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Post by lasersniper on Sept 4, 2015 20:01:12 GMT
Yes, Crit Juice and Never Tell Me The Odds have similar casts. At least 2 players and the GM is the same. 1. I assume you are talking about the Destiny system when referring to the GM Intrusion mechanic. In the rules they do suggest allowing your players to alter the story by spending destiny points. Like maybe there is a crucial bit of tech they needed they just happened to bring along, or they manage to get away from the stormtroopers because a fruit speeder overturned at just the right place. The Never Tell Me the Odds guys to run with it looser then I would in a game. As for the XP awarding, while not expressed specifically in the rules, awarding players for RP and inventive play is. And use of a Destiny point almost always initiates that in my experience. I also find Triumph doing a similar job when rolled. 2. EotE, AoR, and FaD all have VERY similar systems. The reason they are different books is because character progression is slightly different and the style of play is promoted in different ways. EotE's obligation and skill sets are made to encourage play in the criminal element. While AoR's Duty and skill sets are made to feel like you are a part of a military unit and promote a Rebellion campaign. Though I haven't played FaD yet, I can only assume that there are similar small alterations like that as well. The base rules are the same though, so using the character building systems for all the systems for a single campaign shouldn't be hard to do. Especially since the character building is very similar itself. Also if you are looking for more races and professions, there are a lot in the expansion books for EotE and AoR, especially races. They also have new equipment and ships. I got them for the pre-made ships  As to item 1. I was not referring to the Destiny system. In the first few episodes of NTMTO, the GM specifically states that he is doing a "GM Intrusion", awards 4 XP to the affected player, and has that player grant 2 of those XP points to another player. It has been a while since I listened to the beginning episodes so I forgot about that  . No that is not specifically a rule in EotE, that is something he added. |
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Post by friartook on Sept 15, 2015 18:24:17 GMT
Update to this discussion: My weekly D&D group liked the EotE starter set so much, we decided to scrap our D&D campaign and dive in (I feel a teensy bit like a traitor).
I am not quite ready to start a campaign though, still reading up on some of the core rules (specifically, Obligation). So I recommended to the guys that we have a "character concept and background" session (a session 0). I expected them to be a bit bored or not show up. Instead, I've already received two typed out character backgrounds and some image clips.
So far we have a force sensitive Jawa on a mission to get revenge on the man who ruined his life: his own father (who also happens to be a Padawan to a Jedi Master), and an assassin bounty hunter (I forget the race; one I hadn't heard of) with prosthetic legs who was trained by Boba Fett himself and pissed off a local Hutt big time. And these characters know each other. It's likely we will also have a force sensitive droid (I know that's not allowed by the RAW, but I'll allow it if there's a good explanation). I predict a Wookie and (hopefully) at least one human.
This is all before even starting character creation or the campaign. It's been like pulling teeth getting these guys into character in D&D. Now I'm getting multi page documents of character backgrounds and personas, inter-party RP tie ins, and loads of material to use as adventure hooks! All with almost zero prompting from me!
To say I'm excited would be a gross understatement!
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Post by lasersniper on Sept 15, 2015 22:53:39 GMT
That is awesome. Sometimes you just need the right setting it seems  . Can't think of a better one then Star Wars. |
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Post by friartook on Sept 16, 2015 21:26:44 GMT
So lasersniper, is there a place out there like these forums for the FF Star Wars games? I've found the official Fantasy Flight Games forums, but it would be cool to find a space to bounce SW ideas around similarly to what happens here. I don't have much hope of finding a community even half as cool as this one, but a place to bounce ideas around would be awesome! Any good podcasts discussing game mechanics and/or ideas? Is there a Star Wars GMs_Block? |
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Post by Vulash on Sept 16, 2015 21:32:54 GMT
I'm finally ready to comment! I've been listening to One Shot campaign (I listen on stitcher so I started on on episode 31, and I've just finished the NOOOOMEEEENAAAARRRAAA One Shot). I know I'm a little out of touch now so I'll just briefly comment on a few things already mentioned.
