Way Off-Topic: Question for RPGamers

[honorentheos]

I was looking for the thread to bump it. Recap from our most recent work session:

Walking through the toweringly tall tunnel into Palisades, the main group advanced in anticipation of what lay ahead in the city when Ellery and Brennen were returned at the gate by the mysterious figure in the plague doctor mask. Their appearance did not seem to surprise or affect the dwarf guarding the city, who addressed the doctor as Skjótr, commented it was nice to see him again, and it was nice of him to stop by. The doctor returned the pleasantries, but noted he believed while his own business was not complete that the party needed their companions more. “By gate or by stairs”, he almost intoned to the dwarf before disappearing again into a swirl of smoky fog. Brennen and Ellery passed through the gate to rejoin the rest of the party, seeing a significant scene from their lives etch into the stones of the gate as they did so.

Reunited, the party entered Palisades as the city was shifting from the business of daytime to that of evening, but in a manner none of you had seen before. Junior wizards in training practiced their cantrips lighting the street lamps in the city, while levitation and floating disc spells could be seen lifting the goods and people up into higher levels of the intricately formed building that packed the street. Constructs of mechanical wonder could be seen moving wagons and carrying rickshaws through the streets, while fountains poured out pure water into colorfully tiled illuminated basins without any apparent piping or clear source of light. In these and many more ways Palisades was clearly a city where magic was intricately part of its infrastructure and aesthetics.

The party was greeted by a satyr male who introduced himself as Petry, and offered to take you where you needed to go in the city. You informed him you needed to speak with the council you had been told was the leadership here who you believed might be able to help you. He took you to Daegr Hall where you discovered the ruling council not only expected you but had remained to meet you, having been given word you had been involved in something that would be of interest to them from their old associate Thelrom Metalbreaker, the retired Adapt of the Rune Arts. You recalled Thelrom was the male member of the dwarf couple you met back in Duskwich in the Broken Keg and who had promised to assist you in getting an audience with the council in Palisades. Seated behind a dais that formed a quarter circle along the opposing wall from which you entered, the Daegr of Palisades introduced themselves to you:

▶ Banduri, female human Headmaster of The Academy of Arcane Arts, and apparent leader of the Daegr.

▶ Ambrosia Ilk, female Arch-archivist of the Consortium Obscura. Oversees the collection, study, and containment of artifacts of chaos or potential destruction.

▶ Tuaki Tu, male Minotauri captain of the Vigilant, the armed watch of Palisades.

▶ Forvitini, the Most Esteemed, male tabaxi regulator of trade

▶ Gaelsorin, male summer eladrin, ambassador of the Seele court and the fair Feywild.

▶ Rain, small celestial unicat which is a unicorn-like cat, ambassador of Elysium and the celestial planes.

▶ Shiloh, red tiefling female, ambassador of the nine hells.

The party explained recent events you had been involved in, including discovering and rescuing Tweed on your way to the city, who members of the Daegr appeared to know well. You delivered them the damaged wand of polymorph he had apparently acquired and been misusing, and Rain the unicat was happy to also receive Tweed in his new turtle form as a play…mate? -thing? Do cats, including celestial uni-ones, even know the difference?

Arctica produced the Mallus Deus from her magical haversack, which had an immediate effect on the council as Banduri leaped to her feet on seeing it and cast a spell encasing it in a protective bubble that then hoovered up over the floor between the Daegr and the party. You heard multiple members murmur it was a “single digit”, identified as CO 004. Ambrosia explained that chaotic items are assigned a number by the Consortium Obscura whose work involved the identification, study, and, when possible, containment of dangerous magical artifacts of chaotic potential. Single digits are all known to have world-ending effects that are easily unleashed by the gullible and unwary, and the lower the number the more dangerous the artifact was considered. Ambrosia informs you that the only known objects of greater chaos-unleashing potential than the one you had brought into Daegr Hall are Asmodeus’ Ruby Rod (CO 000), the Wand of Orcus (CO 001), the Book of Vile Darkness (CO 002), and the Sphere of Annihilation (CO 003). Your possessing CO 004 concerned the Daegr, given it was known to belong to the demon lord Graz’zt who would not have let it manifest on the material plane without some nefarious scheme tied to it. You explained how you had come to acquire it, understanding Graz’zt had given it under contract to a Lamia who had been killed, whose jackalwere followers had been seeking to earn enough money to resurrect her by making magical copies of the book and selling the copies. You had discovered that the original had been recognized and stolen by Richard Fox who, having opened it while at the Jensen’s farmhouse, had unleased a small part of its power in Duskwich. You had been told by Ciara, the mayor there and former cleric of Melora the Wild Mother, that in her past travels as an adventurer the researchers in Palisades had been instrumental in helping her own party find information they needed. So you had come here seeking help in determining what to do with the Mallus Deus.

