Well, with the upcoming release of 5th edition(as the basic rules are now online, and the playtests have been out for some time now). I thought that it might be possible to strike up a good bit of conversation regarding in game: lore, rumors, strategy; corporate decisions: spin off products, novels, boardgames, movies, animated series, comic books, etc.
I was introduced at the end of 3.5 start of 4e. I decided to go 4e and it took me a year or two of having the PH1 to wrap my head around some of the stuff....more like a year long break but I got it. Due to my location, its hard to get a group going, as a result I was on the DM side and things could've gone better. That being said, I like 3.5 better though with a few house-rules(diagonal movement). The main reason was because of the skills and training & also story. 4e had more levels, but the skills were stagnant save for every even-level or if you took a feat. The feeling reminded me more of a video game than what the manuals tried to sell.
For novels, Drizzt, and Brimstone Angels are my favorites from the forgotten Realms. My favorite world(so far) is Eberron because of how magic has in a way taken the place of technology. I've also just finished the abyssal plague trilogy and it helped answer a few 4e lore questions I had. I still have a few left though.
Favorite Class: Wizard, or Bard, depending on edition(also lack of play experience)
Favorite Race: Dragonborn(4e race, might be in 5e, half-dragon is what it came from for prev. editions)
I'm reading the basic rules at the moment and so far I love what they've done with the economy....so far. I also like a lot of what they did with the fighter class. However, I'm a little ticked with several things so far.
1.what's the difference going to be, between rangers & fighters, assuming rangers will still be in the game.? 2.why bring back the electrum piece? that's been out of the game for a few editions, and seems like a waste of metal and a bit confusing for value in my opinion at 5gp each, while the platinum piece is 10gp in value. 1/10th of forth edition, but equal to 3.5 I think. 3.level and ability caps, no player character can have a stat higher than 20, and 20 is the highest level they can reach. 4. magic users take a hit. Huge power reduction, honestly hard for me to remember if there was a limit of 1 9th level spell known in the earlier editions *before int mod, but even then it seems doubtful*. 5. learning new proficiencies and languages, 250 days at 1gp a day, + living expenses.... Between how pressed for time adventures tend to be and how trouble finds the characters, kinda concerned about this. Plus, given how short of a lifespan the most populace playable race has(humans), its a feels like a bit of a kick to those that like to have their character learn new things. Ex. learning abyssal so you know what the demonic guards are saying and what topics might get them to turn on each other or help you in order to ruin the reputation of who they're working for.
At present, I'm on pt3 of the rule. I hope that they patch this stuff up, or release content later on that restores that feeling of epic destinies' legendary status or proving how unlimited human potential is. Bane and Vecna were two 4e example, evil, but still were human for example. *depending on source for Bane*
So, what are your thoughts, favorites, etc. for this franchise/series? Edit: Also, I've gotta say 5e has reminded me of how much of a head-scratcher the economics of d&d are/can be. Material component cost examples: 5000gp diamond, 100gp worth diamond dust, reliquary worth at least 1,000gp containing a sacred relic, such as a cloth from a saint's robe or a piece of parchment from a religious text...... That last one really got me going, is it the container gem-encrusted and worth 1k? Can the parchment be blank margins or text needed, if needed what's so holy about the letter 'e' or the word 'so'? What's preventing a bunch of rogues from pretended to sell the real deal? Likewise, how often is or can the material collected as collecting it slowly destroys the source from which it came & is consumed by the spell itself. There was a joke in the d&d webcomic order of the stick that went along the lines of: 'Master I just purchased 5,000gp worth of diamond dust for 3,500gp!' 'Fool, I told you that the spell requires 5,000gp worth, go back out and get another 1,500gp worth!' 'Yes master.' For those that don't get the joke, because the price changed, so did the value, and thus a greater quantity was needed. On the bright side at least the prices are a bit more reasonable than in 4e. ex, having a weapon silvered in 4e = 500gp, 5e = 100gp. In both editions labor/skill is cited as the majority of that expense.....I'm pretty sure there's an economy joke relating to real life there but I don't want to try to make it right now.
