Roleplaying Games

(Knight Of Shadows/90063) Depends on how you do it. We have one player who joins us virtua...

Knight Of Shadows@rss.iscabbs.com — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 03:39:00 -0600

Depends on how you do it. We have one player who joins us virtually and it
works fairly well.

(Lammam P Yrruf/90062) Indeed. Really, that's what RPG rules are anyway. Systems for ...

Lammam P Yrruf@rss.iscabbs.com — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 14:29:00 -0600

Indeed.  Really, that's what RPG rules are anyway.  Systems for figuring out
how to resolve conflict.  The rules are for what happens /between/ the
roleplaying, and for creating cues to roleplay.

(Q Who/90061) I'm finally getting my head around the idea that 4E is not a rol...

Q Who@rss.iscabbs.com — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 14:41:00 -0600

I'm finally getting my head around the idea that 4E is not a role-playing
system. It is a combat system. Roleplaying has always been and will always be
difficult, if not impossible, to codify. That's why I prefer the tabletop.

I need my fellow participants at the table with me. Sure, Alice gets up to make
a sandwich and Bob goes to the bathroom just before his turn comes up and
Chrissy is gossiping across the map with Dirk (not his real name) while I'm
trying to set the scene for them. It's irritating but at least I have
satisfaction of knowing they care enough about the effort I have made to create
the story for them.

You can never ever have that sense of togetherness playing an online game. It's
not real enough.

(Faunus/90060) Wait, Robilar owned the Green Dragon Inn? As in, the one Emirik...

Faunus@rss.iscabbs.com — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 03:53:00 -0600


Wait, Robilar owned the Green Dragon Inn?  As in, the one Emirikol the Chaotic
rode by, while murdering people in the face?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robilar

FakeTSR on twitter has been doing EmirikolFacts lately.

  https://twitter.com/#!/search/%23emirikolfacts

Emirikol the Chaotic and Gandalf had a bet. The loser had to wear a pointy hat.
#emirikolfacts

"NOOOOO!!! THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE!!!" --Vecna, on learning Emirikol the Chaotic is
his dad. #emirikolfacts

In really dangerous situations, Bigby casts Emirikol's Crushing Fist.
#emirikolfacts

Emirikol the Chaotic's horse only eats peryton hearts. Local, organic peryton
hearts. #emirikolfacts

Emirikol the Chaotic made turducken out of an axebeak inside a wyvern inside a
roc. With #flumphsauce. #emirikolfacts

A monk asked Emirikol which is best: CG, CE, CN, or just Chaotic. Emirikol
magic missiled him in the face. #emirikolfacts

Upon taking 1d4+1 damage from 5 missiles, the monk was enlightened.
#emirikolfacts

Emirikol the Chaotic was chaotic before Zagyg made it cool. #emirikolfacts

(King In Yellow/90059) I wonder if he and Zuggtmoy ever tied the knot.

King In Yellow@rss.iscabbs.com — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 18:19:00 -0600

I wonder if he and Zuggtmoy ever tied the knot.

(Faunus/90058) I think you just out-grognarded me with Robilar. But yeah, all ...

Faunus@rss.iscabbs.com — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 16:03:00 -0600


I think you just out-grognarded me with Robilar.  But yeah, all this newfangled
"Dragonlance" crap the kids are into these days.  Grumble grumble....

(Old Badger/90057) Hmph. Elminster is a Johnny-come-lately, in comparison to Robil...

Old Badger@rss.iscabbs.com — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 12:01:00 -0600


Hmph.  Elminster is a Johnny-come-lately, in comparison to Robilar or
Mordenkainen or a bunch of others.

(Faunus/90056) So is that "canon"?

Faunus@rss.iscabbs.com — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 10:14:00 -0600


So is that "canon"?

