcane secrets, distill Psisha into an even more potent substance called Psisha Adreemus. It takes 1.250 gallons (10.000 pints for those trying to keep score at home) to produce a single pint of Psisha Adreemus. Which sells for 1.000.000.000$ - exactly the value of the raw materials. I'm not any kind of a businessperson but even I can see that this makes no sense. Evidently, Shadow Masters don't particularly value labor.

Cited from Let's read Synnibarr!

Why I'd love a Phantasy Star PnP RPG setting...

It would be amazing to have a pen and paper RPG setting, where you can take your robe wearing wizard in his new, futuristic land cruiser to a drive in restaurant at the foot of a volcano somewhere in a jungle, after fighting giant mantises, because burgers heal wounds.

Or in German:

Ich fände es toll, ein Pen-and-Paper-Setting zu haben, wo man mit seinem Roben tragenden Magier im gerade teuer erworbenen neuen, spacigen Landcruiser nach dem Kampf gegen Riesengottesanbeterinnen schnell ins Drive In mitten im Dschungel am Fuss eines Vulkans fahren kann, um Burger zur Heilung zu kaufen.

Actually I can achieve most of this with Synnibarr anyways. Except that Synnibarr is more high power.

Edge: Full Practitioner of the Art (Savage Synnibarr)

This is for superhero Savage Worlds campaigns that use the rules from Necessary Evil, etc.

It is a variation of Super Sorcery for character that only have a limited spell list.

Practitioner select 6 spells. They cast them using the Spellcasting skill. If they fail the skill roll, they will only be able to use that spell once more that day. If a 1 comes up on the Spellcasting die (not taking into account the Wild Die), this was the last possiblity to cast it at all for that day.
Snake eyes lead to the Magic Misshape table.

After 6 hours of rest spells lost for a day are recovered.

Savage Synnibarr: Ninja

Agility: d8
Smarts: d6
Strength: d6
Spirit: d6
Vigor: d8

Charisma: 0
Pace: 6+d6
Parry: 6 +4= 10 (also 8 to hit from distance!)
Toughness: 6

Skills:
Fighting d8
Shooting d6
Throwing d4
Notice d4 (Awareness!, Danger Sense)
Persuation d4
Swimming d4
Stealth d8
Tracking d6
Lockpicking d12+1 (Super Skill) [Device: Toolkit]
Knowledge (Poison) d4

Edges: Power Points (Extra)
-

Hindrances:
2 Major
2 Minor

Powers:
Attack, Melee (2x3+1) [Nerve Pinch, Dim Mak] +3d6 damage
Paralysis (2): [Nerve Pinch] : Vigor Roll or 3 rounds paralyzed
Telepathy (1): Only Other Ninjas
Awareness + Danger Sense (3+5) : no malus for dark, etc; -4 on attacks against Ninja; Smarts to detect ambush
Wall Walker (1)

[][][][][]

Equipment:
Toolkit
Katana
Bow
Shuriken

Savage Synnibarr: Shaman

Agility: d6
Smarts: d8
Strength: d6
Spirit: d6
Vigor: d6

Charisma: 0
Pace: 6+d6
Parry:
Toughness:

Skills:
Fighting d6
Climbing d4
Notice d6
Swimming d4
Survival d8
Tracking d8
Healing d8
Spellsinging d8


Edges:
Power Points (Extra)
Woodsman

Hindrances:
Heroic
Curious
Loyal
All Thumbs

Powers:

Flight (2)

Full Practioner of the Art (includes Detect Spelltrap) (36PP)

Telekinesis (8) [Spirit Force] d12+2 Strength (1000 pounds)Ensnare, +Ranged+Stronger (8) [Mystic Cage]  On a raise escape is not possibleParalysis, Ranged (2+4)[Lotus Bolt] Vigor Roll or Paralyzed for 3 roundsIntangability (5) [Transform in Spirit] Only Alch,PSI,EaP,Mag hurtsInterface (2+1=3) [See the past]Immunity Magic (1x4=4) Only Alch,PSI,EaP,Mag [Cloak of the Shaman], needs activation