Page 3 has links to source material including god machine update I think, I'm not sure but recently my character sheet was posted. I'm using microsoft office word instead. Not sure if that might help.
I think its mostly rules clarification, godmachine updates for point-buy costs though. We'll also be posting rolls in this thread as well. I'm not sure if I forgot anything, and hope I'm able to help some. We kinda need more players to survive I think lol.
Hmm.... They all sound interesting, but I haven't been to most of them. One thing that might be a problem regardless of which one is traffic lol. I think Chicago has some of the worst traffic congestion in the Nation, and I'm pretty sure most or nearly all, if not all, have the same problem. Will traffic be something we can kinda be fictional about for how light/fast it is (more than 25mph during rush on the interstate lol)?
Re: BeggerStager [1796898] lol, agreed I thing volta should be GM. It'd take me way to long to learn/memorize the combat rules if we rotated. Maybe we could instead pitch adventure/story continuation ideas to Volta for 'what happens next time on world of darkness'? Assuming we survive long enough there could be adventures relating to our character's backstories, a 'submit the story' instead of vote for what happens next. (I suggest the coffins are being used to smuggle mundane item, you might suggest illegal body brokering, another person might suggest mummies or vampires, etc. Plus there's always random 'filler' episode ideas we could pitch, such as regular criminals with no supernatural ties, a ghost that's not at all related to our main adversary(ies) (but helps us gain exp so we can better deal with said threats), idk just brainstorming, but throwing ideas and seeing if any are good is about as close to GMing as I'm comfortable getting, no offense. lol.
Re: Volta [1869641]
Thanks for clearing that up. So, just to make sure I understand.
#1: The world is coming to an end and our characters don't know it?
#2 (and the later ones): I've got more to read lol. The question stemmed a bit from a the question that 'although the perception that a group is irredeemably evil, is that true for every member of the group?' 4e D&D played around with this with the vampire class. However editions 2, 3(3.5), & 4e at least, 5e if the sundering series counts as novels have allowed archliches or non-evil liches. 3(3.5) and 4e each had books addressing undead psychology as well. So, I wasn't sure if, for your game, it'd be black & white in terms of contrast (that being it's hard to find a human that's as 'evil' as something that's not human) or if it's a bit more of a larger gray area where at least some if not a sizable number of these 'inhuman monsters' possess a greater deal of humanity than they've been given credit for. Such as say a philanthropist vampire (or some other creature) that attends AA and or similar meetings and is more interested in living a good existence by doing good than whatever they want/felt like/stereotypical behavior? When it comes to the possibility of player transformation would it trans late into 'oh god kill me now while I'm still weak before its too late' or 'I'm not like the rest of them, I don't have to be, won't be, I don't want to die/be destroyed because I'm no longer a normal human' kinds of questions.
4: Ok so every atm + traffic cams + CCTV camera's going to be tapped by the cops if something happens near one, all firearm restrictions which vary from state to state and nation to nation apply, CSI forensics and explosive investigative procedures apply, as to all the anti cyber-crime measures going on these days. Oh and all the laws regarding the transportation & handling of toxic, poisonous, etc. substances. Seems like our characters are going to have a hard time surviving. But I'm guessing you've got some things up your sleeve lol.
Edit, this might seem like a dumb question, but in the rulebook, what page are the experience point costs for your character post creation? I'm not sure if pg35/36's little table is for advanced character creation method only or if that's what we use if we survive for spending exp lol.
Edit #2. if it is, by 'new dot' x 5 does that me the future dot's position (ex. #2) x 5 = 10xp or is it '# of dot(s)' x 5 = 5xp to advance from 1 to 2. I think its the former, but want to make sure, and this is assuming it is the correct table.
Edit #3. Just realized the last steps. Is there an expanded shopping catalog somewhere or just pick what we can find & use in the rules book. I think (don't remember too clearly) I saw some items that gave benefits, but didn't see a resource cost by them. Little bit confused on this portion of character creation.
1st I checked twitter, odd of 1 random npc is pretty slim for them knowing anything that happened in an entirely different area of the park than where we exited from. All you said was found on twitter was people complaining about it being close. No explanations postulated by park goes or public officials commenting on the matter.