(Gespalder/90055) It was Dragon Magazine, issue #219

Gespalder@rss.iscabbs.com — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 09:53:00 -0600

It was Dragon Magazine, issue #219
Story: The Wizards Three: Warmer Than Expected
p. 90-98

(Faunus/90054) BTW, you overlooked the obvious:

Faunus@rss.iscabbs.com — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 09:47:00 -0600


BTW, you overlooked the obvious:

By having Elminster use his eyes to Farscry, the authors of wahtever the fuck
you're talking about were telegraphing that his eyes were inorganic, i.e.
ELMINSTER IS A ROBOT.

(Lammam P Yrruf/90053) Shit, I have basement walls lined with RPG books and old RPG sal...

Lammam P Yrruf@rss.iscabbs.com — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 19:43:00 -0600

Shit, I have basement walls lined with RPG books and old RPG sales posters.

AND I THOUGHT THAT CONVERSATION WAS TOO NERDY FOR ME!

(Faunus/90052) HOLY SHIT YOU GUYS ARE FUCKING NERDS.

Faunus@rss.iscabbs.com — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 12:43:00 -0600


HOLY SHIT YOU GUYS ARE FUCKING NERDS.

Even for people in this room, I mean.

(Gespalder/90051) O I know that! I was just commenting on the differences. :)

Gespalder@rss.iscabbs.com — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 09:33:00 -0600

O I know that! I was just commenting on the differences. :)

The Simbul, Khelban "Blackstaff" Arunson and a few others are also far from
normal.

(M Bison/90050) Its called "Creative License". Also, Elminster is not a normal ...

M Bison@rss.iscabbs.com — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 03:28:00 -0600

Its called "Creative License".  Also, Elminster is not a normal wizard by any
means.  He was personally touched by the god Mystra and has power far-exceeding
that of any normal wizard.

(King In Yellow/90049) Everyone knows Elminster is cheater.

King In Yellow@rss.iscabbs.com — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 01:57:00 -0600

Everyone knows Elminster is cheater.

(Gespalder/90048) Interesting.... in an older issue of DRAGON I see the spell Fars...

Gespalder@rss.iscabbs.com — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 23:18:00 -0600

Interesting.... in an older issue of DRAGON I see the spell Farscry. It says
you have to use inorganic items to look through BUT in the Wizards Three story
it has Elminster using his ring, belt buckle and Eyes as what the author can
see through.
Eyes are organic matter so should not be able to be used according tot he
spell.

(Lammam P Yrruf/90047) OH that's a fun game. Every bit as fun to play as it is to read...

Lammam P Yrruf@rss.iscabbs.com — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 12:26:00 -0600

OH that's a fun game.  Every bit as fun to play as it is to read.

But yes, $50 is a ripoff.

(LizPhairFan/90046) okay...I was in Half-Price Books a few weeks ago. Went to their ...

LizPhairFan@rss.iscabbs.com — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 10:33:00 -0600

okay...I was in Half-Price Books a few weeks ago. Went to their RPG section
looking for any good deals. Came across an RPG I have never heard of before.
All Flesh Must Be Eaten
They had the core book..I was looking through it and it looked awesome. But,
they wanted $50 for it. No thanks.
Talked to one of my RPG buddies and he had a few of the books.
I borrowed the core book and a few others and holy shit. This looks like an
awesome RPG series. Totally twisted...but that isn't a bad thing.
Anybody else play this? Is it as good as it looks?

(Gespalder/90045) Looking through some of my DRAGON Magazine issues I found the fo...

Gespalder@rss.iscabbs.com — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 18:53:00 -0600

Looking through some of my DRAGON Magazine issues I found the following new NWP

Article & Page #                  Issue                     NWP
----------------                  -----                     ---
The Handy Art of Forgery (P. 28)  April 1985                Forgery (Assassins)

Hedge Wizards (P. 18)             November 1990             Alchemy, Chemistry
                                                            Field of Study

Mage on Deck! The Shipmage        #235, Nov. 1996           Ship Repair
Kit for AD&D Campaigns (P. 30)

Great Excavations (P. 20)         #241, Nov. 1997           Excavation, Relic
                                                            Dating, Sacred
                                                            Legends, Screed
                                                            Lore

Working Class Wizards (P. 48)     #253, Nov. 1998           Cartography

(Forrester/90044) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOVhHxTkitU I believe contains Lo...

