Star Wars RPG

Star Wars is my favorite universe.  I have read most Star Wars novels, I have played a generous portion of the games and of course watched all the movies.  When my friend was trying to get me into roleplaying games he thought buying me the newly published Star Wars Roleplaying game by WotC would do the trick.  Which it helped a lot.  I have played in and run several Star Wars games since then.  None of these campaigns were long nor did any of them run to the completion of the story arc.  Which has me wondering, what does it take to have a fulfilling Star Wars campaign?  Is it a good set of RPG rules, an epic story, accepting players or an engaging GM?  Well since I am asking the question it might be a good idea to break it down.

RPG rules

West End Games, Wizard of the Coast, and now Fantasy Flight Games have all had the license to create Star Wars RPG’s.  Currently the fan favorite that I hear time and again is the d6 rules.  Which honestly I did enjoy the games I have played in using that ruleset, however both were run by the same GM.  I think Wizards of the Coast was heading in the right direction with Saga Edition, but do to fans who were A) WotC haters and B) WotC making bad decisions WotC decided to not renew their license.  Which leave Fantasy Flight Games a company to breath new life into the franchise.  The games I have previously played by Fantasy have been pretty cool which leaves me excited for the Star Wars RPG.

 

An Epic Story

What makes an Epic Story?  The length of time it takes to complete the main quest?  Traveling to a library?  Magic?  To me this is not an easy question.  I can look at Lord of the Rings and say that is an epic story.  The same goes for the Star Wars films.  As I type this I realize what do all of these have in common?  World or Galaxy changing events!  When Frodo throws that ring into the Volcano it marked the end of Sauron.  When Luke fired those torpedoes at the exhaust port it marked the end of unimaginable strength of the Empire.  So I think Epic means world changing.

Accepting Players

To make this not a whopper of a post I want write all my opinions about how accepting players need to be.  I think it is important though that players feel they are connected to the setting and their characters.  On top of that the players need to personally agree with the moral stances in the setting.  With out players their isn’t much of a game.

Engaging GM

I have played with several GM’s.  Some of them good, some of them okay, and some of them awesome.  I am a rules lite GM.  If I know the rule, great if not we will look it up later.  I hate seeing rulebooks come out during game.  We should not be spending 15 to 20 minutes looking up rules during game.  This stopping of the game grinds it to a halt.  A couple of GM’s would be great GM’s if they didn’t worry so much about the “RULES”.  Some GM’s are lazy, they have no excitement for their game and it shows.  Great GM’s get excited about their games they show energy which then the players will be more engaged.

Now that I have written these out I think I have a better understanding of what my Star Wars games lack.  Tell me what you think.

Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition

I was eating lunch today when I received a text from a friend.  The test was simple “Wizards just announced D & D 5^th Edition”.  Before getting caught up in the rumor mill, I gave a one word answer and went back to eating.  When I was done with my meal I got online and checked this out.  Sure enough Wizards is now working on the next edition of Dungeons and Dragons.

I have mixed feeling.  On the one hand I just started getting into Pathfinder and loving it.  The more I play and run the more I fall in love with Pathfinder.  On the other hand Dungeons and Dragons 3^rd edition is the game that I started roleplaying with, plus on top of that Wizards of the Coast has money to throw at the franchise to make it great.  They have an opportunity to make something great.

Wizards is offering a chance to be part of the playtesting.  I don’t know if I will participate or not.  I did give them my email address because I am intrigued.  But the more I think about it the more I feel Wizards is going to have to do a lot to win me back.

New Year’s Resolutions

Every year I get asked my New Years Resolutions.  I found a long time ago that New Years resolutions don’t work for me.  However it is kinda fun to come up with goals for this year and see if you can accomplish them.  So I am going to list them here.  I will break them up by category.

 Gaming Resolutions

To actually read all my new Pathfinder books from cover to cover.  I have a bad habit of only browsing my RPG books and then only using them for reference so I am going to try and read them all.

 To finish the Legacy of Fire campaign I just started.  My group has a bad habit of not making it past level 10 in our campaigns.  I am going to make us finish this one.  Plus it seems like a really cool campaign.

To be more descriptive in games I run.  Sometimes I am thinking too far ahead and I don’t describe the current scene well enough I must try and be more descriptive.