2nd. I know its not d&d and I thank you for the materials, like I said I can compartmentalize things. The problem is that it has been one thing after another & I didn't mention stuff earlier specifically at each instance because "Well ok interesting we'll give the girl a whirl", but with having no more hooks to pursue after getting locked out of the park and having done nothing but try to follow every possible lead you set forth even if those were near hazardous dead-ends...to be left like that after keeping my mouth fairly shut on criticisms and such...
3rd, I'm sorry your job's stressful, I tried to account for this possibility in stilling my tongue, but I guess I underestimated how long it'd need to be stilled.
As to the meta story, kinda guessed it was a ghost. Honestly thought it was the wife of Moth, and Pete was possessed by old man Moth looking for his deceased wife who he couldn't find in the fire and that reuniting their souls would allow them both to find some rest and with the balance in the spirit realm restored the dead tree would start coming back to life, or something along those lines.
The problem is, and I think this also had something to do with it, is the crap I took from AmadeusRex about metagaming and how my character was built/created.
Sorry for tanking the game, sorry for sucking the fun out of it, that was NEVER my intention. That stuff just happens around me for some reason and I was worried about it going in. At least I've got a diagnosis for it now instead of those earlier attempts at rping years ago.
If you want to continue on with this, feel free to turn my character into an NPC and have him killed off if that's what it takes to restore the fun to this game for everyone else. If I'm out, then I'm out, about the only thing I won't do on the forums (that's allowed) to try making up for it is type out my character's suicide or whatever myself.
Thomas tuned and faced Will. "Ok, that was a bust. Good news is that I'm not dead yet, but I view that as more of a net neutral than a net positive. So, for future reference I am not leaving my pistol or anything else behind. You want an explanation for why I got involved or tried to get involved? Fine, I guess I owe you at least that much. When I was a kid I was kidnapped, beaten, and came within an inch of my life. At one point, I remember losing consciousness and the next thing I remember is waking up in the ICU. I'd rather be have it and not need it than need it and not have it, especially if not having it gets me killed so to speak. During the first 72hrs, I felt sure my mom and dad or the cops would come find and rescue me....they didn't, days turned into a week and I lost track of time....and honestly I think I was losing hope too. So my working assumption is that unless I see flashing lights and hear sirens while someone's in trouble. I'm going to assume that no one is coming to their aid, no one is going to help them if I don't. So....is there someplace you'd like to eat, or have any ideas for what to do now? Maybe some food will put me in a better mood, but if this day keeps getting worse...I'm going to have to visit a range and vent on some targets in addition to therapy." Thomas asked and explained to Will
I don't mind following your leads, if I can actually follow your leads. Its when I yield and yield and get yanked a lot with nearly nothing to show for it. That I lost it. I also can compartmentalize things, sort of like saying that someone's a great actor but we should probably keep the karaoke mike away.
Mysterious man muttering (quotes are audible given their presence). Me: ST wants me to check out old man because of making him so interesting and prominent, plus dialog, ok. Might my character recognize the language and take an interest? Well, I've got special Law for academics & 3 dots occult, and a lot of stuff is influenced by latin so picking it out seems reasonable. Between: occult 3, academics 1, science 1, and empathy 1, and I'm sure there are some services that could be used. Seems like a d&d DC of 5 or less to realize this man might need some help. With the virtue of Hope, by helping him I would be fulfilling that virtue.
Little discussion/debate follows in the ooc about smartphone vs. library trip. Smartphone roll succeeded and IC we know what he's saying. Player three joins, a bit confrontational, but nothing violent, is more interested in helping self than npc 'friend'. Ok, so far it seems like we've been then less than 1hr. Old man wanders off.
Before we can go after old man and pursue that lead cops show up to shut down the park.
ME: Ok, what's going on here (both IC and OOC), no explanation and the park is closing early. Character checks twitter to see if anyone's see a dead body or if they're bringing special units. I mean, to close down the whole park instead of just a small section for the investigation kind of raises some red safety flags. Nothing found on twitter other than what we already knew. Try to get a read on cop, the result implies my character doesn't know for certain, which in turn means I act as though he's a legitimate law enforcement officer.
