I have a campaign idea in mind set in Gizmonic Institute that I would love to find a system for.
1 Like
I’ve been playing RPGs for a very long time, starting back with AD&D in the late ‘70s. Even got my name in a couple of GURPS books, Teenagers from Outer Space, and Gearkrieg.
My real claim to fame though is being told by the designers of the Game Paranoia that I was too weird to play the game at a GenCon one year. I think that’s why I get on so well with MST3K.
1 Like
…too weird for Paranoia? I need to know the story behind that.
1 Like
Oh wow. So many. I started with 'ol D&D back in the '70s. Moved to Shadowrun in the '80s. THen just kept trying out new systems all the time. I worked in a game store for almost a decade running all sorts of RPGs. Even designed some on my own, and I’m working on one now.
My current faves are The One Ring and Eclipse Phase.
Oh and I love Faserip. So unbalanced.
2 Likes
Shadowrun rocks. I like Ars Magica, too.
2 Likes
Way back in the mid ‘80s me and some of the guys from my gaming group were at a GenCon and went to an event held by West End Games to talk about all things Paranoia. Not too many people showed up so it became more like a group chat than a talk. We confused the West End guys early when we described things that happened in our games, like the forms I used to print up and the NPC team leader that was dead before the game started but they still had to take on missions Weekend at Bernies style. They seemed amused by my tale of once driving up to the gates of Bolling AFB at 2AM wearing my Paranoia ball cap and forgetting I had put a large enamel Soviet red star on it. We put them over the top when at one point they mentioned being in danger and all of us in synch stood up, waved our arms, and went “Danger! Danger Will Robinson!”
It was at that moment they said we were too weird to play Paranoia.
1 Like
That’s amazing.
1 Like
Back in a pocket of hurting for $$$, I sold off nearly all of the RPG systems I had amassed over the years. The original red box and blue box; nearly everything Palladium put out for Rifts up to the Three Galaxies; a mountain of Car Wars stuff; a BattleTech box I got signed by Weisman. Couldn’t really calculate the total number of hours those games all saw.
This is all that remains of the original collection. Maybe they’ll be buried with me. Who knows.
The rest of the collection definitely went to good homes and likely saw renewed life at the table. Sometimes, I miss a few of the sets and wish I could have held onto them.
It’s mostly board and skirmish games in this house now.
1 Like
Yo. Loves me some TTRPGs. Just kickstarted Absolute Power and I swear by Pathfinder 1E, though I’ve mostly been playing 5E lately for the sake of my friends.
1 Like
Admittedly, there is a lot of neat 3rd party content for 5e. Which is how I got back into D&D proper after nearly 20 years.
1 Like
The “good night’s sleep restores all your hit points” nonsense is the real 5e deal-breaker for me.
They gotta keep that video game stuff out of my RPG. Which is why I stick with 3e/Pathfinder or earlier.
2 Likes
…do elaborate on why giving players health restoration when the day is done is “nonsense”.
1 Like
If you’re a hero who takes 80 hit points of damage from, say, a fight with a dragon… I think it’s ridiculous that you would be up to full HP again after 8 hours sleep. Fantasy relies on suspension of disbelief, and that breaks it for me.
1 Like
I remember a little bit ago a chart showing the average number of Goblins that would be needed to kill a 1st level fighter in the various editions. If I’m remembering right it was two for original D&D and 44 for 4th edition.
2 Likes
I was an 80s 1st edition D&D kid, along with Call of Cthulhu, Traveller, Star Frontiers, Top Secret, Paranoia, Gamma World, Car Wars, Marvel Super Heroes, Shadowrun, etc.
Curiosity got the best of me, and I recently picked up the 5th edition D&D Player’s Handbook, because Mal Wart was selling it for $27 (it’s still $50 at Harms Ignoble), and I’m reading it now. Things have changed.
1 Like
You could, you know, just change the rule for your games. I made powerful monsters and treasure very rare in my campaigns, nobody was killing dragons left and right and hauling home wagonloads of loot, or tripping over vorpal swords.
1 Like
Changing one thing tends to throw off the game in other areas.
I just consider 3e to be the ideal version of the rules, and 4e and 5e were created solely in order to have something new to sell. (Same thing with Windows 7 vs. later versions.)
I’ve also thought 1st edition D&D with skills and feats added on would be a great system.
2 Likes
We decided that Shadowrun’s magic rules were indecipherable pewp, and replaced them with part of the Marvel Super Heroes system for like, feats, or something? It’s hard to remember, but it worked for us, and the not-fun stuff was eliminated.
1 Like
Vampire: The Masquerade
1 Like
I’ve got a D&D game I play in every other Monday. I would love to get in a group going on here, and using that sponsor’s book, it looks fun
2 Likes