Forrester@rss.iscabbs.com — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 09:45:00 -0600

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOVhHxTkitU I believe contains Louie CK/Faunu's
take on "hilarious"

(King In Yellow/90043) I find that hilarious. :)

King In Yellow@rss.iscabbs.com — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 07:52:00 -0600

I find that hilarious. :)

(Faunus/90042) Sorry, for some reason it drives me crazy when people say "I lov...

Faunus@rss.iscabbs.com — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 07:50:00 -0600


Sorry, for some reason it drives me crazy when people say "I love when
people...." or "It's hilarious when people...." when they mean "I don't like
when people....."

Just bugs me.

Especially the "hilarious" one when there is seriously no humor within
a million miles.

Like I said, pet peeve.

(King In Yellow/90041) Nerdery is always amusing, ifit wasn't, well then Knights of the...

King In Yellow@rss.iscabbs.com — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 07:46:00 -0600

Nerdery is always amusing, ifit wasn't, well then Knights of the Dinner table
would never have come to being.

(Faunus/90040) "I find it hilarious that people think ANY edition of D&D had mu...

Faunus@rss.iscabbs.com — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 06:42:00 -0600

"I find it hilarious that people think ANY edition of D&D had much in the way
of
social interaction rolls"

YOu have a very low threshold for "hilarious," my friend.

(Gislef/90039) Except 4e had Skill Challenges, which would seem to give more we...

Gislef@rss.iscabbs.com — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 06:06:00 -0600

Except 4e had Skill Challenges, which would seem to give more weight to the
non-combat rules, with something other than the aforementioned, "Make aroll,
roll high, see if you succeed."

(King In Yellow/90038) I find it hilarious that people think ANY edition of D&D had muc...

King In Yellow@rss.iscabbs.com — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 05:53:00 -0600

I find it hilarious that people think ANY edition of D&D had much in the way of
social interaction rolls, lessee, 3.5 which i think had the most in the way of
rules had basically these  4 skills Bluff, Diplomacy, Gather Info, and
Intimidate....and the rules for all them were basicallyy the same Roll high
enough to impress the GM and he'll give you an info dump.  And just for jokes,
here's a scam to run by your GM's, A 10 Foot ladder costs 2 CP, a 10 foot pole
costs 2 SP, take all the rungs off the ladder and you have 2 10 foot poles,
sell poles and get 400% ROI.

(Faunus/90037) Probably something like Palladium's "Heroes Unlimited"

Faunus@rss.iscabbs.com — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 05:06:00 -0600


Probably something like Palladium's "Heroes Unlimited"

aka "Heroes Limited To Whatever Kevin Siembeda Put Into The Random Tables."

(Lxndr/90036) hm

Lxndr@rss.iscabbs.com — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 05:02:00 -0600

hm
I wonder how rolemaster would handle super powers.

hopefully it wouldn't handle it with lists, like spell law

(Knight Of Shadows/90035) I wasn't trying to say that you have to have rules for these, ju...

Knight Of Shadows@rss.iscabbs.com — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 04:56:00 -0600

I wasn't trying to say that you have to have rules for these, just that 4E
minimalized the non-combat rules. I don't have a problem with that, but it
makes a lot of people feel that they cannot role-play in such a situation.
Actually, rituals was the absolute best idea that 4E had. I'm hoping that they
do incorporate that into new editions.

And I'll agree that I love Mutants and Masterminds, but it is a headache to
run if you have players who truly delve into how complicated character creation
can be. Which is weird, as I love Rolemaster. But I think a lot of that has to
do with Rolemaster being straightforward, even if it's complicated.

Lately, though, I've really wanted to run a simplified game with no stats and
very basic resolution rules. I'll probably be developing the backstory for this
throughout 2012.

(Gislef/90034) Anyhoo, I got cut off and callled away. but my impression with 4...