Officer: says name is smith (maybe a step up from Doe), isn't understanding as to the large economic tax revues the university bring into the city and the graduates pursuing a Criminal Justice Major looking to join the academy or help law enforcement post graduation.; understandable, possible bad day.
Me: Ok, well maybe if I let me know about the old man speaking only Latin, he'll appreciate the heads up and recognize I am trying to be a good private citizen trying to help the police force which are a symbol of hope to many, but also helps ensure the old man's safety, and given the relative shortage many cities have in full time fluent translators for spanish and other languages, I figured that maybe the quick access to latin might be used as leverage to help the police deal with an old man he'd probably not want to waste time with. Instead the reply came across as 'this is your last warning'. Obviously my character doesn't want to get shot or tased, or spend the rest of the semester in a prolonged legal fight.
So, the possible replacement lead basically told me to go...... myself, and suddenly its dark even though was maybe midafternoon. A new lead seems to present itself in the form of a woman.
Me: Ok, clearly this is the woman, but my character doesn't know that. Further more, the officer should want to make sure she gets out of the park as well, and as this is the nearest gate maybe he'll bring her to us so we can talk to her. I mention the woman loud enough for the cop to hear as does Will, and the cop ignores us both..... Alright, maybe he's had a bad day and doesn't care about doing his job... fine.... Since we're locked out and have ZERO motive to do a B&E here, I'll just try calling her over. Since the old man was speaking Latin, was it because of a personal preference or him or was it her preference as well? So I say hello in both english & latin and gesture for her to come over. I ask in the ooc if I need to make a persuasion roll. I am told only if she doesn't come over. PROBLEM IS......that if I can't see her, I can't specify/target her with any persuasion attempts. Further, I don't know what language she speaks/would respond to.
So, my character breaks character at the behest of the ST for inventory; fair enough, 1st adventure, the prelude/whatever. Then every attempt to go along with your plot has been yanked off course by outside forces: other PC, cops, wandering, etc. before I can actually discover/learn enough to get legitimately invested in whatever's going on in character. Now, we're locked outside of the main objective area with no leads, no hooks, to follow up on which either relate back to your main story or a side-quest. At the moment, all I've got is pure character flavor/filler regarding the interactions between my character & will. It took me a while to think of it, and had some help from Amadeus, but it feels like a long shot in terms of both figuring out what you want us to do next & motivating our characters into actually doing it. I'm ok bending the motivation a little bit, I think I can come up with something, but I still need to figure out what to do next and at the moment only have a filler content idea to follow up on instead of one of your leads.
Edit: I can appreciate you wanting to right a good mystery. The thing is, that for me its not all about the ending but rather the trip. The only mystery I've read lately & makes a good example is Spellstorm by Ed Greenwood. Before I made it to chapter 1 I was about 90%+ sure as to what the ending was. Not specifics as to who was dead or the body count of mages, but what happens regarding the 'Lost Spell' all those mages were after & possible ramifications to the setting as a whole. Turns out, I was right. HOWEVER, I DID NOT ENJOY THE BOOK ANY LESS just because I knew what the ending was going to be. So far, the trip has been exhausting and not much fun. I hope things improve, I want things to improve, I want players to have fun as players and you to have fun as ST, but right now there have been so many road-bumps and seeming dead-ends just trying to get on the interstate to go...kinda makes things seem bleak.
Ok, well didn't know so decided to try to be safe than sorry.