Savage Synnibarr: Aquarian

Ag. d8

Sm. d6

St. d12+3 (1 ton)

Sp. d6

Vig. d8

Charisma -2 (mean)
Parry

Toughness 6+2=8 (superpower)

Skills:
Swimming d4
Fighting d10
Knowledge (Aqua) d4
Shooting d6
Persuasion d6
Investigation d6
Survival d4
Tracking d4


Hindrances:
Mean
Overconfident
Heroic
Quirk (Fishmouth)
Weakness (minor): Heat +4 damage

Superpowers (Cost):

Aquatic (2) +3 people

Stun (1) Steal Oxygen (centred on character only, medium burst template)

Animal Control (1) only aquatic swarms or up to medium aquatic creatures

Awareness (1) Sonar: aquatic only

Mind Control (3): Poison Spines, up to 2 targets (restrict people)

Superstrength (6)

Leaping (2): 4"/8" (8 m high, 16 m wide)

Toughness (3)

Tricancellation (4-3): only against 2 powers developed so far; 1/day

Equipment: Trident

Savage Synnibarr: Shadow Master

Agility: d8
Smarts: d6
Strength: d6
Spirit: d8
Vigor: d6

Charisma: 0
Pace: 6+d6
Parry:
Toughness:

Skills:
Fighting d6
Shooting d6
Climbing d4
Notice d4
Persuation d4
Swimming d4
Pilot
Healing


Edges: Power Points (Extra)
((Astral Projection))

Hindrances:
??Psisha Adreemus / Psisheen??


Powers:


Heal (2) [Heal and Regrowth]
Elemental Control (1) affects 5kg
Teleport (3x2) [Tesseract]
Ranged Attack (3) [PSI Bolt] 2d6 damage
Awareness (2) (Activated) [Sense Life Form]
=14

[Create Solid Illusion] Lair (1+1); Illusion (2x5+1) = 13 (15 Minutes Prep, 2/day: -10),  = 4
(64x64x64m)

0 hitpoints does not mean instant death in old school

The Labyrinth Lord Flailsnail Google+ Hangout game I took part last week uses the following interesting rule for permanent injuries and mutilation instead of instant death.

Check the table for going down to 0 hitpoints in Trollsmyth's blog!

In the meantime I found a deadlier table on Trollsmyth's blog: Deadlier death and dismemberment table.

Power Sources in Synnibarr

If you want to use Synnibarr with another rule system, it still is necessary to have a list of all the power sources, because it is often about blocking some of them, be it Weremen or Tricancellation or Tunnel.

Physical
Alchemy
Energy
Magic (includes Mage Warrior, Shaman or Ravashem spells)
Psionics
Earthpower
Chi
Mutation
Technology (Electrics and higher tech, but not combustion engines or "chemical reactions". Low tech like that does not count as power.)
Vederant Nalaberong ("language of the universe", supermagic, P. 196)
God Power

Savage Synnibarr

So we created the first characters for a Savage Worlds Synnibarr adventure tonight. It is going to be hard to create the super powered spellslinging Synnibarr characters in the lower powered Savage Worlds, but we I guess we figured out a way by combining the superpower rules from Necessary Evil with more traditional Arcane Backgrounds.

The two characters we created are an Aquarian and Shaman and I spent some time on setting them up as starting super heroes, but I turns out to be quite tricky.

New Race: The Liefeldians

The Liefeldians are aliens that came to Earth and created humanoid bodies for themselves to interact with the locals. But their understanding of the human physique is not very well developed and so they end up creating very over the top bodies for themselves that also regularly shift in unnatural ways when moving. It is easy to recognize that their joints for example are not working like those of normal humans, but are just simulacra. Sometimes it seems their whole concept and presentation of body is just directed towards one single beholder at a time - that they can't keep human form from more than one angle.

While there is something undoubtly uncanny about them, their grotesquely oversexualised bodies also attract normal humans in some way. Therefore they neither gain nor lose compared to normal humans in the looks department. Dumb humans...

Here can find more examples of the Liefeldian look. Compare them also to the New Men aliens in John M. Harrison's novel "Light".