Gislef@rss.iscabbs.com — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 04:20:00 -0600

Anyhoo, I got cut off and callled away. but my impression with 4th ed was that
a) they wanted to appeal to the MMORPG/combat types, and b) they wanted to
streamline some of the rest.

Relevant to this, the designer has two choices: make the game a "toolbox" and
put in everything, even if only a relatively small % of players may use certain
tools (Craft, Profession, Performance) and such use may drag the game a bit.

Or cut the deadwood, knowing the few % that want it will figure out a way to do
it.

*shrug* My preference is toward the latter these days. And there's at least
some games out there that, like I said, minimize or eliminate skills
altogether. And it makes running con and demo events easier. I love the DC
Adventures game from Green ROnin, but I just look at the character sheets with
all the skills and advantages (Batman, I'm talking to you, but everyone's got a
few non-intuitive advantages) and I just cringe. The power system I like, the
subplotting sytem is ingenious and yet so obvious (subplots don't give you
points at character creation, but give you points within the game when they're
active, which you then use to do cool thigns with your powers on a one-shot
basis). But I look at the skill and advantage system and I say, "I'm never
going to run this. Nobody wants to do that much page-flipping."

(Faunus/90033) Know what's good therapy for vampire angst?

Faunus@rss.iscabbs.com — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 04:19:00 -0600


Know what's good therapy for vampire angst?

Basket weaving.

Just sayin'.

(Gislef/90032) To take an obvious example, Luke Skywalker. Yes, if you properly...

Gislef@rss.iscabbs.com — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 03:36:00 -0600

To take an obvious example, Luke Skywalker. Yes, if you properly generating his
background, he'd probably have Profession/Water-Gather Repair and Craft/Build
Farmhouse or whatever. There are probably some char-gen systems that would give
him that.

But ya now, they just ain't skills he ever _uses_ in the Star Wars movies. And
a GM kinda has an obligation to keep the story going. Nothing brings a story to
a screeching halt than the GM realizing, "Hey, it's been an adventure or two,
it's time for to give Jim-Bob a chance to use his Craft/Underwater
Basket-weaving skill!"

So while I'm sure that many GMs don't give a player a chance to use a certain
skill, or maybe even discourage it, my guess would be there's a reason for it.
Sometimes a reason shared by the players. "Time to sneak into the compound.
Everybody took a couple of levels of Move Silently, right? Oh, wait Realism-Rob
took those couple of levels and put them into Profession/Bricklayer instead.
Guess he'll have to stay behind and... umm, dramatically make a brick outhouise
to distract the bad guys."

PLus, folks' mileage may vary, but I at leaste tend to run cinematic games.
Whether it's spies, or superheroes, or angsty vampires, or pirates on the high
seas, or monster hunters, or high-fantasy warriors and mages... you don't
really see much in the way of books, TV, and cinema where they stop to weave a
basket. Or demonstate their Accountancy profession background. Heck, even stuff
that is useful (Swordsmithing, Armormaking), it's not dwelt on.

(Gislef/90031) A skill like Profession (Basket-Weaving) pretty rarely _is_ goin...

Gislef@rss.iscabbs.com — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 17:55:00 -0600

A skill like Profession (Basket-Weaving) pretty rarely _is_ going to be
story-important, in even the hands of the most gifted GM.

I think some game designers put such skills into a game in the interest of
"realism", and some players take them in the interests of realism. Which is all
well and good, but realistic doesn't necessary make good high adventure.

I think these days I prefer the model of Smallville and Leverage, which pretty
much eliminate skills and/or subsum ehtem into a larger model.

(Old Badger/90030) Eh. Played 4th Edition. I found it to be very mechanics-driven...

Old Badger@rss.iscabbs.com — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 16:51:00 -0600


Eh.  Played 4th Edition.  I found it to be very mechanics-driven, not very
intuitive, and more work than I wanted to put into it.  To be fair, I've always
been an Old School Gamer, and something of a minimalist when it comes to
design.