First of all, One Shot is awesome! I was not a fan of live play podcasts, and this converted me. I'm now trying a few others out as well.
Thanks to One Shot I've actually been brainstorming how to add more collaborative play elements to my own system, and had actually forgotten that was a question originally posed on this thread. I"ll get into that in a moment.
I do have to disagree with at least one point. There was one comment that "Should the DM give up more control to the players" and the answer was absolutely yes. I wholeheartedly disagree with that. I think that it CAN be fantastic, but I don't think it's a SHOULD. Some of my best RP moments as a character was with a DM that maintained full control, but wove such amazing stories that I was able to focus so much on my own character and the other character that the roleplay and intensity was fantastic (unfortunately, he had no interest in mechanics and his campaigns faltered). So no, I don't think it's necessary every time. Sometimes the DM should maintain control of the world and all the prose so that it fits into the package of his story and setting - and the players can still find plenty of roleplaying elements and creativity within the characters themselves. I think that's a perfectly acceptable style in the right situations for the right group. I also absolutely love the idea of the DM giving up some of that control and having the players collaborate more. I just wanted to make the point that I don't believe either of those is always right.
Okay so now fast forward to my current thoughts. I've just recently started running a homebrew campaign that is semi-sandbox, and the world is not entirely fleshed out. So since I've been listening to One Shot I'm trying to think of how to incorporate more of these elements. I don't want to go quite as far with it as they do in One Shot, because I do have certain long term setting things that shouldn't be altered that the players don't know about (That's a big difference in a home brew versus a known universe - in EotE the players know as much about the setting itself as the DM). In my setting the players have no idea why these nightmare spawning storms ravage the land, and why the land is broken, and who the major political players really are.
Here are my players:
2 are expert gamers and previous DMs with a middle ground style between optimizing and roleplaying.
3 are brand new. One struggles a bit with RP and leans towards a video game mentality, but can bring enthusiasm. One is actually really good at roleplaying, but is still a little self conscious about speaking in character (But when she does she's very good). The other claims she is only playing because her husband is one of the 2 expert players, but she "gets it" and seems to enjoy it. She maintains character well and RPs well. All 3 aren't great with the mechanics, however, after about a year of casual play.
My first thought was to award them one token each each night that they could turn in to influence the story. Or award these tokens in place of inspiration (I think inspiration is pretty weak at the moment due to how easy it is to gain advantage). I talked about this with one of the expert players and he was worried it might put a bit of pressure on those that are still a little shy about it. I think it could work, but I also want to ease the concept in.
My second thought was to give the group a token. They can either use this token to influence the story, or use the token to add some element that they force ME to work into the story. So they can basically put me on the spot for fun. I'm leaning towards this idea. If I do this I'll need to have some type of flag for my DM screen when I can claim immunity. So when I'm running something that might involve a major plot point I can use this. This keeps them from using the token to find out if a certain time is important. I'd have to occasionally use the flag at points that weren't major plot points so they couldn't just figure it out - not to "beat" them, but simply so that I don't ruin important surprises. I just made that sound really complicated, but it should be really simple to implement. The advantage would be that they could then interact with the story as a group, or one of the expert players can do it - while they get used to the idea, and it's a limited basis.
I'm also trying to just work other elements into the game that they can get involved in. Last week they were figuring out how to setup an ambush in an abandoned town, so I pulled out some random map tiles and had them each draw one, and told them they could arrange them anyway they liked as a group - and that became that town. The goal is to slowly allow them to see the possibilities with their own ideas and interactions, and hopefully move the culture more towards collaboration.
So far these ideas are very simplistic. I haven't come up with a more detailed or interesting way yet to work some of these elements in, but I'm working on it. I'd love to hear your guys' ideas and get more feedback for working these types of things into the system for 5e, but doing it without over complicating things.