Edit: SHE SHUFFLED AWAY AND IT'S NIGHT!!!!! 1st thought it was a lot earlier in the afternoon, 2 I don't think google translate and those conversations should've taken so many hours thanks to the 1 action = 3sec +/- rule. 3rd, she chose NOT to engage us bu coming over to talk according to your post so WHY say its say "no roll is necessary you would only have to roll persuasion if she didn't want to come over and talk to you. " if she SHUFFLED AWAY BEFORE I COULD EVEN MAKE THE ROLL FOR HER TO COME OVER HERE?!?! I'm going to be honest this is A LOT more railroading than I thought would occur and between that and some of the confusion relating to character vices/virtues which is being addressed/worked on.... 1. come less armed/defended to the park 2. entrance to the park 3. only 1 interesting thing to interact with/obviously do 4. old man wanders off 5. cops show up 6. park gets closed EARLY with no real explanation on twitter. 7. can't talk to/try to help cop. 8. cop doesn't see woman, but the two players can 9. cop doesn't respond to Thomas or Will mentioning her presence to him after he had locked the gates. 10. police presence in said park is woefully inadequate it seems given implied size 11. the woman doesn't respond and wanders off..... 12. The discrepancies involving time of day & its passage.
The only thing I can think of for it not being railroading was the smartphone translator, but I got the distinct impression/feeling this was just a variable you didn't account for and kinda wanted to force us into going to the library so as to either kill time in game or expose us to some 'essential elements' to the plot which couldn't be re-positioned to the park for some reason.
(original post below)
Quick question, can players function as merits? Also can you buy merits for another players?
For example, suppose Begger's Character: Will, gets a job in the hospital. Does that mean he now functions in a capacity like Contact/Allies merit for that hospital? If so, how could things be improved, etc.
As to the question about buying for other players, I first came across it in Mage's sleepwalker merit. So, if the sleepwalker is another player's character, who spends the merits? If we are able to buy some, which ones can we & can't we buy for others?
Edit: I am going to try to cool off with some music. NWOD's lore & mechanics I am very interested in and really like. I honestly don't know what to do now in character. I have a feeling that if I guess wrong, bad things are going to happen or bad things are going to happen regardless of the choices made. So I'm going to try to mentally cool off and think about how to respond to the latest post, assuming it isn't revised.... One song I'm going to listen to is by Dan the Bard and its about DMs, hopefully it'll help me feel better knowing there have been others in similar positions....
Edit: I have cooled of SOME, and after sleeping on it have an idea about what my character might do next. Will consult in character with Will though.
Well, considering the implied size of the park, there being 4 entrance points, ans the entire park being closed enough to generate a decent bit of local twitter activity which will become part of the public record (to my knowledge at the moment), I think its safe to assume its not just this one officer who doesn't seem to notice her, but rather none of the officers assigned to the park have noticed her yet.
Do I need to make a persuasion roll to get her to come over & talk to us?
Thomas rubbed his eyes in part out of frustration over the crap that had happened in what was less than an hour and also to make sure he was seeing the woman. Thomas pulled out his smartphone and started typing. "I'm going to go out on a limb here. At worst, I look like an Italian idiot or something to her. At best, she might be the one he was talking about. I don't normally play the lottery, but since this is free and I like having answers..." Thomas said as he typed up what he wanted to say.
"Hello?!?"
"Salve?!?!"
Thomas said for for both english and Latin, waving at her and gesturing for her to come over so that they might. He hoped she'd come over and start talking in either language though he'd prefer english. He had at least a few questions for her even if she wasn't the one 'Pete' was looking for, specifically why she was now in a park that was locked instead of leaving when the officers started clearing the park.
Well I didn't see a post saying she phased through the gates, jumped over them, teleported away, ripped them apart, etc. So I would assume she is where she was in the last post she was mentioned in, still.
So the cop..... who's in theory close enough to hear me in theory...... doesn't look to try to find/see her and either: a) doesn't see her somehow or b) sees her but for some reason doesn't try to unlock the gates and throw her out?
Thomas watches the officer lock himself and notices a woman smiling inside the park. He points her out to Will and starts speaking so that the officer can hear, but not draw the attention of anyone else that nearby hopefully, with a little bit of uncertainty and concern in his voice. "Will, I might not be the sharpest kid on campus, but do you see anyone else inside the park other than the officer at the moment, anyone that seems to be female?" Thomas asked cautiously.
I'd like to do one or both of the following if possible.
Edit: Would also like to make a quick mental check to see if policies/procedures were broken by the 'officer' in that exchange. I've got academics(law), not sure what else is needed.