5th Edition via Monte Cook.  Monte's a good guy, knows a lot, and can design
well.  I've always liked his Arcana Unearthed material.  However, can he square
the circle of successive editions and catering to different interests?  I
rather doubt it, and the conversation so far in this forum tends to confirm
that for me - too many different interests, and that simply isn't going to
change.

Play the game you like and stop assuming that the games industry will "save"
you from whatever problem you think you have.

(Gespalder/90029) DRAGON Magazine had rules for crafting magical items (might be j...

Gespalder@rss.iscabbs.com — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 13:01:00 -0600

DRAGON Magazine had rules for crafting magical items (might be just specific
items) and for social interaction.
I remember one for how to act when in the Royal Court

(M Bison/90028) "I guess I find it somewhat creepy to have someone who is a cret...

M Bison@rss.iscabbs.com — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 11:40:00 -0600

"I guess I find it somewhat creepy to have someone who is a cretin play a
charming individual or someone lacking wits play a genius. It takes something
away from the experience for me. But I'm probably too harsh."

You are aware that it's "role-playing" right.  If people wanted to play as
themselves they would just go and play the game of life.

(Lxndr/90027) I've learned that if I take a 'dud' skill, my GM will almost nev...

Lxndr@rss.iscabbs.com — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 10:48:00 -0600


I've learned that if I take a 'dud' skill, my GM will almost never allow it to
be story-important. And so, rather than 'waste' my skill points, I need to meet
the GM's minimum standards, so I won't 'gimp' myself.

As a result, a lot of people have more or less been abused into NOT taking the
'dud' skills.

(Gislef/90026) Also, isn't there a Create Magic Item ritual? And skill challeng...

Gislef@rss.iscabbs.com — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 10:29:00 -0600

Also, isn't there a Create Magic Item ritual? And skill challenges woudl seem
to be non-combat.

While I have no doubt that D&D emphasizes combat ovr non-combat, because a) it
always has, and b) a great many RPGs do the same thing, that's a little
different then saying it's all combat and no skill.

As for crafting per se... I guess that depends on the setting and what the PCs
_do_. Most RPGs either have profession/crafting stuff but it's ill-defined and
players ignore it (you'll almost never hear people in those campaigns saying,
"Wow, I'm going to taek Basket Weaving +8!")...

,.. or it's there but you just don't need it and there are much better skills
to take ("We're wandering a post-apocalyptic wasteland: should I take
Bricklaying +6 or Stealth, Scavenge and Dodge at +2 each? Decisions,
decisions...")...

.... or the designers toss in some uber mechanic or loophole. ("Hey, I can make
wine for $2 a bottle and sell it for $10 according to the gear chart: I'm
taking Wine-Making +10!").

So yeah, it's nice if a player says, "I want a well-rounded character so I'm
going to take Basket-Weaving +4 because gosh done, that's what he did before
he went dungeon wandering." But I've role-played with a lot of folks I'd
consider good role-players, who want well-rounded characters with fleshed-out
backgrounds... and the number who take a "dud" skill are immeasurably small.

Basically, folks I've gamed with are of the high-fantasy/high-adventure type.
They don't want to get into the grind of building houses or building stable, or
heck, swordsmithing. You're getting into economics at that point, not high
adventure. Yeah, if they can build a magic item and adventure with it, they'l
go with it.

So overall, I'm not big on crafting as a skill. Performance... eh. I've never
seen a mechanic that really support it, unless it has some specific in-game
benefit (Tale tellin' in the Pinnacle games, the equivalent in Torg). They're
social skills that affect bigger groups, which always seems to raise the
unanswered question, "If I can Perform and persuade 50 audience members to do
something, why take Persuasion and limit myself to one?" Then you have to watch
the designers fumble at why they _can't_ do that. So while I can understand
that a Performance skill should be there, it always seems to be more headaches
than its worth.

(Gislef/90025) Well, I did say it was a flawed attempt to bring in MMORPGers, f...

Gislef@rss.iscabbs.com — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 09:54:00 -0600

Well, I did say it was a flawed attempt to bring in MMORPGers, for more reasont
than that. But it did have a basic skill system, didn't it?