The Daegr needed time to determine how best to handle this unexpected revelation, while also conveying that they needed to know you were not part of the plotting of Graz’zt. Ambrosia then informed you they had a task that, if you helped with it, would assist the Daegr in both resolving a matter the Consortium considered important to address while going a long ways in proving your own trustworthiness. Null asked that the goliath guard that had been escorting you since you arrived at the hall also accompany you, somewhat to Keno’s chagrin. But with Tuaki Tu’s agreement to the request, Keno found himself joined to the party. The task involved the recovery of another, much less dangerous chaotic artifact recently acquired by the local Grinning Sinners guild house. Artifact CO 5337 is a portrait of the supposed most beautiful male who ever lived named Boselli. The portrait’s magical abilities were not well known as it had only recently been brought to the awareness of the Consortium Obscura, but they did know it is sentient and has the ability to magically defend itself. It is believed to be used specifically for spying as it is able to listen in undiscovered on conversations and then share what it heard with those who control it. The local guild mistress of the Grinning Sinners was named Rijal, and she was known to be well connected with the merchants and travelers who came and went within the city. The Consortium knew she had acquired the portrait through a carefully orchestrated theft that had involved getting the artifact out of the Archive itself, and had intended to fence it to a buyer but then missed the delivery date. The Consortium had a person on the inside of the Sinners local guild house whom they had brought to the Archives and had been questioning him. Ambrosia led the party to him to allow you to ask him what questions you thought relevant to your attempt to recover the portrait. An obese, greedy man named Grinky sat alone eating at the center of a long dining table, greasy handed from eating roasted fowls and other meats with little regard for cleanliness. He provided you with a hand-drawn, now grease-stained map of the Grinning Sinner’s guild house. He answered what questions you asked as best he could, with a sense of self-importance disproportionate to his actual utility.

Ambrosia then left you to the archivists to assist you as you saw fit in your planning. After some deliberation and planning, you decided to visit a tavern, the Tipsy Tankard, known to be frequented by members of the Grinning Sinners, especially one of Rijal’s trusted named Elix, also known as The Saint. Keno knew of Elix, and also that he was known to enjoy gambling a bit too much. The party made your way to the Tipsy Tankard and found Elix along with six other members of the Sinners enjoying themselves there. Null made his way to the table where Elix was playing cards and winning, playing himself off as someone who had recently came into some money and looking for a game while not being particularly good at it. Elix booted another player to make room for Null and began the business of stealing his money legally using cards, not catching on that Null intended to get him to lower his guard through letting him win.

Ellery made friends with the other Sinners, playing for them before joining them in drink at their table. The remainder of the party mixed in amongst the guests in an attempt to appear unaffiliated. Keno in particular made sure that he came in separately from the rest of the group so as to appear he had just dropped in for drinks after his guard duty shift had ended at the Daegr Hall. Good times were had as the party played, drank, enchanted and poisoned your way into the Sinner’s trust, leaving them pass out except for Elix who, under the influence of multiple substances and a bad DM roll, found himself welcoming Null’s advances and offering to share his room at the Grinning Sinner’s guild house that night…

[Res Ipsa]

I've had 4 or 5 play sessions of Starforged: Ironsworn with my friends from Germany. I've gotten to like the system and the adventures it generates. It's DM less, so we all have to switch back and forth between the actual role play and setting the scene for roll playing. But I think we're getting pretty good at the transition. One of my German friends uses Chat GPT to write a narrative of each session, which is fun.