To finish all the games I bought in 2010.  I got a PS3 for Christmas in 2010 and I bought a bunch of games for it.  I haven’t played a lot of them.  I am going to play them in 2012.

To make it to Level 50 in Star Wars the Old Republic.  This one shouldn’t be too hard.  I love this game.

 Financial Resolutions

This is the same every year and every year I fail.  However, I am going to list it here.  Pay off credit card debt.

House Resolutions

Hang up artwork and pictures around the house.

Declutter.

Add insulation to the attic.

Personal Resolutions

Oh man I really have my foot in my mouth on this one.  I really don’t concern myself a whole lot about losing wait.  But recently I have been put on a no chew diet after an oral surgery.  After two weeks I have lost 20 pounds.  I look better and above all I feel better.  My knees don’t hurt and I have notice my energy levels are a lot higher.  So I am not going to be gung ho about losing more weight but I will try to maintain.

In conclusion

I want to say happy new year to you all.  Also don’t forget according to a lot of crazy people this is the last year for the Human race.  So before December 21, 2012 have a great year.

Wally’s Journal

• I am going to call them Wally’s (Twinkie Recipe)
• 1/2 pound (2 sticks) butter, plus more for pan
• 3 cups sugar
• 5 eggs
• 3 cups flour, plus more for pan
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon ground vanilla beans

• Filling
• 2 teaspoons very hot water
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups marshmallow creme (one 7-ounce jar)
• 1/2 cup shortening
• 1/3 cup powdered sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

The hag fish has truly horrible food.  Nothing but mostly cooked meat, I tried to help out the owner by making some hard candies and developing the above recipe.  Hoping for some variety to his inn, but the man refuses to learn variety.

Had a discussion at breakfast that seemed to upset the one female of our group.  She doesn’t seem inclined to research.  Which doesn’t surprise me given her abilities.

The crows continue to intrigue me.  They are the only people in this town willing to give a straight answer.  I ask them a question and they give a direct answer I greatly appreciate that.   However they have disappointed me in there handling of Spring Hill Jack 15 years ago.  They just sent him back to the Feywild and stopped doing any research on how to make sure he never comes back.

The church of Desna in Sandpoint is terrible.  The head priest does not have enough followers and the church is in serious disrepair.  I am now actively trying to get volunteers to help the church.

While exploring the Windsong Abbey we found a dead troll.   I think I will head back there tonight after every one heads to bed.  The Paladin seems to have a problem with me using this magic but I will deal with that.

 

What is the diffrence

I don’t know how your group is.  But my group is a little bit of Min/Maxer, with a little bit of Hack n’ Slash, with a dash of roleplay.  Our games rarely consist of hours long roleplay.  However, we do have some and that is one aspect that I love.  My current group came from Dungeons and Dragon 3.5 edition.   However, as you may know if you read this blog I like to try out new systems.  Anytime I try out a new system that is not d20 based my group has trouble keeping its cohesion.  Partially because I am a rules lite DM.  I hate dragging out a rules book every minute to look how far a person can jump in a 50 mph wind.  So I wing it.  Well obviously when you are trying to learn a new system you can’t do that.  When my group switched to 4e I just thought that this was the problem.  We were spending a lot of time looking up rules so that is why no one liked the game.  However, the more I think about it the more I don’t think it is that.  Actually the more I think about it and the more I play Pathfinder I think I have come to the conclusion it is 4e.

First off let me say I think it is possible to Roleplay with any system, however 4e does not add anything to your character for roleplay.  Instead they give mechanics to any type of roleplay that could happen(skill challenges).  This is my main problem with 4e.  Heck even look at Wizards own attempt to get more people in to D & D with Encounter at your local FLAG.  The game is nothing but one long encounter.  I really wanted to love 4e but the more I play Pathfinder or Dragon Age the more I want to play them and not 4e .

My Most Anticipated Games for 2012

Well 2011 has flown by.  Here is a list of video games I am looking forward to for 2012.

Mass Effect 3

Halo 4

Transformers Fall of Cybertron

Ninja Gaiden 3

Such a small list.

Several great games came out in the early part of the year(Portal 2 and Mortal Kombat), not a bunch in the middle (inFamous 2), and an okay amount in the winter(Skyrim, Batman, and Legend of Zelda)  I wish I had the money and the time to play them all.