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Post by friartook on Sept 16, 2015 22:09:40 GMT
1) First of all, One Shot is awesome! I was not a fan of live play podcasts, and this converted me. I'm now trying a few others out as well. 2) I do have to disagree with at least one point. There was one comment that "Should the DM give up more control to the players" and the answer was absolutely yes. I wholeheartedly disagree with that. I think that it CAN be fantastic, but I don't think it's a SHOULD. Some of my best RP moments as a character was with a DM that maintained full control, but wove such amazing stories that I was able to focus so much on my own character and the other character that the roleplay and intensity was fantastic (unfortunately, he had no interest in mechanics and his campaigns faltered). So no, I don't think it's necessary every time. Sometimes the DM should maintain control of the world and all the prose so that it fits into the package of his story and setting - and the players can still find plenty of roleplaying elements and creativity within the characters themselves. I think that's a perfectly acceptable style in the right situations for the right group. I also absolutely love the idea of the DM giving up some of that control and having the players collaborate more. I just wanted to make the point that I don't believe either of those is always right. 3)My first thought was to award them one token each each night that they could turn in to influence the story. Or award these tokens in place of inspiration (I think inspiration is pretty weak at the moment due to how easy it is to gain advantage). I talked about this with one of the expert players and he was worried it might put a bit of pressure on those that are still a little shy about it. I think it could work, but I also want to ease the concept in. My second thought was to give the group a token. They can either use this token to influence the story, or use the token to add some element that they force ME to work into the story. So they can basically put me on the spot for fun. I'm leaning towards this idea. If I do this I'll need to have some type of flag for my DM screen when I can claim immunity. So when I'm running something that might involve a major plot point I can use this. This keeps them from using the token to find out if a certain time is important. I'd have to occasionally use the flag at points that weren't major plot points so they couldn't just figure it out - not to "beat" them, but simply so that I don't ruin important surprises. I just made that sound really complicated, but it should be really simple to implement. The advantage would be that they could then interact with the story as a group, or one of the expert players can do it - while they get used to the idea, and it's a limited basis. Thanks for the response! I'm finding that the more I think about this and the more I use it in my session, the more important this concept seems. It is a big debate in the RPG world. To address some of your points: 1) If you like OneShot, I implore you to check out Campaign. Campaign features OneShot regulars. James D'Amato is a player rather than the GM. Instead, Kat Kuhl (formerly Kat Murphy) is the GM. Over the course of about 40 episodes Kat has become a GM role model for me. She strikes a great balance on this very issue we are discussing here; allowing the players to have their input without it disrupting the story she is telling. It has grown into my all-time favorite actual play podcast, and I listen to a lot of them. 2) I think there is a middle ground here. The whole point of having a GM is to have a central story teller. But, D&D has a certain "PCs vs. DM" dynamic that is ingrained from the very early days. Many of those old Gygax modules were more of a survival challenge than an interesting story. D&D has moved away from this, but the legacy remains. Last night, I sat down with my players to do our first ever session 0. Two of my guys had already come up with detailed backgrounds for their characters, two others had absolutely no idea where to start. Over the course of an hour, we worked out concepts for everyone as well as backgrounds. The backgrounds for each character were full of potential plot points, future villains, adventure hooks and story content. For me as a GM, this takes a huge burden of pressure off me. A bit of background if you are interested: We started our previous D&D 5e campaign on the tail end of a failing 3.5 campaign. We were running a pre-generated 3.5 module and the guys made their own characters. But, they were all brand new players. They didn't know how to really generate a successful character, let alone a compelling background to RP from. Combined with the boring pre-gen module, well, the group was about to disband. So I took action. I came up with a loose homebrew setting and rolled up 10 5e characters with full backgrounds for them to choose from. Over the course of about a year and a half, they got engaged with their characters and started to RP them. They got a little engaged with the story and setting, but not as much as I'd like. And in this scenario, all the burden of story was on me. I had to inform them of their characters' backgrounds as well as build out the campaign story and populate the world. I enjoy this sort of thing, but I am a busy guy, and this was just too much for me. As a result, I always felt our campaign was lacking. Fast forward to today. I am now about to create a campaign based on an existing world, and based on characters others are making up. I've already let go of a HUGE piece of control over the campaign, and it feels like a relief! I'm