(Knight Of Shadows/90024) No rules for crafting or performance in 4E. If they were really ...

Knight Of Shadows@rss.iscabbs.com — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 09:32:00 -0600

No rules for crafting or performance in 4E. If they were really trying to
MMORPG status, they really should have included them. We created our own.

(Faunus/90023) There is not any one particular thing that the word "role-playin...

Faunus@rss.iscabbs.com — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 09:28:00 -0600


There is not any one particular thing that the word "role-playing"
means to tabletop gamers in general.

So talking about "rules for role-playing" and whether they could or
should exist means almost nothing at all, in the absence of further
definition.

(Gislef/90022) I thought 4th ed did have rules for crafting, and skills in gene...

Gislef@rss.iscabbs.com — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 09:21:00 -0600

I thought 4th ed did have rules for crafting, and skills in general. They
weren't very extensive, but then again, that's true of a lot of RPGs.

(Knight Of Shadows/90021) I wasn't meaning social interaction rules. Quite frankly, they'v...

Knight Of Shadows@rss.iscabbs.com — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 08:30:00 -0600

I wasn't meaning social interaction rules. Quite frankly, they've just about
always turned me off. I meant rules for craft or performance or the like. My
thought about a game that doesn't have them is that it just gives the players
more leeway in deciding how to handle it.

I guess I find it somewhat creepy to have someone who is a cretin play a
charming individual or someone lacking wits play a genius. It takes something
away from the experience for me. But I'm probably too harsh.

(Gislef/90020) For the most part, social interaction rules in RPGs are there so...

Gislef@rss.iscabbs.com — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 08:22:00 -0600

For the most part, social interaction rules in RPGs are there so you dont' ahve
have to role-play. They serve the same function as combat rules: to provide a)
a way for a player to do something that they can't do normally, and b) a way
for the GM to adjudicate such interactions in as fair and balanced a manner as
possible without bias.

"I roll a 15 and get her into the sack" is no more role-playing than "I roll a
15 and skewer his gizzard." The role-playing comes in from the motivation and
rationale of the character that the player applies to determine why they want
their character to get the courtesan into the sack, or skewer the black knight.
No rule is necessary for that.

(Gislef/90019) Eh, I don't consider that any more "roleplaying" than combat.

Gislef@rss.iscabbs.com — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 08:21:00 -0600

Eh, I don't consider that any more "roleplaying" than combat.

It's simply... non-combat.

Besides, most MMORPGers would tell you, "Hey, it's not all about the combat. I
do a lot of crafting, too!"

(Peccavimus/89981) Heh. I was wondering about that.

Peccavimus@rss.iscabbs.com — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 20:05:00 -0500

Heh.  I was wondering about that.

still, quite relevant.  Jesus, Tunnels and Trolls.  That's kind of like meeting
Socrates.

(Faunus/89974) I may be the only person in the world to which this would be imp...

Faunus@rss.iscabbs.com — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 10:03:00 -0500


I may be the only person in the world to which this would be impressive, but
I've met and played roleplaying games with the guy who designed one of the
earliest RPGs after D&D, Ken St. Andre, designer of Tunnels & Trolls.

(Nightspawn/89970) They probably disappeared for three months while hammering out d...

Nightspawn@rss.iscabbs.com — Sat, 13 Aug 2011 07:10:00 -0500

They probably disappeared for three months while hammering out details of
getting the rights to make Marvel RPGs...

(Neuro/89962) Having been to Origins and Gen Con both, I would say that they a...

Neuro@rss.iscabbs.com — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 18:55:00 -0500

Having been to Origins and Gen Con both, I would say that they are both about
the same except Gen Con is spread out through the downtown so you have to walk
in the weather to go to a lot of events.  Gen Con's dealer hall is bigger but a
lot of that is illusion since many of the big dealers just have two booths
setup which sell identical things (the first time I walked through Gen Con's
dealer hall I thought that I had gotten turned around because one end was
almost a mirror of the other).