Dresden Files Role Playing Game

In 2007 probably while watching an episode of Stargate SG-1 I saw an advertisement for a new show on Sci-Fi (yes when SyFy had a good name) called Dresden Files.  I had heard about a new show that was going to be based off of the Urban Arcana campaign setting from Wizards of the Coast.  After some research I found that the Dresden Files had taken that slot from Urban Arcana and I couldn’t be happier.  I quickly learned that the tv show was based off of a book series by Jim Butcher.  I anxiously waited for the first episode to première I watched it I liked it.  I actually watched a couple of more episodes and all in all not bad, but not the greatest show ever.  Then I was walking through Borders one day I just had finished a book and was looking for new book series to get interested in.  I decided to give it a shot.  A week later I was buying book 2 and 3.  Within a few short months I read all of the Dresden Files and loved every single one of them.  Then I decided I wanted to run a game in theDresdenuniverse.  But one problem no RPG existed.  Okay well lets try a similar setting.  So I bought my first World of Darkness book, the core book.  I like what they did but then I started talking about it to fellow roleplayers and found out that World of Darkness isn’t really made to have a party of different supernatural creatures.  Hmmm.  Okay.  I will keep investigating.  I bought Mage the Awakening.  It really didn’t grab me.  Well crap.  So I shelved theDresdengame idea for awhile.  The Monte Cook decided to release his version of the World of Darkness.  I picked up the book intrigued.  I drank the book in.  A really great modern d20 game setting and I love the system.  Unfortunately, McWod really didn’t fit withDresden.  On a side not I have ran a couple of games and played a couple of games in McWod and they were all a lot of fun I would recommend giving it a try.  In July of 2010 The Dresden Files RPG was released.  I was having a hard time with money so I didn’t pick myself up a copy.  But luckily I have a friend who had some extra money and knew I love the Dresden Files so he picked up a copy.  It has taken a year of reading the rules.  Of getting a good group together and being at a point to set up a new game but my chance came this Saturday.  The first game was a blast.  So I thought I would give a rundown of the game for those interested.

 

Dresden Files RPG uses the Fate system.  I won’t get into it here if you want a really good break down just Google Fate system or Dresden Files RPG there is a lot of information on both.  However, I was worried about how my group would deal with this system.  My group loves d20, we know the rules and we are use to it.  So anytime we play something else it takes a while for us to pick it up and 9 times out of 10 the game falls apart.  Luckily I had a good grasp of the rules and the game went really well. If you get a chance take a look at the RPG you don’t need to have read the novels to get a feel for the game the authors do a good job filling you in.  However I highly recommend reading the novels.

The Battlemat

Inspired by an article by Vanir on critical-hits.com

I hear a sound when my players see a battlemat, the sound of disgust.

I kid you not a quote from a week ago: “Do we really have to use a battlemat?”  I currently run a Dragon Age game (which is a great system and if you haven’t tried it out, you should) but I have ran 4e and Star Wars Saga without a battlemat.  It is fairly easy to do.  Instead of looking down at a bunch of squares and plastic representations that pale in comparison to your imagination the player looks up at the GM the person, who is your guide to the world you are playing in, and ask can my fireball hit all 5 squares.  Part of it is person preference but I have noticed ever single time the battlemat comes out, it becomes a game of tatics.  When the battlemat is put away it becomes a game of roleplay a game of players being imaginative.   Battlemats take out the roleplay and the imagination of the game.  If I wanted to spend two hours bent over a table making tactical decisions on what my character does I would of played D & D minis.  Try it out for yourself.  Just run one combat as you normally do.  Then try one combat without the battlemat.  Yes the GM will have to work a little harder, but you will find the GM has more control over the game and the players will have more fun with it.

A Rift inside me

At Gen Con they handed out free copies of Rift.  You also got a month free subscription with the game.  I decided to give it a try.  First impression: the gameplay is almost identical to WOW.  I finally got my third soul last night and teleported to the past last night.  Haven’t played too much in the past.  But I do dig the Mage class, see in Rift you are a resurrected being.  Your world has been overran by some awesome bad guy thing.  Your job is to travel into the past and stop evil bad guy from gaining power enough to conquer your world.  At different stages in the game you will collect souls.  These souls will give specialization in your particular class.  My buddy Aeromir is a Mage as well but he went Necromancer and even though were both Mages we do far different spells which is cool.