excited to weave these guys' stories into a compelling adventure! I'll likely roll up a GMPC for myself as well, to act as a sort of guide and to keep myself engaged in the story. Previously, I avoided NPCs and DMPCs because I just had too much to worry about already! I added one in toward the end, but I would often hand over control of that character to a player. My point is: a GM will always be necessary, even if they give up a piece of control over their game. They are like the ringleader of a circus. All the performers come in and get to be the stars for their part, but the ringleader makes sure the whole show ticks along and that everyone gets their chance. However, as a GM/DM, we are not actually telling a story. We are creating a framework of story for our players to engage with and be a part of. 3) This sounds almost exactly like the Destiny Points system in EotE. You have tokens with a light side and a dark side. Players can flip a light side to dark to make something true or improve a roll or add something in to the world. The GM can flip a dark over to light to throw something bad at the PCs. In the couple times I've tried to run it, it has worked quite well! I think the idea of allowing tokens like this in place of Inspiration is a great idea. |
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Post by Vulash on Sept 17, 2015 3:27:50 GMT
1) First of all, One Shot is awesome! I was not a fan of live play podcasts, and this converted me. I'm now trying a few others out as well. 2) I do have to disagree with at least one point. There was one comment that "Should the DM give up more control to the players" and the answer was absolutely yes. I wholeheartedly disagree with that. I think that it CAN be fantastic, but I don't think it's a SHOULD. Some of my best RP moments as a character was with a DM that maintained full control, but wove such amazing stories that I was able to focus so much on my own character and the other character that the roleplay and intensity was fantastic (unfortunately, he had no interest in mechanics and his campaigns faltered). So no, I don't think it's necessary every time. Sometimes the DM should maintain control of the world and all the prose so that it fits into the package of his story and setting - and the players can still find plenty of roleplaying elements and creativity within the characters themselves. I think that's a perfectly acceptable style in the right situations for the right group. I also absolutely love the idea of the DM giving up some of that control and having the players collaborate more. I just wanted to make the point that I don't believe either of those is always right. 3)My first thought was to award them one token each each night that they could turn in to influence the story. Or award these tokens in place of inspiration (I think inspiration is pretty weak at the moment due to how easy it is to gain advantage). I talked about this with one of the expert players and he was worried it might put a bit of pressure on those that are still a little shy about it. I think it could work, but I also want to ease the concept in. My second thought was to give the group a token. They can either use this token to influence the story, or use the token to add some element that they force ME to work into the story. So they can basically put me on the spot for fun. I'm leaning towards this idea. If I do this I'll need to have some type of flag for my DM screen when I can claim immunity. So when I'm running something that might involve a major plot point I can use this. This keeps them from using the token to find out if a certain time is important. I'd have to occasionally use the flag at points that weren't major plot points so they couldn't just figure it out - not to "beat" them, but simply so that I don't ruin important surprises. I just made that sound really complicated, but it should be really simple to implement. The advantage would be that they could then interact with the story as a group, or one of the expert players can do it - while they get used to the idea, and it's a limited basis. Thanks for the response! I'm finding that the more I think about this and the more I use it in my session, the more important this concept seems. It is a big debate in the RPG world. To address some of your points: 1) If you like OneShot, I implore you to check out Campaign. Campaign features OneShot regulars. James D'Amato is a player rather than the GM. Instead, Kat Kuhl (formerly Kat Murphy) is the GM. Over the course of about 40 episodes Kat has become a GM role model for me. She strikes a great balance on this very issue we are discussing here; allowing the players to have their input without it disrupting the story she is telling. It has grown into my all-time favorite actual play podcast, and I listen to a lot of them. 2) I think there is a middle ground here. The whole point of having a GM is to have a central story teller. But, D&D has a certain "PCs vs. DM" dynamic that is ingrained from the very early days. Many of those old Gygax modules were more of a survival challenge than an interesting story. D&D has moved away from this, but the legacy remains. Last night, I sat down with my players to do our first ever session 0. Two of my guys had already come up with detailed backgrounds for their characters, two others had absolutely no idea where to start. Over the course of an hour, we worked out concepts for everyone as well as backgrounds. The backgrounds for each character were full of potential plot points, future villains, adventure hooks and story content. For me as a GM, this takes a huge burden of pressure off me. A bit of background if