I've now got my PDF copy of Old Gods. Its my first time with the Cypher system, and I like its structure. The DM rolls no dice, so they can concentrate on the story progression. The DM can intervene at any point in the game and introduce a complication. The player at whom the intervention is aimed gets 2 XP, one of which they must give to another player along with a justification for the award. Or the player can turn down the intervention by spending 1 XP. Advancement is not achieved through killing things, but in discovering important elements of the story or completing a personal story arc.

I'm not sure whether I'm going to take it or Paranoia out for a spin first, but I'm thinking Old Gods. Paranoia is just too different for my first time as a DM.

Hey Res,

I went looking for this thread expecting it was buried back a few pages and couldn't figure our where it went until I searched for it. Guess I'm not paying close attention to the board these days.

First, jumping to your last comment first, I don't know anything about the Old Gods system except what you wrote above and haven't played the new edition of Paranoia. I do think the version I learned on back in the early 90's would be a fun first GM experience if only because the system was incredibly forgiving...in that Friend Computer is inherently not the PC's friend. So it makes up for unfamiliarity with the system to some extent because Friend Computer is inherently capricious and prone to screwing folks over to keep them guessing. You can flub a ruling and shrug it off...of course doing so in a fun way.

That said, I love what I'm reading about the Old Gods system, of course doing so through the lens of the podcast show. It reminds me of Delta Green to some extent, where the fight against the otherworldly and infinitely powerful usually results in party wipes but the organization continues on making progress, barely succeeding in preventing absolute horrors being unleashed, and the like. Old Gods would be a great setting to play that kind of game.

Hi Honor,

From talking to friends, I’m thinking the newest edition of Paranoia isn’t that different from the original. Some tweaks, but the overall mechanics are the same. I hadn’t thought of Paranoia as forgiving of the DM, but I think you’re right. I’m not going to start until the weather turns, so I’ve got a while to make up my mind.

I have a couple friends who play Delta Green, and one suggested it as being good for a first time DM. I don’t think I have the brain cells for another RPG system. The other thing I’m thinking about is doing story games that can be played in an evening or two. We used to do that Sunday nights, and it was a fun way to end the week.

[Res Ipsa]

Very nice story and world building, Honor!

[honorentheos]

Very nice story and world building, Honor!

Thanks! And thank you for introducing me the the SCP archives which you probably noticed served as inspiration for the Consortium Obscura.

[Xenophon]

As always this is one of my favorite threads to see pop-up. I love getting to see everyone's stories!

Got a bit of different one. Three friends and I have started our Bauldr's Gate 3 playthrough together this weekend. If you aren't familiar with it Bauldr's Gate 3 is the latest in a series of CRPG video games that are honestly some of the best made. This version is based around 5th edition ruleset with a few modifications for transferring to the different medium. If you are into PC gaming at all, and for some reason haven't already, I highly recommend going back to the previous versions or scoping the developer's (Larian) other works Divinity Original Sin as they are just amazing campaigns that are a blast to play through both solo and with friends. I'll keep my comments very high level here to avoid as many spoilers as I can.

For our playthrough we've added a few extra challenges to keep us on our toes:

• We are playing on the "tactician" difficulty which ramps the game up to an 11. More enemies which have better base stats, more environmental hazards, and the games A.I. is much smarter in things like target selection and cooldown utilization.
• We have fully randomized our characters. The game allows you to randomize your race, sub-race, class and background. We allowed ourselves 2-rerolls each just in case of non-viable party setups (trying to do a campaign of this style without any healing is pretty much impossible as an example).
• No "save scumming", if you fail a roll you fail a roll. We might be on PC with some extra options but that just isn't as fun.
• There is a fairly simple mechanic for reviving dead party members which we are allowing but a full party wipe is game over and we start over from the beginning with a whole new party.

Our first attempt went south almost immediately. I rolled a half-orc Barbarian with barely 2 brain-cells to rub together, and a scenario unfolded where I unfortunately needed to make some intelligence rolls and that went about as well as you might expect. A fight ensues with some enemies we have no business tussling with, and we get wiped. Back to square 1.

Second, and current, round is going much better. Through some luck we were able to piece together a nice party. A dwarven war domain cleric, a half-elf druid, human wizard, and myself as a halfling rogue. We make it past the point of our previous failure without much incident and are well into the height of act 1.