Thomas to take a couple of selfies of himself and Will, specifically getting some good shots behind them to see if being followed and of the park.
And/OR
Thomas to look at the storefronts and traffic, attention captured by a nice or important car going (pref quickly) in opposite so as to have an excuse to look over his shoulder and see if being followed if Selfie shows the 'officer' tailing them or someone might be.
If followed will do a text message for Will saying "Being followed. Change of plans" and either head over to a busy/crowded outdoors area of a cafe/restaurant without jay-walking OR turn around and ask 'is there a problem officer?'.
If it looks like we're going to be attacked, would like to throw Will into cover between parked cars (if any are parked), otherwise, turn around with my hand on my Mace(spray) in case there's a problem, ready to use. (not 100% sure on how combat works since I don't have quick draw and/or quick shot merits).
Edit: added 'and/' in front of 'OR'
Edit/Update: edited character sheet on pg5 to account for some of the options listed in armory.
Edit: changed plans a little bit. It is early in the morning & not much sleep so might not be doing my best thinking at the moment lol
Ok, now that we've got a reply going on. Thomas and Will can both see the woman, what about the officer? I'm assuming all 3 are close to each other given the post?
"Alright officer, alright." Thomas said in a non confrontational tone as he wrote it down and put the stuff away. "I'm just a citizen trying to do my part to help the men and women in blue uniform, I'm sorry if I came off as something else, kinda sheltered. Just wanting to try to help some real heroes." Thomas said with a bit of admiration in his voice as he turned to Will. "Well hope the professor doesn't get onto us about this." Thomas said as he started walking towards the exit, leading Will. Once they were several paces away, Thomas started to text for Will to see. Need 2 lern sign. Good spot job, but not suf. data. We'll talk in car or use this. Going to check something once there. Try to keep eye on park first, don't try looking 4 officer. If seen following, talk about movies. Thomas paused and pretended to chuckle, he nudged will to show him the text as they walked, he then deleted it.
Sounds reasonable, but I'm not sure. You forgot the 10 again rule, but it'd be a moot point if the combo's too far off I think. I'm also not sure if its possible to see the entire perimeter of the park since the entire place is being cleared out.
Thomas sighed. "Alright officer, but if you wouldn't mind could I get your contact information? I don't know what our professor's going to say, but with your signature and info at least that's proof we did try to do our assignment." Thomas said as he fished out his pocket note-book and a pen, offering them to the officer. "Also, there's an old man wandering the park, somebody said his name was Pete. I think he's going through a mental rough patch since he kept saying the same three words over and over. I'd hate for some misunderstanding to occur in removing him that might turn into a PR nightmare for the department or ruin a new recruit's career because of a misunderstanding." Thomas explained to the officer with genuine concern about what might happen if they came across Pete in his current condition and weren't able to get him to comply peacefully.
3+1 = 4 again, but are there any modifiers for the roll? I mean I only got 2 successes on the Wits+ empathy roll (Got stamina confused because it only has 1 dot same as empathy & I've been focusing on it more lol. Should I just edit stamina for empathy in the previous post?)
What about making a chemist that knows a lot of arabic, from M.U.? Wouldn't they be able to make a crap ton of the Powder of Ibn Ghazi or whatever and maybe some elder signs as well for a lot of the supernatural stuff? lol
Well, I could try making a brother for my character, but that's typically viewed as being.... how's a good way to put it... poor form? Or something like that? Plus I'm not familiar with parallel character advancement rules for this game.
Sorry for the double post, but I'm still new to the whole check mechanics in this.
Is there any way for me to tell if this guy's legit? OOC I'm not sure if chief of police has the authority to order a park closed WITHOUT issuing some sort of public explanation.....
1st for story.... can my character check the twitter feed from city hall and the PD for an explanation
Well I'm ok starting mortal, but the definition of 'death' was a little vague as was when it might occur. I a lv 10-15 adventure module is no place for a 1st lv bard for example. Even if the gap wasn't that great a lot of questions remain.
For me, I rank survival slightly higher than story because I'd like to survive long enough to tell a good story most of the time if that makes sense lol.