The Rift inside of me comes from my decision of either continuing to play this game or not.  See earlier this year I was playing WOW, WOW is okay and something fun to do with the wife but that extra 15 dollars a month just hits me hard sometimes.  So we both quite playing.  However since then my wife has started playing again and I have been thinking about myself starting back up as well.  On top of that there is a new MMO coming out this year called Star Wars Old Republic that is looking to be pretty good and I am seriously thinking about picking it up since most of my friends are talking about picking it up as well.

My options are thus:  Keep playing Rift (I am actually really enjoying it),  Play WOW with the wife (which I enjoying playing with her but I think I like Rift more than WOW), Play Rift till Star Wars comes out, or save 15 bucks a month and play XBOX or PS3 instead.

Currently thinking about playing Rift till Star Wars comes out.

 

Gen Con 2011 what I did

This Gen Con was slightly different from the last few I went to.  This time around we had a group of 7 of us who went.  As usual I kept my schedule light so I could spend alot of time in the merchant hall.  However I did manage to make it to two games and a seminar.

Wednesday

We arrived and met up together at the convention center.  We walked around grabbed our goody bags then headed out to find dinner.  Nothing incredible went on that night except one of my friends was playing Magic against me and was able to pull a 12/12 out by turn 4.  Cough, Cough, Cheese, Cough.

Thursday

The first event we did was Zombies 3d, where a guy took the Zombie game and built 3d models for it.  This was a great way to start off the con and initially I didn’t want to play but I was extremely happy I did.  After that we went to check out the exhibit hall.  My first stop was for Green Ronin’s booth so I could pick up Dragon Age Set 2.  Then we spend a couple of hours just checking it out.  Then we grabbed lunch.  Which was at Buffalo Wings and Rings which was great and if you are in downtown Indy you should give it a try.  I then had a seminar I was looking forward to which was how to create memorable NPC’s.  Except the person running the seminar never showed.  Luckily the people in the room started sharing ideas which was kinda neat and I got to hear an interesting concept for a Dresden Files game.  We then made our way to Buca Di Pepo’s (I think that is how it is spelled) and had a big group dinner.  We finished off the night with a Burlesque show which was… interesting(and not in a sick pervert way but in a not what I expected way).

Friday

I did have anything early to get to Friday so we spent more time in the exhibit hall.  Had lunch inside the convention center which prices were pretty high but not totally unreasonable.  Then off to Queen of Geeks.  Now I do not mean any offense to these ladies.  However, I was really disappointed in how this was handled.  First off this was meant to be a pageant of sorts.  So I expected the girls to be pretty(and I don’t mean hot, I mean the take care in their appearance and carry themselves with respect) these girls looked like the just spent all day watching something mind numbing then threw some clothes on and showed up this event. One girl had a costume on but it looks like she has fake barf on her cheeks(what the hell is that about), then the MC which was the best looking one up there had questions that were incredibly difficult.  We finished our day at Scotty’s Brewhouse, the manager puts on a big production for Gen Con.  All the waitresses were dressed up.  They had geek movies on the TV’s(I wish ever bar did this all the time).  The food was good.

Saturday

In the morning I played the new Mistborn game by Crafty-Games.  My intial judgement of the game was affected by the earliness of the game and the fact that this was my first time gaming in a room with a bunch of other people running different games.  Met up with the group afterwards and we finally got to try out Mage Wars.  The reason I wanted to try it was for the free T-shirt, but I enjoyed the hell out of the game and plan on buying it when it comes out.  We then went Swimming.  Then after about half an hour of discussing dinner options we went to Rock Bottom.  Which besides the odd waiter was the restaurant was great.

Sunday

By Sunday I was frazaled, I was getting tired of people and Monday morning was coming quicker than I would of liked.  So by the time we got to the convention center I was ready to punch ever inconsiderate jerk I could find and on top of that I went to use the bathroom and by shorts got wet( I hope from water but I guessing it was something else).  It was nice to take another stroll the exhibit hall we found so good sales and bought some more stuff, one of my other buddies and I tried Mage Wars again both to mine and his delight.  While waiting to play Mage Wars we checked out the gameing tables that now have touchscreen capability.  Which turned into a demonstration of  D20Pro both products were amazing and if the cost wasn’t so high would be interested.  Then came the moment I had dreaded the entire time, the drive home.  We waved goodbye to our friends and left Indy in our rearview mirror and made the trip home.  All the while thoughts of next years con dancing in our heads.