I was a little worried that out "start over from the beginning" bit would cause the early game to get stale but so far that hasn't been the case. Having different characters as we clear the same areas makes for a very different gaming experience. We had no lockpicker in the first group and so we bypassed quite a few doors and chests that led us down different paths. I can't know for sure that it will hold up if we get wiped a few more times but I'm liking our strategy so far. The other nice think about it is it keeps the murder hoboing to a minimum. Against easier scenarios or with less stakes on the table I could see us engaging in very different behavior. One of the players is notorious in our games for jumping right to combat but after that initial wipe I think she is seeing we are going to need to be very careful in our choices. It has encouraged a lot more party engagement than I've experienced when attempting to do CRPGs. Historically it has felt like you are just 4 randos going through the motions but the extra risk adds a whole new level.

It is also very nice to get to experience the game together without having any DM concerns. All that is handled via the game itself so we're able to sit back and enjoy the ride a bit more. Because it provides additional guidance and guardrails around classes/leveling/race etc it is nice to try some things I'm less familiar with (looking forward to a monk playthrough at some point).

[Res Ipsa]

As always this is one of my favorite threads to see pop-up. I love getting to see everyone's stories!

Got a bit of different one. Three friends and I have started our Bauldr's Gate 3 playthrough together this weekend. If you aren't familiar with it Bauldr's Gate 3 is the latest in a series of CRPG video games that are honestly some of the best made. This version is based around 5th edition ruleset with a few modifications for transferring to the different medium. If you are into PC gaming at all, and for some reason haven't already, I highly recommend going back to the previous versions or scoping the developer's (Larian) other works Divinity Original Sin as they are just amazing campaigns that are a blast to play through both solo and with friends. I'll keep my comments very high level here to avoid as many spoilers as I can.

For our playthrough we've added a few extra challenges to keep us on our toes:

• We are playing on the "tactician" difficulty which ramps the game up to an 11. More enemies which have better base stats, more environmental hazards, and the games A.I. is much smarter in things like target selection and cooldown utilization.
• We have fully randomized our characters. The game allows you to randomize your race, sub-race, class and background. We allowed ourselves 2-rerolls each just in case of non-viable party setups (trying to do a campaign of this style without any healing is pretty much impossible as an example).
• No "save scumming", if you fail a roll you fail a roll. We might be on PC with some extra options but that just isn't as fun.
• There is a fairly simple mechanic for reviving dead party members which we are allowing but a full party wipe is game over and we start over from the beginning with a whole new party.

Our first attempt went south almost immediately. I rolled a half-orc Barbarian with barely 2 brain-cells to rub together, and a scenario unfolded where I unfortunately needed to make some intelligence rolls and that went about as well as you might expect. A fight ensues with some enemies we have no business tussling with, and we get wiped. Back to square 1.

Second, and current, round is going much better. Through some luck we were able to piece together a nice party. A dwarven war domain cleric, a half-elf druid, human wizard, and myself as a halfling rogue. We make it past the point of our previous failure without much incident and are well into the height of act 1.

I was a little worried that out "start over from the beginning" bit would cause the early game to get stale but so far that hasn't been the case. Having different characters as we clear the same areas makes for a very different gaming experience. We had no lockpicker in the first group and so we bypassed quite a few doors and chests that led us down different paths. I can't know for sure that it will hold up if we get wiped a few more times but I'm liking our strategy so far. The other nice think about it is it keeps the murder hoboing to a minimum. Against easier scenarios or with less stakes on the table I could see us engaging in very different behavior. One of the players is notorious in our games for jumping right to combat but after that initial wipe I think she is seeing we are going to need to be very careful in our choices. It has encouraged a lot more party engagement than I've experienced when attempting to do CRPGs. Historically it has felt like you are just 4 randos going through the motions but the extra risk adds a whole new level.

It is also very nice to get to experience the game together without having any DM concerns. All that is handled via the game itself so we're able to sit back and enjoy the ride a bit more. Because it provides additional guidance and guardrails around classes/leveling/race etc it is nice to try some things I'm less familiar with (looking forward to a monk playthrough at some point).