A lot of gaming companies release games at each of the conventions.  Each have
seminars and special events (such as the Knights of the Dinner Table live
readings...one f my personal favorites each year).  As for games, I know that
origins has just about someting for everybody: computer games, collectible
card games, miniatures games, non-collectible card games (my brother loves to
go and play poker), roleplaying games, LARPS, board games, dice games, what I
call "widget" games (non-traditional piece/puzzle games), logic games, real lie
sword-play games...tons and tons of games, games, games.  One thing I also love
about Origins are the tons of free demo games.  Tehy last from 15 minutes to
some more than an hour.  I love their demo games because (A) They're free, (B)
I usually get some SWAG after the demo, and (C) I get to play a lot of neat
games I probably have never seen before.

Also, in Columbus, there is a lot of easy parking all around the convention
center which is usually about $7 a day.  There are several inexpensive
hotels/motels within 15 minutes of the convention center (the ones downtown are
still expensive).  So, you can actually go there and stay on the cheap...more
money for the dealer hall.

I love to go to Gen Con and Origins both.  If you like one then you will most
definately like the other.

(Nightspawn/89957) On Mythbusters last night they were testing ancient chinese armo...

Nightspawn@rss.iscabbs.com — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 18:33:00 -0500

On Mythbusters last night they were testing ancient chinese armor and they used
a mace they called what sounded like a chew-it?  What was that, I'm sure I
either didn't hear right or else it is spelled really different because google
failed me.

(Lammam P Yrruf/89956) Holy wow deal.

Lammam P Yrruf@rss.iscabbs.com — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 17:53:00 -0500

Holy wow deal.

(Neuro/89947) I went to Origins this year. It ran Wed Jun 22 through Sun Jun ...

Neuro@rss.iscabbs.com — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 07:10:00 -0500

     I went to Origins this year.  It ran Wed Jun 22 through Sun Jun 27.  On
Wed and Thur, the place felt like a ghost town this year.  There were a lot of
people there but with the size of the convention center (and in comparison to
previous years) it felt very empty.  On Friday, Saturday, and sunday it really
picked up though.

     I got to play in some Warhammer Fantasy battles while there.  North Coast
Gamers (as always) put on a superb series of events with cool terrain,
scenarios, and storylines.

     I got to play some Shadow Run.  They have moved Shadow Run Missions (aka
the old Living Seattle style events) back to Seattle this year.  It was nice to
be familiar with all of the Seattle layout.  It sort of felt like coming back
home after Denver and New York.

     Paizo had a room at Origins this year.  Big surprise, their room was
packed.  Luckily, they planned ahead and had extra tables where people with
generics could show up and game.  I played in a 12 hour long Pathfinder Society
event with 14th level characters.  At first, I wasn't sure that I wanted to
dedicate 12 hours to one event.  However, it was the BEST event of the year for
me.  Pathfinder pulled off another great show again this year.

     Alas, Origins has moved their show forward next year and it now runs
during the week of finals at THE Ohio State Univeristy and many other schools
around Ohio.  So, it looks like no Origins for my wife and I next year. 
Bummer!  We will have to settle for only GenCon next year.  (I don;t like the
layout of GenCon.  I like how everything at Origins is contained in the
Columbus Convnetion Center - which is much bigger that the one in Indy.  Oh
well, the game must go one...or something like that.

(Diarmid/89944) Did anyone make it out of briefing without having to use a clone...

Diarmid@rss.iscabbs.com — Sat, 21 May 2011 21:00:00 -0500

Did anyone make it out of briefing without having to use a clone?

(King In Yellow/89936) I've found in paranoia that the most fun comes when you put have...

King In Yellow@rss.iscabbs.com — Wed, 18 May 2011 12:40:00 -0500

I've found in paranoia that the most fun comes when you put have the secret
society, mutation, and job diametrically opposed, for example, having character
in the Eco-Terrorist secret society (i can't remember the name, it's been a
while since i've played) have machine empathy mutation and so forth.