you are interested: We started our previous D&D 5e campaign on the tail end of a failing 3.5 campaign. We were running a pre-generated 3.5 module and the guys made their own characters. But, they were all brand new players. They didn't know how to really generate a successful character, let alone a compelling background to RP from. Combined with the boring pre-gen module, well, the group was about to disband. So I took action. I came up with a loose homebrew setting and rolled up 10 5e characters with full backgrounds for them to choose from. Over the course of about a year and a half, they got engaged with their characters and started to RP them. They got a little engaged with the story and setting, but not as much as I'd like. And in this scenario, all the burden of story was on me. I had to inform them of their characters' backgrounds as well as build out the campaign story and populate the world. I enjoy this sort of thing, but I am a busy guy, and this was just too much for me. As a result, I always felt our campaign was lacking. Fast forward to today. I am now about to create a campaign based on an existing world, and based on characters others are making up. I've already let go of a HUGE piece of control over the campaign, and it feels like a relief! I'm excited to weave these guys' stories into a compelling adventure! I'll likely roll up a GMPC for myself as well, to act as a sort of guide and to keep myself engaged in the story. Previously, I avoided NPCs and DMPCs because I just had too much to worry about already! I added one in toward the end, but I would often hand over control of that character to a player. My point is: a GM will always be necessary, even if they give up a piece of control over their game. They are like the ringleader of a circus. All the performers come in and get to be the stars for their part, but the ringleader makes sure the whole show ticks along and that everyone gets their chance. However, as a GM/DM, we are not actually telling a story. We are creating a framework of story for our players to engage with and be a part of. 3) This sounds almost exactly like the Destiny Points system in EotE. You have tokens with a light side and a dark side. Players can flip a light side to dark to make something true or improve a roll or add something in to the world. The GM can flip a dark over to light to throw something bad at the PCs. In the couple times I've tried to run it, it has worked quite well! I think the idea of allowing tokens like this in place of Inspiration is a great idea. I don't have for a lengthy response, but thought I'd try to get a quick one before bed. 1) I should have been more clear. One Shot Campaign is what has me hooked. I started with episode 32 though and am now current. My next goal is to start over with 1 and work my way back up. I love it! I really like Kat's laid back style of storyassisting. I've just started the InspectHer ones and they are hilarious. 2) I actually agree with everything you said. I guess my point was that I don't think the DM *Has* to give up power for the campaign to be successful. I've seen campaigns where the DM had such a beautifully formed world (usually in a small scope setting) that it worked best when he controlled that world, and the story was more character driven (which is where we came in). I think we're really discussing two things here: The first is creativity and contribution from players concerning their characters, and the second is creativity and contribution of the players to the world and NPCs itself. I guess I'm saying that a campaign can be brilliant with the DM controlling all of #2, and the players simply controlling the first. I'm not saying that's better, but I don't like the blanket statement that DMs should give up control. Having said all of that, I've converted and that is not my preferred system. I too have found it a relief the more my players have stepped up. The quieter one I mentioned above came up with an amazing backstory for her character this time around, and I loved it. At one point in the game someone asked a question about the world (something she had interacted with), and without consulting me or even hesitating she gave an off the wall answer that was not something I would have thought of. I immediately ran with it and let them know I was incorporating that. I really enjoy the style of letting the players contribute for all of the reasons you've stated above. And being a fairly busy person, it helps me tremendously. Even something as simple as asking the characters for a name for an NPC (when I don't have one prepared and don't want to consult my charts) was so fluid and helpful, and didn't detract any, that I'm amazed I never thought of it before. I stole that from Kat as well On top of all of that I think that you nailed it when you said that D&D in the early days had the problem of the DM vs the players. It's something I've really had to work on myself, and the game is so much more fun when the DM is on the player's side (not to say you make it easy for them, but you also enjoy their successes). I think that these types of systems really encourage that type of play, and are very healthy for the game. 3) Their system in One Shot campaign was my inspiration. I've been trying to think of ways to implement something similar, but stick with 5e. Also, I bought EotE and the Rebel one thanks to them. They just arrived yesterday, so that might be a long term goal. |
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Post by friartook on Sept 17, 2015 4:37:45 GMT
#1 Piece of Kat's GM style I've stolen: Telling my players that I want them to always make Brave and Heroic Decisions.