Savage Worlds Racial Edge: Archetype: With their focus on body shape they can spend one additional point on Attributes, instead of getting a free edge like humans.

Random tables for contemporary gonzo settings

Roll a d4 for boring, a d6 for adventure, a d8 for action, a d12 for supernatural (make them aliens for scifi feel) and a d20 for batshit insane. You can raise the stakes with each encounter. Start with a d4 and move it up for each achievement of the player characters! Or use the random die table in the end for mostly standard, but a few strange results.

encounters (1 in 6 chance of kinship)
0 scientists
1 cops
2 junkies or bums
3 celebrity (actor, singer, politician, scientist, writer, model)
4 demonstration
5 street gang
6 disaster (earthquake, flood, huge hole in ground, fire, virus, swarms)
7 (bank) robbers or terrorists
8 (serial) killer
9 beasts or werewolves
10 experiments or vampires
11 zombies
12 fae
13 evil children
14 smallish UFO or magic tower
15 doppelgangers
16 armed nazis
17 dinosaurs or magicians
18 dimension hole
19 giant creature á la Godzilla, King Kong or plain old giant or dragon
20 huge spaceship or god

(Use this for names: Random authentic US names)


Next City Block (you can draw a square on a map, increase die size each roll, if you want)
1 residental (urban or suburb)
2 shops / restaurants / bars
3 offices
4 park /water
5 square / parking lot
6 slum
7 motorway
8 government
9 museum
10 monument
11 church / temple
12 factory
13 harbour / sea
14 prison
15 military
16 airport
17 mountain
18 abyss
19 lava
20 tentacles

Buildings
1 shed
2 slum housing
3 flat
4 family home
5 sub urban home
6 council housing
7 trailer
8 mansion
9 dorm or elderly home
10 fast food shack or diner
11 shop
12 skyscraper
13 power plant
14 stadion
15 university
16 circus
17 zoo
18 mall
19 graveyard
20 park

If you want a more detailed random table for buildings, just use the foursquare categories as random table.

motivations
1 power
2 love / passion
3 wealth
4 pride
5 outside expectiations
6 credibilty
7 helping others
8 the challenge
9 consequences
10 lust
11 hunger
12 mind control
13 addicton / survival
14 evil
15 complete crazyness
16 nihilsm
17 love & peace & drugs
18 suicide
19 absorbation
20 boredom

rumors (those can be crazier than the truth obviously)
[encounters] are in [building] to [fight/start pact] with [encounters] for [motivations]. Nobody can guess how [encounters] will impact the situation.

support (1 in 6 chance of betrayal)
1 family
2 colleagues
3 new love
4 professionals that want money
5 subculture
6 celebrity (actor, singer, politician)
7 class
8 foreigners
9 secret organization
10 bloodline
11 foreigners
12 animals
13 ghosts
14 robots
15 oracle / enigma
16 sentient nature/ city
17 AI internet system
18 aliens
19 angels
20 gods

weather
1 sunny
2 foggy
3 rainy
4 overcast
5 heatwave
6 snow and ice
7 hurricane
8 dangerous smog
9 radioactive
10 eternal night
11 time freezes
12 grey goo

Random die size
1 d4
2 d6
3 d8
4 d10
5 d12
6 d20

Additional gaming material for Carcosa

I really like my Carcosa book. It's probably the most beautiful RPG book that I own. At least it's the one most to my taste.

Now it seems I found an additional game material for Carcosa: the Carcosan Grimoire

I have to give it a read. It's fan made and seems to have at least some neat random tables, etc.