I loved both Baldur's Gate and Neverwinter Nights. Sadly, my aging computer can't handle BG 3. Going to have to wait on that.

[Xenophon]

I loved both Baldur's Gate and Neverwinter Nights. Sadly, my aging computer can't handle BG 3. Going to have to wait on that.

So far it has been everything I'd hoped for and then some. Like you I loved those previous games, I must have nearly burned a hole into my Neverwinter games and I've so many fond memories of arm-chair gaming bauldr's gate with my dad. My only issue now is not running ahead in a solo campaign!

In previous Larian games remote play was very much an option for the aging PC crowd. Effectively the game owner would host and you're just given some additional control options via a stream, significantly reducing the specs required to play. Looks like that isn't available for BG3 right now but I'm hoping it will come in later updates (I think Larian is one of the least greedy big developers out there right now but they still want that $60 if they can get it). I loved that feature as I have hosted several custom campaigns in their previous engines with folks that otherwise wouldn't have been able to enjoy that unique ruleset.

[honorentheos]

Hi Xeno,

I haven't played any of these but they sound fun. Trouble is I don't think I would be able to ration playing enough to do everything else I need to do. But you definitely tempted me.

Through some luck we were able to piece together a nice party. A dwarven war domain cleric, a half-elf druid, human wizard, and myself as a halfling rogue.

War domain cleric is one of my favs. Solid party. I'm assuming since you only gave the cleric domain your party is 2nd level equivalent? No other subclasses yet?

[Xenophon]

Hi Xeno,

I haven't played any of these but they sound fun. Trouble is I don't think I would be able to ration playing enough to do everything else I need to do. But you definitely tempted me.

Through some luck we were able to piece together a nice party. A dwarven war domain cleric, a half-elf druid, human wizard, and myself as a halfling rogue.

War domain cleric is one of my favs. Solid party. I'm assuming since you only gave the cleric domain your party is 2nd level equivalent? No other subclasses yet?

The temptation to turn into some no lifer is real but fortunately the mortgage will keep you honest.

We were indeed level 2 at that point and progressed a little this evening. I settled on arcane trickster as I've never actually run it before. The druid opted for shape of moon for some shapeshifting shenanigans and our wizard went necro because we thought the meat shields might come in handy in avoiding perma death.

[honorentheos]

Hi Xeno,

I haven't played any of these but they sound fun. Trouble is I don't think I would be able to ration playing enough to do everything else I need to do. But you definitely tempted me.


War domain cleric is one of my favs. Solid party. I'm assuming since you only gave the cleric domain your party is 2nd level equivalent? No other subclasses yet?

The temptation to turn into some no lifer is real but fortunately the mortgage will keep you honest.

We were indeed level 2 at that point and progressed a little this evening. I settled on arcane trickster as I've never actually run it before. The druid opted for shape of moon for some shapeshifting shenanigans and our wizard went necro because we thought the meat shields might come in handy in avoiding perma death.

Hi Xeno -

I'm curious how the party is doing? The make-up of the group intrigues me for a few reasons so I'm wondering if you've continued to find success?

Reasons for curiousity include:

Combat Tank: When you first described your party I assumed the War Domain cleric was likely having to play a more frontline role. But the Circle of the Moon Druid choice suggested to me that this might now be a shared responsibility between them as Circle of the Moon has decent HP stacking abilities. This feels like it probably helped balance out the combat tactics but I'm wondering if that's how it's actually playing out?

Wizard as Backline Killer: I wasn't sure how the necromancy school wizard would pay off for the group in the way you described (providing meat shields) as the animate dead spell isn't initially available until a latter level. But if they use their necro cantrips and spells effectively with grim harvest, I imagined they could end up being a pretty robust damage dealer from the back without the cleric needing to use a turn to heal them as often. How's the player enjoying this choice and how is it working within the party make-up?

Arcane Trickster, Buyer's Remorse or Everything You Hoped For?: Your choice to go Arcane Trickster surprised me given the party has a wizard. I'm hoping your PC has a high enough intelligence score that you are getting your spells off as planned? I'm most curious if you've found it helpful outside of combat which is where I think arcane trickster shines in the tabletop game. But I haven't played any BG games so I have no idea how robust the non-combat aspects of it are and if you enjoy playing it?