One of my downfalls as a DM/GM is that I tend to default to "realistic" actions and results. Listening to Campaign and the OneShot Feng Shui 2 episodes made me realize my mistake. These games are so much more fun if you think of the PCs as heroes on an action movie. They should be able to pull crazy stunts and get away with it. Some of my most memorable moments happened when somebody tried something crazy or impossible, but rolled so well that they pulled it off!
Storytime: (short version) Rogue is trying to rappel down a 3000 foot tall collapsing tree with no rope. His progress was so slow, he decided to make a leap of faith and try to land on the back of a giant bird half way to the ground (that happened to be carrying two other PCs). He leapt, rolled a natural 1. Another player gifted him their inspiration, kid rolls a natural 20 on the reroll. Lands on the bird with zero injury after a 1000 foot leap. It was awesome!
I want more of that sort of behavior at my table.
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Post by lasersniper on Sept 17, 2015 8:34:23 GMT
So lasersniper, is there a place out there like these forums for the FF Star Wars games? I've found the official Fantasy Flight Games forums, but it would be cool to find a space to bounce SW ideas around similarly to what happens here. I don't have much hope of finding a community even half as cool as this one, but a place to bounce ideas around would be awesome! Any good podcasts discussing game mechanics and/or ideas? Is there a Star Wars GMs_Block? HOOOOOOOOOOOOOLY Crap I literally hit a wall of text when I went to reply to this xD. You and Vulash really got into it. As for your question, unfortunately there is no place that I have found that is like what you are looking for. If you look around you can find plenty of sites and give away advice and inspiration, but no place that is a forum that I have found. But hey this is the DM's Block, for literally any and all DM questions, problems, advice, and inspiration. I am sure you can ask it here. Plus, being the huge Star Wars fan I am, I would love to hash stuff out with you if you want to . The only time I get to talk Star Wars was with my sister, her husband, and my EotE group. But my sister has 2 little ones now, my brother-in-law works and Disney and CAN'T talk to me about anything, and my EotE Group just dissolved. So please hit my up  . Also here are a few of the helpful sites I have found for Star Wars RPG inspiration. Triumph & Despair: A site dedicated to putting out stuff for EotE and expansions. I linked specifically the superweapon generator page. Never Tell Me The Odds Podcast: There is a section of their blog that has game supplements and there are some pretty helpful stuff there. Starship Repair Rules: Depending on how in depth your players want to get with starship repair and maintenance, here is some alternate rules. Peter Thompsons EotE NPC Generator: The BEST dang NPC gen for EotE I have found. Little light on the species but I just substitute them as needed. Ole' Zekes Scrapyard: If you don't want to get the expansion books but want new pre-made vehicles, I found an old forum post with a bunch of starships and a couple of other vehicles that this some people cooked up. Oh and before you ask, the forum's Star Wars content is pretty dead. |
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Post by Vulash on Sept 17, 2015 14:36:34 GMT