Savage Warhammer: Elderly Mage: Kvothe

Kvothe - Mage

Agility      D6
Smarts     D7
Strength   D4
Spirit       D6
Vigor      D4

Pace: 5; Parry: 5; Charisma: 0; Toughness: 4

Edges: Arcane Background (Magic); Wizard
Hinrances: Elderly; Cautious, Stubborn

Skills: Climbing d4, Fighting d6, Healing d4, Investigation d7, Arcane d7, Notice d8, Persuasion d6, Spellcasting d7, Swim d4
Powers: Bolt, Armor, Fear
Robe and Staff

Savage Warhammer: Dwarven Troll Slayer: Brori

Agility      D4
Smarts     D4
Spirit       D6
Strength   D8
Vigor      D10

Pace: 5; Parry: 7; Charisma: 0; Toughness: 7

Edges: Low Light Vision; Tough, Berserk,Mighty Blow
Hinrances: Slow; Death Wish, Big Mouth, Vow

Skills: Fighting: D10, Climbing d4, Brawl d6, Streetwise d4, Taunt d4, Intimidate d8, Survival d4


Leather Trousers, Dwarven War Axe

If I could keep only 10 RPG products

This question has been going around the web lately. This is my list. I am sure, I could do it with less than 10. Probably 3 would be enough. So I will probably end up with 3 rule systems and 7 settings. I also have to add that I know The Dark Eye 1 by heart, so I do not need to add it. But let's do it anyways, because I have too much space. :)

Savage Worlds Deluxe
Primetime Adventures
World of Synnibarr

The Dark Eye 1 - Basis Box
Carcossa
Vornheim
50 Fathoms
Marvel Super Heroes (FASERIP)
Mythic Role Playing (Word Mill Games)
Savage Worlds Adventure Deck (The nice card deck for player story intervention)

Savage Warhammer: Taal Priest: Durnhelm

We decided to play the Enemy Within campaign from Warhammer FRPG, 1st edition, with the Savage Worlds rule set. This is one of the 4 player character so far.

Durnhelm - Taal Priest

Strength   D4
Agility      D6
Smarts     D6
Spirit       D8
Vigor      D8

Pace: 6; Parry: 7 (without equipment 5); Charisma: 0; Toughness: 6

Edges: Arcane Background (Miracles), Holy Warrior;
Hinrances: Hero, Loyal, Minor Pacifist

Skills: Fighting: D6; Guts: D8; Healing: D6; Notice: D4; Survival: D4; Swimming: D4; Tracking: D4; Faith: D8.
Buckler and a Rapier.

The development of genre tropes

The transition from historical war games to war games based on fiction (fantasy in this case), also openend a can of worms, because suddenly we are not any longer operating on axioms of realism, but on genre tropes. It took around 10 years (at least that's how I understand it), for this difference to become explicitly noticed. As far as I know CoC and Marvel FASERIP were the first games to hardwire the tropes in the rules.

This is not about having magic in the world, but about having bigger than life heroes, plot immunity, etc. The whole 90ies (AD&D2, WoD) seemed to be a time of struggle, in which people tried to enforce this via best practices ("How to run a good game") instead of just focusing of designing rules according to what they wanted to achieve - at least in the mainstream. Only in the 00ies the rules were fully understood as having another potential: providing an exciting game as well enforcing a genre. Latter not really in D&D 3.X though.

Overview over my RPG collection

RPG.net provided this really nice service, but save your collection:

The pen and paper RPG collection of tartex

Just follow the link! The only problem is that German books are not included.

I also did not include PDFs that I purchased.

Using random hit location die to create NPCs

I often want to define a non player character within seconds.

While there are many tables for random names and motivations, I also wanted to know their 1 or 2 outstanding traits.

For that I am going to use my six sided hit location dice in the future: on it's different sides you find body parts. I just roll and connect each symbol with a stat and/or skill category.

Head - 1 - Smarts
Body - 2 - Vigor
Left Arm - 3 - Charisma
Right Arm - 4 - Strength
Left Leg - 5 - Speed or Double Outstanding
Right Leg - 6 - Agility

Gamma World One Shot

The characters are living on a backwood farm, where a radioactive roach Bryant and 4 hillbilly farmhands (3 big guys Steven, Todd and Nate: 1 with 3 arms, 1 with 3 legs, 1 with 3 eyes (Monster Vault P.170 Common Bandit) + 1 pretty girl: Annabella, farmhand), are harvesting Melons and Blood Oranges. Take care of the Grab Grass though (P. 99) and the Porcubine Bushes.

The PCs arrived some weeks ago and everything seemed fine.

Down the river is the Church of the Minute and Bryant send the characters down to bring up a priest to bless the coming harvest.

Areas:

Cornfields,

Badder Town Defense (Roadblock) P. 142G

Giant Hedgehog from The Dark Eye

From 1987, from the adventure "Kommando Olachtai". This critter nearly killed my character, because he fell on top of it, while fighting it.

Random tables for RPGs

I am quite interested in running a pure sandbox campaign at the moment - especially after buying Carcosa.

Obviously I will need a lot of random tables. So I will collect them in this post.

I recently found the very useful random-generator.com where people can create their own RPG content.

This website has a few as a starting point:

Random Fantasy Tables called "Tables for Fables"

More Random Random Tables

Names

Random authentic US names

Random name generator

Random Star Wars name generator

Random Letter Sequence generator

Characters

Seventh Sanctum Random Character Tables (they offer a lot more as well)

Completely random Warhammer FRPG 2nd edition character creation, including background

Random Labyrinth Lord / Old School Character

Random Gamma World characters

Random Synnibarr NPCs (no stats, all background!)

Superfast 1 outstanding stat NPCs from my blog (needs dice)

Encounters and Plots

Detailed plot generator recommended!!

Basic Plots in literature (needs dice and some serious thought)

Random City Encounters

Random Daily Mail headlines generator (Daily Mail is a right wing UK tabloid)

WotC's  Random Adventure Hook Generator

Crazy Random Plot generator (can produce multiple layers)

Random Science fiction adventures (needs dice) This is part of a whole series of articles including random tables.

You should also not forget that just opening a random article on wikipedia can provide more inspiration than you will ever need.

Also fun: Random Crossover generator (originally for fanfiction, but also great for adventures)

Maps

On the following site you will find a lot of very sophisticated tools, like random map generators (and much more).

Random cities for contemporary gonzo in my blog (needs dice)

Adventures

Check out this post in my blog: Random adventures


Other Stuff

Faction Connection Diagram (for 4 factions; needs dice) from Vornheim

Meta Tables

Best Random Tables for Gaming has not only tables, but also links to sites with lists of tables


If you want to point to any helpful resources, please, leave a comment!

I will add them to the list.

All those "clever plans" - a rant

One big point of disagreement between Old School and New School is the question whether it makes more sense to play the rules or to play the world as imagined in the GM's/DM's head, that is the game engine - a game engine run by common sense and "realistic" behaviour. I am quite New School (not only in regards to this), and here is my train of thought:

I think that most people that are happy with the DM decision engine, are not just able very well to assess the DM as human being with psychological hang ups. Maybe you have just amazing GMs, but I hated for example my group that spent hours planing each session, when I had figured out very fast, that our first plan would always fail, because the GM wanted to fill the session and was full over adversarial energy in the beginning. For me this planning was completely pointless. Towards the end of the session, in 90% of cases, whatever stupid plan we would come up, would have success, because the GM wanted to push things forward.

Not to talk about the DM back in my teens that ridiculed plans by younger players - after all the DM can come up with countermeasures to even the best plan easily - and let them fail most of the time, while he would stare in awe at the plans of our grown up gaming buddies, and let them succeed. He was never aware of that, but after a few sessions it became very obvious to me and I was able to prove my (secret) thesis time after time from that moment on.

Or the DM that loved grimdark plans, because they were "realistic", but would rarely accept plans that involved compromise or bright colors.

With the DM as decision engine, I most of the time end up playing/gaming the DM's psychological structure after a few sessions and not the world simulation. You could argue that these hang ups and the world are the same - the DM after all provides the genre conventions of his game -, but for me it just kills any suspension of disbelieve in the long run.

You can read the whole discussion here on RPG.net.