#1 Piece of Kat's GM style I've stolen: Telling my players that I want them to always make Brave and Heroic Decisions. One of my downfalls as a DM/GM is that I tend to default to "realistic" actions and results. Listening to Campaign and the OneShot Feng Shui 2 episodes made me realize my mistake. These games are so much more fun if you think of the PCs as heroes on an action movie. They should be able to pull crazy stunts and get away with it. Some of my most memorable moments happened when somebody tried something crazy or impossible, but rolled so well that they pulled it off! Storytime: (short version) Rogue is trying to rappel down a 3000 foot tall collapsing tree with no rope. His progress was so slow, he decided to make a leap of faith and try to land on the back of a giant bird half way to the ground (that happened to be carrying two other PCs). He leapt, rolled a natural 1. Another player gifted him their inspiration, kid rolls a natural 20 on the reroll. Lands on the bird with zero injury after a 1000 foot leap. It was awesome! I want more of that sort of behavior at my table. I think that is one of my faults as well, and in listening to their podcasts they do so many things that I would not have encouraged before because I didn't feel it was very realistic, or didn't encompass the gritty flavor I was looking for - and now I'm starting to see I need to let that go. I think I might steal that from you that you stole from Kat, and tell my players the same. |
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Post by Vulash on Sept 17, 2015 14:38:02 GMT
So lasersniper, is there a place out there like these forums for the FF Star Wars games? I've found the official Fantasy Flight Games forums, but it would be cool to find a space to bounce SW ideas around similarly to what happens here. I don't have much hope of finding a community even half as cool as this one, but a place to bounce ideas around would be awesome! Any good podcasts discussing game mechanics and/or ideas? Is there a Star Wars GMs_Block? HOOOOOOOOOOOOOLY Crap I literally hit a wall of text when I went to reply to this xD. You and Vulash really got into it. As for your question, unfortunately there is no place that I have found that is like what you are looking for. If you look around you can find plenty of sites and give away advice and inspiration, but no place that is a forum that I have found. But hey this is the DM's Block, for literally any and all DM questions, problems, advice, and inspiration. I am sure you can ask it here. Plus, being the huge Star Wars fan I am, I would love to hash stuff out with you if you want to . The only time I get to talk Star Wars was with my sister, her husband, and my EotE group. But my sister has 2 little ones now, my brother-in-law works and Disney and CAN'T talk to me about anything, and my EotE Group just dissolved. So please hit my up . Also here are a few of the helpful sites I have found for Star Wars RPG inspiration. Triumph & Despair: A site dedicated to putting out stuff for EotE and expansions. I linked specifically the superweapon generator page. Never Tel Me The Odds Podcast: There is a section of their blog that has game supplements and there are some pretty helpful stuff there. Starship Repair Rules: Depending on how in depth your players want to get with starship repair and maintenance, here is some alternate rules. Peter Thompsons EotE NPC Generator: The BEST dang NPC gen for EotE I have found. Little light on the species but I just substitute them as needed. Ole' Zekes Scrapyard: If you don't want to get the expansion books but want new pre-made vehicles, I found an old forum post with a bunch of starships and a couple of other vehicles that this some people cooked up. Oh and before you ask, the forum's Star Wars content is pretty dead. I have to agree - why not here? There might only be a few familiar with the system and rules (although I hope to add myself to that group ultimately as I dig into these fancy new rulebooks), but storytelling is storytelling, and I imagine most here are fans of the SW universe. |
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Post by friartook on Sept 17, 2015 14:41:10 GMT
I sent a request to Mitch and Chris to create another sub-forum for Star Wars or other non-D&D RPGs.
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Post by friartook on Sept 17, 2015 14:55:45 GMT
So, the whole "gritty flavor" thing; I've had this issue as well. In our previous campaign, I was trying to tell a really gritty story full of family betrayal, world threatening forces, life threatening situations and high drama. I think this meme explains how that went:  I set everything up for high drama, but in the end, the game is just a bunch of us guys, hanging out and playing a game. And what do we do when we hang out and play games? Drink, talk smack, make jokes and generally have fun. The sarcasm is strong in our group. Grittiness and light hearted fun don't quite match. Its hard to feel engaged with a dark and intense story when your buddy is making fun of your character's clothing. So I've decided to embrace the absurd in an effort to ramp up the fun! That being said, I think that it is possible to run a really awesome gritty TTRPG adventure. Everyone just has to be on board for that and willing/able to take things a bit seriously. For myself, I'm realizing that I was trying to use my TTRPG games to tells stories that don't work for that medium. I was trying to get my writer's fix out of a table top game. Unfortunately, the type of story I was trying to tell (dark, gritty, high stakes, long winded and widely expansive) just doesn't match with my group. |
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Post by Vulash on Sept 17, 2015 15:08:10 GMT
So, the whole "gritty flavor" thing; I've had this issue as well. In our previous campaign, I was trying to tell a really gritty story full of family betrayal, world threatening forces, life threatening situations and high drama. I think this meme explains how that went: I set everything up for high drama, but in the end, the game is just a bunch of us guys, hanging out and playing a game. And what do we do when we hang out and play games? Drink, talk smack, make jokes and generally have fun. The sarcasm is strong in our group. Grittiness and light hearted fun don't quite match. Its hard to feel engaged with a dark and intense story when your buddy is making fun of your character's clothing. So I've decided to embrace the absurd in an effort to ramp up the fun! That being said, I think that it is possible to run a really awesome gritty TTRPG adventure. Everyone just has to be on board for that and willing/able to take things a bit seriously. For myself, I'm realizing that I was trying to use my TTRPG games to tells stories that don't work for that medium. I was trying to get my writer's fix out of a table top game. Unfortunately, the type of story I was trying to tell (dark, gritty, high stakes, long winded and widely expansive) just doesn't match with my group. Yea that's how I feel exactly. When I was younger I always had an issue of trying to push epic story lines on my characters. I would read these awesome stories, and wanted to do one of my own and have them enjoy it. I wasn't a mature enough DM to realize that no one likes having their characters pushed into a story. Then I switched to wanting to run a gritty campaign - similar to The Black Company, but never really managed to pull it off (I never tried too hard to make it too gritty for the reasons you've said.) Now that I'm older and more experienced I've definitely gotten better at finding a balance and learning what will work best for my group, but it's a learning process. My current campaign I've given up quite a bit of control and I'm letting them run with it more. I'm trying more of the "yes, and..." approach. There is an epic storyline hidden in the background that helps explain some of the 'broken' elements of my world, but I'm not pushing anyone into that storyline - it really just serves as flavor to make everything more real. Most likely, that storyline won't even resolve during the lifetime of these players - so instead they just live in a broken world with mysteries that aren't solved. The gritty campaigns I've played in that worked well only had 2 players. I think with 2 players you can really work in a heavily character development focus to a campaign that is hard to duplicate with a larger group. It's easier to have 2 players be somber and take the mood very seriously than a large group. My group is also very joke and sarcasm heavy - and they reference movies and such a lot. Which is fun in an entirely different way, and I'm finally learning to embrace each for what it is. |
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Samuel Wise
Demigod
Ready to Help...
Posts: 989
Favorite D&D Class: Warlock
Favorite D&D Race: Mousefolk
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Post by Samuel Wise on Sept 17, 2015 15:10:32 GMT
For myself, I'm realizing that I was trying to use my TTRPG games to tells stories that don't work for that medium. I was trying to get my writer's fix out of a table top game. Unfortunately, the type of story I was trying to tell (dark, gritty, high stakes, long winded and widely expansive) just doesn't match with my group. Same here. When I first started DMing I had an idea of how it was going to turn out. High adventurous and gritty. I can certainly say I was approaching the game from the same angle: as a writer, not a collabrative storyteller. My players annoyed me to the point that I realized, I was doing it wrong. The players weren't the problem for not RPing my way, I was wrong for taking the story to a serious level that no one wanted. Before, when I complained about bad roleplay, I just was saying my players weren't taking it seriously. Now, however, bad roleplay is not getting involved with your character and other characters at the table. I've learned. |
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. No that is not specifically a rule in EotE, that is something he added.
. Can't think of a better one then Star Wars.
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