My RPG Calendar 2012

January
19th The Dark Eye 1: Drei Schwüre: Into the Schwarzen Lande (Hel; Jor, Jen, Ail, Pat)

February
2nd The Dark Eye 2: Drei Schwüre: The Frogs in the Mountain Lake (Hel; Jor, Jen, Ail, Pat, And)
15th The Dark Eye 3: Drei Schwüre: The Witch Tower (Hel; Jor, Jen, Ail, Pat, And)

March
1st Ratten!: Pontifex und Dreher (Jen; Jor, Ste)
8th The Dark Eye 4: Blutige See 1: Valussa (And; Hel, Jor, Jen, Pat)
22nd The Dark Eye 5: Blutige See 2: Search for the Black Sword (And; Hel, Jen, Pat)

April
5th The Dark Eye 6: Blutige See 3: Attack of the Gezeitenspinne (And; Hel, Jor, Jen)
12th The Dark Eye 7: Blutige See 4: Taking over the Gezeitenspinne (And; Hel, Jor, Jen, Ail)
14th The Dark Eye 8: Blutige See 5: The Elemental Ritual (And; Hel, Jor, Jen, Pat, Ail)
21st The Dark Eye 9: Blutige See 6: The Stadt aus der Tiefe (And; Hel, Jor, Jen)
26th The Dark Eye 10: Blutige See 7: Demonwave Summoner  (And; Hel, Jor, Jen, Pat)

May:
3rd The Dark Eye 11: Blutige See 8: Planning (And; Hel, Jor, Jen, Pat)
5th The Dark Eye 12: Blutige See 9: Battle against the Knochen-Otta (And; Hel, Jor, Jen, Pat)
10th The Dark Eye 13: Blutige See 10: Traveling months (And; Hel, Jor, Jen, Pat)
12th The Dark Eye 14: Blutige See 11: The Charyptoroth Splinter Ritual (And; Hel, Jor, Jen, Pat)
26th Earthdawn 1: Terror in the Skies 1: Fire in the City (Pat; Jor, Dan, Hel)
31st Savage Worlds: Buch der Abenteuer / Silvanas Befreiung (Aventuria) (Jor; Dan, Hel, And)

June:
2nd Earthdawn 2: Terror in the Skies 2: Sky Patrol  (Hel; Jor, Dan)
14th Earthdawn 3: Terror in the Skies 3: The Windling Kaer  (Hel; Jor, And)

July:
7th Earthdawn 4: Terror in the Skies 4: The Lake in the Kaer  (Hel; Jor, And, Adam, Mur)
12th Earthdawn 5: Terror in the Skies 5: The Sanctum and Tyranisius (Hel; Jor, And, Adam, Mur)
18th Savage Worlds: Warhammer 0: Bear and Goblins (Jor; Hel, And)
26th Savage Warhammer 1: Vines (Jor; Hel, And, Mur, Jea)

August:
2nd Savage Warhammer 2: Mercenaries & Ewald  (Jor; Hel, Mur, Jea)

September:
8th Labyrinth Lord: Flailsnail: Overgrown Temple (Google Hangout)
13th Savage Synnibarr 1: Missing Alchemists (Jor; Hel, Jea, And, Vin)
20th The Dark Eye 1984 (Flegelschnecke): Buch der Abenteuer, Graubarts Haus (Jor; Google Hangout)
24th Savage Synnibarr 2: The Sasquatch Connection (Jor; Hel, Jea, Vin)

October:
4th Savage Synnibarr 3: A Drake on the Night Trail (Jor; Hel, Jea, Ale)
8th Savage Synnibarr 4: Fame & Gangbangers (Jor; Hel, Jea, Ale)
13th Savage Worlds Fantasy: Der Händler (Google Hangout)
15th Savage Synnibarr 5: The Drake Slayers (Jor; Jea, Ale, Vin)
25th Savage Synnibarr 6: Plague Town (Jor; Hel, Ale, Vin)

November:
1st Savage Synnibarr 7: The Battle against Durana (Jor; Hel, Vin, Jea)
26th Savage Synnibarr 8: The Sunken Spaceship  (Jor; Hel, Vin, Ale, Mig, Agn)

December
3rd Savage Synnibarr 9: Tongues of the Tenjohussan (Jor; Hel, Vin, Ale, Mig, Agn)
13th Savage Synnibarr 10: Templetown of the Drake Cult (Jorg, Vin, Mig, Agn, Max)

My RPG Calendar 2013
My RPG Calendar 2011
My RPG Calendar 2010
My RPG Calendar 2009
My RPG Calendar 2008